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Wo Neo Detroit is, as envisioned by late 80s and early 90s speculative fiction, a sparkling jewel, with futuristic architecture and infrastructure, sophisticated concept cars made end consumer reality. There are even holographic displays implanted into everyday objects, though they tend to be of the vaguely flickering, solid color wireframe variety. The glamor of most of it is marred by the oppressive atmosphere that night in the city brings. Those same hyperstylized automobiles tend to be the local police cruisers patrolling the mostly empty streets, with most of the holograms being repurposed to remind that there was a curfew in effect for the citizens. Non-law enforcement tends to be the disgruntled youth of the city, though for now, the standoffs don't amount to much more than thrown objects and staredowns.

    Yet, even with as much control as the Midwest government wields, even they can't hold back the natural movement of the celestial sphere. Eventually, the sky begins to subtly brighten, and those same curfew holograms begin ticking up toward 6 AM. The dawning of the sun will soon vanquish the terrible night, and the city will vaguely begin to look normal again. Unfortunately, it also means another day will soon have passed with cyber threats looming overhead. A mere few hours ago(*), the Watch had staged a daring raid on DataTek, a company that produces the firmware featured in most 'internet of things' products in the Midwest, and is beholden to the government as far as implementing surveillance collectio into it.

    Acting on behalf of the less extreme fragment of Extinct Panda, a group of ex-DataTek employees turned vigilante hackers, they managed to secure the likely location of their end target: Select-Ron's hideout from his old holoterminal, amidst his many rented storage spaces. Extinct Panda's primary contact with the Watch, Gig Mama, as well as Sanders, a close colleague of Select-Ron's, whom Annie Sandberg had been trailing, would have further helped narrow it down to one likely location. It's within the 'Red Zone', practically fly over country as far as the city's infrastructure is concerned, and ironclad, visual proof that the city's apparent prosperity hasn't extended to all its corners, now that daylight is beginning to dawn upon it.

    Ace Williams, the local government's contact with the Commonwealth, and by extension the Paladins, is still driving in his own police cruiser. He's a decently tall and clean cut African American man, that seems to wear his sunglasses and long coat at all hours and no matter the weather. Very much a future cop. Rory White is likely to have been traveling with him, as he'd have forwarded what information could be gathered back to the (horribly understaffed) police department for further analysis, and to be put on the record, but he pulls back up to the station that had been built around the local warpgate, perhaps in anticipation of receiving another that the Paladins have sent, and giving a quick briefing. "Any luck narrowing down what they're up to, Miss White," he wonders? That question is asked while letting the very efficient (but still internal combustion) engine idle.

    To outsiders, especially those engrossed in the digital culture, this city would have always been an interesting target. The hyperconnected surveillance state trope is always full of opportunity and intriguise. Lately, even by its standards, there has been a burst of activity on online forums. Something big is about to go down, and everyone is talking about what happened at DataTek a few hours ago, with tons of speculation that Extinct Panda or 'that outside group' was involved. In other words, it's a scenario that might provide an interest to third parties to investigate and follow the trail, as well.
August Kohler August Kohler is on route towards the Red Zone, flicking his mirrored accessory back and forth as he travels. He was pretty much spotted during the raid, even if the person spotting him was blind; it's been on his mind since, but nobody's called him out over radio, so. "I think we ultimately want to try and talk him out of this. Reason with him. Though if he's a /complete/ moron, we'll just have to knock him out and drag him wherever Gig Mama wants us to drag him."
Rory White Rory White has indeed been traveling with Ace Williams. She's spoken precious little, tone ranging between somewhat kind and demure - if hesitant and timid - to distant and flat depending on how focused she is. But always very professional and thinking before she speaks. Comparatively much smaller and very fair-skinned, they make a very odd pair in the car.

    "Thankfully, yes! The most likely prospect has been narrowed down to a single city block in the Red Zone. Probably one of the several warehouses in that block. If they're there, we'll have a very hard time figuring out which one without alerting them on approach..."
Xiaomu Xiaomu is not going at her usual, catchphrase-indicated 'high speed' at the moment, although her lightcycle is making a more than decent clip as she emerges from the warpgate. Mostly, she's being judicious with the lightcycle's speed because she has a passenger: Reiji's riding behind her, after all, and no matter how tightly he might cling to her, too much centrifugal force would still ruin both of their days - Reiji's more than Xiaomu's.

Not that she's going to be making too many wild turns at this point; if she's disappointed to realize how close the warpgate is to the meeting point, the sage fox stifles any display thereof, bringing her lightcycle around alongside Ace Williams's cruiser and giving both Williams and Rory a quick, casual wave. "I put in a request for some of Shinra's special operations ninja to support us on this, but I doubt we'll see them ..." she jokes. Humor is set aside pretty quickly, though, and she asks, "So what have we got to work with?"
Alopex     After all the shadowork a few hours earlier, the rising sun is a bit of a relief. Why? Because as far as Alopex was concerned, it would be easier to see the opposition coming at distance now, rather than wondering if the police were only about to wander by, and not stop. The thought crosses her mind as Gig Mama transmits the geobeacon. Once received, the fox-ninja darts from the little place she found to hide in the outskirts for the coordinates given.

    At least a dozen ways of how to deal with the target had crossed her mind, but until she was face to face with the member of Extinct Panda, she wouldn't know which one to use. Closing in on the location, Alopex finds a perch to wait on, scanning the area, and especially approaching traffic, while everyone discusses entry.
Taro     Someone has raided DataTek, and it wasn't him.
    Who was responsible? An interesting question, that. More interesting than what may or may not have been taken. One must always keep an eye out for fresh talent, after all. Before now, Extinct Panda has been on the extreme periphery of his organization's radar, unclear whether it was yet another bunch of script kiddies with delusions of grandeur or if any of its members had a lick of promise. Perhaps it is time to make a more full assessment of them.
     For once, the cassock is more likely to draw unwanted attention than make him appear less threatening, and so Taro has opted for a slightly oversized dark duster over a serviceable black shirt, dark jeans, and engineer boots. Any or all of which may have been obtained in the past hour or so from the local collection bin. A messinger bag is slung over his shoulder, his holy symbol worn outside the shirt, though most would probably take it for a fashion statement. It's time to avail himself of one of Neo Detroit's internet cafes and get a better sense of the lay of the digital land.
Annie Sandberg Annie follows along with August and the rest of the Watch, looking excited to be continuing on to the climax of the mission. "I hope we can get through to him," she says in agreement with August's assessment. "If we run into any trouble things will get complicated fast." It seemed pretty likely that the Paladins would be after them, especially after the fire. Maybe heading into the mean streets would actually provide some benefits in that regard, even if it also had its dangers.
Iria Iria flies in on her glider, letting the wind guide her for the most part. She doesn't pay much heed to anyone or anything like that. Nor does she notice the others either. She's only intent on flying towards the target locatino and completing the mission as best as she can. There's a slight scowl on her face, but that's just determination, not anger...
Reiji Arisu     Reiji is indeed clinging for dear life at the back of Xiaomu's light cycle. Well, perhaps not for dear life. He does have a helmet, and he's relatively durable for a human regardless, but the Light Cycle isn't exactly the kind of thing known for gentle or smooth cornering, so being flung off by pure inertia is still a danger.

