Little Boy, Lost

A message arrives in Sigil’s AR.
 Sigil's looks groggy, as though he's just woken up... "Damn, it never stops." He taps the message to read.
 The message is very simple. It says 'Hello.'"
 If there is some sort of return address, Sigil'll send back the same message but with a ? instead.
 Almost instantaneously, another message comes back. "Are you there?""
 "I am always here. Who is this?" Sigil turns physically as if doing so will show him what he wants. A third sprite appears.
 Another message follows that one. "Is it all right to talk to you?""
 "Is there something I can help you with?" The slueth sprite, a wraith-like form is just about to go and do something -like track whoever this is down- but Sigil stalls it. "Yes. Let me grab some coffee."
 Another icon shimmers into being, a pulsing, shimmering, sparkling sphere of light. It fades in and out in places and is difficult to keep a focus on. The icon doesn't speak, but another message comes in. "I hope so. I'm not sure."
 Sigil purses his lips and flops into the dingy chair in his sparse living room. "So, what would you like to talk about." He narrows his eyes and looks closely at the icon, trying to discern it.
 Sigil leans back with a look of sudden revulsion and fear. "What the frak?" A mental check later and he's confirmed his fear. "Are you acting alone or are you registered to someone?"
 The icon doesn't change. It floats, pulsating and shifting, almost as if it can't make up its mind what it wants to be. Another message arrives. "I hope you can help me. You're the first one I've found who might be able to.""
 Must be on orders not to talk. He looks around his node. Physically Sigil is shaking a little. "Okay. I hope so too... Are you this Courier Sprite's 'Caller'?" The word could be interpreted to mean many things: Creator, Master. He presses send then goes back to looking at the courier sprite.
 The icon distorts and morphs into a.. box? Of some kind? Maybe? It's hard to tell.
It doesn't stay stable. "It isn't safe to say more. May we contact you later? Please?"
 "Yes. And here is my other commlink's information. Just in case you can't find this persona." You know, in case he decides to start hiding it.
 The box opens, and inside is a small pin in the shape of a wavy line. It flutters up and alights on your icon's collar, where it glows a moment before disappearing. "I will
tonight." The box morphs back to the more or less spherical shape and starts to fade slowly, then abruptly disappears. The presence is gone.
 Several messages are sent out... Well two really. One is sent to the only other real hacker he knows: Andromeda. The other is sent to his recent Rigger/mechanic contact: Ducks. 'Hey, something really strange just happened. I'm looking to you for some help. Can't talk much about it over wireless. Can we meet up at, say, the Mechanic shop of that ogre woman?"
 Andromeda's link actually sends back an instant triggered reply: "SUSHI. Nomnom. DND."
 (Plucky 1950s household music isn't playing, but it should be.) Pausing in ironing pleats into some khakis, Ducks responds with, 'Whenever's good.' She studies her work, plucks at a piece of lint. Continues ironing. Steam goes here. And isn't she adorably domestic?
 Sigil frowns then gets his scrawny ass out of his chair. He looks sexy in a: Holy crap you're rail thin, d00d, kinda way. Soon he's out of the 'batcave' and off toward the Rat's Nest area where he knows Ducks to have at least been there once.
 Upon arrival, Sigil sends out another message to Ducks. Basically saying that he's arrived at the mechanic shop and will be in momentarily. He nods to his Sleuth Sprite as it returns and dismisses it. "Go have fun in the resonance realm for a bit." ... It's 4am.
 The ogre in question is all bundled up against the cold and has just arrived at the garage via her motorcycle -- judging from the ticking sounds its engine makes as it cools. The garage is neither warm nor inviting in the predawn gloom, but is *is* extremely well-lit and, hey, it blocks the wind. The rollup door is, er, rolled up. Annoyed devil rats in the corners make peculiar squalling sounds of frustration at their home being fucked with. Beautiful, symmetrical arrays of tools on benches and racks gleam with OCD precision. Ducks was probably already awake, and, accidentally, seems mostly-sober at this odd hour.
 "Sorry to bother you. I didn' think this could wait." Sigil's actual AR is active, the mundane little persona is gone. A pair of barely seen sprite hover around it. One providing a cloak of some sort, the other an affect that causes the eye of the skull in Sigil's left hand to glow. In the 'real' world, he's wearing his shadowrunning best... Which is to say just a pair of dark colored clothing. "I received a few disturbing messages recently. Sent a tracker out to find out where they originated from: A small time, or well just a corp that doesn't show up on the radar much: Neo-syn." He queues up the messages to be forwarded to Ducks should she ask for them.
 It's an odd hour for Adelaide as well, but she's tagged along with Ducks regardless, hat and scarf and a squirrel-colored UCAS jacket, jeans, leggings under the jeans, gloves. Eyes lidded behind her de la Rentas, a little tired, gray as well-- forgot to put her contacts in. She gives the rats a glance, as the pair arrive, Sigil too.
 She doesn't seem the least bit bothered, Ducks. Does ask about the messages as her curiousity be stirred up. Her own AR icon of an orange-and-tan raccoon doesn't seem any worse for the hour, either. Hands jammed firmly in her bulky jacket's pockets, she shrugs and asks, "I guess that's sort of weird, but... is it really *that* weird?"
 "Um. Well yes. It has to do with..." Sigil rubs at his face visibly as if already regreting what he's about to say. "It has to deal with technomancer stuff. I don't generally get messages from any other 'mancers. Especially not ones who figure out a way to get into my home node." He taps his temple to indicate just where that might be. "Right now I'm mainly waiting on a second contact." He pulls up some other things in the AR and spins them. "I'd just hack in there and find out more information, but I'm thinking the situation is volitile. If you're up for helping me out with this, I'll pay each of you 2k - post op."
