[Lorebane24]

After a few moments, AM is able to bypass the host's firewall and tap into the camera's feed (which is visual only - it hasn't been hooked up for audio).  It looks onto a room that has been stripped bare.  The surfaces are scored plastcrete, and the only furniture is an arrangement of steel cubicle walls and small cot set up in the corner of a little nook that they form.  Huddled in the middle of the cot is a severely bruised Yin.  He holds one hand close to his chest and his face is contorted in pain.  There is a bucket to one side of the cot, and a small pile of nutrisoy packs and bottle water on the floor.  You can't make out the space behind the makeshift partition, but you can make out the occasional lick of flame issue through the seams.

[Tecumseh]

"Chummer here is going to smell like a pit toilet," Mato says, wrinkling his nose and praying that the cut-off function of his olfactory boosters saves him from the worst of it. The car though, the car.

"He looks beat up; I wonder if he can even walk. Speaking of walking, we have four-seat sedan for five adults. Bobby, you want to fly home? If not, I can run."

He looks over to the Stuffer Shack. "I'm going to take a quick turn through the aisles and see what I can find for the animals. Maybe some wet wipes and some spritzes for Sir Stinks-a-Lot. Maybe a Cup-O-Soup and a Ludivenko Lovely Soya-Sloppies with the DoubleThick option to welcome him out of captivity."

[gilga]

AM shared the information with the team and suggested "Let's not overthink it... I'll loop the cameras and you do the extraction. Bring him to the car and we GTFO, we have a smuggling space for the stinker. I think we can be fine but a bit of distraction cannot hurt.  "Even if he has a tag, they are not going to Bellevue to reclaim him... So it is mainly a question of how easily we get out of Redmond."

She texted about the cats, still in her hot sim ">>They could be bio-drones, which would explain the strange aura. They are technically alive so they have one, but lack of control over their body would degenerate their entire emotional state, and make their aura pale and bland. Almost like objects, but not quite.  Being drones does not explain how they can see the astral without being dual natured, some critters can instinctively sense magic, but not actively track a projecting mage as far as I can tell.  I'll have a look in the matrix in case they are bio-drones - would be little point in feeding them in that case."

With that she started looking where Jawsei said the cats were and trying to see if they also had some matrix icons, running silent or not. A bio-drone would definitely be driven remotely... unless - the driver is as small as a mouse. That thought raised a strange smile to her face.
Matrix perception (Cats): 11d6t5 5

[Lorebane24]

The cats give off no wireless signal whatsoever.

[gilga]

>> So no wireless on them... No spells and not awakened.

[Beta]

<<My big worry is that the cats are actually dead, but possessed.  I've heard rumours of spirits that can possess empty bodies.  And I'm out of my body a lot. >>

[gilga]

She dissmissed the notion. "How can they be possesed without being dual natured? "

[Jack_Spade]

<<Well, there is good eating on a cat, so if you want to be extra sure, I can take care of them. But all in all I'd recommend to just fly up to the window, cut through the glass with the micro welder, take the boy to the window, have Jawsee levitate the boy to the ground and get the hell out of dodge. Simple, quick and with a minimum of fuss. Jawsee could try to calm the boy down enough, so I can turn him into a Shizu and carry him away.>>

Bobby replied, getting impatient again.

[gilga]

AM said, "Sounds like a good plan to me... Perhaps you'd prefer to enter from within, as I can loop the cameras, but it seems like a nice plan."

[Beta]

One way or another, Jawsey was going to want a spirit for when he faced the hellhound.  If he could get it to cast any levitate spells, that would be all the better.

His first thought was to call RedJacketBoy, the spirit he'd known longer than any other.  But even as he made the call he could tell that his heart was not into bringing the spirit to this place with its tainted astral energies, and to fight a dangerous opponent.  The summoning attempt fizzled, but he also didn't lose any energy to it.

If he needed a fighter, he could call Sam, with his long clever fingers that could flick a magicians wand or wrap around a throat.  There was some risk in calling Sam, as the spirit's power was stronger than Jawsey's own, but generally he could handle it.  It turned out that he could handle the drain, but not persuading Sam to come to this place.

Well.  If he had to bring a spirit to this vaguely miserable place, maybe he should be calling on a vaguely miserable spirit?  TheHunchedWomanWithIronTeeth was proof that spirits could be bitter and sour just like metahumans could, but she seemed like a fit for this place. 

