//File 0.1 - Hotaru//

His father never explained why they had to get off the grid. Not that Hotaru couldn’t guess. The trids were full of over-the-top plots about corporate machinations, shady dealings, hostile takeovers. One day he was still thrill-seeking at the Eton simrig circuit, burning through drones with wild abandon, the next was being hustled into a quiet limousine directly to the airport, accompanied only by his loyal anthrodrone, a Jack Russell based on the Shiawase Inu platform.

A man opened the door as he arrived at Gatwick airport. "Here. You’re returning the prototypes to Tengu Corp, they’re a Mitsuhama subsidiary. That’s your legitimate reason for entering Japan. Someone will meet you at Narita." Hotaru recognised him as Dillon Halbert, a colleague of his father’s as he wheeled a large aluminium travel case to Hotaru and handed him his biometric passport chip. "It’s all I could arrange at such short notice. Your father says he’ll contact you, but it might not be anytime soon."

What do you do?

"Well I'll be headed to neo-Tokyo myself in a few days' time, so I'll check in with you to see that you're settled in.

Advice?" While Hotaru didn't know Dillon that well, the man was a old friend of his father after all, and his words might carry some weight. "Trouble will follow. Despite all your father's precautions. Best learn how to look out for yourself, fast." Dillon blipped a business card directly to Hotaru's commlink. "Look up Watanabe if you need anything. Since you've never been to neo-Tokyo it might help."

The transorbital from Gatwick to Narita airport, flight GX8799E2 was scheduled to leave at 1445. That gave Hotaru a comfortable hour and a half to check in, which was largely an automated affair. Airport security protocols still meant that travelers were had to be responsible for handling their own luggage to a counter to be scanned and tagged with an RFID chip, whose code was then blipped to the owner's commlink or whatever interface he used to register the luggage. Hotaru had wondered about the crate-like luggage on wheels, but could make no sense of it, other than to rationalise that various items the other travelers carried were transported via various modes. His AR flashed to confirm its contents, drone prototypes registered to Tengu Corp, so everything was as Dillon said it was. His own check in was a bit more suspensful. The biometric scanner read him as Jacques Etienne, and noted all his augmentations, while the TSA officers manned their central customs and immigration consoles, eyeballing the queue of passengers entering the departure terminal. Hotaru cleared check in with ease.
Hotaru's paying attention to his surroundings did make him feel as if he was being watched, although he couldn't be too sure whether it was from his growing unease at Dillon's last words or whether there was some truth to it.

It was sometimes hard to tell whether it was Hotaru's imagination, or whether his surroundings were the cause. Sometimes, the after effects of his bioware meant that he processed sights and sounds faster than those around him, as a result, the hyperawareness that came with it made the environment seem slower, sharper, as if he felt everything in close up.

This time though, Hotaru was convinced that someone was watching him. The sensation began before check in, and continued past immigration. If there was someone, he or she had followed him through. Looking around nonchalantly, it could only be one of three or four people who entered approximately the same time he did: a woman in a sharp black and white business suit before him, who was briskly walking away, a elven couple, young, maybe in their twenties, matching slick nanopolymer jackets and smart-AI shoes, and lastly a dwarf, built like a tank, accompanied by a personal escort.

Making sure he was recording his experience in SIMRIG, Hotaru sent a command to the dog to record everything also.

He then turn and took an escalator leading to the second floor. Standing in the escalator looking ahead, he jumped in his dog (or just overlay the camera if standing while in VR is not possible) and carefully observed the potential tail for any reactions. With senses and sensors as powerful has he had, the smallest detail or emotion could betray them. He also used the dog olfactory sensor to check if there was any smell or sign that something had been stuck to himself or his stuff.

Since an escalator ride can take forever with his augments, he did a Matrix Perception to check if any hidden Icon were snooping around his gear.

While walking, Hotaru mentally isolate the picture of each suspects and send them to the dog, adding an order to observe and transmit any sudden change in their emotions or behavior while continuing to follow. He then took quick turn toward the escalator and observe the dog's data with the image link.

The escalator ride gave Hotaru some moments to review the data from his dog's sensors. Its visual display showed most of what Hotaru himself saw, as they stood side by side. Other data that came in included the various smells and scents detected in their vicinity, the smell of detergent and air freshener, people's sweat, body odour, and perfume, the aroma of someone's soykaf. These numbers were displayed through Hotaru's image link, in percentages or parts per million, and the numbers changed constantly, as the molecules moved all around them in the atmosphere. He could tell for example, that the person two steps below him on the escalator was tense, from the chemical composition the dog detected.

