Run 11 : Rising Sin (based on the mission written by Olivier Gagnon; updated 2018/09/09)

The last week had been awkward at best. Mina had hardly spoken despite John's attempt to apologize, even though she was the one who had barged in on him. After his third try he gave up, figuring that she did not want to hear any explanations.

Then there was the time he had been up late working on his motorcycle. He had not been doing anything special, just giving his Katana-11 the automotive equivalent of a check-up when he looked up and saw Mina walking by wearing nothing but her black 6 Tees shirt of the singer Mercurial that was just large enough to cover her hips a little. He would keep looking away before she noticed him looking at her.

A few days later she actually spoke, asking him to fix up her commlink a little more. At some point she had apparently gotten curious about virtual reality. Maybe it was his mention about a VR game Hunter had shown him, or some advertisements of VR only stuff, but whatever it was she wanted to experience virtual reality. So John helped her out.

Helping set Mina up for VR had included everything, including a new plug-in device for her commlink, at least one new program, and sculpting her persona icon. He was feeling rather gay having assembled a faerie looking icon in pinks and purples. At his suggestion, he did include a super hero kind of face mask on a face that looked a lot like her own.

A few days later, and many hours in VR, Mina was starting to get a hang of the virtual world. Especially the extra sensory input for running hot, something she had been adamant about.

They were in the process of adding more detail to the interior of Mina's commlink, a crystalline white castle floating in the clouds of an infinite blue sky, when a call came through to John. With a thought he opened an icon to answer it.

"Hey kiddo." came Tabby's voice, her feline face filling the icon. "Got a job for you that might be right up your alley. If you and your roomie can meet me at Marcel's?"

"We have a job?" Mina asked, her young voice sounding a little weird in the mature teenage looking body of her icon.

"Well, maybe." John said, speaking in his own voice. A job always seemed to depend on what a Johnson had in mind.

"We'll be there!" Mina said excitedly.

"Great. See you both there." Tabby said before ending the call.

"Have you ever been to Marcel's?" John asked.

Mina shook her head.

All John would tell her before they left was that they did not have to worry about dressing up fancy, that the casual look would work when talking with Tabby. She did not barge into his room as he put his armor on underneath his clothes.

Along with some of the new electronics Merlin had set them up with, John and Mina had some new fake IDs for crossing the border. Mina had thought the one she had was good enough, but John told her the same thing he had been told. Using a fake ID too much could become a liability, with enough data built up to mean a lot of trouble when you were caught.

John took them on a completely different route than the last time he had gone to Marcel's, actually crossing over into the CAS sector first and driving past the bars Rock Solid and Goodfriends on East Colfax Avenue before turning north onto York Street to head into the Sioux sector. As far as John knew, this was Mina's first time into the NAN side of the Denver FRFZ.

Even for a Saturday afternoon, Marcel's had a line of gawkers out front. It was then that he told Mina over their dynamically encrypted personal link about the more scantily clad staff that worked there. He barely had time to glance back to see her blush just a little.

They met up with Hunter in the parking lot, and they walked together through the front entrance. Mentioning a reservation under Johnson got them through the door without any problems.

By the smell of things the kitchen was in full swing, especially when John saw a four armed waitress walk by with two large pizzas sizzling in each pair of hands. The smell of pepperoni made his stomach gurgle just a little.

Finding Tabby was easy enough as she was one of only two cat-like changelings in Marcel's, with the other being one of the waitresses. Billy and Morph were already at the table with her, and Tabby actually looked happy to see the others. Morph, at Tabby's left, had himself a pint of beer while Billy, at Tabby's right, had a pile of hot wings and another pile of chewed on chicken bones in front of him. Seeing the razorboy looking like he had just climbed out of a vat of chipotle sauce immediately killed John's appetite for food.

It had apparently done the same for Hunter and Mina as well, as the three of them simply ordered sodas when a waitress asked them what they wanted.

"Glad you could make it." Tabby said with a smile.

"Oh god, another kid?" groaned Morph.

"Try saying something snappy back at him." prompted John.

"Wanna fireball up your butt?" Mina asked Morph as she took a chair for herself. She said it with more conviction than John expected to hear.

"No." Morph told her.

"Might wanna be careful, there." Hunter said as she sat next to him, "Firefly's our magic support."

"So you finally gonna tell us the job?" Billy blurted out. Thankfully he spoke before he started chewing on another hot wing.

"Yeah, a little datasteal with a spin. Should I go on?" Tabby asked.

"Fuck yeah!" Billy smacked with a mouth full of food.

John felt a little more sick to his stomach.

"Gross." Mina said.

"As long as Billy keeps eating with his mouth shut, I'm in." Morph said.

"Agreed." added Hunter.

John had to keep his mouth shut, so he only nodded.

"Guess the kids are too grossed out to talk." commented Morph.

"Well then," said Tabby, trying to keep her gaze from falling to Billy at her immediate right, "I'm glad I could count on you. Here's the skinny. I have a friend in need. Her name is Mayuri. She's a geisha working for the Yakuza." She looked around at everyone at the table, extra sternly at Billy, before continuing, "That doesn't mean she's a whore, by the way."

"Shucks." muttered Billy.

Tabby shot Billy a sharp look, but said nothing about it. "Geishas are high-end escorts. They're trained from a young age to serve as entertainers for upscale men. They make polite and witty conversation, play music, serve tea, that sort of stuff. They're real popular with Japanacorp bigwigs. Anyway, this geisha gig, it's for life, a sort of slaver deal."

"Good deal." Billy said.

"Shut up." Morph and Hunter said at the same time.

"My friend Mayuri wants out." Tabby continued, "I want you to meet with her and see what you can do."

"That's all?" Billy asked.

"What'd they just say?" John asked him.

"No, that's not all." Tabby said sternly, "It's just a prelude to the real job. What I really need you to do is recover some paydata. The catch is only Mayuri knows where the data's kept, and she won't tell me until we, meaning you, help her out. When you get the info from her, I want you to get me my file."

"What about us?" Morph asked, "Hitting the yakuza for data's sure to bite us in the ass."

"Fuck 'em if they try to bite me." Billy said, taking another bite of a hot wing.

"They'll be more worried about their own asses once the data's out." Tabby told them, "They won't have time to worry about you guys."

"Why not just have him look up the server and hack it from here?" asked Billy.

"I could try hacking it from your home." John retorted.

Tabby shook her head. "Impossible. The server's not connected to the matrix." she told them, "And I know only Mayuri who knows where the server's located."

Before Billy could ask the next obvious question, John pulled a cable from the commlink he wore on his left forearm. "I can plug this in and hack it from there." he said.

Billy closed his mouth, apparently about to ask how the server could be hacked if it were not wireless.

"Pay's four thousand nuyen, each, with half up front." Tabby said.

"Oh no." groaned John.

"What?" asked Tabby.

"He's expecting Billy to start whining about the pay." Hunter said flatly.

John looked at Billy, who had the look of a wrongly accused victim.

"I just think we oughta get paid more, that's all." Billy said.

"Weak." Morph said.

"I think you're getting paid well enough for this job." Tabby said, "What're you spending it all on anyway?"

"Drugs, booze, and hookers." John said immediately.

Tabby sighed. John glanced at Hunter, and she too had the same exasperated look on her face. Mina, however, had eyes wide with shock and surprise.

"Sad thing is, I think he's right." Hunter said.

"He is?" Morph asked.

"Yeah," Hunter said, "Cypher is right from time to time."

"Oh! Him!" Morph said. "Well, four thousand's fine with me." he added.

"More than fine for me, too." said Hunter.

John and Mina merely nodded.

"What?" cried Billy, "I don't like workin' for peanuts."

"At least it's work." commented Morph, downing the last of his beer. "If you're not living above your means it's also rent money."

"Fine." relented Billy, pouting.

"You'll find Mayuri at a place called Aikiwa. Everything's already been set up for you." Tabby told them, forwarding them their two thousand nuyen retainer. John also received a private text file detailing the information he had to get, like the file name, size, and more. "Let me know when you've got the data." she said, standing up to leave.

"Looks like that's it." Hunter said, standing as well.

"That's it?" Mina silently asked.

"Typically." John replied, "We might've gotten a good meal out of it if…" He let the thought dangle there, figuring that Mina would be just as nauseated as he was about thinking of Billy talking with a mouth of partially chewed food.

John and Hunter followed on their motorcycles, while Billy rode with Morph in his Chrysler-Nissan Jackrabbit.

