Scene #5644: Distorting Reflections: On Your Mark

Owner	Pose
Kyoko Takada	As those who've been here once before will already know, there are a couple of choices for warp gates. One is as well-defended with red tape as any airport, but will still let foreigners in without major issue, at least for today. Another is a distance out to sea, and far easier to use clandestinely, but inconvenient in ways apart from bureacratic. Both see very regular use, the harbor welcoming visitors and trade as ever it did when this iteration of early 21st century Japan was still part of some iteration of Earth. Even if you don't have a ship, there are a variety to hitch a ride onto. "Hibiki" is the name the local contact goes by, a woman who originally called for help in handling a crime problem. There was some trickiness thanks to her wanting it resolved in a manner that didn't cause the populace to blame multiversal connections for everything, even though multiversal criminals were at fault. This time, it's even worse, and the call is quieter, but still makes it in particular to a few of those who were there at the last incident, as well as to the Paladins more generally, with a Paladin having previously been here in official capacity. A certain report had made its way over there, based on the arrests made, including a gesture of thanks. The description of the problem is frustratingly vague. "The police are acting weird." There's a need for more information, but nothing given until after people are on-site, and more secure means of communication established. As before, the analyst isn't here in person, but has established eyes and ears in the city, her home territory to some extent, through various means. A2 gets an extra message of her own. "It figures, really, but you're half-known in the area, now. I couldn't do anything about that without being too obvious. Anyway, you've got a personal invitation from some yakuza. They really want to meet with the woman involved in that fight at the docks. I've got a location for that, if you're interested." There's a few other waypoints Kyoko has available, too. One is the police department that officer Nomura works at, who headed the police involvement last time. She's only got sparse personal information on him. Another is the warehouse where the fight took place, though it's still on lockdown thanks to how long they're taking investigating the weirdly high-tech base under it. After this much time, though, it's sparsely patrolled. Then there's the markets and gambling dens, including those visited last time, but with some more research done to more thoroughly map out the locations, in case they should become immediately relevant again.
Nozomi Houken	"Um... Hibiki? It's Nozomi. I'm... I just got through customs. Taiga and I are headed for the police department now." Though she's not a Paladin, Nozomi herself has also been here in an official capacity - as liason for her own world's JSDF. Taiga being an anti-supernatural armament, and her being his 'user', they were natural fits to send out... and, some of the brass mused, her timid demeanor would probably put them off guard just a little, which certainly couldn't hurt. The upshot is that it's easier for her to get in again, at least presumably. It also means she has a contact, and an easy choice to make in terms of what to investigate. Even so, however, there are a few gaps to fill in. "Ah... is there... could you tell me anything more, about what's going on?" Nozomi asks, as she rides Taiga down the street.
A2	Last time A2 had come on a boat courtesy of some very sketchy but also very upstanding and polite friends of 'Sir Joestar'. This time she has to come on a regular boat; one large enough that her weight doesn't upset it when she stands up. Needless to say, she is pretty garbage at 'investigating' and pretty unhappy with doing it even in the tangential proximity of it helping police officers. It's a favour for a friend/ally, and one she is absolutely not cut out for, summarily demonstrated by her attempt last time being 'pick a fight with as many people on the street as possible until she gets the right one'. Having an actual contact this time makes things exponentially easier, and so she accepts said invite without even so much as a spare cycle to think about it, staying at the docks and exactly at the given coordinates. If it's a trap, she doesn't seem concerned. If it's some kind of gang violence thing, she doesn't seem perturbed. Her stoic, almost dead silence by the water, staring off into nothing in the middle distance, could be taken for unshakeable, dispassionate resolve, before she hits her radio and intones: "The hell is a yakuza anyway?"
Maya	SO there had been problems with the possiblity of organized crime taking root in this new world, she had been somewhat involved before and matters in New Najourn on Septerra had settled down enough for her to come back. She was making for the police department much like Nozomi was even if she was with the Concord now? Maya more took the Concord as they came rather than as a whole like she did with the Feds. She would enter a moment after she would her Paladin badge visable as she keeps up a good pace for it.