Hotaru had sent over the images and flagged the suspects he had chosen, so the the dog's senses began to build an olfactory profile for each of them. However, they were no smells to indicate that any of the three parties were manifesting sudden changes in their olfactory profile.

Hotaru didn't have to turn around. His Shiawase inu obligingly looked around as it stood next to him, to see the people both in front of and behind him on the escalator. There were twenty people or so all along the escalator. The man behind Hotaru blocked the dog's line of sight, but it was easy enough for the dog to shift a little and visually perceive the other person two steps below, who appeared to be an older-looking orc, bald, dressed in a blue sweater two sizes too big for him, despite his bulk. He stood on his step with a frown on his face, and seemed to clutch his carry-on luggage very tightly. The dog's sensors recorded his pungent body odour and excessive sweating despite the climate control in the airport.

As none of the potential tails he identified reacted or followed, Hotaru was starting to wonder if the stress of the sudden situation was getting to him. Still, to be on the safe side, he gave a command to his drone to warn him when he detected again the smell profile of those people, including the sweaty orc. He walked around, taking some random turns while waiting for his plane, keeping an eye out for potential dangers, like signs of people, cameras or security drone keeping him purposefully in their sights.

He also had the dog check for any new smell on them indicating someone could have put a bug or tracker on him or his equipment.

Near the moment of boarding, he found a discreet spot to overview the boarding room and looked for anything or anyone suspicious before getting ready to board the plane himself.

Hotaru had taken many precautions to get to the boarding gate. The attendants had begun to invite passengers to board. Hotaru saw the business woman walk towards the lane for business-class, after which she disappeared through the gate for boarding. A while later he saw the dwarf and his bodyguard, who was also a business-class passenger. Hotaru only had an economy class ticket.

"Last call for flight GX8799E2 for boarding."

Hotaru will board the plane and keep on eye on on people who pay specific attention on him entering the plane.

"Sir, we will need you to deactivate your drone, and also any active cyberware you currently have running. Standard security protocols on all flights." The attendant as the gate explained the procedure for all passengers registered with such legal devices and gear.

Hotaru deactivate and pick up his dog. "Can't I use my commlink? Its gonna be a long flight.

"Yes of course sir, you may connect your commlink through the flight interface. Our aircraft will serve as the host portal for all your communications needs while you are on the flight. We will be able to store your drone for you until we land." The attendant indicated towards an automated trolley system to assist Hotaru.

"I'd prefer to keep it with me, thank you. It will help me stay calm, you see, its actually my first time being in a plane."

"Why certainly!" The attendant smiled at Hotaru, and motioned for another to come forward, "Now that we know that it's your first time flying, let us make your journey as pleasant as possible. This is Helen, she will show you to your seat and help you settle in." Helen smiled even more brightly as she began to walk Hotaru down the aerobridge and oversaw his stowing both the anthrodrone and his backpack into the appropriate compartments, and she then brought him all the accoutrements necessary for him to plug into the flight, including the network key which allowed him to connect to the integrated commdeck built into his seat.

With his cyber equipment all powered down, Hotaru felt cut off from his usual heightened sense of perception and awareness. Used to being able to mentally visualise the icons and rigging possibilities of everything around him, and also to see and hear through his own drones, being forced to use his meat eyes and ears and traffic through the flight network made everything seem slow and distant.

The transorbital took off promptly, the journey taking no longer than three hours from London to neo-Tokyo. Throughout this time, he didn't catch a glimpse of those whom he was suspicious of, as both the dwarf and the woman were further up in business class. He wondered if there was anyone in economy class whom he ought to be wary of, but without his gear active he didn't know whether he ought to try to scan them.

Hotaru had often turned off his AR to record as pure a SIMRIG experience, however he was discovering that it was quite different when the only available experience were so ... banal. His sharpened senses, even in meatspace, came from his outstanding intuition, trained mind and bioware augment that, unlike a wired reflex or a cybereye, could not be turned off anymore than you could turn off your own feelings.

In the enclosed space of a economy airplane section, Hotaru felt like he was hearing every conversation simultaneously, noticing every movement, smelling every perfume. Dozens of stranger sitting, breathing and fidgeting in his personal space. With his situation, escaping by sleep or sim seemed unwise and he was at a bit of a loss as to the best way to navigate the situation. When the plane started moving his growing unease worsened. As it happen, flying without the power to feel and control every articulation of the airplane was not as enjoyable as his usual aircraft experiences... Every turn and shake of the plane was a reminder that he was not in control of his life anymore.

