//File 2.1 - Clint, Hotaru, Gon//

Hotaru had made it away in one piece. His journey to Japan was a nightmare. What ought to have been a straightforward arrangement made by his father to get him away from the dangers of London embroiled him in a crossfire between at least four different parties interested in the drones he was carrying. The Hornet drone case had contained a dangerous mutagen, which was stolen from him under the noses of the Japanese police, and, to avoid the blame being pinned on him and clear his name, Hotaru had agreed to work with the police to complete the delivery of the drones to the Tengu Corporation, a subsidiary of MCT. He was intercepted, found himself stuck in an even more complicated situation were it not for two reasons: the first was the help that Watanabe, his father’s old friend who had been trying to reach him since he arrived, secretly rendered him, and the second was a mysterious stranger, dressed in a cowboy outfit, who appeared in the Tennobashi-zu station, and hustled Hotaru into a getaway car, but not before taking a bullet from over-zealous police determined not to let Hotaru escape their jurisdiction.

Clint had arrived in Japan as a feted guest. HTB Corp had hired Jericho, his alter ego, to film a simsense series. Traveling by private jet, an unknown terrorist had hijacked the plane, and would’ve succeeded in their plans were it not for Clint’s quick thinking. Grateful, and appreciative of his abilities, division chief Ozaka asked that Clint investigate the sabotage on his behalf. Clint’s mission instructions came from a yet-unnamed woman representing the Wanabuchi-gumi, to intercept a courier and his package and keep them safe from harm. This Clint did successfully, putting himself in harm’s way as a result.

"My instructions in such a situation are to take you to medical aid first." Hayasa did not hesitate as Hotaru and Clint tumbled into the rear seats of the Skyline GTi. The police were still shooting as Hayasa floored the pedal, causing the car to roar into action, leaving the cops to breathe exhaust fumes as they escaped. The rigger did not make small talk, but knew exactly where to bring Clint. In a matter of minutes, the car pulled up in one of the quieter streets of Shinagawa, most of the buildings closed at this time of night. The clinic they entered did not have a sign outside. Inside, through a corridor, Hayasa walked in and found an unexpectedly unfamiliar face, a female elf in a white coat. "Where is Azusa? I was expecting him instead. Attend to this man."

Hotaru was calm and observant at first. Noticing he was not in immediate danger or treated as a threat himself, he grew increasingly agitated. He started muttering, but his voice was gaining strength as he continued ranting to no one in particular.

"Kidnapping now, thats a new one, I'd only be used, stolen, sequestrated, threatened, stalked, monitored, lied to, assaulted and manipulated yet. And now my last chance to have a normal life is probably gone, again. In another putain de continent for good measure. Maybe I should find a nice tall building to jump from, one last freefall in realsense, just to see how it compare to to being jumped in. One last spark of freedom. Better than being stuck forever in a basement, or prison.

What the fuck que ces enfoirés wants now? Somebody is better tell me whats going on before I just lose my mind. This is getting so ridiculous, im probably in a coma somewhere. Plane crash? Maybe stuck in the matrix? Nah, I have much better imagination than this... sérieusement!"

Gon rolls her eyes at the barked order but prepares to deal with the wounded jerk that had just been dragged in. She turns to the kit by the bed but sees she's been left with nothing but scalpers and cotton balls. Rubbing her temple with her real hand, her cyber arm whirs and a hollow needle pops out of her robotic finger. She quickly grabs the patient's arm and presses it to the bed. Then stabs the needle into his arm.

"You need to stop talking now." she says to the motor mouth. "I need quiet to concentrate...please." The please is hastily tacked on as though she just remembered bedside manner.

Clint endures the check up calmly... I was sent to escort you and the package back safely. And good thing I arrived since those bug creatures seemed pretty intent on catching you... I heard one one them say something about you stealing their blood !? What was that about ! Oh and a small suggestion for you... Surveille ton language, on sait jamais qui écoute...

"Je pense pas que quiconque s'intéresse à ma crise existentielle.

[ +- ] French

I don't think anyone care about my existential crisis."