 Ducks is neither eager nor hostile to the concept. As neutrally, she asks, "What do you plan on doing? Do you mean, uh, a multiple-party sort of... parallel trace on this person, or..." Pause. "This isn't some sort of wetwork, is it? I'm not sure I have the stomach for that." Get it? Ogre. Ogre stomach. They're supposed to be cast iron. See? Nevermind. It wasn't intentional humor.
 "No. No wetwork if I can manage it. I'm not going to try and kill whoever it was that contacted me. You can't even get -in- to my brain unless you're another techno." He shivers like a little rat dog in the cold. It is freezing cold this early in the morning after all. "No, if it is an extraction request, I'm looking for help in extracting. Otherwise I don't know yet. Like I said, I'm waiting until this person contacts me again."
 Adelaide draws a brow up, glances at Ducks. Tucks her hands in her pockets also, looks down as if entertaining the fleeting thought of wearing two jackets at once. Really, she's not skinny, she's fit enough, but there's not a lot of her there to stop the wind. She watches Sigil, curious.
 Ducks makes herding motions to try and get people into the garage proper so she can roll down the door and fire up the radiators to try to take the edge off the deadly cold. It'd make the devil rats happy, too. "Come on, inside."
 Sigil is happy to oblige. "There might even be the chance to use some of your crafty drones in this little operation... SHould there be an operation."
 Ducks perks a little at the mention of drones. Calls out to nobody present, "Hey, Holly, you may get some exercise." It's unclear if it's for show, or if she was actually vocalizing a wireless message to her own Doberman. "She's been dying to do something," explains Ducks, seriously.
 While waiting for contact, Sigil goes ahead and tries to find public information concerning the small time corporation. But before he does so! He calls up a Data Sprite. A small dark mass of digital smoke and bones.
 Meanwhile, thinking more, Ducks frowns, and says mostly to herself at a realization, "...Or maybe she's sublimating some aspects of her personality sub systems..." She wrinkles her nose.
 Sigil just shakes his head and purses his lips at Ducks's comments. Freaky techies and their drones.
 The sprite sends information back to Sigil via the resonance link. Not much more than you already know... in fact, it only found a couple of hits. One of them was the two words used in the same article unrelatedly, the other was a ping behind a firewall. When the sprite tried to stealth by, there was a sudden jolt of what passes among sprites for 'Oh shi*!!' and then the link goes dead.
 Sigil suddenly winces as something apparently affects him. "All right, looks like sending my friends out to do the searching for me is a horrible idea." He frowns apparently at the loss, then tries a find a warm spot in a corner. "Mind if I uh... Disconnect from reality for a few? I'm going to try and see if I can dig up some information while we wait..."
 It seems there wasn't much to be found. In fact, there is suspiciously little. Most corps that have built up from the ground have some history. This one appears to have either flown that far under the radar, or it is a recent development, or it is low key by specific design. Most of what you've found is that it is a research corporation, and has made advances in implanted DNI interfaces and research into the aging process.
 Ducks, uhs, "Not that corner." Mean little beady eyes and steady hissing are noted
there. "Actually, I have a cot, if you'd rather." Cheap folding one, UCAS military surplus.
 "I actually prefer sitting up, but I suppose leaning forward in the cot'll work." He takes up the offered cot and position and before too long returns with a frown. "Well. I don't think searching for more information will work. From what I can tell, its a shell company. Or at least that is my assumption. I can find very little history. Either that or it is a completely new corp. One thing I found." He pulls up the data and forwards it to the other two present. "Is that it's a corp that has ben making advances in implanted DNI interfaces... And oddly research into the aging process.. That's wierd.. At least to me."
 "Can't say I've ever seen any sort of connection between the two," Ducks lisps, slowly. "But when you consider it, both anticarcerand and antiaging treatments involve work with telomerasic agents. There's no reason for the two to *not* be connected somehow... one to keep possibly carcinogenic tech in check, the other to prevent genetic errors at a cellular level as well." She shrugs. Techies, with their... weird... weird ideas, and stuff.
 "I didn't think of it like that." Sigil tilts his head, rubs at the temples, then looks around. "Sorry to have met you here. I guess I should have picked somewhere more neutral. I just figured this was a pretty safe area to do certain things."
 The ogress laughs crookedly. "I was honestly considering painting the entire interior of this place -- door and ceiling as well -- with about seven cans of signal-negating paint." Oh, amusement. The corporate sponsor logos on her reinforced racing-team jacket flicker and advertise slogans. "But I haven't gotten around to it. Thinks would have been awkward otherwise so I guess I'm glad I've been busy with, uh. Other stuff. Stuff that doesn't necessarily need a wireless-obscure environment for locating and burning security rfids. That would be wrong." She nods. Plain wrong.
 After a few hours, at precisely 11:00, Sigil gets another message.
 <<Hello?>>
 Sigil perks up. He nearly jumps out of the cot. "Got something." He says physically and excitedly. He spins up his AR so that others may be able to see it if possible. <<Hi there. I think I have a rough guess as to where you are.>> Message sent back.
 Another message. Just messages, nothing more. <<It's not safe to come here. Do you have help?>>
 <>"
 Adelaide doesn't need much urging to go inside, nearly shivering even if she is bundled up in military surplus and thrift shop odds and ends. She tucks herself on a spare seat, draws her legs up and loops her arms around them, listens as Ducks and Sigil talk about -- well, really, there's a point where her grasp of the language frays and technical conversation falls right within it. She follows along for a while, a densely-referenced Sperethiel-English dictionary open in AR, hovering just in view, but after a while leans back a little, her eyes growing wide, unfocused, then-- Well, it looks like she's fallen asleep like that, her chin resting on her knees, but in the the gloom of the garage's astral shadow, well--
 <<Where do you think I am?>>"
 <<Understood. What can I do for you? Are these people bad?">> Sigil's response.
