[Tecumseh]

As breakfast breaks up, Katsina pulls Ace into the master bedroom to take his measurements. She finds shears, needles, a measuring tape, and thread - none of which look like they've been touched in years. (There's also a good deal of yarn and knitting needles, suggesting Mr. Moran has an interesting traditional hobby or that they are someone else's.) She claws apart the host's closets looking for fashionable clothes she can tailor for Ace's benefit. Putting them on him, she jabs needles in the clothes to mark the spots where to take them in.

"I need to hem the sleeves and dart the jacket. I'll take in the waist of the pants so they don't fit you like a clown costume. Give me an hour." 

She finds a camouflage suit in vivid green that's clearly meant to be worn during the summer. Since it is the wrong color and insufficiently insulated, she doesn't feel bad about cutting it up to steal some of the ballistic cloth to add to the clothes she is tailoring. Katsina uses the manual tools expertly, as if she had been sewing for many years. She tries to use Magic Fingers to mimic a sewing machine but immediately regrets the idea, giving it up quickly as too clumsy. She eventually produces an outfit that will provide Ace some armor and insulation while allowing him to look good and blend in. It's a clear improvement from Ares Armored Survivalist suit.

Once complete, Katsina takes ten minutes to inscribe a couple new preparations before disappearing into the bathroom to address her own appearance. She emerges from the master bathroom without her mask. She looks like a half-Japanese, half-Russian elf, young and very pretty: appropriate arm-candy for a corporate executive. She's wearing something from Armanté's new winter line. It mixes Native American and old American styles in preparation for the Olympics which are going to be held in Seattle. She holds out Ace's new outfit for him.

"The town car will be here at 13:30, which is in fifteen minutes. Cost is ¥60 an hour, two hours minimum, plus gratuity. I used my fake SIN, so call me Ivana. The SIN lists me as a Japanese elf, age 18, and will hold as much water as a sieve so let's not put it to the test. The SIN is for Aztechnology, so I went with Armanté instead of Zoe. Aztechnology was a major supporter for Vitorrio Armanté’s shadow war with Zoé to recover the rights to the line name back in ’73. What do you think?" She holds out her arms and spins around, playing the role of a bubble-headed floosie nicely.

"I'm going to cast another spell to detect nearby enemies. It's going to require a lot of concentration to keep the spells sustained. Treat me like a ditz when we're in town; it will fit the role and I'm not going to have much mental bandwidth anyway."

With that, she closes her eyes and casts Detect Enemies, her features lighting up with a candle-like glow momentarily before it dies back down.

[Poindexter]

Somewhat relieved that he's no longer on the "Town squad", Sam continues to eat and waits until breakfast is over and the group has broken up somewhat. Before Ohanze leaves the room though, he says "One more thing. I have a contact in my comm, mentioned only as 'mom'. I contact her everyday at 3:05 and we only speak in code, it seems. A code that appears to have something to do with weapons or explosives or something. I forwarded you all the correspondence I had with her earlier on the way here. Now, 3:05 draws near and I'm not sure how to proceed. Will you take a few minutes and help me look over these message logs and see if we can't figure out this code together? I worry about what will happen if I don't message or if I message in an incorrect manner."

[8-bit]

"One more thing. I have a contact in my comm, mentioned only as 'mom'. I contact her everyday at 3:05 and we only speak in code, it seems. A code that appears to have something to do with weapons or explosives or something. I forwarded you all the correspondence I had with her earlier on the way here. Now, 3:05 draws near and I'm not sure how to proceed. Will you take a few minutes and help me look over these message logs and see if we can't figure out this code together? I worry about what will happen if I don't message or if I message in an incorrect manner."

Upon hearing this, Chino speaks up, "I might be able to help you with that. I don't have "Mom" in my commlink, but my guess is that this," he shakes his commlink, "Was a burner. I do remember that Mom was someone we sent weapons to; I remembered,"  he pauses for a moment, trying to find the right words, "prepping some weapons to ship to her. Perhaps it will jog my memory and I can help you figure it out?"

[Poindexter]

"One more thing. I have a contact in my comm, mentioned only as 'mom'. I contact her everyday at 3:05 and we only speak in code, it seems. A code that appears to have something to do with weapons or explosives or something. I forwarded you all the correspondence I had with her earlier on the way here. Now, 3:05 draws near and I'm not sure how to proceed. Will you take a few minutes and help me look over these message logs and see if we can't figure out this code together? I worry about what will happen if I don't message or if I message in an incorrect manner."