Sensing a budding panic trying to take over his brain, Hotaru took his last dose of Psyche and did some breathing exercice waiting for the drug to kick in. Despite the discomfort, he was regretting missing the opportunity to record this new experience, it would have been interesting to review after things settle. After of few minutes, he started feeling the familiar detached awareness. His senses were becoming at the same time sharper and easier to compartmentalize.

Using the focus of the drug, Hotaru used his time to observed and listen to every other person in the section one by one, taking not to draw attention of course. Noticing speed of breathing, listening to conversations, analyzing body langage, he learned more about the meta-humanity in those few hours than he did in his almost 20 years of life. The experience left him with a nudging feeling that his new found lack of control was actually something that most of meta-humanity was dealing with on a daily basis.

The passenger next to him simply thought that Hotaru was taking some medication and trying his best to close his eyes and relax into the flight. As he tried to settle in, the hyper awareness began to kick in. At times he could hear the family several rows behind, with a fussy toddler, this was interjected by loud conversation, or at least it seemed loud to him, of a number of friends who were chatting to pass the time. The hydraulic sounds of the service columns next to him which dispensed food and drink as needed were sharp and jarring. All in all, it was as if without his augmented filters, sorting out the various stimuli was so much harder.

At one point he noticed the dwarf's bodyguard enter his zone, crossing to the back of the craft, where he spoke to a smartly dressed orc at the back, before returning to business class. Two Japanese businessmen were discussing the latest corp news and the stock market. Somewhere along the line he figured out who the Lone Star air marshal was; standard security on the flight. He was probably the only personnel with his cyberware fully operational. However, Hotaru could not sense the goings on in business nor first class.

The bodyguard, powered down as he was, still cut a sleek and imposing figure as he moved down the aisle to talk, and then back again later, always on the lookout around him even in as restricted a space as the aircraft cabin.

Noticing the bodyguard immediately as he enter this section, it is easy to see that he is constantly alert. Hotaru closes his eyes and focuses all of his others sense on the bodyguard's presence. He cut through the ambient noise to follow the guy's footstep and breathing and, hopefully, conversations.

The bodyguard's vigilance meant that he was quite sure he was being watched, trained as he was to always be wary. So while Hotaru could hear the conversation he had, the conversation did not revolve around anything significant, merely some pleasantries. Whatever the bodyguard had planned to talk about, he decided not to. On the way back, he gave Hotaru a confrontational look, aware that Hotaru had been paying attention to him.

Surprisingly, the bodyguard antagonistic behavior reassured Hotaru. While it was not his specialty, he had participated in enough races to be confortable in a competitive environment and that man acted like Hotaru was the one messing with his race. While the young rigger still intended to be ready for trouble, it was good to have a reminder that the whole world was not after him.

Having been obviously noticed, he answered the angry look with a half smile, half sorry expression. Then relaxed and enjoyed observing "normal" people with their "normal' behaviour and worries for the rest of the trip.

The bodyguard met Hotaru's eyes as he passed. He make sure that Hotaru understood his stern look, as if to warn him off attempting anything else. It was after all what he was employed to do, to notice threats and protect his employer from them. Hotaru was a threat, simply because he had been too obviously nosy. With that established, the guard returned to place, and made no further contact with the orc he spoke to.

The rest of the journey continued to be a flood of sensation and perception for Hotaru. The hyperawareness from his drug still focussed his senses far and wide throughout the cabin. He could hear the music his neighbour was listening to through the neighbour's jacked in link. The teenage girl from two aisles away noticed him, but tried to pretend she wasn't checking him out, even the landing announcement in his own commlink sounded too loud.

Their flight finally descended into Narita International Airport, one of the largest airports in the Sixth World. While suborbital flight takeoffs were near vertical, their landing followed a circle and glide pattern to bring them safely onto a modified super runway. The landing was painless, and at disembarkation, the two parties Hotaru had been suspicious of in business class had been allowed to leave earlier, so Hotaru did not manage to catch a glimpse of them. Perhaps he could spot them at baggage claim later.

At the immigration counter, the scanning entryway Hotaru stepped through seemed to have signaled an alert which sent an officer over to where Hotaru was. "Sir, could you step this way please?" She directed him to an office room nearby.

"Sure" Hotaru head calmly into the office.

Through the immigration office, Hotaru was shown into a bare room with a table and white walls and led to a seat. "Mr Jacques Etienne." The officer read his name and details off a small wrist mounted display, "We need to ask you a few questions. Are you in possession of any drugs or illegal substances, on your person or in your belongings? Are you currently using any such substance?"

"I do not have anything of the sort, but I probably still have Psyche in my system. Why?"

The officer, unfailingly polite in the manner of all Japanese, "Thank you for answering honestly. We respect that the country from you you came may have different laws than we do. We request that you refrain from recreational drug use when you are in Japan." It was apparent that this country had a different view of drugs than England.

