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.

10. Run 09 : Something Completely Different

Run 09 : Something Completely Different (based on the mission written by Wesley Street; updated 2016/10/07)

Skyler's mind felt like it was on fire, or being dunked in molten steel, as he pulled himself back to the real world. Despite blinking several times the world around him was blurry.

"I wish you'd stop this." Mina said softly.

Skyler could feel himself being pulled upright. At least he could tell which way was up. And his body still responded, though maybe feeling like he was pushing himself through mud from the feeling in his legs as he crossed them.

As had been their morning routine for the last four weeks now, Mina handed him a plate of breakfast. Like the last few days now she helped by placing the plate of food and a fork directly into his waiting hands.

Now it was not that Skyler could not still feed himself, he was quite capable in that regard. His blurred vision came with the added cost of poor depth perception. Both he and Mina found this out when he accidentally jabbed himself on the fork he was reaching for a few days ago.

"I don't think I've got much of a choice." he said as he started eating.

"Yes you do. You can slow down. You said you'd stop this constant coding and take a break to sleep at night, but you haven't."

Skyler swallowed a mouthful of food before saying, "No, I mean I can't keep this up. It's been getting harder to do all of these programs at once."

"How many more do you have to do?"

"Two. Three if you count the OS." His fork clinked as it hit his plate, and he sighed. "I don't think I'm gonna make it at this rate."

"Then don't try to. Just… Take a week off. I don't care if you've lost your abilities by then, I'll still be here for you."

Skyler looked to Mina, but she stood and walked over to the window.

"I don't want to lose you." he heard her say softly.

Setting his plate aside, Skyler struggled to stand. Getting to his feet had been becoming increasingly difficult, and now he had to pull his legs beneath himself and use his arms and legs to push himself up. Walking was not as easy now, either, with each step having to be carefully thought out.

At least he did not have very far to go to walk over to Mina, who all the while had not even turned to look at Skyler.

Skyler was about to say something, but Mina spun around, pressing into him, and ultimately knocking the both of them over as his legs gave out from beneath him. For a moment he forgot how much gravity sucked.

For a moment Skyler saw stars, but he knew he was still in the real world as he felt Mina's full weight on top of him. The back of his head throbbed from hitting the floor, and his arms felt heavy as he wrapped them around her.

Then he heard her sobbing. Figuring she was not hurt from their tumble Skyler simply held her just a little tighter.

Some time later Skyler pulled an image file from his commlink's spam filter that looked like was from their Ares contact. He was far from surprised that it happened to show up when it did. All of the major players in New York seemed to know more about what was happening than they let on, and the common wageslave and salary man seemed blissfully ignorant.

Running it through his custom decryption program he found it contained an address with a date and time. To help himself feel better about his software and coding skills he took the original and ran it against his own decryption abilities, which ended up taking about three times as long to complete with the same results.

The address had been to a small park in Queens, and at least a respectable distance from home. At least by the time of arranged meeting Skyler's vision had cleared more and his balance had gotten better.

Still not feeling too trusting, they worked out a simple plan where Skyler would go out to meet their contact by himself. Mina would be out there too, with one or two of her spirits, all hiding and ready to back him up if things did not work out well for them.

There were very few parents by the looks of things as Skyler meandered his way over to an empty bench. Most there were either very little kids, none more than eight years of age, being supervised by their not so old babysitters. Skyler leaned back to watch the kids at play.

He almost did not want to sit down at all, with the more he walked the less wobbly he was, and the better he felt. And this was despite his choice of clothing for the warm August weather, though the circuitry lines of his dressCODE ensemble was set to something called 'Random Rainbow' where the colors flowed along the lines like slow moving rivers on a black background.

"You're an exceptional pain in the ass, you know that?" asked a man as he sat down next to Skyler. The voice analyzer software he had running matched it to Miles, the Ares representative he had given the nexus to about two weeks ago.

"And I don't even try." Skyler wryly replied, not even bothering to look at the other man. His running scanner software identified the man's commlink, and he set another program to begin searching for any and all signals related to it. It was starting to become increasingly easier to use his commlink without resorting to his technomancer abilities.

"I'm looking around to see if he's got friends." Mina silently told him.

"I'm supposed to tell you that we're not pleased with the node you gave us." Miles said. "We were expecting more."

"More what?"

Some signals were isolated, but the software could not make sense of them. With a thought Skyler launched and attached his decryption software to his signal interceptor software.

"Like something to be in the node."

"You carried it, you know how heavy it was. Unless it was all lead weights…"

"Don't play the fool. We both know you're smarter than that."

"They're not so dumb this time, either. There's a mid power spirit floating near him. Nothing I can't take care of, but you know he's got a magician friend nearby." Mina silently told him.

The decryption program resolved the signal, opening an audio channel as a man spoke, "We caught another signal, so his partner's gotta be close by."

Skyler sighed, and toggled an encryption shift in his private chat with Mina. He briefly entertained the thought of backhacking Miles's backup, but passed. "Seriously, Miles, if your bosses wanted…"

"Wait, how do you know my name?" Miles asked.

Skyler looked over to Miles, lifting his goggles up so they could look each other in the eye. He could easily imagine his backup sweating bullets as they tried to figure out the answer.

Miles did not even flinch at the nearly pure blue eyes looking at him. "Fuck, why'd I even bother asking." he sighed.

Skyler pulled his goggles back down and looked back out across the playground. Two young boys laughed as they ran by. "Anyway, if they wanted me to deliver Phrex in that node they should've said so. The message said nothing about A.I.s, only to deliver that node to you guy."

"He knows your name, so try using his to see how he reacts." the same man said.

"Cypher, I saw the message, it said 'A.I. enclosure node.'"

Skyler hid a smile, far from being surprised that Miles knew his street name. In fact it would have been surprising if Miles did not know it at all.

"That's my point." Skyler countered, "But it didn't say 'with Phrex trapped within it.' or even anything about an A.I. of any kind locked up inside. Just said to deliver a node, nothing else."

This time Miles sighed. "Well, someone agrees with your logic, otherwise we wouldn't even be talking right now."

"Kinda figured that."

Miles softly chuckled. "And if this was a trap?" he asked.

"You see my girlfriend anywhere?" Skyler asked back.

"We never saw her last time." Miles replied.

"We know she's close, but we still can't find her now. She's gotta have spirit backup or something." the man told Miles.

"Why do you think it looks like I'm alone? Why your backup can't find her?" He glanced back to Miles to see him quickly recover from a look of surprise. "We've been burned before, and nearly been killed because of it. Last time the other side paid for it dearly. You've got your backup, and I've got mine, and she's told me that spirit you've got this time is no match for her."

Miles chuckled a little nervously. "Well, apparently it turned out that your little gift wasn't completely worthless. And since you did exactly what you were asked of, even if it wasn't exactly what was intended, you're still getting compensation."

"And you know the deal, right? It's the both of us or don't bother."

"There's one for each of you." Miles said, discreetly holding out a small plastic case about one centimeter by three centimeters by half a centimeter.

Without really looking at it, Skyler slipped a hand over and collected the case. As he discretely pocketed it, he could feel a data chip or two slipping around inside. Probably two if Miles was literally honest.

"Pleasure doin' business with you." Miles said with a grunt as he stood. He walked off, not saying another word.

"Spirit's leaving with him." Mina told him.

"Meet me back at the truck." Skyler said as he pushed himself from the bench. Without looking at Miles he walked off in the other direction.

He was already back in the truck before Mina even appeared.

"So, what'd we get this time?" she asked after closing the door.

Not for the first time he noticed the jingling silver chains of her new earrings. A small ruby was embedded in a stud at the lobe of her ear, with a loose clip that was hanging on at the top of the pinna. They were simple pieces of jewelry that she had made herself last week, with one of them also enchanted.

"A pink and blue data chip." Skyler said, holding up the pair of chips he had been given.

"Guess they made it easy to tell us who's is whose." Mina said dryly.

"Yeah, but it's the data on them that I'm concerned about." Skyler said, "But there's really only one way to find out their contents."

"You sure about this?" Mina asked. "I mean, what if it corrupts all the data, or transmits all your identity info to… who knows?"

"Then let's use those IDs we got from Eddie for the Opera House gig. There's next to nothing on 'em anyway."

After a round-a-bout trip back home they went right upstairs to their room.

Made to be exchangeable for anyone who upgraded their commlink, and there were people who got new ones every year with for the latest and greatest models, the chip that held a person's identity was not too difficult to remove.

Skyler swapped the chips in his commlink, and when the new identity was registered he plugged in the eggshell blue chip they had just gotten.

Almost right away an ARO popped up: "Your Manhattan pass is out of date. Would you like to update it? [Yes/No/Info]"

With a thought Skyler selected 'Info' to see if there was anything about what it was going to do.

A smaller ARO appeared: "Your Blue-White level Manhattan pass expired 9 July, 2072. The update will be to a permanent White level Manhattan pass."

Behind his goggles Skyler's eyes widened. It was not that a white pass was not impossible to get, but it was difficult to say the least and the fake ones usually did not last long. He closed out the info ARO and immediately selected 'Yes.' Right away the expired blue-white pass was replaced with a permanent white pass.

Then another ARO appeared: "Your licenses appear to be out of date or missing. Would you like to renew them? [Yes/No/Info]"

Again Skyler selected 'Info.'

The new ARO that appeared said: "You currently have no license data." No surprise as there were no licenses at all with this ID. "You have been approved for the following, good within the United Canadian and American States (including its territories) and/or the Island Of Manhattan: Permit to own and carry all classifications of handguns; permit to own and bladed weapons up to and including 120cm in length; concealed carry permit; universal matrix software permit; driver's license; Manhattan checkpoint pass; Manhattan universal vehicle pass."

Feeling his heart starting to work its way into his throat, he closed out the info ARO and then selected 'Yes.' Right away all of the listed licenses and permits were added to the identity.

"So, what happened?" Mina asked.

"It uploaded a permanent white pass and half a dozen licenses. I don't know if they're good fakes like what we've been using, or real."

"Whoa."

"Hang on." Skyler said as he noticed something more.

Another ARO had appeared: "Your address information is out of date. Would you like to update? [Yes/No/Info]"

This time Skyler just hit 'Yes.' "Home just got updated to… Park Avenue?" He pulled up a map of Manhattan in another ARO and plugged in the address. Right away an inverted teardrop pip showed up, and the map zoomed in on the location, a short skyscraper with a footprint that stretched between 68th and 69th Streets and from Park to Lexington Avenue.

"Yeah, here it is." Skyler said, tagging the ARO so Mina could also see it. "The Ivory Spire."

"Holy fuck! That's in the Upper Eastside!"

"Explains the white pass. We'd need one just to get in the neighborhood."

"Guess I'll do mine now." Mina said, swapping chips around in her commlink. "Shit, I got like half a dozen licenses just uploaded, too."

"Should we at least go check the place out?" Skyler asked.

"Sure."

Skyler had to make an adjustment on Ironhide first before they left, setting it back to the original silver color and the registration info attached to the right ID. It would have raised a lot of questions if the truck was broadcasting details saying it was owned by Jason Griffith if Skyler's identity was someone else's, even if he was also Jason.

But this time around would also be a little different, with Mina also carrying her Sakura Fubuki and her Cougar Fineblade, and Skyler his own sword, but with the two of them having their clothing set to 'Winter Whiteout,' a color scheme where what they wore was solid white.

Security at the Queensboro Bridge did not even give the truck a second look as they drove up, being waved right on through.

The Upper Eastside's southern most boundary was defined as 59th Street from 5th Avenue all the way to the East River. While technically everyone in the Upper Eastside needed a blue-white or white pass to legally be in the area, that need was not enforced for anyone driving off of the bridge as long as they were heading onto 59th Street (this part of the bridge had been rebuilt after the quake, and again after the Upper Eastside was declared a white zone). Fifth Avenue was likewise not enforced for white passes as Central Park was still a major tourist attraction and to help keep them coming nearly the whole park was a red zone. It would not do well at all if the tourists could not navigate around the park without getting into trouble with NYPD Inc.

But for Skyler and Mina there were no warnings or alerts as Ironhide drove itself north on Park Avenue.

The Ivory Spire itself looked much taller in person than it did in the ARO. The first fifteen floors covered the entire base of the building. From there the squared building covered much of the western half of the block, rising straight up into the sky.

Skyler had done some research on what was publically available about the Ivory Spire. The largest area of the bottom floors incorporated a full K-through-12 school as well as a large mall of numerous stores and amenity services, and direct access to the metro station (still called Hunter College). The next ten floors up were a high class hotel, and beyond that was all residential. The entire building was built meta-friendly, even despite the lack of trolls that could afford to live in the neighborhood, with three and a half meter floors.

"Looks like there's a parking garage entrance on the side." Mina said.

"Well, let's see if we can drive in." Skyler said.

The entrance was gated, but opened at their approach. On top of that a new ARO appeared in front of the console between Skyler and Mina.

"We've got our own parking space?" Mina asked.

"Looks like it."

It was the top floor for private parking, five floors down from ground level, and marked by an RFID tag buried in the pavement. The space was empty and more than large enough for the racing truck.

"White passes, our own parking space, what next?" Mina asked as they climbed out of the truck.

"Not a clue."

"You can't park there." said an older woman, her heels clicking as she walked up to them. "This parking garage is reserved for residents. You'll simply have to move that… thing." She was wearing a dark orange business suit and skirt. Skyler thought she was missing a meter long fox tail to wrap around her neck and a broad brimmed hat with a gaudy feather sticking out of it.

"That thing is nicer than half the limos I've been in." Skyler gruffly said back, "And…" he paused as he opened up an ARO, "this is our parking space."

