Tuesday 14/9/2060, Location: 22.22744, 114.24966, Time: 11:15

Marius watched as the technician pulled out a roll of paper-like material, and rolled it along the top of the work surface, slicing the roll cleanly at the end and returning it to the holder in the cupboard. Grabbing a screwdriver, he moved to the first access panel, and carefully removed the first screw holding it closed, before laying it down at the top left of the piece of paper and making a brief annotation next to it with a fine-detail pen. He repeated the pattern three more times as he took out the remaining screws, and then followed up with the removal of the panel, which was laid just below the screws, and again neatly labelled.

As Marius watched, he noticed that not only was everything immaculately clean in here – almost surgically clean – the tools and equipment were all laid out in pristine conditions, in carefully customised holders or racking, perfectly suited to the task. Once the front of the housing had been disassembled, the tech started to remove the turbine blades, one at a time. Each was taken over to a static camera, and then twirled between fingers to allow a full rotatable view to be captured. Then the part was taken over to a small scanning machine, fed in onto the bed and the door closed to allow the machine to start laser and x-ray scanning.

Marius had removed the second blade and had taken it over to the camera, and was waiting as the tech turned around – and saw the slightly pained expression on his face as a result. The tech took the blade, and then repeated the twirl, capturing the video and then moving over to stand by the scanner, waiting for it to finish, before swapping the parts over. The scanned part was taken over to join the access panel, cowling and screws, and was again neatly labelled with the position in the turbine shaft it had been removed from, before he went to release the next one.

Very quickly, Marius realised that the tech was working to a very specific procedure and that he was probably not helping that much – the tasks seemed to be very linear, and though the tech was unfailingly polite and didn't have a word to say, his expression made it clear that he'd much rather Marius stopped trying to help. Instead he looked around the workshop, and noticed something else he hadn't seen at first – all of the tools were manual. Not a single powered screwdriver or drill was to be seen anywhere. No orbital sanders, no grinding wheels. There were tools to do all of those jobs – but they were all manual hand tools. That was unusual enough to make him really wonder what this place was.

"Well, I guess I should go back and catch up with the rest of my team, then. How often should I come back to check in on progress?"

"Well sir, I can give you the matrix address and password for the job, if you wish to monitor it?" Marius nodded and the technician turned to his terminal and coded a small chip with the details, asking Marius to come and authenticate the chip with a fingerprint and personal code. On screen, Marius could see the view of the workshop from the four cameras located in the corners, as well as select an overhead camera shot that showed the small collection of removed parts laid out on the worktop. Another link looked to show the results of the scanning machine and the data gathered on the turbine blades – from the look of things, he could monitor all of the technical data from anywhere he wanted to.

"Great, thank you. I will let you get on, then." As he headed to the exit, he walked past another of the large white pristine bays, spotting the car in there being attended to. A man was using some kind of padded leather rest on a stick to guide his hand, while he freehand painted a racing line from the front wheel arch along the side of the car, over the doors and to the back spoiler of the car in one smooth, long, continuous flowing motion. As far as Marius could see the line was perfect – even thickness and with no ripples, spots or points that needed touching up. On the other side of the car, an ork sat in his overalls, cross-legged in front of a seat removed from the car. With careful and neat work he was hand-sewing a replacement leather cover from cut parts. The stitching was so fine that from here he couldn't even see the stitch marks in the fabric. Based on what he'd seen, he had no concerns about the quality of the work here – but he did wonder how much it was going to cost. Skills like this didn't come cheap, and neither did the methodical and precise workflows he'd seen so far…

As he left he saw the door was a thick and reinforced security variant, and the locking mechanism drove bolts into the door frame on all four sides – making it resistant to pry bars or being forced open. The locks to the side were combination palm/iris scanners, and looked to be very well protected. He definitely didn't have to worry about casual theft from the garage, either…

On the way back he checked the time and sent a quick message to Nadia to see if she was up yet. When he got a response back, he placed a call, spending the remainder of the walk back chatting with her and filling her in with their current location and job, and finding out if she was ok. She sounded put out about him being in Hong Kong, much further east than she'd been expecting him. Marius explained about the suspected dragons and how they'd felt like they hadn't really had a lot of choice in the matter. He did mollify her somewhat by offering to go shopping for her in Hong Kong and bring her some nice things back, though.

The rest of the team had been back for quite a while and had settled back at the training hall, watching the students go about their normal activities. After checking with Chun, several of them decided to split up and join a class: Hunter working with Simi, feeling he offered the most dynamic exercises he'd seen that would help him improve his overall speed and litheness. Shimazu checked around, and found that nobody seemed to do any kind of armed training, ending up with Hakim the dwarf who seemed to be the master of tumbling and jujitsu. Kai ended up with Rudi in his class, working on his general fitness as much as anything else. He asked Rudi if he knew of anywhere in the area that sold or trained with bow and arrow, but beyond the suggestion that the local country club may have a small range, he wasn't able to provide Kai with any solid leads.

Tads declined to join a class when she found out that nobody trained with a quarterstaff, instead heading to the kitchen in search of the storeroom. She found Chun's wife, who bobbed her head politely, asking if Tads was looking for something to eat or drink. As Tads politely declined she gave her a quick examination, looking at her aura and trying to get a feel for her. Though she was smiling and was neatly dressed, she looked exhausted and somewhat subdued. There was no sign of the baby, and Tads guessed he was down for a brief nap, giving her time to try and catch up with what were presumably her normal duties. Unsurprising that she looked so tired if she was trying to cope with the baby, too…

By now Tads had her routine worked out fairly well, and worked up to the idea of contributing foodstuffs to help cover what the team were eating and keep the kitchen well stocked, before skirting around the concept of magical spells and making food appear. It wasn't long before she was at work creating flour and rice to fill some containers, proving her ability to deliver, before moving on to create fruits, meat, cheese and other items.

