[Tecumseh]

Chino finds a gap in traffic and turns west onto Highway 82. It's 1.5km until he can turn off onto side streets. Traffic is moving slowly as the crowds begin to fill the town center on a Friday afternoon.

Ace's look of disappointment - Oscar-worthy, no doubt - is lost to the ages as Doc blurs his face from the video feed.

<<@Nately II [Nately III] Oh do your worst to your silly apparitions! They do not fool me, the way that Baba and Poppop fade in and out of existence. Your clumsy illusions are practically transparent; your ruse has failed. Do what you wish; I no longer believe you.>>

Katsina looks up at Ace. She looks like she's about to speak but she thinks better of having her voice recorded. She texts instead:
<<@Team [Katsina] It appears we have exhausted our credibility. No matter what we do, he may not believe us.>>

Then a message from Doc blasts through the system:
<<@Team [Doc] Matrix Alert!>> Who knows what the hell that means but it probably isn't good.

The agent responds to Doc's command promptly. After scanning the target, it replies with the following:
<<Agent Message: Silent Device Details>>
<<Device ID: NOVATECH NAVIGATOR>>
<<Last Matrix Action: HACK ON THE FLY>>
<<Programs Running: TRACK, LOCKDOWN, VIRTUAL MACHINE, SIGNAL SCRUB, EXPLOIT>>

[Malevolence]

Ohanzee perks up at the message from Doc.


"Kill the wireless on anything the Nately's have. Do the same for your gear if it isn't necessary right now."


>> @Doc [Ohanzee] Mr. Nately had some head gear. I know you're busy, but if you or your agent can spare the bandwidth, can you make sure it's secure or off?


He begins powering off the wireless for the Nately's gear, starting with the biomonitors.

[Zweiblumen]

Just as Ace is giving his top notch performance, the AR window he has with the reports from the Agent blare red and he alerts the team to the impending threat.  With that he drops where he is, likely painfully but he wouldn't know, into VR and readies himself to confront this mysterious icon approaching.  With the Agent's report identifying the icon as a cyber deck Doc throws caution to the wind, and he charges the icon swinging his scalpel to inscribe his caduceus on the mysterious decker.

[Tecumseh]

Doc unexpectedly and unceremoniously collapses into a heap on the floor of the RV. Katsina sheathes her claymore in one fluid motion before going over to straighten him out. Doc, ever agile, managed to land on his face and give himself a bloody nose. Great, DNA, Katsina thinks to herself. Also, nanites. She pauses at the sight of his blood, takes a deep breath, then rolls him over. Once she's satisfied that he's not going to choke to death on his tongue or blood, she turns her attention to her commlink. She gives a mental order for it to go on full defense, repelling any unauthorized marks.

<<Agent Message: Silent Device Details>>
<<Device ID: NOVATECH NAVIGATOR>>
<<Current Configuration: Attack 3, Sleaze 6, Data Processing 4, Firewall 5>>

Doc glances at the icon for the silent device. The persona looks like a Minuteman, a UCAS patriot from three hundred years ago. The minuteman wears a tricorne hat and uses a musket and a piccolo. It pipes a merry tune to Mr. Nately's commlink but make no progress. Mr. Nately's persona disappears unexpectedly, indicating to the minuteman that the redcoats are coming. It dives behind a rock, signalling its full defense.

Doc has his scalpel out, and before the minuteman can react Doc has carved two deep incisions into the other persona - one on each arm. The minuteman hastily removes a roll of bandages and quickly begins to wrap one arm but it's no use. The bleeding seeps through the bandage; the mark remains.

[Zweiblumen]

As the Minuteman ducks behind the boulder as the cannonfire ricochets around the scene that suddenly forms the immediate surroundings, Doc leaps more gracefully than anyone could in the "real" world, his white lab coat floating around him.  Laughing somewhat maniacally as his caducei draw blood from the enemy decker.  The Agent sends some more information:
<<<Agent Message: Minuteman>>>
<<<Device ID: NOVATECH NAVIGATOR>>>
<<<Commcode #### #### #### #### #### #### #### #####>>>
<<<Undamaged>>>
<<<Marks: Caduceus (2)>>>
He attempts to follow the data flow back to its origin as the freedom fighter keeps trying to hide.  Quickly he commands the Agent to protect his gear, then with a primal scream through the Matrix he takes his scalpel in both hands and attempts to drive it through the heart of the fallen patriot in an attempt to drive him from the matrix as quickly as possible.