Upon hearing this, Chino speaks up, "I might be able to help you with that. I don't have "Mom" in my commlink, but my guess is that this," he shakes his commlink, "Was a burner. I do remember that Mom was someone we sent weapons to; I remembered,"  he pauses for a moment, trying to find the right words, "prepping some weapons to ship to her. Perhaps it will jog my memory and I can help you figure it out?"

Ship weapons to her? I assumed 'flowers' meant money for weapons.

"Ok, Chino. I'll take all the help I can get."

[rednblack]

Ace tries on Katsina's handiwork and stands looking at himself in the full-length mirror in the master bedroom.  This is more like it.  "Thanks," he says through the bathroom door, as Katsina puts on the finishing touches for her ditzy bimbo costume.  He finds that his arm slide and concealable quick-draw holster work well with the new outfit, but decides to leave the machine pistol at home.  If I really end up needing that thing, we're probably fragged anyway, he reasons.

When the sedan from the car service pulls into the driveway, Ace and Katsina make their way out the door, and Ace tips an imaginary hat at the rest of the team, though they all seem preoccupied with their own tasks.  Ace closes the door behind them and leads Katsina by the small of her back to the waiting car where the driver stands ready to seat them.  Ace lets Katsina sit first then enters from the opposite side and says to the driver, "Hoi, I'm glad to get out of that cabin, but this one's not going to be happy until she's burned through my credstick here, am I right?  First stop is clothing, then maybe a light lunch followed by more shopping.  I'll take whatever recommendations you've got.  Kickbacks are fine and all, just make sure the quality's there, alright?"

Ace takes whatever suggestion comes from the driver in a kind of flippant wave, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, let's go," and spends the majority of the car ride complaining about his fictional boss, Briggs, who must be quite an asshole from the display Ace is making.  When they get into Aspen proper, Ace quiets down some and tries to keep his eye out for any clinics or cafes that might prove useful.  When the car pulls to a stop outside L. Bradley: Fine Clothiers, Ace gives the driver a solid pat on the shoulder.  "Alright, give us a half hour or so," before looking to Katsina, and then he adds, "Better make it forty-five."

[Tecumseh]

The driver is a professional but Katsina still catches his eyes drifting down to her décolletage. She puts on her best space-cadet smile, which isn't hard given the concentration she requires to keep spells active and sustained. She lets Ace lead her along so that she doesn't slip and crack her head on the slippery steps. It's going to be very strange if she's suddenly wearing a black lined jacket and a ballistic mask instead of looking like a perky ski bunny.

<<@Ace [Katsina] No hits on Detect Enemies. The driver is safe. No enemies within 150 meters.>>

The driver, a thin young ork who looks like he's had some cosmetic surgery to polish his skin and shorten his tusks, nods to Ace's request and wordlessly pilots the black SK-Bentley Concordat into town. He listens politely to Ace's complaints, which he seems to accept at face value, but doesn't sustain the chatter himself. He doesn't even introduce himself, perhaps learning long ago that clients in Aspen just don't care. His ARO identifies him as "Calvin". Katsina leans on Ace and purrs her sympathies.

There is no parking in front of L. Bradley: Fine Clothiers, so Calvin drops his passengers off and indicates that he will await their call nearby. The clothes shopping goes smoothly. After dropping off the purchases with Calvin, they visit a small cafe for a late lunch. Katsina orders a light salad and pushes it around her plate like an anorexic gold-digging elf might. Ace keeps up the expected airs of a high-powered corper while also ensuring that they are not being followed.

After lunch, they go for a walk to their next destination. Katsina unexpectedly directs Ace to the west, saying, "Let's walk this way. There's something I want to see." She leads them toward a more residential section to town. It's quieter over here with less foot traffic.

After a block or two, Ace gets the notion that they're being followed. He turns around and sees that they're being followed by three men. They look blue-collar, as much as one can in Aspen. The front man is a husky human male. His two buddies are orks and are also large.

<<@Ace [Katsina] Still no hits on the spell. I don't know what they want. They're not hostile. Well, not to me at least.>>

"Hey!" the lead man shouts. "Hey, I want to talk to you! Yeah, you, Mr. Big Shot. You stole my girl!"

Ace and Katsina exchange a look. The men get closer.

"Yeah, don't act all innocent, you slot. Mireille, elf, meter-and-a-half, long dark hair." They realize that he's describing APB perfectly. "I've seen you going in here with her." He points to the apartment building to your left. "Yeah, I seen you go in with her. Been waiting for you to come back.

"So, what, you're done with her already? You're on to the next one? Got a thing for dark-haired elves, I see. Think you got it where it counts, do you? Want to find out?" He pushes up his sleeves a bit.

His buddies chime in after looking around for witnesses.