Starbound Flotilla	"My favorite kind of job." "Yer love of this kind of thing is always heartening in a terrible way." What can I say? I love my job." "Worried. The solution you have in mind is always so violent..." Floran thinksss, bessst kind!" "I rather doubt it will be quite so awful. Perhaps it is more a social matter." "Hmph. Skeptical." "As you always are. Let us see what can be done." George is heading straight for the same zones he went to earlier: Those odd homeless folks with their eco-friendly lifestyle. No doubt they might suspect him after the dustup that occurred shortly before they offered the information. Maybe he can find that same better-off hobo that he encountered before? Once again he comes with a nice cig to offer and a solid bit of questioning to ask about, but he's thinking that after the docks got raided, the "taxes" might have gone down a little bit and spread things out more towards the coast. He's gonna poke and bother around much the same way as he did before: Being too friendly, abusing his stock of self-manufactured trinkets and vices to make friends, and one hopes finding someone with their ear to the ground who would be willing to tell him about how poorly police are acting. That means, he thinks, being on the lookout for solar cells. Polycrystaline, of course. His keen eye can probably recognize them miles away. Meanwhile, though, the rest of the Flotilla will be heading off towards the coordinates of the equipment. The Flotilla won't be split up long, that's never a good idea, but someone ought to pick it up and help distribute it later if needed.
Kyoko Takada	"Oh, one more thing. There's some equipment that might be useful for an intelligence-gathering angle. I'll put its location on your maps." Yet another location pings, for those who have maps built into their heads or headsets or phones or what-not. "Hey, Nozomi. I'm glad you could make it. It's a bit hard to explain. You remember officer Nomura? He's supposed to be in charge of the fate of those captured criminals, but the updates on that matter stopped all of a sudden. He's lagged on social media, too. I haven't been able to get anything useful out of the police since, and I can't make too many direct inquiries, myself. He was pretty fired up about the evidence-gathering up until just recently, too. I don't know if you'll see him in, but there should be /someone/ in there who'll tell you more, and it'd be perfectly normal for you to check in on the case." As before, Taiga's a major curiosity to the locals. Robotics just hasn't advanced to that level, yet, and not being a purely utilitarian, military box-bot has something to do with it, too. They're mostly polite about the interest, except the ones who have no idea who this pair is and are assuming it's part of a movie attraction and thus, naturally, taking pictures. The PD doesn't take that long to reach. Maya's, Nozomi's and Taiga's ID will take a little time to verify after they get in there, but someone should be along to see them, shortly. A2's question gets a pause, then a laugh out of "Hibiki." "That's a good question. They're... 'semi-legitimate' organizations. Businesses-slash-clans that are known widely as organized, violent crime rings with massive reach, but they also do things like 'send hundreds of tons of relief supplies to natural disaster victims.'" When A2 arrives at the spot, she's soon met by a wiry young man in a suit that mostly fits him, and way too many scars on his hands for his apparent age. "Good evening! If you're looking for someone at this exact spot, I believe you're looking for me. Just call me Taro." He bows, then grins widely. "My boss wants to have a word with you. Are you busy at the moment?" He's got this mixture of "perfectly relaxed" and "ready to fight" going on in his stance that only someone used to instantaneous combat is likely to notice. George finds that taxes /have/ gone down, as those he shares vices with are pleased to note, in a passing, tangential sort of way. Things still aren't great. It seems like a lot of people have been coming and going, but none set down roots long enough to bother the people who live under bridges (and get energy from the sun, not turn to stone under it). The particularly well-setup hobo he'd met before seems to be missing. The dead drop the other Starbounders find has a nice mixture of espionage equipment of questionable legality through most civilized nations, being too high-quality for any but the most infrugal of pranks. Wire-taps, transmission and recording, and a few data sticks full of backdoor-excavating software. Most of this has to be intuited, as the instructions are legal-disclaimer vague.