I have no idea what those were and you may well have ruined my life, what was left of it anyway... so i'm not sure about thanking you yet. You say you were sent to "escort" me, and the package, may I ask who wants it and why? Might be a tad important for my future."

"Mr Etienne, forgive the abrupt interception. I assure you we would not have resorted to that unless it were totally necessary. Explanations are in order. Come. And do turn off that commlink of yours at least for a while. Otherwise we will only have a few moments before the police arrive and we have to leave." The person who next entered the clinic with a white haired older elven lady of Japanese descent, the Mr Johnson who had employed Clint to carry out the mission. She walked straight to where Clint was lying on the examination table, "Your efficiency is commendable Mr Westwood, although not without cost to yourself. If you are well enough to join us, come. You too Bliss, once you have finished stitching up your patient, your expertise may be needed in this matter." The woman walked straight through the clinic to the small office through the rear door, accompanied by her bodyguard, a tall figure more chrome than man.

Hotaru will follow silently, half alert, half resigned.

Gon looks at the intruders who have turned her, "...well not "my" clinic, but I am the doctor on duty so to a certain extent it is my..." clinic into an office and a starts to object. But then the doctor takes a mental count of all the guns in the room and checks herself. "I'll let this play out for a bit maybe."

Finishing up her work, she puts things back the way they were and follows the woman and her bodyguard as instructed.

As Gon followed the woman, Hotaru and Clint into the inner office, she reflected on how she found herself in her current position. She had arrived in Tokyo, and, thanks to a misunderstanding about her attachment programme at Tokyo Medical, found herself without the opportunity to practice. Besides, she owed a debt to Arashi, and found herself working the night shift at an underground clinic, ripperdocs as they were affectionately known as. Affectionately that is, if they survived the procedures performed on them, grafts, implants, chroming. Gon tried to keep the less savoury aspects out of her head, but it was hard.

"I shall address Mr Etienne's questions, as they are most concerning to him, and has nearly cost him his life. I shall tell you what I know, in the hope that you can see that we have acted in your best interest. The package you have, camouflaged as a simple case of drone prototypes, contain a dangerous bioweapon, a mutagen component needed to create a new strain of insect-human hybrids. I myself am unaware of its full potential, but it is possible that with this mutagen, insect spirits no longer need to possess host bodies, but are inseparable from the host, in a symbiotic relationship. This is within your area of expertise." The woman, in addressing Hotaru's concerns, nodded at Gon to include her in the discussion.

"We think this was developed by the Mitsuhama group, but one of its subsidiaries, Tengu Corporation, appropriated it for themselves, by smuggling the first strain into Japan. You were the mule, Mr Etienne. You were used without your knowing to courier the weapon to Japan. A number of parties are trying to lay their hands on it. For one, Tengu must be frustrated that their smuggling attempt has been discovered. We now know you have been working under the instructions of the police, given that Mr Westwood here was injured by their sting operation. We also know that the spirits themselves are involved, although we do not know who sent them. We also know you have a benefactor, who sent you a helpful rotor-drone. Tell me Mr Etienne, have the police confiscated the mutagen, and are merely using you as a decoy? This seems heartless of them. May I see the contents of the case?" The woman summarised all she knew, which pretty much tallied with what Hotaru knew as well. What the woman didn't know was that the bioweapon was already stolen by another party at the airport.

Hotaru let the woman finish without interruptions with a pretty good poker face. "Well, you seem know alot except you did not tell me who you are and what do you want with me and this mutagen. "

Hotaru slowly deposit the case on the desk and open it. He then showcase it with a small curtsy and a handwave. "Et voila! Oh, you may have missed one relatively important fact in your analysis. The mutagen is already gone."

For a moment Hotaru caught a momentary expression on the woman's face which revealed her surprise, before she recovered her unflappable composure. "So the police have it, and you are their decoy. No, that would be irregular, even for them. Another party was involved, and the police are pretending it hasn't been stolen?" She let her question trail off.

