[Jack_Spade]

Sins of the fathers

“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin."

Deuteronomy 24:16

--------------
Seattle, May 26th, late at night

It had been sixteen days since the two smugglers had gotten back their container and still Josiah Willows - better known as Slobbertooth waited for certain information that was meant as his payment. 

The other members of the team were in their rooms while Slobbertooth prepared for another walk through the bad parts of Seattle. He had just adjusted his boots when his commlink indicated an incoming message.
It read:
<<Greatings from Great Britain.
I haven't forgotten about you. My contacts finally delivered, although it seems to have been a hard nut to crack indeed.
All files on the murder of those two have been sealed - which is never a good sign. Also it seems as if the two didn't exist until seven years before their death. Fake SINs most likely. But you are interested in their murder. There was a bit more to be found there. They were both killed with two precise shots to the back of their heads. One of the investigators noted in a private journal that he believed that the Humanis angle was just a front for a contract kill. The investigator went into retirement a year ago and still lives in Seattle - Gordon Willcox. Lives on a small island five miles of the coast if you want to visit him.

The plant William Willows worked at was closed exactly a week after his death. It was sold by Thorin Macro-Dynamics to Wayfarer Inc., a subsidiary of MCT. Benjamin Thorin, the owner got quite rich through the buyout. He went to buy himself a mega-yacht and cruises around the globe. He has an upcoming family event in about 10 days, so if you wanted to speak to him, you'd have a chance. His son Wilbur has his 18th birthday then. I'm told it will be quite the party.

As for the woman Zelda Willows, there is a hint that she might have been involved with the militant ork underground - at least there was a partial match to a facial recognition of her while a woman looking very much like her set fire to a Renraku installation about 10 years ago. The plant was on a small Island north of Hawaii - since than it's been bought by Aztec and turned into a tourist paradise.
That's all I'm afraid. Please find the raw-data attached to this message.
Happy hunting
Scarry Spice>>

[Volker]

bnc's brand-new MCT-Nissan Roto-Drone approaches Slobbertooth and halts mid-air three meters from him. An Ares Desert Strike sniper rifle extracts and points at Josiah.
"You are under arrest. Yield, and no harm will be done to you.", bnc's modified voice commands from the integrated speakers.

bnc has been like this the last two weeks. Once she adjusted to the new implant, she bought a bunch of drones, including this very flexible and fast Roto-Drone. She loved flying around and was even about to buy extra sensoric drones to feel the wind on her false skin. It's been a nuissance, but mostly you agreed with her new habit, since her consumption of drugs almost stopped and she seemed to be in a good mood most of the time. Only when she saw the new Proteus Krake. When somebody asked her about it, she just shook her head, sighed, and opened another ad.

[SquirrelDude]

Josiah tilted his head at the drone floating in front of him, and sighed. He looked past the drone to where he imagined bnc might be standing. "Please don't stop pointing a weapon at me. It's bad manners, and it's freaks ou-

Slobbertooth was cut off by a blur of movement and loud barking.

"Li! No, Down! That is not a-, goddamit bnc, I told you this would happen!" The teams new animal friend had reacted, unfortunately in this situation, exactly the way Tibetan Mastiffs were bred to. Li had started trying to knock the rotor drone out of the air. Slobbertooth pulled Li away form the drone until she calmed down. She barked happily and wagged her tail at her glorious triumph over the armed and dangerous intruder.

"You're going to have to give her some time to get used to the new drones. We'll figure something out..."

Josiah went silent and started looking over his commlink. He read through everything.
<<@bnc@Torrent@Krestov

>Scary Spice just paid out on that info. There's a PI in Seattle I need to speak with. If you're interested in some pro-bone work you can tag along or wait for me to give a full briefing when I get back.>>

Slobbertooth hustled to grab his armor jacket, helmet, and Ruger Super Warhawk before heading out on his Suzuki Mirage.

[Volker]

bnc maneuvers the drone away from Li, softly giggling, and parks it whereever we chose to put the drones before we can move to our new lair.