Nozomi Houken	"Nomura has gone quiet?" Taiga rumbles. "That is... disconcerting." Almost immediately, he's in a higher state of alert. Ears twitching this way and that, sweeping passersby for magical signatures that are above-normal for this world; but particularly, once they get there, he's scanning the police headquarters, and every cop they see once they're inside. This, of course, does not stop him from occasionally turning to stare right into the eyes of someone who is themself staring particularly hard. Nozomi, meanwhile, gives Maya a brief little nod. "Oh, ah, hey. It's... it's good to see you again." Awkward. Once they arrive, Nozomi slides off her noble steed's back and takes... well, /something/ resembling the lead, for herself and Taiga at least. "Here, ah, this is my ID, and here's the paperwork for Taiga..." She's Japanese, she's used to doing things by-the-book. So by the time she seats herself to wait, she's not really any more flustered or impatient than normal.
Maya	Maya has had to deal with all sorts in her life, Bounty Hunters, Pirates, Mercs, Nobility, Elected officials she doesn't seem bothered by any sense of awkwardness she might have with Nozomi. At the very least the long time elite is not showing any signs of it. "Its good to see you and Taiga are well, Nozomi." As some more information is given she starts to wonder about just what might have happened. "Humm this does not sound to be good if he's gone quiet like that? He either had had to go to ground or something has happened." She doesn't pass up the thought he might be a dirty cop however. That is a possibility to the junker does not dismiss the idea but more information is needed that much is clear. Maya waits for her ID to be confirmed and she seems all right with it. The blue haired woman will give over any other additional ID the local cops need out of her. Even as disorderly as Septerra Can be? Maya does prefer to work with in the system for the most part.
Kyoko Takada	The degree to which the people Taiga scans are magical varies, as it did before. Some are a bit stronger than others, some substantially so, but none powerful enough to trip any alarms. There aren't enough foreigners in this area of the city to get a comparison of them against the natives. The police tend to score higher, perhaps due to better training, though if ever asked, Kyoko would point out that nobody really uses magic for direct combat in this country. The police do carry guns, which are generally more efficient for that purpose. Eventually, the formalities are taken care of, identities are established, and someone comes out from the office doors to greet Nozomi and Maya. Unusually, it's a female officer, with a short ponytail and in such good shape that it's hard to guess her exact age. She notices Maya first, and salutes, "Officer Shou Shizuki, at your service." Her arm drops, and she looks between the junker and the awkward teenager. "How may I help you today?" Her voice has a strongly business-like tone, much like her proper posture, but it's not unwelcoming.
Starbound Flotilla	"Hmmm." "What." "Looks like my chum's gone." "Your primary contact? How concerning." "Maybe can make another friend?" "Aye, try looking around a little more. But stay focused on the job." "Optimistic. Well, I'll hope they're alright, wherever they are." "Heyyyyy!" George calls out as a greeting as he dispenses a cigarette to one of the nearby homeless. "Passing through, and I was kinda wondering if there's anything I gotta keep an eye out for." He finds a place to sit with those who've been taken in by his initial charm. "Heard there might be some stuff I've gotta worry about? Seems like nobody ever has time to be clear with guys like us." Guys like us, specifically, to relate, it seems. "You guys heard anything about, something about police?" He's keeping things curious but not accusatory, just in case this is a contentious topic. The others are grabbing up the supplies. Albert's the one who seems to mostly recognize them, and while he's never had the skills to engineer or program them, he's definitely used them before. "Supplies located. We'll be available to distribute when needed. Call out ongoing needs for help." Official as usual, but also thankfully avoiding implicating Hibiki in this; the subtle message is, "There was something questionable in this drop so we won't say too much of it on a frequency." The police, now, are the target. The rest of the Flotilla are heading to the site of the police station and are well intent on getting the gear set, the wiretaps linked up on landlines, the transmission and recording things set up to catch wireless emissions using some of Seft's scanner gear, and so on, to do some initial setup. George will have a solid idea of how to really dig into the meat of this matter soon, based on clues from his fellow shabby sorts and whatever the others have picked up... Or so he hopes.
Nozomi Houken	"Ah, hello, ma'am," Nozomi greets, dipping into a formal bow; it's just about automatic for her, to the point where she almost seems to have forgotten she's in uniform too, for a moment. "We're here to, um... well, er. I mean... I'm here, to check up on Officer Nomura. We were working with him on a case, but he's gotten quiet over the past few days, so... well, we were wondering. I, ah... I can only speak for myself and Taiga," she adds, with a glance at Maya. She might have her own reasons!