The woman scrutinized the details of the parking space's ARO, looking at Skyler, his truck, and back to the ARO again.

"There's gotta be a mistake." she said, "But I don't have the time to deal with you now."

"Sure, take it up with the building manager if you want." Mina said.

The woman gave a 'hmph' before walking off, her heels clicking loudly with each step.

"Residents?" Mina asked softly as Skyler collected his sword from the back seat of the truck.

"There's an elevator over there. Maybe I can get some details from it."

There actually were three elevators. And in their way was a security station with four guards, one of which was a troll. The guards seemed to pay them no mind, though Skyler was sure that at least one of them was paying attention to them as he stepped through the scanner first. If everything was as legitimate as he thought then there should be no problem going through.

An alarm went off just as he cleared the archway, drawing the attention of all the guards.

"If you could step over here, please, Mr. Gibson?" one of the guards asked. His commlink was broadcasting the name Edward Lucas

"Is something wrong?" Skyler asked.

"Aside from clearly being armed, maybe." Edward said, his fingers dancing across a private ARO. After several painful seconds he finally said, "I'm sorry about the inconvenience, Mr. Gibson, but I'm sure you understand we can't be too careful. Please make sure to keep the safeties on, and your weapons sheathed."

"We're okay?" Skyler asked.

"If you'll please step through, Miss Wilcox?" the guard asked, indicating to Mina.

The alarm went off for her as she stepped through, and again Edward's fingers worked his private ARO interface. Finally he said, "Yes, you're both okay. And do please remember to be considerate to our other tenants who aren't armed. Some will be quite… upset."

"I'm sure I won't have to draw them here." Skyler said.

"Enjoy your stay here." Edwards said before Skyler and Mina continued on.

One of the elevator doors opened automatically for them. It was not until after the doors closed that Mina spoke. "How the hell'd that work?" she asked.

"Probably when we updated our IDs. When the addresses got updated on our 'links, that program likely sent an update to here." Skyler reasoned. It made sense. The program holding the white passes and licensing data could have easily read the data from their fake SINs and sent it elsewhere (like this apartment skyscraper). Maybe it was a good idea to use identities that had next to no data trail to them.

"Think it's a trap?" Mina asked.

"Too elaborate, I think." Skyler said.

"And an ultraviolet node isn't?"

It had been several months before, not long before they had even gotten back to Denver, before their next flight that took them to New York, the two had been forcefully jacked into a virtual reality simulation of a prison by a man named Hiroshi Yakashima. Despite the intensely high quality and processing power of the node, it was not an experience that Skyler ever wanted to repeat. It also did not help that the VR rendering of the prison was based on the actual prison they had been physically incarcerated in.

"Well, at least you've got your spirits and me my guns." Skyler said as he stepped into the elevator.

"Yeah, and I've two of 'em with me right now." Mina told him as she stepped in with him.

Skyler took a deep breath before saying, "Guess we should keep going."

There were no physical controls to the elevator, but the wireless interface gave Skyler an ARO with a handful of options, one of which was labeled 'Home.'

Right away the elevator started going up.

When the floor counter passed 60 Mina asked, "Just how high up are we gonna go?"

Skyler said nothing. He was about to try and hack into the building's network to find out when the elevator slowed, coming to a stop on the eighty-seventh floor. With a chime the doors opened for them.

Together they stepped out of the elevator, which promptly closed as soon as they were well clear of the doors.

It was a simple, white room they were in. It looked like an unadorned foyer, with a large door at the opposite side being the only thing that broke up the monotony of the bare, white wall. There was no handle on the door, but there were a few biometric scanner plates on their right side.

"Ghost your 'link." Skyler said, switching his own to hidden mode.

Mina nodded, and did the same. Skyler then touched his right thumb to the middle plate, which beeped and the door opened for them.

There was no real hallway to be seen, but more of an open room one would have to greet visitors to their home, with numerous hooks to hang coats, a few mats for footwear, and the sort. Skyler was starting to feel undersized for the place, noticing that Mina could stand on his shoulders and maybe reach the ceiling if they both stood on tiptoe and she stretched to reach as high as she could.

The only direction to go was forward, and slowly the two walked in.

"Holy shit." Mina cussed as everything opened up to them, and the enormity of the place hit.

Skyler had thought the place where his sister lived was really nice, but what he saw blew his Denver home to shame.

It looked like the penthouse took up the top two floors of the building. A good portion of the bottom floor, the one where they were now, was dominated by a large entertainment area with some furniture. Off to their right was a bar and small kitchen with a Renraku Manservant-III drone idle in its charge station, and beside it a spiral staircase up to the second floor, to their left was an elaborate entertainment center, but most impressive was what was straight ahead.

The whole west wall was nothing but windows stretching up all three of the floors, angled inwards and letting in a tremendous amount of midday sunlight. Outside the windowed wall was a balcony with a transparent fence, several lounge chairs, and a good sized private pool, while beyond that and over two blocks worth of much shorter buildings, was a spectacular view of Central Park with the Westside behind that.

"This place's huge!" Mina exclaimed as they looked around.

It certainly was. The second floor was roughly 'U' shaped, though it looked more like the back wall was actually all rooms, with the second floor walkways more for offering a view of the city to the north and south. Skyler then noticed a good sized hot tub in the corner opposite of the kitchen. Aside from the walkway directly above it one would have a beautiful view of the park and city from there.

"Who the hell are you?" asked a woman from behind and above them.

"Shit." hissed Skyler under his breath. He wished he had now broken into the building's network to at least see if anyone else was living in the same place, but almost as quickly realized it would have been useless without knowing ahead of time exactly which place within the tower was actually theirs.

She was on the second floor, leaning over the railing to look at them. She had straight black hair that reached partway down her back, parted evenly around her oval shaped face. Her eyes were almost as dark as her hair, making for a striking contrast against her lightly tanned skin, and judging by the scant and tight gray shorts and matching sports top restraining her breasts (which was the entirety of her worn clothing at the moment) Skyler figured she was at a complete disadvantage even if she happened to be a magician or an adept of some kind.

"Maybe you oughta tell us who you are." Skyler replied.

"You first." she said, walking over to the spiral staircase over the kitchen and walking down.

"Is she serious?" Mina silently asked.

"Is she a sleeper?"

After a few seconds, as the woman reached the bottom of the spiral staircase, Mina replied, "Yeah, she's not awakened. No magic and no cyber that I can sense."

Skyler shook his head.

"I know you two are talking somehow." she said, "I can see it."

"So what if we are?" Skyler asked.

"A little rude, don't you think?" she asked back, "But then, so's barging in on someone's home."

"We didn't barge in our home." Mina said.

"Your home?" she asked.

"I touched my thumb to the pad, and the door opened." Skyler said matter-of-factly.

"Wait, you two?" she asked, her gaze shifting between Skyler & Mina. Then she said something Skyler did not understand, but recognized nonetheless.

"Russian." he silently, urgently sent to Mina. He took two steps back, reaching into his jacket and drawing both of his Predators, left loading an APDS round and right loading a gel round, and leveling both at her. It did not matter that neither of them understood what she said, but right now it seemed like a very good chance she could be a Vory assassin.

The woman's first expression was first surprise, which was traded for fear as she came to realize Skyler was not playing around. Other than raising her hands she did not move.

"Who sent you?" Skyler asked, trying to sound as menacing as a twelve year old could.

Her brown eyes quickly darted between the two of them, but Skyler would not hazard a glance to Mina. He knew Mina's first reaction would either be to disappear or unleash a gout of fire that would incinerate the woman if she thought either of them were threatened.

"It's not gonna work, the 'no-speaky-ze-English' bit." Skyler said. "So who sent you? Klavikova? Petrov?"

"Who?" the woman asked.

"Irina Klavikova? Mikael Petrov?" Skyler growled, directly naming two people in the Vory that directly tried to kill him and Mina, came quite close to succeeding, and likely still wanted them dead. He hoped Mina would be able to hold back her flames if the woman answered 'Klavikova.'

Again the woman's brown eyes quickly darted to Mina, and Skyler's empathy software notched up her fear level a few more steps.

"She's getting way scared." Mina told him.

"I really don't know who they are." the woman said, still glancing between the two of them.

"Hey, eyes on me." Skyler ordered. "If I think you're gonna go after her I'm gonna turn you to Swiss cheese if she don't char your bones first." For added emphasis he aimed both Predators at her, the one swapping the loaded gel round for an APDS round.

Slowly the woman stood, keeping her hands from her body in an effort to appear non-threatening. Skyler kept his Predators trained on her anyway.

"Clearly you've got the advantage. So, I guess, what do you want to know?" the woman asked.

"Who else is here?" Skyler asked.

"No one. It's just us three."

"Your name?" At the same time he was tapping into the penthouse node, finding he had more access than he expected.

"Claudia Bailey."

Resident details for their penthouse listed three names, and hers was one of them. The other two were the aliases that Skyler and Mina were using.

"And what do you do for a living?" Skyler asked, wondering what she would say considering it was early Friday afternoon and even many of the upper class would be at their day jobs.

"That, ah, is a little complicated." Claudia told them.

"Then un-complicate it." Skyler said sternly.

"I do a bunch of odd jobs. Sometimes I'm an escort, maybe spying on someone, break into someplace I shouldn't…"

"A little petty theft?" Skyler asked.

Claudia nodded.

"So, a shadowrunner." Mina said, sounding unimpressed.

It looked like Claudia was fighting the urge to look at Mina, keeping her eyes fixed on Skyler's twin Predators. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Shit." Skyler muttered, "A rich playgirl playing real life shadowrunner."

Claudia scowled. "And what are you two?"

"Kids."

"Cut the bullshit. This isn't a kids' game, you know."

"Don't underestimate us." Skyler said sternly, "We ain't kids playin' Miracle Shooter or something."

Claudia's gaze dropped to Skyler's Predators again, then back up to meet his eyes. Though his arms were starting to get a little tired holding them, his aim had been steady the whole time. Maybe he had been spending too much time in VR lately.

"So what're you doing here?" Mina asked.

"I live here."

Something seemed a little odd in how she said it. "How long have you been living here?" Skyler asked.

"A week."

A new icon appeared in his field of view, a flashing red warning that the firewall to his commlink was being breached. He loaded up his custom tracking program and the attack program that had come with the commlink when he took it for his own.

A new icon literally slithered into his commlink. With a thought the katana shaped attack program came crashing down.

Claudia grimaced, and Skyler knew the pain response.

"String her up." Skyler growled, bringing the virtual sword to the snake icon a second time. He barely missed the snake's head as it vanished, and the intruder alert automatically switched off.

"What the hell?" Claudia screamed as an earthen spirit materialized behind her. The inhumanly shaped spirit looked more like the rear axle of a wagon, complete with wheels on either end. One end was flat to the floor while the other bent over like a drooping flower to strike Claudia, grabbing her by the wrists and ankles and lifting her off the floor. Later Skyler would learn the spirit was emulating a medieval torture device called a 'breaking wheel' in the way it was restraining Claudia.

"Okay, why'd I have a spirit do that?" Mina asked.

"You wanna fess up, or should I just tell her?" Skyler asked Claudia.

"Super wiz 'link you got there, kid." Claudia said, "Never saw that sword coming."

Skyler shook his head.

Mina looked utterly confused.

"She's a technomancer." Skyler said, "Caught her tryin' to hack my PAN."

"Oh." Mina said.

"What makes you think I'm a brain fucker?" Claudia asked.

Skyler holstered his Predators, shifting his mind from his worn commlink to his own biological node. Hopefully Claudia would not key in to his weakening abilities, and even at this close range he figured he should be able to connect directly to her.

It took a little more than he wanted for his mind to connect to hers. The way things worked between technomancers and technology, technomancers were harder to wirelessly find and identify by hardware as opposed to another technomancer's own wetware, while technomancers could more easily find and identify hardware.

"For starters, I know technomancers cannot hack into brains." Skyler silently said to Claudia, making his mental voice sound like a chorus of many people speaking in unison.

Claudia went a shade pale, and swallowed hard. She then looked to Mina, and back to Skyler. "So you are Cypher?" she asked.

Skyler scowled, which might have been a little hard to see with his goggles on.

"Hey, if neither of you are, then she's in some deep shit for that necklace." Claudia told them.

"I'm fine with her wearing my sig." Skyler said darkly as he shifted himself back to his worn commlink. The commlink was feeling much more comfortable than it had a month ago when he really started using it like a regular person, and he could feel its mechanical power that now seemed to rival his own innate abilities.

"So you are Cypher after all." Claudia said.

"How do you know this?" Mina asked, touching the silver winged sword of her necklace.

"Got a friend in Denver. Says he saw that in the node of a Yakuza guy that was paying for technomancers." Claudia said.

"So I guess you know us by reputation." Skyler said.

"Hey, look, if I thought you were even in Manhattan I wouldn't've tried hacking your hardware." Claudia said, "But word is you're back in Denver."

Skyler and Mina shared a look. "What about me?" Mina asked as Skyler looked back to Claudia.

"Not a clue."

"Hmph."

"So why're you so sure I really am who I am?" Skyler asked, "Most people take a lot to convince."

"You met my friend in Morikawa's node. He told me about your voice, and he gave me the impression it left. Felt that just now when we connected." Claudia told him.

"The neon spider." Skyler said, remembering the arachnid hybrid. "I'd've shot him if I hadn't traced him way outside Yak territory."

"He told me you didn't track him down."

"I got far enough. Didn't need to know his exact location. Being deep in the PCC sector was enough."

"So, who told you we'd be coming here?" asked Mina.

"My handler, Miles."

"Shoulda known that asshole knew more than he was letting on." Skyler grumbled.

"You know Miles?"