"That will be all Mr Etienne, you may -" Her statement was cut short by the entry of another similarly dressed civil aviation officer, but this one was accompanied by an armed member of airport security. The new person took over the questioning, still very politely, but much more seriously. "Mr Etienne, we require a statement from you as to the contents of your checked in luggage."

Since he was dealing with a polite and very Japanese officer, Hotaru answered in fluent Japanese "Of course, my apologies."

Still in fluent Japanase, Hotaru answers the second officer with a genuinely puzzled expression on his face. "Well of course, it is drone prototypes registered to Tengu Corp, the Mitsuhama subsidiary, based here. May I inquire what the issue is?"

"Please come with us." The senior officer and the armed escort led Hotaru out of the office and through a series of corridors. Hotaru had the sense that they were moving away from the passenger terminal proper, and towards a different part of the building. his hunch was correct, they exited a door, and actually crossed a few metres of airport ground, to reenter a smaller structure, with the logo of the Japanese civil aviation authority printed on its doors. The main corridor they entered looked more like a depot or warehouse, and it opened out to a larger floor space where Hotaru could see a number of vehicular dollies were moving carts of luggage in and out of the facility, and some smaller remote vehicles transporting items about. A central control room above served to remotely control many of these drones.

They finally reached a room on the side, where another security officer was waiting for them. Inside the room was Hotaru's large travel case. "Mr Etienne, once again, our apologies for the trouble. We have some questions, and we require you to open your case. Did you personally verify the items within yourself?" The officer pointed to the RFID chip that confirmed that the luggage was indeed Hotaru, and waited for him to use his personal commlink ID and electronic key registered to him from Dillon Harper earlier to open it.

Still in Japanese : It is not my case, but the property of Tengu corp. I am merely the carrier. As such, I did verify the case and the chip when it was entrusted to me, I did not open the case."

While explaining that to the officer, Hotaru reboot his commlink and RCC. Without touching the case, he verify if the chip info have changed since he last saw them, comparing them thoroughly with his SIMRIG recording from a few hours ago. He also activate Max and ask him mentally to do a Olfactory analysis of the case, noting any relevant change from past data and flagging any contact with the Olfactory profiles of the previously recorded suspicious characters.

"Sir, stop what you're doing." The armed security personnel reacted to Hotaru evidently activating his drone, and hefted his baton, ready to defend.

"Mr Etienne, our request was to open the case. You may use your code to unlock it, via your commlink. Please refrain from taking any other action which might be miscontrued as an act of non-compliance." The officer was still unfailingly polite, but he still had to enforce airport security protocols, and appeared to have send a security notification to the control room on alert. Hotaru had misjudged the invitation to open his case as an invitation to freely act.

As Hotaru tried to explain what he was doing, the officer paused, then said, "Just open the case first, if you please."

Hotaru shrugs and add in Japanese :"Please note that I was not allowed to verify the integrity of the case before opening it. Any damage or tampering will will be the airport responsibility to compensate Tengu Corp."

While talking, Hotaru do check mentally the RFID tag and, if there his no change, he use the electronic key on the case and vaguely gesture toward it with his hand : "Voilà."

The border security officer said nothing in reply. They were used to meeting thousands of travelers, all of whom didn't like it when their baggage was checked and asked to be opened.

Hotaru opened the case. The first item inside was a long black metal bow with a handle on top and a clasp which latched it shut. The border security officer had put on gloves to pick up the box and set in aside on the table. Underneath the box were two MCT Hornets. Designed in the shape of a tarantula hawk wasp, but larger, roughly the size of a human palm, they were safely encased in foam to prevent them from being damaged in transport. The case was much deeper than that though, lifting the first layer of Hornets revealed two more, for a total of four drones. Next to each of these was a chip, presumably containing the code key to sync to the drones. These were correctly listed in the luggage contents scan when Hotaru checked them in, so everything was in order. So far so good.

The officer then opened the small black box. Arrayed inside the long box were eight tiny canisters. These were cartridges to be inserted into the Hornets. A Hornet could carry one cartridge in its abdominal cavity, to deliver a dose of whatever the payload was. Six of them were clearly labeled, a mild narcotic to non-lethally paralyse its recipient. The other two were unlabeled, their contents a mystery.

"These are not registered. Do you know what they are Mr Etienne?" The officer asked.

Just then, two more security personnel entered the room, behind Hotaru, apparently the ones contacted earlier.