Kyoko Takada	The question's on the blunt side, but George is paying for it, so he still gets some answers. "Nobody tells us anything out here." There's some laughter, not unduly worried. "Might be they should be cleaning up the foreigners that come in." "Don't say it like that, that's rude to our guest." "Oh, you know what I mean. No people like us, those inhuman types." "Some of 'em are alright." "And some of 'em look like they eat children." "Yeah, but they aren't, are they? The oni got locked up." "You didn't hear? They got let back out." "Huh? You sure it wasn't a new batch?" "What's it matter whether it's new oni or old oni? I wish I had a door with a lock..." "You wish you had walls." The others can head toward the police department as this conversation continues with or without much input from George, though they'll stand out on the way, for different reasons than Taiga's. As previously noted, there aren't a lot of foreigners in this part of town, though it's not like anyone is accosting them, either. They're not even getting dirty looks, just politely curious ones.
A2	The extent of A2's reaction to 'Hibiki's' explanation is a faintly amused, thoughtful huff. "Funny how that is. No matter what you do, you're always simplified down to 'violent criminal' when it's convenient for someone else. The hell was legitimacy ever good for." Of course, A2 has an exceedingly poor idea of what it is that real Yakuza actually get up to, but the explanation has yet to turn her off of meeting with them. Neither does the guy she meets, actually. Some excessive and suspicious scars aren't anything she blinks an eye at, since her whole body is a tapestry of the robot equivalent beneath the cloak, and that neutral but ready posture is something she identifies with to an extent as well. 'Taro' looks like someone who knows what it's like to live watching your back, despite the suit, and so her reception of him is notably less frosty (and offensively antagonistic) than towards the police earlier. "If I were, I wouldn't be here." A2 says flatly, watching the bow with those dull, lightless, lavender eyes (though one could swear she inclines her head a little bit in return). "Hearing someone out when they have something to say works out better for me than listening to the barking dogs sitting on the sidelines and waiting for someone else to do their job. If you're not a friend of those domesticated animals with badges, I'll give you a shot. One, shot."
Maya	Maya says "Chevalier Maya, of the Paladins." No last name? Maya doesn't officially have one, if there were files on it they went up with Njourn when it died. She smiles at the officer for a moment and she says "I would wish to aid in finding out what happened to Officer Nomura but I am hear on matters to look into the effort of keeping organized crime from becoming a major issue here. Also to aid in keeping foreign organized crime rings from attempting to make a foot hold here. Though I think finding the status of Officer Nomura would be of higher importance at the moment."
Kyoko Takada	"One shot it is, miss! Couldn't ask for more." Taro, for his part, isn't all that put off by A2's manner, either. If he is, he isn't showing it. "Right this way. Lot of eyes around here. Can't avoid that, but they won't do more than look." He sounds confident of that point. The place A2 is led to isn't all that far off. Taro leads the way without looking back more than once, eventually knocking on a door that opens without verbal challenge. In one door, past some other men in suits who smile or nod, out another door, and into an open-air garden surrounded by walls. It's a nice place, if you go by yakuza standards, which aren't likely to mean anything to A2 beyond it being very clean, and leaning more toward the austerely dignified than either the flashy or the simply utilitarian. The chairs might seem out of place. Taro calls to the older man sitting in one of the several chairs, "Boss, here she is." The guy doesn't look like much. Might be that he was a fighter when he was a lot younger. Still sharp-eyed, though. "I can see that." He smiles. Not like a predator, just like an ordinary old man, smiling. "Welcome, miss. I'm Seijo. We haven't caught your name. No one has. It's quite the entertaining mystery, and the masses argued for days on what to call you. But, in fact, learning the answer to that mystery wasn't why I thought to extend an invitation to you. No, it was just to thank you for your help."
Kyoko Takada	Ms. Shizuki answers, "I see... regretfully, I believe officer Nomura has already left for the day. I saw him when I delivered my report this morning, but he was gone when I checked in just a few minutes ago. You might have just missed him. I can easily pass on a message for you. If it's about the case with which you were involved," she nods to Nozomi, "I might be able to assist. I was also assigned to the clean-up, up until recently. I've checked your authorization already. Would you like to see the files?" She looks to Maya, "If it's a more general inquiry, I may or may not be able to help. Official assistance from external bodies is outside the scope of my duties." Coordinating with Paladins in general is above her pay-grade, in other words.