Ork 1: "Gonna get wet around here, and we ain't talking about snow, chummer. You wanna be a cutter or a leaker?"

Ork 2: "Ever make idiot wine? Find a guy moving in on your girl and STOMP 'IM."

[Zweiblumen]

With a solid plan for next steps, Doc heads up to the office he's more or less commandeered.  He gets his tools kits out and starts working on repairing his cyberdeck.  It's not much damage, but he doesn't want to start a day at anything less than best chances as almost everything is less than optimal right now.  No sense in taking a handicap if he doesn't need to.  After about an hour he's got everything as good as new again.  As he's tidying up, he hears Ace and Katsina working on the new garb.

With that accomplished, he sits back and escapes from the pressure of the meat into his comfort zone of VR.  The world vanishes before him, and he is finally back in the real world.  The world of data and information where everything is at his fingertips.  His pinstrip suit with the disturbing messages subtly inscribed continues to represent at least part of who he used to be.

With a wave, he changes his icon to a faceless white male form.  Almost like a luminescent manikin from the late 20th century.  But instead of a brite white that might imply purity or godliness, it's a muted grey.  More like an idea that hasn't fully formed yet.  Looking at himself, he realizes there are much more import things to do than play with the way others in the Matrix see him.  Doc calls up the agent, and has him resume watching the area around the house and making sure there is nothing sneaking up on them.  Then rolling up his non existant sleeves, he gets to work looking for information on the artifact.

He starts with general information, trying to do image matching and such for the artifact.  After 15-20 minutes of intensive searches an using various algorithms he finds nothing.  "Hrm... that's odd, not even scrap of an image?"  Moving on, he starts with what little concrete information he has.  Gloria Winters.  She has an enormous amount of data on here.  The world reknown arcanoarchaeologist specializes in Fourth World Artifacts.  The location of her latest investigation is undisclosed.  Doc starts digging deeper on that thread and finds that there are whispers in the community about it being done in some hallowed ground or otherwise religiously significant location.  Peicing together what little details he's able to gather and the timing of when Ohanzee began to communicate with her Doc surmizes that Ohanzee was probably working her for information on the artifact.

After a couple of hours of peicing together what information he has he starts digging around for more specific information from Dr. Winters.  He spends the next four hours pouring through more arcanoarcheology research papers than he could have even imagined existed he begins to get a sense of her research.  But Doc can not find anything on their artifact which seems odd to him.  This would have been the sort of thing she would have been writing a lot about.  He comes the conclusion that all of her notes must be locked up on a host somewhere.

He looks at his local time readout and sees that it's 19:34 already.  He writes up his findings and sends it to the team.
<<<@Team [Doc] There is nothing out in the open that I can find about this artifact.  That data is really well hidden and/or being actively hunted/erased.  I'm hoop deep in data with none of it specific to our target.  However Dr. Winters is another story.  If we can find where she was doing her latest research I'm sure I can get her notes.  Have we found any more info on her residence or office?>>>

<<<@Ohanzee [Doc] You still want a car sent to another city?  I can just grab one from a parking lot at random and get it to set off some alarms once it gets there.>>>

[rednblack]

As Ace turns to face the trio approaching he sends a quick comm to Katsina:
<<@Katsina [Ace] I hope whatever we're looking for here is worth it ;-)>>

As the lead man speaks, and Ace gets an idea of who he's talking about, the gears start turning.  Well, here's a lead.  at least we have a name now.  Still, he wishes the information was coming to him under better circumstances. 

"Hoi, chummer," Ace says putting his hands up, palms forward, "I'd honestly rather not get into it with  you fellas, but" he activates the slide at his wrist and pops the taser into his open hand before leveling it at the human.  "If you want to keep threatening me, I will defend myself as is my right as a citizen of the Pueblo Corporate Council.  How do you think SecForce is going to like a bunch of tuskers and street trash accosting good tax-paying citizens, eh?  No, best to step back now before you get your hoop caught in a vice, omae.  And remember, whatever happens with your buddies here, you're going first, and you're going to go down hard.  Now buzz."

Ace can feel the synaptic boosters working their magic, and he prepares himself for whatever his new friends might throw at him.

[Tecumseh]

Katsina tenses up, gripping Ace's arm reflexively. It's doubtful she's actually frightened but she seems to be playing her role.

<<@Ace [Katsina] Watch it. Smells like these guys were at the pub for lunch.>>

Ace does note that the men are upwind of his position, but how Katsina could smell that at 20 meters is beyond him. Speaking of 20 meters, Ace knows that he's at the extreme limit of his taser's range. If these guys throw down some iron he's going to be at a serious disadvantage unless he closes the distance.