Still in Japanese "No, I do not"

Hotaru was still on full alert under the influence of Psyche, and something about the two new officers who entered the room seemed wrong to him. The woman approached the table where the two civil aviation personnnel were verifying the contents of Hotaru's case. The other stood behind, just out of the line of sight of both Hotaru and the armed guard who was watching all the proceedings attentively, hand still on his baton. She flashed what appeared to be her credentials to the two personnel, and spoke to all present. "We shall have to impound these canisters for further investigation. They may contain substances that are not permitted in Japan. Assist this man ... Mr... Etienne... , in the administrative procedures required." She signaled for the two unidentified canisters to be replaced into the box, and took the entire box. The two civil aviation officers were perturbed at her instructions, but were compliant, and made no move to stop her.

Even without the assistance of Hotaru's other sensory scanners, he had already stored the data of those he had monitored earlier. This woman seemed to correspond to the business woman who had boarded the same plane as he did earlier. And there was something familiar about the other officer behind him. But for some reason she didn't look like the same woman.

People often mistake an augmented metahuman like Hotaru as being faster than normal, that is not quite correct. It would be more accurate to say that they just have more time available to analyse a situation and decide their course of action. Hotaru's heightened sense knew instantly something was wrong when the new "officer" entered the room. By the time the woman had finish speaking, he took an educated guess, compared your the stored data in his commlink, noticed both the similar marker and the unexplained change in appearance. He took all that data in a overlay, with the 2 image and the identifying markers clearly identified and he broadcasted it visually in AR, making sure the first officers and guards received it. He added to the data a clear warning that he also ran in audio in a classic monotone alarm voice through his commlink in repeat (i'm guessing an internal commlink still as a way to project audio) :"(In Japanese) Warning, Warning, this woman is not who she appears to be. She changed her appearance to access restricted area."

The woman masquerading as airport security personnel was so confident and focussed on obtaining her objective that while she was wary of Hotaru and the officers, she hadn't anticipated that Hotaru would raise the alarm. The security officers were equally caught flat-footed at the young man who stood before them loudly broadcasting a warning. They were equally confused both by Hotaru and the woman, since neither were what they seemed to be!

Willing to bet on his intuition, Hotaru decided to make sure that woman could not escape before proving her credential. He quickly grabbed one of the hornets chip on the tray and crossed the room to close the door. Keeping his back against the door to physically block access and with his warning signs active, he connects the chip to is RCC to slave one of the hornet.

Hotaru moved as swiftly as he could after sounding the alarm loudly. He grabbed a chip key, intending to slave a Hornet to his control. The two runners who had infiltrated the room immediately reacted. The orc who had been covering both the door and the armed guard lashed out at the guard with a baton, causing him to fall on his knees as if he had been electrocuted.

The woman looked at Hotary, annoyed. Her appearance shifted, and she now looked more like the business woman Hotaru saw earlier, but dressed in form fitting gear. 'Stay out of this kid, you're being used." As she spoke, she seemed to fill Hotaru's head with all sorts of emotions and images, even his synaptic processes seemed to be affected. Hotaru saw that the others was equally affected as well.

The two security officers seemed disoriented by the woman's magic. One of them relayed the alarm, but didn't seem to be able to do much else. The other tried to grab the trays of drones in order to prevent anyone else from taking them. The woman made a move for the door, and so did the orc. It was clear they were intending to make as quick an exit as they possibly could.

The spell that the woman had unleashed was a powerful one. While it seemed to cause her to falter slightly, as if her lifeforce was consumed by the magic, the effect was felt by everyone, Hotaru included. He found himself unable to concentrate or stay focussed on what he needed to do. Even using his cyberware was a challenge.

Ugh, i hate magic thought Hotaru as the room was spinning around him. He decided to fake losing consciousness by going into cold sim VR and ordered his drones to follow the woman, Max was to to so while yapping loudly and the Hornet was to use the distraction to do it without being noticed.

Ugh, i hate magic thought Hotaru as the room was spinning around him. He decided to fake losing consciousness by going into cold sim VR. Jumping into the hornet he immediately felt more confident despite the magical sensory overload, this was his world. As the Hornet, he jumped from the tray exactly when both runners where looking toward the door. Just before hitting the ground, the wings flapped and the Hornet flew low. Using the sounds of the alarms to cover the sounds and his own flesh body as cover, Hotaru timed his crossing with them, expecting them to close the door quickly to gain time. With his skills and a bit of luck, they would have a hard time to notice in the speed and confusion of an escape.

Even as Hotaru switched to his familiar virtual reality mode, he noted that the runners had used lethal means to incapacitate anyone, neither the civil aviation personnel nor himself. As he lost focus on his own body, he gained an awareness of seeing the world through the sensors of the Hornet drone as he activated it and controlled it to pursue after the fleeing runners. With no one else holding them back, they slipped out the door swiftly. Hotaru piloted his Hornet with great expertise borne of his long experience in drone craft. The speed and size of the insect drone made it very easy for the drone to fly through the closing door.