Maya	So Nomura was less likely to be in a ditch somewhere, that was good but she also takes heed of what Ms. Shizuki has to say to them on the matter of Officer Nomura. She hears they may have just missed him. She thinks for a seonc at the offer of help she answers. "It would be very useful to see the files if you are premitted to do so." She looks to Nozomi for a moment thinking. "Is there anything else you and your partner might think we'd need?"
Starbound Flotilla	"What isss trouble, human friend?" "Looks like they let the criminals go? I mean... I would too, but." "That... Certainly does seem like rather odd behavior for law enforcement." "Curious. Some kind of migration, maybe? But why wouldn't they enforce laws?" "Hmph. Other interests to benefit." "Bribery, ye think?" "Or perhaps threat." "Well, nobody on the street is gonna know. Let's dig into the meat of it." And now it's time to head to the police station with the whole group properly. The Flotilla don't have a ton of skills in traditional espionage and stealth, but they do have a great number of skills in heavily airquoted "stealth", by which they might mean simply taking incredibly strange directions in their approach to dealing with these situations, directions that are often rather un-guarded-against. Tonight, they're intending to do much the same. They'd rather not interrupt the business the others are doing, social connections to investigate this. Instead, they simply intend to descend upon the police station with all their underground mobility and "siphon" the data through that. They find an isolated space to dig down, and from there, simply tear their way straight into the structure of the building itself... Trying to slip between the infrastructure itself! Their intent, as a large group working in perfect tandem, is to maneuver through walls, into basements, around hardened structures, and preserving internal information apparatuses, to be able to find basement, well-secured, or near-wall sources of data. They don't tap /phones/, they tap /phone lines/; quite literally they'll try to plant them on the lines in the walls. They don't breach computers, they try to breach servers themselves; aside motion detectors, nothing ought to detect burrowing up from the underground into a police server room. They don't sneak in, and breach the evidence lockers; they try to locate them with their cave scanners, and then dig out the backs of the lockers. They even raid the mailboxes, those of both temporary prisoner holding areas, and the police themselves! It's just that thorough with this group. This means they may be vulnerable to any, well, weird extrasensory approaches to figuring out that someone is trying to break in and steal information, but hopefully they can improvise if necessary, and even more hopefully it won't be necessary in the first place, and for now, the police might just assume that there's something horrible in the ventilation.
A2	'Lots of eyes' isn't a phrase A2 likes to hear, but the real implicit meaning behind the words isn't one that means much to her anyways. A life of being hunted, found, and then killing the hunters --of fighting, breaking, fixing herself, and fighting again-- is all of what she knows. Thoughts of information spreading or secrets being leaked aren't what she thinks of when she thinks about eyes. It's being followed and attacked; someone lunging out of the crowd to corner her. That's the kind of thing she watches out for on the way back, all senses on alert to scan for hostile behaviour, but it's also something that fails to materialize. Taro seems to be right. The interior decor isn't wildly outside of A2's expectations. She has little opinion on it, save vague and distant interest as some long-surviving and deeply buried shred of curiosity soaks in the details of contemporary human habitation. It's the first time she's really gotten to speak to someone of any apparent age too. Someone who actually looks /old/; a state of being that doesn't exist for Androids. It is mildly fascinating, and probably makes her seem somewhat more attentive. "I'd rather you didn't give me one. A2 is fine." she insists, rather particularly. Where some may say that in a kind of cold and professional tone that indicates they don't care for affectations such as names, A2 is oddly firm on that topic for ostensibly personal reasons, being anything but detached about it. "Help? You mean taking out the thugs running the show earlier? Sorry to break it to you, but I didn't do it to help you. I didn't know you existed until today. I was here for an ally, and they caused me some problems I couldn't ignore. They pissed me off, so I took them out. That's it."