This time Jawsey put all of his focus into the summoning, funneling in his desire to be valued by this new team, his frustration with the weakness of his magic and his dislike of the barrens.  The ill-natured spirit couldn't resist that cocktail of magic and emotions, but as she appeared she opened her mouth improbably wide and slashed his spirit with her knife-like teeth.  She cackled into his mind "What are we tormenting?  Or is it finally your turn to die and you are letting me watch?"

[Tecumseh]

"Time to go shopping," Mato says, exiting the vehicle and heading for the Stuffer Shack.

The team goes back and forth over text to form the plan, Mato contributing via DNI. Luckily he can navigate the Stuffer Shack with little conscious thought: Aisle 5 for personal hygiene, Aisle 7 for pet food and supplies, Aisle 16 for Cup-O-Soup, the dispenser bars for liquid and viscous products. He also looks for treats that he can use to ingratiate himself toward any nosy tenement residents: Sweeteez and Krak-L-Snaps, a pack of cigarettes, a "Beauty and her Breasts" trid, etc.

Discussions about the plan continue, with a checklist rapidly forming about the progression of steps.

Mato also buys a pair of disposable Use’N’Lose plastic gloves from Aisle 10, the better to hide his cyberhands, then goes ahead and buys a whole outfit in case Yin's clothes need to be burned. Luckily the gloves, shirt, shoes, and pants are only ¥2 each. He makes a last-minute executive decision to also buy a couple steaks, reasoning that - while expensive - they were cheaper than medical bills.

<<Just bought some steaks. I'll try feeding them to the dog first at 8a. If that doesn't work, then it's on to step 9.>>

He approaches the counter with his "Tex Shaft" identity ready should the system have the audacity to actually ask for a SIN. Shops in the Barrens usually went out of business if they required one, but sometimes you got unlucky. He holds a credstick at the ready so that the cashier knows that he's getting paid either way.

He returns to the car, drops off some of the things that are for Yin, pulls on the gloves, then looks to get the green light to proceed.

[Jack_Spade]

When the plan finally stood, Bobby replied:
<<Alright, see you on level 4.>>
This time, the transformation was sluggish despite the fact that he opened up a really large channel to the surrounding mana. His Totem became clearly visible - a chimera made up of the many aspects of Beast. That done, another Osprey took to the air, heading for the tenement building, with the small form of his mini welder in his claw.
Bobby took the time to soar a bit over the roof, making sure no-one was up there, before landing on the window sill of the boy's cell to take a personal look on the situation - after all "trust but verify" had seldomly failed him. Once he had the confirmation, he sneakily made his way to the balcony to meet up with Mato.

[gilga]

AM recorded several minutes of the camera feed in order to loop the camera at the extraction point. When the team was ready she would delay detection by making the camera show recorded images rather than the genuine feed.


edit file (loop camera): 14d6t5 2
Dice luck strikes me too, but oddly - 2 successes are enough as the camera only buys 1 hit.

Back in AR, she gestured at Jawsei, "give me your hands| she asked. She closed her eyes and chanted a brief blessing to the great Eagle spirit. It was not strictly required of the spell, but they were not in a hurry and it was important to be modest before tempting fate. The blessing was well received as her spell came out potent.  "Go and return safely, the spell is solid." She said.

[Beta]

AM's magic left Jawsey's mind feeling clear as a bell, yet aware of everything.  Aware even of why he'd been reaching for a dose of Psyche -- less for the need than the reassurance of the drug.  With a small effort he re pulled his hand away from that pocket, and threw himself into the astral before he weakened.

He flew his astral form to where Mato had left the cat bait, hoping that if they were following him, they would get close enough to be tempted.  Then he flew away from the tenement, then up, then in wide three quarters of a circle.  The  fragging cats would probably show up anyway, but he felt he had to at least try.

Shortly he arrived at the balcony where Bobby was waiting.  He stood his astral form inside the adept, hoping he'd pick up the signal.

[Beta]

But after only a few moments of being on the balcony, it occurred to Jawsey that it could be coincidence that the prisoner happened to be in the most defensible unit in the building, but it could also be quite calculated, and they had not scouted the adjacent units.

That could be resolved in moments, and Mato was not here yet.  So he floated into the middle unit on their level, and then into the end unit.  Best to know if there were guards on standby before having to deal with them.