[Zweiblumen]

His scalpel sunk all the way through the Minuteman's chest, and he vanishes from the matrix.
<<<@Team[Doc] We had an old fashion patriot attempting to find Mr. Nealy's comm.  This one is gone and s/he'll have one hell of a headache, and a ruined 200k¥ piece of hardware.  I can confirm that they've not found us yes.  Can someone pick me up off the floor and set me some place nice?  I'm going to keep an eye out for more snoopers and see what info I can find.>>>

Doc puts the Agent back on overwatch duty and starts to sift through AR data at a dizzying speed.

[8-bit]

At the mention of a Matrix attack, Chino just shakes his head. Back to the same old stuff, I guess.

Renraku Sensei
/reboot

...Command Input...
...Shutting Down...

And with a thought, his commlink goes into a shutdown sequence. He knows he can handle the route for a few seconds, and he doesn't want to have someone hacking his commlink. He'd had enough fragups with the whole obelisk incident. He calls to the rest of the team in the back, "I'll be driving manually up here. If we have any Matrix visitors, I don't want them to start hacking the car. If you need me, shout; got it?"

A few seconds later, his commlink reboots, and Chino pulls up the ARO map again. I hope that this isn't just another day on the job, or I was a seriously fragged up guy. Who makes a living doing this sort of drek? Me, I guess. He sighs and turns back to driving.

[Tecumseh]

Katsina looks around the RV, wondering where to put Doc where he's not going to flop around in the event that the driving gets rough. The Natelys are underfoot too. She considers putting Doc in bed at the rear of the RV, although there's some danger if their pursuers decide to go full auto. Maybe that's where the Natelys should go.

Beside the kitchenette there's a long couch that they could stretch Doc out on; the downside is that it's right next to a window that Ace might need to fire out of.

<<@Team [Katsina] Doc, we'll put you on the couch.>>

She looks up at Ace. "Can you help me lift him on the couch, and then drag the Natelys back to the bedroom?"

She gets under Doc's shoulders, hoping Ace can grab his feet.

<<@Ohanzee [Katsina] Let's tag-team the counterspelling too. You take the front, I'll take the rear, unless you have a different plan.>>

[Malevolence]

"There's a good chance that the Matrix scout is a precursor to a larger attack. It'll probably take them a few minutes to show up assuming they have a presence in Aspen. Playing it safe, let's assume they do. So, battle stations, I guess. Keep a sharp eye out."


He sends a quick thought to Wolf to be on his guard - the meat world was the slowest to cover distance in, so it seemed likely that if Nately Enterprises had Awakened talent at its disposal - and the way his week had been going, it was a safe bet - that'd be the next direction an attack came from. Wolf wagged his tail in happy anticipation, a sight all the more disturbing due to the blood perpetually dripping from the spirit's mouth.


He searches Mr. Nately for a biomonitor, but comes up empty. For now, it appears that Mrs. Nately's biomonitor and their commlinks were the only wireless devices they had. It seemed safe to assume that the gear in Mr. Nately's head was also wireless, but Doc would be handling that.


Ohanzee then commands all of his gear to reboot and stay wireless off. Once they come back up he turns the wireless back on on the commlink, but keeps it running silent, and joins it back to Doc's PAN.


As soon as his commlink connects to the Matrix, he gets Katsina's request. He nods to her as her and Ace start moving Doc, and heads to the front.

[rednblack]

Upon hearing about the matrix threat, Ace reboots his commlink with a mental command.  He's about to tell the team to shut off the Nately's comms as well, but he looks up to see them doing just that. 

She looks up at Ace. "Can you help me lift him on the couch, and then drag the Natelys back to the bedroom?"