Nozomi Houken	Nozomi frowns, but unlike Taiga, she's bad at going through the possibilities mentally. If she had a little more time, sure. But they're kind of on the spot. So the girl just kind of nods faintly. "I'd appreciate that, thank you." Hey, if nothing else, it's a lead for her and Maya to work with. She glances Maya's way with a faint frown, thinking. "Ah, I'm... not sure what else I could even ask for. This... I think it'll be enough to start with." Taiga, meanwhile, is silently radioing 'Hibiki'. "You said that Nomura has been mostly quiet for days? We are speaking with an officer who saw him as recently as this morning. Curious."
Kyoko Takada	First, a relatively abandoned area is found. This is harder to do than it would be in most cities, the population density being fairly high, and the sun fully up. It takes some time to get an even somewhat good location. Unfortunately for the Flotilla, the department's sensitive areas do have motion detectors. Fortunately, they're not set to blare klaxons during working hours. That would just be inconvenient for the people working there. They do run afoul of some blinking red lights on cameras, but nothing that will penetrate walls, and so their actual countenances aren't caught on film, but only what portion of their actions enter into the normal field of view. This place isn't set up to deal with this level of matter-manipulating combat engineering. The lines are easily tapped, floor plans scanned, and an evidence locker or two are compromised, though not containing evidence that looks obviously relevant to anything they're after. Server rooms are found, but what more can be done at this point depends on how they go about it, and deal with the presence of the watchdog technology. Every so often, a camera lights up like a holo-display as a security guard jacks in manually for a closer look. "'A2' it is, then." Seijo nods, looking neither surprised nor upset as an explanation is forthcoming. "Yes, that's about what I expected. If your ally is someone in our family, they've decided to keep you mysterious, so it's more likely that we had no connection at all, until now. It's not as if asked for your help. That aside, you did help, quickly excising a problem that would have caused the people here quite a lot of trouble to remove on our own. And that," the old man says, pausing again to glance at Taro, who nods and walks off to one side, "means that we owe you a small debt. I'm a man who believes strongly in the repayment of debts." There are a number of voices one could take for such a speech, but if anything, Seijo's tone is merely "mild." He doesn't give any impression of being the charismatic leader behind a vast, criminal organization. If matched up against commonly available data, A2 might at most find that he looks rather healthy and speaks rather clearly for how obviously, truly old he is. "You could, of course, insist on receiving nothing in return but gratitude. Perhaps there's nothing we can do for you, anyway, at the moment. I don't know where you came from, so I can hardly guess what you might appreciate." He tilts his head, just slightly, and watches her. Back within the police department, but higher up and more easily visible, officer Shizuki leads Maya and Nozomi back into the office space. It looks about like any modern office could be expected to, being full of papers, computers, people, and phones. They get some looks, and some conversations quiet down, but the people here are busy and not doing anything secretive, so they mostly get ignored. Their police guide heads back toward her own spot, sits down, and moves her finger over the keyboard like there's a touchpad there. The screen lights back up. There's some flashy anime character in Romance of the Three Kingdoms fantasy armor with swords flying all around her. Shou Shizuki coughs as she quickly swipes to close the window. Text documents and spreadsheets fill the screen instead. "Did you see the last report sent out? Where would you like to start? Perhaps the... disposition of the suspects?"
Kyoko Takada	Kyoko radios back. "This morning? Okay, so he's only keeping quiet online, then. And info about the case stopped getting out. I haven't been staking out the place or anything, so I don't know a lot more. I would kind of like to know where he lives, though. Just to see where he's been spending his time."
Nozomi Houken	Nozomi is very aware of all the looks they're getting. But by the same token, she's used to them. So she pretends not to notice. Now, that fantasy character, on the other hand, THAT catches Nozomi's eyes, very noticeably. But before she can ask, it's gone, and it's back to business. Sadness. "Ah, no, I hadn't seen the most recent one yet. I'm, ah... I only come in a few days a week. Still in school," she admits. "Has something changed with the suspects...?" Taiga doesn't move, outwardly; he does respond to Hibiki, however. "Hmm. If I can nudge the conversation in that direction, I will. With Nozomi here, I suspect it may be possible. I would also like to locate him for the purposes of a full scan. Purely precautionary, but caution is never ill-advised."
