Motoko! Hiromi called out as she entered Lizzies.
Sure she looked a bit awkward about it, staring a bit too long at so of the Mox bouncers, but I waved her over and her nervousness faded as she got closer.
I guess it might be a little awkward for a girl like Hiromi who usually was covered in TC stuff to walk into the Mox ho.
But honestly I wanted to get away from using the Ho-Oh club as our etup place.
That stupid mask I now had hidden away in my room was taunting with the fact that Fujimura was eager to recruit fully.
I didnt want to deal with that.
Youre late. Ichi pointed out as he sipped on his drink. Malcolm and Ichi had actually been here early
A little too early if my estimation was right, but boys will be boys.
Pfft! I was busy! Reaching out to so contacts about potential buyers. Hiromi said eyebrows twitching in an insinuation about their future payday.
All is forgiven. Ichi offered with a faux bow and Hiromi cackled as she slipped into the seat next to . We were at the bar for now, but I would drag my chooms into one of the private booths before we got to talking too much.
Hiromi ordered a drink, Ichi and Malcolm both happy to drink a bit on my tab. Because I am a generous leader.
So you found sothing? Malcolm prompted, looking eager. This wasnt his first attempt to pry information out, but I had told him to wait for Hiromi.
Not here. Get your drinks, and lets go grab a bit of privacy. Thanks Mateo. I said to the bartender, dropping a tip as I dragged my eager chooms out of the main room.
In the end we took over one of the booth rooms, as I settled my chooms around and then I called all of them just like last ti.
Instantly I sent all of them the information I had gathered about the new scav den.
The office building looked run down from the outside, and closed off, that image moved inside giving a bit grueso scenes of the interiors.
*Disgusting.* Hiromi muttered into the group call. *But it looks like they have a lot of product.* She said looking at the boxes of chro the Scavs were collecting.
*How did you even find this place?* Ichi asked and I threw him a peace sign.
*I backtraced missing peoples reports and slipped into security systems all along the streets. Everyone has security caras after all, and a lot of them are pointing at the street. So with a bit of finangling and a lot of illegal hacking I was able to track people.*
*Holy shit! That must have been pretty hard. Im surprised more people dont do that.*
I shrugged. *Its dangerous. One bad server that has so nasty ICE, and I could be in a lot of trouble.*
*Motoko! If you are going to do sothing so dangerous then call on us to help! We can at least get you to your ripper if sothing goes wrong.* Hiromi demanded glaring and I nodded hands raised at her anger.
*Yeah, probably smart.*
*Good!*
*Should be a good payday. Any issue with the numbers Motoko?* Ichi asked, *Need us to co in guns blazing this ti?* He said while motioning with his hand as if shooting a gun.
*No. Ive already taken over their system, when I hit them, all of the scavs are going to lose their ability to see simultaneously! I chirped, grinning at the idea of what I was going to do to these monsters.
*Nice.*
*Malcolm: You grabbed all of their cara data here right?* Malcolm asked, still forced to send his question as a text as he didnt have an interior agent.
Gonna have to remind him he could get that upgrade now.
*Yeah, their security was good, but not that good. They had it all saved to a laptop. I actually think it might have been sothing one of them did as a mistake. The security for the network was set up by a netrunner, but this is the kind of amateur mistake I expect from soone who has no idea what they are doing.*
*Malcolm: Then, cant we use your little back trace trick to find more scav dens?*
I blinked at Malcolms text. That was possible.
While I had tracked the van back to this place. They still had to transport their gear to another site to sell, could I figure out where?
Could I track their shipnts to find even more? I could follow caras like I had before
Well maybe not alone.
But I wasnt alone.
*Okay chooms. Malcolm had a great idea. I might be able to track the scavs, but Ill need your help. Rather than hit just one scav den. I want to find where all of the chro gets sent.* I said and suddenly all three of my chooms sat up straight.
We had made bank on the small scav dens.
But if there was a central repository? If there was even just a storage space for where all the chro went?
We could make
A lot of eddies.
Like a lot of eddies.
*Okay. Malcolm, you have a good eye for that sort of stuff. Start going through the cara, see if you can spot sothing we can use.* I point out and the boy actually flushes and looks pleased at my words.