Aikiwa was deep in the CAS sector, and they took some back streets, Colorado Boulevard past Happenstance, highway 87, and finally East Hampden Avenue on their way there. Finding the right place was not all that difficult, John found out once they got there.

It was in the Cherry Creek neighborhood, and the building itself looked as if it had been plucked directly from Japan and dropped next to the Rocky Mountains. It certainly looked authentic and as fragile as John expected wet tissue paper to be.

John and Hunter took a parking space for their motorcycles three spots away from where Morph parked. There were no empty parking spaces next to each other.

"Wish the fuckin' bitch would pay us more." muttered Billy as they walked to the front entrance of Aikiwa.

"He's been complaining about the pay the whole way here." Morph told them.

John opened up an augmented reality object and did a quick search on cheap used cars. He found one, tagged the ARO to public, and flipped it over to Billy for him to see. "Here's a Volkswagen Elektro that someone's asking seventy-five for." he said. "If ya got at least six grand now you'll be able to buy it and a good license to drive it 'round town."

Billy looked at it for a moment before he angrily closed out the window. "I only need twenty-five hundred, not six thousand, dumbass." he said.

"So you only had five hundred before this job?" John asked. "Shit, and Tabby thought I'd have bad money management skills."

Mina giggled. It looked like Hunter was also trying her best to stifle a grin.

Wisely Billy kept his mouth shut.

"He's learning not to try and be smart around me." John told Mina.

This made Mina giggle more, drawing a strange look from Billy.

"Hey! Wait up!" called Morph as he caught up to them at the door. He had something in hand, and before anyone could say anything he squirted Billy with whatever it was.

"Hey! What the?" cried Billy as he tried to defend himself against the mist. "What the fuck's this stuff?"

"Cologne, because you reek." Morph told them.

"Yeah, because he never showers." John said.

"Yes I do!" Billy exclaimed.

"Golden showers don't count." Morph countered, giving Billy a few more squirts.

"Golden showers?" Mina asked.

John could only shrug his shoulders. The others did not seem to be too inclined to tell them what Morph meant, and Billy certainly did not look like he was going to say anything at all.

"Okay, now you don't stink so bad." Morph said.

Mina waved a hand in front of her face, and John had to agree. Billy did still stink, but at least the musky smell of the cologne was better than the urine and body odor Billy normally gave off.

The inside of Aikiwa was almost the same as the outside. The walls were made from real cherry blossom wood and delicate tissue. The scent of various teas lingered in the air, for what they could smell aside from Billy's new scent. There were even two Japanese women dressed in kimonos playing classical Japanese music softly, all making for a very relaxing atmosphere.

Then the door closed, giving John a shocking surprise as the pervasive presence and weight of the Matrix was nearly gone. Swallowing hard, he tried to keep himself calm amidst the local WiFi of the relatively few commlinks he could sense. The rest of the matrix was still there, but was like trying to look at something you could only see at the very edge of your peripheral vision.

Morph asked a kimono-clad Japanese waitress about a reservation, and she led them to the back of the house to a private booth. In the center was a short table surrounded by half a dozen pillows.

After a short while the door to the private booth opened again, and a Japanese woman in full geisha regalia from makeup to sandals walked in. She politely gestured for everyone to kneel around the table.

Morph and Hunter were first to kneel. John figured it might be best to mimic them, so he knelt on a pillow of his own in the same way. Mina apparently figured the same thing as she knelt next to him.

Billy dropped his buttocks down on a pillow, sitting with one leg arched up like an A-frame.

The geisha looked each one of them over before returning her gaze to Morph. "I am Mayuri." she said in accented English.

"Thank you for your time, Mayuri-san." Morph said, "We were told you needed assistance."

"Hai." Mayuri said sharply, "Though I owe much to my house and Madam Kikuya, I no longer wish to be geisha."

"Seems nice enough." commented Billy, "Could just run off. Security here's a joke."

Mayuri did not even flinch, her gaze locked on Morph. "I want you to get permission for me to leave." she told them, "If you do this for me, I will tell you what you need."

"Why not just leave?" asked Billy.

"Ever get hunted?" Morph asked him.

"Yeah, lots." Billy said.

"He doesn't mean 'hounded'." Hunter said, "Though I'd expect you'll get hounded by bouncers and the like a lot."

"You are right." Mayuri said, "I would be hunted. I need permission to not be hunted."

"We will help you, but there must be someone we can speak to." Hunter said, "Who has the power to give you permission to leave?"

"I didn't say I'd do this." Billy told them.

"I'd say you did by sitting down, dumbass." John said.

"There are two people." Mayuri said, still looking at Morph. It was like the rest of them were not there. John figured this was some kind of Japanese etiquette thing. Hunter did not seem to mind, but Billy was looking rather pissed off that she did not give him a second look.

"Madam Kikuya. She is… headmistress of geisha house. It on East Orchard Road." Mayuri continued, "Also Yoshiro-san. He is yakuza… supervisor, and at Lucky Eight casino. Either person can give permission to leave."

"Which person do you think is more likely to be willing to let you leave?" Morph asked.

Mayuri closed her eyes to think for a few seconds. When she opened them again, her gaze coming straight back to Morph once more, she said, "Madam Kikuya dislikes me. Yoshiro-san is… distasteful."

"What the fuck kind of answer is that?" asked Billy. "And how the hell would she know where we need to go to?"

Hunter sighed, her shoulders dropping noticeably. Then she said something that John could only guess was in Japanese.

"Pardon his ignorance, Mayuri-san." Morph said, "I think we have enough to go on."

Morph was first to stand, rocking his legs underneath himself to smoothly take his feet like it was nothing. Watching Hunter, he saw her do almost the exact same thing. John found he could mimic them as he also stood, though he wobbled a little as his balance shifted. Even Mina regained her feet nearly flawlessly.

Billy grunted a few times as he stood, though Mayuri was more graceful as John thought a geisha should be as she stood with them.

"Arigatou gozaimasu." Morph said bowing.

Seeing Hunter bow as well, John bowed as well, taking his cue from Morph when to stand again.

It also looked like Mayuri had also bowed. It was kind of hard to tell when John was looking at the floor while he bowed.

John was so glad when the doors opened on their way out.

"So who're we hitting first?" Billy asked.

"Some contacts." Morph said. "We're not going to be hitting either place blind."

John climbed onto his motorcycle to sit and wait. Mina sat right behind him, her arms loose around him as she rested against his back. Hunter sat on her own Contrail, looking like she was deep in thought. John figured she was in a more private call with someone.

Billy leaned impatiently against Morph's Jackrabbit, with Morph sitting inside talking to someone.

A few minutes later Morph got out of his car. "Got some dirt on this Yoshiro character." he said.

"Sounds better than what I found out about Madam Kikuya." Hunter said.

Billy groaned.

"Doesn't sound like you got a whole lot on Kikuya." Morph said, "Think we ought to skip her and try working a bully the yaks don't like?"

"Sounds like it'll a better shot." Hunter said.

This time when Morph got into his car Billy did as well. As he started his motorcycle, John wondered if Morph had locked the door on him earlier.

It was over an hour long drive as Morph led them across the border into the UCAS sector, just south of the warrens, to an ugly pit of a casino called Lucky Eight's. The place looked like the neighborhood, rundown and dirty. The bar itself was not even a real bar as far as John was concerned. The only access to Lucky Eight's was a flight of cold cement stairs at the side of a cheap electronics store.

"I really don't like this area." Hunter said as they pulled into an empty field across the street that served as a parking lot.

"Too close to the Warrens for you?" Morph asked.

East Arapahoe Road, the now generally accepted southern boundary of the Aurora Warrens, was less than a kilometer north, but even that was a little too close for the neighborhood to not be impacted. Even the air itself seemed musty from dried weeds.

"That, and I think that Universal Brotherhood had a chapterhouse near here, too." Hunter told them.

"Universal…?" John asked as he and Mina climbed off of his Katana-11.

"Bugs, kid, bugs." Morph said, closing the door to his subcompact.

"Like that gator-thing a few weeks ago." Hunter added.

"Aw shit." John cussed.

"Wouldn't worry. There haven't been any serious bug sightings for years." Morph told them.

"Tell that to the fucker that took my arm!" exclaimed Billy, pointing to his right arm.

"Still didn't have to spring for a whole arm." Hunter told him as they headed towards Lucky Eight's.

"Think the kids should wait outside?" Morph asked as they crossed the street.

"I don't think they give a shit about kids." John answered, pointing to a grouping of bicycles leaning against the building that looked like had seen better days.