Starbound Flotilla	"Alert. Guard at three." "Swinging left." "Nothing on the lockers." "Perhaps they have returned all matters of relevance?" "Too damn much mail. Gotta dig into this later." "Hmph. Too clandestine." "Isss why we're here." "Thoughtful. Maybe the power?" "No, no, no. That'd take out the servers. I have a better idea." "George. This is idiotic." "No, this is actually really good." "Floran sssee no trouble with human plan." "Aye, gotta say it's sensible." "It's the opposite of... Hmph." "Let's test your efforts, George." Buzz... Buzz... Hum... The lights might flicker only a moment in parts of the station, not even long enough for the computers therein to shut down. George subtly peaks into the server room from several angles a few times. He examines some of the racks. And then, of course, comes an alert that one of the motion sensors went off, not with consistency and certainty, but with some risk, as George critically lacked the ability to keep his motions stealthy the way a proper stealthman might. And if a guard walked through the door into the server room, and then down(?) the stairs to it, and then an oddly larger number of steps than one might remember if there were even steps there in the first place, he'd definitely emerge into a room full of servers, and find it well and truly empty. Despite the continued motion sensor reports, nothing could be found there, no matter how many corners would be checked. The only way they might understand what's going on is if they realized that George's plan was to rapid-construct an entire second, falsified "server room", stocked with a few starbound servers stored on Albert's Matter Manipulator, and fully furnished, lit, and equipped, and then redirect the hallway leading to it to a downstairs path to that room. If they saw the little peeking bits of dirt where George's excessively rapid work was finished, or realized there were too many stairs (or even a staircase at all where there was none before), or other suchlike. George's hope is that he can jam that USB stick into a couple servers and lift all the relevant data before they come to such a startling realization. An audacious stealth plan is, in itself, the purest way of avoiding detection; if you think far enough outside the box, nobody in the box can figure out what the fuck you're doing.
Kyoko Takada	"Yes," Kyoko says to Taiga, "that might be a good idea." A2 gets some longer words on the closed network. "Yes," officer Shizuki says, inside the PD, "the suspects were released, on lack of evidence. I'd thought the evidence-gathering was going well, but that's only based on what I remember people saying, since I didn't see it, myself. The case took a major blow, though we've continued working on it. Some of us, at least. Most of those working it, myself included, were pulled off, in favor of other assignments." While still keeping to a professional tone, and ignoring what was on her screen a minute ago, she sounds a bit uncertain, herself, about some of these developments. Somewhere in the building, some people are running. There are people charging down, or possibly up, stairs. The commotion doesn't perturb those in the office area, but is at least audible there, as George sets off the alarms in a manner that lets him avoid obstruction, but not detection. One of the sensors in the room lights up with more magical holos as it orients and zeros in on him as he works. He's being watched, but the hacking software he's carrying has plenty of time to crawl the servers for useful information and open up some really insidious backdoor vulnerabilities by the time the guards in the fake server room and the guards in the control room have reached any kind of conclusion to their argument. Mission successful, but he might not want to show his face around town for a bit. At least they're more likely to think he's a dirty hobo than a dangerous alien.
A2	"I doubt they are. Not that I have any reason to have a problem with you. Not yet at least." A2 swerves wildly back and forth between being frank and attempting to be marginally respectful. "I get it though. Rewarding people that help out encourages more people to stand up and do the same, right? Matter of principle. Show of being reasonable instead of just intimidating." Yeah someone could take a few lessons. "Okay then." "Your . . . family, or whatever, is pretty big, right? You probably see everything that goes on around here." Her tone is already at the apex of 'getting to the point'. "I'm not done here. Not yet. Those enforcer knockoffs aren't cleaned up, not completely, and they and whoever they're working for, or working with, are going to be back. We think one of those assholes with a badge and a license to be useless is supposed to be helping them out. That, or at least they have some other friend who can get to them anyways. Making them your problem again, and making problems for my ally." It's the wordiest A2 has had to be in weeks, and it shows with her incredibly visible discomfort and irritable tone. "Look, just get someone to find out, okay? Knowing whose face to break next to wrap this is more valuable than gratitude. I'll give you a number. It's not the 'police'. Don't tell those bastards anything."
