Shadows Of New York

by Cypher-SB

The continuing adventures of Cypher and Firefly, almost seven months after the events that happened in Denver. What starts as a simple run to the Rotten Apple turns into a much longer stay. Based on the Catalyst Game Labs mission modules. Results are in no way guaranteed to match cannon material, and the shadowrunners are characters of my own creation.

1. Run 00 : Everyone's Your Friend

Run 00 : Everyone's Your Friend (based on the mission written by Stephen McQuillan; posted 2014/04/28)

It was late on the last Sunday in March when Skyler got a call from someone neither he nor Mina had spoken to since the summer before. It was also hard to forget the bald head and gold tusk of Miguel Sanchez when it popped up on his commlink's tiny screen.

"Who's calling?" Mina asked.

"Miguel." Skyler told her. With a thought he answered the call, using his personal winged sword icon to represent himself on the call rather than use his commlink's built-in camera to show themselves.

"Aight, so's I gots a job for tha two of ya. All travel paid, to pick up a lost package in the Rotten Apple." Miguel said, not even waiting for a greeting.

"And why're you callin' us?" Skyler asked, "We haven't even been home two days from flying all 'round the planet already."

Around the planet was almost true. Having gotten caught up with a smuggler to help a thief by the name of Sonora had actually landed them on a whirlwind trip across the Pueblo Corporate Council to Los Angeles. After getting word that it might be best to stay out of Denver for a while they had stuck on with the other shadowrunners and went with them to Seattle instead of returning home. Within a two weeks they had gotten another job that took them across Europe. It was only last Friday night that the two had finally gotten home from another job that took them to Southern Asia, where Skyler was momentarily engaged to someone other than Mina, and ended with a boat trip across the Pacific that involved a fight with more than one pirate group at a time.

"'Cause youz two know what's lost." Miguel answered. "Stop by da Imports and bring what ya need for da trip. Dis one could take a while."

We know what's lost? Skyler thought to himself.

"Should we hear him out?" Skyler asked.

Mina groaned.

"We'll at least be there to talk." Skyler told the gold tusked ork, ending the call. He ran a hand over his head, still not used to the stubble of having had his head shaved only days ago.

"Do we really have much to bring?" Mina asked, "I mean, we never really packed a lot those last two times."

"Yeah, true." Skyler said.

Skyler really was the one with the most to carry, which was his stylized monofilament sword and half a dozen various pistols. Mina, on the other hand, had her magic, two handguns, and a shorter blade for backup.

"So where are you two off to?" Sarah asked, catching them as they were raiding the refrigerator for some energy drinks before leaving.

"Got a call from Miguel." Skyler said, closing the refrigerator door. "Job about finding something."

"He said we knew what was lost." Mina added, "Hell if I know what he's talking about."

"So you're not planning on taking the job?" Sarah asked.

"Not really." Skyler answered.

"Not like we need the money anyway." Mina added.

"Well, technically you're both adults." Sarah said. "Fine. We'll tell everyone you two are still away."

Living several months straight and not being able to leave Rei's home would have been impossible. Together they had come up with a child protection kind of story, with Sarah being the guardian of Skyler and Mina, along with new fake identities for the both of them. Posing as brother and sister the two had managed to play their roles to the hilt, including a grounding after getting in trouble with a couple of the other neighborhood kids.

When it came to their trip across the PCC after Sonora, Sarah had told them she had told the other parents in the neighborhood that they had to go back home. So far nobody in the neighborhood even knew that they were back.

It was when Skyler noticed his younger sister grinning when he said, "It's still not funny."

"I know, but I still can't help it." Sarah said, "You both look so different without hair."

"Let's just go!" Mina said loudly, storming out of the kitchen.

Scowling, Skyler followed her.

Their shaved heads came from their last job, and it was not exactly a choice or fashion statement either of them chose. Their team was captured and then plugged into an ultra hot UV node as a form of interrogation, a virtual reality environment so high tech it was impossible to discern from the real world. To allow the trodes the best possible connection, their captor had everyone's head shaved.

Things had not quite gone so smoothly. Skyler had actually felt weak and disconnected while in the node with the others. He was next to useless in the virtual world. Even after finding out what had really happened, he still had no idea why that particular node had been the way it was towards him.

After their escape from the UV node, Mina had become despondent. Even though her hair was not exactly that long she had taken the loss of her hair pretty hard. It seemed Skyler had been the only one to be able to help her when she became angry.

Rei's home was in the UCAS sector, so there were no borders to cross to reach Casquillo Imports. Skyler hacked a GridCab to give them a ride there. Sure, they could have had Sarah give them a ride, but that meant more time with her when they both did not want to be close to her, and other embarrassing feelings at 'having to get a ride from mommy.'

Miguel was already waiting for them, dressed in jeans and a long jacket.

With Miguel was another ork that Skyler thought he had seen once or twice before. He was shorter than Miguel, and rather slim for an ork. He had nearly black skin and black curly hair. He also wore simple jeans, shirt, and a coat that was not zipped up. At least his hands were cybernetic.

"Oi, youz two looks like youz walked outa a game." Miguel told them.

It was sort of true. Both Skyler and Mina wore clothes from dressCODE's CYBERPIRATE line, which boasted a similar look from all of the Tron movies that had been made over the last century.

Skyler and Mina both had gotten a full ensemble that was reminiscent to the old movie Tron Legacy, with the gloss black and wide fiber optic lines that lit up and changed colors on command. They had also gotten matching goggles, headphones, and boots, though they did a lot more than just look the part.

Several months ago, even before their unplanned trip to Los Angeles, both Skyler and Mina had gotten new gear and tricks along with their new clothes. Concealed in their goggles was a small sensor package containing a tricked out trideo camera and microphone, and software to give them an extra edge when dealing with others.

Among that software was a facial recognition program. Thinking that the other ork looked familiar Skyler ran that program against the data stored in a high end commlink that was part of his fake cybernetic left arm. What Skyler knew about a runner with the street name 'Stomper' came to view almost right away.

"Wait, you're telling me I'm going to be working with these two?" Stomper asked. "Thought this was a professional job. And they stand out way too much."

"We worked with this guy before?" Mina silently asked.

"Yup, daz right. Youz workin' wit 'em." Miguel said.

Skyler checked the date on Stomper's data file. "We've met him February, before we went to L.A." Skyler told Mina.

Aloud, Skyler said, "Hey, the clothes are so overt they're covert. Besides, the style's all the rage since Astrologic went supernova. What's that old saying, if you want to hide a leaf do it in a forest?"

Astrologic was a trio of musicians that blended technosynth with some steelmill industrial for their style of music. On the stage and in the public the three wore custom made ensembles from the dressCODE line. The company's sales had hit a new high when the fans could buy similar designs.

"I won't work with children." Stomper added.

"Fuck you, Stomper, we are professionals." Mina said.

"Fine. Doesn't mean shit if we take the job or not." Skyler added.

"We met before?" Stomper asked.

"Last February." Skyler said. "We crossed paths hunting some Azzies that tried sneaking in for the Olympics."

"I still say it was luck." Mina added.

"Oh shit, you two?" Stomper asked.

"Yes, us two." Skyler spitefully said.

"Where's your keeper?" Stomper asked. "And I thought you had hair."

"You need your momma to come wipe your nose?" Skyler retorted. "Just shut the fuck up."

"Maybe I should burn him anyway." Mina added menacingly.

"New York's no place for children." Stomper said.

"Got a news flash for ya, but Denver ain't all that safe sometimes too." Mina replied.

"As if New York doesn't have kids there, either." Skyler added. "Or Seattle, Hong Kong, Sarajevo…"

"So, you said we knew what's lost. So what is it?" asked Mina.

"Youz okay with da trip?" Miguel asked. "Doesn't look like you've packed much."

"So we travel light. The rest we can buy there." Skyler said.

Miguel grinned.

"Alright, fine." Stomper relented. "If at least to try and keep you kids out of trouble."

"Keep us out of trouble?" Mina silently asked.

"Oi, these two'z ain't newbs." Miguel said.

"Maybe I oughta burn him." Mina suggested.

"I don't think you could do it." Stomper said.

"They call me Firefly 'cause I melted down a steel door with magic my first job." Mina told him.

Skyler remembered that moment a little differently, but certainly was not going to bring it up now.

"They're serious?" Stomper asked Miguel.

"They'z done lots o' work for me already. They'z good." the ork replied. "So, youz gonna be goin' afta Lin Yao. She's skipped town."

"Uh, yeah. She's dead." Skyler said.

"Den she's back from da dead. We'z got proof she's in Manhattan." Miguel told them.

Skyler and Mina both groaned. Skyler knew it would be trouble since the Triad had paid their team a good sum of money to kill her. Mina never did like the idea, and Skyler still remembered the promise that they turn down all wetwork in the future. She did not like it, but she had accepted the money just for keeping quiet about it all.

"Please don't tell me you're wanting us to do it right the second time." Mina groaned. "'Cause if you are then you can just fuck off right now."

It was ruder than Skyler would have put it, but deep down he felt the same way.

"Well, if ya gotta." Miguel said like Mina's comment was completely professional, "But really da jobz to get her back ta Denver alive. Youz gets a finder's fee of seventy-five hundred if ya can do it."

"I think we need to do this one." Skyler silently told Mina.

"Because of our rep, right?" Mina asked.

Skyler nodded.

"Okay, we're in but not for the money." Skyler said.

"Not the money?" Stomper asked.

"Yeah, not the money. It's for our reputation that we're doin' it." Skyler answered.

"But like hell we're gonna do it for free." Mina added. "Shit, finder's fee of seventy-five hundred? Why'd we come back again?"

"To try to take a break from artifact hunting." Skyler answered. "But why us?" he asked Miguel, "We can't be the only ones you could call."

"Yeah, you'z were. Da ot'ers ain't in da area." Miguel told them.

When it looked like Mina was not going to say anything, scowling as she looked away from him, Skyler grumbled, "Fine."

"Good, cuz youz gonna need this." Miguel said.

Skyler's commlink beeped with an incoming file request. "What's this?" he asked.

"A patch for you'z ID." Miguel said. "Youz gonna need it ta get in."

"If this fucks us over, you know what I'll do." Skyler threatened as he accepted the ID patch.

Miguel laughed, but it sounded like he was not completely oblivious to the threat.

"I don't get it." Stomper said.

Skyler looked over the code of the patch as he asked, "Heard about what happened to Masatoshi Morikawa last Halloween?"