A few kilometres to the north west, Aswon finished his hike up into the hills, and settled himself down to the ground, squirming slightly on the thick bed of leaves and vegetation that was slowly turning brown. The area was quiet, calm, peaceful…and he let himself relax a little, slowing his breathing and starting to meditate. It would be hours yet before Spook was free to meet with him, so he spent the time trying to attune himself back to nature, practicing his breathing and recentering himself. Birds flew overhead, clouds raced by, and the towering tribesman sat still, letting the world move past him, a small spot of stillness and calm, radiating tranquillity and composure.

The students broke for lunch about one o'clock, heading to the dining hall after a quick shower and change. On arrival they saw the buffet table loaded down with food – far more than they'd been used to, and with a great variety available. Hunter spotted Tads resting in the corner of the room, and raised a questioning eyebrow at her as he took in the spread, and when he got an affirmative nod, piled his plate up high and tucked in.

Lunchtime was a relaxed affair, with lots of banter between the tables, instructors sharing comments about planned exercises, and students comparing notes with each other. As the team relaxed and chatted, they found out that most of the students were from countries scattered all over the world, staying here for several months of intensive training. Each of them were competing at a national level back at their homelands, but were hoping to step up to the international circuit following a period of intense training and cross-exposure to other fighting styles and new methods of training. The instructors were a similarly diverse bunch, coming from all over the world, but now apparently living in the academy full time.

Lunch was rudely interrupted when the dining room door was kicked open and a man sauntered in, cigarette hanging from his lip. Dressed in dirty jeans and a loose shirt worn over a filthy t-shirt, he looked around the room until he spotted Chun, then took a few steps towards him, took a deep drag on his cigarette and then blew the smoke out of his nostrils, two plumes of blueish smoke roiling through the air.

"Take that outside, please. There's no smoking in here."

"Nah. You probably want to shut the fuck up and listen, though." The sound of several scrapes filled the air as wooden benches were pushed across the floor, instructors and students standing angrily at the disrespect shown by the newcomer. Chun took a few steps towards him, head cocked slightly to the side and examined him closely, then held a hand up towards the rest of the room, indicating they should wait.

In the far corner of the room, Tads slowly moved her fingers, weaving them in a gentle pattern and drawing in mana from the air and shaping it. A ghostly, immaterial pair of fingers created by her concentration reached out and focussed into two points of pressure, just in front of the man's lips, squeezing the cigarette tightly. The man went to take another drag, and his cheeks inverted as he sucked mightily, but nothing came through – the cigarette continued to gently burn at the front, but no air passed through it to him. He coughed as he reached the limit of what he could do without breathing, and removed the cigarette from his mouth, looking at it in confusion for a moment.

While he was distracted, Kai got a good read on his body language, watching how he stood and comported himself. Micro tremors were noted, the tenseness of his calves and thighs, the way a few beads of perspiration were starting to bead in his slicked back hair. Kai realised that the man was pretty scared, putting on a huge act for the audience here, and adrenaline was probably coursing through his system.

"Scared. Very scared. He's not confident at all." Kai mouthed, the sub-vocal microphone transmitting his perceptions to the rest of the team.

If Aswon had been present, he would probably have heard the subtle metallic sound of the slide being racked on the Ares Predator that Hunter had just slid out of his thigh holster. As it was, nobody seemed to hear the noise, and Hunter laid the targeting mark directly over the heart of the man staring at Chun, his aim dead steady while the pistol was held under the table, being sighted 'off bore' by his Smartlink cyberware.

"You need to be ready for a meeting. Tomorrow. Noon. Someone's gonna come and see you, and you're going to want to listen." The voice was aggressive and forceful, and he continued to stare straight at Chun.

"Isn't tomorrow when you're getting the room fumigated, to get rid of cockroaches?" Kai asked, keeping his voice light. A strained snigger rippled through the room, and the stranger scowled. Kai glanced over at Chun, and spotted the wariness and tension in his body. Kai didn't know why, but Chun certainly seemed to be a little bothered by the man. Kai wondered what it was – he wasn't physically intimidating, and his message so far had been vague and not particularly worrying. Chun must know something they didn't….

Shimazu slid his bench back, noisily. The student at the other end was swivelled around as the bench altered direction, but Shimazu ignored that. He'd been watching the mood of the room, and was concerned – the tension had ramped up and up, and some of the instructors looked ready to kick off a fight, despite Chun's raised hand. He straightened up slowly, rising to his full height and then wandered over to the buffet table with his plate. As he walked he exaggerated his movement slightly, making the sword scabbard wobble slightly, drawing attention to the blade on his hip. Grabbing a metal ladle, he spooned up some more rice, then noisily tapped it out onto his plate – continuing until all of the rice had come unstuck. It took a dozen raps, the metallic thunk resonating on the plate and forming a noticeable distraction. Only then did he raise his head, glance at the messenger, shrug his shoulders and then return to his seat – dismissing the man from his attention.

"Very well. I'll be here, and your person can come to talk. But you should leave. Now." Chun's voice was flat and hard, and he took half a step forward. "You've delivered your message, and you're not welcome here."

As he spoke, Hunter slid off the end of his bench and started to walk towards the messenger, his right hand conspicuously held behind his back. He smiled, his crooked face forming a grin that disturbed the average person, and stalked quietly across the room towards the messenger.