"As much as you're not a corp lapdog." Skyler replied. He grinned at the fitting double meaning for 'bitch,' but grunted as he jaw began to hurt a little again.

Claudia did not look pleased.

"So, what now?" Mina asked.

"You could let me go." Claudia suggested.

"Can we trust her?" Mina asked.

"Maybe." Skyler said, intentionally sounding dubious. "She is a techno, and knows the techno I met once last year, so she's not too likely to try betraying us. But just in case…"

Skyler stepped up closer to Claudia, pulling his Eichiro Hatamoto II from behind his back and pressed the edge of the barrel under Claudia's chin, watching her eyes go wide with fear. With his free hand he pulled off his goggles so she could look him straight in the eye.

"Someone we worked with tried to betray me to Morikawa." Skyler said grimly. "I blew his head off with this gun when we were this close. A guy that would've rather seen me dead if someone else didn't value my ass so much more alive."

It was quite clear to Skyler that she believed him.

Then he turned back around, sliding the shotgun pistol back where he kept it as he walked back over to Mina. "Go ahead and let her go." he said as he secured his goggles back on.

The spirit released Claudia, letting her drop to the floor as it simply reformed itself to something more humanoid.

"So, when you said you knew we were communicating," Skyler said as he walked around to the refrigerator, "was it because you could sense the signals?"

"Yeah, I felt it." Claudia admitted, "Couldn't make any sense of it, though."

"Guess your encryption's pretty good." Mina said, "What's there to drink?"

"Bottled water, Hugo Natural…"

"They got cherry?"

Skyler pulled out two cherry bottles of Hugo Natural before closing the refrigerator door. He then handed Mina one of the two bottles.

"Sure was, though I'm not too good at decrypting." Claudia said.

"You know, with the noise I'm sure we made I'm surprised there's no security knockin' on the door." Mina said as she opened her bottle.

"That's one of the nice things about this place." Claudia said as she opened the can of beer she had pulled out of the fridge. "Manhattan might be a trillion trid cameras, but this building's got a healthy respect for privacy for its residents. Soundproofing in the walls and floors, windows are one-way unless we want, and all that."

"Surprising since I'd've thought everyone would've wanted to know what everyone's doing." Skyler said.

"There's some that're like that, sure." Claudia said, "And there's places in this building where you've gotta have your 'link on and broadcasting and all, but most of those are the public places like the mall and such."

"Are you thinking about moving here?" Mina asked.

"A free place to crash? Of course I'd consider it."

"I don't wanna have a spirit on her all the time in case she goes Aden v. Tehran on us."

"Maybe a trial, then? One night, and we'll see. Besides, it's not like we gotta forget about the brownstone. We just paid the next month's rent after all."

"Look, I know we really got off on the wrong foot, but you're welcome to stay here. I just hope we can forget about…"

Skyler waved his hand, the matter dropped.

"Besides, you two could do a lot worse than me." Claudia said.

Skyler chuckled. "Few months ago we did. C.P.S. dumped us in a foster home where the kids were getting pimped out."

"You didn't…"

"Take it up the ass?" Skyler asked, "Fuck no! I shot the fucker first. Last I checked the kids were in better homes."

"Well you can keep those Preds holstered. You're a little young for me." Claudia said, trying to lighten the mood.

Part of Skyler wondered about her age. Despite appearances he was well over twenty-four years old. Even Mina was older than she looked, though still technically and legally a juvenile in most North American nations.

"And we've got plenty of rooms." Claudia said, "There's three more on the third floor. Downstairs we've got a game room, workout room, and such, so there's plenty to do here. We've got a pool outside, and there's another in the building that's larger for the residents. At least check the place out first."

Skyler was still weighing things in his mind. Part of him was screaming not to, to get the fuck out while he could. This was compounded by the fact that Ares had supplied everything for him and Mina to get in in the first place, which meant they had the data to track them easily at least throughout the city. Anonymity was essential to the survival of anyone who worked the shadows for long.

But another part was thinking about the high end lifestyle they could live, if only for a short while. Almost no shadowrunner got to live this kind of life, with the vast majority living in the streets or squatting in some hellhole neighborhood.

But then there was Claudia Bailey who was also a technomancer.

"One night." Mina silently told him.

Skyler said nothing, nodding his head instead.

"We're gonna give you one night." Skyler said, "If it works out, we'll talk about it."

"Alright." Claudia said, sounding a little chipper. "Let me show you the rooms."

With Mina's spirit returning to the astral (she said it would still hang around), Claudia led them up the spiral staircase to the top floor and across to the far side of the penthouse.

Bedroom was an understatement as far as Skyler was concerned. Overall each one of them was much larger than the fallout shelter he had lived in underneath Denver, and if you included the very large bathroom and walk-in closets each one had they were about the same size as the office space he and Mina had lived in.

"Mine's at the other end of the penthouse." Claudia said as Skyler and Mina looked around the first room, "So you can take this one, Cypher, and be as far away from me as possible while you're staying here."

Mina turned from the closet to look at Skyler, their eyes meeting with an unspoken discussion.

"Yeah, about that." Skyler said, "See, Firefly and I'll be sharing the room."

"Oh, hell no." Claudia said, "I know what's going through your body right now. All sorts of hormones kicking in…"

"Tell her." Mina said, "Or I will."

"I was going to." Skyler said, "But… Maybe if we can get an idea on how well she can keep her mouth shut."

"Fuck it, I'm getting tired of this."

"Alright." Skyler said, pulled his goggles off again, turning to look at Claudia. "You know, frankly I don't give a shit if you believe this or not, but for starters my eyes aren't replacements. Besides looking like we do, it's the only evidence that we're changelings, and we're older than we look."

Claudia grinned. "You're joking, right? I know kids are all in a hurry to… grow up…" She stopped when she realized the serious expression on Skyler's face.

"Miles'll probably say we're precocious, and he wouldn't be the first. We've let a lot of people believe it." Skyler said, "But I'm really twenty-four years old, she's seventeen, and we've been living together for well over a year now."

"You expect me to believe you're twenty-four?" Claudia asked. "Next you'll tell me that cyberarm of yours is fake."

Accessing the menus for his cybernetic arm, Skyler triggered the release for just the hand. With a soft click it opened just a little so he could slide it off like a glove. He then held up his uncovered left hand, wiggling his very real flesh and blood fingers.

"Why the secrecy? And why tell me all this? And can you tell me where you got that?"

"Like I said, I'm getting tired of being treated like the kid I look like." Mina said while Skyler slipped his fake cybernetic hand back on.

"And I'm kinda gettin' tired of it, too." Skyler added, "Though I think I might've had it worse."

"Maybe." Mina said.

"How so?" Claudia asked.

"I SURGEd before I hit puberty." Mina said, "But there wasn't really any way to know till I was thirteen and hadn't grown a centimeter in three years. That and my friends were starting to… you know."

Claudia simply nodded.

Even Skyler had a passing understanding of how Mina would have felt. A lot of girls took pride in themselves when their breasts began to grow, and for some it was a major embarrassment to not need anything beyond a training bra.

"And what about you?" Claudia asked.

"Happened almost two years ago. Was unconscious while my body ate itself from adult to preteen. Woke up a few weeks later fifty centimeters shorter and sounding like my balls had crawled back up."

"This's all rather hard to believe." Claudia said.

"How many twelve year olds do you know hold a handgun the right way?" Skyler asked back.

"Just means you've had training." Claudia paused as she thought about something. Again she said something in Russian.

"What's that mean?" Mina asked.

"What? Oh, sorry. It's Russian for 'shit.'"

"While staring down the barrel of a Predator. A good word." Skyler said.

"Why didn't I see it?" Claudia asked, shaking her head. "You weren't shaking at all when you held your pistols, and you certainly didn't try the stupid thing and hold them sideways. She didn't freak when you drew either, and you're both too clean to be from some gang where you'd be used to all this."

"So you believe us?" Mina asked.

"I guess." Claudia said with a sigh. "Maybe. I don't know. Anyway, I'm going to the weight room to workout. I still gotta think about all this. You two do… whatever."

Whatever had involved going back to their brownstone for some things, clothing mostly, and to tell Athena and Roadblock of the change in living arrangements (only that they were moving out, not that it was to the Upper Eastside). They also worked out the story Athena would tell the other neighborhood kids if they asked about where they were at.

Athena had been reluctant about this at first, but seemed to be a bit at ease that they would still be taking jobs with her, and paying their share of the rent to keep their room available just in case. This was also in part because Mina expressed a dislike of packing up the things of her lodge, preferring to leave it setup there instead.

After getting back to the apartment building and putting their things in their room, Skyler and Mina went to checking out the rest of the building. They did not take advantage of any of the amenities and simply noted what was there.

Dinner that evening was about as luxurious as their lunch with Falcone had been two weeks ago. One of the Manservant drones was programmed with a full library of cooking programs, and worked almost as well as any professional chef as it grilled up steaks, mixed vegetables, and even whipped up real Idaho potatoes for the three of them.

It was hours later now, and Skyler had found he could not sleep. So he had left a sleeping Mina in their room and came out to the main room to look out the window. The Manhattan skyline at night was quite beautiful with the multitude of lights. The weather was starting to take a turn for the worst, with clouds moving in and creating a rainbow haze throughout the city. Sure, their room, and the penthouse itself, had a feature where the walls could be replaced with AROs of the city outside, completely un-obscured by nuisances like walls, but even with the realistic definition of augmented reality it was not the same as seeing the real thing with his own flesh and blood eyes.

A part of him was now missing Denver, seeing the city on a clear winter night had some similarities, but the rainbow of colors and Central Park virtually at his feet reminded him he was thousands of kilometers away from home.

But another part of him was missing the matrix. There was a good chance he would have been immersed fully in the virtual world if NYIT's server, his mind wrapped in digital warmth, still working on what programs he had yet to finish. Even now it was just barely there, like the ghost you see out of the corner of your eye but never see when you turn to face it.

"Having troubles sleeping? I promised I wouldn't try anything on you two." Claudia said as she slowly walked up to him. She was far from a modest woman, he could tell from the shadowy reflection in the window. She was scantily dressed for bed, wearing only white bikini style panties that rode high over her hips to accentuate the length of her shapely legs. Skyler wondered if she would have been more modest if she thought he was twelve.

"It's not that. Been having troubles sleeping lately." Skyler lied. Not for the first time tonight he had started wondering if his body remembered how to sleep, or that it was required.

"Look, I hope you don't mind, but I did some asking 'round 'bout you two."

Skyler shrugged. He would have been more surprised if Claudia had not done that, especially as she was not some wageslave ignorant about the darker parts of the world. "So, what do you wanna know?"

"Were you really on the Brooklyn Bridge when it collapsed?"

"Yeah, we were. Barely jumped off in time."

"And Throgs Neck Tunnel?"

"And the explosion later that almost killed me." Skyler said solemnly. "Wasn't the first time I almost died, either."

Claudia sighed. "Almost seems like it's… too much."

"See these?" Skyler asked, pointing to three particular gunshot scars. "We were holed up in a safehouse while on a job. We had really managed to piss someone off, and he sent a S.W.A.T. team to take us out one night. Well, we barely got a warning, and were just starting to get out of bed as one busted in our room. I managed to take him out with Firefly's pistol, then his buddy just behind him did this to me with an assault rifle." He indicated to the three scars again.

"And the reason you're telling me this?" Claudia asked.

"Firefly roasted that guy." Skyler said, "Melted his armor to his bones."

"That's some intense flames." Claudia said softly. "I remember finding some rumors about that, too." She sighed.

"Hard not to think of us as kids, eh?" Skyler asked.

"The more I learn about you two the more I realize you're not the kids you look like."

"Bet you've thought of busting in on us, too, I'll bet."

"The thought's crossed my mind." After a moment she added more confidently, "Go to bed, try to get some sleep, and make sure she knows I didn't try to abduct you or something."

Looking back out to Manhattan, Skyler half watched in the window as Claudia walked over to the fridge for a bottle of water before going back upstairs. It was maybe an hour before he too went back to his room.

Skyler woke to the pounding of a fist on a door. "It's eight o'clock!" Claudia bellowed, "When're you two gonna get moving?"

The king sized bed had been incredibly soft, supportive, and conforming to his body that Skyler would have sworn he was sleeping on a cloud. No wonder he did not feel like moving.

Mina was at his side, hand over his heart. She groaned as she pushed herself up. "Oh, you're up?" she said when she noticed Skyler was awake.

"I think so." he said as he pushed himself to a sitting position.

There was more pounding at the door.

"We're up!" Mina and Skyler yelled at the same time.

"Well get your asses dressed and out here for breakfast." Claudia said, "The drone's already cooking up more than I could possibly eat by myself."

"We'll be right down!" Mina called out.

They threw some clothes on before coming out of their room. Even Claudia, waiting for them at the bar, was more appropriately dressed than when Skyler saw her the night before, though it was only a bra that she had put on. Still, women wore swimsuits that covered less.

Breakfast was lavish compared to what they were used to. Even at Rei's the food was largely soy based, but this time it was real chicken eggs, ham, bacon, and juice from oranges grown in the Caribbean League of what used to be Florida. Overall it was so different from the 'printed' food from an SPU.

After breakfast the two went back to their room to get cleaned up and get dressed, and then figure out what to do for the day.

Their bathroom was not quite a room as more of a space made for the function of a bathroom. There were some privacy concerns in the design, like when you had to use the toilet you could not be seen, and straight from the bedroom door you could not see it or the shower.

And the shower itself was something unusual as far as Skyler was concerned. The showerhead was straight above in the ceiling instead of jutting out from the wall where the controls were, with the drain was in a depression directly below the showerhead with the floor was slightly sunken in around it.