"Yeah, some hackers ripped his network a new ass." Stomper said, "Knight Errant got a shit load of evidence the guy was behind at least a dozen technomancer kidnappings. Word is a bunch of hackers lead by a wiz cutter named 'Cypher' did it."

"Shit." Skyler groaned, "Now they're saying I was a leader?"

Miguel laughed. Skyler couldn't blame the ork for this one.

"Knight Errant's official report…" Stomper started to say.

"Is shit." butted in Skyler. "I tore through half a dozen firewalls, and I ain't talkin' 'bout the shit the megas sell the public. Those were military grade barriers and coding I ripped apart like a grizzly bear opens canned meat. And I did it alone."

"Kid, better hope no real hackers find out…" Stomper said. Looking to Miguel he suddenly stopped.

"Dis kid'z Cypher." the gold tusked ork said.

"Seriously?" Stomper asked, apparently still not believing it.

Miguel laughed hard.

"Shit, I hate this." muttered Mina, turning and taking a few steps away from them.

"Now you know how I feel." Skyler added.

Stomper just looked at the two of them.

"So, time ta go." Miguel said. "We gots dis truck ta haul you and yer stuff ta Stapleton. Da guyz'll tell ya da rest on da way."

Arrangements had already been made for their trip. Miguel even had three large crates, each one 1m × 1m × 3m in size. Skyler and Mina had opted to share a crate, mostly because neither needed a whole crate to themselves.

It was late before their flight departed from Stapleton, and it was one step above air freight. While their cargo box was in the cargo hold itself, the three of them got a not so comfortable seat in a small passenger cabin close to the cockpit. At least it was not like the T-bird they rode in last month, a flight so noisy and full of short hops that it had been nearly impossible to even get a nap.

Somewhere along the flight Skyler caught Stomper looking at him and Mina. It was one of those 'I know' looks, like Stomper actually believed he was who he said he was. Considering the unencrypted and uncoded calls Skyler had overheard Stomper making, he hoped the black skinned ork believed it.

It was early in the morning when their flight arrived at Kennedy International. Once they were past airport security they collected their things and were off to the island of Manhattan.

Originally one of the boroughs of New York City, the entire island of Manhattan was now extraterritoriality. It started after the Quake in 2005 when the United States government failed to step up with disaster relief for the stricken city. Enter the Manhattan Development Consortium, or Manhattan Inc., or just MDC for short. Over the course of forty years the corporation bought up every square kilometer of Manhattan and annexed it off from the rest of the city and nation. During that time the NYSE (later renamed the East Coast Stock Exchange) moved from Manhattan to Boston then right back again where it originally had been, some of the buildings that had actually survived the Quake were lifted an average of five meters back to their original elevation, and the city grew by roughly sixteen square kilometers in area. People left and were enticed back, and the island became once again a bustling city of business. Never mind the fact that it was legally and technically a country all to itself now.

As Manhattan was suffering and being rebuilt, security was tightened at all of the bridges and subway stations for getting onto Manhattan, the New York Police Department became Incorporated as the law enforcement arm for the MDC. It made for an interesting balance of power, with the Corporate Court having their ground based headquarters in Manhattan, but their own security did not hold much authority beyond their own building.

It also meant that, as one of the enforced security measures, everyone was required to publicly broadcast their identity on their commlinks. Skyler and Mina were not too keen on this, having been more accustomed to keeping their commlinks in passive or hidden mode. Public meant that anyone with a commlink could read anyone else's identity. A century ago that would have been similar to having your ID or drivers license card worn as a name tag for all to see, and walking around with a powerful strobe light on your head.

It was evident what the extra security meant when they took the metro from JFK International Airport to Manhattan.

For both Skyler and Mina this was their first trip by rail. Sure, once they had gone by train to a ski resort and back, but speeding aboveground was a wholly different experience. It was also nice to be able to sit down for a while again.

At least their choice of clothes was not outlandish compared to some of the others they saw. There were several others who had the same style with various bright colors. Even with Skyler sporting light blue and Mina hot pink, they did not exactly stand out.

Curious as to why it was not a subway, Skyler created an ARO to do a little research. It was not difficult to find that the underground of Manhattan had largely been paved over instead of reclaimed. As a result an elevated railway system had been rebuilt above the streets, largely following the same layout as the now destroyed subway system. Only rarely did this metro system go underground.

They got off at the line's first stop within Manhattan's borders to change to a different line that would almost bring them to their destination, a business called The Apple Press.

The checkpoint to get to the other metro line felt almost as bad as the security checkpoints in Denver. The air was a flood of AROs floating near everyone's heads, most of them were red but there were some that were blue, blue and white mixed, and one or two that were white.

Then Skyler noticed a trio of dwarves just ahead of them, and their black passes. They were pulled from the line of people by security and it looked like they were going to get a more thorough examination before being allowed to pass. No one else in the line seemed to even notice.

"Don't get involved." Stomper said in a hushed tone to them.

"We're not as stupid as you." Skyler replied.

Mina looked like she had some concern, but this really was not new to her either. She and Skyler both had seen plenty of people pulled out of line in Denver when trying to cross the border. Even once there was someone handcuffed and sitting on the curb while a rather expensive looking sports car was being disassembled the easy way.

When it came to their turn to cross the security guards here were just as lackadaisical as the ones in Denver. After what looked like a simple check they were ushered on through. They did not even seem to question the fact that Skyler was openly wearing his Ruger Super Warhawk on his right hip or a sword at his back. Even Mina with her Cougar Fineblade was not given a second look. He made a note to thank Merlin for the quality of the fake IDs and licenses he and Mina had.

They were to meet a fixer called Peace Man at The Apple Press, and the metro station at Union Square and 14th Street put them only blocks away.

The Apple Press certainly did not look like what Skyler was expecting. Rather than a receptionist and office cubes the whole ground floor of the building was devoted to being a coffee and teahouse. And by the smell of the coffee in the air it was the real thing.

At just after nine in the morning the place was not too busy. There were a handful of people at individual tables, but one group was gathered at a corner booth.

"Looks like we're over there." Stomper said, pointing to the group at the corner booth.

Skyler was not so sure, but followed behind anyway.

Sitting at the table was the first minotaur Skyler had ever seen in person. He had short, curly black hair, swarthy skin, at least cybernetic hands, and a prominent pair of ivory horns growing from his temples. Even sitting down he looked huge. The ID icon next to him said his name was Joseph Golden.

Next to him was a very attractive elf. She was dressed a little more oddly in a full on steampunk fashion style, with large boots, trousers, and a vest with working clockworks within. She had very long red hair that was done up in a collection of thick braids. Her broadcast ID said her name was Carol Webb.

Opposite of the minotaur was a strange looking human. Skyler figured the solid black eyes were cybernetic replacements, which did go well with the nearly all black ensemble he wore. Aside from being Caucasian the only other color contrast was his snow white hair. According to his PAN his name was Mark Daniels.

Last at the table, though probably the first one there, was a scraggly looking ork that was probably no older than Mina's true age. He had skin almost as dark as Stomper's, and his black hair was let loose in dreadlocks. He wore black sunglasses and a multicolored tee that sported a very large marijuana leaf. The name Charles Stoddard seemed to sound too elegant for a pot smoking hippy.

Overall Skyler wondered how many IDs here were fake.

"Hey! Here's the outta town talent!" the ork cried.

"Peace Man?" Stomper asked.

"Peace, man." the ork said, holding up two fingers in the century old gesture of peace.

"Wait, these can't be it." Carol said, "A black, cybered, scrawny ork and two Anglo kids?"

"I'm sorry, but just because you've got some cyber doesn't mean you get to play street sam with the big boys." Mark said, barely looking at them.

"The elf and ork are awakened, and the other guys are heavy on the cyber." Mina silently told him.

"Yeah, you know, I don't give a shit what you think, spook." Skyler said, grabbing a chair from an empty table and swinging it around to theirs. "We're here to help track down someone and ship 'em back to Denver." he added as he sat down, the back of his chair towards the table, his legs at either side of the chair's slender back and his arms crossed as he leaned into the chair. Already he was filtering out all of the signal noise to isolate their commlinks.

"We're here to see Peace Man 'bout a job. Help some local crew catch a skipper." Stomper added, apparently choosing to stay standing.

With apparently enough space on the chair, Skyler felt Mina kneel on the chair right behind him. Soon her hands were resting on his shoulders.

"Peace!" Peace Man said, holding up the 'V' again. "And they're it. Was told there'd be kids, but I was told they're way wiz good."

"You gotta be shitting me." Carol exclaimed. "They can't be more than twelve or thirteen, tops!"

Skyler focused on her PAN, and the easy enough to identify Novatech Airware that was broadcasting her ID. When he scanned it for its specs, though, it came back with higher quality stats than he was expecting. Her network was also encrypted, but did not appear to be booby trapped.

"You can always leave if you don't wanna work with 'em." Peace Man said.

Calling up his crack sprite for support, Skyler extended his mind into the virtual world and went straight to burrowing a hole through the firewall of her network.

"And if either of them gets a little bit trigger happy they could end up shooting any of us instead." Mark added.

Skyler had bored through harder firewalls than this, and after decoding a pretty good encryption setup he was inside her network.

"I'm a better shot than that." Skyler said.

"Just cause you've add a Smartlink doesn't mean you're a better shot." the human retorted.

Carol's network was a bit more secured than Skyler expected, he found as he poked around. She had a running agent program constantly monitoring everything in her network. He threaded up his disarming form and had its analyzing software neutralized in short order.

"Yeah, it does." Skyler countered, "Means I can better place the slug where I want to."

"Roadblock, aren't you gonna say something?" Carol asked.

The minotaur shook his head.

"This was a bad idea." Mina said. Skyler could feel her hands tightening on his shoulders.

"Now you realize it?" Carol asked.

Skyler slipped himself into a drone that the elf woman was wearing. It was almost like a trode net had been given about two dozen tentacles disguised as hair. He completely took over the drone, locking out her command authority, and had one of the tentacles lightly slap her in the face.

"What the?" the elf exclaimed when her own hair hit her in the face.

"Yeah, I hate new meetings like this." Skyler said as he messed with the elf through her fake hair. "We always gotta prove ourselves. I hate it."

With another tentacle the drone slapped Carol.

Finally frustrated with her misbehaving drone, Carol yanked it off entirely. Skyler figured it was plugged in by a datajack when he suddenly lost his connection to the drone. It also suddenly stopped thrashing about like an octopus being hit with a cattle prod.

"Problems?" Skyler asked innocently.

"You did that?" Mark asked.

