Date 10/12/2059, Location 35.79915, 50.96868

After the battle in the garage, the team started to help with the cleanup. Scouring the bodies of weapons, ammunition and their wallets, phones and credsticks didn't take long, and once stripped of useful materials they were manhandled down into the cesspit in the back corner of the warehouse via the trapdoor. The evil reek of the decomposing contents would certainly mask the smell of the bodies, and it would probably help at least start to get rid of the evidence.

The mangled remains of the fallen roller shutter were removed from the crushed and mangled tracks, and then moved into the warehouse, clearing the way for the two tow trucks to be driven into the garage and parked over the northern pit. The pickup truck was parked in front of the team truck, at least getting everything inside and off the road.

A quick stocktake of the weapons showed they had eight working 'KH-2006' auto-rifles, made from cheap pressed steel and poor quality polymers. The guns could spit out rounds quickly enough, but creaked when they were held tightly and didn't inspire much confidence at all - they looked cheap and not very desirable. With a fairly short magazine length, holding only twenty rounds in their abbreviated magazines, it also appeared they only fired fully automatic – perfect "spray and pray" weapons. The submachine guns were better all round – 'SMERSH-4' according to the maker's plates stamped onto the sides, they were much more solidly built, made from decent grade steel, and with a selector for semi-automatic, burst fire and fully automatic and holding twenty four rounds in a mag. Scavenging through the supplies, they ended up with at least one decent magazine full of standard ammo to go with each gun. The team reclaimed their weapons from the garage staff, but distributed the KH-2006s in their place.

A check of the stolen phones showed messages back to someone telling them to get the coffee ready for their return – it was obvious that there was at least one or more enemy back at their base. Lorcan described where the thugs were to be found, indicating their location on a local map, and watched to see what the strangers would do next. After a discussion amongst the team, Tadibya, Shimazu and Kai took the pickup truck and drove the mile or so down the highway to the next industrial estate to scope out the place.

"Farsil Auto Repair" was in a similar location to their garage, and looked to be made from the same modular sheeting over breezeblock wall. It was closed up and showed no sign of life when they drove past, and Shimazu drove to the end of the road and turned the truck around, then pulled up to a halt, watching the darkened building for a few minutes. With no motion or activity, Tads projected from her body and cautiously checked the building out, floating around the area and keeping an eye out for magical barriers or spirits, metahuman guards or anything else of interest.

Finding no wards or other activity she snuck into the top corner of the building and manifested to have a look around. The layout was familiar, though better quality than Lorcan's place – though that wasn't saying much – their inspection pit had bricks up the side, not scaffold planks, and the building was better lit and equipped, but what drew her attention was a young man – maybe even a boy, pacing back and forth nervously, and checking his phone. He looked to be in his mid-teens, and gave off an aura of nervous anticipation. At the back of the garage looked to be a selection of small children, playing in one of the offices under the supervision of several women – perhaps the wives, sisters or girlfriends of the thugs that had recently been killed.

Looking around, Tadibya couldn't see anyone else or other items of interest, so she sped back to her body and relayed what she had seen to Kai and Shimazu. They called back to the rest of the team on their commlinks – just in range - and discussed the situation. They were all in agreement that even though they represented a risk, no one wanted to kill them or even hurt them – not without some kind of intense provocation anyway.

Lorcan joined the conversation, and suggested that they leave the pickup truck just outside the Farsil garage, and leave the keys with the vehicle. Once the team were safely away, he would call them on the phone and tell them he had defeated their attack and the rest of their men wouldn't be coming back – but that he wasn't an evil man and had returned their truck to them. They were to sell the garage to him, but take all their personal possessions, take the truck and leave town immediately to begin a new life somewhere else… or face further action. Lorcan suggested that this way they weren't involved or named, and wouldn't face any consequences, and if the women and children left, they could start afresh somewhere. If they chose to fight, then…. Well, they'd cross that bridge if they came to it.

The team agreed to this, delivering the truck and then heading back towards Lorcan's garage on foot. It wouldn't take long, but did mean walking along the highway at night, which would be a little suspicious. Shimazu was loaded down with the rifle, other guns and anything "dubious" and Tadibya cast her invisibility spell on him, leaving Aswon and her visible. In their walk back along the side of the highway, they got a few strange looks from passing motorists, but only one person looked to be slowing to see if they were ok, and they were dealt with by a quick wave.

Back at Lorcan's garage, Kai had texted his contact Anahita to say they were at their destination, and would be free in about three days for work. They then set to with blocking up the open doorway – they couldn't seal it properly, but they could at least make it very difficult to see in from normal height and noisy to get past. After piling up material along the base of the entrance and blocking off as much of the gap as possible with a tarpaulin, Lorcan and his staff went home, leaving the team to crash in their truck and post their normal watch.

The following morning was bright, clear and cold – Lorcan and crew returned at about 8am, and set to work with a vengeance on the truck. Marius continued to supervise and was pleasantly surprised at the workmanship shown. They might not have the best – or even a complete set – tools, but they were not doing a slapdash job. The pace really picked up at around 9:30 when a delivery truck arrived, with new differential casing, bearings and sundry other parts required. At around lunchtime, a replacement roller shutter turned up with crew, who set to repairing the damage to the facility. They cast several sidelong glances at the team, particularly whenever they saw Hunter who was clearly the most abnormal looking of the group – but none of them said or did anything that the team saw. With how impressed Lorcan's crew had been over the savage firefight the night before, it was quite possible that the door fitters had said something quietly and been told in no uncertain terms to shut up and keep their head down, as these were people that were definitely not to be trifled with.

Anahita called Kai back at around 12:30, sounding somewhat annoyed. Kai wandered to the edge of the road as he talked with her, and they could see him gesticulating and talking rapidly, before his shoulders slumped. When he came back inside he told the rest of the team that because of the lack of contact as they had progressed through Iran, she'd given the job to someone else, and was a little upset with him. A little taken aback, the team called around several of their contacts, seeing if they could drum up some work.

Lorcan approached the team in the early afternoon, telling them that the other garage had been abandoned, with all of the woman and children having crammed into the vehicle and making their way out of the area. He'd sent down a few of his men to go and seize all of the tools and supplies from the Farsil garage, to add to his stocks. Obviously pleased with the outcome of the attack, he made it clear to the team that his mechanics would do everything in their power to restore the truck to full operation as quickly as possible.

Shimazu called Saito, a fence based in China, asking him if he had any leads on the area. Saito mentioned that there was a thing he desired – an ancient manuscript that was originally to be found in Tehran museum. It had been relocated after the attack, and was now stored in Karaj, in the museum there. He'd happily pay thirty thousand if the team would do 'the museum job', recover the item and get it shipped back to a safe location.

Kai called Ganesh, a dealer in 'exotic goods' based in Nepal, and got another offer. Ganesh was after some very unique 'art'. He had a client that desired a piece of urban destruction art – steel singed by dragon fire. Would the team be willing to travel into Tehran and see if they could obtain such a thing? Depending on the qualities of the piece, he'd offer anywhere from ten to fifty thousand for such an item….

Neither option really appealed to the team, indeed Marius just wanted to get out of Iran to a more tolerant country and look for work there – but the rest of the team wanted to try and do some kind of work to increase their bank balance. There was risk of course in doing any kind of job, but as they sat down in their van and reviewed the attack from the night before they realised they did work pretty well together, and should be able to handle a reasonable number of threats. As the afternoon wore on, they discussed which of the two options they favoured most, and what they were going to do next.