 <>
 <<Are you wanting out? Are you just wanting outside contact?>> Sigil fires off another message, streaming both received and sent to Ducks and Adelaide. "What do I ask this person? He-she needs help, I am assuming but what?" He looks convinced that this isn't some wierd prank.
 Ducks listens in, munching on some Stuffer Shack delights, scarcely distracted by the fact she's directing her new-to-her blue-and-white drone upside-down along the ceiling. "I'd... maybe ask when they'll be able to contact us again, or if they have a special signal or anything, before they get discovered or cut off. If they're isolated from us we're no good to, uh, them. By behind a wall, uh, in what sense do they mean?"
 But for a few patches of cobwebs causing a scare, the ceiling both on and between the support beams seems to make a perfectly-good surface for the drone to patrol. Creaking noises from the roof are heard now and then, and occasionally dust comes down and positively molests Ducks' perfectly-shiny shop.
 <>
 Ducks isn't entirely sure she likes where that line of thought leads. Sensitivity about family. Oh, she's been suckered in now if she wasn't already before.
 The elf's message falls on Adelaide's closed eyes, but elsewhere she cants her head, listens to voices, muffled, odd, like they were almost under water. In the astral shadow, embodied-- she's luminescent, her hair a halo about her face, her eyes dark, glossy, circles. Scales, the suggestion of serpentine motion-- arrested-- She listens, still-- then abrupt at least for someone watching her in the flesh, she stirs, lowers her glasses to look at Sigil over them.
 Another message comes to the three of you now rather than just Sigil. <<Hello.>>
 Ducks says, aloud, "Oh dear" before she can catch herself. Looks to Adelaide, Sigil, Adelaide again as if to ask: the hell?
 <<Are you friends too?>>
 Ducks squares her shoulders as if to settle her nerves. <<Yes,>> she replies.
 <<I'm sorry to bother you. I don't know anyone else.>>
 <<It's no bother,>> answers Ducks, looking a lot more puzzled than her commed messages might imply. <<We're here.>>
 <<Who are you?>> The messages come rapid fire but without any kind of emotes or anything else that might clue to the disposition of the sender.
 <<I'm Ducks. I'm Sigil's friend, here. How often can you reach us? Are there certain circumstances?>>
<<No. They won't let me out. If they find out something bad will happen.>>
 Adelaide's brows go up, she lifts her hands to curl her fingers around the frames of her glasses, then just as quick a hand slips into a pocket, one one of the devices on her PAN dropping off the network as she does. She looks at Ducks, blinks, at Sigil. << Hello, >> she answers. << My name is Adelaide. I am a friend of Sigil, also. >>>
 Immediately following that message another one follows it up. <<Hello. I have to go now.>>
 Ducks comms a kneejerk response she realizes sounds stupid even as she sends it judging from her incredulous expression, <<Keep in touch-->>
 No more messages come through. The entire exchange took less than a minute.
 Sigil's nose is bleeding. When he wakes up, his movements are slow and his eyes appear a little more sunken in. "Frak. That IC coming in was too fast." His words are groggy and he appears a little shaky. He sucks in a deep unsteady breath before attempting to stand -then sitting right down-. "Remind me never to do VR like that without sitting in the medical chair." He's looking up and to his left, apparently talking to something only he can see.
 "All right," he says from his sitting position on the cot. He rubs absently at the blood on his nose. "Well there are a few locations that our friend could be at.. I couldn't get more information before needing to jack out." His AR pops up, some sort of archiac form of green lights, glyphs, and algorythms that simply don't make sense to most. There is a Boston, Hong Kong, and San Fransico location.
 Sigil's eating his finger nails at this time of the evening. Occasionally he looks up to his left hand side to speak to something that is very obviously not around. Sometimes it's an argument, other times it's just to confirm or ask something. Otherwise, he's skimming through data that pops up in his AR, mainly it appears to be historical information about Technomancers in Hong Kong, the crash of '64, and where a nice place to rack out for the night would be in San Fransisco.
 <<..hello?>>
 Adelaide arrives, quiet, bundled up against the cold in a leather jacket, jeans and leggings, gloves and boots, her squirrel-colored UCAS surplus jacket thrown over all that. Seattle in winter is not the kindest place for her, it seems, she looks a little pale, a little drawn, but in the former at least not much more than usual. Whatever may follow in her shadow, well, she is silent and it is silent as well, and used to-- well, talking to things
unseen, she sits down, not far from Sigil, legs curled up, her arms wrapped about them.
 <> This is broadcasted to everyone present, but the recipient is on the far end. <<But I need some descriptions of people in the area. Can you help me with figuring out where you are?>>
 <<It's hard to see them. Sometimes they talk and I can't understand. Sometimes I do.>>
 Shift strolls into the area, checking a virtual map that he's got in front of him. He's aparently on some treasure hunt, because the map is of the pirate variety with a big red 'X' upon it. That X would be somewhere around here...
 Sigil pulls up a very small link of a man speaking a foreign language. <<If you can, can you go to this link and tell me if they speak it?>> Sigil is sitting on a cot in the garage. The place looks to be pretty interestingly set up, but it sucks for heating. The file being sent is a man speaking Mandarine, it's probably about 2-5 seconds long at most.
 When Shift accepts Sigil's offer, another text is sent to Shift detailing the situation. It's all pre-location information. Mainly it's about someone contacting Sigil in the matrix in a way that -very- few people can and asking for help. The type of help isn't clear, but the price tag is. 2k nuyen.
