Anna stirred to life again an hour or so later, back in the safehouse. She could hear quiet discussion and rolled over. Church was there, frowning into her cup of soykaf. The smell reminded Anna that her aching, tired body could definitely use some of the caffeinated coffee substitute. Doc was rifling through his medkit. "...a decker might be nice too," the dwarf said. "I've got this ork kid who owes me. Got a head for that kinda thing."

"We do need more information on who these people are...and who the johnson was working for." Church stretched like a cat, closing her eyes for a second as she thought.

Anna sighed. "Corp, I think."

Doc jumped a little bit and looked over, his cybernetic eyes flickering as he blinked. "Well, 'bout time you woke up, Sunshine. I think you had Church worried."

"Sunshine?" Anna wasn't certain whether or not to be offended.

"Hey, you need a handle and I am here to oblige. Now, Church and I have been chatting. Sounds like we're going to put a team together and start figuring out what's happening in that pretty head of yours."

"I'm helping," Anna said automatically, sitting up. She was prepared to fight Church on it.

The Russian leaned back in her seat. "Of course." Her dark eyes were respectful. "We will need a mage and you are already heavily invested in this."

Anna was relieved, as she hadn't been terribly eager to try and battle Church into submission. Prepared, yes, but not excited for an argument. "Right, so...where from here? Who else do we have on the roster?"

"Hopefully an ork decker named Fuse. Shrimpy, but he's got some demo know-how too," Doc said. "And I already talked to Paladin. He's a big street sammy. Human like you...well, more chrome than human, but he's a good sort. That covers our bases, at least. More bullet-stoppers we have, better off you're going to be. I like my glass cannon well protected."

"How are you feeling?" Church asked with something that might have been concern when a shiver passed through Anna.

"I feel like I have a fever," the human admitted. "It's getting better, though."

"Well, Monterey Jack says you're an astral beacon at this point, for all the fragging good he did us." Doc sighed. "Sorry, Sunshine. I thought he'd do us more of a favor. He did at least confirm that you've got a roommate in that head of yours now. He said he thought it was a mentor spirit or something."

Anna was puzzled. She really didn't have much of a spirit affinity. "They're usually more drawn to shamans." It definitely wasn't a bug spirit, which at least came as a relief. She frowned. "Are you really going to keep calling me Sunshine?"

He grinned. "You got a better name for you and your spirit buddy?" He snapped his fingers. "Oh, I know. Mage? Twins? How about Gemini?"

Anna considered the suggestion. "Sounds better than Sunshine," she said with a nod of approval. "Drek, does this make me a shadowrunner?"

"You have the name for it now," Church said. She drummed her fingers on the table, manicured nails punctuating her thoughts with soft clicks. "It would be better that people not know your real name, including our prospective team members. Too dangerous."

Anna nodded. She could almost feel her world shifting so fast it made her head spin, though that might have just been the after-effects of her spirit encounter. Suddenly, her future was looking a lot more exciting, and not necessarily in a good way. "Are they meeting us here?"

"Nah. We're going to Paladin's place. He should have healed up by now. Fuse'll be easy to spook out of his hidey hole. Like I told Church, he owes me. We were just waiting for you to wake up." Doc started to pack together his medkit.

"Here," Church said, passing Anna a plastic bag with the logo of Wanda's Witchery on the side, an old-fashioned witch flying on a broomstick. Anna felt her spirits lift—she hadn't heard a bad word ever said about the restaurant, except maybe for how pricey it seemed to the denizens of Redmond. That wasn't saying much, of course, considering how impoverished her home city sector was.

Anna opened the bag and was hit with a smell that made her mouth water. There was a covered styrofoam bowl of still-warm tomato soup and two grilled cheese sandwiches wrapped up in grease-spotted paper. It was a little gesture to the Russian, but Anna was used to going to bed hungry more often than not. "Church, you didn't have to—"

The Vory killer shrugged. "Eat." She turned her dark eyes on Doc. "We will meet you."

"Sure," Doc said genially, shouldering his medkit. "Just so you know, Gemini, I didn't tell him what happened with the spirit, just that you were in trouble with somebody We thought you might prefer being able to decide what they know on your own."

Anna smiled self-consciously as she unwrapped her sandwiches. "It's weird being called that. But thanks. I guess we can tell them that I've got a mage problem. But maybe not about my close encounter of the spirit kind?"

Doc nodded thoughtfully. "Right. That can stay between us three." He did a last check to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. "Well, I'll see you two there. Stay out of trouble."