Hands raised the lighter towards the cigarette still dangling from the corner of his mouth, flicking the button and engulfing the end in flame. Once again he tried to draw, and once more Tads gripped the cigarette firmly, preventing anything from getting through. Cheeks hollowed as he sucked hard, his eyes widening in confusion. Hunter raised his left hand slowly, reaching for the cigarette – two grizzled and rough digits forming a pincer to grab the offending article. Unsurprisingly the man started to sway his head away from the grasping hands, unwilling to take a step back and show weakness or fear.

Lightning fast, Hunter's right hand whipped out from behind his back while the left had him distracted and the barrel of the heavy pistol made contact with the side of his head, screwing into his ear. The messenger froze in fear as he felt the metal press against his ear, and Hunter delicately picked the cigarette out of his mouth, crushing the end between his fingers without any sign of discomfort. The gun was removed from his head, then Hunter turned on his heel, exposing his back to the man and wandered unconcernedly back to his seat. He was pretty sure that if the man pulled a knife, gun or gave any other sign of aggression, the team would have him covered…

Across the room, Tads concentrated and cast another spell, focussing swiftly while the man was very much distracted by the situation. A moment later she relaxed, letting the spell dissipate, while Hunter moved around the end of the table. As he reached his seat he heard the clatter of the door as the messenger left the room, and gave a wry smile before turning to face the student at the other end of the bench.

"Pass the sauce, please…"

A low buzz broke out amongst the students and instructors, many of them facing Chun with obvious curiosity and questions. Chun turned to them and held up his hands, waving them downwards and calling for quiet.

"We'll listen to what they have to say. I'm pretty sure the next meeting will be more diplomatic – this was just to get my attention. But for now, lunch time is over – come on, back to training. Exercise is a great cure for anger and stress." The room was filled with scrapes and clattering as people rose from their seats and dealt with their dirty dishes, then moved off to their training rooms and gyms, ready to start work again. Two minutes later there was only the team and Chun left in the dining room, and he turned to face them, a weak and nervous-looking grin on his face.

"I'm pretty sure he's working for the local triad. But that doesn't make sense." He shook his head as he spoke, then hunched his shoulders and gave a deep sigh.

"Have you had run ins with the Triads before?" Kai asked.

"Yes, but years ago. We don't bother them, they don't bother us. It's been quiet for ages."

"That doesn't sound like their normal style…how did you manage that?"

"Well, I showed them the books for the gym – and they saw how little money we make here. By the time you cover the costs of the building, heating, water, food, supplies, new equipment, all that sort of stuff – we don't make much." Chun explained. Several of the team thought back to the somewhat ropey state of some of the rooms and the electrics, and things made a little more sense.

"And that persuaded them to leave you alone?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Well no. I was younger then, and perhaps a little hot-headed. I also explained we'd have to kick them in the face a lot less too, and that there were much easier people to go and talk to."

"And there's not been any kind of gang war at the moment, or situation flaring up that might change the status quo?"

"Not that I'd know anything about. We try to keep mostly to ourselves and not get involved in things like that. We'll see tomorrow, I'm sure."

"I will be happy to be at the meeting, to provide security for you." Shimazu offered, and Chun gave him a nod of thanks. When he didn't appear to say anything in addition, Shimazu turned to face Hunter, bending over the table and lowering his voice. "I would appreciate you offering an apology to our host. I feel that you overstepped your boundaries as his guest – he should have handled the situation without your interference." Hunter stared up at him for a moment, his jaw flexing. A moment passed as they stared at each other, then Hunter nodded and stood.

"Sorry about that, Chun. Seemed pretty disrespectful to me, coming in here like that."

"Don't worry about it." Chun watched as the big ork padded over to the door, before slipping through and heading out of sight.

"Chun, do you mind if I speak to the others about the Triads? See if anyone has perhaps had dealings with them elsewhere, or knows something about the situation?" Kai popped a slice of apple into his mouth and chewed slowly whilst he waited for a response.

"No – no problems. There's no secrets here, nothing to hide. Or at least not from me, there isn't."

In the corner, Tads was busy tapping away on her phone, sending a message to Aswon.

Strange man appeared. Rude, very disrespectful. Suspected Triad. Someone coming to meet with Chun tomorrow. She paused, then cleared her throat, attracting their attention.

"While he was distracted, I gently scanned his thoughts. His name was Fe Wang, and he works for someone called Wa Fan. He doesn't know what the meeting was about, and he was terrified of getting the situation messed up. But he really was pretty clueless about what is going on – he just got told to come here and let you know about tomorrow's visit from her. And he's definitely Triad – a Blue Lotus kept popping into his head." She continued typing as she relayed what she'd picked up, sending the same information to Aswon, then adding some extra onto the end. Can you ask Spook for info?

The team headed back to the chopper, Tads chivying them through the ward out of reflexive habit, just to be safe. A few minutes later they appeared with significantly more firepower to hand – apart from Tads, who generally made her own. Marius had demounted the heavy machine gun, which though unsuitable for firing from the hip, did score highly on the intimidation stakes – as long as his opponent didn't know that he couldn't fire it from the hip! Shimazu had strapped on his gun holster and had his heavy revolver counterbalancing the sword, along with a bunch of spare ammo, while Hunter had retrieved his assault rifle and a good selection of ammunition for it, as well as strapping on his full combat armour. Kai went to grab his taser, then remembered that he still needed to get a replacement, grabbing a pistol instead.