Back outside at the main hall of the huge depot, the two runners continued to make their way past various pallets of goods, crates and baggage of various incoming and outgoing dollies as they proceeded to their exit. If the earlier officers had successfully raised an alarm, no new detachment of security guards had arrived yet. Although they were in a hurry, they were professional enough to work together as a team to check to see if they were being watched or followed.It was the woman who saw that Hotaru's drone had followed them. She pointed it out, and continued her escape, while the orc paused to pull out a weapon to blast the drone.

The orc cursed at the nimbleness of the Hornet. Hotaru flew it very deftly, and avoided the orc's extra effort in trying to get rid of it. The look of annoyance was obvious on his face, but he remained to consider what else he could go while the mage continued to move away.

Hotaru took a few seconds to focus on both runners, trying to glean and record as much data on them as he can before retreating back into the room.

Hotaru had managed to get the mage to drop whatever illusion she had been using earlier to disguise herself, and he had unerringly recgonised her to be the business woman he had traveled from London with. The orc was also a passenger on the same plane. The data would be useful for review later. The Hornet itself, while equipped for surveillance and speed, had been spotted, and as such was not as useful as he had hoped it would be. Reluctantly he flew the machine through the nearest air duct he could find, as the door was closed, in order to return to the room where his meat body was in.

Halfway though inside the air duct, Hotaru found himself unable to command his drone. He was still in virtual reality, but he could not 'see' through the camera and image link of the Hornet, nor move it. The drone came to an abrupt stop and sat there. All he could perceive was a grey static, and nothing else.

Sigh, stupid Dirtboys, always so short sighted Hotaru tune out of VR and return to his meatbody.

Hotaru found himself in full awareness of his physical body again. It wasn't the neural pain of dumpshock, but he recognised the sings of gear failure. He was simply unable to access the virtual reality world, nor even the augmented reality which he was used to using by default. Hotaru quickly realised why. He was back in the room with the two civil aviation officers, but his arms were restrained behind him. Attached to his temple was a headjammer, a delimiting device that deactivated his commlink and control rig implants. He was now effectively unable to operate his cybergear.

Moments later, more border security police filed in. They were business-like and efficient, but not brutal nor rough, and they did not say a word to him. Two personnel on either side of him marched him out and into a small security vehicle, and from there whisked him away to another nearby building, which Hotaru didn't have the opportunity to observe from the outside. There, just as efficiently, they hauled him out through a doorway, down a corridor, then another, then another, until they reached a plain room with only a metal table and two chairs, and grey featureless walls. There they secured him to the chair, and left.

Nothing happened for a while. Then, after what seemed like a long time, the door opened, an two persons entered, a slick man in a well cut suit, and an older woman of some authority, who stood by a wall and watched the proceedings. The man sat down in front of Hotaru.

"Mr Etienne, I am Hakata, of the Security Division." Even in circumstances such as these, the Japanese were unfailingly formal, polite even. "You will cooperate with this investigation by explaining your involvement and answering all our questions." The woman behind said nothing.

Hotaru expected the headjammer and simply put himself in a more comfortable position until the agents picked him up.

Once secured in the empty room, he began to lose his nerves. An rush of adrenalin, an overactive brain and a total lack of stimulation can do that.

Alternating between fidgetting nervously and total focus on the featureless grey wall, Hotaru discovered 147 cracks, 7 stains and a very distinctive, almost imperceptible, pattern of discoloration in the paint probably caused by the repeated draft from the occasional opening of the only door in the room. Slow motion perception and prison-like setting are not a good pairing...

When the two persons entered, Hotaru pretty much stared at them until they finished speaking. Even with their neutral expression and professional behaviors, he could basically count their heartrate by looking at their neck and temple and notice so many imperceptible movement in their eyes and body language.

He started answering, in Japanese, in faster rythme than intended : "Well, of course. I was hire to transport prototype drone back to Tengu Corp facility here and I noticed..." Hotaru realized he had forgotten to slow his speech at "normal" speed. He stopped, took a deep breath and restarted in a calmer tone and rythme. "I was asked to transport prototype drone back to Tengu Corp facility here and I noticed signs of suspicious activity. I only had confirmation when the two individuals entered the room under false pretense. Then I tried to warn and assist the security that was caught totally unaware. Which led me here as the victim of a theft and being treated as a criminal. Very politely I might add, but detained and restrained all the same."