Church's eyes fixed on the kitchen window as Doc let himself out the front door, scanning the street for danger. The silence was a surprisingly comfortable one, but then again, Anna was used to Church being quiet. The elf was more at ease with the unspoken most of the time.

"So do you know either of them?" When the killer looked her way, Anna clarified, "Fuse and Paladin."

Church made a small noise that could have been exasperation or just confirmation. "Fuse, no. I know about Paladin. A washed-up Knights Errant detective. Decided that the law wasn't good enough, that it let too many 'bad' people off the hook. He hit the criminals in Redmond a few years ago, but he just broke his own fist. The docs had to chrome him up to keep him alive after some Yaks kicked his teeth and just about everything else in. Not a saint, but certainly holier-than-thou by reputation."

Anna grimaced. "Great. So when he finds out my day job…"

Church shook her head. "He has a soft spot for women like you. You will be fine."

"Like me?" Anna said defensively. "What kind of woman is that, exactly?"

Church finished her soykaf in one last, deep drink. "The good kind." She rose to her feet, patting herself down as if checking to make certain she had everything. "Eat. We do not have all day."

Anna settled into an embarrassed silence. She was never certain how to respond to Church. She said such nice things, but in that same blunt, almost brusque tone that made it seem cold. "Church?"

The elf's eyes flickered towards her. "Mm?"

"Thank you for this. For everything," Anna said softly.

Church shrugged, then started pacing from door to door, watching for danger.

Anna took the opportunity to wolf down her food, even though it made her stomach ache. It felt so, so good to have a warm meal in her body and the food tasted so, so much better than cold noodles and retextured soybeef. It made her feel alive again and helped reduce the feverish feeling. "Think I have time for a shower?" Anna said hopefully. She looked down at herself. She was still wearing the jeans with blood on them, though someone had stripped off her soiled hoodie. She'd loved that sweatshirt, but getting upset wouldn't save it.

Church smiled for a second, amused by the unabashed longing in Anna's voice. "I suppose."

Anna could have kissed her. "You're the best," she said with a bright smile before vanishing into the bedroom. She pulled out clean clothes from the bag on her bed, then hurried into the slightly dingy—but far superior to her rat-infested own—bathroom with its cracked mirror, steel fixtures, and peeling white paint.

The water was hot, which to Anna was proof that Heaven just might be a real place. She stripped quickly and jumped into the almost scalding water, reveling in the feeling of warmth soaking into her whole body. Even Ikon fell prey to the problems of Redmond, which included water that was only hot sometimes and even then only for a while. Her apartment's leaking, squealing shower had been exclusively cold. Renton was a little more high-class, which apparently meant that the plumbing was a little better.

I could get used to this, Anna reflected as she soaked in the warmth. She would never be Gemini, not on the inside, but she could enjoy some of the perks of her little dip into the runner part of the shadows she'd spent her whole life in. Being a dancer was fun, but it wasn't everything she'd ever wanted…not that shadowrunning was, nor was this a lovely introduction. Still, better than nothing. Her commlink started to blink as she toweled dry and so she padded over to it, bare feet sinking into the carpet.

As soon as she picked up, Leto's voice hit her full-force. "Anna? Are you alright? I've been fragging worried about you!"

"I'm okay," Anna promised soothingly.

It didn't seem to calm her friend. "You didn't show up for work! Your place was trashed! What the drek was I supposed to think? You scared me to fragging death!"

Anna felt her heart sink at the mention of her apartment. Somebody had gone there looking, apparently. "I swear I'm okay. I just...some drek happened. I'm not going to be able to come in for a little while."

"Are you in trouble?"

"Little bit," Anna admitted, doing her best to downplay the danger. "But I'm okay. I've got people protecting me."

"Okay." Leto sounded like she was calming down. "What do you want me to tell Yuri? I assume you won't be coming in to work. He's not happy."

Anna worried at her lower lip with her teeth. It was true. She was one of the more popular girls, and considering the gouge that came out of her pay—for protection, separate from the Vory cut—a day off for her meant noticeably less money for him. She wasn't certain what would happen if she didn't go in, but she knew it might be trouble...or a more substantial fee as Yuri recouped his losses from her absence. "Tell him that I'm running something for Church."

"That's a dangerous answer, Anna. No way she's going to lie for you."

"Probably not." Anna didn't want to tell anyone how much Church looked out for her, in case it came back to haunt them later. "But maybe she will, just to piss off Antonov. He and Yuri are usually on the same wavelength."

"Yeah," Leto acknowledged over the comm. "Just promise you'll stay out of it if Church and Antonov get start playing hit for hit, okay? You're pretty fragging breakable compared to her and he's got no problem crushing anybody."