Skyler only grinned at him, logging off from Carol's personal network.

"And what's she good for?" Mark asked.

"Magician, supposedly." Stomper said.

Skyler sighed. If anyone was going to be the heel it was Stomper.

"She is awakened." Carol said as she now picked up the demonic looking pile of hair that was a drone, "Okay power, but that's about it."

Mina scowled. "Stronger than you."

"So, we settled or am I gonna have to hack more of your stuff while we talk?" Skyler asked.

"This ain't a job for kids." Carol muttered, looking away from everyone.

"That's what I told Miguel yesterday." Stomper added.

"Look, we're here 'cause the target's a Denver native." Skyler said, "We're here 'cause of our skills, and we know the person."

"You don't know who you're hunting?" Mark asked.

"Do you?" Skyler asked back.

Judging from Mark's expression, they did not.

"Hey man, we were just getting to that." Peace Man said. He waved his hand in the air and John got an invite request to join a private chat through the commlink he wore. He accepted it, and right away an ARO appeared in front of him.

The ARO was an image of Lin Yao alright. Probably taken somewhere in New York City itself, though Skyler could not even begin to guess where. The timestamp in the image file said it was taken a month ago.

"Lookin' good for a dead woman." Mina said. She sounded relieved.

"Known alias 'Mikano Li?' Would've thought she'd have a new this time." Skyler said.

"What're you talkin' about?" Carol asked.

"We," Skyler indicated to himself and Mina, "were on the team that was paid to kill her." Right as he said this he remembered that Mina would hate him for saying it. He felt her tighten her fingers around his shoulders again.

"And when we did a job for her last June she was using that same name. Then it also said she was some S-K junior exec, too." Skyler added.

Stomper looked like he was about to be sick. Skyler wondered how the bounty hunter would react if he knew that he and Mina were not quite the children they looked like, either.

"There's ways to make sure she was dead." Mark said softly. "Could have shot her in the head, too."

"Uh, yeah, 'bout that. We didn't have time to check." Skyler said.

"Yeah, running for your life tends to do that." Mina added. "Besides, someone else gunned her down. When her bodyguards started shooting back it was run or die."

"Anyway," interrupted Peace Man, "if you wanna track her down you ought to try the local Triad hangouts."

"And just how're we supposed to find those?" Stomper asked.

"That's what the yokels are for." Skyler answered, rolling his eyes behind his goggles. When he noticed both Carol and Mark glaring at him he added, "Hey, we tag 'er 'n you bag 'er. If it was some New Yorker in Denver we'd be the yokels leading you to all the hangouts."

Neither seemed too pleased with the added explanation.

"Hey, me 'n Firefly can always head back to Seattle. Sure we can get another job to fly us off to Europe." Skyler said.

Maybe it was how Skyler said it that seemed to change how the other four looked at him and Mina.

"Obvious place to start would be in Chinatown." Carol reluctantly said as she fixed the strange drone back into place about her hair. "I know a place we can ask around in."

"Right, let's get this over with." Mark said, pushing his chair back as he stood.

Skyler returned his chair to the table he took it from as he and Mina followed the others out.

"So how are we going to get there? Walk?" Stomper asked as they walked.

"We take the train." Mark said.

It was a good walk back down to 14th street and the Union Square metro station.

Their stop was a station near the Brooklyn Bridge, an area where the buildings were perpetually in the shadow of The Towers just to the northwest.

The Towers were three onyx black skyscrapers that reached two hundred and fifty stories up, and were the terrestrial home to the Corporate Court. The trio of towers also shadowed southern Manhattan in more ways than one.

"Don't fall behind." Mark called out to them as they walked down to street level.

Chinatown was a relatively small section of Manhattan, smaller than the portion of Denver that was called Chinatown. Even with the metro station being right at one corner it was not much of a walk to their destination, but it still felt like they had walked into another country. Despite the distance it felt a little bit like home, or Hong Kong.

The place Carol led them to was called Lucky Star 99. It was a combination of a teahouse and an ethnic market, and it took some effort from Skyler to filter out most of the spam that assailed them. After that felt sorted out he loaded up a Cantonese and Mandarin linguasoft to better read the Chinese written signs that were no longer being translated with public AROs.

The linguasofts felt artificial to him as they worked to allow him to understand the foreign languages. He knew he could have threaded them into a complex form, but did not want the extra distractions that brought. This way was less distracting.

"What is with all of this?" Stomper asked. It looked like he was struggling with some invisible foe, and loosing.

"You know how to set your filters?" Skyler asked.

"Yeah."

"Turn 'em up to the max." Skyler said, shaking his head.

"Was I this bad when I started?" Mina silently asked.

"Hardly." Skyler told her.

There were several empty tables about, with one loaded with six men sitting around it. Two of them were watching Skyler and the group rather intently. The others were more intent on a discussion about two urban brawlers.

"I don't think they're too interested in customers." Mina silently said.

He noticed what she was talking about. Even without the extra enhancements from his goggles Skyler could see the lumps underneath their coats that were large handguns. Their stares at him and his openly carried weapons unnerved Skyler just a little. It almost felt like the guards were going to jump him just for openly carrying a handgun, let alone a sword.

"You guys go sit over there. I'll try talking to them." Carol said.

Skyler and Mina both pulled up chairs to sit down. Mark did the same while Roadblock and Stomper stood.

Stomper seemed to get impatient quite quickly while Carol first joined in on the urban brawl conversation, fluidly using Cantonese with the others.

"Slap a patch, will ya?" Skyler said to Stomper when it looked like he was about to storm the place.

"It's just taking too long." Stomper muttered. "Maybe if you two were a little more discrete with how you carry yourselves we could have what we need and be on our way by now."

"What're you talking 'bout?" Skyler asked.

"Not many people openly carry weapons while on Manhattan." Mark said.

"Haven't had any cops try to talk to us about them." Skyler said.

"We got licenses and everything for them." Mina added.

"'Sides, Stomper's the one who'll be in deep shit, not us." Skyler told them.

"What do you mean by that?" Mark asked.

Rather than say anything Skyler held up his left arm level towards Mark with the palm facing him. With his right hand in the shape of a handgun he placed it next to his left arm.

It was hard to notice, but Skyler saw Mark's gaze shift from his pantomimed cybergun imitation to look at Stomper. "I see." he said softly.

"Hey guys, we'll get to go in in a bit." Carol said, walking up to them.

"Fuck. Why not just bust the door down?" Stomper asked.

"He always this impatient?" Mark asked, ignoring Stomper's question.

"Don't know. We've never really worked with him before." Skyler answered.

"Bet he blows his wad before sticking it in." muttered Mina.

Roadblock almost choked on his drink.

"What was that?" Stomper asked.

Carol bit her lip to keep from busting out laughing.

"Quite the mouth, kid." commented Mark.

It took all of Skyler's efforts to keep from laughing.

One of the six other men stood and waved them over. Catching his ID more clearly showed his name was Hua Tien.

"That's our cue." Carol told them.

Hua led them to a somewhat discreet door, the kind you could easily miss if you were not looking for one. He held the door open as everyone walked into a back room. There were no windows, the lighting was not too bright, and the air musty with a hint of green tea.

Two Chinese men, both human, sat at a table. They both wore high priced looking suits, their black hair cut short and sharply. It was not difficult for Skyler to figure from the looks alone, which included several duffel bags at one of the man's feet, that they were negotiating a drug deal. He really hoped Stomper would be able to keep his mouth shut.

After a few minutes the two reached an agreement. One slid a credstick to the other, who then stood and left through the same door they came in.

"So, I understand you need information about a particular person." the remaining man said, speaking in slightly accented English. His ID said his name was Soon Shan.

"How do…" Stomper started to say, but shut himself up when Skyler elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yes. We're looking for a Chinese woman by the name of Lin Yao." Carol said.

"Yes, I know this name." Soon told them.

"And?" Stomper asked.

Skyler elbowed the ork in the side again, making him grunt. He was guessing that the information would not come cheap, and Stomper's impatience could really screw up this social dance they all were involved in.

"You could do well to keep your dog muzzled." Soon said offhandedly.

"He's not local." Carol said.

"That is no excuse." Soon said.

Skyler thought he heard Stomper growl.

"Hopefully your dog will be able to understand," Soon said with incredible calmness, taking a sip of tea from a small ceramic cup, "that information does not come freely. I can provide you assistance for… twelve thousand, five hundred dollars."

"That's outrageous!" Stomper cried.

At the speed of thought Skyler had an ARO open and was looking into currency conversion rates.

"Maybe you can find someone more reasonable in Jersey who can help you?" Soon asked.

"Can't you keep your mouth shut?" Skyler asked. "Shit! Things work differently here."

"And don't try to think you can pound the information out of him." Mark added. "You will be on your own."

To help emphasize Mark's point, Skyler and Mina both took a few steps away from Stomper.

"By the way, UCAS dollars to nuyen's five to one." Skyler said.

"Now what'd it be, bad guanxi if he tried to beat him up?" Mina asked.

"Very bad." Soon said. "I am surprised someone so… Western looking would know about guanxi."

"We learned a bit about it on a job in Hong Kong last week." Skyler said.

"Interesting." commented Soon.

"Even so, the price does seem a little steep." Carol said. "If by chance there is an alternative?"

"Yes, actually, there is." Soon told them. "I am a little shorter on time than I expected for today, so if you could make a delivery for me." He stood and walked over to a table where he picked up a box. It was twenty centimeters to a side, and apparently not that heavy considering how Soon handled it. He walked back and handed it to Carol.

"Give this to the receptionist for the curator of transgenic art at the Museum Of Modern Art. I will message them to let them know you are delivering this for me."

Looking at the others Skyler caught Mark nodding just a little, but nothing from Roadblock.

"I know exactly where that is." Carol said, accepting the package.

"Right, let's go." Mark said, leading the way back out.

"So that's it?" Stomper asked as he left the back room.

"We'll be back here soon enough." Carol said. "Ten minutes, tops."

"Fuck it." cussed Stomper.

The front men were quite sharp. Two of them were up and right in Stomper's way just as he turned around to head back into the back room. With all the manners of a drunkard he took a swing at one of them.

"Stun Stomper." Skyler quickly sent to Mina. With a twitch of his arms his Morrissey Élan pistols were in his hands.

Stomper took a swing at one of the Chinese men and missed.

Skyler squeezed off a shot from both holdouts, the stick-n-shock rounds hitting the two closest to Stomper squarely. The bullets made almost no noise, dropping one while the other staggered back from the shock he received from the stun round.