There was no need for the interrogator to take notes. If Hotaru had a chance to view himself from the other side of the room, he would've realised that all his words were being recorded, and his facial expressions, vital signs were being monitored.

"May I remind you that speaking truthfully will be to your advantage, whereas any deception will make it harder for your situation. We will require the name of the person from whom you received the prototypes. Were you aware of any of the other contents inside?" Hakata asked the more straightforward questions first, but he clearly had another, bigger one he was waiting to get to.

"Dillon Halbert and I was aware of the manifest of the content only. I did not open the case before security forced me too. So, what is your real question? "

The man weighed Hotaru's resistant tone. "Explain how a person of your age is a courier for a major corp, entrusted with a case of prototypes - and more. And explain how an ordinary courier like you is rigged with high-end cyberware."

The woman's eyes flickered in interest.

Being an awful liar, Hotaru decided to go with as much of the truth as he could.

"Forgive my tone, it was not meant to be confrontational, it just was a stressful day and I am a bit on edge. I will explain to the best of my ability. Most of it comes down to something very simple, I have talents and Corporation always exploit talent. Being a courier his not however my usual function, I believe it was more an arrangement of convenience, two different assets needing to be move at the same time. I ... notice things. Details or patterns that others miss. That is how I could spot and react to the threat faster than your security.

As for the wares, I was simply raised in a privileged environment where money was no issue. So the wares and equipment to develop my talents were readily available."

"Mr Etienne, I have done this long enough to know that you have something to hide. You not told us the entire truth about your personal motives for coming to neo-Tokyo, but personal secrets are not an offence in this country, neither are your cyberware implants, although their proper use is still governed by the laws here. We have your footage of your well-intentioned but misguided attempt to confront and restrain the perpetrators of today's theft. Nonetheless, you are still responsible for transporting..." here Hakata paused, as if looking for the right word, before he avoided it completely, "...what was stolen. For involvement in that, you are currently under arrest. You have a right to a lawyer -"

"Alright Hakata, I think he understands the predicament he's in." The woman finally spoke up. Hotaru had noted earlier she was an elven woman of indeterminate age, but moved gracefully without a sound. She hadn't said a single word while Hakata interrogated Hotaru, but Hotaru was certain that neither her nor Hakata bore any ill-will, for it was clear that the investigator was clearly a lawful professional doing his job thoroughly. The woman was harder to read, Hotaru could almost sense that she was coolly calculating what direction this entire debacle ought to take. "Mr Etienne, how would you like to make amends for this fiasco you have caused?"

"How can I be of service?
Hotaru accompanied his words by a small bow, made awkward by all the restrained.

"You'll complete the job you were hired to do, that is to deliver the case of drones to the Tengu Corporation. You will proceed as if you had just arrived at the airport, make your way to their head office, and only hand them over to the person or persons authorised to accept them." The woman outlined the task as if the idea wasn't new to her.

Hakata continued with the execution of the details. " Your cyberware will be tagged, so that we will know your whereabouts at all times, and with all your relevant feeds uplinked to us. You may sync up with your anthrodrone, and pre-load the Hornet interfaces, to serve as tracking devices. When done, you will leave for a rendezvous point for pick up. Do this, we will take into consideration your cooperation at your trial." The agent looked up to see if Hotaru was following.

"While I would love to help you uncover what exactly is happening here, you are asking me to put myself in possible danger and definitely burn my reputation to the only work contact I have here. The abruptness with which I was sent here does suggest trouble of some sorts at home, so I expect I will need some employment and accommodation here. This will be that much harder to get if you or Tengu Corp keep treating me like a criminal.

There is no proof of any wrongdoing on my part and there is evidence of me being a victim here. I was assaulted and stolen from while under the care of your security. I am certain any lawyer and judge can see that. Ha! Even my thief said herself that I was a victim here. So, may I humbly suggest that you offer me a contract instead of empty threats, so we can work together to get to the truth of this situation?"

The woman laughed. "Oh I like this one." She continued to look at Hotaru with amusement, before the more strait-laced Hakata resumed.

"Mr Etienne, we are the Security Division of the Neo-Tokyo Metropolitan Police, not some Lone Star or Knight Errant privatised police force. We do not hire crime suspects. Perhaps I was too quick in assuming you understood your predicament. You are currently under arrest for smuggling a prohibited mutagen for Tengu Corporation, which you transported in your luggage from London to Tokyo. You are a culprit Mr Etienne, not a victim. We can begin interrogation again to establish who it was who gave you the luggage, so that we can investigate its origins in London. We can continue this interrogation until you reveal the names of your accomplices, who knew your whereabouts, and conveniently 'stole' the vials from you from aviation security. If you would like a lawyer in order to proceed to trial that is within your rights, and we will permit you to arrange for one.