Which is why he's still hugging around Xiaomu's midsection.

Because honestly, people interpreting a possible PDA is still better than falling off a motorcycle.

"Keep your eyes open," Reiji warns his partner. "I doubt we'd want to risk missing them when they make their move."
Deelel Deelel deployed this was going to be sticky business for her btu sheknew this would be the people's last chance to deal with a strangle hold that could last for generations otherwise and that did't sit well with her. She had suited up again and she now is keeping on the move and she knows making ready to do her thing she also would be making for the red zone and keeping on the move. She'd changed the colouring of her gear from the last raid but that might not help so much.
Wo For the Watch, the location pinged is within the central area of Neo Detroit. Approaching it isn't difficult, especially as the police presence begins to fade at precisely 6 AM, and normal, everyday civilians begin to appear on the streets. The difference is starkly abrupt, however. One block you're amid those shining and modern buildings and skyscrapers. Only two more away, the road and street don't look like they've been upkept for a while. Shadows, cast by the newly risen sun, loom from the elevated highways that cross overhead, positioned carefully so that the city's more well to do don't even have to pretend this place exists. While they could stand a good scrubbing, the decidedly less upscale buildings are at least in good enough shape that there's no danger of them falling.

    The people here are relativey poor, though they also have no interest in vigilance, as the city's council has let them down again and again. This is the kind of place that even Watch Elites could roam around in the open without a second glance, including the decidedly non-human. In fact, though it was rare in the wealthier parts of Neo Detroit, here it'd be easy to spot people with unconcealed cybernetic augmentations. It seems that, at some point, they replaced tattoos as the body modifcation of choice. The actual location, as Rory White on the other end had narrowed down, is a slightly run down warehouse district. The rent would be low enough here for someone of Select-Ron's station to rent it basically indefinitely, and there's not much oversight or regulation by the council to get in the way. Basically, it's perfect. The question is finding which one it is, since geolocation can only go so far, even in this city.

    On the Paladins side, Ace Williams quirks an eyebrow at the approach of the light cycle, but at least it looks like it will be able to keep up. He reaches up to the all purpose control panel and tunes the software defined radio system to what should match the Paladins' local communications. It'll be easier talking this way on the road than shouting out his window and into the wind. "Glad you could make it. We've uncovered quite the conspiracy, and an attack on our very network infrastructure." He pauses in his briefing to draw down his shades to Rory White, one brown eye and one cyborg replacement looking intrigued, before he slides the specs back up. "I see...the Red Zone. We might not be too welcome there, but they'll still respect my badge." He waves for Xiaomu, and by extension Reiji, to follow as he pulls out and peels off, the turbocharged engine of the cruiser whining to life, and for once he actually activates the siren, an obnoxious chirping and light flashing signal bar.

    Rather than take the skyways, Ace drives right through the heart of the city, itself. One of the perks of the hyperconnected city is that the police department can seize control of other vehicles on the street, which means that the morning traffic parts for the impromptu motorcade to barrel through. There's an indignant dose of horn honking that follows as they pass through to their destination, the only recourse for the inconvenienced civilians. "Miss White, I'm going to trust you with network access. See if you can subtly shut down some of those old cables feeding the place. Make it look like normal congestion. You two on the bike, we'll split up when we get there and check all of the warehouses. It shouldn't be hard to tell which is the one." The approach is much like it is for the Watch, otherwise.

    As Taro sits down at the net cafe, things are fairly busy. A healthy sample of the city's population is here, among all demographics, and most, at least, seeming to be taking in legal activities. Not that it would stop someone enterprising from using the local holoterminals for other things. The local underground forums, so abuzz with information about Extinct Panda and the raid on DataTek, are suddenly shifting to something else. "A police cruiser, at this hour? Looked like it was in a hurr
Wo As Taro sits down at the net cafe, things are fairly busy. A healthy sample of the city's population is here, among all demographics, and most, at least, seeming to be taking in legal activities. Not that it would stop someone enterprising from using the local holoterminals for other things. The local underground forums, so abuzz with information about Extinct Panda and the raid on DataTek, are suddenly shifting to something else. "A police cruiser, at this hour? Looked like it was in a hurry." "Looked like it was headed for the Red Zone. You dont' think...?" "I'd be surprised if they even laid fiber down under there, but at least the permits would be cheap."
Xiaomu "Still trying to figure out why a group called 'Extinct Panda' wants into your networks at that level," Xiaomu observes, "but we'll see what we can do to help."

Granted, from the sage fox's perspective, it's not impossible that the hackers have found a serious problem in DataTek and are trying to prevent the corporation from abusing their influence over everyone else's devices, or are trying to plug a loophole that some third party could exploit to instigate even greater chaos. But she's not really an expert on cybernetic matters ... unless you're talking about video games or anime. (Or anime about videogames ...)

She returns Williams's wave, leans over the lightcycle, and throttles up, following the cruiser a couple of seconds behind - just far enough to react safely to the cruiser decelerating, stopping, turning, or swerving.

Of course, once they reach the target location, Xiaomu doesn't really need to 'park' the lightcycle; she just slows it to a halt, tells Reiji, "Dismount here," and once he's off the bike and on his feet?

She just de-rezzes the vehicle, the lightcycle turning from 'solid matter' (or something which passes for it) into a hard-light construct, and the light condensing in and collapsing down to something resembling a baton. Said baton is tucked into an inside pocket of Xiaomu's vest, her staff is unslung from her back, and she and Reiji start making their way among the warehouses. Of course, Xiaomu's using all of her senses - sight, hearing, even smell. Not that her sense of smell in human form is THAT much better than an actual human - but even a human sense of smell can have its uses.

Especially if the Extinct Panda hackers reek the way stereotypical otaku are supposed to ... assuming that even stands out in this part of the city. Details.
Rory White "I'll do everything in my power, Mr. Williams. We're dealing with some skilled individuals though. Can certainly try to isolate them from outside networks... but I warn, we may have already lost the element of surprise." She is not... very pleased to see the state of affairs in the Red Zone. Hints of a frown show on her face whilst looking out the windows. So barren, so hostile, so wild and... ghetto, really.

    But... hold on a moment, was that a Light Cycle zipping past then falls into pursuit?

    Rory's face freezes briefly whilst processing that fact. After quickly doing a rewind and examination of that moment and realizing it was Xiaomu she relaxeds. That's a relief. Odd as she can be, Xiaomu is a staunch ally here!

    But you don't see those every day. "Very funny!" Rory snips back, face showing only a few fragments of humor. She's TRYING to appreciate the joke, but without the biological impulse to laugh it was pretty hard to do it.
Alopex     With the Red Zone clearly in view, Alopex gives pause at the sight of not just a single warehouse, but a lot of them in plain view. Sigh. With the lack of upkeep in the area, the fox realizes that the information she recalls from the terminal at Datatek may be outdated if not outright incorrect. A hint of a frown finds its way onto her face before she accepts this fact and darts from the roof she's on and for one of the many warehouses.