With comms re-checked and recharged, they headed back out around the gym, returning to work out and exercise with their chosen instructors, making sure weapons were no more than a few metres away from them. Tads found herself in Nicole's room, where she was soon working on a punishing circuit that promised to have her physically exhausted in a few hours. Kai wandered around, asking to speak to each of the students in turn, finding out a little about them and then working through the instructors, asking questions about the Triads and any interactions people may have had.

They gathered again for the evening meal, the team grabbing one of the tables and pair of benches to themselves so they could plan. Kai described his results from the afternoon – which was to say not a lot. He'd not picked up any useful information from any of the students or instructors, and they all appeared to be telling the truth, as far as he could see anyway. No interactions with the Triads, no major debts or drug problems, no unknown benefactors sponsoring them… he couldn't find any reason that the Triads would be here because of them.

"I think we should stay out of the way, almost completely." Marius looked around at the others. "We do not want to fight with the Triads if we can help it. But, I accept we may have no choice. In that case I would rather they know as little as possible about us, so that we can choose the time and place of engagement. And when we do engage, it can be far away from here, on our terms."

"Aswon has texted me back – says he's talking with Spook and she's going to look into the situation. But also that we're not to piss off the locals if we can help it, especially as we're only here for the week. He'll send more information when he has it…" Tads flipped her phone shut as she finished reading out the message. "Other than that, I've checked out the possible rooms Chun might have a meeting in – none of them are very big unless he uses in here, or one of the gyms, and that doesn't seem likely. We might be able to listen through a wall to overhear a conversation, but none of the rooms really have good options for spy holes or anything like that.

After the evening meal, Kai approached Chun's wife and asked for permission to go into the child's room. She bought him over to Chun and repeated the request, looking to her husband for an explanation of why this stranger should be in her child's bedroom. Chun in turn looked to Kai.

"I suppose so? Why though?"

"We want to put up a ward around there first. Magical protections around your child, just in case something happens."

"And you need to be in the room to do that?"

"Yes. We have to draw certain symbols and channel energy into the perimeter of the room, so we need to by physically present. But that will let us put up a powerful barrier to keep enemy spirits and magic away from him."

"Well yes, that's fine. I still don't quite understand how it works, but thank you. Anything to keep him safe." The wife nodded as well, and Kai smiled at them both.

"Don't worry, you don't have to know how it works, just that it does."

When the students split up to go and relax for the evening, the team did too. Hunter grabbed his cleaning kit and started to practice disassembly and cleaning of his rifle, working with a strip of cloth over his eyes to make him work purely by touch. Marius had found a series of puzzles to test memory and perception, and had ramped the difficulty level up to the maximum, giving his brain a workout on some very focussed exercises. Shimazu headed to a gym and did a long workout with his sword, enjoying the quiet atmosphere, clear surroundings, and space he so rarely found, while Tads continued Vadim's magical education. Kai sat tapping away on his computer, reading up on rumours and legends of the Triads, marrying what he saw there with his knowledge of various underworld gangs, smugglers, magical societies and legends he had heard during his travels.

Over on the other side of the island, Aswon had arrived in the city, navigating his way through the high rises and busy streets, alternately having flashbacks of nostalgia for things he remembered from his last visit, and bouts of confusion as roads disappeared and new buildings appeared in his way from the ever changing city. Without too much trouble though he found himself at the restaurant Spook had picked out, spotting her sitting waiting for him with a drink, idly flicking through pages on her PDA. Black hair shimmered with subtle neon flickers from the implanted fibres, and her cybereyes glowed a very faint blue, sparkling over her pale skin. When she saw him, she stood and enveloped him in a hug, her diminutive form barely reaching to his chest.

They headed inside and ate, gossiping and catching up on old times, sharing anecdotes and talking about changes in the world, spending the first hour at least just enjoying themselves and relaxing – but eventually Aswon turned the conversation towards Chun, and explained that they'd had a run in with what was assumed to be the local triads, passing over the name of 'Wa Fan'. Spook in turn pulled out her personal secretary, keying it alive and doing a quick search before shaking her head.

"Sorry Aswon, never heard of them. Probably too low down the food chain to be of much importance yet. Or too new. But what I can tell you is that I've heard that the Blue Lotus Triad is supposed to be gaining in prestige at the moment. Rumour has it they've made some careful and clever plays, expanding their influence. If this is the same people, that's a cause for concern. They're hungry, and they've got plenty to prove."

"Noted. So, this Chun fellow. What can you tell me about him?"

"We go back a fair way. Not as much as you, Aswon, but not far off. Though Chun doesn't really move in the business, he's very well connected. He was big on the fight scene, so had lots of media attention and was quite savvy – plenty of friends, lots of influence. And he's pretty good at trading favours. Never really burnt anyone either, doesn't really do that kind of biz. So there's lots of people who still like him and owe him for something."

She stopped speaking as a slightly pot-bellied man weaved up to their table and belched noisily at Aswon, staring down at him, his body wobbling slightly and alcohol sloshing out of the glass in his hand.

"Tall. Very black. Are you a giraffe's ass cleaner?" The man giggled at the hilarity of his own joke, while Aswon just stared at him in confusion. "Do you understand me?"

"Fuck off. Leave now, or I'll rip your jaw off and use it as a paperweight." Spook's voice was conversational and light, completely at odds with her choice of words. Stretching out her arm in front of her she examined the back of her hand, flexing it to look at the nails and admire the beautiful colour gradation that shaded them from tip to bed. As she glanced up at the man, a subtle flex made her finger razors appear, five ultra-sharp blades sliding out of the recesses implanted in her fingertips, catching and reflecting the flickering candlelight from the display at the centre of the table. "Unless you prefer for me to slice off the worm you call a penis and stuff it up your nose?"