"Okay. Guess it might be easier to hack his commlink." Morph said as he headed down the stairs to the bar's door.

John took that to mean that he should hack Yoshiro's commlink right away.

The patrons inside barely even looked up from their drinks, nor the two at the bar's only pool table from their game. There were no lights save what came from cheap neon signs. The floor was carpeted in equally cheap, and rather dirty, felt carpeting. The air smelled stale, of old beer and really cheap tobacco, and like the place only got aired out whenever the front door was ever open.

"You get a rundown on this guy?" Hunter asked.

"Greasy Japanese guy with a ponytail in a cheap brown suit." Morph answered.

"Eww." commented Mina.

Looking around, John thought most of the patrons present would fit the 'greasy' part of the description. He wondered if Mina thought the same thing as she pressed just a little closer to him.

"Now Billy, just keep quiet and let me do the talking." Morph said as he headed deeper into the bar.

"Hey!" Billy returned dejectedly.

"Just do it." Hunter added.

Yoshiro sat alone in a booth, a cigarette slowly burning itself out in his mouth, the last whisp of smoke snaking its way up past his face. He fiddled with a commlink as they all walked up to him, his fingers decorated with more gold rings than John felt was necessary. Right away John sought out that commlink's signals, and had it just as quickly. He wasted no time in starting to force his way through its firewall.

"What you want?" Yoshiro asked as Morph sat himself down on the opposite bench seat. His voice had a thicker Japanese accent than Mayuri's.

"We wanna talk to you about someone." Morph said, "A geisha…"

"No." Yoshiro said sharply, returning his attention back to his commlink.

"I don't think you understand…" Morph started to say.

"No, you do not understand." interrupted Yoshiro. "No geisha for you."

"Neither do you." Morph said, "You're not even taking a moment to listen."

"Your words bore me." Yoshiro said with a sneer. "Go, now."

"And you're a fool, too." Morph countered, "You don't even know why we're here."

Yoshiro paused with his fiddling and actually looked at Morph. He may have looked annoyed at first, but now he looked more upset. "I do not care." he said sharply.

About then John breached the firewall on Yoshiro's commlink. A handful of AROs appeared to John, all of them angled for Yoshiro's point of view, along with several of the active files that he saw right away were nothing but spreadsheets. Thankfully they were in English, so he started looking them over.

"Do you care that we know you don't have much yakuza support?" Morph asked.

Yoshiro glared at Morph.

"Just so you know," Morph said, "we're not gonna be intimidated by any yakuza threats."

John noticed something odd among the files in Yoshiro's commlink. Two spreadsheet files were nearly identical, and had a history of being updated one after another. The only really noticeable differences between the two were some extra information and their bottom lines.

On a hunch, John asked, "How about we tell 'em you're stealing from 'em?" It felt like to him that one was Yoshiro's personal records, and the other was what was being sent to the yakuza bosses above him.

"You have no proof." Yoshiro stated.

Through Yoshiro's commlink, John set the relevant files to Morph so he could also see and read them.

Morph took a second to look at the files. To help speed things along, John pointed out the key spots.

"Kid's right." Morph said, "I see it right in your finances. Two books, and I'll bet you send the cooked book to your superiors."

It was a split second, just as Yoshiro even twitched to stand John had both Morrissey Élan pistols in his hands. He held them not too discretely on Yoshiro, making sure they were visible enough for the yakuza guy to see they were aimed right at him.

Yoshiro froze, staring straight at John. This made John feel rather nervous, but he did his best to keep a poker face.

"We gonna kick his ass?" Billy asked anxiously.

"Not yet." Hunter said sternly.

Morph was cool as ice. "Yeah, the boia hacked your 'link just now." he said, "And we've got proof enough that the yakuza will kill you. But it's a really simple fix."

"What you want?" Yoshiro asked, easing back into his seat.

"The geisha I mentioned." Morph told him, "Her name is Mayuri. All we want is for you to release her, free her of her geisha duties. Do this and we'll quietly walk away."

Yoshiro grinned. "You are coward." he said. "You do nothing if I refuse."

John could feel his heart racing, knowing he only had sick n' shock rounds in both pistols. The taser rounds might kill Yoshiro if he unloaded all ten shots into the greasy yakuza man, and that was only if Yoshiro had not invested in electrical resistant clothing.

"Him you'll be lucky. You'll be dead before you know what he shot you with." Morph said as if John had APDS loaded in them. "It'll certainly be faster than if the girl killed you. She's quite the pyromaniac, from what I hear. Certainly faster than if we let chrome dome do the job."

"Fuck you." muttered Billy.

"And we know the yakuza don't like you, so there's no retribution if we kill you." Morph added. "And we have someone else we can talk to to get what we want if it comes to that."

Yoshiro looked back to the AROs of his commlink. John could feel the analyze program he had running try to track him down, and he knew it would be virtually impossible to get caught. And even then John was only looking around in Yoshiro's commlink now and not doing anything that could attract attention.

Sneering, Yoshiro brought up his contacts list. Many names were in Japanese, and John could not tell who's name it was that he was calling. When Yoshiro spoke, it was in Japanese. They could hear an older sounding woman talking back to Yoshiro, also in Japanese.

"Hunter?" John asked.

"He's on the level." Hunter told them. "Talking to Madam Kikuya right now, telling her that Mayuri's released."

Yoshiro wrapped up the call, telling them, "There. It done."

"And we'll be on our way." Morph said, sliding out of his booth seat. He took an extra moment to brush himself, particularly his backside, as if he had been sitting in a pile of forest litter.

John let his holdouts slide back up his sleeves as they left. He wondered if the greasy feeling in his mind was from Yoshiro's commlink as he cut the connection, or just from having spent what time they did in The Lucky Eight.

No one seemed to give them a second look as they headed back out. Seeing the setting sun behind the Rockies was never more a pleasant sight, nor the relatively fresh air as John climbed up the stairs.

The border guards were lackadaisical as they crossed back into the CAS sector. The trip back itself took longer, both from a mix of bad timing with the lights and a heavy rainstorm that came down on Denver from the north.

Parking back at Aikiwa was a little easier, and John was glad to find a somewhat sheltered spot to park his Katana-11. He was glad, too, as the rain had started to smell funny.

It was not such a shock the second time around when the doors closed and John's connection to the matrix was almost severed. There were different geisha playing music this time, but Mayuri was the one to greet them at the door. Whether or not she knew she was free, John could not tell, her face like porcelain and showing no emotion.

Mayuri led them back to the same private room, taking her seat with the grace of a model geisha. John and the others also sat. Again Billy was the only one to just drop his buttocks down while everyone else mimicked Mayuri in kneeling.

"Thank you for my freedom." Mayuri said, her eyes only on Morph, "Per our agreement I will tell you what you need to know."

"How the fuck did you know?" asked Billy, "There's no matrix here and we didn't even tell ya yet!"

"Ever hear of a wired commlink?" John asked back. "Only a fool would think we're totally cut off in here."

Without even flinching to glance at Billy or John, Mayuri continued. "The server is in basement of yakuza casino in Pueblo sector. It is on South Irving Street."

"Just how the fuck do you even know this?" asked Billy.

"Would you just shut up? Baka inu." Hunter said.

"I can't believe he's always this stupid." Mina told John.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Morph asked.

John sighed heavily. "Yeah. It's like he's the poster boy of 'Too Stupid To Live'."

"Hopefully there's only one on the street." Hunter said.

"There is only one." Mayuri said. "You must go inside. The server is not connected to the matrix. And if you will excuse me, here is where we part."

They all stood, with Billy grunting like a horse pulling a heavy load. Like before they bowed before actually leaving, though John was pretty sure Billy just stood instead. As they walked towards the exit, John thought about how he might be able to hack the server if it was not wireless. He hoped he would be able to plug one of his commlinks into it as then he could use it to make a wireless bridge for his technomancer abilities to get through.

"Crap, still raining." muttered Billy as they stepped outside.

"At least you got a car to ride in." muttered John as he zipped up his coat before venturing into the downpour.

"Wish I had a car." John said softly as he and Mina walked over to his motorcycle. The rain felt cold as it started to soak through his hair.

"Me too." Mina added aloud.

"Shitty weather for a stake out." remarked Hunter. She stood in the doorway, sheltered from the rain, her eyes darting about like she was reading something. "Take a look at this." she added, an ARO appearing.