But there was more to the shower than just this. The white walls of their room had another purpose than being water repellant and representing purity in the absence of color. Unlike the rest of their room, the walls around the shower could change colors into incredibly realistic patterns, and above the showerhead itself were hologram projectors. The controls were a water resistant touch screen just outside of the shower itself. Skyler figured that the designer figured whoever lived in a place like this would not be wearing contacts or anything for augmented reality environment programs while in the shower.

One of the other many perks of such a high class place was virtually instant hot water once the shower was on. It did not take much adjusting to get the heat just where Skyler wanted as he stepped into the cascade of water. Around him everything changed, transforming to look like a tropical jungle lagoon. At his feet the drain even collected the water until it was maybe two or three centimeters deep to make it feel even more like he was standing in a pool underneath a gentle waterfall.

Through the droplets of rain he saw Mina walking over to join him in the shower. She did not look up at him as she took the final steps to join him in the cascade of water.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"You think I'm pretty?" she asked softly.

"Well, yeah. Of course you're pretty."

"And Claudia?"

Skyler wondered where she was going with this, but decided to answer honestly. He figured the truth now would hurt less than a revealed lie later on. "Yeah, she's an attractive woman."

Mina looked hurt, and Skyler started wondering if maybe he should have lied.

"And… Athena?"

Saying nothing, Skyler put his hands on her shoulders and drew her in close to embrace her. He could hear her breaking out into tears as he held her in his arms, wishing that she would return his hug, feeling the heat of her body as the warm water slipped out from between them.

"You think just because they've got boobs and hips and… that they're automatically prettier than you?" Skyler asked.

Mina slipped her hands up to push him back a step. "I saw you two last night." she told him, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "I saw… her."

"So I saw her topless. Not the first time I've seen a naked woman." he said matter-of-factly.

Mina spun to walk away, but he was not going to let her go so easily. He firmly grabbed her arms and pulled her back, pressing her back against his chest before wrapping his arms around her again with one hand over her heart. Skyler held her firmly, feeling her racing pulse against his fingers.

"Maybe they're attractive, but so are you." he said softly into her ear.

"And Trance?" she asked.

Skyler felt like a stake had just been driven through his heart. Trance had been a human woman that he had met in Seattle, who had come to Denver with him, and the same night when his SURGE was triggered she had been killed. He had spent more than six months afterwards not knowing how important the dead woman that had been at his side had been to him, and after recovering his memory it just had not really hit him.

And it was not that Mina did not know, far from it. The night he had woken up with his memory restored had been a night of truth and revelations, where they both found out the other was a changeling, and he had mentioned Trance and his relationship with her.

But now was the first time that Mina had asked about the other woman.

"You really loved her, didn't you?"

"I did."

"Tell me about her."

"Well, besides pretty…" Skyler said, "She was human, about as tall as Claudia, not quite as… big… A quick thinker and good bullshitter, she did the breaking in most of the time for the team. She was about as good a person as any of us could be."

"And when you two were… alone… together?" she softly asked. "Do you miss her?"

"I loved her, so, yeah, when I think of her I miss her."

He could feel her change in breathing, that stuttering feel when one was about to burst out into tears so fierce it made it difficult to breathe.

"But this's the most I've thought about her in a long time." Skyler told her.

"If things had been… different…" Mina said, struggling to get some of the words out, "you… and me… We wouldn't…"

"Don't think like that." interrupted Skyler, knowing full well where she was going, having already having thought exactly the same thing more than once himself since recovering his memories. "Don't dwell on what might've been. There's no way to know for sure. Just… I don't know."

Saying nothing, Mina put her hand over his.

"You're the one that matters to me." he softly said into her ear.

Mina laced her fingers with his hand.

"I guess I oughta say I'm sorry, too." Skyler told her. "Sorry for… well… I guess… everything the last month, and I…" He stopped when she turned around to face him again.

Their eyes locked, and while Skyler hoped his were screaming just how much he cared for Mina, the things he seemed to be unable to say, her own brown eyes were a tangle of what looked like fading sadness and fear for relief, and maybe even joy.

It started as just a light brushing of their lips, Mina raising herself up on tiptoe to kiss him.

After what had been the longest shower either of them had had in a long time, the two dressed in their swimsuits to use the hot tub. The weather had progressively grown worse as the morning progressed, and now what had been chill and humid had turned to rain, and meant that swimming in their private pool would have been a bad idea.

Later Skyler received a text from Athena about a meet with a Johnson in Newark, New Jersey. She, Roadblock, and Nocturne would meet them at the meet, which was at noon.

Interstate 1 was the main corridor between New York City in general and the state of New Jersey. The George Washington Bridge (restored after the quake) was also the only ground based rout directly from Manhattan to New Jersey, and the interstate itself was elevated over much of the Washington Heights area of Manhattan. In fact, it was possible to drive Interstate 1 from New Jersey to the Bronx without having to make a checkpoint stop into or out of Manhattan, driving entirely over the island on your way.

Skyler and Mina had not really seen much of New Jersey ever since they had gotten to New York, and after a few kilometers in they wondered why it was called 'The Garden State.'

The highway had become an elevated superhighway, passing over a multitude of factory complexes, their black smoke belching smokestacks rising like concrete trees beside them, the only illumination besides street lights and vehicle headlights being frequent and numerous fireballs as one smokestack or another vomited its industrial indigestion.

According to the weather reports, and the thumping squelch of wiper blades, it was still raining, and would be raining almost all of the way. Skyler wondered if everything might have looked better had the weather not been overcast. Would the industrial wasteland have actually looked like it was merely overcast if it were not already overcast with thick rainclouds?

If anything the weather had gotten worse when they got to Newark, the rain coming down even harder than before. Before getting out Ironhide had suggested putting on respirator masks.

Skyler felt like he was in some kind of post apocalyptic world, being virtually covered all over with his clothes, hood, goggles, and respirator. As an experiment he cracked the seal to his respirator, taking a slight breath to smell the air. Right away he wished he had not done that.

The place was called The Smiling Bastard, a greasy spoon joint not too far from the interstate. It was hard to tell if the diner was built over a century ago, or if the constant abuse of pollution just made it look that way.

Among the handful of vehicles in the parking lot was a familiar looking, rusty and green, beaten Ford Survivor. In the driver's seat was the same elf with uncut and unkempt dirty blonde hair, the Manhattan Kraak urban brawl shirt partly covered by a khaki colored long coat. He was reclined, and apparently spaced out on some kind of mindbender (drug or chip, he could not tell which).

The old age was reinforced when Skyler pushed the door open and a bell on a coiled spring above them jingled.

For noon the place was sparsely populated with customers. Mr. Johnson was more than easy enough to find, not only for being the only ork in the establishment, the best dressed patron in a Mortimer Of London suit from the Berwick line, nor that he was in a booth with Nocturne, Athena, and Roadblock with him, but that he also looked like he was the only thing (excluding the team) that the New Jersey State Board Of Health should not slap a biohazard sticker on in the entire place.

At a table closer to the door was a wildly dressed couple. The man wore a greenish-black leather jacket decorated with a variety of chrome spikes and studs, with matching colored leather pants that had three leather wraps with large buckles, and a mullet of fluffy and bleached white hair. His partner wore a khaki long coat with blood red shoulder pads and brown leather boots with five centimeter heels. Her coat was open, showing off sword and gun belts crisscrossing over denim shorts cut so high they might as well have been briefs, and a top that Skyler could not quite figure if it was supposed to be a bra, swimsuit bikini top, or something else entirely. Her blond hair was cut boyishly short but was quite poofy on top. Together the two looked like extras for a rock music video from the 2050's, or the 1980's.

"This's so much more worse than roughing it." Mina silently remarked. "At least the wilderness is cleaner."

Behind them the proprietor coughed loudly, and spat. Glancing back Skyler saw hanging over the counter was a sign saying "Potable Water Unavailable."

"Glad you two could make it." Athena said as Skyler and Mina walked over to them.

"Yes." the ork said, his baritone voice polished by an upper class British accent, putting a steaming cup of… something down next to a sub sandwich that was fat with what Skyler hoped was meat, shredded lettuce, and slices of tomato. "Am I to understand that you employ children?"

"Don't let their age fool you," Athena said, "they're probably better skilled than most you'll find."

Rather than try to fit in on the bench with the others, Skyler grabbed a chair from an empty table, and Mina did the same.

"You know this doesn't speak well for any of you, employing minors." Mr. Johnson said.

Skyler removed his respirator before saying, "Before you start on some 'corruption of today's youth' speech, you should know that we are professionals. I know you're apprehensive about hiring kids, you're not the first I've met that's felt that way. Believe me we've got a better work record than you think."

"And I suppose you will vouch for them?" Mr. Johnson asked, looking back to Athena.

"Fully, without question." Athena said, and without hesitation.

"This is a rather simple, low profile, security job that I need done. I hope the children can behave well enough." Mr. Johnson said.

"We can behave better than some adults." Mina said.

"It is true." Athena added, "They came to New York with another guy, and he was the most ill behaved of the three of them."

"And I hope you will humor me in this, but what exactly are your skill sets?" Mr. Johnson asked.

"Hacker." Skyler said, glancing around now to see if anyone happened to be paying undue attention to them.

"Magic." Mina said.

"Very well then, you're in." Mr. Johnson declared. "There really shouldn't be any trouble, but it's rather important to my employer that there be no disruptions. You'll be expected to blend in and be as discreet as possible." The last words were spoken slowly as his eyes passed over Mina and Skyler. "Pay will be in nuyen, twelve hundred now, and coverage for incidentals like proper formal attire, as well as another twelve hundred upon the conclusion of your job."

"Twenty-four hundred?" Skyler asked.

"We've got formal suits that cost as much." Mina added.

"And you expect that your skills are going to be worth more?" Mr. Johnson asked.

"If we want pocket change we'll rough up pimps in Terminal." Skyler said, "Especially when a job at WinterLand in the PCC had me speed hacking into a few corp servers, and believe me they don't use software from Nybbles & Bytes. I'm talking SOTA firewalls and encryption worthy of some armies."

"And I thought our last Johnson was a cheapskate." Mina added. "I'd rather deal with that Chief what's-his-name and his 'pinkskin' bullshit."

"Now if she'd rather deal with that ork, then you know this's gotta be bad." Nocturne commented.

"Just so you know, he eventually shot the ork that called him 'pinkskin.' Twice." Athena said.

"Maybe you two aren't right for the job after all." Mr. Johnson said. "You can't use… What do you call it, 'cowboy diplomacy' all the time, especially in this business."

Athena looked like she wanted to say something, but kept quiet.

"Sometimes it's the only diplomacy that works." Skyler replied. "Not everyone is willing to…" speaking now with a British accent, "sit down o'er a spot o' tea 'n crumpets."

Mr. Johnson actually chuckled.

"Besides, we can blend in so well that nobody will see us." Skyler said, "And I really mean nobody."

As if on cue, Mina disappeared.

"There are ways around invisibility." Mr. Johnson coolly said.

"Not if the tech's hacked." Skyler returned just as icily.

"And this would be the kind of job where you shouldn't be hacking anything." Mr. Johnson said.

"If you wanna protect yourself from thieves, hire better thieves." Athena said as Mina visually reappeared. "Besides, with us you've got pretty much all of your bases covered. Muscle for the toughs," she indicated to Roadblock, who simply leaned back with that knowing look on his face, "stealth for the sneaky ones," she indicated to Nocturne, "matrix for anyone who thinks they're a hacker," she indicated to Skyler, "magic for anyone who tries the same," she indicated to Mina, "and I can do magic as well as any kind of proper diplomacy for those that'll fall for the bullshit. Believe me, we are better than you're thinking."

"Magic's one thing, but hacking?" Mr. Johnson asked.

Skyler was split between being proper and being an asshole. Propriety won out as he said, "I've hacked systems running software above what the home user can legally get, in and out in minutes, and leave next to no evidence."

"And twenty-four hundred nuyen is not enough for a few hours work, with free food and drinks?" Mr. Johnson asked.

"Not when we got food and drink at a party, free clothes for said party, and free food and lodging for three days before said party, and got paid five grand for just an hour's worth of work." Skyler said.

"And what'd you do for this hour?" Mr. Johnson asked.

"Help inflate a Horizon executive's ego." When that did not appear to be enough Skyler added, "We helped him look like a corp bad boy by staging a fight so he'd win."

"Wait, that guy happen to be Carl Axiom?" Athena asked.

"How the hell'd you figure that?" Mina asked.

"He had a fight with a rather burly looking troll at Winterland," Athena said, "and it was leaked that it was staged. The elf with the scoop quoted an anonymous source and had some combat experts look at the trideo he caught…" She paused before saying, "You little shits! You tipped him off about the fake fight?"

"What're you on about?" Nocturne asked.

"I just remembered the trideo," Athena said, "And I'd swear it was the back of her head," she indicated to Mina, "that was caught at one angle."

"Yeah, it was me." Skyler admitted.

"Maybe if he'd paid us a little more to keep quiet." Mina said with the sweet innocence that dripping with devilish intent.

"I'll bet, especially when it cost him his job." Athena added.

"Very well, then. It seems I may have underestimated some of you." Mr. Johnson said. "I cannot pay more than fifteen hundred now to retain your services, but I can arrange for a payment of seventy-five hundred after the party. And if you do keep quiet I will include tickets for DJ Bijan's next concert at the Hollywood Bowl."

"Um, what if we don't like this DJ Dijon?" Nocturne asked.

"Bijan." Mr. Johnson corrected, "The tickets are for excellent seating, and sell for one thousand nuyen. They will be your tickets, so if you wish to sell them you can. Regardless, DJ Bijan will be performing tomorrow evening so you will have to endure his music if you find it distasteful. And before you ask, no, he is not my employer, and even if he was I would still say he was not."