<<@Ace [Katsina] Don't let it come to a fight. Just get out of here. I'll take care of things my way and rendezvous with you in half an hour.>>

Luckily it doesn't come to that. The men freeze up at the sight of the taser. They stop in their tracks and backpedal slightly, although their rhetoric doesn't change gears.

Human: "A taser? Yeah, that seems about right, tough guy. You watch your back. We'll be seeing you soon."
Ork 1: "Yeah, real soon."
Ork 2: "Yeah, watch your back, slotlicker."
Human: "Eat your dandelions. My father's la familia, got it? We don't put up with this drek."
Ork 1: "Your mother played with fairies."
Ork 2: "Balls."

[rednblack]

As the trio of metas begin to back up, Ace holds his ground and endures their taunts.  Once they've passed the corner he slides his taser back up his sleeve and looks to Katsina.  "Do I look like an elf?  Guess I should take it as a compliment.  Wish we could get you in astral to see where they're headed.  They could be a solid lead."

Gesturing to the apartment building, Ace says, "Well, let's give a look since we're here," and he approaches the door to see if he can gain entry.

[Malevolence]

Once the group breaks up and leaves the kitchen, Ohanzee heads to the bedroom in the loft - his unofficial sanctum, but before he makes it to the door, Sam speaks.

"One more thing. I have a contact in my comm, mentioned only as 'mom'. I contact her everyday at 3:05 and we only speak in code, it seems. A code that appears to have something to do with weapons or explosives or something. I forwarded you all the correspondence I had with her earlier on the way here. Now, 3:05 draws near and I'm not sure how to proceed. Will you take a few minutes and help me look over these message logs and see if we can't figure out this code together? I worry about what will happen if I don't message or if I message in an incorrect manner."

Ohanzee was aware of the messages and the schedule, but with the events of the early morning, and the utter exhaustion, he hadn't had the time to put any thought into the code. Before he could say as much, Chino piped up with some new information on the group's relationship with "Mom".


"I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll help however I can. I don't think Doc has any free time, but I imagine if anyone is good a codes and secure communications practices, it'd be him. Maybe he can at least point you in the right direction with a few minutes of inspection."


Once in the bedroom, Ohanzee lies back on the bed and looks over the list of items the team has sent him. After an hour or so of online negotiations, the shopping was complete. All that remained was the pickup and payment. He forwarded the info to Ace and Katsina - locations, a list of items to get at each, and an itemized list of amount owed per team-member. They had just stepped out to their hired ride, so they could easily fit that into their plans. A few items would not be ready until tomorrow, so he notified the team of their items' status. Finally, he forwarded Ace 50 nuyen for the binoculars as those were available for immediate pickup.


Shopping complete, Ohanzee scanned the location history on his commlink, hoping to retrace his movements for the last few days - particularly with regards to where they might have extracted the artifact from, but found them conveniently erased. Apparently Ohanzee was more than a little paranoid about his commlink being compromised before his mind was wiped. A practice Ohanzee figured was prudent to continue. He spent the next few minutes erasing what he could from his commlink - checking first to see if perhaps his former self hadn't fortuitously overlooked it - and leaving only those things that were either innocuous or necessary - contacts, SIN, etc. On the off chance that he should be struck by amnesia yet again, he composed a summary of the events of the last day and what they had sussed so far, including any relevant data such as messages. He added one more thing to Ace's shopping list - security tags. Once he had one, he would copy the file to it and set it wireless off, then conceal it somewhere about his person. He forwarded an extra 5 nuyen to cover the cost. But for now, the commlink remained vulnerable - he hoped that Doc didn't have any bad luck in regard to their Matrix security.


Now for the hard work.


>>@Team [Ohanzee] Going out of body for a few. I'll check back in occasionally, so message me if you need anything.


He slipped into the astral, rising slowly out of his body as he took in his surroundings. Keeping an eye out for trouble, and blending in as best he could, Ohanzee made his way to Gloria's house to look around.

[Tecumseh]

The door lock unclicks when Ace and Katsina get within 5 meters. An ARO chimes, "Welcome home, Ivana! Good to see you again, James!" as they open the door. Katsina gives Ace a raised eyebrow.

Ace can feel the men staring daggers into the back of his head. He wonders if they'll be there when they get out.

The elevator doors open without prompting. Stepping in, the doors close as the elevator takes Ace and Katsina to the fourth floor without asking.

Katsina says, "I didn't want to come here last night because I thought it might be compromised. Plus we didn't have the gas to make it this far. Now that we're here, I'm not getting any hits on the spell. Let's see who we used to be."