Placing a hand on the ARO, John copied so he could flip it around and read much easier. The ARO was a weather map of the whole Denver area, with a string of greens and oranges representing the rain density running north to south over the city parallel to the Rockies. There was a time laps option, and when John hit the playback he saw that they were on the leading edge of the rain, with most of the storm front yet to roll over them from the north.

"Aw man." whined John.

"We could always leave Billy and do the stake out in my car." offered Morph.

"We won't fit." remarked Hunter flatly.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll figure something out." Morph replied with a grin.

"What about that RV thingy?" John asked.

"RV… thingy?" Morph asked back.

"The job we did last month? You know, your friend's?" John asked.

"Oh, that!" exclaimed Morph, "I'd have to see if I can borrow it again."

"Why don't we just go hit the place now?" asked Billy.

"I'd wanna make some calls, first." Morph said, "I'm sure Hunter does too."

"At least there's a McHugh's not too far away from here." Morph said, "'Bout three K from here on Hampden."

"There's a Nukit Burgers closer." Hunter said through her helmet, "'Bout a K and a half just off Hampden."

"I vote closer!" John called out.

"I don't give a shit." Billy said, finally being let into Morph's subcompact.

Lights were with them as they traveled through the downpour. There was a moderate crowd already there, filling about half of the parking lot with several cars and trucks.

Inside was nice and warm and not too crowded with a dinner crowd. After ordering a burger, soda, and fries, all of it really made from soy judging by the prices, they secured themselves a corner booth.

John brought up a few private AROs and ate in silence as he started looking for whatever information he could find on a yakuza casino on South Irving Street in the PCC sector. Just as Mayuri had said, there was only one such place on that street. Now if only the burger he ate tasted a little more like beef and a lot less like styrofoam.

On a hunch he pulled up Lady Jade's commcode to call her.

"Moshi moshi." came an audio only answer.

"Uh, it's Cypher." John silently said in English.

"Hey kiddo. Was starting to wonder if you were ever going to call." said Lady Jade.

"Yeah. Wish I could talk but I need to know if you know some stuff." John said, "It's about the yakuza casino on South Irving."

"Whatever you're thinking, it won't be easy. They take their security seriously." Lady Jade told him. "The place's warded, completely WiFi inhibited, and triple coverage on the security cameras outside. Unless you get in, all you'll be able to hack are the guard's 'links that're outside."

"And once I'm inside the building?" John asked.

"If you can get in, and that'll be a really big IF, you'll have the run of the place, I'm sure." Lady Jade said. "Their security server's one step below military grade for a firewall. Prob'ly the heaviest you'll have to deal with, though the rest is high end stuff. Trip an alert and there'll be at least two IC and who knows how many white hats on you, and that's any node there."

"Great." muttered John. He shivered just a little, though was not quite sure why the thought of any intrusion countermeasures would bother him so.

"And I hope you've got a way in. It's not just a casino. That's just the basement." Lady Jade told him. "The second floor's a brothel. Place may be illegal, but they're certainly not gonna let kid in."

"I could help others though, right?" asked John.

"Sure. Unless things've changed lately the guards get their 'links updated hourly with a guest list from the server. If your name's on the list, you can get in."

John grinned, though he wondered just how the update was done with the wireless suppression of the place. A few wired ideas came to mind that might work.

"Anything else I can help with?" Lady Jade asked.

"Maybe. I'll let you know. And thanks." John said, downing a mouthful of cola.

"Something up?" Morph asked.

"Just thinkin'." John said before taking his second to last bite of his soyburger.

Morph's commlink chimed. After a few seconds to apparently read a message, he said, "My friend's willing to loan out the RV, but he's got a few conditions."

"Uh oh. What is it?" Hunter asked.

"He wants me to make sure there won't be any trace that we used it there." Morph answered. "And he doesn't want us to take it out of the sector."

"Trace. Like a data trail?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah." Morph said, "Feels he got some heat from the last time I borrowed it. He's a bit on the paranoid side…"

"Not like it's not something he should be concerned about." added Hunter.

"If a data trail's all he's worried about, I can take care of that easily." John said. "Be easier if he gives me a name and passcode with full access."

"And if he doesn't?" Morph asked.

"Then I gotta hack it and it won't be quite as clean." John replied.

Morph tapped his fingers in mid air. A minute later he must have gotten a reply. "Here's the file to give you." Morph said, sending John a data file. "But I won't be able to pick it up until tomorrow."

"So what do we do now?" asked Billy.

"Take the night off and meet up tomorrow." Hunter said. "That is, unless you wanna do a stake out in the pouring rain."

"What I wanna do is hit the place." Billy said.

"Then you're doing it alone." Morph said.

"Would he really do it?" Mina silently asked John.

"And if you do do it alone, we'll make sure you don't get your pay." Hunter added.

"He won't now." John silently said. "He's whined about money so much he won't do anything that'll risk his cut."

It looked like John was right, considering how Billy scowled. It was kind of hard to tell when his eyeband obscured some of his facial features.

"There's a parking garage at the Southwest Plaza Mall at the corner of Wadsworth and Bowles." Morph said. "We can meet up there 'round ten?" John noted the location on his commlink.

"I can be there." Hunter said. "I'll do a quick recon of the place bore then to find us a spot to park so we can watch."

"So what am I gonna do?" asked Billy.

"Go take a shower?" Mina asked.

"And what're you gonna do?" Billy asked her.

"None ya business." Mina answered with a heavy touch of sass. John smiled.

John and Mina were the first to leave. Despite the both of them having plenty of nuyen from turning Enrico Trebol over to the Dunkelzahn Institute of Magical Research, they opted for a substantially cheaper coffin motel a few kilometers west. It also happened to be next door to a Cap'n Beef, though it was a little closer to the Happy Canyon Shopping Center than John liked. Though as long as An Peng was not in the area, and really gave a shit if John was, he expected there would not be any real trouble.

The neighborhood itself had originally been leveled after the first Treaty Of Denver in 2018 when Aztechnology and the United Canadian And American States built their walls and fences around their sectors. The walls remained after the Confederation Of American States took over the area in 2034, and were later torn down when the nation tried to revitalize the old Aztlan sector after Ghostwalker came into power on January twenty-seventh of 2061. Crime was pretty low, though John did tell his motorcycle to alert him of anything that was suspicious. Mina also mentioned she asked a spirit to guard it as well.

"Looks like the place's all automated." remarked John when they walked into the coffin motel. The inside almost looked like a shopping market, with long isles and numerous coffins stacked four high. There was even a section dedicated to trolls and other such larger metahumans, with stronger looking coffins stacked three high. The only thing missing was a counter with a person behind it to tend to peoples' needs.

"How do we do this?" asked Mina.

John looked the various coffins over. Some coffins had a green "Empty" light while others had a red "Occupied" light instead. When he touched the green light of one coffin an ARO appeared with payment options, one of which was to debit directly from a credstick by a port in the door.

"Doesn't look too hard." John said.

"Over here!" called Mina.

Heading over to where Mina had called him, John found her in the area of troll sized coffins. "There's cheaper ones over there." he told her.

"I… uh, don't wanna sleep in one alone." she said sheepishly.

"These things can lock on the inside." John told her.

"It's… not that." she said, looking down at her feet.

"I'm sure they lock from the inside…" John started to say. This did not seem to console Mina in the least. "What is it?"

"I… I don't wanna be alone in one of these." she managed to confess.

"So you wanna share one with me?" John asked, now starting to feel a little nervous himself.

Her answer was a sudden hug so tight it surprised John.

"Alright, alright!" relented John.

Mina was smiling when she finally let go. She hit the button for a high up coffin and was about transfer the funds when John reached up and stuck a credstick in the port. She gave him a funny look as the coffin took his payment instead.

"Why'd you do that?" she asked, opening the coffin door before climbing up in first.

"Tell ya in a bit." he said as he climbed up after her.

The coffin was just as bland white on the inside, and was lit by a collection of soft white LEDs. It did have a privacy lock which automatically set when the door was closed. He heard the soft whir of a ventilation fan kick in, cycling out the stuffy air.

"So, why?" Mina asked.

"Credsticks don't have an easy data trail. No way to tell who's actually using it." John said, dimming the rather bright lights by physical controls in the coffin's door. "Less data for a fake ID to get."

John slipped his goggles off and deposited them in a storage pocket. He also slipped out of his black leather jacket and put it in the same. It looked like there was another pocket on the other side, which was where Mina had stuffed her jacket. He moved to lie on his side on what he thought was his half of the coffin.

"Is there something wrong?" Mina asked as she rolled over onto her side, looking at John.