Mina glanced back to Skyler, and he turned to look at her. She gave a single nod.

"Alright, you got us." Skyler said.

"Of course this also includes the services of a tailor, if you need." Mr. Johnson told them. "There is going to be an art exhibit at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum at seven P.M. tomorrow evening. If you need, you will be provided temporary passes that will get you through any security checkpoints."

Skyler was already looking up the Guggenheim. He had heard of the place, but that was about it. Right away he found why Mr. Johnson was offering passes as this museum was legally in the Upper Eastside.

"It stands without saying that you all must be on your best behavior. We are concerned that security at the museum may not be up to snuff, and you are to attend undercover to provide additional security."

"Hence the formal wear," Athena said, "or whatever's going to be in style for everyone there."

"Yes."

"What exactly are you expecting us to do, and who are we protecting?" Skyler asked.

"What is to act if there are any disruptions to the party. Keep things quiet and calm if someone becomes unruly. Who is not of your concern."

"So your fine with no spirit protection for your boss until after the shit's hit the fan?" Mina asked.

"He is greatly concerned about his anonymity in all of this." Mr. Johnson said. Somewhat ironic in that everyone at the Guggenheim would have to be broadcasting their identity the whole time.

"Okay," Mina said, sounding dejected, "but he's not gonna get the best out of one of my spirits."

"And hopefully he's already got good matrix security." Skyler added, "I can't really do shit there if I don't know who's 'link to be hiding in."

"I am quite sure it will be alright." Mr. Johnson, "He does understand that you've got other talents."

"Other talents?" Nocturne asked.

"Probably meaning me handling a pair of pistols." Skyler said.

"So that's it?" Athena asked, "Go to a party tomorrow night, do whatever, and quietly put down any trouble that happens to happen?"

"That is it." Mr. Johnson answered.

"Then I guess we'll get going." Skyler said, standing up again.

"Here's my contact stuff, for whatever you need to send us." Athena said to Mr. Johnson before sliding out of the booth.

"So, just forward anything to your new address?" Athena asked as they walked back out to their vehicles.

Roadblock knocked on the green SUV. The elf inside did not budge.

"New place?" Nocturne asked.

"Yeah, we moved out." Skyler said as he walked over to Ironhide.

Roadblock pounded a little harder.

"And you're okay with this?" Nocturne asked Athena.

"Not like we've not lived on our own before." Mina said, her door open as she stood on the truck's running board.

"So, yeah. My 'link or our pad, just send it. You got the details. " Skyler said to Athena before climbing into his truck.

"Look, we'll talk on the way home." Athena said as Roadblock resorted to rocking the SUV. His elfin friend inside woke with a start.

Once back in Manhattan they went straight back to their Park Avenue penthouse.

"That took quite a while." Claudia commented as the two walked in. She was at the bar having lunch.

"Hell of a road trip." Skyler said. Together he and Mina walked over to the bar and sat down to join her.

"Farthest I've gone to meet a Johnson." Mina added.

"So, I know you guys won't give me details, but can you at least tell me what kind of job you've got?" Claudia asked.

"High class babysitting." Skyler said sourly.

"At least we've got good pay." Mina reminded him.

"High class. So that means you're gonna need some ritzy clothes then." Claudia said.

"Well, we already got a full ensemble from Zoé." Skyler said.

Mina sighed.

"What's wrong?" Claudia asked.

"Just wanting to get a new dress." Mina answered solemnly.

"You've got two already." Skyler said, "I'm sure my sister can express ship what you wore at Winterland last year.

"I don't think you get it." Claudia said. "She's worn that outfit already, and I'd take it the other one as well."

"Twice." Mina said, holding up two fingers.

"Well of course you're gonna want something new." Claudia said.

Skyler sighed, figuring this was some other woman thing that he might have a hard time understanding.

Behind Claudia the Manservant-III sprang into action, grabbing food from the fridge to start cooking.

"Just having it cook you two lunch." Claudia told them.

"So you think we should get something new?" Skyler asked.

"Well, maybe not you." Claudia said, "I mean, if you've got a suit and you look sharp in it, then of course not. Firefly, on the other hand, it doesn't matter if she looks good in what she's got if she wants something new and different."

"Okay, sure." Skyler said.

"Got any ideas?" Mina asked.

"Well, there's a fashion boutique in the mall downstairs. You can go down there and get something sharp with the proper label to it."

"Like Zoé?" Mina asked.

"Several of the big names, really. Just tell the receptionist whose label you want and they'll set you up with someone. You can even have them bill it to the penthouse to help save you a little money."

"So you'll foot the bill?" Skyler asked.

"Hardly. I'm not really payin' for this place myself."

"Will you at least come with me?" Mina asked.

Managing a smile, though not too thrilled at getting more clothes, Skyler said, "Sure, but after lunch."

Lunch consisted of a real cob salad for the two of them, with extra bacon for Mina, and a glass of real cow's milk.

Afterwards it was off to the boutique in the mall. Skyler went ahead with getting his measurements taken, but ultimately did not find anything that really struck him as a must have.

Mina, however, had apparently found something that had gotten her quite excited, and though the two were not together for their measuring and fitting she completely refused to give Skyler any hints as to what she was getting.

That evening Skyler started digging into everything he could find about the Guggenheim Museum while Mina occupied herself in a virtual recording of a concert by DJ Bijan (Skyler was connected far enough just to hear the music). After about an hour he had more info than he really wanted, which included floor plans, the works of art (some of which allegedly belonging to the Manhattan Museum Of Modern Art because of some fuckups with moving art around after the quake), and not only a list of who's who running the Guggenheim but also some details about one person in particular sitting on the board of directors and Mr. Johnson.

Normally Skyler would have left things alone after just finding out who was on the board, but when one image turned up a familiar face Skyler found himself having to dig further. The reason was that one particular image included their Mr. Johnson with one of the board members. His personally coded browser program apparently was able to dig much deeper through the matrix than Skyler had originally thought when he found out how close the two were.

Again sleep seemed to elude Skyler, who found himself staring out at a rain drenched Manhattan night. It was much later than the night before when someone came to join him, but this time it was Mina.

"Sorry if I made you worry." Skyler said softly.

"It's alright." Mina replied, putting an arm around him. Her touch felt so warm, soft against his bare skin in the cool evening air.

"Guess it's what I get for the nonstop coding." Skyler said wryly, placing a hand at the small of her back.

"Didn't you get tired just standing here?" Mina asked.

"Not really."

Resting her head on his shoulder, Mina said, "We could relax in the hot tub. Might help letting you get to sleep."

As if Skyler had already agreed, Mina slipped from his side and started walking over to the corner of the penthouse where the hot tub was, pulling off her Maria Mercurial t-shirt (the only thing she was wearing).

"What about Claudia?" Skyler asked, walking quickly to catch up to her.

"Got a spirit watching her." Mina told him as she knelt down at the hot tub's controls. Like their shower, it was a waterproof touch screen embedded in the floor. "She's either deep in VR or asleep, and it's under orders to tell me if she comes 'round."

The hot tub gurgled to life, the jets gentle as they churned the water and a set of soft blue lights built into it began to glow. It looked like liquid moonlight as Mina slowly stepped in.

Stripping off his shorts (all that he had been wearing), Skyler joined her. It was not long until they were sitting side by side, their arms around each other, and simply looking out the windows to the lit city outside.

After a while Mina sighed, placing her free hand on his chest. "Remember when we first did this?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"I'd like to do that again." she whispered into his ear.

Skyler said nothing as Mina shifted to straddle his lap, the cool blue light flickering as the water rolled with her movements, giving things a touch of fairytale magic.

Things felt so different now than they did over a year ago. Then she had looked apprehensive about what they were about to do for the first time. Now there was something deeper between them as she leaned in closer to touch her lips to his.

He knew they had only gotten a few hours of sleep when Claudia came banging on their door that morning. The one thing that had been nice about sharing a place with Athena was that the elf woman had not ever been a constant alarm clock on their door.

The weather outside was crappy to say the least, with olive gray clouds and a seemingly endless supply of rain.

This time it did not turn out to be a lazy day like yesterday. Claudia was intent on the two making use of the private exercise room downstairs. Thinking herself in great shape, Claudia found the two to be in better shape than herself, though Skyler was lacking the endurance even he expected to have. Still he was able to make up for this shortcoming with a quicker recovery time.

After a quick shower, followed by lunch (hamburgers with all the fixings), it was off to a salon on the second floor for a complete makeover. It was also Claudia's suggestion to do this for a number of reasons that included the typical pampering and relaxation, but also the experience to have when it came to bullshitting the upper crust that they too were part of the upper crust. Skyler also skipped out in wearing his fake cybernetic arm, mostly because of what Claudia told him the full on treatment would entail.

"Right this way." a flamboyant man named Hank told Skyler as he and Mina parted for their makeover treatments. Hank's voice was higher pitched than even Skyler's, his black hair barely longer and styled so it was largely standing out and up like a puff ball. The way Hank was dressed almost made Skyler question his gender, but the meter-eighty man was clearly a man after Skyler had unintentionally gotten a good look at the man's crotch.

"So, um, what's all this gonna entail?" Skyler asked.

"Well, *tich* we start with a full body massage, then give you a mani-pedi and a new do." Hank said, "Your hair is absolutely horrible."

"Hey, I do shower!"

"Oh, no, no! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that!" Hank apologized, "I mean the style."

"Should've seen me six months ago. I didn't have hair." Skyler told him.

"Oh, how awful!" Hank cried, putting both hands up to cover his mouth like a horrified woman, "Well, at least we can help make something of this." He then opened a door to a private room and the two walked in.

"Over there," Hank said, "is a place where you can change. You'll find a locker where you can put your clothes away, and a robe and towel to use."

Skyler simply nodded before walking into the changing room. The locker itself had a fingerprint scanner, and according to the instruction ARO that appeared it would scan his thumbprint to secure the contents so only he could retrieve them later. He figured there was some kind of basic sensor inside to actually tell it that there was something inside to be locked away.

Once changed and wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, Skyler came back out and climbed onto the massage table, laying face down with his face through the padded hole at one end.

"You look like you've been through a lot." Hank commented as he started, fingers pressing firmly into Skyler's shoulders.

"What do you mean?" Skyler asked, wincing a little.

"You got a nice bod, but if I didn't know better I'd swear you were shot."

"Cigarette burns." Skyler quickly said, not wanting to tell Hank the truth behind his scars.

"You know, smoking's a bad habit."

"Wasn't me. Kinda goes with the hair."

"Oh?"

Skyler was glad he had followed Claudia's advice in not wearing his fake cybernetic as Hank proceeded to work his left arm.

"I really shouldn't tell ya this, but me 'n the girl I came in with prisoners months ago." Skyler told Hank, "Shaved our heads 'n burned me to try and do sex things."

"How'd you escape?" Hank asked as he started down Skyler's right arm.

"Dumb luck. A ZDF squad raided the place and we got found." Skyler told him.

They talked some more, and Skyler was glad Hank did not push with questions about his imprisonment.

After the full body massage, a little more encompassing than Skyler might have felt comfortable with, the towel was traded for a robe and a short walk to the next room for a hair washing and trim by Hank while an elfin woman gave him a manicure and a dwarf woman gave him a pedicure.

When it was all done, and he was dressed again and walking back to the reception area, Skyler came to realize why people planned a full day for this kind of treatment.

Finding that Mina was not yet done, Skyler decided to find a chair to sit in to wait. Before he even had a chance to sit down she came out from the lady's side of the salon. She was positively glowing, and among other things had gotten hair extensions or something, her red hair now looking more like it used to.

"Wow, almost looks like when we first met." Mina said.

"Same for you, too." Skyler returned, running his fingers through her hair. "C'mon, probably should head back on up."

Two deliveries had come while they were out. First had been a large letter containing physical letters of invitation to the Guggenheim that evening, complete with the names of their fake IDs. Second, and not too long ago, was a parcel for Mina.

After a relatively light dinner Skyler went to their room to change into his suit. Considering the nature of the job he made sure he had only his holdout pistols on him. He expected even the relatively tiny handgun to instill some fear into the type people that he was expecting to be attending this party.

When Skyler was done Mina went up to put on her new outfit. She also wanted to make an entrance to surprise Skyler, hence why he went first. About when Skyler was starting to wonder if they would make it to the Guggenheim on time she came back out.

Mina certainly seemed to love her new dress, smiling big as she quickly took the stairs down. It was a shimmering ruby red, running from close to her ankles (sporting matching high heels) all the way up to a 'V' neckline, and there it seemed to simply melt into her skin before it could loop around her neck. Holding her bare arms out wide she spun around a few times, and Skyler could see that along her sides the dress did the same melting-into-her-skin look, leaving her back completely bare and almost scandalously low over her buttocks. Almost impossible to see was a decorative belt with a pouch. Likely she had her commlink and power focus stashed inside.

"That's… quite the daring piece." Claudia said.

"Took a little convincing for them to do it like this for me." Mina told them, showing off the vanishing hem of her dress.

"I'll bet."

"What about your goggles?" Skyler asked, "We won't be able to talk without your trodes…"

Mina tapped the side of her head. "Got a band hidden in my hair. Came with the dress." she said.

"Well then, shall we get going?" Skyler asked, offering Mina an arm.

It was a little after seven in the evening when they got to the museum, having taken a cab since there was no parking anywhere close. At least the rain had finally stopped, though not long ago enough for the pavement to dry in the rays of the setting sun.

Along with the others gathering, Mina and Skyler walked through the main entrance, handing their invite cards to a receptionist before walking in and declining a goody bag they figured would contain nothing but worthless data chips and toy models of various works of art.