Stomper was not looking too good either. Skyler figured Mina really hit him hard with her stun spell, but not enough to knock him out. At least it had been enough to drop the ork to his knees.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!" Skyler yelled, alternating between Cantonese and Mandarin.

Surprisingly Hua and the other three actually stopped. A quick glance told Skyler that it was probably because Stomper was looking quite unsteady on his feet.

"Speak Mandarin." Hua said in Mandarin.

"Hope you've got something good, kid." Mark said softly in English. "What happened to him, Athena?"

"We'll educate the dog in manners." Skyler said in Mandarin, "And we'll tie him up outside when we return." He dropped his arms to his sides, but kept hold of his pistols.

"Girl walloped him with a hefty stun spell." Carol, or Athena, said, answering Mark's question.

"Confident you will be welcome back." Hua said in Mandarin. He and the others looked a little more relaxed, and Skyler was glad they had not decided to try to take advantage of not having any guns pointed at them.

"We're doing a favor. It would be bad guanxi if we did not return to finish it." Skyler replied in Mandarin.

"Should've let me…" Stomper started to say as Roadblock helped him to his feet. A good jostle from the minotaur was enough to shut him up for a bit.

"Be glad I didn't use fire, dipshit." Mina said.

Hua nodded knowingly towards Skyler.

Skyler let his holdouts slide back up the sleeves of his jacket. He followed the others back out, watching as Roadblock helped Stomper walk. He was the last one out the door.

"You've got some balls there, kid." Mark said once they were at least a block away from the Lucky Star 99. It looked like they were heading back to the same metro station.

"Now you believe me when I say I'm a good shot?" Skyler asked.

"Maybe." Mark answered. "Might've also been better to just leave him to his stupidity."

"Too bad stupidity's painful to everyone else." Skyler said softly.

"Now are you serious about that fire?" Athena asked. Looking up at her Skyler saw the question was directed at Mina.

"Yeah, serious." Mina replied. "Could've melted the chrome off his ass." She said it with such seriousness that if one did not know she was not really a preteen girl, her whole attitude would have been laughable.

Now if she had really been pissed off she would have called up her bound guardian spirit she called Baradiel. The last time she had, the powerful spirit had plastered several attacking soldiers, and Mina had even told him a magician had killed himself in a very unsuccessful attempt to banish Baradiel.

"Hold up. What?" Athena asked. She apparently was more confused than amused by Mina's answer.

Everyone stopped, though Mina took a few more steps before turning to look at the elfin woman. She then lifted her goggles off to look Athena in the eye, which with even her platform heels there was still about forty centimeters difference between the two.

"Fire." Mina said flatly. "I could've burned him just as easily instead. Probably would've torched one of those Chinese guys instead."

Mina and Athena stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, something like those mental showdowns that kept cycling in and out of the oriental made trids.

"Shit." Athena cussed, breaking their standoff.

"What is it?" Mark asked.

"Let's get moving." Athena said, starting them off again. "Was just thinking on that spell she did. Figuring if it was a flamethrower she probably would've incinerated his head."

"I'd've dodged." Stomper said.

"You didn't even know I was there." Mina countered, having already secured her goggles back on. "If the AC hadn't been on I'd've gagged on your B.O."

"Just how powerful was it, her spell?" Mark asked.

"I coulda gone double." Mina said like it was nothing.

Looking at Athena, Skyler could see she was in thought again.

"If I could even do that kind of magic, that's more power than I can handle." Athena finally said.

Skyler wondered if part of that power came from the focus Mina wore at her neck, a choker of black silk with a black metal clasp, and a pendant or something of the same black metal and silver made to look like his signature icon in the matrix. He knew quite well it amplified her power, but still was not quite sure how it worked. Sometimes he doubted if he could even understand it.

"We're not delivering a bomb or something, are we?" Mark asked.

"Let me see it, please." Skyler said, stepping up to Athena. With a thought he activated the scanner built into his fake cybernetic hand and swept it close to the package while they walked. Through his connection to it he could actually see the contents inside the box.

"There's three separate objects inside," Skyler told them as he continued scanning the box, "and I think a lot of padding. Doesn't look like a bomb."

"So we shouldn't have any problems." Athena said.

From the Brooklyn Bridge – City Hall station they went up through Grand Central to 51st Street, and transferred to another metro line to get out at the station at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street East. It was only a block to walk from there to the Manhattan Museum Of Modern Art.

Athena went in alone with the package while everyone else waited outside. A minute later she was back out again. Instead of backtracking they took another metro line from the Fifth Avenue station down to Broadway-Lafayette before switching back to the other metro line through Bleeker Street.

Stomper seemed rather frustrated with the subway line, having made more than one comment about not being able to go from any one station to any other station on the island. Skyler and Mina left it to the others to educate him. Neither of them really had any solid grasp on civil engineering, and figured it best to just take the metro as it had been laid out.

For Skyler the whole train system for mass transit was quite interesting. His home town of Seattle had no subway, and it was pretty much take the bus or drive your own car around. It was also virtually the same for Denver, though if you could afford it you could get private air taxis to be able to fly over the borders. Then there were also a few monorail lines, though they were actually better for crossing Denver rather than commuting about.

But Manhattan did seem to share one thing with Denver, and that was plenty of short hopping aircraft buzzing about in the sky above them.

Mina also seemed to like the metro system in Manhattan.

Hua and the others were expecting them when they returned to the Lucky Star 99.

Roadblock held up an open hand to Stomper like a guard telling a person to stop, then pointed to a spot just to the side from the door to the Lucky Star 99.

"What?" Stomper asked.

"Remember the shit you tried to pull?" Skyler asked.

"Kid here said you'd stay outside when we came back." Mark added. "I'm sure it's the only way we'd be able to get in to get the info we need."

Stomper did not look happy as he leaned against the wall next to the door.

Hua stepped in Skyler's way as they headed to the back door. "You must do something before entering." he said in accented English.

"What? Want me to go get you pizza?" Skyler asked.

"It is much simpler. Everyone leave your weapons on the table." Hua said.

"Okay, but if you do anything you're gonna wish we didn't stop the other guy." Skyler said. With a twitch of his left arm he caught the holdout. He pulled the magazine and ejected the round that was readied, slipping the bullet back into the magazine. He then did the same with the holdout hidden up his right arm. These he placed on the table that the Chinese men were using.

Next was his openly holstered Ruger, which clunked heavily on the table.

Rather than bother with undoing his sword belt he pulled his monofilament sword from its scabbard and placed it flat on the table next to his Ruger.

Just when everyone thought he was done Skyler pulled out the two spare magazines for the Morrissey Élans out of the pockets of his jacket. Then came his Predators, but the looks of disbelief came when he slipped his hand up his back and withdrew his Eichiro Hatamoto II were priceless.

Mina carried substantially less, pulling out her Cougar Fineblade and Sakura Fubuki. For her these were less weapons and more like backup. Her spells and a favored and powerful fire elemental she called Astorath were far more dangerous than her knife or handgun.

Athena only pulled out a small ceramic knife.

While everyone was watching Athena, Skyler slipped out a fly-spy and gave it instructions to hide somewhere so it could get a clear view of the table and their weapons. Keeping an encrypted connection to it he left an ARO open so he could see what the little drone fly's camera could.

"This is everything?" Hua asked, looking at the pile of guns now on the table."

"Well, not the reloads for everything else." Skyler answered. Bullets and slugs were pretty useless weapons without their guns.

"Fine then." Hua said. Finally they were let into the back room.

Soon was still there, seated in the same chair where they first saw him. "A little trouble with your dog, I was told." he said, putting away his commlink.

"He's being a good boy outside." Mark said.

"And I appreciate your civility with my people." Soon added.

"Civility?" Mark asked.

"I think he means me using stun rounds." Skyler said.

"Yes." Soon said. "Now about Lin Yao. We introduced her to an associate by the name of Eddie Stephens." He handed Athena a small piece of paper that was folded in half. "He is not a member."

"I understand." Athena said. "Thank you." As simple as that she bowed her head to Soon and turned to leave.

Skyler felt it was a little too quick and easy as he walked back to the front room. At least he was able to discretely call back his fly-spy while everyone collected their weapons. He thanked Hua for no one trying to mess with them while they spoke with Soon.

"That was fast. So what'd you get?" Stomper asked once everyone was back outside. He sounded rather grumpy.

"Commcode of a guy that helped our target." Athena said, pulling out her commlink. After a little bit she put it back into her pocket. "No answer." she told them.

"Shit." grumbled Stomper, turning back towards the front door to the Lucky Star 99. He did not get far, stopping before he tripped over Mina. "Out of the way, girl."

Mina moved, but instead of out of Stomper's way it was up. She levitated up to look the ork straight in the eye.

Stomper looked a little surprise to see the petite girl staring him down at eye level.

"I don't think you're going anywhere." Mark said darkly.

"That dragon fucker gave us a bad number! I'm gonna pound the truth outta him!"

"Ever think that maybe Eddie's commlink's turned off, asshole!" Skyler yelled back. "Shit!"

"The number's valid." Athena said, "Call went through to an automated messaging service. You know, voice mail?" Her commlink started beeping.

"Who'd be calling you?" Mark asked.

"Same guy I just tried calling." Athena said.

Skyler created an ARO and started sifting through the signals to isolate the call Athena was receiving. It was not too difficult to pull the call's data stream to him so he could listen in on the call.

"So he's calling you back? How considerate." Mark said.

"Hello?" Athena said into her commlink.

"Yo, someone called me from this commcode. What can I do for you?" a male voice asked back.

Skyler could see in the ARO the icon representing the caller, a black bishop's chess piece with a red cape and a gold crown that was tilted to one side. Right away he started tracing the caller.

"Eddie Stephens? You don't know me but I'd like to meet with you. We could use some help you can give us." Athena said.

"Well, not just give." Eddie said.

"Oh, no worries. We can pay."

"Right then. There's a warehouse out on Staten called the Looking Glass."

Skyler created a new ARO and started looking up the Looking Glass.

"I know it." Athena told him.

The trace resolved itself to a spot on Staten Island.

"I'm here all day." Eddie said, ending the call.

"Where to?" Mark asked.

"A rave called the Looking Glass. It's down on Staten Island." Athena told them.

The initial information on the Looking Glass gave Skyler the address. It happened to be in the same area where he traced Eddie to.

It was back to the same metro station again for a short trip to the southern tip of the island. From there it was an easy check leaving Manhattan and a slow ferry trip south to Staten Island.