Walking down the fourth floor hallway, Ace and Katsina stop at the door of unit #443. There's a biometric reader to open the door. It's keyed to both of them, so they enter without issue.

Inside, the apartment looks like an upper-class flophouse. It's scarcely furnished, more like a hotel room than an actual living space. There's a modest trid set and some decorations of questionable artistic merit.

Ace and Katsina find many of their personal effects inside. Additional clothing, toiletries, some of Katsina's carvings, etc. They also find a good deal of evidence suggesting that they were looking for APB together. There are notes which suggest that APB was frequently seen at a dive bar called Zed's with a guy who roughly matches the description of the man who just confronted you outside.

[rednblack]

First thing Ace does is check the number of beds in the apartment to see the extent of his past relationship with Katsina.  Next, he starts to tear into the art on the walls, looking for anything he or Katsina may have hidden there.  Then he's on to the drawers, looking for credsticks and anything else that may tell them about their past lives and their search for APB.  It's disconcerting being in the place.  "Does this bring you back at all?" he asks.  "I got nothing."

As he wanders around the apartment Ace wonders out loud, "Now if I was me, and I was living here, and I didn't take an assault rifle on this job, where I would have stashed it?  I'm guessing I have one, had one, whatever, but where would I have put it?"  He tries the closet, the kitchen cabinets, under the cushions in the sparse and funky couch. 

In the bathroom Ace checks the cabinet for any meds he or Katsina may have, and keeps his eyes peeled for a medkit.  Looking at himself in the mirror, which he must have done countless times, the strange disconnected feeling intensifies.  This is so weird.

[Tecumseh]

Ohanzee drops in on Gloria's house and is immediately overcome by a wave of nausea. The background count of the place makes his heart drop and his stomach turn upside down. The place is largely discombobulated, with furniture overturned and possession scattered. The only signs of life are Gloria's plants, and those aren't doing well because someone has broken all of their pots.

Ohanzee remembers that a missing person's report was filed on Gloria. If SecForce has been through Gloria's house, they certainly didn't clean up much. Still, he keeps an eye open for any SecForce spirits or personnel that might be keeping an eye on the place. He spies a watcher patrolling outside dutifully - the background count inside being too much for it to tolerate. Between the White Raven's concealment and his own sneaking efforts, Ohanzee has no trouble slipping in and out undetected. He wonders if the watcher were there when Dolphin came and went earlier today. Did Dolphin get noticed or did Dolphin take it as part of the hide-and-seek game and stay hidden accordingly?

The dwarf is only too happy to leave the house, the astral environment outside being as refreshing as mountain air on a brisky, windy day. He checks in on Ace and Katsina, who are still shopping at this point. Katsina is assensing when Ohanzee swings by. She gives him an astral nod and an indication that everything is under control.

Ohanzee then goes to check on where Dolphin found Gloria's body. It is deep in the mountains northeast of town. The area is densely wooded and well away from all roads. There is thick and deep snow all around her body, with no trails or paths leading up to it. The astral force from her body is almost nil. Her remains are frozen, indicating that she's been here at least overnight. Closer examination of the corpse suggests that she is missing some fingers. The background count here is frigid and painful, suggesting this is where she may have actually died. The tainted mana races through Ohanzee as if it were an icy wind, constricting his lungs and tightening his chest. Ohanzee shudders to think of what the researcher must have gone through at the house to create a background count there too. Gloria suffered greatly in her final days.


At the apartment, Katsina looks through some of her possessions. She examines the carvings, recognizing her telltale marks.

"It's like a scene from a dream," she answers Ace. "Something you recognize when you see it but that you didn't remember just a second before." She finds her spare clothing. It's highly organized, hanging neatly in the closets and folded crisply in the drawers. She grabs a duffel bag and begins packing it up. Once she's done, she gives Ace's stuff the same treatment while he's busy dismantling the artwork.

After coming up empty in his quest for firearms, Ace joins Katsina in the bedroom to go through the drawers. While checking his socks, he feels something hard about the size of his thumb. Unrolling the socks, he finds a commlink. He slots it in his Hermes Ikon to check the balance.

>> Zurich-Orbital Gemeinschaftsbank
>> Silver Certified Credstick
>> Current Balance: ¥8,760

Katsina raises an eyebrow: "Looks like you had a bit of an expense account. Maybe I should have gotten that scarf at L. Bradley after all."

[Zweiblumen]

<<<@Ohanzee [Doc] Can you add a winter mask to your shopping list for me, one of those fancy ski balaklava type things?  Money when Ace brings my credstick back.
...
balaklava.img
>>>