An unbidden ARO appeared as soon as they stepped through the threshold. "First opened in October of nineteen fifty-nine, the Solomon R. Guggenheim…" the chirpy AR tour guide managed to say before Skyler closed it out. He wanted it out of the way of another ARO he had showing him an analysis of the museum's network.

Arm in arm the two walked further in, easily slipping amongst the other museum party-goers for the evening's event. Near the entrance and the information area was a waitron drone dispensing drinks from a small bar to a crowd almost as large as the one gathered at the far side of the rotunda.

DJ Bijan worked his magic in digital music in a small booth surrounded by a crowd of dancers. Music played not only from real speakers, but also through AR for those who wanted to subscribe to his performance.

"And we're just gonna mingle for, what, an hour or two?" Mina silently asked.

"Well, it's an exhibit of some of the Atlantean Foundation's artifacts." Skyler told her as they approached what must have been the lobby's centerpiece. As they drew close Skyler's commlink broke through the museum's firewall, and right away he set about identifying and neutralizing any running programs that could identify him.

But that did not mean that Skyler did not even notice the display. Carved from a single piece of marble and inlaid with veins of orichalcum (according to the information ARO), perfectly circular and three meters in diameter. It was a scale model of a pre-historic city, with figures representing all known metatypes.

"Guess that's why things feel a little fuzzy." Mina told him.

"Does it feel like your magic's gonna be reduced?"

"No, not that bad."

The two continued to slowly walk about the spiraling ramp that made up the seven floors of the museum. Along the outside of the rotunda in neon green letters was "Atlantean Foundation Exhibition" slowly spiraling up and down, and in the open air above the ground floor were floating images, models, and other artist renderings of Atlantis.

Athena and Roadblock were quite easier to spot than Nocturne, Roadblock because he was the only minotaur in the place, standing a head taller than anyone else.

Nocturne, they found, looked more content to move more among the shadowy spots at the edge of the crowd.

Along their walk was a mix of paintings and statues and other relics, and not all of it from the Atlantean Foundation. Evenly placed along the walk were three meter tall statues of various celebrities, living and dead, including JetBlack (a musician to the 2040's as Elvis Presley was nearly a century before), Harry "Ironjaw" Bartlett (first ork pitcher for the L.A. Dodgers), Nicky Saitoh and Lady Lynx (both simsense stars), and even Lung in his human form (otherwise a great eastern dragon with ruby red scales and gold highlights). It was easy to tell which statue was of who as there was an RFID tag embedded within the pedestal coded with the name and some details of the person each was modeled after.

The majority of the crowd was of Manhattan's wealthy, ranging from young hipsters sporting the latest fashion craze (some much more daring than Mina's dress) to the much more conservative elderly. Weaving about the people were about a dozen caterers with plates of hors d'oeuvres and another dozen museum conservators talking about various pieces of art.

Among the crowd was Mr. Johnson, or just Geoffry as per the requirement to broadcast your identity. Not too far off was the museum board member Skyler had looked up, Conte Allegro Marcus Contadino, and was he ever the type of elf that even elves hated, epitomizing the flamboyantly gay, tree hugging, dandelion eating stereotype elves in general had earned early on. Despite being over forty he acted much more childish at times than even Skyler had, even when Skyler honestly believed he really was twelve, wearing something quite flamboyant from Zoé's Heritage line for Tir princes. Contadino's actions were overly dramatic and effeminate to the point that Skyler wondered when the elf was going to burst into flames.

"So, how're you liking the party?" asked Athena as she walked up from behind them.

"It's a lot like that one at Winterland." Skyler said, "But the music's better."

"At least there is music." Mina corrected.

"My point."

"So, spot anyone that could be trouble?" Athena asked.

"Just one guy, but I don't think we're gonna get paid if we kick his ass out." Skyler said.

"Really? Who?"

"Him." Skyler answered, discretely pointing to Contadino.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. You know, he told me he was the first elf of the new age?"

Mina snorted disdainfully. "Should haul his pansy ass to Seattle to meet some real elves."

"Yeah, but you really think they'd come out to lunch with us?" Skyler asked.

"Back to the job," Athena said, "and I'm sure you've already broken into…"

"Weak security, and nothing's happening in the network." Skyler said. "I've got access to everything, and the spider and IC never saw me slip in."

"I'd hope they've got something going for them." Athena said.

"A cheap IC scanning everything on a routine. Was easily neutralized."

"You sound disappointed."

"Winterland had serious security. This place…" Skyler sighed. "Even you've got more serious security going on."

"Shi-eesh." Athena cussed, catching herself.

"What's going on up there?" Mina asked.

Skyler thought he was feeling something odd after Mina asked her question, a vibration in the floor that did not match DJ Bijan's music. Then he saw it when a statue of Ernestes Xochitalco stepped off of its pedestal.

"Fuck! Move!" Athena yelled.

Skyler did not move, but turned to look first. It nearly cost him his head as the twirling stone body of Sheena M, supported by a stone sasquatch statue of Frumious (both of the band Shield Wall), almost took his head off.

"All of the statues, they're all moving!" Mina said.

Looking around as best as he could, Skyler saw that Mina was right. Every statue that he could see from their spot had come to life. Some were marching or performing in some crazy way while others were dancing.

Whatever it was, this certainly was not planned. Amongst the sounds of surprise and the loud music Skyler swore he heard Contadino shriek. Already there were people trying to make their way to the exits.

Then the lights went out, and the music with it. Everything was poorly illuminated by emergency lighting, though that mattered little to Skyler and the others. From within the museum's network Skyler saw a security breach alert, the system cutting him off as security gates came crashing down and the network's wireless went dark.

"Ladies! Gentlemen!" yelled a man from the bottom floor, his hands held high and wide, glowing with magical heat. "We are The Minibosses and we welcome you to our Happening!"

There was a whoosh of air not far from Skyler, and he looked down just in time to see the statue of JetBlack finish a front flip to land on its feet on the rotunda floor. Fortunately no one was close to where it landed, nor in its way as it wildly swung its arms in some kind of crazy dance as it began to make its way toward the ramp back up.

"This is insane!" Skyler exclaimed, "Someone's gonna get…"

Someone below them screamed. Looking down Skyler saw where one of the patrons for the party had gotten into the way of the statue of Warren Cartwright (former guitarist for Concrete Dreams) and had been swatted aside like a rag doll by the statue's replica of the 480 iAxe Gemini the real musician used.

"… hurt." Skyler finished softly.

"Time to earn our pay." Athena said, rushing off down the ramp.

Skyler and Mina were quick to follow, though it was not quite as easy as just sprinting down four spiraling flights. There were the crazy statuary and panicking people to deal with in avoiding. More than once Skyler had to tuck and roll to avoid a wildly swinging arm or something to keep from being plowed over. Being small was a mixed blessing, where a lucky hit could more easily send him flying, yet he was also a little harder to be hit in the first place.

Just as they were about to clear the ramp Skyler saw Nocturne on his own way down. Mimicking a ninja or something he had taken a more direct path down, using the railings to control what otherwise would have been a straight drop to the rotunda.

Athena was still the first one to make it to the wild haired speaker of the Minibosses, who was now looking more shocked and muttering incoherently as he stared at the man injured by the Warren Cartwright statue. Skyler was at best able to make out that this was supposed to be art and not bloodshed.

"Hey! Snap out of it!" Athena yelled as Skyler and Mina caught up to her.

"Wait. What?" he went.

"What the hell is going on here?" Nocturne asked.

"Yes! Explain yourself at once!" cried Contadino as he forcefully stepped up.

"It wasn't supposed to happen this way." the man muttered. "Mister Dada!" he yelled, "What are you doing?"

Contadino took a step closer, right hand raised to strike the wild haired man. He stopped when Skyler stepped in the way, both Morrissey Élan pistols now in his hands, and both aimed at the flamboyant elf's face.

"Null sheen." Skyler said, "Back up and let us do our job."

"It's supposed to be a performance." the man said, sounding a little calmer, "We contacted a powerful thought form on the astral and devised everything. We got help from the Neo-A's to…"

"Okay, enough of that. How're you gonna stop it?" Athena asked.

"I… I don't know that I can." he said.

Contadino did not look pleased at all, and Skyler felt he had every right not to. The elf was about to say something, but changed his mind and kept his mouth shut when he glanced down and saw Skyler keeping a close eye on him.

"Hey! You better or I'm gonna burn you!" Mina declared.

"If you've got any ideas it'd be a good idea to tell us." Athena said, "Firefly's not one to make that threat idly."

"What about evacuating?" Contadino asked.

"When we cut the power your network was tricked into thinking there was a breach." the man told them, "We then jammed the doors."

"He ain't lying 'bout the security." Skyler said, "Saw the alert before I got kicked out. At least your museum's network was quick enough to cut the wireless to prevent hacking an override."

Contadino glared at Skyler, but otherwise said nothing.

"So we've got no easy way out." Nocturne said.

"There… There might be a way." the man said, jumping in surprise as the statue of JetBlack came crashing down again, landing in the same place it had the last time.

"Follow me." the man said.

"Geoffry!" Skyler yelled, trying to draw the British ork's attention.

"Yo! Geoffry!" Nocturne also yelled.

"What is it?" Geoffry asked as he managed to work his way closer. He gave Skyler a serious look, the kind a parent uses to tell their kid they are in serious trouble, when he saw the handguns aimed at Contadino.

"Keep him," he said, indicating to Contadino, "out of our way and we'll be able to stop this insanity. You don't and we might have to hurt him."

"Who are you to…" Contadino started to demand, promptly stopping when Skyler aimed one holdout at one of his eyes.

"Cypher's right." Nocturne said, "You get in our way and you'll be the one fucking everything up."

Geoffry escorted a disgruntled Contadino away as Skyler and Nocturne turned to catch up to the others. Roadblock was already there.

"This is all of you?" the man asked.

"All five, yes." Athena answered.

The man pulled out a plastic baggie filled with fat, golden lozenges. He pulled one out and held it up to the light. It looked like it was made of amber with flecks of gold trapped within. "A brain-bender whiz in our collective whipped these babies up." he told them, "Created a little cocktail made from awakened lichen he scraped off a rock on the Ross Ice Shelf. We've had… limited success. Fifty percent success, actually. But if you're a mundane it should get you to the metaplanes. In theory."

"In theory?" Athena asked.

"Well, about."

"So these should help send us to the metaplane where Mister Dada is?" Mina asked.

"Yes." the man answered.

"So why the hell don't you pop one of those yourself?" Skyler asked.

"Remember that fifty percent?"

Skyler groaned. "You mean if it doesn't work it won't work at all?"

The man looked down at the baggie of lozenges in his hands.

"Fuck. Just give us one and pray it works for all of us." grumbled Nocturne.

"Now there may be some side effects," the man told them as handed one lozenge to each of them, "including daytime sleepiness, diarrhea, dry mouth, headache, nausea, nose or throat irritation, sluggishness, stomach upset, and being out of your fragging gourd."

The man kept on talking, but Skyler instead popped the lozenge into his mouth. Right about where the man had said 'out of your' everything started to turn black. Maybe he literally was out of his mind to just straight out trust the man.

Slowly colors returned to the world and Skyler found himself somewhere else. He pushed himself up to stand on a gray stone plateau, and turning to look around found nothing but rolling gray fog several kilometers below them stretching out to infinity.

"I've never seen it like this, the Dweller." he heard Mina say.

"I have, a few times before." Athena said.

"Welcome to this place Beyond." came a feminine voice Skyler had not heard in well over a year, a voice he never expected to hear again. Turning to face the speaker Skyler expected to see Trance. Instead he saw a glowing swirl of lights that was nearly impossible to gaze upon.

"I am the Dweller On The Threshold. You may come no further until you have been deemed worthy." Trance's voice continued, "You seek one who dwells in the lands of unspeakable emotion made real. But you must understand that which he has touched in order to understand him. Dreams of the past, dreams of the self, and dreams of the future are his play stuff. You must experience each. Of which do you choose first?"

"Say what?" Nocturne asked.

"The Dweller tests everyone before letting anyone pass to the metaplanes." Athena said.

"We don't have time for this! People are in danger! While we're wasting time here…"

"We could spend hours or days here, and wake up ten seconds later in the Guggenheim!" Skyler forcefully interjected. "Time means shit in these kinds of things."

"And how'd a matrix brain like you know that?" Nocturne asked.

"Because the resonance realms are just as real as the metaplanes." Skyler said, "First time there I spent what must have been three weeks in the Endless Archives, and woke back up in the real world later the same day."

"So, anyone care what test we start with first?" Athena asked.

"First one, I say." Mina said.

"Why not?" asked Skyler.

"I don't care, just as long as we're doing that 'dreams of the self' one last." Nocturne said.

Roadblock nodded.

"Alright, guess we're agreeing on 'dreams of the past.'" Athena said.

"As you have decided." the Dweller said.

The world dematerialized to a cloud of blue-gray sparkles of light, and Skyler felt a tingle throughout his body like he was enveloped within static electricity. Maybe this was supposed to be like that matter-teleportation bit used to death in those century old science fiction programs shut-in fanatics ranted and raved about on matrix message boards.

Everything was soon replaced with a wooded glen. The air was cool and clean, nothing like the petroleum and concrete dust of the city, and the sun hung sky, its light filtered by healthy green leaves and illuminating puffy clouds in the far distance.

In the middle of this glen was a tomb, cut from multiple pieces of the same grayish-white stone, perfectly rectangular and roughly a meter tall by three meters wide, its edges showing slight weathering from wind and rain. Engraved into the side of the tomb were the words, "Et in Arcadia ego."

