Research

DB opened the car door for Miz Johnson. She got in and pulled out her haul, three cred sticks and the coin.

DB took the cred sticks and thumbed them. 20K on the sticks, he slotted 10K for himself and gave the rest to Miz Johnson. Pulling out a driving glove DB took the coin from her.

“What happened?” Miz Johnson asked.

“We kicked ass. It went pretty smooth.”

She turned towards him. “Dude, you're bleeding. I don't think that was smooth.”

DB smiled. “Magic has it's cost and no one died. I consider that smooth. Before you go, when did I contact you?”

Miz Johnson pulled up her texts on her commlink. “Looks like three hours ago.”

DB nodded. “Great. I’ll contact you if I have any more work.”

She got out of the car and walked away. DB barely noticed as he grabbed BC’s commlink. It was almost an exact match of the one he was wearing, but slightly more banged up. He checked the time. Three hours ago, BC texted her asking for a meet. Frag! What was going on?

DB punched in the address to his other place. The coin was warm even through the leather.

His commlink buzzed. Incoming call from Mrs. Latham.

“Hello Beautiful.”

She was not looking at him, but something off screen. "DB, darling, I'm sorry for the short notice. But the..." as she looks at you she stops. "You look horrible. Are you alright?"

"Magic ritual went bad, it looks worse than it actually is. A few hours of sleep and I'll perfectly fine.” DB said smoothly.

“Good.” She nodded. “Anyway, I have a black tie gala tomorrow night at the museum. Care to escort me?”

"It would be my pleasure, what time and where should we meet". DB asked.

"I'll have the car pick you up at 7."

"I will be well rested and ready." DB replied. "Hope you have a lovely day." He reached up and turned off his commlink.

He pulled an RFID blocking bag out of the glove compartment and shoved the coin and glove into it. He punched go and closed his eyes for the trip.

BC stepped out the car. He pulled the bag with him and stumbled into the house. A thumbprint later, and he was falling into bed.

How it Went Down

Bunny is pointing at the wall, it's in here.

DB is opening the safe. (lock picking three successes)

Bunny looks beyond DB and hisses, "Stay out of this bitch."

DB opens the safe, when a female voice behind him says, "I wouldn't do that if I was you. I don't know what it promised you, but I can tell you how it will end. With a bullet to your head."

DB paused for a breath, and then grabs the coin. Bunny explodes. (Resist 12 Stun magic and willpower (takes 5 stun)) Where there was, Bunny was a copy of you.

"You shouldn't have done that."

DB turns invisible and runs from the house. Makes it back to the car.

DB woke up in the car before going into the store. Last thing he remember was a warrior woman dressed in blue and red, saying it was too early for him to be awake. She then motioned and he was here.

He goes astral again, and goes back to the house. He could tell what house he needed to go to before he got close. A bright ruddy red light glowed brightly. Next to the red is just as bright, is a blue/white woman. DB paused on the stairs, about half way up. He listened.

“You’re not going to get away this time.” DB recognized the voice from a podcast he had listened to a couple of days ago. Who was it? Gwen Anderson. A self-reported Gatekeeper.

Staying low, DB crept up closer. Gwen was standing in the doorway, pacing towards the middle of the room. “According to you, I can’t stop it. Wanna tell me what you’re planning on doing?”

Bunny just glared at Gwen.

Gwen turned and looked back to the doorway. “He might surprise you.”

Below, DB heard the front door open. “Frag!” He hugged the stairs. Seconds ticked by and nothing happened.

Backing down slowly, DB looked around the living room. A teenage girl stood at the open door. She looks around the room. She seemed to be moving slowly. Or maybe he was moving faster.

DB watched as she closed the door. A purple dragonfly, buzzed close to him, then went back to her and perched on her shoulder.

“Boss?” she said softly. “Why am I here? This is crazy.”

The dog who had been asleep on the couch starts barking his head off at the girl. She holds up her hands and grabs the dog. He growls and she shoves him into the closet.

“Well that isn’t nice.” DB said. Pain flared through his right hand as he remembered. Her name was Miz Johnson. He was supposed to be meeting her in three hours.