*Hiromi. If we hit a place that has even more equipnt we might need more transport. Think you can use your connections to find us people willing to transport stuff for us?*
*I have a few ideas already.* She confird with a nod.
*Ichi if we are moving that much stuff, we are going to need a place to store it Maybe even a gang to help protect it.* I had to admit with a scowl. *I have so TC contacts if this actually works that I can pull on, but maybe find us so low key storage we can move stuff to?*
*I know of a few places I can use. Leave it to !*
*Alright, in that case I guess I need to get back on the net Actually. All of us should get moving. I can pull more info and send it to you guys to check over as Im running.*
Oh! Um Malcolm said aloud before stopping, hesitating. Should I call Omaeda?
I blinked, Omaeda was Oh! He was the netrunner that Ichi and Malcolm had been friends with.
I havent seen him in a while, now that you ntion it.
Omaeda bailed on us during the war. He basically went ho and hid. We havent talked since. Ichi offered with a grumpy face.
It wasnt like that Ichi. You know that. Omaeda wasnt as into the TC as you. He didnt want to get shot in a gang war.
He bailed on us when we needed him. We dont need him. Ichi said ending the conversation for a mont as Hiromi and I both kind of just looked at each other awkwardly.
Lets go without him for now? I prompted and Malcolm hesitated and just shrugged a bit.
Alright. We should head to your place?
Yeah, it sounds like tonight is going to be busy for all of us. I say and Hiromi groans a bit.
Heh, corpo brat. Ichi and Malcolm both looked excited.
--
An hour later I was back in the net. My chooms were set up on laptops connecting to the server so I could pass them data in real ti, and I rushed back to the scav dens server.
With the work I had done before I was able to just slip right back inside, and this ti I was accessing their data looking for sothing in particular.
*Malcolm see anything on the caras yet?* I called out, the phone connection with my group was active despite being in the net.
*They had a bunch of the chro crates disappear about a month ago, but Im narrowing down when it happened.*
I nodded to myself as I accessed the cara system myself. I could access the system in a way that Malcolm couldnt since I was in the net, multiple screens popped up, and I set each of them to be a different day the cara had recorded and just waited for the crates to disappear.
*The tenth.* I sent to him, as I noticed so of the scav guys load up a bunch of the crates on handtrucks and move them out.
There wasnt really a good exterior cara so I was forced to move outward. Checking both ends of the street for active caras.
Nothing.
The caras just werent good in the area. I had only been able to narrow down the scavs to this street to begin with.
So I went wider, slipping into more and more cara systems in a big circle, the actual searching I left to my chooms. I was giving them access, pulling the cara data and then moving on, and then finally we got a hit.
*Found it! Going down Pondsmith.* Ichi said and I pulled out of the cafe I had been pulling a video from. I jumped across the net, I checked the image Ichi had found of the white scav van, and then I jumped to the systems down the street, finding one that had a street cam. I accessed its records confirming the vans path.
*Alright everyone, Im gonna start sending the video data. Find this truck's path.* I called out, switching back to hitting every cara just a bit further down the street I could find and pulling their video records.
So didnt keep records, so didnt have caras with the right angle.
In the end I just kept digging, letting my chooms find the vans path, from the data I pulled. Sotis making pull back when the van turned suddenly.
Sotis I was forced to spread out my net wide, when we lost track of it, going down every street connected to the road we lost the van on just to see if we can catch sight of it on the caras.
I was really happy I had my chooms helping out.
This could have been sothing taking days to slowly path out the vans movents without the external help.
While a part of couldnt help but wonder why the NCPD didnt do sothing similar, It was the reminder in my head that breaking into every business and personal cara I could on the path would be sothing the NCPD would need a warrant for. Plus a netrunner to do this for every cri.
I shook it off, I wasnt here to judge NCPDs lack of investigation talent.
I was here to track these scavs through the city, to find them.
In the end we did truly lose them.
*Anything?* I asked my team only to get groans back.
It was late. We had been tracking this truck through the city for hours. Everyone was getting close to being overworked.
*I dont know where the truck went, Motoko! This is so fucking stupid! God damned Corpos! No wonder scavs get away with this shit! The Corpo security practically protects them!* Malcolm cursed getting frustrated at the entire situation.