"A pretty place if we weren't supposed to be taking a test." commented Nocturne.

"We're in a painting." Athena said, "'Et in Arcadia ego' by… Nicolas Poussin." She looked around, saying, "But we're missing…"

Out of the woods stepped four people, three men and a woman. They looked like shepherds from ancient times, wearing togas or something, each of a different color. One wore white and a band of leaves in his dark hair, was barefoot and clean shaven. One wore blue, noting in his dark hair, white wraps about his feet, and had a thick curly beard. The third wore red and a similar band of leaves in his dishwater blond hair, and also white wraps about his feet. The woman had her brown hair tied back, wore bright yellow and blue, and had matching yellow wraps about her feet. All three of the men carried a staff roughly as long as they were tall.

"There they are." Athena said.

"What the hell are they…?" Nocturne started to ask.

The four completely ignored Skyler and the others, and walked up to the tomb. The man in white stood at the left and leaned against the tomb, the man in blue knelt by the engraved words, the man in red stood by the right side, and the woman stood at the farthest right. The man in red then pointed at the one in blue as he began to trace his finger on the tomb, looking to the woman who put a hand on his shoulder. A moment later the man in blue stood and the four started walking back the way they came.

"Hey, hold on just a sec…" Nocturne said, stepping into the path of the man in blue.

The man, completely ignoring Nocturne, walked through Nocturne as if he was not even there.

"What the fuck!" exclaimed Nocturne, turning to watch the four walk on like nothing had happened.

"Um, what just happened?" asked Mina.

"Those four are part of the painting." Athena said, stepping up to the tomb. "This is the test."

"So, what, we recreate the painting?" Nocturne asked.

"Like that's gonna happen. There's five of us." Skyler said.

"Like the Dweller's gonna make it that easy, either." Athena said, kneeling down in front of the tomb. "Et in Arcadia ego." she said aloud. "Means, 'I also was an Arcadian,' I think."

"You think?" Nocturne asked.

"Who here took a bunch of art classes in a university?" Athena asked, raising a hand.

Looking around, Skyler saw no one else raise a hand. Before emerging as a technomancer, he had started taking economic related classes.

"Besides, I don't think the Dweller's looking for an art history lesson." Athena said, turning her attention back to the tomb. Like the man in blue, she traced her finger on the tomb.

"He didn't quite do that." Mina said, "It was a little different. I don't think he actually touched it."

"So what the hell does it mean? 'I also was an Arcadian'?" Nocturne asked.

"Does it have to mean anything?" Skyler asked back.

"No." Mina said, "Sometimes it's just… you know… like that saying, 'A picture is worth a thousand words.' But what if there aren't words?"

"Like communicating a feeling or emotion?" Skyler asked.

"Can you believe this?" Nocturne asked, turning to Roadblock.

The minotaur simply shrugged.

"If not the stone…" Athena mused, "maybe… his shadow…"

Skyler just missed whatever Athena did as her finger hovered a centimeter from the tomb. At least he did not need to have a clue as the world around them vanished for their rocky plateau once more.

Athena stood, saying, "I guess we passed."

"So what's next?" asked Skyler.

"Choose." came Trance's disembodied voice, "Dreams of the self or dreams of the future."

"I think we should try the future one." Skyler said, "The other sounds like it's gonna be the hardest one."

"Yeah… I don't know about that self one." Mina added.

"Alright then." Athena said, "To dreams of the future."

Again the world was washed away to blue-gray static, only to be replaced with a cityscape of chrome, black, and white, drawn of sharp edges, a multitude of cookie cutter skyscrapers that went on forever to the point of infinity.

"Time and space merge as the future begins to spiral." intoned the Dweller, "It is inescapable that life will continue to accelerate, speeding around the event horizon of existence, circling the drain until all moments are one."

Skyler and the others were not standing on the ground, or a road, or even the top of some building. They were all floating in the middle of everything like their icons in the matrix would if in the middle of the digital void. But there was more, he could feel it, something familiar, and now overwhelming.

"Go now." the Dweller said, "Find the words that speak of tomorrow."

"Find the words that speak of tomorrow?" asked Mina. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What kind of world are we in now?" asked Nocturne.

"Some kind of futurist." Athena answered, "Like how people thought the future was going to look over a century ago."

"Like how far ago?" Skyler asked.

"Like… nineteen twenties, I think."

"Shit, they really got things wrong." commented Nocturne.

"This's way different than I was expecting." Skyler said, thinking he had figured out the overwhelming feeling he now had.

"It's the gateway to the metaplanes. It's always going to be different than anyone expects." Athena said.

"Yeah, sure. But how about this?" Skyler asked, holding out an arm like a falconer.

A human skull materialized out of nothing. in place of a jawbone were a pair of manipulator claws, and from the right eye socket was a cybernetic camera with a red colored lens, and dangling down from where the spinal cord would have been were half a dozen mechadendrite cables with an array of different connectors and plugs.

"What the fuck is that!" exclaimed Nocturne.

The others looked just as freaked out.

"It's… um, one of my sprites." Skyler said, the skull coming to rest on his forearm.

"Kid, you need to have your head checked." Nocturne said.

"This shouldn't be possible." Athena said, "We're nowhere near the matrix. There's no such thing as the resonance… here…"

"Yeah, and what's the first rule about magic?" Mina asked. Without waiting for an answer she said, "Magic breaks the rules."

"And I'm getting a signal." Athena said. "I can't explain it, but it's like we're in VR."

"Maybe because the Dweller wants this world to work that way?" Mina asked.

"Isn't this supposed to be impossible?" asked Athena.

"Remember the alchera?" Mina asked. "You had sprites turn into wolves and a bear."

"Yeah, you're right." Skyler said.

"Alchera?" Athena asked.

"The one over Denver last year." Skyler said as another floating skull appeared before them. "But it's different here. My sprites aren't being altered."

"Well, I guess it's going to be a good thing." Athena said, "It's probably some kind of hacking thing we're going to have to do to find these 'words of tomorrow.'"

Skyler tapped into what felt like the resonance, bolstering his ability to find wireless nodes about him. He was almost overwhelmed by the power he felt, and was barely able to contain it and keep it from frying his brain. Once he felt settled he called on his data sprite to assist him in identifying all of the magical nodes he could find.

"This looks really freaky." commented Nocturne as an ARO appeared before Skyler.

Skyler casually glanced to the data sprite as the two began to work. Like in VR the data sprite had plugged itself into Skyler to help him. This time it looked like his body, and one of the mechadendrites was clearly plugged into the flesh of his right hand.

"So, what're you looking for?" asked Athena.

"Not sure. But I think I'll know when I find it." Skyler said as mystical data fragments flew through him.

"You'll know when you find it?" asked Nocturne. "Sounds like some bullshit to me."

"Forensics." Roadblock said, "They look for what's not supposed to be there."

"More mystical mumbo jumbo?" Nocturne asked.

"Hardly." Skyler said, stopping his all encompassing scans and focusing onto one node in particular. "Out of… I don't know how many nodes I've scanned for, I've found only one that's ghosting."

"Ghosting?"

"That's gotta be it." Athena said.

"Let's go!" Mina said.

Like the protagonist of an ancient movie, Skyler shot off, flying at high speed over fanciful futuristic traffic. At one point he took a corner at an impossible speed, executing a ninety degree turn like a laser bouncing off a mirror.

The area looked quite mixed in style. Along one side were a row of buildings made to look like factories, automobiles coming out of warehouse doors that looked like mechanical mouths. Along the other side appeared to be civic buildings of some kind.

And directly in front of Skyler was the target node made to look like the Empire State Building in the same futurist style.

"Shit, kid, you certainly can move." panted Nocturne from behind.

"We almost lost you at that turn." Athena added.

"Sorry. Guess I was faster than I thought." Skyler told them.

"Right, so this's it?" Athena asked.

"Isn't this like where you figure if you're gonna take it slow or bust in fast?" Mina asked.

"Usually, but I'm feeling impatient." Skyler told them, calling up another of his sprites. He hoped it would be quick as he had only one task left owed to the crack sprite.

"But this isn't the matrix, so things might act differently." Athena said.

"Well, if I make a door for all of us, be ready to move 'cause I plow through fast." Skyler told them.

Tapping into the mystical resonance again Skyler was prepared for the rush of power as he augmented his exploit and stealth forms. Then he called upon the two sprites to back him up like he had done times before.

It must have looked completely unreal to the others, watching as the crack sprite embedded itself into his chest, sending a set of three mechadendrites down each arm to wrap around his hands. On its different task the data sprite plugged itself into him near the base of his skull, sending its own tendrils to wrap loosely about his body.

Wasting no time on ceremony or form, Skyler drove his hands into the window that was the hidden node. Chips of paint flew wildly, and in three seconds he had forced the window open and was through.

The interior room, the node itself, was nothing more than a simple and empty office space with a single door leading deeper in. Like Superman vs. a train, Skyler flew into the door, slamming a fist into it to begin breaching the next firewall. This one was busted down in two seconds.

This was the place, Skyler was sure of it. It was an impossibly vast room, filled with floating brass disks arrayed perfectly into sheets, columns, and rows for as far as the eye could see.

"Fuck, you say fast you're not joking." Nocturne said as he floated up behind Skyler.

"Cypher!" Mina yelled from behind them.

"We've got a tank!" Athena added. An explosion rocked the building from behind them. "The place launched an IC!"

"Go help them." Skyler said, his voice sounding like three people at once.

"Me? And your voice?" Nocturne asked.

"I need to find these words." Skyler said, more voices speaking as one, "I'll be there, too."

Nocturne looked a little uneasy hearing Skyler's voice like that, though it really had not been the first time. He quickly darted back through the broken doorway to the previous node where the others were.

Skyler had no idea if he could manage what he wanted to do, what in times past he had so easily done in the virtual world of the matrix.

Floating up and back, Skyler pressed his back against the wall. Spreading his arms and hands wide he sent out dozens of ebony threads out into the infinite disks. At the same time he called upon his tank sprite, having it merge with him before turning back to the previous node room.

When Athena had said there was a tank she was not kidding. Three of the room's four walls were gone, rubble as if the building had been bombed. Clanking on a pair of caterpillar treads was an antiquated looking tank that was probably just large enough to fit two humans if they were of below average stature. The turret, which looked like an upside-down cupcake tin, clanked as it aimed its singular cannon at Skyler.

Skyler, however, was less archaic and much more futuristic in his appearance. With streams of data flying before his eyes that only he could see as his first self sought the words of the future, his second self broke the frame of the door and wall as he forced his way through. His second self was as tall as Roadblock and twice as burly, encased in obsidian black armor and a skull-like helm with burning red eyes. His footsteps cracked the floor as he rushed the tank, not even feeling the 37mm slug that hit him in the chest as he brought a massive armored fist down between the tank's tracks.

Khaki armor crumpled like tissue paper, and the cannon fired again, the point blank shot slamming into Skyler's cheek like a heavyweight boxer's fist.

"Look out!" Mina yelled.

Her warning was too late, and Skyler could feel a burning sensation running down his back. Splitting his mind again he stepped up to face this new attacker, his second self smashing in the tank's turret like an empty beer can.

Behind Skyler was some kind of war officer. A Caucasian man with a black handlebar mustache, wearing a black coat with bright gold buttons, tight beige riding pants, and shiny black boots stood staring at him in wonder, a gleaming steel riding saber in hand.

"What the fuck is going on?" Athena asked.

Grunting for the effort, Skyler's second self flipped over the wrecked tank. At the same time his third self lifted his hands up and slammed them together with the attacker's head between them, the black armor creating a loud cracking sound like a sledgehammer to granite. The man went two dimensional for a moment, then vanished.

Both second and third selves knelt, Skyler slowly raised all four of his hands, then slammed them into the floor with thunderous force, his fingers punching deep into the concrete like material.

"What's he doing now?" Nocturne asked.

"Subverting the entire node, I think." Athena answered.

She was not far off. Skyler was forcing his mind twice over into the node, but his goal was not total domination of the node but simply to take enough control to keep any more agents, or whatever, from launching to attack them.

After a short while Skyler had found a brass disk that did not have gibberish written on them. Through his first self he collected it and floated into other node with the others. "I think I've found them." he told the others.

"The words of the future?" Nocturne asked.

Taking the disk, Skyler read aloud, "We want to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and rashness.

"The essential elements of our poetry will be courage, audacity, and revolt."

"I think I've heard some of this." Athena said, "'Time and Space died yesterday. We are already living in the absolute, since we already created eternal, omnipresent speed.' Am I right?"

Skyler looked over the disk. "Yeah, that's in here."

"It's from a manifesto written… almost two centuries ago." Athena told them. "A guy named… Marinetti."

"Sounds Italian." Nocturne said.

"He was."

"So what's the deal with this?" Mina asked.

"If I remember right," Athena said, "Marinetti was of a mind that felt that the New was better than the Old, and that the Old never should've existed in the first place."

"Lemme guess, there's nothing of value from the old or the past?" Skyler asked.

"I'd say so."

"That's a crock of shit." Mina said. "Didn't someone else say that if we don't learn from the past we'll repeat it?"

Something changed and Skyler found he could no longer hold himself as three. The two armored selves snapped into his regular looking body, cracking like a rubber band stretched too tight.

Was he seeing stars? No, it was the blue-gray static again, and this time they appeared on what looked like a beach. At least he thought it was a beach, smelling the salt air and the sweetness of life.

Though it was kind of hard to say there was life. Off in the distance cliffs rose against the surf, and dotted around them were a handful of dead trees. Behind was an unusual block of stone that was perfectly squared off and stretched off to the sides indefinitely, and closer to the coast was something that looked like a bird with ants marching over it.