    Once on the roof of one, she drops to street level and starts to inspect entrances, looking for signs of recent visits. Foot traffic, tire tracks, anything that may indicate that a warehouse is in use. -Especially- if it's not chained or boarded up..
Iria As Iria gets closer to the Red Zone, she scowls a little as she looks closer. Too many warehouses, and not a single clue about which one is which. Trying not to scream, Iria grips the handles of her glider tightly, her teeth gritting a little. She debates trying to land atop one of the rooftops and take it from there, but she doesn't want to risk drawing unwanted attention. Especially since there's a lot more about the Red Zone she doesn't know about, and she doesn't want to take too many risks.

"But I can't wait forever either," Iria mumbles to herself as she gets closer and closer. She decides to try flying over them, giving each one a good looking over to see if there's anything unique that she wasn't able to see from a distance at first.
Taro     Taro is being discreet about his potentially illegal in this jurisdiction activities. Outwardly, he sips whatever passes for coffee here while his datatablet scrolls through the early edition of the news. He's tapping into the 'net inwardly as well, leaving his gaze somewhat distant.
    Reaching the forums again isn't terribly difficult, and it doesn't take him long to pick up on the threads of conversation. The sudden shift in topic and conversation is interesting: a lone police cruiser is worth talking about, which means it unusual here. That it is -one- police cruiser and not multiples or aloongside the local equivelent of a SWAT team is also interesting and strikes him as unusual in his own context.
    He pulls up a street map of Neo Detroit along with the wiki-tourism guide, cross-references it with whatever can be found about police calls, further cross-referencing it with whatever is to be found about the local utilities grid. There's no real time to dig for more than publically available information, but hopefully it should provide enough of a rough guide for likely places where a police cruiser may be heading by itself in this hour of the morning and where a group of hackers don't want to be found may be found.
    "Sitta," he murmurs quietly. At the name, a blue mote of a cyber-elf wiggles its way to the lapel of his coat. "Be so kind as to go explore for a bit. See if you can find where there's too much data flow for its location. I'll leave the tablet on so you can find me." The 'elf warbles a quiet agreement, and the poofs into the tablet screen and into cyberspace.
    Then, he stands up, finishes payment of his data usage, and walks out. A near-leisurely walk around to the back of the building, and then he breaks into a jog to head in what he judges the best direction into the Red Zone. With luck, he can narrow things further once he's closer.
Deelel So the search goes on they need to find the more hot headed and brash part of the Extinct Panda's. She had no idea so many close friends were on the other side today though. maybe it's for the best that Deelel didn't know Xiaomu and Rory were there. It likely really is for the best, in the end she doesn't know right now about it. She's keeping low key as she can as she's now made it to one of the warehouses, she going to take it slow and try to find her way in to see if she's got the right one or not. If not she'll move on if she gets lucky she'll contact the rest of the watch.
August Kohler As the group heads to investigate the warehouses, August decides to hold lookout, as well as be a distraction; they've been informed police is on the way. So, he moves towards the streets leading towards the warehouses, and just stands in the middle, flipping through his phone, the reflective screen posing as self-defense. He's hoping the police don't just barrel him down in the road, but he didn't actually think this through.
Reiji Arisu "It's a shame that the pandas ever went extinct here," Reiji comments at his partner's observation. "But I suppose it was probably bound to happen anyway. They're not exactly made for survival, pandas." What with their lazy nature, utter lack of meaningful camoflauge and kind of awful child rearing skills. It's actually pretty sad.

But that's neither here nor there.

They soon arrive at their destination. Reiji hops off the bike when Xiaomu warns, but only after retrieving his mobile arsenal from where he'd hooked it at the vehicle's flank. Who knows what kind of nefarious ne'er do wells are supporting this hacktivist group? Especially in such tight quarters, an ambush seems... Almost inevitable.

Best to be prepared when it does come.
Annie Sandberg Annie heads into the warehouse district, hoping to cover more ground alongside Alopex. She'll try to move quietly, and not to intrude on whatever might be going on inside a warehouse herself; it makes more sense to gather the group together at the right location before going in, especially since she's not sure how people would react to her entrance.
Wo Ace begins to pull his cruiser in to park at the complex of warehouses. It's practically two blocks of the old city of them, within easy transport distance from the (surprisingly, not too polluted) riverfront. He'd expected to find an actual space to do so at, but then there's this youth that's suddenly in the way. The detective doesn't recognize him, thankfully, since he wasn't actually inside DataTek when it all went down. He instead idles the engine with a gently growing impatience, then lays on the horn a few good blares. In the future, car horns still sound just as obnoxious. Switching on the cruiser's intercom, he reminds, "Loitering is a criminal offense. Please clear the road way." Still managing to remain sounding professional, though frowning ever more deeply, he places in an ear piece from his personal comm unit, while he responds to Rory, "It's mostly hedging our bets, to buy us a bit more time. Thanks." She'd find the network infrastructure's open to her now, though purely from a flow control perspective. Kind of like having access to the dam's pumps and valves but not the water and reservoir itself.

    Also, on reflex, he snaps a biometric profile of August to begin the comparisons within Neo Detroit's databases. You're in The System now, boy!

    The warehouses themselves seem, for the most part, abandoned. There may be a few squatters and loiterers around, the local fare, that also eye everything and everyone approaching warily, but as Ace predicted, they mostly keep to themselves. If the police are involved in some way, it's in their best interests to not get mixed into it. Several Elites, from all involved parties, begin their investigations. There is a varying amount of recent use, and most of it seems like it wasn't the original intention, so it's mostly up to blind luck, the effectiveness of one's senses, as well as instincts. So within the district, let's see what we find...

    Warehouse number 11, the one Reiji finds himself at, is unsecured and unbarred. It seems that it once housed a lot of farming equipment, and spare parts for it, but from the layer of dust and debris and the relative age discrepency between the concept cars on the streets, and the tractors inside, it likely hasn't seen a lot of use recently. There are signs of recent habitation, but it looks more like the work vagrants and squatters instead of hackers. There's even some soot on the ceiling from where they, judging by the old oil and gas fumes, very foolishly lit a fire in here for warmth.

    Warehouse number 18, this is the one Xiaomu finds. It...well, HAD a lock on it, at one point, but it's been smashed off. Hardly the kind of thing one would expect a person actually renting a place would have to resort to. Still, there's a distinctly 'PCB smell' coming from inside, like the lacquer used to cover up wiretraces, so even though there is no sound comig from inside, perhaps this is the place? Instead, what she would discover is a treasure trove of old video game consoles and stacks of games that never quite made it to market, from the early 00s. A lot of it was never opened, though some, as with Reiji's warehouse, seems to have been arranged into ad hoc furniture by the homeless.
Wo Iria's bird's eye view would reveal primarily the weathered, corrugated metal roofs of the warehouses, just weather sealed enough to meet local regulations at the time they were built. There's not a lot that sets them apart from one another at first glance, besides small traces of past habitation. One does look like it has an antenna on top, but on closer inspection it looks like it was an old television array instead of something that a modern wireless transceiver would use, and local intelligence suggested that it would likely have to be a fiber optic cable to keep up with the amount of traffic. The search continues.