 The messages come over the group's AR very quickly. It's obvious again that whoever is sending them is using some kind of DNI and not AR gloves. <>
 Sigil mimics something about San Fransisco on the meatside. Another file is sent, this time speaking japanese. <<How about this one?>> Sigil has made note of it, probably knows exactly how it's going so fast, but doesn't say anything for the moment.
 Shift walks up towards Sigil, the X apparently pointing at the technomancer. The map is promptly 'crumpled up', and tossed over Shift's shoulder. It promptly fades away into particles.
 "What was that?" Shift asks, but in Japanese.
 <<..I don't know. It sounds like the other one. Do you..>> The message seems to cut off. Across Shift's AR comes a message <<Are you a friend too?>>
 Adelaide leans towards Sigil a little, perched on a chair in the garage, then reaches up with chilly fingers to touch the frames of her glasses. A window opens on her glasses, a traveler's phrasebook, she selects Asia, moves the map to center on the coast, Japan prominent. Her eyes dart about as in her even script she writes phrases in half a dozen different languages, dialects of the same. < Do any of these-- ? > She blinks once as the
visitor grows quiet.
 Sigil looks at Shift then rubs at his temple. "Frakkin' A." He says in plain english. "Sorry, that was a japa---" He stops when he realizes Shift spoke another language. "Sorry omae I don't scan."
 Shift looks around the room. <<Friend?>> he sends out, <<Yes. Let's go with that. I don't suppose you know where you are?>>
 <<No. I'm sorry. Are you sure? You sound like them.>>
 Shift frowns slightly, <<Whom do I sould like?>> He looks curiously at Sigil.
 .. Who shrugs impotently. "It looks like you're talking to our little mystery."
The seconds tick away. The previous two sets of messages lasted less than a minute. <<It's not safe here.>>
 Sigil steps back in. <<Okay. If there is any way you can, I need some sort of information I can trace you to.>> He looks around at the others present. <<The newcomer is a friend of mine. He can do things I could never think to do.>>
 Sigil's assurance seems to help. <<Good. It's still not safe. He sounds like them. We need help. I can't keep talking. They might know already.>>
 Sigil pulls up several links. Hong Kong, Boston, and San Fransisco. Tagged below them is this: 'These are the three possible locations of our target.' Another two links are sent. Historical data it looks like. Tagged: 'This concerns the technomancer situation in Hong Kong last year.' On Boston 'The crash of '64.' To the mysterious communication. <<Okay. I'll try and find where you are best I can. We'll help you as soon as we figure out where you are.>>
 <<There are some of us here. Sometimes we're together. They don't let us outside. I have to go. Where are you?>>
 <<Your friend sent me a cookie. I'll know which one is you. And we'll do what we can about the others.>> Meatside. "We need to see if there are rumors about research going down in Hong Kong.. Specifically using what I suspect are children. Same with Boston and -possibly- San Fransisco." Sigil looks exausted, like he -really- needs to get some rest. <<I'm in Seattle with my friends working on trying to find out where you are.>>
 Shift scratches his chin, "Hong Kong ... Boston ... San Fransisco ... Any other clues?"
 Adelaide scrunches her nose, then sits up, her boots thumping on the floor as, in AR at least, a keyboard appears in front of her. She frowns a little, fingers dancing as she types at it. "No, that is not good. I cannot say -- mm." She tilts her head. < Do you know other languages? English is hard for me. > She smiles a little as, first in Sperethiel, then Irish, Greek, and Arabic she asks if the other can speak that tongue. 
 "Japanese," Adelaide says, almost absently. She glances at Shift. "The visitor said
that you sounded like them, so that we know. That is almost anywhere," the young woman adds, after a moment. "But-- San Francisco, that is close and one of the addresses."
 Shift points out, "He could be in Hong Kong, too, and is just confusing the dialects."
 Adelaide nods, then as the virtual keyboard fades she draws her legs up, wraps her arms about them. "I gave a-- it is a word map, in a way, to the visitor. If it can work, then
they may find what was spoken."
 Shift asks, "Do we know what our friend has to work with? What things he might have available? Anything that could be used to give us more info about his location?"
 "I do not know, but whoever the visitor is, they can --" Adelaide draws her shoulders up, a small shrug. "They speak to my comm, no greeting, no connection, they speak. I think that is difficult, so they have the way to do that." She narrows her eyes a little. "Also, the visitor knew what you said, the sound of it. Japanese. There are places we can look, many where that tongue is spoken, but-- San Francisco, we know it to be one of these addresses. So, it is a good place to look--" She shrugs again. "Others, I do not know. They spoke of friends, then, more in one place, more in others?" She looks at her glasses, eyes darting as she looks at what is known so far. "It is the nearest to us, we can also learn more of it."
 Shift nods, "Well, if it's Japanese, the obvious answer is San Fran. So, we should do some checking that direction until our friend responds once more."
 Adelaide wrinkles her nose. "Travel will be--" She glances at the ceiling. "I would like to see San Francisco, I have never been."
 Shift grumbles a bit, "Probably aught to double check. No sense going there if we're not certain that the guy is there. Travel's not cheap, you know."
 Adelaide glances towards Sigil. "I agree." She leans forward, stands as she rubs at her arms. Even with the door closed, the garage is still cold. "And there are ways to make the network open doors?" She smiles a small, even smile. It doesn't quite reach her eyes, but they're behind her glasses, nothing to see here. She sits down, draws her legs up, wraps her arms about them. Her fingers curl and the virtual keyboard springs into being. It's really such an oafish sort of thing, but when one wants to write-- She opens up a window, a few more, Sigil's data, the logs her commlink has gathered so far. Her lips draw in an even line. "This company, the way our visitor writes-- a child?" If she keeps her fingers typing, they won't curl up, if she thinks about this, then she won't be angry. But that, well, that battle may already be lost, it shows in the tension in her arms, her face.