"I am Mr Johnson, of course. And I do not want anything from you Mr Etienne. I have simply saved your life, and extricated you from the clutches of the police. Gratitude is appreciated, but not expected. You are free to go, and may return to them if you wish. I now have business with Mr Westwood, with whom I am grateful, and have a proposition for Ms Arai here."

The woman waited to see if Hotaru had a reply, or if he wanted to stay or go. "Unless you believe for yourself that you are not yet done with this entire affair. After all, you have been manipulated by others without a care for your well-being. If you are interested, you can still be involved in my plans."Turning to Clint, "Mr Westwood, please send my regards to Ozaka. You have been invaluable and successful, and I consider your service discharged. Your swords will continue to grant you passage in any establishment managed by the Wanabuchi-gumi. Here is also a contact, should you require an upgrade to your equipment, you will be generously provided for. Neo-Tokyo frowns on open carry, but there are ways around that." The bodyguard slid an identity chip, much like a calling card, towards Clint.

Finally, to Gon, "Ms Arai. I understand that while you are aware of the nature of this clinic, your service today goes beyond your employ. Now that you are privy to what I have revealed, I require you to keep its confidentiality. I also have a proposition for you. Whoever has the mutagen will be looking to replicate and synthesise more of it. I need someone who is familiar with biochemical research, and discreet, to investigate who might be doing so."

Hotaru gets visibly annoyed at the Mr Johnson arrogant and dismissive response and his lips tightens a moment as his boosted mind mentally recite a long string of well felt swears in record time.

"OK, we'll do this your way, miss. If you believe you can get to the bottom of this better than the police, I wanna hear this plan. And if really want to find this mutagen, I have recorded simsense and drone data of the runners that stole it, that might be worth something to you.

Mr Jonhson, if you'll allow me, there are dangerous forces looking for this mutagen. If you'll allow me, I would like to offer my services to ensure Ms. Arai's safety.

Mr Johnson smiled approvingly at both of them, and waited to hear from Gon.

"Girls gotta eat. Let's say I'm amicable to this arrangement, pending contract renegotiation."

"Welcome to neo-Tokyo Mr Etienne, you will find the police do not control this city. Another team of runners you say? It seems you have more information than I give you credit for. Perhaps you are no mere courier. Very well, you have made yourself useful again. If you can play it back now, I can begin to make enquiries. In return, you will be compensated. I can offer something currently more valuable to you than money. If you intend to remain in the shadows, you will need a new identity, a new SIN." The woman waited for Hotaru to consider the deal, and if he were willing, to release whatever his information he had.

"Ms Arai. I do not own your current contract. If Mr Etienne here comes through with the information he promises, Mr Westwood will begin his recovery of the mutagen, aided by Mr Etienne. You will assist by first helping to identify it, and then confirming that it is the authentic product they have recovered. In return you will be offered a permament contract in a more established medical facility."

Hotaru was secretly pleased to have surprised the smug Mr Johnson a second time. He booted his integrated commlink in offline mode selected a single good picture of the two runners in his data and projected it in the room with the mini holoprojector coming out from just behind his ear.

"Here are the the runners who escaped the airport with the mutagen a mage and an orc. I'll take that SIN and, if you want my services and your own copy of the data, that gonna cost you money as well and i'll need a safe way to access the Matrix."

Hotaru observed the woman reaction closely. As clearly nobody cared about his well being in this city, it was time for him to give himself more options and more ressources. For the first time in the last 24h, he had some leverage and was not in immediate trouble, he had to make sure to get the most he could out of it.

"It is considered crass to talk about money in our culture Mr Etienne. But then you are new to our ways. You will also find that some things are worth more than money. Your SIN, for one, which will allow you to access the Matrix in your new identity. If you are a rigger of some skill, and that remains to be seen, you will be provided a car. Finally, you now work for us, for the purposes of this contract. You will find that the most valuable."

The woman signaled for her man to make a copy of Hotaru's data. "Eiji here will sort out who might have hired the runners who took the mutagen. Although I already have my suspicions. In the meantime, let us give Mr Westwood a moment to recover, before we demand his services again." Eiji stepped away and exited the clinic.