"Just that… I don't know." John said, looking away.

Mina waited before asking, "Don't like girls?"

"What?" John asked back, completely taken by surprise.

"Girls. You don't like us that way?" Mina asked. "It's okay if it's true."

"What gave you that idea?" John asked her.

"Just things." Mina said, looking down at her feet. "Woulda thought a boy'd wanna share with a girl."

John was trying to figure out what Mina was thinking. He looked her up and down, watching her as she fidgeted.

"And if you're gay, that's alright." she continued, looking down at her feet, "I… I won't tell."

"I'm not gay." John told her. He had a thought, which made his heart beat furiously in his chest and more nervous than hacking into a high grade server. His mind raced with thoughts of what he wanted to do, what he thought he should do, and a silent prayer that his armpits and palms would not turn into a sweaty, stinky mess.

"It's okay. You don't… gotta…" She let the sentence trail off when she noticed John was right up close to her. So close he could feel the warmth of his own breath, and hers.

They stared into each other's eyes for who knew how long. Then John scooted that last little bit, pressing his lips to hers. Maybe he pushed in a little too firmly, feeling her scoot back just a bit, but she did not break their kiss. Instead he felt her slip an arm around him, and so he did the same, trying to make like a steamy romance trid.

It felt like they both decided to stop at about the same time. Both were breathing heavily as they gazed at each other. John's heart pounded as hard as ever.

"Sorry." Mina said softly, looking down at his chest.

Rolling onto his back, John swallowed before asking, "So what now? We like boyfriend-girlfriend now?" The thought felt strange in his heart and mind, and sounded almost as strange when he said it.

"I dunno." Mina said, though she rolled over, leaning against his side with her hand over his heart. It certainly did feel nice, lying together like this. "We could say we are. Bet Billy'd get really pissed off!" She giggled at the thought.

John could not help but smile. He had no idea what kind of relationships Billy had, if any. As far as John knew none of the others he worked with had a significant other of any kind. It did seem funny to think that he might doing better in a relationship than Billy was, and at half as old as the cybered razorboy to boot.

Some time passed in silence before Mina asked, "Have I ever told you thanks?"

"For what?" John asked back.

"Everything." she said a little sleepily.

John let his thoughts wander, pausing for a bit to reach back and turn down the lights the rest of the way. The next thing he knew it was morning and Mina was stirring.

"Is it morning?" Mina asked. She sounded as if she were only half awake.

John looked at the commlink on his wrist. "'Bout seven." he said.

Mina groaned in protest as she slid away from John. "I like it when we can sleep in." she muttered as she rolled over and began collecting her few things.

John looked Mina up and down a few times before rolling over to collect his goggles. She was rather cute, he kept thinking. He also figured she liked him considering that she could have moved on and left him behind at any time. With her magic there was no way he could have really tried to stop her without it turning disasterous for either of them.

There were only a few other people getting up at the same time. They paid Mina and John no mind as the two left.

"Oh wow!" cried Mina, hurrying off. Following after her, John caught up to her as she was looking over a large truck.

It was a large pickup truck that had been jacked up at least an additional thirty centimeters, with extra shocks visible behind the large and wide smart tires. It was bright yellow at the front, colored to look like it was on fire, with simple yet classic flames decorating the front doors, turning to a deep ruby red for the rest of the truck. The windows were also customized to match the two toned flames, and even the front and back hubcaps were colored to match. The bed of the truck looked like it was just large enough to fit three GM-Nissan Doberman drones, but too short to fit his Katana-11 even if he managed to get it in diagonally.

"You kids like 'er?" came a deep voice from behind them.

John turned around to look at the fat belly of a troll. Looking up put the troll at about twice John's height, with greasy brown hair and a pair of down curled horns of a darker brown.

"Yeah!" Mina said excitedly. Was Mina hoping they would get a truck like this one?

"Be nice if ya could carry a cycle in it." commented John.

"Ya can." the troll said.

John felt a signal from the troll's commlink to the truck, and almost right away the back window slid down into the panel. Then the truck's back seats fold over on themselves and the panel dropped down over them. Overall the bed of the truck was lengthened, long enough to easily fit his Katana-11 and another motorcycle in the back, though at the cost of the cab being open to the elements from behind.

"What kind of truck is this?" asked Mina.

"A GMC Timberwolf." the troll said, "They say it's some classic truck remake, Chevy, I think."

"Neat." commented Mina before they walked off.

John's motorcycle was just fine, so they headed off to a Cap'n Beef for breakfast. After an alright breakfast of soy based products they were off again to meet up with Morph. They had luck at the border crossing at the 285/85 interchange, catching the border guard at the end of his shift. From there it was just over ten more kilometers west, then south, to the Southwest Plaza Mall. Hunter was right behind them as they pulled into the parking garage at the corner of Bowles and Wadsworth. He led the way as they slowly drove through the parking garage, finding the silver Ford-Canada Bison with Morph, Billy, and a male ork standing behind it on the third floor. The ork looked similar to Billy in build, though being a bit larger around the middle, prominent tusks that were a bit more dingy yellow than they should have been, squinty eyes that might have been green in color, and dirty red hair that was almost brown with what John thought might have been engine grease. The ork's clothing looked a little nicer, in somewhat clean blue jeans and a denim jacket that he wore open. He wore no shirt underneath it.

Three spaces down they were able to park their motorcycles.

"This's it?" asked Mina as they walked up.

"Yup." John answered.

"Looks old." Mina commented.

"May be old, but it'll blend in with the neighborhood." Hunter told them.

"Do I even wanna know what you're going to do with it?" asked the ork gruffly.

"Does it matter?" John asked back, finding the RV's node and using the information Morph had passed to him to sign into it. Thankfully it was full access, like he had asked for. He also signed into the node of his Katana-11. With an ARO to both vehicles under his hands, John went straight to the router settings of both at the same time.

"Who's the kid?" the ork asked.

"That's Cypher, the hacker I told you could fix the data trail for you." Morph said.

"That kid?" the ork asked.

"Yeah, that kid." John returned in a sour tone. Having accessed the router settings he entered in the access ID of the other vehicle.

"So what're you doing to my RV?" the ork asked.

"Accessing its router settings and trading the ID with my cycle's." John said, hitting the last command for both simultaneously. "And it's already done."

"You're not fucking it up, are you?" the ork asked.

"No." John answered. Looking up at the nearly two meter tall, slightly fat ork, he could see he did not look too appeased. "My motorcycle's ID is now your RV's, and your RV's ID is now my motorcycle's." he told them.

"So when we drive out of here, all the nodes will think your RV is his bike, and that your RV's still here." Morph added.

"We reboot the nodes, they'll switch back." John said, "It's child's play."

"Well, a child did do it." commented Billy.

Behind his goggles, John frowned.

"Not like you could've done any better." Hunter said as she walked over to the RV and climbed into it.

"Just don't do anything to it." the ork said.

John ignored him as he climbed in behind Hunter. Mina was right behind him.

"Relax," Morph said soothingly, "it'll be better than last time. This time, all the data's gonna say your RV's here the whole time."

It was a relatively short drive to the yakuza casino, and Morph was able to find a nice spot where they could see the building yet not look like they were casing the place. With the windows blacked out from the outside, a feature most all vehicles had these days, no one on the outside could tell if there was even anyone inside. It was also kind of nice as Mina sat with John rather close in a seat that was barely big enough for the two of them to share.

Once they were there, Hunter gave Mina some instructions and advice on how to check the magical security of the casino. John did not quite get the idea of 'projecting', but when her body went limp next to him he figured it was like how his body would when he dove into virtual reality.

John kept his mind outside of VR, however, feeling the webwork of WiFi signals in the area. It had taken him a few minutes to find and isolate the commlinks that the two guards at the door had since they were ghosting, or running their commlinks in hidden mode. He could even feel the presence of commlinks from the people who came and went, and from how difficult it was to identify their commlinks figured that everyone who came to the casino was running them hidden. Everything changed once someone went inside, as Lady Jade had told him the casino was completely WiFi inhibited.

"Everyone's ghosting." John told them after they had sat there for about half an hour in near silence.

"Yeah. Looks like the guards ask for a name when someone comes up to the door." Hunter added.

"Can we hack the guest list?" Morph asked.

"Maybe." John said.

"Hold up." interrupted Hunter.

John wished he had a zoom feature in his goggles as he had difficulties making out what was going on. Just as he was about to ask what was up, Hunter spoke.

"You getting any signals inside there, Cypher?" she asked.