 Shift shakes his head, "Or someone who never got out much. There is that ... not everyone even knows how to read and write anymore. Not much reason to learn, after all."
 Adelaide glances towards Sigil. "That also."
 Shift wonders aloud, "So, we know what company is holding this guy? I don't suppose we know more about this company and its holdings in Hong Kong, San Fran, and Boston?"
 Adelaide narrows her eyes as she searches through lists of words, phrases, lifts her brows. "DNI," she says. "Neural interfaces, one thing they do." She glances at Sigil.
"They study aging? Another thing."
 Shift shakes his head, "No, no, chica. You mistake me. I mean physical assets, and the like. Usually, these folks will label their buildings, and give clues as to what they do where. Knowing where they have facilities would be a good thing."
 Adelaide curls the corners of her mouth up, almost a real smile that time, almost. "That, I do not know." She points the toe of a boot towards Sigil.
 Shift sighs a bit, "I don't think that would take that much effort. Most of the places aren't exactly hidden, you know. Just have to do a db search."
 Sigil's findings from earlier are still in Adelaide's records. There is an unusually small amount of information regarding the physical assets of the company. In fact, there is hardly even anything in the matrix about it. It seems to be something either very new, or is way under the average publicity radar.
 Adelaide's eyes dart along, following whatever is projected on her glasses, then stop. She frowns, wrinkles her nose. "There is so little about them. They could be new, or a company that does not wish to be known. A child of one, they make so many, like a game." She narrows her eyes, then draws her shoulders up. "If I look and they watch the network for who asks, I do not have the skill to fight them."

The Salish border guards let you go through without any trouble. They believe your illusory passports provided by Adelaide's spell, and when they check your SINs, their machine shows them to be perfectly okay with nothing interesting whatsoever. Let's hear it for sprites. When you get to Tir Tairngire, the illusion spell gets another workout. Adelaide speaks excellent Sperethiel and Sigil is an elf and hey, Ducks and Shift
are too! What a surprise. You are directed to stay on a particular road, and not to deviate from your course. You are given a finite time limit to make it through the nation. Not very friendly or trusting, these elves. But hey they let you through. When you get to the CFS, same deal pretty much. Except friendlier. It's still California. Folks are more laid back here.

It's a single story building in a sort of medical office park thing, where they have several different doctor's offices next to each other. Kind of like the body mall with more than one building and not as creepy. The building is connected to others on either side in a row. There are probably 5 or 6 different offices in the park. Doing some more data searching on the way (widening your search so you aren't cross-referencing for Tehcnomancers) shows that the office is listed as a genetics clinic specializing in physical reinvigoration and Leonization. This is consistent with what you found out with your other data searching before. The office itself is relatively large. It takes up most of the block of offices it sits in. To one side is a small dental office, but the other seems to be an extension (probably for the leonization facility, since that takes being in a tank for some
months) of the Neo-syn office. Being that it's in San Francisco, it seems there is an underground parking garage also (this is very common in the city).

 With long spans of highway between the borders of Salish and Tir Tairngire, and with little cause to stop along the way, Adelaide has been tucked in the back of the van, reading, caught up in whatever is reflected in the still pools of her odd glasses. At work at, well, something. In San Francisco, she opens a map in a window, watches the little dot of the van as it inches along the highway. "I would love to sleep in a bed," she says as she winces, rubs the small of her back. "But-- mm. One thing I wonder, our visitor, they mention friends, are we to rescue one or more?" The corners of her mouth quirk up. "Should we rent a house?"
 Its voice intentionally scratchified, the inert shape of the Doberman drone, underneath Ducks' slogan-covered armored racing jacket asks, slow warm purr: "Is there any real reason not to be cozy?"
 Adelaide arches a brow. "One of you snores."
 An ogre hey!s at that. "I have sleep apnea sometimes."
 Sigil looks at those talking about being cozy and begins pulling stuff up on the matrix. "Okay, I don't want to get caught spoofing anything too crazy, so what level of comfort do you all feel comfortable with?"
 Ducks seems indifferent, but then she used to live in a cube. In explanation she says, "I'm indifferent, but then I used to live in a cube." After a moment she supposes, "But we'd at least need a parking spot. And I guess what we would want to afford probably would be streety enough we wouldn't have to worry about being highly visible. Right?"
 Adelaide draws her shoulders up, looks at Sigil over the tops of her glasses. "If our visitor is just one person, then the van--" She looks about at it. "It has carried us here, but if there are more--" She leans back, rests her hands on her knees. "I agree, we should
leave as little trace of us as we can." She glances at Ducks, nods. "That should be enough."
 Sigil presses a few keys then uses his fingers to lower his AR. "Okay, I have a location of a place to stay but it's offline, so I can't make a reservation." He makes a shoving motion toward Ducks and a link shows up, the address. "It even provides a parking place."
 Ducks starts to respond, but takes too long, because the drone under the jacket butts in with, "She thinks that's more than fair." The ogress gives the drone an accusing, et tu? sort of look. Smugly, the drone adds, "And so do I." Ducks gives Sigil a long-suffering look, sort of nods and shrugs one shoulder, gives in.
 "I feel your pain. I deal with my sprites in a similar way. At least Hollywood here has some perception of the real world."
 A low but scratchy chuckle that could, with better acoustics, melt hearts prepends the remark: "You have no idea."
 "It's not entirely intentional," admits Ducks, rubbing a tusk, "but it seems to work out alright."
 Sigil smiles at both Hollywood and Ducks. He apparently shows high respect for the drone. "It is good to have personality, so that interacting with your companions isn't so... wierd."
