"Thank you." He nods and continues walking .
Danny pulls the left-side drawer out, and is surprised by the sudden weight as he pulls it clear, causing it to fall immediately and scratch the veneer. There's nothing attached to the drawer itself, but in the hole where it was you find the remains of a cash stash -- in their haste, they didn't quite get it all, it seems, and you find tokens: 10¥ worth of Ares Corporate Scrip, 12¥ in Renraku... and, when you sweep to the front -- pressed against the face of the drawer and needing quite the contortion to remove -- a single certified credstick with a balance of 5,000¥.
Knowing what to expect, Danny pulls the right-side drawer out cleanly, but feeling around only nets a wire and blasting cap -- attached to nothing, thankfully -- but it seems pretty clear whoever hit the safehouse found these hiding spots, at least.
Figment pulls the wire from his skull and places his black and red monstrosity back in its case, "They was lookin' for something specific - enough that they went right for the the bedroom ta get it -- or, rather, they cast a spell to find it and then headed right for it. Only when one of 'em was starting to work on a locker did the other start taking out the cameras. Had the look of someone who'd forgotten something rather than someone who noticed and took action. Really, the whole thing read pretty amateur hour -- but with good information as to what they were lookin' for. I reckon they were meant to be throwaways. Like I said, I'll share the video as soon as we're clear here."
The bedroom has clearly been searched, though not torn apart like the 'living' area. The drawers under the bed have been pulled out and looted, with only a single forearm guard left in one and a suit of casual clothing in another that you quickly recognize as SecureTech armour.
There are a number of carvings on the bed, and you see the remains of a ward, its physical barried destroyed when the drawers were pulled all the way out -- and within, you can see the faint trace of an Astral image -- like an old-style screen that burned in -- one you think is identical to the coins in your hand. You're about to look away when you note something they must have missed -- a pair of level 2 expendible spell foci (combat and health).
Flipping over the strongbox, you see that it was also warded - looks like someone blasted the ward magically to open it - and there's another astral after-image -- that of a silver angel.
0nyx steps into the hall, looking for her little friend -- who zooms up into her sight about 10 seconds later. "They said they're coming back here, and the dead-flesh-guy offered the other one a job!" he declares.
Raptor nods at 0nyx and stows the weapon he retrieved. ”Nothing else need searching?” he asks.
Danny comes into the room, having stashed anything worth taking within his (now rather tight-fitting) jacket.
"We done here?
”That’s good,” Raptor says to Glassman. ”If anything goes down, it will be good for me to be here.”
You arrive back at the building when your phone chirps with a text message.
He pulls the phone out and glances at the number.
You have a text from "Blue" that says "We're packing up. Meet you outside?"
Then he turns to Tai. "Let's have a look."
He starts striding up the walk to the building.
Figment pops his head up, "They're here. If we head now, I reckon we'll meet them in the stairwell."
Raptor nods. ”Let’s do that. Assess the situation. Go from there.” He moves for the hallway.
The group heads down the stairs just as Jay and Tai -- still wincing from the smell -- arrive. The man pauses a moment, then nods, "Interesting. You are a most talented distraction, Mr. Gould. Loyalty to your employers once again, no doubt."
He takes a half-step back and straightens up, then begins speaking Mandarin... At first, you're not certain what he's doing, but then realize it's an internal phone.
Jay hears the door close, and the footsteps on the stairs above, so he's looking up when the rest of the party rounds the landing. There's something pleading and horrified in his expression while he looks at the party, but he quickly turns to the Chinese with him.
"Tai, don't be hasty. I think we've reached an accord. Nobody here wants any trouble." Jay reaches involuntarily toward the man, then thinks better of that and pulls his hands back.
He looks back toward the party, "Everybody stay frosty, eh?"
Tai cocks his head at Danny's statement, then continues speaking for a moment before disconnecting the call.
"We will have our colleagues do a thorough canvas of the building to ensure that nothing was missed," he says simply. Then, in only a slightly jerky movement, waves a hand back toward the door, "After you. I trust you found some sort of clue, which we can certainly discuss where it does not smell of urine."
Raptor stands strong and silent, but takes his cues from Jay and stands aside.
I've got to get a Chinese soft ASAP.
"Outside then." Jay spins on his heel and leads the way back into cleaner air.
Outside he says, "I think we can all work together on this. Tai and I have been talking. " He gestures to his companion for the benefit of Raptor and 0nyx.
"To refuse Zhihao's, that is the triad's, offer of help would be -- unfriendly. And they have resources that we don't. Tai is a trained investigator, a kind of Internal Affairs Agent, for his triad.
He understands our obligation to keep our client confidential. Is there anything left in the apartment that identifies our client?"
Jay looks over to Tai, "If I could have a moment with my partners, please?"
He ushers the party a short distance away. "When we got here, Zhihao, Tai, and a mage swooped in in a big car. Might have been a fourth in the car. The mage capped the Chrome Skull in the street there. Clotheslined the bike to dump it, then blew it up. Zhihao's got a presence, very intense. I wasn't sure if it was just him, or there was magic to him too. And Tai is obviously wired for speed and power, very maybe for sight and sound.
"I think they tracked us from the bar by drone. And I sure didn't want a fight. When Zhihao made his offer, I tried to skate out of it, but he sort of insisted. Said it would be a sales demo. That our Johnson might want to use them for security instead of the Skulls. So Tai's helping. Last thing I want to do is miff the Triads. Looks like they're winning the fight.
"After Zhihao and the mage took off, I took Tai on a walk around the block to talk, and give you all a first look at the apartment. I hoped you'd scrub it of our Johnson's traces.
"I stressed the confidentiality of our Johnson. Tai seems willing to respect that, but this team he's calling in might not. How bad could we compromise Mr. J? I want to play nice with everybody."