"Everything disappears as soon as they're in." he told her. It was like a dead zone where the building was. Knowing there was supposed to be wireless activity there felt like he was trying to see into a glass mirage rather than actually seeing through it. "I can hack the guard's links, but that's it."

"And it's eleven now." Hunter added. "I saw one fiddle with his commlink. Might've been to get an update."

"And they get those hourly." John told them.

"Must have a short ranged burst transceiver near the door, then." Hunter reasoned, "I think you'd've picked up something otherwise."

"Yeah." John said heartfallen. All of his theories about how the guards got their guest list update just became wrong.

Billy groaned. "Can't you just hack it from here?" he asked.

"You forget it's not on the network?" Hunter asked back. "Even if Cypher managed to back hack his way through the commlines he still wouldn't be able to even access the server."

"And how short ranged of a transceiver are we talking about?" Morph asked.

"Really short. Likely about three meters at best." Hunter said, "And if they're smart they'll only switch it on to update. Prob'ly mounted flush above the door."

John tried to reach into his pocket to pull out his yokujin drone, but could not with Mina leaning against him.

"Somethin' up, kid?" Morph asked.

"Tryin' to get a drone outta my pocket." John said.

Mina groaned, slowly stretching as she started moving again. John decided to wait on trying to get the drone out.

"Find anything useful?" Hunter asked once it looked like Mina was wholly with them.

"There's nothing magical there at all." she said, sounding quite relieved. "Saw a summoner and a spirit down below, but they ignored me. I think it was helping someone cheat."

"Lovely." Morph said flatly.

"Got any tricks to get yourselves in?" Hunter asked.

"Can't I just put our names on the list?" Cypher asked.

"Those guards aren't gonna let you kids in." Morph told them. "Even if it's illegal, the casino's gonna be pretty strict about children. Then there's the brothel there, too."

"Brothel?" Mina asked.

"Um." Hunter went nervously.

Morph said nothing, looking like he was suddenly uncomfortable.

"You don't know?" asked Billy.

"So people go there to pay to have sex. So what?" asked John.

"How'd you know the place was a brothel?" asked Hunter.

John could see everyone looking at him now. "Made a call during dinner last night." he told them, "She said the upstairs was a brothel." He looked at Mina, and could not figure out what she was thinking by her expression.

"So how're we gonna get him in?" asked Morph.

"I could hack it." Billy told them.

"Like you did the grade school two months ago?" Morph asked him. "I'd sooner try bringing the kids in for a lesson in sex than let you try and hack a yakuza server."

"You know any illusion magic?" Hunter asked. John thought it an odd question, but then noticed she was looking at Mina.

Mina looked really uncomfortable now. "Yeah. I can make people not see me. " she said softly.

"There we go!" Morph said ecstatically.

"Hang on." Hunter said, waving a hand at Morph. "What do you mean, make people not see you?"

"I… I…" Mina stuttered.

"Why don't we take a walk, huh?" Hunter asked gently.

"Okay." Mina said softly, pulling herself up to follow Hunter outside.

Just as John was starting to think he was going to get stuck with the guys, he saw Mina grab his hand. She was quite insistent that he come with them, and out the door they went. The outside air smelled oddly refreshing.

"So, maybe a bit easier to talk…" Hunter started to say, "Oh, didn't know you were coming with us."

"Me neither." John said, feeling Mina tighten her grip on his hand. He gave her a reassuring squeeze, then they laced their fingers together.

"She always at your side?" Hunter asked.

"No. Not when I take a shower or go to the bathroom." John told her.

"Well, let's take a walk." Hunter suggested, "And maybe you can let me in on your private little network this one time."

"How'd you know about that?" John asked as they walked down the sidewalk away from the RV.

"You're not the only one with hacking skills, remember?" Hunter asked. "Ever since our underground trip I've picked up some encrypted signals between the two of you. Best reason I could figure was you're talking to each other privately. Tried to listen in once, but your encryption was too strong to try and break then."

"You haven't…?" John started to ask.

"I've let you two be." Hunter told them.

"I… I think I'm okay." Mina said.

"I think we should still link up, just in case someone might hear." Hunter told them.

John figured that was a good idea, though he did not use the same encryption with their three-way conversation that he and Mina used privately. They reached an intersection, and followed Hunter as she walked around the corner instead of crossing the street.

"Feeling a little better now?" Hunter silently asked.

"Yeah." Mina said.

"So what was it you were trying to say?" Hunter asked.

"I can disappear, but it only works on people." Mina told them, "It doesn't work on cameras and stuff."

"Can you make other things, people, disappear, too?" Hunter asked.

Mina nodded.

"So you could make the two of you disappear, but whoever's watching the security cameras will still see you?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah." Mina said, her voice sounding softly spoken even here.

"How good are you with spirits?" she asked, "I know you've summoned some before in a pinch, but just how good are they?"

"I don't know." Mina answered.

"Got any that can give any help to hiding you two and itself?" Hunter asked.

"Easy."

"Okay, that's good. Be ready to do that. And any idea what the security server's like?" Hunter asked John.

"An almost military grade firewall, two or three people watching." John said, "A few IC if an intruder's found."

They walked on again in silence. Whenever John looked up to Hunter she had an expression of deep thought on her face. It was just before they reached the next corner when she broke their virtual silence.

"I think I've got an idea to get us in." Hunter said, "Just hope I can hack that security server as good as you could."

"I can juggle a few nodes at a time." John told her, "Maybe if you can gimme access, I could slip in after we're inside."

"Good idea." Hunter said, "I'll keep that in mind just in case."

"How'll we know when we can try to get in?" asked Mina.

"I think I've got that covered, but I'll tell you when we get back." Hunter said.

They walked the rest of the way around back to the RV. Hunter climbed in first, with John right behind her. The stale smell of the inside hit him in the face like a police baton.

"Wanna get some air running in here?" Hunter asked as she took her seat back.

"Sure." Morph said, fiddling with the RV's air conditioner.

"So, how're we getting in?" Billy asked. He looked rather bored where he was, lounging in his chair.

"Okay, here's what I've got." Hunter said, with a new ARO showing up in the middle of the RV. It was translucent and fully three dimensional, and bore a resemblance to the yakuza casino. John could even see the interior floor plans.

"Where'd you get this?" asked Billy.

"From someone I know." Hunter said. "First up, Cypher hacks the guard's 'links right after one of their updates and adds in names for us to use. Hopefully they don't pay all that much attention to the list."

"What if we do this right after a shift change?" asked Morp.

"Not a bad idea." Hunter said, "That way, if names are time stamped, they can be made to look like they're added earlier in the day.

"Now I'll go in first," Hunter continued, "and wait in the lounge. Firefly, I want you to follow me in astrally. Once I've got the cameras taken care of I'll go down to the casino. That's your cue to do your magic to hide yourselves like we discussed. When you're set you follow Morph right close and sneak in when he goes in."

"Just like that?" asked Morph.

"We've already got that part planned out." Hunter told them.

"What about me?" asked Billy.

"He can come in with me." Morph said. "I can make myself look more native. Should cut down suspicions."

"Good idea." Hunter said. "Now the hard part. We need to figure out what it'll take for the kids to get into the server room." The main and upper floors flew upwards and disappeared, with the basement level floating up and growing a bit larger to give everyone a clearer view of the floor plan. One of two back rooms flashed in red, and John figured this was the server room.

"There's a good maglock and at least two guards there." Morph said, reaching into the ARO and pointing at the hallway that led to the server room. Two yellow dots appeared there. "Maglocks're controllable by the security node. There's also a mess of cameras down there, but at least those are focused on the gambling tables. If the kids are doing a magic hiding act, how're you gonna know they're in position to get in?"

"I could send her a text." John suggested.

"Too risky that way." Hunter said, "I'm just gonna pull an old hacker trick and make the server think it's locked when it's unlocked."

"So what do I do?" asked Billy.

"Be my bodyguard, and try to look scary and intimidating." Morph said, "We'll need to cause a ruckus to distract the guards there."

"And don't take your time with the server." Hunter said, and John saw her looking right at him. "Brute force your way through, grab the data, and get out."

"Just how long'll that take?" Morph asked.

John ran some numbers in his head, considering how long he figured it would take to break through the firewall, find the relevant file and transfer a copy, and clean up what he could of any logs he could think of. "About thirty seconds, I think." he said.

"Beer math, then." Morph said, "We'll try for two minutes, at least."

"Beer math?" John asked.

"Another old trick." Morph said with a grin.