Hotaru had plenty of exchange with Japanese riggers and racers in the past, but because of share interest and his expertise, the culture had never been an issue. This was something new that he wasnt sure he could get used too. In a few short sentence the lady Mr Johnson had managed to insult his judgment, manners, skills and intelligence while claiming some kind of moral high ground AND claiming ownership of him at the same time. She also expected to receive all the data without giving anything in return upfront and kept hiding the identity of the group she was working for, which did not stop her from claiming that working for them, whoever "they" were was the highest reward and value of all. Hotaru was not a violent person, but he really considered activating the Roto drone and unloading a burst of assault rifle into her abdomen just to see her smug expression turn into shocked surprise. Hey, maybe that would have proven his rigger skill and earned him a car!

Joking aside, Hotaru layed out his options in his quickened mind. There was indeed some shitty wind here, but the worst element was that he lost his own flow. He had to focus on something he could control, no matter how small. So, he swallowed his wounded pride and rebellious tendencies, then addressed the Mr. Johnson

"If we have some time before you share with us the layout of your plan, I'd like a moment to thank Mr Westwood properly and in private for rescuing me in the train station.

Hotaru never had any interest or skill in lying, but he had already understood that blatant lie and lie of omission were commonplace here : you just had to act insulted if somebody point them out and that was something he could do.

Amused by the kid's discovery of the pleasures of shadowrunning, Go ahead kid, I'm listening.

"The room is yours." The woman smiled calmly, and exited after her guard. "I shall return in half an hour."

"Alors, avec qui est-ce que je suis en train de m'embarquer exactement?

[ +- ] Translation

So, who am i getting in bed with here?

J'ai été engagé par Mr. Ozaka pour t'escorter toi et ton colis jusqu'à la Tengu corporation. Si ça peut te rassurer, mon employeur a payer pour ta sécurité autant que celle du colis...

Et qui est ce monsieur Ozaka? Et sérieusement, après tout ces délais, mon arrivé la bas va être louche. Dis moi, le colis devait arriver la bas avec ou sans son contenu?"

Clint had a chance to fill Hotaru in on his perspective. It seemed that the woman's mission for Clint was as she had described it. Clint was meant to rescue Hotaru and the package. Although Hotaru still suspected that, had it not been for the value of the package, the woman would not have been so altruistic. All the same, the woman was the first person who didn't try to coerce Hotaru into doing anything. She was prepared to let him walk away, once she found that the contents of the case was missing.

On Clint's part, he felt that his relationship with Ozaka was further strengthened by the completion of this mission. Ozaka was in his debt, and in Japan, debt and duty were important concepts, and he was prepared to fulfil his promise to help Ozaka get to the bottom of this mystery, both to find Ozaka's lost cargo from the plane, and Hotaru's stolen mutagen. These two were clearly linked in some way.

Arai said nothing throughout this affair so far, her thoughts focussed on what might happen next, now that she had agreed to the next mission.

The woman re-entered. "We have had a chance to run a brief search. The two runners are masked by some magic, which made the astral trace less reliable. However, word on the sprawl sighted a woman and a large humanoid in the vicinity of a known Watada-gumi front, Matsuyo Pachinko Parlour in Shinjuku. We know it is a contact point for black market simsense chips. Perhaps it is also the location for the handoff of the mutagen the runners stole. Your assignment is to head there now and verify that these are the runners we are looking for, and if so, intercept the trade deal by whatever means necessary. "

Turning to Hotaru, "Have you decided on a new name Mr Etienne? Speak here. Eiji will complete the retinal and fingerprint scan for you on this datachip, which you can then use to overwrite your internal commlink. You will use the car you arrived in. Hayasa will transfer the voice activation to you. I trust you are able to handle an upgraded Skyline.

Mr Westwood, I trust you are well enough to continue the mission. Ms Arai, you may requisition whatever supplies you need from the clinic."

For now everything is just fine. But if you could arrange later for a fake sin, mine was burned at the airport when I arrived....