But the weirdest thing of all was what Skyler saw draped over the bird on the beach, the outstretched limbs of the barren and dead trees, and even half over the squared cliff behind them. All of these were pocket watches, and it looked like they were melting like ice cream in the summer sun.

"Is the Dweller trying to drive us insane?" Nocturne asked.

"Salvador Dali's Persistence Of Memory." Athena said, "Yeah, he was a strange one."

"You're here." said a very familiar voice from behind. "It's about, heh, time."

Turning around Skyler saw right away why the voice sounded so familiar. Standing behind him was him. Maybe not quite him, but still it was a near mirror image of himself.

It was Skyler as he looked when he was about five years old, stretched half again like a piece of taffy in a gaunt mockery of a child. Its ears were pointed and stretched beyond even elfin norms, and though its eyes were the traditional blue and white for a metahuman, around its eyes looked like blue paint had been poured and spilled over its face. Skin was pale and unhealthy looking, with a few welts, lips were chapped and stained, and blonde hair was dull and limp. Its clothing was the same as what Skyler wore, save that it was wrinkled, torn, and stained. It grinned at Skyler's revulsion of its appearance, revealing an incomplete smile of yellowed teeth.

It was not alone. For each of the others there was a twisted parody looking back at them.

Nocturne's copy was almost a photo negative, with ebony black skin, glowing white eyes, and wispy smoke for hair. Protruding from his forearms were a pair of large axe-like blades, their edges dripping with blood.

Roadblock's copy looked like a cyber surgery gone wrong. A large patch of dull metal covered one eye, holding a glowing red triangular wedge like a robot's eye from the sci-fi of old. Both horns were broken, and it looked like it had a severe case of mange. Both arms were fully and obviously cybernetic, a comical recreation with large nuts for knuckles and cartoonish rivets at the seams, and brightly colored wires sticking out and occasionally sparking.

Athena's duplicate looked like a twisted mockery, wearing black sunglasses and a torn dress. Rather than hair there was a collection of snakes, making her look like a modern day Medusa after a week of parties.

Skyler felt Mina's copy was probably the most hurtful. It was clearly an elf and a full figured woman, with wild and shaggy long hair, and pallid skin that was slashed in many places. It wore a copy of her dress, torn in half, the top barely covering for modesty and the lower half looking like drapes after a treatment of cat's claws. It very well could have been mimicking how Mina would look if she had not SURGEd.

"One on one, eh?" Nocturne asked, rolling his shoulders to loosen up, his own slender arm blades popping out from between his fingers.

Skyler's doppelganger came at him incredibly fast, almost too fast for him to even bring his left arm up to try and defend himself from a hammering punch. He never saw the follow-up punch as it slammed into the right side of his face. He saw stars and the twisted landscape spin around.

Trying to keep his balance Skyler staggered forward. A blow from behind sent him tumbling to collide with the… whatever it was, it was hard, and part of the melting pocket watch came with his face as he bounced backwards to roll onto the ground.

"Pathetic." his copy said, casually walking up to Skyler, "Just absolutely pathetic. I was expecting a challenge."

Skyler tried blinking to clear the stars from his vision, but it only seemed to make things even worse.

The phantom placed a hand against the melting pocket watch, using the other to pry the minute hand free. "Well, no point in dragging this out." it said as it turned to face Skyler, holding the minute hand like a spear. Standing over Skyler it prepared to plunge it into his chest.

Skyler rolled just in time to avoid being skewered, then tried sweeping his leg out to trip up the copy. He immediately regretted it as it felt like his shin collided with concrete.

"There's no point in resisting." the phantom said, turning to face Skyler as he managed to regain his feet. "I'm faster than you, stronger than you, and just plain better in every way."

With a practiced twitch of his hands Skyler had his holdouts in hand. Maybe it was futile, but he had to try, unloading both magazines into his opponent.

The magical doppelganger did not even try to dodge, and did not even flinch, the slugs deforming and falling off of it like they were made of gelatin.

"See? You can't even do that properly." it said.

"Shit." Skyler softly cussed, letting his holdouts slide back up his sleeves. Feeling his legs give out beneath him he began to fall to his knees. Had he somehow burned himself out in the previous test?

The doppelganger struck again, moving impossibly fast like before. Maybe the timing was off just a little bit, as if Skyler had not began to fall to his knees he would have been skewered through the chest. Instead he was looking at the narrow length of the pocket watch's minute hand with crossed eyes, the blackened brass piece of clock now jutting out of his head, and he could feel his own blood seeping from the wound to run down between his eyes and the left side of his nose.

It hissed its displeasure, but said, "Guess that'll have to do. Shouldn't take long for you to go." And with that it turned around and started to walk back towards the others. "Maybe I'll stick it to your lover before she's done." it said over its shoulder.

Skyler could not go, though not sure where he was supposed to go to. He would not, could not go anywhere, not while the twisted copy might even hurt Mina.

He could not close his eyes as he pulled the clock hand back out through his head, gritting his teeth as the blood stained brass scraped against bone. It must have been a miracle of some kind that he had survived, though he really had no time now to try and figure out exactly what had happened.

But that was not the strangest thing yet he had to wonder about. Holding the clock hand in both hands, feeling its edge cut into his flesh, the metal began to melt and flow as if it were candle wax. Some might have thought impossible what was happening, the melting brass growing and changing shape in Skyler's hands. Within his fingers formed the grip of a two handed sword, but instead of a razor sharp blade was a motor and the extended blade of a chain saw. The motor rattled noisily as the chain started to spin.

Swinging the blade back, Skyler rushed his phantom duplicate. The spirit turned just in time to see the roaring blade coming down in a cross chop that would cleave anyone in two, and it grinned.

Biting teeth tore into the spirit's body, shredding its physical form easier than any real chainsaw could cut through wood. Its body fell to the ground, both arms severed as its upper body fell away and legs collapsed from below.

"How… the hell... did you… do that?" the spirit's head asked, staring blankly into the twisted sky.

Skyler reversed the massive chain sword in his hands, bringing it up to stab the phantom. "Fuck you, that's how." he growled, plunging the grinding blade through the gaping mouth of his twisted copy's face.

Mina's shriek snapped him back to the reality of what was happening.

"C'mon, just give it up." the mature Mina said, "You'll forever be stuck in an immature body you hate."

Mina unleashed a shot of fire, which her copy easily deflected.

Apparently unnoticed by Mina's doppelganger, Skyler took up his grinding sword in both hands and rushed her. She did not even turn to look at him as he swung his weapon with all of his might.

The blow would have cut anyone in half, even without the churning chainsaw teeth. Skyler's attack bit nothing but air, and he tumbled and fell over after his weapon ineffectively passed through the phantom.

Mina's doppelganger clicked her teeth. "And here I thought I'd make a real man out of you later." she chided.

"I don't care about anything you said!" Mina screamed, "He's different! He loves me for me, and not 'cause I look like a little girl!"

"Little girl's got daddy issues?" the older Mina asked.

Apparently at a loss for words, Mina yelled incoherently, fire streaming from both hands wildly. Swinging her hands up high she whipped them out at her phantom duplicate, flames snapping straight with a crack to rush like a jet engine's exhaust at the phantom.

The older, darker Mina held up both hands to try and stop the flames only to cry out in pain and terror as the torrent of fire consumed her.

Exhausted from her spell, Mina fell to her knees.

Dropping what was in his hands, Skyler rushed over to Mina. Like a sprung mousetrap she latched onto him, hugging him tightly. He simply held her as she broke into tears.

"She… She said things…" Mina sobbed.

Skyler had no idea what the phantom might have told her, but it must have been something hurtful to say the least. He said nothing, and just held her to him.

He had no idea the world around them changed until he realized the air had traded the moist salt sea smell for dry wild grass. He also suddenly felt better and not like he had been someone's heavy bag.

"Welcome to Canaan-On-The-Water." Trance's voice said softly.

"Up and at 'em." Athena said, sounding a little weary.

Slowly pushing himself to his feet, Skyler held Mina still. Looking around he saw that they were in the middle of a grassy field that went on forever. In one direction it went uphill, with a gray clapboard farmhouse and barn in the distance, and a woman lying in the field closer to them. She wore a faded rose pink dress, had her long dark hair tied into some kind of knot, and appeared to be staring at the farmhouse.

"It's Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth." Athena told them as she started walking towards the farmhouse. "The girl isn't real, just part of the scenery."

"Are you done with the art history lessons?" Nocturne asked as they walked up the grassy hill.

"As long as we're done hopping from one painting to another." Athena answered.

"And this Mister Dada?" Skyler asked.

"Hopefully inside that house."

The front door was situated at the center of the three story home, with a pair of windows to either side. Fortunately they could look in, and in passing they could clearly see an insanely dressed person in the kitchen at a small dinner table, watching a small television (the 2-dimensional predecessor to modern trideo) with a black and white image.

They walked right on in, the front door not even existing for reasons unknown, and unimpeded into the kitchen.

The insanely dressed person wore a great coat of purple velvet over a white shirt and pants, a vest of swirling psychedelic colors, and stark white gloves. Instead of hair he had a wig that pulsed in neon colors, and over his face was a stone white mask with only three slits for eyes and a mouth. Next to the archaic television was a steaming cup of coffee, the television's flickering image showing the inside of the Guggenheim rotunda and its terrified patrons.

Turning to face them, he growled, "You! You're destroying my Happening! What do you think you're doing here?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing there?" Athena asked back, pointing at the television.

"I don't expect any of you to understand art." Mister Dada said.

"What I understand is that what you're doing is an attack." Nocturne said, "People have been hurt, and one guy's just lucky that JetBlack's axe wasn't a real axe!"

"It's not an attack, it is art!" Mister Dada declared.

"That's not how those people will see it." Athena said. "And how many might die for your art?"

"There's millions more where you come from. And it won't stop them from coming to me for inspiration."

"I don't care if your brains are melting like those clocks we saw before getting here," Skyler said, "But you'd better damn well make sure you kill everyone there or you're fucked."

Athena spun to stare at Skyler, not bothering to hide the shocked expression on her face.

"What're you saying?" Mina asked.

"What do you know?" Mister Dada asked, his stone face aimed straight at Skyler. "You're no artist."

"We got this thing called the matrix." Skyler said, "Those people there can record what they're experiencing and share it with the rest of the world. Billions will see what you call art stomping bloody footprints all over the place, and if they know it's you…"

"Then there'll be magicians hunting for every copy of your formula, destroying every single one of them." Athena added, apparently catching onto something. "You'll be killed, forever."

"What they're experiencing will be shared?" Mister Dada asked. Did he just miss the point of an impending death?

"You bet it will." Skyler said, trying to sound as threatening as possible.

"What if no one dies?" the spirit asked.

"Accidents happen, and will heal." Athena said, "But if we can calm everyone there then no hopefully one will die. And then people can figure what they want for your Happening. Not just a hundred people, but hundreds of thousands."

Mister Dada stood, and suddenly Skyler found himself lying on the floor of the Guggenheim Museum. There was an eerie silence as he sat upright.

"Is everything okay?" the wild haired man asked. "You've barely been gone."

"How long?" asked Athena with a groan.

"Maybe ten seconds." the man answered, "Did it… work?"

The wild haired man apparently had his answer, as Skyler saw Mister Dada step out of a wall like it was a doorway. On top of that all of the statues had stopped moving. Their sudden stop, however, did not seem to help pacify the crowd.

Quicker to her feet Athena was already on the move for her part. "Ladies! Gentlemen!" Athena said loudly, stepping out into the middle of the rotunda so everyone could hear her, "We've managed to contact the orchestrator of tonight's Happening, and he apologizes for the harm he inadvertently caused. He would like to continue, and we ask that you all subscribe to your MeFeed! accounts to show everyone what he wants to share with us."

Almost as if on cue people started floating into the air. Soon most everyone was floating well above the rotunda where they could watch the Happening without fear of being trampled by a half ton stone statue. At least everyone was calmer when the Happening began again, the statues continuing their bizarre performance.

Holding Mina close to him as they floated together, Skyler could not help but wonder why something seemed eerily quiet to him. He said nothing, not wanting to make Mina worry as they watched the statues perform.

About half an hour later the Happening ended, the statues collapsing as the spirits that had inhabited them left. Everyone was gently let down to the floor as emergency workers finally were able to cut open the doors. Amidst the exiting public Geoffry slipped Skyler and Mina a silver colored credstick.

A bigger surprise came when DJ Bijan actually approached the two of them just as the Happening had drawn to a close, personally thanking them in helping Mister Dada make his debut as an artist what it was (as opposed to a bloody fiasco). After exchanging a bit of information he told them he would send them something extra in expression of his gratitude.

They had managed to duck out of the museum in the crowd, walking down Fifth Avenue side by side, Mina's heels clicking as they went. She had insisted on walking home, but they had barely gotten five blocks before she changed her mind for a cab.

Later, in the elevator on the way up to their penthouse the heels came off.

Claudia was not home when they got to the penthouse, having left an ARO tagged message for them saying she had an interview, and if they were going to fully be enjoying the Saturday night together that they should keep a robe for each of them close by just in case she actually came home later.

The remains of the evening were spent simply relaxing, and Skyler giving his best effort in a foot rub for Mina. Apparently the heels she wore looked way better than they felt after an evening of walking.

Later, for the third night in a row Skyler found himself at the windows, staring out at the moonless New York skyline over Central Park with his white cotton robe in a pile at his feet. Still sleep eluded him, but there was something different this time.

Some time ago he had figured out what the elusive missing feeling that he had since returning to the museum was, but that fact was not what weighed heavily on his mind. What was keeping him up was how to tell Mina.

After a little over six weeks his connection to the resonance was now completely gone.