*Alright Im pulling out. I think we all need a break.* I call into the chat, and slowly pull myself back to my body.
I blinked back in my flesh. I sat up slowly seeing my chooms all sitting around the basent in different levels of disarray. I looked at the clock and winced at how late it was.
Sorry guys. I shouldnt have kept pushing you all so late. Lets get so rest we can continue tomorrow. I offered and Malcolm and Hiromi both groaned but seed willing to stop.
Ichis fist slamd onto the table, startling us all.
No. Motoko, youve been netdiving for like six hours. You must be exhausted, take a break. Grab so food whatever you need. But Im not You brought us in, its our turn to prove we arent just hanging onto your rep. Im not giving up. Not yet. He said and Hiromi instantly plopped back into her chair and focused on the laptop.
Malcolm let out a chuckle and shook his head. Yeah fair enough. Not like we havent done late nights before. I could use so chow though.
Ill go get so food! I told them cutting Malcolm off. I owe you guys for being so great! I said and before they could say anything I was there. Rushing in.
Malcolm got first hug since he was closest. I lifted him up and spun him around a bit before dropping him onto his wobbly feet and rushed at Hiromi who squeaked as I lifted her out of her chair.
Ichi tried to defend himself. But his Street Brawling was weak.
Sothing to work on in the future.
My grapple hugs completed, I humd happily as I headed to the elevator. There was a diner down the street, I bet I could get a couple of to go als there.
--
Bags full of steaming hot als I walked back to the apartnt. The diner was close enough I decided to just walk, it would take longer to have to park the car.
While I did I considered the problem.
The Scavs obviously had to have a way to get the chro out of the city. That was the rumor, or at least my understanding. The Scavs stole chro from the city and sold it off, usually in russia.
Okay so assuming that is right, they had to ship it. Its why I was so confused. Why would they drive into City Center? There were no docks big enough for a transpacific cargo ship there. You would want to go northside for that.
But they had co from the northside, traveling into City Center.
So why?
Why would you head into City Center? The truck they used was pretty big. More than enough for the many crates they loaded up. The sa style of crates we had found in the original scav den. The only one that hadnt had the sa style was Charles shop, but his was obviously a weird scav situation, since he was reselling the chro he found.
So they brought in tens of crates, how do they get them out?
Did they load them into an AV for transport out of the city? But why City Center? There were better places to load an AV closer.
So a ship?
But why? The only docks in City Center were like High end Yacht club stuff. The sort of place that has insane security, that a bunch of scavs wouldnt be able to slip in.
Did they gather it up and transport it out in bigger trucks? I suppose the scavs could have a corpo working with them, giving them a place to store huge amounts of their loot.
In the end I just wasnt sure where to go next.
Luckily I could still be snack provider.
As I walked into the basent room it was quiet, my chooms were all still staring at the screens and I decided it was ti for a break.
Food ti! I called out holding up the bags of to go diner als in the air.
Yeah I could eat.
Food! Malcolm and Ichi both spoke as one, and pulled away from the system. I settled the food on a table that Morgan had probably set up for just that purpose and parceled out the als.
Its so frustrating! How can they just disappear like that! I just want to know where they went! Hiromi whined as she plopped into the chair.
Well they didnt disappear. Malcolm said after a mont as he finished swallowing a bite of the pasta that I was absolutely sure wasnt what the diner called it, but hey it was warm and filling.
We lost them though.
Yeah the fuckers drove down Corpo, I an Corporation st. and we cant find a cara to hit them with after. Ichi offered, chowing down.
Yeah but like We know where they end up. Malcolm said, suddenly sitting up straight as he put the food down.
No we dont? We lost track of them. I reminded him but his eyes werent focused on , he was a million miles away.
Malcolm?
They return to the scav den. He said in a mumble. When they are done. They return to the scav den.
Yeah?
So they dont disappear. We know where they are Motoko, instead of trying to track their path to where they are going. Try to track them on their way back! I considered it. They likely would take the sa path back, but what if they didnt?
Either way it was more data.
Malcolm. Good job. I said throwing him a thumbs up, but as my chooms all stood to rush back to their stations I reached out and started pushing people back into chairs. Hold it! I demanded startling everyone.
Food first. Breaking a Scav ring cos after.
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