"Know anything 'bout this Eddie guy?" Skyler asked Athena when they were well underway to Staten Island. They were relatively alone as they watched Liberty Island slowly inch by in the distance.

"Some. Mercenary and business man, deals in cred and identities. Always does meets on his terms." After a pause she asked, "So, what about you three?"

"He's just a bounty hunter." Skyler said, referring to Stomper. "Firefly and I, well, we've been doing stuff like this for about ten months now."

"You really look young, but certainly don't seem new to the game." commented Athena. "Wasn't sure if you two had really started that young or not. And your talk about Europe and Hong Kong sound a bit outrageous if you ask me."

Skyler chuckled. If she believed it he figured Athena would leap out of her skin if she figured out he was about as old as she was.

"And what about you three?" Skyler asked.

"We've done work together before. Pushing close to two years now, I think." Athena answered. "So, does she know the truth about your arm?"

"She suggested it." Skyler replied. He remembered that Athena was awakened, so it was no real big surprise that she could read auras and figure out that his cybernetic arm was a fake.

"You don't sound surprised I know."

"You know Firefly's a spellslinger. She told me you're awakened and they're heavy on the implants."

Athena whistled. "Dang, you kids aren't the slouches I thought you'd be when I first saw you." Something seemed a little off to Skyler about how she said that.

"Something's bugging me about the other three." Skyler silently said to Mina, "Can you give them another aura read?"

"I'll ask a spirit. I don't feel I'm all that good about it." Mina replied.

A short while later Mina silently sent, "Shit! Maybe I should ask spirits to do more aura reads for me. They're all awakened. The guys mask their auras to make themselves look like sleepers somehow. They're all about equally powerful."

"Guess you guys ain't slouches either." Skyler said. He looked over to Athena before adding, "Even the guys are magical. Just as strong as you are."

Athena stared at him, her mouth hanging open in shock and surprise. For a moment he thought she might be trying to read his aura again. "How the fuck do you know that?" she asked. "You're a sleeper."

Skyler let a small smile slip. "Yeah, I can't do magic. But Firefly and I, we're closer than you think." he said.

"So maybe she asked a spirit," Athena reasoned, "but that doesn't…"

Athena stopped when Skyler started tapping the side of his goggles. "Encrypted connection." he said. He could see the light bulb switch on in her mind at the realization.

"So the two of you use trodes and some private chat to stay in communication." Athena said. "Yeah, you certainly ain't as green as that ork is. Hacked his 'link earlier. Would've done you kids, too, 'cept yours're trapped."

Again Skyler allowed himself to smile. He remembered his first job a month after waking up without any memories of who, or what, he was. First meeting he had hacked everyone's commlink. Since then he really only saved that for when he felt he had to prove himself to new runners who did not know, or believe, who he was.

The rest of the trip to Staten Island was spent in relative silence. After the ferry it was a short train trip south to the club.

The Looking Glass was a twenty-four hour rave club. True to Eddie's word it was in a converted warehouse. The subsonics could be felt in the chest from the parking lot as they approached.

"Bet you ain't got anything like this in Denver." Athena said when they reached the front door.

"I know a few that'd probably be close." Skyler said.

"Makes me think of Denim." Mina commented.

"I was kinda thinking Klub Karma. That place was also built in a warehouse."

Security turned out to be quite a bit tighter than Denim or Klub Karma. Just inside there were two archways that were clearly high end scanners. Skyler saw a red light flash as one clubber walked through, and when confronted pull out a Hammerli 620S from his pocket. He turned over the handgun like he was checking his coat and after walking back through, this time with a green light flashing on, was allowed in.

"I'll wait outside." Mark told them.

"Thought you'd fit right in." commented Stomper.

"I have my reasons." Mark said, sounding like that was it on the matter.

"He's got blades in his arms." Mina silently told Skyler.

Mark continued, "Besides, even if the kids could somehow bullshit their way in, the walking arsenal that Alton here is will still get him caught at the door."

"Being young looking and cute ain't always what it's cracked up to be." grumbled Mina.

"Preachin' to the choir." Skyler replied.

"He won't get the chance. They absolutely won't let in anyone that looks like they're under aged. Hell, even gnomes have problems." Athena said. "So it looks like it's just you and me, Roadblock."

Roadblock nodded.

"And what am I, chopped liver?" Stomper asked indignantly.

"I don't think you're that valuable." Mina muttered under her breath.

"No, you're armed." Skyler said, "And unless you can take your arms off you ain't getting' past those scanners."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Stomper said.

"Oh, please." Skyler said, rolling his head around once. "I've got just as good a scanner in my hand." he said as he held up his left hand.

"And so do I." Athena added, the drone in her hair twitching. "This thing ain't just for looks you know. I already know you've got a shotgun in one arm and a submachine gun in the other. Now if I know that then the club security is certainly gonna know it too."

Depending on how much time Athena had spent in Stomper's commlink, she could have just as well gotten the details there instead. Skyler had managed that a few times himself.

"Besides, it's not like we won't be able to follow along with what's going on in there." Skyler added.

"Shit, don't tell me you're gonna that to me again." Athena said.

Skyler pulled a fly-spy out of his pocket. "Don't have to." he said as it quietly zipped from his hand to her hair. "We'll be able to see and hear through it just fine."

"Just don't drive it into my ear or anything, okay?" Athena asked.

Skyler said nothing as he opened up an ARO for the fly-spy, encrypting the connection and keeping a virtual eye on the link to try and catch anyone that might try to break in.

While Roadblock and Athena went inside, the others headed over to a bench to sit down. He made read-only copies of the ARO for the others so they all could see and hear what the drone did.

Inside the Looking Glass was something quite different from Denim, but the music was just as loud. Not far inside the place opened up into a raver's paradise. Skyler was grateful for the flare compensation in the drone's optics, being able to filter out the flashing strobe lights so they could see normally.

Along the north wall was the club's only bar, along with chairs that were scattered around the edge of the main room and around a recessed dance area. There was a single theme to the artwork that decorated the walls, but numerous interpretations. It was all of Alice In Wonderland, ranging from classical to American McGee to truly bizarre. This extended into augmented reality. Even some of the walls were decorated for AR only, presenting virtual reflections of the person.

It took some time for them to find Eddie, and it looked like Athena was using the commcode to trace his location. Eddie was a Caucasian human that was just shy of two meters tall, slim, bald, and dressed in a way that was best described as steampunk meets goth.

"Eddie?" Athena asked.

"Yeah. Can I help ya?"

"I called earlier about some help."

Eddie waved to Athena and Roadblock to follow him.

"Really nice gear, kid." commented Mark.

"You should see Laserbeak and Buzzsaw." Skyler replied, rattling off the names of his two Renraku yokujin drones. "They're really kitted for surveillance."

Eddie had led Athena and Roadblock to a more private, and quieter, part of the club. "So, who sent you?"

"Did a favor for Soon Shan." Athena said, "Said you helped our mark. Name's Lin Yao."

"Yeah, he texted me. And yeah, name sounds familiar." Eddie said. "Meter-fifty, Chinese, a real 'no nonsense' bitch."

"Yeah, that sounds like her." commented Mina.

"Laundered her some cash and set her up with a fake ID." Eddie said.

Stomper grumbled.

"Any way you can help us track her down?" Athena asked.

"Well, I could try a balance check on her credstick." Eddie said. He then started waving his hand in the air, interacting with a private ARO interface. "Can't trace it. Was to an anonymous person."

"Certified credstick to certified credstick." Skyler said.

"Thought those were untraceable." commented Stomper.

"Not if you dig deep enough into the bits." Skyler said, "Such a pain in the ass to do it, though." He had never tried this himself, but had gathered as much from a few other hackers he knew.

"So got any suggestions?" asked Athena.

"I can run a search, but it'll cost ya twelve-fifty dollars." Eddie told her.

"Just how'd you do this search?" Athena asked.

"I've got my sources." Eddie told her.

After a second pause Athena said, "Facial rec on the public cameras and MeFeeds."

"Hey, supposed to be a trade secret!" Eddie said a little loudly.

"I won't tell, but I think we might be able to manage that on our own anyway. We'll keep ya in mind if we need anything." Athena told him.

By the time Roadblock and Athena were back outside, Skyler was already between the virtual and real worlds, threading himself a connection between his facial recognition software, his ability to search the matrix in general for information, and the image he had of Lin Yao. He even called up his data sprite for assistance in processing the information.

"You could've pressed for more info." Stomper said.

"I could've hacked your link to pay him." Skyler countered as he and his sprite slowly worked a facial recognition form through the MeFeeds of Manhattan.

"Seriously?" Stomper asked scornfully.

"Sounds like you've done that before." commented Athena.

"Almost." Skyler said. Closer to the truth was when he hacked the commlink of a mid-level corporate executive when he reneged on paying them for a job.

"So are you going to run that facial recognition program to find her?" asked Mark.

"Prepping it now." Athena said.

"Too slow, I'm already running one." Skyler told them, feeling pulses of data fly by.

"Wait, what?" Athena asked.

"Started when you two were done with Eddie." Skyler said, "Figured I'd do something to try and help."

"Well, we'll see if you're any good." Athena said. "Anyway, I don't know about you guys but I could go for some lunch right about now."

It was a short walk over to a Nacho Mama, all the while Skyler kept his mind partially in VR to press on with his search. The nice thing about an international fast food chain was that the food, even if it was cheap and not too good for you, was rather consistent throughout.

They all took their time eating. Though he said nothing it was clear that Stomper was feeling very impatient about not doing anything. Even Sarah, his bounty hunter little sister, would have agreed that one should not go chasing skippers on an empty stomach.

It was almost an hour after having met with Eddie Stephens, that Skyler got a hit.

"Found her." he told the others as he pulled up the image into a fresh ARO.

"Seriously?" Mark asked.

Skyler tagged the image so the others could see it. Once everyone could see the rendered three dimensional image he highlighted Lin Yao, who had been caught in the peripheral vision of OrkGodss72's MeFeed only hours ago.

"Yup, that's her." Mark said.

"Dang, kid is good." commented Athena.

Skyler smiled.

"So, hot shot, where is she?" Stomper asked.

"Looks like it's from the subway entrance into the MDC." Mark said. "Gonna be a problem."

"Naw, we just walk on in." Stomper said.

"The MDC's building is in the Upper Eastside. We can't even get into the area unless we've got a white pass of some kind." Athena said.

"Hey, um, not to sound stupid, but what's the color deal with the passes?" Mina asked.