The man recoiled from her in shock and horror, backing away until he bumped into the table next over, knocking cutlery and wine glasses over and causing a cry of anger from the diners there. A drunken apology followed, as he span round, nearly falling over and almost catching a third table as he moved, before one of the staff appeared at his side, grabbing him firmly and escorting him out of the restaurant.

"That's a new look for you… but I see you've not lost your touch, Spook. Glad I'm on your side…" Spook just smiled demurely at Aswon, letting the blades retract noiselessly into her fingers and then grabbed her wine glass to take a large sip.

"The city is a dangerous place sometimes. And besides, sometimes it's nice to be able to say exactly what you mean. And on that note – your boss. He's… well he's an interesting individual. I certainly think you're going to have an interesting life with him. But I'd appreciate it if you could make sure that whatever this business is with Chun, that you're there to guide him and advise him Aswon, keep a cool head. I sometimes think Kai doesn't really plan much for the future? I'd really much rather nothing happen to Chun or his academy. Very bad for business. I'd much rather not get involved and find myself at odds with the triads. I mean, he's a friend, and I would help him, but I'd rather it didn't come to that. Would you be able to do that for me?" As Aswon listened his mental antenna picked up on the repeated phrases. Spook was articulate, and talked to people for a living – if she was repeating herself, she wanted to make the message clear to him…

"Well, I can try. Kai is… as you say is an interesting individual to be around. I'll do my best. I guess that means you want me to head back and keep an eye on things, rather than do some work here?" Spook nodded and Aswon gave a little sigh. "I guess so. But not until tomorrow, right?" Spook shook her head and smiled at him, then summoned a waiter with a little wave. With business out of the way they moved on to desert, before settling the bill and heading to a local bar, where they proceeded to get outrageously drunk and tell wild stories to each other until the early hours of the morning.

Back at the Academy, Hunter had finished practicing with his rifle and had moved on to doing some research on his deck, prowling around the online forums of Shadowland and looking for bits of information on the Blue Lotus triads. Much like Spook, he found no mention of Wa Fan online, and only a little information about the triad itself. Several comments mentioned that they were big in the counterfeit goods market – people mentioning they had done work for them smuggling clothing, bags or knock-off electronics into markets for them, while others discussed their extensive trade in illegal highs, mostly beetles, along with the vice trade and some forays into gambling.

"What kind of beetles?" Tads asked, when Hunter relayed the information. "Do they have hallucinogenic secretions or something?"

"Ahh, no – not that kind of beetle. B T Ls. Better Than Life chips." He saw Tads give him a confused look. "They're simsense chips, that people can connect to their jacks via a player, instead of just watching a movie, you experience it. First hand, as if you were there. Sort of like the reverse of Marius when he's driving in a way."

"It's nothing like that at all!" Marius protested.

"Kinda is. Instead of you pushing your consciousness into the vehicle to control it, with a simsense the movie and experience is pulled into your head. Anyway, with the beetles, the limits are turned off. So instead of just feeling a bit of what was recorded, the limits are much higher. And some of them are some really sick stuff. Like someone records what it feels like to be beating someone to death, then burns that to a chip and sells it on."

Tads blanched, then excused herself from the conversation. The idea of putting cyberware into her body was bad enough – but why would someone want to do that? She went outside to find a quiet place to sit, watching the waves and the clouds, trying to banish the ideas of borderline psychotic people willingly enjoying the death of another as a form of entertainment from her mind. A few minutes of tranquil time and she had calmed herself down, returning to find them discussing the motives for the interest with Chun.

"So, why would these Blue Lotus chumps be interested in Chun specifically? What does his gym offer them? If they're doing it, it's going to be for a worthwhile reason…" Kai tapped the end of his chin in puzzlement.

"Maybe they want the building for some reason. It's very old – probably has a lot of prestige. Maybe it's a way to acquire some form of respect?" Shimazu suggested. "A way of borrowing a sense of history to make them appear more settled than they actually are? Once they had it, you could probably make a nice gambling den out of it. Based on the housing around here, it looks like a resort – and judging by the car workshop, people have money here…"

"Could it be something to do with the students? Coming from all over the world? Maybe it's something to do with people smuggling, or sending those beetle things to other countries?"

They chatted a while longer, bouncing ideas around but not coming up with any ideas that seemed to firmly gel with what they knew so far. As the evening wore on, they worked out a watch pattern and then headed off to bed, making sure that one of them was alert and armed all the way through the night – just in case.

The following morning was overcast and blustery, waves driven by the wind to have white caps the broke and foamed onto the beach, the water grey and cold in the morning light. Not that this seemed to stop the morning run through the surf and exercises on the beach, which the team went and joined. After showers and breakfast, Kai headed into the town with Shimazu, weaving their way through the streets until they reached the workshop. After a short wait, he managed to get a quick meeting with Marcello.

"Good morning. I am afraid it's still very early in the process – we don't have much more information on the damage to the engine yet, or the full details of what is required."

"Oh, don't worry, that's not what I'm here for."

"It's not?" Marcello looked confused – why else would Kai be there?

"No, it's a more local matter. We had a visitor yesterday, some local messenger. Told Chun that he was going to be getting a visitor today, someone by the name of Wa Fan. Just wondered if you knew them?" Both Shimazu and Kai saw the subtle shift in his body language as they mentioned her name, and their mental antenna quivered.

"Ahh, yes. Well. I know of the lady. But we don't really mix. She has no appreciation for the automobile." Marcello sniffed, as if that statement was enough to clearly damn her in the eyes of anyone cultured.