She gets under Doc's shoulders, hoping Ace can grab his feet.

Ace nods and comes around to Doc's feet so they can set him on the sofa bed.  Ace would like it if they could get a seat belt on him as well, but he doesn't see that option available.  When Doc is relatively secure, Ace checks the time at the head of the RV, as his comm hasn't come back online yet, and does a mental countdown.  Then it's over to his duffel bag.  He starts with the rifle he got off the hunters, and checks the ammo readout.  Then, he pulls out an Ares Lancer and makes sure that the power cells are topped off.  Good.

With Sam sitting shotgun, Ace figures that the right side and front of the RV are covered, so he goes to the double-sinks on the driver's side, to see if he'll be able to pop out and fire from a reasonably secure position.  It's not bad, actually.  Since he'll be sitting, he can brace the offhand on his knee, which will cut down some on the strain of shooting while leaning out.  It'll do in a pinch anyway.  Next, Ace looks at the roof hatch; that would work even better, if only there was something he could stand on to pop out and let loose with a few rounds.  Of course, the table is bolted down, as are any other chairs.  The oven range, on the other hand, that might work.  Heavy enough to not move much should the driving get crazy, but light enough that he could pull it in place.  Ace goes to give it a closer look.

[Tecumseh]

The RV crawls through town. Chino privately curses Katsina for selecting a route with so many turns in it. The RV drives like a blimp in a hurricane and the trailer is NOT improving matters. The team passes through thick swarms of skiers coming down off the slopes, happily chatting about where to get a drink. They're oblivious to the slow procession of your rolling kidnap parade. Doc's agent races around looking for devices running silently. Of course, the other side is probably doing the same. If this land barge spends too long within 100m of whoever's looking for them, odds are good that you'll be spotted.

Chino, looking ahead on GridGuide, sees a route that doesn't use Highway 82 at all. Instead it takes Smuggler Street (that sounds promising!) to Power Plant Road, but frag! There's a hairpin turn in Power Plant Road. Chino doesn't think that the Hindenburg here can make the turn on a icy road, especially not with the trailer. He grits his teeth and turns onto Highway 82. They only need to make it about six blocks before the turnoff to Cemetery Lane...

"Contact!" Katsina shouts just as the RV rolls onto the bridge passing over Castle Creek. (Naturally, as soon as you can't turn around...) She grabs her head, concentrating on the signal. "Other side of the bridge! Down the gravel road to the left!"

Sure enough, there are two black vehicles waiting: a GMC Bulldog and a Tata Hotspur, an off-road racing truck. Katsina looks left, looks right, then drops prone because she can't think of what else to do.

The RV rolls by their position, then turns off on Cemetery Lane. For a moment, nothing. Nobody else turns off on the road behind you. Then, two black vehicles make the turn. Doc's Agent lights up.

<<Agent Message: New Device Detected!>>
<<Device ID: UNKNOWN>>
<<Location: Within 100 meters>>
<<This Device is Running Silent>>

Katsina gets to her feet, drops her Detect Enemies spell, and unsheathes her sword. With her other hand she grabs a preparation from her pocket, triggering a spell. She gives Ace a meaningful look. "Remember that carving I made for you?"

She rolls the claymore over in her hands. Who knows what she's planning to do with it inside the RV, but she obviously feel better with it out.

[rednblack]

As the RV crawls through town, Ace busies himself by pulling the oven range from its corner and placing it directly underneath the roof hatch.  Climbing on top of it, he sees there still some space between himself and the roof, but he can open the hatch just fine, and will be able to jump up if needed.  It'll do in a pinch.

He jumps down to the floor of the RV, a little unsure what to do with himself now, when Katsina cries out:

"Contact!" Katsina shouts just as the RV rolls onto the bridge passing over Castle Creek. (Naturally, as soon as you can't turn around...) She grabs her head, concentrating on the signal. "Other side of the bridge! Down the gravel road to the left!"