"Red's a visitor's pass, like what we all have." Athena said. "Blue means you've got a work permit, but you still can't go everywhere on the island. The blue-white mixed is an upper class work permit that'll let you go anywhere, including the white zones. And white means you're upper class that actually lives on the island."

"Can't ya just hack our passes to change the color?" Stomper asked.

I could edit a handgun license to include rifles, but the first time it's used you're fucked." Skyler said. "Besides, I doubt she's got a white pass."

"There's a lot more to a pass than what's on your link." Athena added, "Anyway, security's super tight just getting in. MAD scanners, chemsniffers, the works. One bullet on you and NYPD Inc. will be looking into you."

"Even on the subway entrance?" Mina asked.

"Especially at the subway entrance. It's the only way into the building with anything but a white pass." Mark said.

"But the security into the building's just as tight." Athena told them.

"Even if I stashed 'em they still might." Skyler said, "Unless there's gun ranges here where people do target practice."

"There's a few." Mark said.

"And I do have permits for my guns." Skyler said, "All of 'em."

Stomper grunted. "Just how good are they?" he asked.

"Best that money can buy." Mina answered.

"My guy's good. Never fucked with us on anything." Skyler added.

"So you think you'll be able to just walk on in?" Athena asked.

"We'll deal with the cops if it doesn't work. You can just go on and do whatever." Skyler said.

"Alright, but it's your asses." Athena said.

After a long ferry trip back to Manhattan, and another easy pass through security to get back onto the island, it was a short walk to a metro station that would take them to the Manhattan Development Consortium's subway entrance.

"Hey, what about those?" Mina asked.

Skyler looked to where Mina was pointing. Along one wall was a bank of rental lockers.

"Yeah, if there's any this side of the next stop." Skyler said.

"And if there aren't?" Athena asked.

"We'll… think of something." Skyler answered.

After passing the light security check to get onto the metro, Skyler and Mina spotted more rental lockers. He felt hopeful that they would have an option once they got to the stop at the Manhattan Development Consortium.

Once they got there it was clear that the security checkpoint to leave the subway station for the MDC building was certainly no joke. Several scanner archways were set to allow many people to pass through and still be individually scanned.

"Over there." Athena said. She led them to a wall with a collection of more rental lockers. Even these were high class with a biometric scan and numeric passcode to secure the contents. She chose one, opened it, and slipped her knife into it.

"Trust me to watch your sword?" Mark asked. It sounded genuine since the locker was too small to fit his sword.

"Not really." Skyler said as he slipped out a fly-spy before working on the holsters to his holdouts.

"Doubt security will let you walk in with it."

Skyler finished putting his handguns and their ammo into the locker before turning to face Mark. The man's solid black eyes were still unnerving.

"We ain't done anything to trust each other." Skyler said, watching through an encrypted ARO as the fly-spy zipped off to hide on top of the bank of lockers. "Right now I trust you about as far as I could throw you." Regardless of how he felt he still undid his sword belt and handed the weapon to Mark. "But I also don't think I've got a choice."

Mark said nothing as he took the sword.

The afternoon traffic was relatively light through the security checkpoint. That meant that despite the throng of people going in and out there was no having to actually wait in line to get through.

Stomper, who was just ahead of Skyler, was stopped by two NYPD Inc. officers just after he passed the scanners.

"If you could come this way, please?" one of them asked.

"No, I'm a bit busy right now." Stomper said.

"What happened?" Mina silently asked as Skyler slipped his way by.

"I think he forgot about the ammo in his cyberguns." Skyler replied as Mina caught up to him.

Whatever their results were from the scanners, the NYPD Inc. officers did not seem to care as two more came to help with Stomper.

Athena waved them over, and they hurried out of the way.

"What happened?" she asked them.

"He's got like two dozen rounds of ammo in his arms." Skyler answered.

"Disarming him literally means taking his arms off." Roadblock said in slightly accented English, his voice a deep baritone.

Skyler looked up at the minotaur in surprise. He had actually started to wonder if Roadblock could actually speak.

"Ah, got it." Athena said. "We'll see what we can do to help later."

"Kinda made me think of Billy for a bit." Mina said aloud as they headed over to a collection of elevators.

"Who?" asked Athena as she walked into the elevator first.

"Billy. A chromed idiot and asshole we used to work with." Skyler answered. "Don't forget Gecko. He was a bit better, though."

"Dumb, but not an asshole." Mina added.

"Bad luck with cybered partners?" Athena asked.

"Not really. My sister's cybered." Skyler said. "Did several jobs with her."

"But not quite as much as he is." Mina said, pointing to Roadblock.

The elevator ride up was rather quick, the top of the ride ending at the lobby level of the MDC building. Even the signal to his fly-spy was not interrupted, with no unusual activity in it, his connection, or in what Mark was doing while he waited for them.

The main lobby was quite impressive as they walked out from the elevators. It was bustling with activity as people came and went or met with others for face-to-face networking. Even the walls were busy, with an AR wallpaper of chaotically shifting colors. It reminded Skyler of the Tower Of Babel back in Denver's Hub. The club there had several virtual floors, with the raw data of the node's traffic represented in AR by a rainbow of colors.

"I'm gonna try talking to the receptionist." Athena said, "Wait here. And don't get any ideas, hot shot."

Looking around at everything Skyler was already getting ideas. The webwork of wireless signals was incredible, and it was not all from just commlinks.

In a nation that had gone overboard with security it was no surprise to find that there were security cameras all over the place to try and cover every angle. After a few turns like he was taking in the impressive size of the lobby Skyler figured out which camera had the best view of a collection of chairs and benches that looked like were to be used for waiting guests. Stretching his mind between worlds he isolated that camera and began working quickly to get past its firewall.

"You're doing something, aren't you?" Mina silently said.

"Cameras are all wireless. I'm just hacking into one right now." Skyler told her just as he breached the camera's firewall.

The inside of the node was rather simplistic. After looking around to what the camera had Skyler found that it kept the last twelve hours of what it recorded in local memory. Skyler pulled a copy and uploaded it to the commlink that was built into his fake cyberarm. Once the file transfer was complete he edited the file to remove the record of the file activity, wiped the traces of his logging into the camera, and quickly disconnected his mind from it.

"Well, got some good news." Athena told them as she walked back to them. "The receptionist said she remembers our person of interest. Said she checked in for an appointment at ten this morning."

"So where's that put us?" Mina asked, "Besides half behind her."

Accessing the recorded video Skyler jumped to the same time that Orkgodss72 had tagged Lin Yao in her MeFeed. From there he fast forwarded until he saw Lin Yao enter the lobby.

"At least she ain't lying." Skyler said. "She showed up fifteen minutes early."

"Oh God, you didn't." Athena groaned.

Mina giggled.

"Just a camera." Skyler said, still skimming through his copy of the security footage. At high speed he saw Lin Yao try talking to a Latino elf who wore business attire along with AR glasses and gloves. The elf left at about 10.20, leaving Lin Yao in the lobby. When the timer reached 11.30 it looked like Lin Yao was told to leave.

"Right, hot shot, so what all happened?" Athena asked.

"She tried chatting up some Latino elf chick and got stood up for her meeting." Skyler said. "She left at about eleven-thirty." Looking around, Skyler added, "Oh, there's the elf now."

It seemed to be a bit of an advantage having to broadcast your ID everywhere in Manhattan, seeing the woman's name as Mara Blaine as she walked towards the receptionist's desk.

"C'mon." Athena said hurriedly as she tried to intercept the Latino elf without looking like she was in a hurry.

Skyler took a moment to look back through his fly-spy's eye. Mark was still standing in the same spot, not having moved since they left him there. Stomper was also with him, apparently having been turned back by security.

"Ah, Mara, this is Carol." the receptionist said when they got close, "Mara works as a security consultant for a few corporations in the building. Carol was interested in Summer, the woman who sat next to you earlier this morning."

"Yes, if maybe we could talk for a bit?" Athena asked.

"Sure." Mara said, handing a tagged badge to the receptionist. "But at the bench over there?"

"Sure."

They all walked back to the waiting area and sat down. Except for Roadblock, who had to stand due to nothing there looking like it could hold him for too long.

"You and Summer talked?" Athena asked.

"Quite a bit." Skyler silently said to Mina as he scrolled back through the video.

"A bit, yes." Mara said, "It wasn't anything big, really. Weather, travel, and trids. Kinda felt a little weird when I figured she was flirting with me. Hey, it's all nice and all, but I'm not really into that sort of thing."

"Pitty." Athena said softly. "So what'd you do to try and break the tension?"

"I showed her this data-traffic analysis program I've been working on." Mara said. "It works with the node sculpting here."

"So all the colors represent the node's traffic data?" Skyler asked. Turned out the AR decoration was more like the Tower Of Babel than he thought.

"Exactly. Um, how'd you figure that?" Mara asked.

"There's this club over in Denver that does the same thing." Skyler said.

"Kid's a tech nut." Athena added.

"So what's this program do?" Skyler asked.

"Well, the admins can pick up on a hacking attempt based on the colors, but my program can take that a step further and uses the color changes to actually trace the user." Mara said. "Here, I can show you."

Mara pulled out a small holoprojector from her handbag and placed it on the table next to the bench. "This was recorded while Summer and I talked. According to my program, these particular purple strands in the node sculpting are pulses of data going to and from here and Horizon's private node. But I'm sorry, I've got to go now." She collected her holoprojector and walked off.

"Well, we're not too far behind, I think." Skyler said.

"But if she had a meeting, why'd she get stood up?" Mina asked.

"I'll see if the receptionist can help with that one. Wait here." Athena said.

After a brief chat with the receptionist Athena came right back to them, waving for them to follow her as she walked to the elevators.

"Summer said something about going to Penn Station to talk to some freelancers just before she left." Athena told them, "She wouldn't tell me why the meeting was canceled 'cause she wasn't told."

Leaving the MDC building was a lot easier than getting in when it came to passing through the security checkpoint. NYPD Inc. was apparently a lot more concerned about the people coming in than going out.

"So, what'd you learn?" Mark asked, handing Skyler his sword back.

"We gotta head to Terminal." Athena answered as she keyed the lock to the locker.

"What? Shit, just how long's this goose chase gonna go on." muttered Stomper.

"Switch off. We're like half an hour behind her." Skyler said as he finished fixing his sword belt. He was quick to accept his handguns as they were passed to him, holstering them and stashing reloads back into his pockets. While the others were distracted he called back his fly-spy.