    Annie wanders around warehouse 7. This one is still locked down, but the good news is that there are plenty of large windows, that are in bad need of replacment panes, but otherwise can be looked through. This one has a lot of old crates that have been stacked up, the contents not immediately clear, and no particular smells or sounds seem to be coming from inside, besides dust and mold. On a closer look, there are some pieces of industrial equipment that have appeared out of the crates that completely degraded around them, apparently forgotten relics of the city's manufacturing era past. 'We used to make things in this country! ...now it's the robots that do it all.' That's what the equipment would say, if it could talk.

    Deelel would have one of the more promising units, warehouse 5. This one actually looks 'lived in', judging from the fact that there's not nearly as much dust as the others, and the lock, while opened, is still intact and hasn't been smashed or filed open. Instead of a genius hacker, however, she only finds a few hobos, warming their hands from the crisp morning air around a fire burning in a barrel. They all look up on cue, but they don't seem hostile, just curious and maybe a bit apprehensive. "What're you doing here," wonders one that's had both arms replaced with cybernetics?

    And then, there's Alopex, whom stumbles upon the promising unit 4, fittingly directly adjacent to 5. Like the other, it has signs of being recently disturbed, though there's a lock on the door. More importantly, while it's been carefully camoflaged by stacking crates creatively around the windows and entrances, to her senses, there is a distinct smell of active electronics coming from inside -- ozone, PCB lacquer, and also the soft hum of electronics and wooshing of fans. There is absolutely no reason that those sounds should be coming from a warehouse, unless Google has really let itself go.

    Taro's elf would get straight to work. The local network infrastructure is a bit different than the internets that most other worlds developed, but it's still logical enough to navigate. Think of if the proprietary LANs of the late 80s and early 90s had been extrapolated a bit and built around ARPAnet's core, then add some sprinklings of novel concepts. While access to the data itself is difficult to get to, analyzing flow is easy; as is finding what this 'Red Zone' is, the conspicuously less developed and modernized core of Neo Detroit. With daylight having dispelled most of the police presence, there's absolutely no one to stop Taro from moving in to track down the source of all those reports, and should he get even vaguely close, Ace's cruiser is going to stick out like a sore thumb.
August Kohler August is still dressed sort of locally, but he might still look like a foreigner: he's pretty German! As the cop car pulls forward and honks at him, he looks up, blinks a bit, and then looks as if it's his lucky day, as he moves up to the cop car. He's not armed or anything, and doesn't look like an active threat. His accent is his native German, furthering putting him as a foreigner. "Oh, thank god, the police! Officer, I really need your help, because I am /really lost/ and have no idea where I am. I was supposed to be meeting up with my tour group, but I think the directions were faulty because this looks nothing like the surroundings of the hotel on the brochure. I don't know where anyone is, my phone died," August holds up his turned-off smartphone, "And some guy /stole my wallet/! Can you believe it?"
Deelel Deelel says "I'm looking for a man who I'm trying to keep from making a terrible mistake. Honestly if you want to know his name's Jack Nazareth sometimes he goes by Select-Ron. Look I'm not looking to hurt him but I need to talk to him before it's too late."She looks the hobos over also getting she might need to offer them something for the information which is understable to her. She's also direct, but that' to be expected she's a program after all.
Xiaomu That certainly is a characteristic scent, and Xiaomu lingers by an opening, sniffing more intently. Then she turns her attention to the formerly-locked door, and starts opening it, carefully and quietly. She doesn't *think* there's anyone inside, but no point in finding out the hard way.

There are benefits to being such a long-time near-denizen of Akihabara; Xiaomu's gaze sweeps over the boxes, an almost reverent look crossing her face. She could make *SO* much money if she just had a way to take these back to her Tokyo and sell them online ... or just skip the 'online' part, distribute them to the used-gaming stores thereabouts. Sure, they're basically all in English, but importing goes both ways. Assuming the discs haven't suffered from 'laser rot,' anyway, and that CMOS batteries haven't gone bad ...

She sucks in a breath, shaking herself out of a wistful reverie, and resumes exploring. A quick and quiet circuit of the warehouse is in order first; she keeps her staff handy, although she's holding it by the upper shaft and by the ring-bearing headpiece rather than walking normally with it, the way you'd *expect* a staff to be carried.

Really, the presence of those old video game systems - even if they *are* still sealed up in their boxes - seems like this is the sort of warehouse that hackers would hole up in. She certainly would if *she* were a hacker. ... Probably.
Iria Unfortunately, Iria's not having much luck at all. She grumbles and adjusts the angle of her glider, attempting to fan out and search a wider area in hopes of finding the appropriate warehouse quicker. Unfortunately, when Iria's losing patience, she also tends to do things impulsively. Meaning that she swoops down a little too close from time to time to check out certain rooftops and see if they're the ones she needs.
Alopex     Coming up on Unit 4, the ninja sends off a quick transmission to her allies before starting to look for an entry point. A glance up, all around, and then she'd make her way to the roof because, honestly, ninja's always enter from above and she's not about to break that time honored tradition. Unless of course she finds something a bit easier like, say, ventilation or similar.
Taro     It appears to be a less of a cohestive network and more of a collection of feifdoms that were later connected together. No doubt it gives administrators headaches, if not nightmares.
    Taro continues on unabated and unchallenged, at a pace somewhere between a power walk and a light jog as he follows the fiber from aboveground. He's moving quickly enough to appear to need to be somewhere but not so fast as to appear to be running from somewhere. The condition of the buildings has obviously degraded once he's crossed over into a space that the city seems to have otherwise forgotten. A Slum Urbania in miniature. He makes a mental note to consider some Church outreach here later. But for now, he and Sitta are continuing to drill down on data traffic flow. Judging by the looks of things, no self-respecting businesses with heavy data traffic is anywhere in sight, which means that anyone who -is- using a lot of bandwith is going to be noticable.
    Then, there's a car horn, followed by a stern voice of authority complaining about loitering of all things. That strikes him as a very odd concern in context - surely there are worse crimes going on at this moment - and so, brow furrowed, he heads in the direction of those derelect warehouses.
Rory White "That person in the road..." In Rory's view, she can certainly see August. Her eyes seem normal, but they zoom in to many times magnification instantly and get a clear view of August's face. Facial Recognition software kicks in and - yes, she's right. A profile for August Kohler - what information remains from the Union database anyways - pops up, along with a psychological profile her Muse deduced from radio logs.

    "... He was a Union Elite, before Njorun fell. A young man struggling with many supernatural problems and social pressures..."

    She quickly shuts up before August reaches the car... and rolls down the back seat window nearest August after he addresses Ace Williams.

    As usual, Rory tries her absolute best to show a warm and caring smile, but without the chemistry, hormones and physiology needed to BIOLOGICALLY /GUT FEEL/ that, the result looks a bit sad, timid, and awkward.