"I will," Anna promised as she clipped on her wireless earpiece. She started to quickly pull clothes on. If she took too long, she was certain Church would come looking—she had wasted enough time by just chatting without getting ready. "Thanks, Leto. I owe you."

"You do," Leto agreed. "But hey, we've got to watch each other's backs. Nobody else does. Did you give Nina's offer any thought?"

Anna pulled her solitary pair of clean jeans on, the fabric trying to cling to her legs. "Of course. What girl doesn't want to be a Vory joytoy?"

"Don't be so sour. Nina's not going to get you into anything more dangerous than Ikon. Besides, it's good money. Really good money if you know how to blend in with the glitter—enough to live somewhere nice, three squares a day, and have a fun time too."

"Yeah, well, if it's so fragging great, why aren't you doing it?" Anna mumbled. It took her just a second to fish her hairbrush out of the bag and start handling the tangles. She wasn't going to pretty up much, not when there was a chance she might be sliding into a blood puddle or something again. The last time she'd gone to meet someone, it hadn't exactly ended in her favor.

"I did for a while, before I met my hunk of burnin' love. Ben's such a brute when he gets jealous. C'mon, how is it different from some special attention at Ikon for cash? I know I've seen you do that."

"One, this would make it official. Two, if I get into trouble, Yuri's not in the next room to bail me out."

"Nina likes her girls. She doesn't let them go with dirtbags or psychos."

Anna frowned. "Unless they have enough money. Why does it matter to you, Leto?"

Leto sighed in her almost-dramatic way. "You need to get out of Redmond, Anna. Don't let it suck you in the way it grabbed me. If you can find a guy who needs a mistress or make yourself into a real escort, you can swap this shithole for the glam. Yeah, it won't be perfect, but it's better than this."

The mage's expression softened slightly. It was Leto's way of caring. Besides, the older dancer had a point. Right now, Anna knew she probably wasn't going to have a job at Ikon much longer—it was Yuri's say at the end of the day and he could be vindictive—and if she was going to protect herself, it would take money. Whatever name Doc had given her, she was no professional. "Is Nina there?"

"Yeah, at the bar. Why?"

Anna made her decision. "Ask her when she wants to see me and text me her answer, okay? I've got some stuff going on, but...I might be able to free up a night or two a week." Church wasn't going to be her bodyguard, but Anna had defended herself in the past….even if the drain had given her one hell of a nosebleed. She could make it work and the nuyen would come in handy for maintaining her residence in the safehouse. It was going to be more expensive than her apartment, particularly since she would have to pay the Vory for the ability to use it. Church hadn't said so, but Anna knew that was only because they thought Church was using it, which was technically true. The moment that the contract killer resumed her normal routine and life, Anna would be footing the bill.

She could almost hear Leto's relief. "No problem, omae. I'm glad you're up for it, because Yuri looked like a fragging beet when you weren't in today."

Anna opened the door to the hall only to see Church coming down the hall. "Yeah. Stay safe, Leto. I'll comm you later."

"Don't get dead." The call ended with a soft chime in Anna's ear.

The Russian killer raised an eyebrow to ask, without asking directly, what the call had been about. For all her aloofness, Church could be downright expressive when the mood hit her.

Anna knew she could just tell Church it was none of her business, but she didn't particularly want to...not that she wanted the elf to know what she'd just agreed to either. Church wasn't likely to judge, but others would and they couldn't afford to leave the hitmage or the heat a trail of the broken bodies of said judgmental people to follow. Better to just omit anything that had the potential to annoy Church, for everyone's safety. "Leto was just freaked out when she went by my place and saw it trashed."

If Church knew that things were being left out, she didn't say anything on the subject. "We are going to be late."

"Fashionably late," Anna corrected breezily, grabbing a jacket off the couch as they headed for the door. She smiled when she heard Church's laugh. It was a nice sound, one she didn't hear very often.

"I sup—" Church made an irritated sound and touched behind her own ear, answering her commlink. She had a subvocal microphone, which allowed her to murmur inaudibly instead of speaking and still be understood. The Russian didn't stop walking, but she didn't start the motorcycle right away either. Anna took the opportunity to don the helmet she was borrowing from Church. It was a short call and then they were on the road.

Their destination was back in Redmond, a cybercafe built into the ground level floor of a square, concrete apartment complex with a big glass front window that allowed view into a room where a fair number of people sitting in front of various glowing blue screens, most of them decks. Its sign, in old-school game text, announced that the cafe was called The Bits. It was a boring building on the outside in the real world, just grey and covered with flyers, but Anna's contact lenses had augmented reality active and so she could see the glowing extravaganza of brilliantly colored advertisements and graffiti visible in the Matrix. "Are we really meeting a street sammy here?" Anna murmured as they pulled up, her comm easily isolating her voice from the noise of traffic.