<@Team <Did they now? Muy bien. If you forward the message to me, I can find out whether I can find out something.>>

[Sabato Kuroi]

After their last job Torrent spent his days in solitude.He was never a spiritual man but there was no denying that, lately,  Raven was reaching out to him, offering guidance and promising power.
Torrent suspected that his recent actions pleased his mentor spirit but he knew the Great Trickster  wouldn't hand power on a plate.

The elf's daily progress was almost imperceptible and he knew he needed a break from all this before he ran out of patience.



Slobbertooth's message presented the perfect opportunity to get some not-so- fresh air.

@Slobbertooth: <<I'm in, as long as you leave that monster of yours behind.>>


Torrent put on his new suit and armed himself with his trusty Savalette.

[SquirrelDude]

Slobbertooth was halfway out the door when he saw the messages from bnc and Torrent. He forwarded both the address and sent bnc the full message.
<<@bnc@Torrent@Krestov
>Here's the address. The mirage is only a 1-seater. You'll need to take the van. See you all in a bit.>>

<<@bnc
>Here's the full details on the story. Keep your head down when searching out information on this one. I don't want anyone to get a heads up that we're on the way.>>

Slob sent the information from Scary Spice as he entered the garage and boarded his motorcycle.
<<@Kazuya Armstrong
>It's Josiah. I'm heading to the PI's place now.>>

The rest of the team heard Slobbertooth burst off on his Mirage.

[Volker]

<@Slobbertooth <Roger, sempai. I'll just do some generall overall matrix search. I'll let you know in case there's something interesting, but I don't expect a lot.

bnc goes for an ordinary matrix search on the Gordon and Thorin.

[spoiler]Gordon Wilcox: 13d6t5 3
Benjamin Thorin: 13d6t5 4   
Just tell me if there is anything special. I don't really need to know whether they love their cat or post silly pictures to the trix. But I'd like to know if they have been in jail for eating clients or so.

[Jack_Spade]

Slobbertooth's map soft told him that he would need to take a ferry to get to the ex-police man's new home - a small island with maybe 50 inhabitants - mainly retirees of various governmental branches and there public-private-partnership equivalents. It was heavily wooded - or rather reforested and the info-blurb claimed it to be a prime location for quiet living and fishing.

The next automated-ferry would head out in about half an hour.

Armstrong's reply came back quickly: <<Happy hunting indeed. Give me a call when you get the info. But be careful - it might be a good idea to call that Wilcox before you appear on his doorstep. People can get touchy if an armed ork appears suddenly in the middle of the night on their doorstep.>>


bnc's efforts were twofold:
About Gordon she could only find that he was 68, a competitive shooter, hunter and liked fishing very much. There were no news about him regarding any misconduct - even though he had worked for Lonestar. The man had been an investigator for 40 years and a beat-cop for 5. He sported two degrees: One forensics and a political sciences.

On Thorin she found mainly that he was now a boating enthusiast - about his previous role as industrialist there was almost nothing left. MCT had worked hard to incorporate everything of his old firm as thoroughly as possible leaving only traces of old PR texts that hinted at some pretty revolutionary work on cooperative networked drones.
The family estate lay itself was also build on an island - an artificial one albeit - that was connected through a private, two kilometer long bridge to mainland Seattle. The families estimated wealth lay in the billions now.
Benjamin Thorin(56) was "happily" married to his first and only wife(48) Eliza - although she didn't accompany him on his turns around the globe. Most likely she was the one managing the assets and caring about investing and multiplying the family fortune.
They had a son(18)  and two younger daughters(16) - twins. There was one mention that the twins had magical talent, but bnc couldn't find anything more about them on short notice.

[SquirrelDude]

Slobbertooth walked his motorbike onto the ferry, and took a spot near the prow of the ship. He checked his commlink for messages recieved and saw that the rest of the team was on their way. If they were able to make the ferry, they'd be more than welcome. If they weren't, he'd wait at the landing on the island for them to arrive. He activated AR and sent a message to former detective Wilcox as Kazuya had suggested.