    "Good evening, Mr. Kohler. I'd be willing to let you use my radio, but first I'd like to know why you're lying. The stakes really are dire here. I have little time to express just how much."

    It is hard to tell from looking at her, but a good chunk of her consciousness isn't even paying attention to the young man and the cop. It's zipping through lines of code and flowing text scrolls in about ten different terminals running software over the wireless, trying to put routers into flapping-connection states of apparent needs-maintenance and other trickeries.
Reiji Arisu Reiji has seen a lot of sad things in his time, but there's just something about old machines being left to rot and decay that strums a particularly melancholy note in his heart. Perhaps it's because he knows how old tools tend to develop spirits of their own-- and that those which are abandoned have a tendency to become hostile towards those who turned away from them. Or maybe it's just that seeing all this old farming equipment rusting away in a city bereft of growing things is... Itself just a little bit sad.

But ultimately, after a once-over and a test of what is almost certainly a hobo campfire, he concludes that hackers probably aren't going to be holed up in a place full of tractors and combine harvesters. It's much too... country for the type he's pegged his perps to be.

But maybe that's just what they want him to think. Maybe there really IS something around here worth snooping at. But that's no reason to stay out of communication.

"Anyone out there got anything yet?" Reiji asks into his radio. "Just a bunch of old farming equipment here so far."
Annie Sandberg Annie follows the message from Alopex towards unit 4, concealing herself behind the stacked crates while she waits for the others to arrive. Smell wasn't her strong point, but she definitely felt the energy in the air. She briefly looks up at the sound of someone hopping up to the warehouse roof. That'd be Alopex presumably. She radios her allies to confirm her position.
August Kohler As Rory climbs out of the car and talks to August, he recognizes her voice first. "Miss White!" However, she immediately moves to call him a liar. Which is fair, he actually is lying, but he gives off a reaction of being bort offended, and uncomfortable with her weird attempt at smiling. He needs to make this as believable as possible. "Now, hold the hell up. I know that I'm not the most tour-y type of person, but I won this /free/, I couldn't not give it a chance. Needed to get out and my mind off what's happening in my world." He grumbles, pacing in the road. "Never again, I'll tell you that much. The pickpockets around here are like, ghost ninjas. In and out, bam."
Rory White "...." Rory blinks a few times. The given explanation seems... plausible. She can't deny it, not even slightly. But her face is pretty unreadable - oh, the smile wavers and twists, but not really in a way that looks very... natural. She just as quickly clamps her mouth shut though.

    The only counter-argument she can come up with is, "Your idea of a vacation is visiting a bleak, gaudy, dystopian hellhole? ... No offense meant, Mr. Williams." She asides that quickly to her driver.

    "You could've asked if you wanted to get away. I do have a spaceship. And immersive virtual environments." Yes, she does. And yes, she could've.
August Kohler "What can you say?" August replies, shrugging. He's still frowning a bit. "Compared to what I deal with, it's basically heaven."
Wo To Deelel's question, most of the people gathered around the fire just grumble uncertainly and confusedly. The 'leader' that had spoken up first, a gruff, middle-aged man, eventually relates what all that mumbling meant. "Don't have a clue what Jack Nazareth or Select-Ron means or has to do with any of us, but next door in unit 4, some guy that doesn't look like he belongs moved in a few weeks ago. Stays there almost all night, only leaves to go to Eleven-Seven and get himself junk food." There's a trace of annoyance there, about a guy that doesn't share with the less fortunate. That's probably why they were willing to talk at all. "Makes a lot of noise, too. Wouldn't care if he goes away."

    The warehouse Xiaomu is in is absolutely full with this stuff. It's almost a little odd -- most of the locals look like they could really use the money, and in some worlds this would be a small fortune in their midst, for the taking. In fact a few of the boxes do look rummaged through, but their contents were presumably not found valuable, considering they were left not long after. There are a few sleeping bags, dirty blankets, and boxes piled to elevate such things off the floor, but none of the electronics seem actually active. Still, given all of this, would anyone really notice if a few things were to go missing? ...but this is duty! Still, there don't seem to be any secret doors or hidden panels, it seems the trail has gone cold in this one. Reiji would further not find anything amiss in his own warehouse, but perhaps they could just be really sneaky?

    Iria would likely find unit 4 of interest, considering Alopex and Annie are moving into position around it, and should she get closer, there would be those faint sounds and traces of activity inside of it. Directly adjacent, there's the scent of burning garbage coming from unit 5, the one that Deelel and the homeless folk are in, but this one's...different. It basically sounds like a barely muffled, late 90s server farm inside. Everyone looking closely would also notice that likely unapproved and third party 'adjustments' have been made to the power distribution that's across from the warehouse unit, apparently with intent to provide beefier doses of juice. Alone, that wouldn't be out of place in this part of town, but adding everything up, there can't be a mistake.

    Ace listens to Rory first, as she recognizes this youth even despite the attempts to look like a local. "The Union...yes, we had some diplomatic contacts with them, before, well..." He trails off, but gives a nod of his head. There's no reason to assume anything, despite how peculiar the young man's behavior is, or his story. Not one to lose time when he could be doing something productive, the detective decides that this is as good a parking spot as any, given this part of town, and turns off the engine as he unlocks both doors. The seals release, letting both gull wings pivot out and swing upward. Not like anyone could steal it, anyway -- biometrics are everywhere in Neo Detroit, and if the hacker is good enough to get past that, they were certainly good enough to undo the doors.

    First, "None taken." Then, "I don't know if your story adds up or not," he says, specifically directed to August. "Right now it doesn't matter. We're in the middle of an important investigation. We can deal with your alleged problems later." Especially with Rory's information, it doesn't seem like he's buying August's reasons for being here, but he also doesn't have any reason to suspect that he's involved with the plot going on, either. He dials his phone, trying to contact Xiaomu and Reiji, in turn, "Have you found anything yet?" Reiji responds back with something about farm equipment, which causes a somehow even further deepening of Ace's frown, "There's no doubt that it's here, though."

    Inside warehouse 4, the figurative noose has been tightening. Of course, Select-Ron had been monitoring the news threads live, but that was no reason to panic. A lot of unfamiliar faces
Wo Inside warehouse 4, the figurative noose has been tightening. Of course, Select-Ron had been monitoring the news threads live, but that was no reason to panic. A lot of unfamiliar faces appearing in the area...alarming, but no reason to lose one's cool. A police cruiser pulling up outside, a glider in the air overhead, and *footsteps on the metal roof*, however light? Inside, Select-Ron finally loses his composure. "Damn it, they've come...they've really come. This is Gig Mama's doing, isn't it? Crap...I don't know if they're friend or foe, but I can't afford to take the risk. This is, my one chance!" Those that are able to monitor the local power grid would sense a disturbance in the Lorentz force, as a sudden influx of power begins to get siphoned into the warehouse: The result of several old school mainframes springing from idle simultaneously. Simultaneously, the flow of data, especially, likely senseable by Deelel, Taro and Rory, begins a burst; payloads beginning to stream out encrypted and piecemeal.

    he good news is that they wouldn't be able to do anything, alone, until all the pieces are delivered. At least, not yet.
Iria Warehouse 4. Something about it draws Iria's attention, and she brings her glider close to it, attempting to land as quietly as she can. Once she gets onto the ground, she looks for her fellow Watch members so she can join up with them and attempt to make entry with them. Something about this place tells her she's not going to like going in alone. Her danger senses are on high alert.
Rory White Rory fixes August with one of the longest stares she's ever given. From some people, he might get the impression the stare's boring through him. From her, well... there's at best the feeling that she's just trying to figure him out. Poor AGI tries so hard to work with people. But, naive, bad at body language and the human condition in a lot of ways...