"Jack Edwards"

And just like that, Hotaru registered his first fake identity in neo-Tokyo, to protect himself against the law and stay hidden in the shadows.

"Yes Mr Westwood, that would be wise to do. Consider that arranged when you return."

Hotaru found Hayasa waiting outside by the car. "I've kept it in one piece for six months. Don't wreck it on your first day." The satnav to all of neo-Tokyo was immediately available and overlaid in Hotaru's AR view.The journey from quiet street of the back alley clinic to the sprawling arcology of the Shinjuku district took only fifteen minutes in Hotaru's expert hands. The roads became wider, the buildings taller, more brightly lit, some over a hundred storeys tall, blotting out the night sky with their own constellations of neon. The main thoroughfare itself was still abuzz with traffic; it was a zone that did not sleep, with hovercars and drones above like electric sheep.

Matsuyo Pachinko Parlour wasn't difficult to find at all. It was one of the larger establishments occupying the main block along one of the five or six streets dedicated to leisure, entertainment and other such services. Brightly lit entrances led to VIP bars, darker ones to adult venues. Simsense virtual reality cinemas interspersed them. The stretch of bars alone was bustling in frenetic activity, drunken saraimen already spilling out on the road. Even in the Sixth World, the Japanese passion for pachinko outweighed many other forms of legalised gambling, watching little metal balls go round and round, giving it its distinctive onomatopoeic name, 'pachinko'. Sure, the machines now were louder, the neon lights flashier, even the balls were now holographic, but profits from these gambling parlours were through the roof. Many of them were fronts for other dealings in the back room, run by syndicates. And in Japan, there was only one kind of crime syndicate.

Hotaru will jack in the car to drive there, with the rotodrone in the car trunk and the hornet and dog in the car

Once there, he will drop people at the location and either let the car drive in circle in autopilot or park while he scan the area with the 2 drones discreetly.

Clint opens a comm line to Hotaru to stay connected and enters the bar, looking for the two runners described earlier...
Garde-moi informé si tu vois quelque chose d'inhabituel...

The pachinko parlour sat along a busy street of bars, entertainment centres and one or two eateries along a busy . Hotaru considered having his Skyline cruise on autopilot, but that would simply be making the car go in circles around the block over and over. There was street side parking further up, a couple of buildings away. No one batted an eyelid as he stood on the street with his anthrodrone next to him and his hornet weaving above. The technologically advanced areas of neo-Tokyo saw various drones going about their business overhead. At least two of the entertainment establishments had miniature camera drones projecting the name of the establishments as large advertisements.

Clint entered the parlour. He wasn't famliar with the game, but to him the hall he entered appeared like the many casinos he had sent before. Rows and rows of machines, like jackpot machines, and numerous players seated before them. A central area had even louder, bigger pachinko machines, which projected spinning hologaphic balls as they rolled around in a myriad of patterns, before clinking and chinking repeatedly. The place was a colourful kaleidescope of gaming. Of the two persons Hotaru described to him there was no sign. But Hotaru had reminded him that the woman was capable of illusion magic, and may not appear exactly as what Clint saw in Hotaru's recording.

Clint tries to stay focused and looks for strange behaviors...

On the street, surveying the gambling parlour from the outside, Hotaru could detect no immediate threat. There was a standard security man at the door, but he was discreet. Matsuyo's entrance after all was glitzy and meant to draw crowds, not turn them away. Of the duo they came to find there was no sign; it was more likely that they were still inside.

Inside, Clint strode in, surrounded by players who paid little attention to him, even dressed as he was in his cowboy gear. Evidently, along this entertainment street, there wasn't much to surprise the regulars. Standard casino security personnel manned the floor, that much was obvious. There was the main entrance which he came from, and side entrances leading back out to the street. To the rear of the gaming hall were doors leading out, presumably to the offices and other private areas. What was noteworthy was that, while Clint didn't see the duo they were looking for, he saw two security personnel respond to something they had heard over their headsets, and hurriedly rushing towards the door, disppearing into the back. That seemed to be where the action lay.