Ace posts up by the driver's side window again, peaking out from the blinds surreptitiously as the Buffalo passes.  This is not good.  Luckily, there's only 2.  When the vehicles don't immediately give chase, Ace lets out a sigh of relief, thinking that maybe they haven't been made.  That illusion is soon dashed.  He composes a message to the team:

<<@Team [Ace] We've got 2 males in the Tata Hotspur, 1 male, 1 female in the front of the Bulldog, possibly certainly more in the back.  They're decked out for trouble.>>

Katsina gets to her feet, drops her Detect Enemies spell, and unsheathes her sword. With her other hand she grabs a preparation from her pocket, triggering a spell. She gives Ace a meaningful look. "Remember that carving I made for you?"

She rolls the claymore over in her hands. Who knows what she's planning to do with it inside the RV, but she obviously feel better with it out.

Ace pats the area just under his breast pocket where the carving lays and nods his head before turning to Ohanzee looking for guidance.  As he waits he turns Wireless functionality on all of his gear, and sets it to run silent.

[Zweiblumen]

Doc sees the alert from the Agent and sends another, slightly better worded, message to the team.
<<<@Team[Doc] Looks like we've got another icon snooping around.  I'll get us some more information.  Keep things silent or off if you can, also, feel free to slave them to my deck if you want.
Attachment: Slave_Perms.sec>>>

[Malevolence]

Following the situation with the black cars and the new matrix threat, Ohanzee shifts his sight to the Astral. Wolf is keeping watch, but if a spirit or projecting mage showed up, he wanted to be ready to assess the situation before Wolf decided the best defense was a swift offense.


"Let's try not to initiate aggression here and see if we can lure them out of town at least. But be ready if they decide to make the first move. It's possible this many devices running silent in one vehicle has piqued their interest and they're trying to sweat us into showing our hand. If we keep an even keel, maybe they'll decide to break off and look for trouble elsewhere."


Fat chance, the way our day's been going. But they couldn't risk a gun battle inside the city limits. Not that the PCC's jurisdiction stopped at the city limits, but if there weren't any innocent bystanders to report the action, the PCC might just continue on, blissfully unaware of the high crimes being committed. Or, with no civilians at risk, they might just be inclined to let the criminal element kill each other, and turn a blind eye so long as the team was heading away from the high density of rich folk.


But more likely, they'd have a bunch of yahoos with itchy trigger fingers just looking for an excuse to field some of the bigger guns in their arsenal. In all cases, it boiled down to a gun battle being a big problem, so avoiding it seemed the smart play.


As a future note to self, running silent is a no-no. Leave that crap to Doc and his ilk.


Switching his commlink wireless on might look even more suspicious at this point. Or it might just look like I was trying to avoid an Ex while driving through town. Either way, it was likely better than attracting more attention from more people. He switched his commlink to stop running silent. Just a guy with a phone, nothing to see here...

[Tecumseh]

Chino does his best to split his attention between the rear view mirror and the road ahead of him. He notices some motion behind him; there's a rotodrone taking off from bed of the Tata Hotspur. There's an assault rifle of some sort on its weapon mount. Sam, in the right rear-view mirror, sees the Bulldog's passenger window rolling down.

Doc's agent continues to light up with new alerts:

<<Agent Message: New Device Detected!>>
<<Agent Message: New Device Detected!>>
<<Agent Message: New Device Detected!>>
<<Agent Message: New Device Detected!>>
<<Agent Message: New Device Detected!>>
<<Agent Message: New Device Detected!>>
<<Device IDs: UNKNOWN>>
<<Location: Within 100 meters>>
<<These Devices are Running Silent>>

That makes for a total of seven (7) devices running silent. Doc can also see three vehicle icons - one each for the Hotspur, the Bulldog, and the rotodrone - and a persona in the Bulldog. He'll have to decide which to tackle first.

Astrally, the RV gets very crowded all of a sudden. Four spirits join you, along with an astrally projecting magician. The magician sees Katsina, Ohanzee, and Wolf staring back at her. The don't look like they are inviting themselves over for tea.

Ohanzee feels an icy sensation reaching for his heart. He doesn't know if it's fear or something worse, but it feels a lot like fear.