    It can wrap around sometimes, like an integer overflow. Rory's face briefly lights up with pieces of a brighter expression that doesn't quite manage a smile. Right, working with people. Negotiation. Carrots! Need carrots.

    "I know you have considerable skill, Mr. Kohler! We are on the tail of cybercrime that could have consequences for the entire nation. The Paladins are assisting with this operation as part of a deal to open diplomatic ties and better life for the have-nots in this region. You would be doing a great service by helping out, like you did with the Union. I'd return the favor. If you've seen anything strange while lost out here, PLEASE, tell us. Time is of the essence."
Taro     Someone is fiddling with the local network, Taro's noticed. He takes this as a sign that he's close. Little does he realize that shile he's located a fellow hacker, it's not exactly the one he's looking for. He hasn't seen enough of Rory's handiwork before to pin it as her, and so has no reason to not think it's someone in Extinct Panda.
    Suddenly, there's a more abrupt change in the cyberlandscape, apparently by oneone else's hand, heralded by a sudden drain in the power grid. The nadorid blinks, brow furrowing deeper.
    Meanwhile, somewhere in the network, Sitta squeaks as she's struck by a data freight train that rolls out of the previously quiet node. 'Eeeeee I think I found it!' Taking a bit of inititive, the cyber-elf tries to latch onto one of those packets. Not to intercept per se, but to tag along to see where it's going.
    There just so happens to be a police cruiser in the lot in front of the warehouse row. He doubts this is coincidence. Luckily, it appears that the fine officer and...is that Rory?..are busy accosting someone else that he's met in passing.
    If those two are here, then this has attracted more outside attention than he expected. Time for a bold tactic. He just continues walking along toward the warehouse with all the net activity as if minding his own business, right past them if he can.
Alopex     The team closes in, the Paladins are, hopefully, distracted. If they don't act now, they may lose the chance. When Gig Mama mentions that cutting power may help on some level, the fox dashes across the roof. She's not heading inside, she's making a bee-line for the power that was being delivered to the warehouse. In a single motion, the cable is disconnected. If it was with her sword, a kunai, ninja star, or something else, it's hard to tell due to how fast the motion was. <<Power has been cut. This would be the best time to move in!>>
Annie Sandberg At Alopex's signal, Annie emerges from the crates and enters the warehouse. "Are you in here?!" she calls out to those present. "We're not here to hurt you but you have to stop! The Paladins are coming and I don't think they'll be so nice!" This was starting to feel like a cop show of some kind.
Xiaomu As awesome as it is to find a cache of old video game consoles and software, it's not what Xiaomu's here for ... so, regretfully, she heads out of the warehouse again.

And heads for the roof. Rory's not finding a distinct and definite lead, so Xiaomu's best option as she sees it is to just case the area via the Roof-Hopping Express, speeding around and jumping from the top of one warehouse to the top of the next. That *should* give her a better chance to see if or where unusual amounts of activity are picking up.

Or, for that matter, unusual people. Heck, she'd even take an unusual concentration of phone lines or network cables dedicated to a single warehouse. Any kind of clue that'll show her where she should be.
Deelel Deelel listens to them for a moment to themen.

"Fair enoughand thansk for the info sir."

She'll pause for a moment and provice him with a few multiveral credits, it's not huge but it's something. She nods once for a moment "Thanks for your information I hope this works for you. I best get moving."

<<I got a lead sounds like unit four is where Ron is.>> 5R
She notes she'll deplart the warehouse and movesto get for unit four as fast as she can go, on goes the face hiding helmet and the poncho. Though with Rory and Xiaomu here? If spotted they will know it's GRID tech to be certain there's little she can fo about this as she now moves into the sever farm too.She doesn't pull a weaponbno wshe doesn't want to end up sparking a fight if she can talk them down. It will take her a bit to make it there and she cringes as Ron is starting. Ugggg it feltbad to her the code was ... like hearing annoying noise you couldn't quite find the location of She wants to get in and get out before the Paladins arrive. She goes to look to see what she can do to cut the power if she can...she'll make use of her ID disc to do so if she has to.
August Kohler The officer is no-nonsense. Well, he's still been delayed, so that works for August. But then, Rory approaches and offers him a very tempting offer, one for the good of the people, and one he'd very much like to accept. But there's a problem: he's already trying to solve that problem by working with a DIFFERENT group of cybercriminals. He's pondering how to respond, until they get the 'we're running out of time' alarm. August brushes his hair, which should reveal to Rory that he's wearing an earpiece, as he moves his mirrored bracelet up.

"Well, I'd really like to help the Paladins with that. This region definitely needs help. But there's a problem, and that's that I'm busy with something else. And to ensure this succeeds, I need to keep the Paladins back." August frowns, appearing like he actually feels bad about this briefly, before shaking it off. "I don't want to fight you, but I also can't let you do your job. I doubt it'll matter if I say it's for a good cause." The mirrored bracelet reaches eye level, as he stares into it, speaking the words.

"PERSONA!"

And in front of him emerges the burn-scarred robotic soldier, with a gun for a leg. The Tin Soldier silently postures at Rory, before moving its gun-leg to point behind August. A burst of fire jets out, as it begins to create a small barrier in the road behind August, in order to prevent anyone from getting past safely. The Tin Soldier then dashes in front of August, serving as a bodyguard. "So, Miss White. How are the Paladins treating you?"
Reiji Arisu There's nothing but farm equipment here. Nothing but tractors and combines and the leftovers of a bunch of hobos doing hobo things. But more importantly, there's someone out there threatening to set a street on fire, and that means there's no time to waste just milling around out here and hoping to find something. Reiji needs to move.

And so he does. Stepping out back into the dystopian night to hunt down those elusive cyber-criminals. The clock's ticking now. They need to intercept... Whatever it is that Rory's picked up, before it finishes.
Wo The data packet, despite the age of the network, is absolutely motoring through the network. It's the speed of light in optical glass, after all. Sitta would discover the target, in the process: The payload was sent to one of the local bank's server farms. From inside the net, as it were, it'd almost look like a Tetris attack, as more of the attack packets come flooding in soon after, beginning to assemble themselves at the destination, to lessen the chance that they could be effectively modified in transit, as well as increasing their resilience. It's a decidedly well-planned and coordinated attack. Yet, for some reason, soon after, the stream begins to slow somewhat, to roughly a quarter of what it was before. Whatever was being assembled suddenly slows...