Her head snapped up at the sound of his voice. “Okay, this isn’t freaky at all.” She glanced at the wall and swore. The alarm was counting down.

She pulled out a box and held it next to the alarm. He could see white sparks jumping from the box to the alarm. A couple of moments later, the alarm shut itself off.

Miz Johnson looked around the room again. Still not seeing him.

“Nice toy, now what are you doing here?” DB asked while manifesting at the base of the stairs.

“Oh God.” Miz Johnson took a step back and bumped into the wall. “Yo…” She cleared her throat and tried again. “You told me to be here at 13:13 and not to be late.”

“I told you to be here?” DB questioned.

“Yea, pretty sure it was you.” She kept looking to her left. She opened a window and scroll appeared. Calligraphy writing said to be at 18228 Oak Drive. Pay 10,000 Nuyen. “Look, I don’t mean to pry, but I’m not sure what you want me to do.”

"Intriguing, I don't remember having sent that. Funny thing is that I'm not even supposed to be meeting you for another 3 hours. And you’re supposed to be proposing a job for me." DB sized her up. She was young, and appeared to be frightened out of her wits. However, she stayed. "Can you open a safe?”

“A safe? Depends on the model.”

DB sighed. “Follow me; let’s see if this meets your skill set.” He started up the stairs.

A bright light flowed down the stairs and washed out DB. A loud buzzing started burning his ears. Each step he took felt like pins were being driven into his skin. Looking over his shoulder, DB called back. “This can be interesting.”

Miz Johnson nodded her head, but followed him.

DB approached the doorway. The purple dragonfly is buzzing in his face. Waving hand up, he pushed the dragonfly away. It came back and tried to buzz his face again.

Frustrated, DB turned to Miz Johnson. “What is your buddy trying to tell me?”

Miz Johnson seemed to be dazed. “It doesn’t like it here. There is magic here, old magic.” He could see why he picked her. One foot in the future, one in the past.

“Behind that painting is a safe. I want you to open it.” DB ordered.

Miz Johnson nodded, and she entered the room. DB watched. When Miz Johnson stepped into the room. Gwen stopped talking. Bunny screamed, either in frustration or pain, DB wasn’t sure. She went to the wall, opened the hinged painting and stood at the safe. She held up the black box to the safe and a second later, the door popped open about two centimeters.

Miz Johnson starts turning, her dragonfly is buzzing at her.

DB casts a spell at Gwen, causing her to lose concentration. Sweat popped up on Gwen’s brow. Her posture went from rigid to relaxed. Gwen groans and the spear falls to the ground.

“"Hey, Miz J, we kinda need to get going. Gwen here is gonna be seriously pissed. And strangely really satisfied." DB yelled.

Miz Johnson, looked at Gwen, and then turned back to the safe. She grabbed everything she could. She starts to back out the room, down the stairs, and out the door.

DB stayed behind to keep an eye on Gwen. Bunny was still screaming the shrill high-pitched sound. When he heard the door, DB popped down to the front yard. Miz Johnson was running to a bike parked on the street. He appeared before her and told her to meet him at the Stuffer Shack.

Gwen comes pounding out of the house. She jumped the fence and reaches out to grab Miz Johnson.

DB appears before Gwen and says, “You must have really liked that. Do you want more?”

Gwen glares at him. She takes a deep breath to clear her head. She silently watched Miz Johnson pull away. “It’s not what you think it is.”

“Then perhaps we should meet somewhere and talk about this like rational adults.” DB offered.

“I don’t think there will be any reasoning with you after this point.” Gwen touched a control on arm, and the suit she wearing changed to a jogging outfit and she took off down street going the other direction.

DB followed Miz Johnson to the Stuffer Shack. He went back to his body. He sat up and groaned. His body hurt. Blood oozed from his nose. He was cleaning himself up when Miz Johnson knocked on his passenger window. Each blow was a spike to his head.

“That was pretty wiz.” She said while pulling out three cred sticks and your coin.

The buzzing grew louder while she held the coin out to him.