<<@Private Investigator Gordon Wilcox

>My name is Slobbertooth. I'm a concerned citizen, scheduling an appointment with you at your current abode tonight. I am coming in order to get more information about the murder of two orcs named William and Zelda Willows. I hope to find you in good health and good spirits.

>Put on a pot of soykaf. Although I would rather not take up too much of your time, I imagine I'll have quite a few questions for you and we may be up for a while.>>

[spoiler]If I need to be making a palming check to my weapon while on the ferry. It's in a concealed holster.
Palming 1 + Agility 6: 7d6t5 4[/spoiler]

[Sabato Kuroi]

Torrent packs his new chameleon suit and his ballistic mask and waits for his friends to get ready.

[Jack_Spade]

The reply came back about five minutes in: <<Who the hell do you think you are? I am no Private Investigator. But I was a Lonestar cop and whenever I see the term "concerned citizen" I just want to bash a head against a wall - not necessarily mine.
And if my damn bladder didn't keep me awake anyhow I'd greet you - whoever you are - with a swift shotgun blast to the gut.
But since I've got nothing better to do than to sit up anyhow, I'll see you. But any funny stuff and I have a riot team here within the minute.>>

[Volker]

bnc doesn't take any weapons with her, though she loads the small drones into the back of the van - nothing illegal though. While she's searching the matrix, she lets the autopilot drive the car. Since a matrix research takes a while, they would have arrived at the harbor once she's done. She summarizes the most important info and shares it on the group channel.

"Ready for the boat, omae"

[SquirrelDude]

Slobbertooth hunched over in his jacket to lower his profile against the wind and rain, and read the response from Wilcox. This was going to be fun.

<<@Retired Lonestar Cop Gordon Wilcox

Sounds great. I'll bring my own creamer. I may have a few friends joining me, but they'll be a bit late to the festivities.>>

[SgtBoomCloud]

Choong Gi, Danh Goon, Doh San, Won Hyo, Yul Guk, Choong Gan, Toi Gye, Hua Wong, Choong Mu...

Krestov was in his room, furniture pushed off to the side as he worked on his patterns, reinforcing his taekwondo training.  For him, it was the perfect level of physical therapy, allowing him to truly feel the differences with his new addition.  And it showed, his moves becoming faster and effortless as he went through them.  Unfortunately, such practice required focus, and he did not receive the message until after he was finished...and with a quick scan of the place, everyone had left.

"...Well, that is load drek"  He chuckled and sighed, mentally pulling up the message and giving a reply.

<<@Team: just receiving message.  On way>>

It took him but moments to don his new attire, the socially semiformal attire covered by the fancy-looking longcoat.  Grabbing his Crusader, helmet, and shield, the troll slipped the gun into its concealed holster on his person, the helmet and shield going on respective places on his new Scorpion.  Revving up the engine, the troll made sure to lock up before speeding off into the city, doing his best to catch up to the crew.

[Jack_Spade]

Surprisingly enough the team made it onto the same ferry. At this time of night they had the thing practically to themselves. Only one other passenger was on board with them - an old man with a weathered face, ill fitting attire and a serious reek of alcohol inside the passenger section.

The transport took nearly half an hour - mainly due to the rough sea that had formed mid travel. The auto-pilot informed them that the next ferry from the island would probably be delayed until the early morning hours.

When the ferry finally docked and the swaying stopped a hefty storm had the little Island in its grip. Trees bend in the gale, debris and dust as well as spray cut down the visibility. Street lanterns swayed dangerously and made the shadows dance.

According to the file the house of the retired investigator lay at the other end of the island about two kilometers away.
A quick look into the matrix revealed that there were about five Lonestar rotordrones that had gone to ground. A few of the houses sported undisguised icons of defense drones, but most seemed to rely only on basic cleaning machines.

The road was narrow but clear. Their destination turned out to be a small cottage built with modern materials directly next to the sea.
A discreet AR sign declared the property to be protected by a Lonestar fast response contract.
Only behind one window light was visible.