Glancing around at the other people as they walked back to the subway platform, Skyler found it a little interesting that no one seemed to notice or really care that he had stashed half a dozen handguns on himself just outside what was supposed to be an extremely secured building.

Athena led the way on the transit system, explaining on the first leg that the fastest way would be to take the subway to Grand Central, followed by Penn Station. She also warned them that Terminal was not the kind of place for tourists, and certainly not a place for kids.

Not like that was going to stop Skyler and Mina from going in with the others anyway. From the impressions that the elf woman was giving both felt that the place would be a lot like the Aurora Warrens back in Denver.

Penn Station certainly did not give the feel of Terminal that Athena had been telling them. The station was neat, orderly, and only people with white or blue-white passes were waiting to take the subway back to Grand Central.

It was not until they were back on the surface, and stepping outside of Penn Station that they got a better feel for Terminal. Security was not a problem going out, and Skyler even got a compliment about his sword from one of the NYPD Inc. officers as they left the station.

Outside felt more like the Arvada Barrens than the Aurora Warrens. The wireless coverage was overwhelming, thick with spam for coffin motels, sex parlors, and more. And once you were able to cut that out of your vision you could see the various drug dealers and enforcers walking the streets. None of them looked like they were working for NYPD Inc.

And like everywhere else on Manhattan, everyone was broadcasting their ID for all to see. One of the bigger differences Skyler noticed was that the vast majority of those IDs had red tags, and there was no shortage of black ones. No one was sporting a blue or white ID tag wherever he looked.

"So how're we gonna track her down?" Mark asked as they walked out of the main entrance of Penn Station.

"If she's good with spirits, the girl can ask one for help." Athena said.

"What? Why the fuck didn't we have her do this before?" asked Stomper as they headed up along Eighth Avenue.

"The farther away a person is the harder it is for a spirit to find." Athena said. "If she's close, then it won't take long at all.

"Looks like we won't have to ask a spirit." Mark said, pointing off at a coffin motel.

Skyler thought the timing could not have been better. Lin Yao, or Summer Xaio as her projected ID said, was walking out of the coffin motel Mark was pointing at. He could see her nod to several tough looking thugs next to a falafel cart, most of who were eating. The thugs nodded back to Lin Yao and started walking down the street with her, eating the remains of their lunch as they went.

"Think you can restrain yourself?" Skyler asked Stomper.

"What the fuck do you think I am?" Stomper asked back.

Skyler groaned, knowing it was better he did not answer and now wishing he had not asked the question in the first place.

"So why not jump 'em now?" asked Stomper. For once Skyler felt like agreeing with the ork.

"Too public." Mark explained, "We do it now we'll still get NYPD on us. We're right in line with one of their gates in, and they've got eyes in the sky." He pointed up at an overhead helicopter.

With a thought Skyler's contact lenses zoomed in on the overhead helicopter. When the image enhanced itself, and another sensor program gave him the details from that enhanced image, he saw the reason for Mark's concern.

"What's the big deal?" Stomper asked.

"Um, how 'bout an Ingram White Knight machinegun?" Skyler asked back, looking at Stomper. "That bird's armed."

"And the NYPD don't mess around." Athena added.

As tough as Stomper thought he was, he apparently knew well enough that even he could not take on someone with a machinegun of any.

As carefully and discretely as they could they followed Lin Yao and her crew of hired thugs. It was not all that difficult with the collection of other people walking up and down along West 38th Street. About halfway between 8th and 9th Avenues they turned off into a parking structure.

Mark stopped just outside the same entrance with the others just behind him.

"What's the holdup?" asked Stomper.

"Tryin' not to tip them off that they're being followed." Mark answered.

"I've called a spirit to help hide us." Mina said. "As long as we're sneaky it'll be able to help them look the other way."

"All of us?" Athena asked.

"You should've seen the fire elemental she conjured last week when she was really pissed. Tore through an Aguilar-GX like it was tin foil." Skyler said.

Mina simply bobbed her head in agreement. For reasons untold she never bound the spirit Astorath, but also never called upon it for anything other than fighting.

"Right, so keep it quiet." Mark told them as he took the lead going into the parking structure.

Skyler wondered about the skill of Lin Yao's thugs as they followed her. Sometimes he even wondered about his own skills, would he be so diligent in noticing a tail if roles were reversed?

After a few minutes of trailing, and a few close calls, Lin Yao met up with another group of people. For Skyler and Mina it was easy enough to melt into the shadows, hiding between a sedan and a large SUV. Athena was soon with them.

There were eight men in total. Only one of them wore a suit, while the other seven wore full body armor with masked helmets. The suit had his identity concealed with an AR logo of Horizon over his head, which after a few seconds of concentration Skyler was able to partially force from his view. They were also close enough to hear what was being said.

"You are very persistent, Lin Yao." the suit said. "Yes, we figured out who you really are. If you hand over the information you promised to Horizon, we'll overlook your breach of etiquette and lies to the company."

"And if I do not?" Lin Yao asked.

"Then you should leave New York and never try to lie to anyone in Horizon again." the suit answered.

"Alright, I'll help make that happen." Stomper said loudly, stepping out into the open.

"Shit!" cussed Athena through clenched teeth.

"Who are you?" the suit asked.

"Just someone who's hired to bring her home." Stomper told them.

Skyler closed his eyes and groaned.

"Shoot him." Lin Yao said with dead calmness.

Comparing Stomper to Billy hit a new twist when Stomper proved to be a touch slower than the dead street sam. Still the ork had proved to be just a bit faster than Lin Yao's hired thugs. Or maybe he was just lucky.

"Well, hot shot, what're you gonna hack now?" Athena asked over the gunfire.

Skyler reached behind to draw out his Hatamoto II. "Never bring a computer to a gunfight." he answered. He quickly popped up from behind the sedan and shot at one of the thugs protecting Lin Yao, choosing one of the obviously cybered men with her. At the last moment the cybered man twisted just out of the way, the shock lock slug tearing through the corner of a blue 2070 Mercury Comet.

Mark came out of nowhere, lashing out at another of Lin Yao's thugs with a matte black blade that was protruding from one hand. He looked strange, blurry, as he dashed by, gutting the thug viciously.

Just barely noticing another thug aiming at him, Skyler ducked down just in time to avoid a burst of gunfire. "Shit!" he cussed.

"Thought you were a good shot, hot shot." Athena chastised.

"Oh, you want a good shot?" Skyler asked back. He quickly shoved his Hatamoto II back where he had it stashed and drew one of his Ares Predator IVs with one hand and his Ruger Super Warhawk with the other. Carefully he peeked over the sedan's hood to try and figure out who to shoot next.

"I'll give you some cover fire." Mina said aloud, peeking up just a little over the sedan's hood. With her Sakura Fubuki she shot at one of the bald thugs.

Skyler was up just as quick to pop back up. First was a shot from his Predator, dropping the same bald thug that Mina had burned, followed by a lucky shot from his Warhawk that made another thug's head explode. A second shot from his Predator clipped a third thug, while he missed with the follow up from his Warhawk.

Both Mina and Skyler barely noticed a thug gesture at them, blue-white lightning sparking just briefly before lightning lashed out at them. The sedan offered little protection as electricity arced through Skyler's body.

"Ow. Ow. Ow." Skyler went as he pushed himself to his hands and knees.

"Fuck, I wanna burn that fucker." groaned Mina as she pushed herself to sitting upright.

"Oh shit. Ouch." Athena said, not moving.

"You guys alright?" they heard Mark ask.

"No!" Skyler yelled back, "I can't taste my tongue."

"C'mon, we gotta move!" Athena told them.

It felt easier said than done for Skyler as he tried to keep low and out of sight as they began to slip out from behind the sedan. His legs felt like they were asleep, like that numb feeling you get after sitting in the same position for too long.

"'Fraid you ain't goin' nowhere." a gruff voice said.

Mina looked like she was about to scream. Rather than her voice there was fire, catching the thug completely off guard as he got a face full of fire.

From behind Skyler came a knife, hitting the thug by the grip and clattering to the ground.

Oblivious to the thrown knife, the thug was more concerned about his face having been caught on fire. More than just flesh was burning as he tried to run away.

"Thought your fire was just hot hair!" Stomper called out from behind a brown Ford Americar. Next to him was Lin Yao, and she was being inspired to stay close by a Cold Asp that was being pressed into her back.

"Fuck you!" cried Mina. Her lips moved as if she were softly speaking a quick incantation, her hand flashing out and her left arm looking like it was on fire as she unleashed an intense gout of fire.

Her target was not Stomper, as he apparently thought as he ducked down. Lin Yao took to the chance to try and escape as Mina's fire spell rushed past the both of them to catch one of her hired thugs that had tried sneaking around the other side to jump Stomper. The thug briefly screamed before falling over in a greasy burning heap.

Skyler looked to Mina, who was trembling just a little. He holstered his Warhawk before gently taking her outstretched hand. He wished he could have seen her eyes while she panted, almost not recognizing that he was there. She swallowed, calming down some as she looked at the others.

"Please don't tell me you would've dodged that." commented Mark. "You can come out now, it's safe."

Carefully looking around, Skyler saw that the other thugs had been taken care of by the others. Mina was at his side, now leaning on him for support.

Mark was leaning over the body of one of Lin Yao's thugs, wiping blood from the blades that Skyler could now see were protruding from between the man's ring and middle fingers. Once Mark looked satisfied that the blades were clean enough they disappeared into his arms.

Roadblock was just standing there, looking around and paying almost no attention to the fallen thugs. His cybernetic hands were clenched fists.

"Where'd the other guys go?" Skyler asked.

"They beat feet when the shit hit the dragon's tail." Mark said. "Had guns ready, but didn't take any shots."

"And our good friend here almost let our payday slip." Athena told them, escorting Lin Yao back to them. She had one of the former Triad woman's arms pinned high at her back.

"Yeah, looking really good for a dead woman." commented Skyler.

"Have we met?" Lin Yao asked.

"Few times." Skyler told her. "Last time was when you paid for a hit Sottocapo Omar Chavez. Was the team hacker for the job. Too bad you didn't know soon enough we were also paid to hit you too, Mikano Li of Saeder-Krupp."

Lin Yao gave Skyler a look, the kind that said 'how did you know that?' Then she said, "Fine. Okay, I will pay you ten thousand nuyen if you let me go."

"I'd consider it." Stomper said.

Lin Yao winced as Athena lifted the other woman's arm up just a little more. "You won't after you figure out your cut. You'll get paid more to bring her in." Athena told them.