However, my colleague here has decided to give you the benefit of doubt, given the circumstances. Hence her offer to you. The offer gives you a chance to redeem your actions by working for the police, as opposed to being the prime suspect in this case."

"Merde alors, that is indeed a putain de bordel I seem to have gotten mixed with, please excuse my French...

Voyons voir, you have information on the content without having analyzed it, since it was not flagged in London, and you know its movement only through the information I personally gave you..." Hotaru speaks mostly to himself, trying to connect the dots, checking the officer's reaction as he guesses his situation. "Unless I seriously overestimate airport scanners, the most probable explanation would be an anonymous tip. If that is the case, then the timing would tell much about the intent, my best guess would be the thieves wanting to catch the material in a controlled environment; They were, after all, awfully quick with the fake airport credentials... How dangerous is that mutagen? Oh yea, you wouldn't tell me as I am still a suspect...

Hotaru's focus comes back to the officers. "You look like decent, smart and capable officers. Overzealous and open-minded must be a good combination in your line of work. You are smart enough to guess that I really am a patsy and that precious time would be wasted trying to get names I don't have out of me, but also principled enough that you want to make sure I have both the lawful punishment and defense for my involvement. So I feel I can trust you at least to a reasonable degree."


Hotaru's gaze turned inward again. "Now, we have at least two other parties involvement. The smugglers, almost certainly corp affiliated, deal in illegal mutagen which could be only about profits but could also be about more nefarious stuff. The thieves, however, were surprisingly careful about not causing unnecessary damage and almost genuinely concerned about me. That raises the probability of a dangerous and morally dubious intent from the smugglers..."


Hotaru's attention comes back to the officers again.

"Ok, I'm in. Now if you can define "redeem your actions" we can negotiate the terms of this offer. I also have some analysis and recording of the thieves to add if you are interested, although I would need access to my commlink to know the exact value of what I picked on before I was cut off." [/b]

Hotaru wait for the officers responses while analyzing some of their reactions during his analysis to either confirm or invalidate some of his guesses.

Hotaru never asked what trouble his father was in that forced him to send Hotaru out of England as quickly as he could. Even Dillon Halbert, his father's colleague, had warned him that trouble was sure to follow, and sure enough, trouble did. Someone had planted an illegal substance in Hotaru's case, substituting two vials of regular nacroject paralyser for some no doubt dangerous mutagen. This was done without Hotaru's knowledge. All this Hotaru could infer in his head.

The woman, after listening to Hotaru's thoughts and conclusions, nodded to Hakata, who continued. "As mentioned, we will give you an opportunity to assist us in our investigations. This investigation may very well prove that you are innocent in the charge of smuggling, so it is in your interest to cooperate. Those are the terms of the offer: you get to clear your name." Hakata's last statement was spoken in a less formal register, in case Hotaru did not grasp the formalities of his earlier explanation.

The woman finally approached the table were Hotaru was, sat at the edge of the table and leaned toward Hotaru. "Kid, Tengu Corp used you to ship something terrible into this country. You're their patsy, and they're happy to leave you to rot. However, they don't know that their mutagen has been stolen, so they're still expecting you to deliver it. That's where you come in. Hakata has already outlined the plan earlier, complete your 'delivery'. You'll have back up. That's it.

As for the runners who made off with the vials, we're on their trail. If you want to give us the information you've recorded to add to our evidence, that'll count in your favour too." The woman spoke quickly and smoothly, and much less formally than Hakata. In fact, there was a edgy, experienced air about her, as if she'd been doing this for the longest time.

"So, what'll it be? Decide. Time's ticking and there's lots to do."

"That sound good, i'm in."

"Good. Time is of the essence. We will now release your restraints, and tag your cyberware." Hakata buzzed, and wired technician wearing AR gloves entered, waving his hands in the air as if he was manipulating various objects in virtual reality. Hotaru could feel his cuffs released, and commlink and rig coming back online. "This is so that we can track your whereabouts, and also see what you're seeing through all your feeds, which will be uplinked to us. You will have backup; they will track you via the uplink.

What you will do next is exit the airport as if you have just landed. A replacement box of nacroject vials will be placed in your case. You will sync up with your anthrodrone, and also pre-load the Hornet interfaces, so that you can use them for tracking as well. Make your way to Tengu Corp according to whatever instructions you have been given. Once you have made the delivery, make your way to an extraction point so that we can ensure your safety."

Hakata waited to see if Hotaru had any other questions. If not, he got ready to escort Hotaru out to begin his assignment.

"i'm ready."