 Adelaide looks over the tops of her glasses-- eyes gray, she took her contacts out somewhere along the road-- then reaches up to nudge her glasses into place. She doesn't say anything, but she grins.
 The heavy mostly-baby-blue FEISAR-liveried jacket draped over the drone flickers with such message as "the future is now" and "red bull energy drink red bull". Underneath it, the drone backhandedly compliments its owner with a purred, "Oh, we do try." The ogress makes a surprised open-mouthed frown sort of expression but doesn't comment. Hollywood purrs on, voice soft and liquid behind the interference, "You *surely* know how it is, dear: geeks and their toys." There is a tiny whine of servos as the drone rises then falls on its caterpillar treads, just a tiny enough amount of suspension travel to suggest a shrug..
 Adelaide just manages to cover her mouth with both hands as the giggles start,
tries to stifle them by drawing her legs up a bit more and-- no, no that's no help at all.
 "Hollywood. Later on, do you mind if I add one of my own companions into your brain to assist you in your operations?" As if it were the machine's decision.
 There's a hesitation. Ducks looks over at the "disguised" drone and raises her eyebrows in a you-can-answer-I-don't-care kind of look, then goes back to noodling around in her AR, probably. It's an odd show of trust, if that's what it is, or maybe it's all just a show in general Hollywood answers Sigil dreamily with, practically emitting little cartoon hearts, "Please, do feel free."
 She does eventually get the giggles under control, draws her glasses down to rub her eyes with the palm of a hand. Takes a breath, then stretches her legs out in front of her with a wince, looks at the coat. Well, Hollywood, curious.
 Adelaide says, after some thought. "Do you think our visitor may be an intellect? An AI?"
 Sigil looks over at Adelaide now with a helpless shrug. "Hey, my attempts at not appearing geeky washed away when you saw me battling mythical creatures in a videogame then... Telling you all about it." He shows her a winning grin. Soon they are all at the spot Sigil suggested. A run down place, a hole in the wall really. It looks more like an adandoned warehouse lot than an apartment. Large parking lot.
 Sigil then adds after Adelaide speaks. "The only reason why I know it can't be anything other than a Technomancer is because it was able to hack into my actual bionode. Absolutely no one is capable of doing that other than another Technomancer or a sprite. It coul... well I guess to you a Free Sprite would be very much like an AI." Suddenly he appears contemplative. "No. No. It wouldn't have sent a courier sprite to cookie me, I don't think."
 Adelaide looks down at her glasses, folded next to her. "That makes it certain.
Or--" She rubs her nose, puts her glasses on. "A technomancer, then." She
 "Well, since you brought it up. Let's not rule out it being a captured Free Sprite. Basically free sprites are like AI or," Sigil straightens up and looks at Adelaide closely, thinking. "Well, maybe like spirits? It's hard to explain. They're sentient, living creatures." Heh she didn't ask and he's providing the information.
 Adelaide curls a finger, a gesture quick and subtle and on the network her icon, an elegant woman in silver, Victorian finery holds a letter out to Sigil. "All spirits, bound or not bound are -- of thought, however great or small they are. They are gods and the children of gods. I--" She draws her shoulders up, a small shrug. "I do not know, it is perhaps like it, in a way. Perhaps-- I think I understand."
 "Your perception of your spirits and mine of my sprites are one and the same. Admittedly, the gods and their ilk are younger than the gods of the mystical world we have known for millenia." Sigils AR interface is archaic. It is notable that he doesn't use any sort of gloves or goggles (maybe contacts?) to interface with his system. Everything is in a green tone, wierd glyphs and code fly through occasionally. His own persona, a tall thin spiritual-like figure dressed in white and armored in areas by some sort of leather stands in front of Adelaide's. Cradled in one arm is a skull. Electronic wires running out of it and dissapearing as the reach the ground. The whole persona appears nearly like smoke. Sigil accepts the letter... With a reply.
 On the network Adelaide's icon accepts Sigil's message, a small bow, then clasps it to her bosom. Adelaide looks up, at Sigil. A faint smile. "I accept."
 Sigil taps a few keys in his AR and begins skimming through local information. "Hey," he says suddenly looking at Adelaide. "Think you could send a spirit to scout the area? See if there is any magery type stuff we might have to deal with?"
 Adelaide nods, draws her legs up and wraps her arms about them, rests her chin on her knees. "I can." She wrinkles her nose. "They will defend themselves in the shadow, as strong as the network."
 “No need to let the company know we're looking at them, just really looking for barriers or whatever that might limit you in some way. I'm thinking that we will be using your abilities much like we did the last time I ran with you." A popup springs to life on Sigils screen and for a moment he looks excited. "Damn, more of this stupid Drek?" He taps a few keys and fires off an email. "People asking for my services even though my status is: Unavailable for Work."
 Sigil nods to Adelaide. "Okay, I'm going to start probing while we wait on Ducks and the gunman to get back or wake up." He rolls his eyes backwards and his body goes slack.
 In the VR, the wraithlike form of a hooded man becomes more solid. The lights within the skull that this figure cradles glow a bright green as he begins massaging it. "Paladins, be prepared. We're about to go hunting again." Two wraiths, one full of golden smoke the other a grim reaper of sorts hover into view behind the Technomancer's matrix form. He quickly begins scrolling through the nodes required to find the site location.
 The node comes into view. It is very plain, in shades of green and blue and white, with little more than a contact code to make an appointment and an advertisement for their medical services.
 Adelaide has been quiet for some time, tucked in a corner with her squirrel-colored UCAS surplus jacket wrapped over her leather jacket, her legs drawn up as close as they can be, her arms wrapped around them. Hours, though now and then she stirs, and when Sigil speaks she looks up towards him, blinks behind her glossy, round glasses. << I'll stay here,>> she says to the elf, quiet, sperethiel.