"Hell, our share to kill her last September was three times that." Skyler added. Locating her commlink was easy, and after a quick scan to see if it was clear began a brute force attack against its firewall.

Stomper's jaw dropped like a Thor shot.

Lin Yao looked like she went a shade pale. Skyler figured out that she now really knew who he and Mina were.

"We should go." Roadblock casually said.

"He's right." Mark said, "Cops are sure to have noticed the fight, even in this neighborhood."

Athena's commlink chimed with an incoming call just as Skyler broke into Lin Yao's commlink.

"Kinda weird, isn't it?" Mina asked.

"Not a typical call." Athena told them.

"Answer it, but try to trace it." Mark said.

"On it." Skyler said, sifting through the signals as Athena answered the call. At the same time he also raided Lin Yao's accounts, which was a total of twelve thousand nuyen on a slotted credstick only. That money he sent to a credstick of his own.

"I have a proposition for you." came the suit's voice.

"Yeah, well we ain't interested." Stomper replied.

Skyler had the signal and was dissecting it for the other commlink's ID.

"Be quite." Athena said sharply to Stomper. "Sorry, he's not local."

"And he doesn't speak for all of us, either." Skyler added. He had the ID and was tracing it as he spoke, wiping the trace evidence from Lin Yao's commlink.

"Fine. It's a simple enough of a thing for you to do." the suit said. "In exchange for Lin Yao all you have to do is leave her commlink behind."

"Is that all?" Stomper asked.

"Shut up, dog." Skyler told him, logging off from that very commlink.

"We leave her 'link here, where we fought, and we just walk with her. No hassle, no strings?" Mark said.

"Exactly." the suit answered.

"He ain't far." Skyler told them, his trace resolved. "It's peer to peer, but he's close. Hundred or two meters away."

"Wouldn't worry about that." Mark said, "Quite reasonable enough of a deal."

Stomper grunted. "So how're we gonna get through the checkpoints when she doesn't have an ID?" he asked.

"We find a coyote, duh." Skyler answered.

Lin Yao did not resist as Mark rifled through her pockets to pull out her commlink. It was a Novatech Airware, similar to the one Athena had.

"Word here's 'skimmer,' kiddo." Athena corrected, "But you're right."

"Just leave it turned on. We'll find it." the suit told them, ending the call.

"Right, now let's get going before this place is swarmed by the fire department." Mark told them.

They found and took a stairwell down to the ground level. Along the way Skyler caught a call from Athena as she made a few calls. First was to Peace Man who told them to bring her to an address in the Lower East Side. Second was to someone who went by the name of Sidewinder who would be able to help guide them across the underground of Manhattan to get there.

"Hope you kids can see underground." Athena told them.

"Yeah, we can see just fine." Skyler replied.

"These things ain't just for looks." Mina added, tapping her goggles.

It was one of the advantages Skyler and Mina had being changelings. Their natural eyes could see just as well in low light conditions as in well lit areas. And if ever there was not even enough light to see by then they could actually see the radiant heat from people and warm objects.

Even if their own natural eyes were not enough, the goggles they wore added other options so they could see, in particular an ultrasound system.

Once they reached the ground floor Athena led them north, towards Aegis Stadium. That apparently was not their destination as she turned off a block short. There Skyler noticed a dwarf gesturing to Athena. He had red hair and beard, and beady hazel eyes.

"Sidewinder send you?" Athena asked.

"Yup. Trip'll cost you twenty-five grand."

Stomper started to sputter. Fortunately Athena was quick to ask, "That UCAS dollars or nuyen?"

"Dollars."

At least Stomper was quick on the math to figure the difference.

"That's pretty steep." Mark said.

"Well, could make it cheaper, but then it's not so easy a trip." the dwarf told them.

"And I suppose you take certified cred only?" Skyler asked.

"Fuck yeah!" the dwarf returned.

"Got one and I'll pay ya five thousand nuyen for the trip."

"Pretty generous of you, kid." Mark said as Skyler accepted a certified credstick from the dwarf.

"Well, it ain't really my money." Skyler told them as he transferred over five thousand nuyen.

"Shit. Which one of us did you rob?" asked Mark.

"Our mark." Skyler answered as he handed the dwarf back his credstick. "She had twelve grand left on her."

"When did… Never mind." Athena said.

"We're good. Alright, ghost your 'links and watch your step." the dwarf told them.

They slipped into another building and went down. It was nothing new for Skyler or Mina, sneaking into a city's abandoned underground.

The Manhattan underground did not seem so dissimilar to Denver, or anywhere else Skyler had been in a city's tunnel system. It was dank, dark, musty, and stank of things Skyler did not want to think about.

"Hope you kids ain't claustrophobic." Mark said as they came to a collapsed section of tunnel. There was almost enough space for Roadblock to barely squeeze through if he crawled.

"Can we go around?" Stomper asked.

"We could, but it's not quite as safe." the dwarf said. "It's not that bad. About thirty meters and you're in the clear. Just go one at a time through here, and I'll go first."

"Easy for you to say." Roadblock muttered.

"This is nothing." Mina said as Roadblock went through ahead of them.

"Yeah, not like we're trying to climb over pit traps like in Bosnia." Skyler added.

"When were you two in Bosnia?" asked Stomper.

"'Bout three weeks ago." Skyler answered as he went next.

"Do we even want to know what you two were doing?" asked Athena.

"No." Mina replied as she came next.

Lin Yao was pleasantly silent after they cleared the collapsed section. Stomper, however, was more vocal on his opinions about crawling through the dirt.

Overall the path was winding and much longer than it would have been if they were on the surface. Ultimately they came up from the basement of a building in a rundown but still livable looking housing complex in the middle of the Lower East Side. No one seemed to pay them any mind as they walked out onto the street, short of their dwarven underground guide.

With their links once again broadcasting where they were, Athena led the way to their meeting with Peace Man. It was a relatively short walk to Tompkins Square park, a nine-square-block park that was a bit overrun with vegetation compared to how it might have been a century ago.

Peace Man was already there, handing over three credsticks to a group of trolls.

One of them, maybe the leader of the troll group, nodded to Skyler and the others before turning to get into the driver's seat of a large black town car. One of his buddies opened the trunk and gestured to Lin Yao. With Roadblock's help she was locked in.

Once that was done Peace Man turned to them and said, "You've done well, kids. Well enough to keep people happy. Have a good one, and you may be hearing from me in the near future." With a wave of his hand their commlinks beeped with their payment.

"Guess now we figure out about getting home." Mina said as Peace Man started walking off.

Going their own way, the trolls in the black town car drove off.

"I'll call Miguel and see what he's got to say." Skyler said.

"Yo, man!" Peace Man called out, heading back towards them, "Almost forgot. Some no-necks from Denver sent me this and asked me to give it to you."

Skyler and Mina both looked back at the ork fixer.

"Their instructions were not to watch it, and guarantee you that you saw it after Lin Yao was on her way to the airport." Peace Man told them.

Another file transfer request came to Skyler's commlink. It looked like a video file, and ready for something viral he accepted it.

The file was clean, and Skyler opened an ARO for him and Mina to watch it with.

The video looked like it was taken from an eye camera, and others could be seen wearing the distinct body armor of Denver's Zone Defense Force. Soldiers could be seen carrying boxes loaded with what appeared to be contraband out of a residence, while two others started stringing up physical police tape.

"Shit!" cussed Stomper, "That's my place!"

As the video played, a neighbor who had came outside to see what was happening was thrown back as a shotgun blast tore open his chest.

"Fuck!" Stomper cried.

The video faded to black with large red letters printing out "Stay out of Denver – G."

"Stay out of Denver – G." Stomper read. "Who's 'G'?"

"Uh, Ghostwalker?" Mina asked.

Skyler felt a little dizzy as his mind processed this information. "Oh shit." he said softly.

"Well, if ya stick 'round I think I can get you some work." Peace Man told them. "Peace!"

And with that he walked off.

"What's going on?" asked Athena.

"I think we're fucked." Mina answered.

"You're a little young to know that." Mark said.

Mina flipped him off.

"Now I gotta call someone." Skyler said.

"Don't forget to include me, too." Mina told him.

Rather than Miguel, like he had thought to call about the trip home, Skyler pulled up Tabby's commcode and called her instead, making sure to encrypt the signal as heavily as he could. He did make sure that Mina was invited into the call, too.

Just before Skyler expected to get routed to a voice mail box Tabby answered. "Hello?" she said softly.

"What's going on?" Skyler asked, not disguising his voice or even introducing himself. From Tabby's hushed voice he figured she already knew who was calling.

"Not a clue, kiddo." Tabby said, "The ZDF hit some places 'cross the Zone all at once. Media's saying it's some kind of sting op that's been going on for a month now."

"Uh, we haven't even been there for over a month." Mina said.

"So I heard. Hitched a ride out for some work." Tabby said, "But somehow you two got caught up in this. I think it's because your crash pad was one of the places hit."

"Glad our shit was out of there months ago." commented Skyler.

"Glad to hear that." Tabby said, sounding quite relieved. "Look, I'll get in touch with Hunter to let her know you two are safe. I know you three are tight and all. Be best if you two didn't call home for a while, too."

"How long's a while?" asked Mina.

"Just how much they got on us?" asked Skyler.

"A year at least, and just your street names and some vague descriptions." Tabby answered. "Shit, I was even asked about you two this morning. Told 'em I hadn't heard from you in months. Also gave 'em some pretty vague descriptions on you two,"

Skyler's heart suddenly started flip-flopping in his chest.

"saying you were married dwarves." Tabby continued.

A wave of relief hit Skyler. Whatever kind of relationship he and Mina had with other fixers, Tabby had just been incredibly generous with the disinformation she said she had given.

"Shit, I think we've talked too long." Tabby said.

Indeed something now felt a little odd about the signal of their conversation.

"Catch ya on the flip side." Skyler said, disconnecting the call.

"What the hell happened?" asked Mina.

"Sounds like you guys ain't going home after all." Mark said.

"Yeah. Where's Stomper?" asked Skyler.

"Took off while you guys called home." Athena said, "Muttering and cussing like a sailor. Think he's determined to go back to Denver."

"Then he's fucked." Skyler said, "And we ain't goin' back."

"Well, if you're staying in New York you might as well come with me, then." Athena said. "At least long enough to get established for work and all."

Skyler looked to Mina, who was already looking back to him.

"Better if we've got someone who looks like an adult with us." Skyler silently said.

Saying nothing, Mina nodded.

"Alright." Skyler said. "But first we're gonna need to get some new IDs."