"So you do know her, then? Do you go to the same places? I just wondered, like maybe the country club just up the road?"

"Well, not really. I am a member there, but I don't recall ever seeing her there. That's not to say she's not a member, but if she is, we've never seen each other there. But no, I don't really know her at all."

"So you've no idea why she might want to talk to Chun. Or what that might involve?"

"I'm sure I couldn't say." His language was guarded, and he clearly knew something… but just as clearly didn't want to discuss it. Kai and Shimazu exchanged a glance, and decided to leave it – for now. They could always come back once the meeting had happened, depending on just what was said… Marcello excused himself from the room, disappearing for two minutes before returning with a bag of fine ash.

"This has been removed from the engine so far – though there is far more that is chemically bonded to the surfaces. I'm sure you can see now why performance was lacking…"

"We'll let Marius know. So, would you like us to make a down-payment on the work now?"

"No no, we don't do that here. Accounts are settled, in full, when the work is complete."

They said their goodbyes, and headed back to the academy, catching up with the rest of the team and advising them of what little they'd discovered, before splitting up again to do some training. As with the night before, they made sure at least one of them was armed and armoured up at all times, keeping an eye out. It was Marius on watch at about eleven AM when he spotted the distinctive form of Aswon meandering across the beach, looking fatigued and slightly the worse for wear.

"Good night, Aswon?"

"Bleugh. I can still taste peppermint. 'sup. Coffee?"

"Come with me, I'll get you a cup and let you know what you missed…" Aswon followed Marius into the dining room and settled on a bench, resting his head on the cool surface of the table for a moment, his giant hair looking like a strange creature had decided to nest on the table. A few minutes passed as Marius had caught him up on what had happened before Kai staggered into the dining room, heading towards the supply of bottled water and moving with a slight limp.

"Oh, hey Kai. I've come back to keep an eye on things for Spook, as she likes Chun and she doesn't want you to mess it up. I'm still a little drunk though, I think. I am Aswon." Bleary eyes examined the sweaty mess before him, coffee cup raised half-way to lips. Kai blinked at him in surprise, while he processed the blunt message, then took a deep swig of water. When he looked down, Aswon had laid his head back on the table and was whispering something to the coffee cup. Probably words of undying love and respect…

"So we need to look after Chun, is what you're saying?"

"I'm saying…" the voice was muffled, coming out of his armpit as he kept his head buried in his arms "I'm saying… what I'm saying is that if you make things awkward for Chun, it makes things awkward for Spook. And if you make things awkward for Spook, that makes things awkward for me. And I don't want things to be awkward. So if we can just not, that would be great. K? K."

"I have explained what has happened to Aswon, while I was getting him some coffee. And once again, I think we should not get involved if we can, but if we have to we should do it at a time and place of our choosing, and away from here. Strike hard, from the shadows, and take them by surprise." Marius had fetched his own cup of coffee and was sipping at it slowly, his eyes staring at Kai.

"Ok, noted Marius. And I agree – and I think the others do, too. So we'll wait to see what this meeting brings us, and then go from there. But until we find out more details, I think we can't come up with any kind of plan…"

As they got closer to lunchtime, the team made sure they were all rested, fed, and had all their gear to hand. Aswon made his way to the roof and found a good spot where he could survey most of the surrounding land, settling in with his rifle. If anyone was going to be covering the visitor as they came in, or getting ready to launch an attack while people were distracted, he was going to be ready for them. Shimazu and Kai got ready to accompany Chun, while Tads headed to his son's room, and sat ready to defend his family with magical defences swaddling the child and a spirit on standby. Vadim hung back by the chopper, and Marius found a room near the front of the house that should let him listen in on whatever was going on.

And then, they waited…

It seemed that as they got closer to midday, a number of the instructors found pressing questions that absolutely had to be answered by Chun, on a most urgent basis. After the fourth person 'just happened' to bump into him, he told them all to relax and sent them back to training, making it clear that he was fine and though he appreciated their concern that he didn't need mothering by them.

A few minutes before midday, Aswon called down over the radio.

"Single target approaching, walking down the beach. Medium height female, slender, black hair. Probably early thirties. Dressed in a patterned silk shirt and trousers. Looking pretty relaxed at the moment, but making a beeline straight for the front door. Wait one…"

He concentrated for a moment, preparing himself for the mental effort needed if she proved to be trying to shield herself from scrying eyes.

"I'm pretty sure she's a physical adept – but without mastering any level of initiation yet. I'm catching the edge of some power on her though. I think she might have a magical tattoo or something, maybe holding a spell in place. Not entirely sure though. But it looks like this is a flex to counterbalance the guy the other day. Just one person, no obvious guns or power. Making a point that they're not worried."

"Ok, thanks, Aswon. I'll tell Chun." Kai did just that, and Chun nodded, before giving a broad grin.

"Let's go meet our guest, then. We'll talk out front." He led the way through the front door onto the narrow porch, and pulled up a few chairs from a small stack, arranging them so they were in a small arc facing the top of the steps.

"We won't know for sure of course, not without more details. But it's possible that the power that Aswon was picking up on is some kind of brand or tattoo. If she's been bound by some ritual or oath or something, it might actually compel her not to say or do certain things – regardless of what we say. Just something to keep in mind everyone." Kai spoke out loud, warning Chun along with the rest of the team, then settled into silence as the woman reached the bottom of the steps and started to climb, taking slow, steady and measured steps. As she reached the top of the steps, she placed her left hand into her right sleeve, and right hand into the left, sliding them past each other until her hands had disappeared entirely, leaving just a tube of arms.