    The reason is two fold. First, those figurative pumps and valves mentioned before go into effect, beginning to strangle off some of the escape routes that the packets could have taken. It's not enough to completely stem it alone, however. From inside Warehouse 4, Select-Ron, or Jack Nazareth, a thirty-something man that still wears his business casual getup from his days at Data-Tek, growls at how slow the deployment is going. "I need...to reroute everything!" As he's beginning to frantically type away at his holoterminal, at a pace that would be prodigious by any biologically-limited hacker's standards, the power suddenly dims, before flickering. The backup battery keeps a subset of the servers going until the diesel generators activate, spewing noxious noise and fumes from the warehouse. That's the second part -- he can't run all the mainframes with the backup power.

    Even Ace Williams, despite not being a cyber person (except one eye), takes note of the activity going on at #4. He calls into the local radio system, "Something's going on at that unit over there." He withdraws his service pistol, seemingly prepared to protect himself and the city by force if necessary, since there's no telling if the group responsible is armed or not. He wasn't expecting the more immediate threat to come from this youngster. "...hmm!?" He really should have known he'd have something going on beyond the obvious; Rory did mention the Union, which means he could be an Elite, and this leaves little doubt. "Elite or not, you're getting in the way of Neo Detroit business. You'll have to be removed, one way or another!" Is he really intent on standing his ground? Even more, since the younger man has openly expressed his intent, and summoned that...creature, he squeezes off a pair of 9 millimeter shots at the Persona. All this while shielding himself reflexively from the heat.

    Taro, if he was noticed, well...there are much more obvious troubles afoot. Be careful of errant shots, or fire, though!

    Select-Ron visibly jumps as Annie's voice calls out from behind him. They even got inside without him noticing? Though given his intense focus, it's understandable. "The Paladins!? So even they're involved with the local government...damn. But, that just makes this even more important, this is my one chance!" By now, even if she hadn't been listening to Ace's radio transmission, Xiaomu and Reiji would likely notice the sound and exhaust coming from #4, as well as the people gathering around it. "Gig Mama never understood," he rambles on, now that he has an audience. "We don't have enough time for her campaign. It doesn't matter if it makes a mess -- that's the whole point!"
Reiji Arisu There does indeed seem to be something going on in that particular warehouse. Reiji, being some kind of speedy samurai type of his own merit, makes his way over with all the celerity of a man who spends every day trying to outrun horrible wind weasels or other similar, man-murdering monsters. Peering over the lip of the rooftop as he scales the building, Reiji can just barely see the glow of August's flames in the distance, but that's outside of his concern right this minute. Presently, something awful is about to be released into the wilds of the internet, and there's only one thing that can really be done to stop it.

Exploding through a window like some kind of ridiculous human wrecking ball.

It's a classic scene straight out of some kind of high-action crime drama. Reiji leaps from a nearby rooftop straight into a half-busted glass window and finds himself with a face full of the scent of diesel and the sound of whirring motors. Yes. This is the place. "Freeze!" Reiji roars over the roar of the engines. Gold is already out of its holster, firing several heavy slugs into the internal mechanisms of the enormous generators. Diesel shouldn't just catch fire-- this SHOULD be safe, and they need time to catch the perp. Time they won't have if he manages to send those files. "Shut this system down immediately and come quietly! Nobody here has to get hurt!"
Taro     Sitta is not going to interfere with the attack program as it bashes against the bank's cyberdefenses. If it decides to go after her, she'll defend herself of course. But she is here to observe and then report back, and so that is exactly what she plans to do.
    Meanwhile, Taro breaks into a sprint across the rest of the parking lot and past the police confrontation, keeping his head down in an attempt to make himself a slightly smaller target. The sudden dip in power followed by the immediate dip in local net activity is noticed, though he cannot say whether it's because the computers threw a circuit breaker or someone else has interfered. As he approaches the doorway, he reaches into his coat for his beam sabre. The energy blade crackles to life at his touch, and in with it he cuts down the crates blocking the door. This followed by the door itself.
    He might have just accidently caused a small fire with this if this is all untreated wood, but he'll happily let August take the blame for any arson.
    He enters just in time to hear gunshots, and he ducks again in case any of Reiji's bullets are directed at him. But if he's not being fired on, then who is he firing at? The hackers?
Xiaomu Reiji goes in through a window.

Xiaomu comes in through a different window at very nearly the exact same moment, but she doesn't duplicate her partner's efforts to shoot up the generator(s). The stink of the diesel fuel almost makes her want to, but honestly? Diesel fumes are potentially combustible, she's not going to engage in gunplay.

Instead, she sprints through the warehouse, weaving around anyone or anything in her way as well as she can, and attempts - none too gently, really - to kick Select-Ron in the side of his head. "Shut it down, and while you're shutting it down, *explain* why you 'don't have time'!"

... she should probably give ultimatums like that BEFORE she tries kicking someone in the head, shouldn't she?
Alopex     Time to head inside. Once the generators fire up, and Alopex hears it, the fox skims the roof, spots an entry point, and dashes for it to head inside. Above, in the warehouse rafters, the fox decides to have a look at just what is going on. Her scarf is wrapped around her muzzle and nose, trying to filter out as much of the diesel fumes as she can, while considering what is going on below. As long as Select-Ron is stopped... would it matter what happens here? Hrm...
Rory White Following quite a radio exchange, Rory opens the cruiser's door and steps out. She makes something of a show of it, doing her utter best to convey some disgust. This entails straightening out her robes and looking out towards Warehouse #4 while August burns up the street...

    Ace Williams goes on the offensive just as she predicted of course.

    "My chance of winning against you in a duel are basically non-existent. Armed with that fire spirit, you have offensive power equivalent to entire teams of special agents and spaceship weaponry. Two direct blows, that's about all it would take for you to trash my Morph beyond repair." She dlievers this news extremely clinically and dryly, like reporting boredly on the weather. FLICKERS OF ANGER and discontent, even grief, can be distinguished in tone fluctuations, mixed up oddly. Rory slowly raises a robed hand to point accusingly at August, sleeve draping down.

    "But you made a critical mistake."

    *FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMP!*

    SOMETHING flies from Rory's robe at incredible speed. Something shiny and metal. A grenade? Something like that. A grenade that...

    A gas grenade that, however it bursts apart - through being blown apart, through releasing its payload... well.

    Its payload is a thick, nauseating, choking cloud of foul-smelling but largely harmless chemicals, a thousand times worse than being sprayed directly from ass-to-nose by the mother of all skunks. It makes eyes water, skin crawl, and the brain burn in nauseating disgust.