 As before, the robotic form of the IC shimmers into being from seemingly nowhere. This time, however, the electric arcs from its twin cannons.. don't even activate.
 After some time, Adelaide stirs, lifts her head, then-- wincing, biting her lower lip, stretches her legs out, slumps back against the van. She reaches up, presses the palm of a hand to her forehead and whispers something, quiet, almost weary, gratitude for aid granted, apology for the future and Sigil the only one perhaps who might untangle the words. She lets a breath out, glances at the others, then leans her head back and closes her eyes. It isn't long before the pace of her breath is even, and she's floating in San Francisco's astral murk. She stretches, then settles, leans back against the side of the last beast she summoned, a thing like a drake with heavy, keeled scales, horns like a lyre. She smiles to the spirits gathered near her, speaks each of their names. They're shadows, aspects of greater beings, but there are patterns and protocols to follow, respect that must be granted, respect given freely to each. She asks them to stay with her, until she calls upon them, and thus with ritual for each complete she looks out on the city, relief and-- curosity on her face. She has never been to San Francisco, and-- well, she stays with the van, or at least the van's blocky astral shadow, glances down at the auras of her companions within it.
 A new icon appears. This one also looks like a featureless, genderless, nubile human with silver skin. It floats, hovering, and extends its hand toward Sigil's icon.
 The icon points an arm at your paladin sprite, then points at itself. Then it points to one side of itself, where another icon appears, this one of a simple pyramid that points in the direction of your icon.

 ((Large amounts of dice rolling here as Sigil, his sprites, and both icons trade attacks. In the end, Sigil’s attack is deflected by his own Paladin Sprite, and he decides that if this foe can wrest control of his sprites, that jacking out is a good idea.))

 Suddenly Sigil is awake and swearing in english. After he's finished. "Well, that netted me nothing. And, I'm sure you have discussed this while I was vacationing in Rio: They probably know we're coming." He at least doesn't look like he is dying.
 Shift peers down at Sigil, "Oh. Good. And here I was afraid that this would be too easy."
 The floor plan of the building is pulled up for everyone to see. Someone got it. Ducks, Shift, maybe even Adelaide or Sigil. "All right," Sigil says shaking his head. He looks just a tiny bit fearful here. "So in the matrix, I'm basically outmatched. I might not get killed in there, but they have a technomancer and sprites in there that I've never seen before." He rubs his hands as he looks through the floorplan. "We have any other ideas?"
 Adelaide rubs her forehead with the palm of her hand, takes a breath. Then she stands, tucks her hands in her pockets. "They have a ward, I do not know anything of it but that -- it is as strong as I am. I can pass through it, but there are different wards, the trouble different." She frowns, looks at her glasses. "I can travel through the shadow, push through the ward to see what is there, but--" She draws her shoulders up. "They have been warned." She leans back against the van. "Is there time to wait, or is that gone? If so--" Her nose wrinkles a little. "I doubt there is time." She looks at Sigil. "Did you learn if--"
 Adelaide looks at the map. "They may call a guard--" She looks at Sigil. "Can you--" Her hands flutter, she continues in Sperethiel. << Tch, we need to know if they've warned anyone else, or if they have contacted their security. Can you watch the network, to see if they've done this? I can ask the watchers to do this, also, in the shadow. They've a ward, there may be more. Also, with Ducks' drones we can watch them, to see if anything changes outside their building. That way we've some warning. >>
 "I can attempt to, but their network is on red alert right now. They very likely know that a pretty little Technomancer just tried to hack into their system." He looks around the van at the comment of Ducks and her drones. "We could use them to plot when we can maybe beat someone up for their ID card or something? I'm not really good at the whole physical stuff."
 Adelaide's brows go up. "If I can see one of their cards, I can make an illusion of
it."
 Shift pauses, looking over at Adelaide. "What's with the elfese, chica?" He goes over his weapons once more, as well as the straps of his equipment.
 Adelaide glances at Shift and draws her shoulders up, a quick shrug. "Sorry, it is easier for me."
 <<Found something.>> Sigil says after a long time working. <<Looks like these guys have a guaranteed Lone Star Contract. 5 minute reaction time. One onsite Lonestar guard. This doesn't rule out other guards.>> He thins his lips. <<Can't find records using this about techonos being here. Still searching.>>
 After another short amount of time. <<Nothing. Nothing that I can answer. I don't have an admin account so I can't access the information that we're probably really needing.>>
 At a few minutes before 7:00, a pickup carrying two people drives in and heads
around the rear of the building.
 "Ducks, think you can get that drone to sneak in behind that pickup, see where they are going?" That's Sigil.
 The dragonfly sees the two men get out. They're dressed in black security clothing, including armor vests. They chat back and forth as they walk over to an unmarked door with a manual keypad. The dragonfly catches the number they punch in (it's a long one). The door opens, blocking the dragonfly's view, and they head inside.
The door shuts.
 <<Dragonfly reporting two fellas in armored vests, all black -- they were in the truck that just pulled into the garage -- are entering an unmarked door,>> sez Ducks. <>
 <<Frag. Okay, so shall we attempt to do the same after they leave, or do you want to watch them a while longer?>> Sigil looks hopeful suddenly. You know, after the blow to his paranoia-ego thing he has with hacking.
 After another few minutes, the dragonfly sees the door open again and two more people walk out, dressed identically to the first set. They go to separate cars, wave goodbye to each other, and drive away.
 Ducks passes the feed to everyone. <<Shift change?>>
 <<Looks like it.>> Sigil's reply.