"Hello Master Fu. I believe you're expecting me," She spoke Chinese, but Marius was close enough to hear and understand clearly, and translated out to the rest of the team.

"In English, if you don't mind. I have guests here who are not fluent." Chun grinned at her from his seat, adjusting his sweatpants minutely and brushing away some tiny hair or fleck of waste from by his knee.

"You wish the outsiders to hear your business?"

"I have nothing to hide from them."

"Very well." She swapped into English, speaking with an accent that indicated that at least some of her experience was from trid-shows, a broad mish mash of twangs and sounds that didn't represent any one area particularly well. "We will continue in English."

She reached into her inside pocket, carefully pulling out half a dozen pictures printed onto glossy paper, before throwing them onto the low table by Chun's chair.

"I believe that you know we have Harley by now. In a weeks' time, there is a large competition. You will come out of retirement, and take part in this competition, and you will fight once more. You will fight well, and hard. None the less, in either the sixth or seventh round, you will lose. If you do, then Harley will be returned to you. If you do not… well, it is not likely to go well for him. Do you understand?"

Chun just stared at her, his face blank. His friendly demeanour was gone, and his eyes fixed upon his guest with laser-like precision, watching her every move.

"You fight in a week. You lose after six or seven rounds. Whenever is most convincing. Then he comes back. You have twenty-four hours to agree. If you do not…well, you will never see him again. At least not in one piece." She looked down at Chun for a moment, then when he still refused to speak she gave a little snort and turned on her heels, casually walking over to the top of the stairs.

"Until tomorrow, Master Fu." Without a backwards glance, she started to descend the steps, heading back down to the beach leaving Chun, Kai and Shimazu sitting at the front of the house. A chill wind gusted around the cliffs, and started to blow the photographs around, but Chun's hand shot out like a snake and grabbed them, stopping them from going too far. They waited in silence, until she was well across the beach.

"Aswon, all clear?"

"All clear, Kai. Well, she sounded full of herself."

Shimazu turned to look at Chun, examining his profile and trying to gauge his mood. He could see Chun's dark brown eyes studying the pictures, the tendons on the sides of his jaw working in concert with those on his arms. The mask slipped a little as he changed photos, showing blood trickling down the temple, and Shimazu got a sense of loss and concealed horror, emotional torment and great sadness.

"Well Chun. It sounds like you've got a bit of a problem. It just so happens we specialise in problem solving – so if you'd like a hand resolving this, we're happy to help." Aswon would normally have been the first to sigh as Kai jumped in with his offer, but Spook's words still burned bright in his memory. He did hear little sighs from Hunter and Marius though – but even they sounded pro-forma. It wasn't like anyone on the team hasn't been expecting Kai to do this, after all…

"That's decent of you. Spook did say you were sound. Thanks."

"Let's have a look at these pictures then, see what we can work out. Guys, do you want to come look at these and give us some opinions?"

They looked at the pictures, examining the scene carefully. In each of them a young man stood upright, in a dimly lit room. Blue hair was raised up in a jagged hairstyle, and on some of them they could see a large bloody contusion on one temple that looked suspiciously like the kind of wound that being pistol whipped would cause. His face was angry and hostile, and he stared – either directly at the camera operator, or at someone else out of shot.

The room was plain, and made out of roughly cast concrete or cermacrete of some kind, drab grey walls with a rippled pattern that spoke of quick construction. In a couple of the shots they could see a single window, fairly high up in the wall and covered with sturdy looking bars, set into the wall material. The floor was smoother than the walls, but made of the same material – and from the couple of pools of water, seemed uneven and also made without much care.

Once they'd flicked through all of the pictures, they started again with the first, really examining them carefully now. The pictures looked to have been printed on a personal printer, and were slightly smudgy and pixelated, so fine details were out of the question. However, between them they worked out that there were at least three, maybe four people in the room; a number of faint shadows could be seen from outside the cameras perspective, giving them the idea that there were certainly a number of captors or jailors present. They also could see the room faced north or east most likely, as it appeared to be shot in the afternoon, and with no sunlight filtering through the window.

As they worked through the photos they could see Harley favouring his right side a little in some of the shots, apparently having been beaten or attacked during the process – but he still stood defiantly, his hands balled into fists by his side.

"Well Chun, it certainly looks from the multiple angles and the consistency that this is either a pretty good fake, or they do really have him. The next stage I think is to check out his room, and look for some personal items to give to our mages. With those, they can try to track him down magically. We can also look for physical clues of course, and see if we can work out where he might have been or what he was doing. Unless you know, of course?"

"Not really, he's old enough to be really independent, and he knows his way round the island, of course. I'd assumed he'd gone shopping, maybe into the city. He loved his clothes and shoes, as well as hair product. Did you know you can buy trainers that cost nearly four hundred Nuyen? Four hundred… we argued over those." Chun looked down at the photos again, and the team could see him regretting words in the past, wishing things had been different. "Other than that, he liked to go to clubs and dances. Fancied himself a bit of a ladies man, of course."

"Ok, well that gives us some ideas on where to start. Can you show us his room, please?"

Chun led them up to one of the rooms, leading them in to a slightly chaotic and disorganised single bedroom, walls covered with martial arts posters and with training kit scattered over the floor. A clothes rail was mounted on the far wall, with several stylish outfits neatly hung in protective clear wrappers, along with pristine trainers still in the original boxes, wrapped in tissue paper.