    "I don't fight duels."
Annie Sandberg Annie doesn't want to get caught up in this whole mess any more than necessary now that the Paladins had arrived, and from the sound of things the others agreed. Since the Paladins seemed to be concentrating on Select-Ron and his computers for the time being, it seemed like a good time for her to make a break for it. Cheese it, the cops, so to speak. So, she heads for the exit.
August Kohler While August has a conversation on J-IC, the Tin Soldier dutifully guards, sometimes repositioning. However, it only takes a very brief time until he begins getting attacked, as Ace begiins shooting at the Tin Soldier. The bullets dent against its metallic body, and August noticeably clutches his chest as the bullets impact the Persona. Luckily, due to the Persona's endurance, its able to resist Ace's shots, head pulling back as if in a roar. The Persona proceeds to charge at Ace, trying to disarm him...

But it stops mid-charge as Rory unleashes her attack, which causes it to halt from the feedback loop as August is swarmed with the gas. The gas causes him to almost drop to his knees, choking, but he resists through it. However, the gas spreads behind him, striking against the fire which proceeds to ignite it, and his clothes with it. As his shirt begins to blaze from the flames, the Tin Soldier moves to cover its wielder as August does the only thing he can: he rips his shirt off and tosses it to the ground.

The fire luckily doesn't spread much beyond that, but August is noticeably jittery, his nerves burning from the short contact with the flames. The Tin Soldier turns towards Rory, seemingly about to make a counterattack, before August hears something over the comms. "Well, my job here is done. I'm retreating. You guys win, if it makes you feel better." As soon as he finishes speaking, August moves to rush through the door of a nearby building, the Persona slamming it open if it's locked. A fire is set immediately outside the doorway, as August flees through the building, out a window, and into the streets. Well, that was mostly pointless!
Wo Select-Ron continues his speaking, as he quickly works on rerouting the packets through less congested parts of the network, live. He's actually quite talented in this sort of thing, which makes it a real shame that he's so misled. "It's not really about making millionaires out of everyone. It's about making a statement. How easily this all could have been shared, and how much the haves really have, over the have-nots. What would Gig Mama do? A slow campaign that lets those greedy bastards weasel their way out of all of this--" Around that time, he hears gunshots outside, and he begins frantically increasing his pace. You'd almost swear that his fingers would catch fire.

    He was unaware of the more action oriented ones closing in on him, though, as Reiji and Xiaomu don't precisely telegraph their approach, before the windows suddenly smash out, and he has to all but fall out of his office chair to avoid being struck by some of the tumbling crates he'd placed behind, which, ironically, puts Xiaomu's kick off target -- and directly into the center of his face. After being momentarily stunned, he sits up, holding a possibly broken nose, "You...what are you!" He audibly gasps, trying to rush for Reiji as he begins firing into the generators. Bless their hearts, they still do their best to continue pumping out power, but they sputter and begin belching black smoke, before eventually dying completely. The servers, likewise, begin shutting off one by one, as what's stored in the battery was not intended to power them for more than a few moments. "No, NO! Do you realize what you've done!? It was so close, and now you've ruined it all!"

    Taro and his Elf, as well as Rory and Deelel, would notice that the flow of data packets out of the building has completely stopped. Slowly, the lights dim, then flicker off, as even those power systems go offline inside the warehouse. Select-Ron is both figuratively and literally broken, crying over a holoterminal with a progress bar frozen at 97%, as the 'upload timer' keeps ticking up, first into hours, then days and years, its meager power not nearly enough to deploy his version of the logic bomb. "Now nothing will change..." He's too exhausted and mentally drained to offer up any further resistance, to anyone or anything. He's completely numb.
Xiaomu "Change must come from within," Xiaomu says, not exactly unkindly, as she attempts to get one of Select-Ron's arms behind his back so that she can maneuver him with a modified submission hold. "So what was it that you were *trying* to change, exactly?"

He's in custody, or on his way to it. That will *NOT* stop the sage fox from trying to get the hacker's side of the story before handing him over to Ace Williams to be taken into custody.
Taro     It appears he's too late to do anything directly, and trying to stop the others from collecting the hacker seems ill-advised. On the other hand, in spite of his entrance, it appears he's gone unnoticed. Therefore, Taro drops back into the shadows and behind some of those crates near the server farm. Perhaps he'll have a chance to pull some of the drives to take with him for his trouble before the warehouse is locked down. Perhaps not. Regardless, he's going to listen to the exchange, then weigh his chances before sneaking away.
    Sitta meanwhile warbles some disappointment as the attack program fumbles to a halt, then disappears. 'That might have worked, too...poor program!' She'll zip away from the bank's computer node, hopefully unnoticed, and heads back in search of her android friend.
Wo On Ace Williams part, like hell he's going to stand any closer to that stench than he has to. Especially not with that robot thing suddenly charging at him. He keeps his weapon trained on it, but it suddenly stops, as if hesitating. The detective similarly isn't sure what to make of it, but then notices exactly what Rory's deployed -- fairly similar to some of their own non-lethal measures, but even stronger, as he begins coughing and heaving from it. Maybe he *will* go to the hospital, though not for the reason August had anticipated. "...wait," he rasps out, straining through it. "You're still...a witness, if not a suspect...!" But he doesn't really have it in him to pursue August, or anyone, at the moment, as he mutters under his breath. "What the hell was that thing."

    "A simple script, really," Select-Ron's mournful voice recounts. "I had access to all of the financial sector...why not go a little robin hood? A million credits out of the pockets of the elite, and into every other citizen in Neo Detroit's account. Look around you, the 'Red Zone'. These are the people that have been left behind, while those that were in the right place and the right time, when the robots took all the jobs, have everything. The people in the city outside get just enough to prevent an open rebellion, but the curfews...I thought, if I give just enough of a push, the whole thing will go toppling over. Wreckless, of course. That's the whole point."
Rory White AAAAND off August goes. Rory doesn't feel she could really STOP August if she gave chase, and she's already feeling far too innerly conflicted to do so. But she does actually flinch this time when Ace gets a whiff of the gas. Well, a few whiffs... considerable backdraft...

    "It... my colleagues call them Stinkers. Chemical compounds based on thiols. ... I'm sorry, did not mean to catch you in that, Mr. Williams. Thought it might be the only way to penetrate that spirit's defenses."
Xiaomu "Simple," Xiaomu echoes quietly. "Well ... good intentions or not, it was still attempted theft. Only 'attempted,' it seems. With a little luck they'll go easy on you for that part."

Human greed, oppression of those who are 'different' or 'unaccepted' or 'unwanted' or just plain 'unlucky'. If Reiji's paying attention to the exchange between his partner and the apprehended hacker, he probably has a really good idea of what Xiaomu is thinking at this moment.

At least she doesn't LOOK like she's about to do something anyone will regret.
Deelel She doesn't quite make it to Select-Ron, she feels the data packet flow has stopped the wsounce gives out in the back of her mind and the power goes out. Deelel uis not heartless she wished by her User she could have got to Ron in time to convice him there was another way and inform him of the damage but there's no time the generators are down there's not much more to go.

She frowns and only hopes they can help the panda's pull off their half of the plan so there is something but right now? She's worried about August he's young, he's not even done compling really. She needs to go now, before she's sighed sent one last transmission, and tried to vanish into the night. All that might be spotted later is a light cycle much like Xiaomu's own vanishing into the night.

<<Pulling out>>