Church's voice was oddly reassuring over even comms. "In one of the back rooms. Deckers meet their teams here all the time."

Anna spotted Doc waiting for them out front, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "I was 'bout ready to send out a search party," he groused when they approached. "Thought you'd run afoul of a hitmage or something."

"I wanted to clean up." The mage tucked her hands into her jacket pockets. It wasn't raining, but a cold wind was blowing in off the Sound. "So did they come?"

"Yep," Doc said, scratching at his short beard. "But Paladin wasn't happy when your name came up, Church."

Anna turned to the Russian. "I thought you'd never been locked up in the States."

"I have not, nor convicted," Church said casually. "But I have been detained now and again for questioning. I have a criminal SIN."

"So when they round up the usual suspects for anything Russian and bad, they grab you just in case." Anna frowned and looked back at Doc. "But he's here still."

"I told him that you were a nice girl in a rough spot. That's enough for him to hear you out," the old dwarf said. "And Fuse is nervous, but he's always twitchy, so nothing new there. I'd be real worried if he was suddenly calm, you know?"

The inside of The Bits was cleaner than Anna had been expecting. It smelled like caffeine and intermittent personal hygiene. It was quiet except for the buzzing of decks, as most people in here seemed to prefer virtual communication. The chatroom for the cafe was buzzing with activity. Anna couldn't see the avatars other than as small icons, but her comm blinked almost constantly as messages poured in. There were a couple of hey baby messages that she ignored, but for the most part the deckers were sticking with their own. Doc lead the way to a back room and held the door for Anna, allowing her a first look at her new team members.

Paladin was a grizzled human with a face that was half obvious chrome. His right arm was obviously cybered and so was his left leg. Dermal plating turned his good arm mostly grey and burn scars had turned the skin on his neck an almost shiny white color. His non-cybered eye was a brilliant blue and looked almost friendly, if wary. He clearly hadn't shaved in a while, stubble growing out on his chin. His short-cropped hair was cut in an almost military style. He might have been handsome once. A military surplus jacket bulged from his muscle augmentations, looking well-loved and occasionally torn from bullets. He had a few patches on the sleeves, but none of them were gang colors.

Next to him, slouching in his chair, was a lanky green-skinned ork kid who had to be barely seventeen, pockmarks from acne scarring his face. He was wearing glasses hooked up to the deck sitting on the table, green text scrolling across the screen and matching the flashes of light that had to be some kind of video. His combat bikers shirt was for their home-team, the Seattle Timber-wolves. The pockets of Fuse's worn cargo pants were packed with lengths of wire and various computer components, as well as several different burner commlinks. He shifted restlessly in his seat and drummed his fingers rapidly on the table, an erratic staccato pattern that spoke of nerves.

Both looked up when Anna and Church followed Doc in. Fuse brightened up while Paladin's expression darkened. "Hey, you didn't tell me the mage was smokin', Doc," the ork decker said with a smile that showed off yellowed teeth and his tusks. One was cracked, probably from a bad run in with a go-ganger or some other bully. "I'm going to assume the one with the tats is Church." He looked at Anna, eyes flickering up and down her. She wasn't offended, considering it was a typical reaction. At least he was only checking her out and not undressing her with his eyes. "Nice to meet you, Gemini."

"Same, Fuse." The dancer smiled in her best friendly way before looking at Paladin. He didn't look nearly as thrilled. "You too, Paladin."

He relaxed slightly at that, though his eyes were still focused on Church in a less than friendly way. "Doc said you were in a rough spot," the former Knights Errant officer said once he finally looked away from the Russian. "I want to help."

"So, I can't exactly pay you guys other than if we find anything valuable as we go," Anna admitted. "At least, not right now."

Fuse waved a hand almost airily. "I owe Doc. Plus, we could grab a bite from a stuffer-shack and see where things go."

Anna smiled in that same pleasant way. She'd had worse dates than with this kid, even if he was too young. It wouldn't hurt her to be friendly. "Maybe."

"I don't need the pay," Paladin said seriously. "You are in danger. That's reason enough to help."

That was the moment when it sank in for Anna. She had a team, a job, and a handle. Drek, she really was a shadowrunner now. Leto's words played in her head again. Don't get dead. Anna knew from the chats she'd had with Church that sometimes, that was easier said than done.