"Ok, please, nobody touch anything yet. Vadim…come watch this. See – hairbrush, very gently, we check this for hairs. Hair is a great ritual link, if you can find some that's still relatively fresh. Doesn't last for ever though, so the fresher the better…" She walked him through examining the personal items – checking the soap for hairs as well, looking for nail clippings, other items that would have real sentimental value. Once she was done, she waved for the rest to move in, and they methodically and slowly worked through the room, looking to build up a profile.

Checking ticket stubs, his matrix terminal, transit tickets and passes and various other items they identified half a dozen clubs and nightspots that he might well have been to, as well as favoured shops and eating locations in the city – Aswon was able to supply some details about some of the locations, and at least find the rest on the map, even if he didn't' know what they were like. An hour later, they had been through the room and extracted all the information they could find, and headed back downstairs to check with Chun, asking if Harley had any known medical issues or problems that might require special treatment or drugs.

"No, nothing like that, Kai. Why – do you think he's started on drugs?"

"No, not at all. But if he had medication that he needed and his kidnappers needed to provide it to keep him healthy, it might have been a way track him down. Ok, next question – just how close is he to you? I mean, we can tell he's not your biological family…"

"He's…well. Sort of my adopted son. I mean, for four years. But yeah, we're close. Like family."

"So, in terms of the leverage they have on your from this, it's as if he really was your flesh and blood son?" Kai asked, and got a sombre nod from Chun as he had to confront the loss head on once more. "Try not to worry, we're on this. We're working on getting him back." Kai and the rest of the team headed back to the chopper to discuss their next steps.

"Ok, Hunter – can you do a quick search on Chun, see if we can dig up some info on him. We need to know why the triad is targeting him, and there might be some history there."

"On it, Kai, give me a few minutes." He hooked up his deck and jacked in, slumping in his seat as he dived into the matrix to search for answers.

"I wonder if they're targeting Chun specifically, or just going after him as the head of the dojo. Is it the place they're after? Or just a fighter?"

"I've analysed the photos carefully, after scanning them in and enhancing the images as best I can. Whoever did this has been very careful – there's no identifying features or clues that I can see. Just a bare room and the man. Even the window is of no help. The angle is steep enough that all you can see is sky, with no features. The paper they used for printing is just store bought, and the printing is nothing special. Just from a home unit. The room looks like a secure storage unit, for things in shipping crates or containers – there is too much moisture on the floor for anything delicate that is not already well packaged. But that does not narrow this down much. The main thing I have found is some significant evidence of rust on the bars – wherever it is, I would wager it is very close to the shore."

"Maybe it's a secure warehouse, somewhere like the docks, used for bonded goods. But around here, that doesn't narrow it down much at all. Like – there's hundreds and hundreds of docks, taking up dozens of kilometres of waterfront. A search would take weeks." Aswon shook his head as he checked on the map, indicating large industrial areas that might contain such places.

To the side, Hunter twitched, then reached up to jack out, opening his eyes and turning towards the team.

"Well now. Mr Chun Fu used to be a shit-hot fighter it seems. Found a whole bunch of stuff on him, pretty impressive. Had a record of 48 fights undefeated, with a whole bunch of belts and titles. He used to fight under the handle of the 'Black Dragon' and had a rep for being quick and very tough. Then one month he just disappeared from the scene – no explanation, no real reason given. Big mystery. Lots of rumours about a medical problem or accident, forcing him to retire. He just vanished, about eight years ago. Then, somewhere else I found reference to this place opening up about five or six years ago, pretty quiet. Just some off-hand remarks, invite only courses, that kind of thing. "

"So it really might be to do with the place, or something weird that happened during those missing years. Bollocks." Kai rubbed his temple for a moment. "Ok, I'm going to head back to the car workshop, and go chat with that Marcello guy again, and see if he's surprised at all with the news, or how he reacts. Aswon, can you chat to some people and see if you can work out where that storeroom or prison might be? Hunter, Marius – can you start looking at maps and working out docks and areas that match the direction that window must face based on the light and stuff, and see what you can find. Tads, Vadim, Shimazu – can you get set up for whatever magical tracing ritual thing you need to try."

Nobody had any objections, so they set to their tasks, beginning the process of hunting down Chun's son. Kai was the first to complete his task, managing to grab a quick few minutes with Marcello and hitting him with the gossip – but found that Marcello wasn't really aware of who Harley was at all, and seemed unbothered by his kidnapping, beyond a general 'sucks for Chun' level of care. His body language was open and honest when Kai talked to him, revealing no signs that he was involved in any kind of plot or conspiracy.

Aswon likewise had no real joy with asking around, beyond having to answer the same questions several times. Harley seemed popular with the instructors and students, trained and fought hard and was well regarded. The best progress he made was with Nicole, who had some friends who worked in the docks, so she said. She took a copy of one of the pictures, then blocked out Harley on her digital version, leaving only the room visible, saying she would go and make some subtle enquiries.

The others set to the labour intensive task of searching through the maps of the area, looking for places that might match the very loose description they had, while magical preparations were begun to try and trace Harley from his skin and hair samples.

"Vadim, you're probably not ready for this. But we're going to have to do it anyway. To trace the lad, we're going to need to do a ritual and that involves two things. Normally a group of people to do the actual ritual – which is probably going to be you, on your own, doing the best you can. And we need a spotter – me, to chase down the trace that gets highlighted by the ritual. I'm faster than you, and depending on how well we go, the link will only be visible in astral space for a short time. So, we need to move fast. Are you prepared?

"No."

"Well, that's bad. But we're going to have to try it anyway…"

They started to prepare, hoping they could find Harley quickly and begin planning a rescue, before Wa Fan came back the next day…