"You take your estimate time and multiply by four." Hunter added, "Then when your superiors cut that in half you can get it done in half that time."

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

"You don't have to." John said, understanding this concept.

"Besides, gives you a good timeframe to work with, in case there's something unexpected." Morph said.

"So when do we hit the place?" asked Billy.

"I think this evening." Hunter said.

John's jaw dropped. He was starting to expect they were going to be going in soon.

"What?" asked Billy.

"I think so too." added Morph, "The evening, when we're likely gonna have more people there."

"Why the hell not now?" asked Billy.

"Yeah, I'm kinda wondering that, too." John added. He could not believe he was actually agreeing with the blunt headed razorboy.

"We want more people down there so whatever guards are there can have more trouble." Hunter said.

"Until they get pushed to using guns." Morph said, "They'll hesitate to shoot if they might hit a customer."

"Oh, great." moaned John.

"Relax. It's our asses on the line. You get to go in and out, hand in hand and invisible with your girlfriend." Morph told him.

"Point is," interrupted Hunter, "we're wanting those extra people so we can better get away with a distraction. Might be able to find someone useful, too."

"Okay, whatever." John said.

"Just… after sunset… okay?" asked Mina.

"Why then?" asked Billy.

"You don't need to worry about that." Hunter said, "We'll likely be going in well after dark anyway."

Thankfully Billy had no other questions for a while. About an hour later Hunter was off to a Nacho Mama with a collection of nuyen from everyone on a credstick and a list of what everyone wanted for lunch. She was back a good while later.

After eating their lunches, John and Mina went to the bedroom in the back to relax and burn some time in VR. They had to leave the door open at Hunter's insistence, though Mina did not let that stop her from lying herself down comfortably next to John before going into virtual reality. A few trid programs, games, and some random exploring later they got a message from Hunter that it was time to get ready. It was just after 20.00.

"Sunset's in about fifteen minutes, and they've just done a shift change at the door." Hunter told them as they walked towards the front of the RV.

Sitting back in the middle seat, John let his mind sink into the depths of the matrix. Out of the two guards at the door, John chose one of them for no particular reason. He gave the commlink a quick scan for a data bomb. Finding nothing odd he immediately applied his virtual hands to its firewall. Within seconds he was in, and a quick peek around revealed no agents or other running programs. It took almost no time at all to find the guest list file, and no previous copies of the same, but John did not make any additions yet. Instead John pulled back, leaving a thread of data behind and forced his way into the other guard's commlink first. From within both guard's commlinks at the same time, John added three prearranged names to the guest list, and then edited the time stamps for when they were edited back to what they were before John modified the lists. Soon John was back in his body, cutting his connection to the commlinks.

"There, it's all done at the door." John said.

"Shit, that was fast." commented Morph. "What was that, ten seconds?"

"I'll get going, then." Hunter said, getting up and leaving.

Morph looked rather tense as they watched Hunter casually walk in a more roundabout way to the front door.

"Why not go straight to the door?" Mina asked.

"We've been parked here all day. Would look suspicious if they saw her walk straight from here to there." Morph told them, "The way she took will help make 'em think she hasn't been sitting here for ten hours."

John watched, feeling a bit nervous as Hunter talked with the guards. He breathed a sigh of relief when they let her in, business as usual. He leaned back in his chair to relax for a bit.

"My turn." Mina said, leaning back against John's side. About a minute or two later she was back again. "She's already gone downstairs."

"Looks like we're up." Morph said, digging a box of something out of a pouch from behind the seat. "A little facial sculpting, some makeup, and I'll look like my name for a few hours." When he was done he looked like an Asian elf.

John felt Mina take his hand before they stood.

"You make those spells strong?" Morph asked as he headed out the RV's door.

"As strong as I could without really hurting myself." she said softly.

They took a roundabout path themselves to head to the front door.

"Name?" one of the guards asked.

"Shinnosuke Furumoto." Morph told them.

"Jayne Cobb." grumbled Billy.

"Okay." the guard said.

Carefully John and Mina slipped in between Morph and Billy through the door. When the door closed behind them, so too was the matrix cut off from John. He hoped it would not be for too long.

Though the men took their time in the foyer, John and Mina went right off for the stairs down to the casino.

"My spirit's right with us." Mina told him over their private connection as they carefully weaved their way around the people who could not see them.

The basement floor was largely an open space, with numerous gambling tables spaced around with many patrons at them. Despite the press of people and the potential number of spilled drinks, the air was rather cool and fresh smelling. Then Cypher felt the push of air from an overhead HVAC vent that was hard at work.

They worked their way along the wall to try and avoid everyone as best as possible until they reached the middle of the back wall where a simple beaded curtain stood in their way with a yakuza guard standing in their way. He had a katana at his waist and an Uzi IV carefully cradled in his hands. It did not look like he was wearing any armor, but John figured it would be rather stupid to believe he had none on at all since what he and Mina were wearing also made it look like it was armor at all.

"What the hell?" they heard Hunter cry out.

John and Mina moved so they felt they would be out of the guard's way when he hopefully moved to investigate the ruckus the others were creating. It was not until after Billy made a badly veiled threat that the guard moved from his post. That was when they slipped through the beaded curtain.

The second door pushed in easily, and they quickly closed it behind them. The room itself was all glaring white, with white tiles on the floor, white paneling on the walls and ceiling, and rather strong fluorescent light reflecting off all of the surfaces. The server was at the back of the room in a single black rack, with red and green blinking LEDs. Aside from the server, the only other furniture was a chrome and glass table with a matching chair pushed right up to it, and the only decoration in the room itself were two matching paintings in chrome, blue, and white at either side of the server.

When the door closed behind them, John could feel even what little WiFi there was inside the casino completely vanish.

"Thirty seconds, right?" Mina asked.

John had to blindly feel for the wire to draw from his commlink to plug into the server. "Something like that." he said, his skin already beginning to feel like it was itchy all over. He also had to feel his way to plug into the server, as Mina's invisibility spell hid his own hands from his view.

With Mina still holding his hand, John sat down in the chair and let his mind slip into VR once more. From there he connected to his commlink, and from there stepped through a portal into the wired connection to the server.

It was like walking down a tunnel, which was solidly blocked off when he reached the server's firewall by a pure white wall.

From the resonance, a deep part of the matrix all technomancers were connected to and seemingly could access no matter what, John called two of his sprites, a data sprite and a crack sprite. The disembodied and jawless cyberskulls floated before him, their mechadendrites twitching as they waited for their orders. They both were given tasks to bolsters his own complex forms to aid in getting into the server. The crack sprite ran its mechadendrites into his left shoulder from behind him, the cables of living metal weaving through his arms and into his hands. The data sprite plugged itself in through his right shoulder, its mechadendrites diffusing to feel like monowire as they wove through his beige robe.

With a touch of resonance of his own to his fists, John stabbed his hands like daggers into the server's firewall. It took three long seconds of applied force to break through the firewall.

The inside of the node was almost identical to the room the server sat in. The only difference was endless rows of filing cabinets that stretched off to disappear in the distance. Also inside the white room of the node was a samurai warrior in black and gray armor. Its red glowing eyes scanned the space where John's icon stood. Everything must have been okay as it ignored him, standing sentry at the portal John had just passed through.

John placed a hand against one of the rows of cabinets, extending his mind to seek out the file Tabby wanted. There was terabytes upon terabytes of data within, and it seemed to take an eternity to find the one he wanted. Just when he thought he was going to have to try another row of cabinets, John found the right file, matching the name and everything that Tabby had given him. He touched the file without opening it, sending a copy directly to the commlink built into his goggles, creating a special folder to hide it in. With a simple wipe of his hand, like how one would use their thumb to clear a smudge on a dry-erase board, John removed the time stamp created when he copied the file.

With a thought, John was out and back in his body again. For a moment he thought everything was okay, but then realized that Mina was not holding his hand.

Then he heard someone speaking Japanese. Before looking he stood, yanking the plug from the server, and bolted from the desk. It was not the best of moves, John realized later, as when he turned back to look he saw three Japanese men looking at the chair. One of them spoke, apparently the leader of the two considering how the other two looked. He cussed at himself for not having been more careful.

"Where are you?" he silently sent out, wondering where Mina was.

"At the door." Mina replied.

As carefully as he could, John slowly crept around the men to get to the door. Not knowing where Mina was made things really difficult as he tried to silently feel for her.

When the door opened, John almost cried out in surprise. Instead he sidestepped to press himself flat against the wall, and made Mina squeek when he squished her into the wall. He also noticed there was no one on the other side of the door.