Maya	Things continue on for Maya and Nozomi. She will follow Officer Shizuki along as they head to some office space. Maya takes a note to look around at it for a moment. Then she'll take a moment to looks at the anime character, just smiles honestly, hey everyone has their hobbies right or interest. She'll look to the documents for a moment. "The Disposition of the suspects would be a good place." Maya has some information on what happened there but getting first hand accounts on this would do a lot to help her, get situated better on this.
Nozomi Houken	Both Nozomi and Taiga listen with growing concern. Sudden lack of evidence? Or just 'oh no, we lack evidence, gotta let 'em go, nudge wink'? Either way it's deeply worrying. However, Shizuki's tone of voice is... interesting. The robotic tiger turns to look briefly at Nozomi. "Nozomi, I think that you should give her our card." She blinks, confused, but then nods, and starts fishing around through her bag. Meanwhile, Taiga leans up and puts his paws up on the desk, then leans himself forward. "Officer Shizuki, if there is any way in which we can help with this case, please feel free to contact us. Especially if anything... /strange/ were to happen. Anything /unusual/. Any /sudden changes/." It would be difficult for Taiga to put more stress and significance on those words. "On a topic which is completely and totally unrelated in any way, would it be possible for us to receive personal contact information for Officer Nomura? We wish to bring him a gift in thanks for his cooperation on the case so far." TIGER, master of subtlety.
Kyoko Takada	Seijo smiles again at A2's first words. Hers is likely the most blunt speech he's heard recently. She's, quite blatantly, not Japanese. Still, he doesn't seem to mind. That might just be his own respect in turn working for her. He listens, then, hand raised to thoughtfully stroke his chin. "Of course, we'd like the problem dealt with in a more permanent fashion. The kind of way that prevents more problems from occurring, hurting the people here." He frowns. "If you'd like to be appraised of what our family finds, I can arrange for that to happen, as well as for our..." he waves a hand to the side as if hunting for a word, "...friends, with the badges, not to be aware of anything we know of you, your ally, or your interests. Taro." "Boss?" He returned, at some point. Very quietly. "Make sure that everyone knows the arrangements. It would be impolite for anyone to gossip about our new friend, here." "Of course." Taro turns just enough to flash A2 another grin. He's ready to make whatever exchange of info is needed--and has a business card to offer her, in fact, the information of which will be largely meaningless to her, apart from the contact number. Can she even read Japanese? Well, doesn't matter.
Starbound Flotilla	"I hear a lot of running." "I hear a lot of you not shutting up." "Please, we can criticize the strategies later." "Will be happy to." "Give it a rest furball, I got what we came here for." "Aye, and we ought to get back out." "Yeahyeah! Floran track essscape!" "Nervous. Let's try to be tactfully quiet on our way out." And their part of the job is done, with George hopping through a gap in the wall he's left, and sealing it back up. This is going to be WEIRD for the police to investigate. Who knows what all kinds of crazy data the Flotilla's gotten. But by reconstructing the infrastructure on their way out, they can, one hopes, quietly slip through without their wiretaps and such being rediscovered at any point, and the gang can head back for their initial entrance. The method they chose was, hopefully, just so out there and weird that investigators won't be doing anything too likely to pick it up for a while, long after they've gathered enough data. This, they hope, will cover figuring out what's been going on here. The baffling situation with the underground spacefolk who reminded them of themselves in a way particularly, but the broader issue of strange behaviors here. What exactly is going on that has motivated all of these weird out-of-place things going on even in an already oddly magical world.
Kyoko Takada	"Er...?" Shizuki is taken aback by Taiga's physical presence more than anything else, under the circumstances. After getting over that, she nods. "Yes, sir. I'm no longer assigned to the case, but if I'm made aware of anything in regards to it, I'll see that any authorized release is passed along. I'll take a look into any matter that might benefit from your assistance." That's subtly different from a stance she gave earlier. "I'll be in touch." She, too, has a business card, which she solemnly exchanges for Nozomi's. Even some of the people George talked to have business cards, so it's just a safe, general assumption in this country.