 Adelaide narrows her eyes at the feed. A brow goes up. < Some of us. >
 <<That sounds like a fantastic plan. And with the fact that we haven't heard from our friend in at least a full day, I'd say time is running out.>> Sigil. His eyes appear sunken in and his face shows the tell tale sign of someone worried.
 <> purrs a familiar, syrupy, slightly-staticky voice. <> a chuckle, <>
 <<That sounds like my last girlfriend,>> notes Shift.
 Sigil Queues up Lynx, it looks literally like a lynx in a ghostly form. He then points to the doberman. "When she starts shooting, you run diagnostics and assist her as -best- you can. After this evening is over dear friend, I plan on releasing you. You have served quite a long history with me and you deserve your freedom."
 Decision perhaps made, the blue-and-white, multiply-tracked drone (subtly labeled HOLLYWOOD on either side) limbers itself. <<Bet she was a looker,>> it purrs to Shift. Ducks cuts into the drone's airtime, being rude to it, lisping, <<Let's light this candle.>>
 Adelaide makes a small sound as the ward is passed, hunches her shoulders. She closes her eyes as the spirits about her drift back, fade into the city's astral gloom to wait for her, then reaches under her coat, touches the hilt of a dagger, tucked at her side. Then she straightens up, passes through the ward and follows the others. Her mouth's an even line, her eyes intent behind her glasses, looks-- something. A panda may say-- curious. Adelaide says, over the comm.
 The garage is surprisingly large with the small number of patients who come through here. There are a couple of expensive looking cars, three or four blue-collar bore-boxes, one bike that looks well cared for, and space for at least two dozen more cars. There is also a doorway with a blue and green Neo-syn logo on it, and the previously
mentioned unmarked grey door.
 The old fashioned keypad opens to your fingers. Ahead is a dimly lit tunnel which goes on for short ways before turning a corner.
 Ducks purses her lips, silently whistling due to nerves, heavy revolver in one steady hand. The drone named Hollywood slips through the now-opened door and darts ahead, bringing up UWB radar imagery -- a ghostly 3D outline of far too much data than should be on tap on something so portable. Near-military grade stuff.
 <<Drek.>> Sigil grabs at his head and actually stumbles forward a bit. <<I'm being dampened. No access to the outside wireless.>>
 Shift adjusts his goggles over his mask, turning his foci off (for now), and taps his ingram reflexively. <<Do we at least have an idea of where we should look? Someone say yes.>>
 Ducks peels black, round-lensed goggles off her sleeve and pastes them over her eyes. <<Let's guess the same passcode works on this door, else, fuck all, I'll... shoot it. Open. Or something.>> <> murmurs the drone, possibly sarcastically but still charismatically.
 Ducks taps the same code at the new door, because hey, why not. Who knows. The door clicks open. Directly on the other side are two very surprised security guards holding rifles and blinking at you.
 <<Or I can try and hack it, but I lack the experience of some of my collegues.>> Sigil. He groans, too.
 Shift says, "Howdy boys," an instant before his supressed Ingram Smartgun X is spitting out hot Ex-Ex into the poor, unsuspecting guards. They never had a chance to call for help as they fall to the floor.
 This all took seconds. Seconds later, shouts come from ahead. The door opened into a short corridor, which looks like it opens up into a large room expanding to the left. The walls are white and tiled.
 Sigil shakes his head and crouches down. <<No no, I brought my sprites. They're in here.>> He taps his head, apparently he didn't hear Andromeda correctly. Mentally (matrixally) he's lashing out at his immediate surroundings, trying to find -any- sort of wireless connection other than his own team.
 Now that you're in this room, yes, there are nodes in range. Several of them. Something like a dozen or more.'.
 Ducks raises her -- hey, when did that revolver get all tricked out with a smartgun system and a custom grip? -- firearm of choice and okay, wait for it, deep breaths, the second anyone so much as pokes their head around the corner she's gonna open up. 'Less Holly beats her to the punch. Ducks crouches sightly though cos she's a big target otherwise.
 Two more guards rush around the corner, assault rifles drawn and ready. There are a bunch of nodes in here. Several are commlinks, one is a nexus, and several others are biological nodes.
 Adelaide reaches into a pocket, curls her fingers around the grip of a taser in her pocket. Really, though, it's mostly just to see the thing is there, and loaded, and it is on both accounts. She glances at Shift, down the hall at the guards, her hand moves, tugs a mirror from the same pocket. She tilts it until she can see down the hall, furrows her brow as she starts to gather a spell around herself, quiet, more a process of thought for illusions, a plea, a pattern. She hisses quietly through her teeth.
 Shift's cocky expression changes into one of pure seriousness. This is his job. This is what he's here for. His gun shifts in his hand like some old time gangster movie, except in the hands of a faster, more accurate master of gunplay. The gun clicks as the handle comes back, bullets spitting out, the gasses hissing softly as the bullets ride out of the barrel and into the gun's latest victims...
 One of them gets nailed in the legs and belly. He falls to the left, twisting around to face the room he came from, his rifle spraying bullets back the way he came
indiscriminately.
 You paged Sigil with 'One of the biological nodes goes abruptly off line.'.
 The other man, wounded, ducks back around the wall screaming. An instant later, the white lights turn red as an unseen hand hits an alarm button.
 <<There's the five-minute mark.>> Ducks, apprehensive.
 Yelling is heard, some in English, some in Japanese. Also, what sounds like children crying.
 Since Ducks is in all likelihood feeding Hollywood's vision to the rest of you, she sees a large room with several alcoves, some with a curtain hanging across, others are open to be visible. In each is a small humanoid on a gurney hooked up to various machines and IV tubes. On the opposite side of the room are two large curtains concealing what are probably larger partitions. On the far end, is another hallway and two doors. Hollywood also notices two humans in hospital scrubs dashing from one of the small alcoves toward the far corridor.