In a moment of quick thinking, John pushed Mina through the slightly open door and went through as quickly as he could, pushing his way through a sudden flood of WiFi, feeling like he was walking from an air conditioned room into sweltering summer heat. Being less than adult sized was a small advantage at the moment, though they both went tumbling to the floor just on the other side. He was almost as quick back up to his feet, his hands full of whatever of Mina's clothing he had at the moment as he pulled her up with him. Pressing the two of them as tightly as he could against the wall, John held his breath as the door opened wide.

One of the guards stepped out into the hallway, and John saw a heavy foot stomp down where he figured his buttocks had been just a second ago. Thankfully Mina held just as still as the guard looked all around for something.

Apparently finding nothing, the guard said something in Japanese before stepping back into the server room.

Without a word they found their hands, and with a good grip on each other once again they went as quickly as they dared out back onto the casino floor.

The others were still causing a ruckus, with Hunter nearly yelling about some imagined slight, and Morph making demands. He did not bother trying to look and watch as they retraced their steps back out, wanting to get out of the casino as quickly as possible.

Getting to the stairs was not too difficult, though in their rush they were a bit noisy in going up. John found it surprising that no one walking down seemed to take notice of their passing.

There was a couple just reaching the door to head out, and John figured it would be perfect for leaving the casino. When the man went to push on the door to open it, John gave it a good and hard shove. The door flew open, and like the wind John was rushing out of the casino with Mina almost being dragged behind him. They did not stop until they reached the RV, John giving it a signal to open the door for them. Quickly they were in and the door locked behind them.

"Holy shit!" squealed Mina as she faded into view before John's eyes. He could see she was quite out of breath from their run.

"I know!" John returned, realizing only now how hard he was breathing, his heart matching pace.

Mina nearly fell into John's arms, and together they tumbled into one of the RV's passenger chairs. They both started laughing as it fell into a reclining position with a heavy ka-chunk with Mina lying on top of John, and both broke out in laughter again. He had also been so caught up in their great escape that he had not noticed his two sprites still following close with him. With their tasks long done he dismissed them. Later that week he was going to have to spend a few hours re-registering them again.

"I thought we had it when those guys walked in on us!" Mina panted, "I… I didn't know what to do!"

"What if we hadn't gotten off the floor?" John asked, "That guy would've stepped on us with that big foot of his!"

Mina giggled, resting her head on John's chest as they relaxed now. John had to admit that looking back now it was quite funny as he ran a few fingers over the curve of his right ear.

After a while Mina looked up at John and asked, "Think we fucked it up?"

"Dunno." John answered, breathing more easily now. "I got the paydata, so we just gotta deliver it to Tabby and we're good."

Mina seemed to relax some, resting her head back on his chest and saying nothing more. He put his arms around her, holding her gently.

It was about ten minutes later when John felt the commlinks of the others. After a bit the RV's door opened up.

"… the hell was wrong with that guy anyway?" he heard Hunter ask as she stepped in.

Mina nearly jumped, twisting so she was more sitting beside John instead of lying on top of him, but ended up still half on his lap. And sitting on his right hand.

"Not a clue." Morph said as he stepped in right behind her.

"What guy?" asked John, trying to not let the surprise of Mina's sudden posture be noticable.

"There you are!" Hunter exclaimed, and suddenly giving them a disapproving look, which Mina took as a clue that she should get off of John. "What happened? We're just about to settle things after a few minutes, and this guy…"

"Katsuo Sawaruma" Morph interrupted.

"… butts in and wants to talk to us." Hunter finished, sitting down in the front passenger seat.

"Who's he?" John asked, the name having absolutely no meaning to him. He scooted to one side of the seat to give Mina more room to sit back down beside him. She seemed hesitant, and was blushing. John figured she knew she had twisted around to briefly sit on his hand.

"General manager of the bordello." Morph said as he took the driver's seat. "Japanese fellow in his fifties. Real hard ass and perfectionist, as I understand it."

The description sounded familiar. "Two muscle guys with him?" John asked, fixing the seat to an upright position again. Once it was set Mina leaned against the back.

"I could've taken 'em." muttered Billy as he sat down.

John scooted a bit so Mina could sit next to him. "They walked in on us. We almost didn't get out." Mina told them.

"Better check things out." Morph said. "See if anyone's hacked the RV."

John used the credentials he had been given to log into the RV's node. The access logs showed nothing unusual, and everything looked like how he had left it. "Doesn't look like anyone sloppy got in." he said.

"I think we're okay." Hunter added, "No one followed us or is watching us here."

"Right-oh." Morph said, starting up the RV.

After a slightly roundabout trip back to the Southwest Plaza Mall, with a stop at a McHugh's for a late dinner, they met up with Morph's friend in the same parking garage. The ork looked rather impatient and pissy where he stood waiting for them.

"Everything's fine." Morph told the ork as he stepped out first.

"Nothing happened?" the ork asked.

"If they even noticed the RV, I don't think they gave a shit." Hunter said as she stepped out next.

Billy was right behind Hunter, saying nothing as he walked off.

"And the data trail?" the ork asked.

John did a quick scan of the nodes around them. He found Hunter's Thundercloud Contrail and Morph's Chrysler-Nissan Jackrabbit just as they were, and in place of his own Yamaha Katana-11 was the node identification of the ork's RV. "Looks good so far." he said, "Gimme a minute and it'll be fine.

The ork scowled at John while John accessed both the RV and his motorcycle at the same time. He cleared out what bits of data he could find that would suggest the RV was on the stakeout, replacing it all with a copy of what his own motorcycle had accumulated. When he was done he reset the access IDs of both vehicles to their previous settings, leaving his motorcycle with the same data it had accumulated at the mall.

"Done." John said with a sense of finalized accomplishment.

The ork actually looked a little pleased. "Good." was all he said as he climbed into his RV.

"So, where to next?" Hunter asked.

"Got a message back a little while ago about that." Morph said, "We're gonna meet up at Goodfriends."

Hunter and John followed behind on their motorcycles as they went north on Wadsworth Boulevard until they reached Colfax to turn west towards the CAS sector and Goodfriends. But before that they had a border to cross.

"Is something wrong?" Hunter asked the border guard when they did not get through right away.

"You know how late it is?" the guard asked.

"I know it's past curfew, but the kids are with me." Hunter told them.

"It shouldn't be long." the guard said, looking away from them.

"Never had this kind of trouble before." muttered John.

"Now, now, I'll handle this." Hunter told them.

"What was that?" the guard asked, though he did not look back to Hunter.

"My nephew's just impatient, that's all." Hunter told him.

"You're related?" the guard asked, now looking to Hunter.

"They're my sister's kids." Hunter said, "Thought I'd take 'em over for some Native American flare for dinner. Then we got hung up down at the Plaza Mall…"

"Okay, okay!" the guard told them, exasperated, "You can go through."

John let loose a deep breath he had been holding as they crossed over into the CAS sector. It was well past 22.00 by the time they reached Goodfriends, a nightclub that already had a nearly bursting parking lot despite it being a Sunday evening.

"What took ya?" Morph asked as they pulled up beside his car. He had apparently been standing in an empty parking space to reserve it for them when they got there.

"Hassle at the border." Hunter said as she parked her motorcycle next to Morph's car. She took her helmet off before adding, "Kids almost got us in trouble going through."

"Don't know why he bitched about it." John said as he and Mina climbed off his motorcycle. "They've never asked me about curfew before." Mina was right up close to him, taking a hand in hers and lacing their fingers.

"Still getting into trouble?" purred a new voice.

"Trouble keeps finding me." John said defensively, turning to see Tabby walking up to them. He smiled.

"By the way, thanks for helping out my friend." Tabby told them. "At least we can get business taken care of."

"You got our money?" Billy asked.

"Will you shut up about the money?" asked John, digging up the file to send to Tabby, "I haven't even sent her the stuff yet." With a thought the data file was sent off to her commlink.

"Glad to see you're still as good as ever, kiddo." Tabby said with a smile.

John's commlink beeped with a funds transfer, and his account grew by two thousand more nuyen.

"Always nice to meet good friends here." Tabby said as she turned to leave, "Have a good night."

"I don't care what you do, but I'm going home." John said, slipping his hand free from Mina's as he climbed back onto his motorcycle. She was right behind him as he started it up. They both waved as they drove off.

Not wanting to deal with another border crossing, John took a coyote path he knew but had not used for a few weeks. They had no problems, coming back up on the other side in the UCAS sector, and home.