The dead streetlamp spits weak light over the service lot. A white van idles in the center, its engine too steady, too aware. Two hunters stand at the rear doors, watching the road for Buster Jones.
Buster steps into the pool of light and the hunters tense, but they do not raise their weapons. They want him alive, or at least intact.
The Stranger
Buster Jones. Mara said you would come.
The rear doors crack open. Inside, the van is packed with monitors, cables, and a folded restraint frame. On one screen, a red pulse blooms around Leo's street and then disappears.
The Stranger
She called it a pickup point. It is a transfer. You come with us, and the people you protect stay off the board.
Buster Jones
The van is rigged for containment.
A second screen flickers on, showing Mara's face in grainy video, calm and unreadable. She has not fled, she has led him here. The quiet life Buster wants is still possible, but only if he breaks this trap now.
“Is Mara waiting at the location you'll take me? I wish to speak with her.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Buster Jones
If Mara is at the pickup point, bring her out. I want to speak with her.
The Stranger studies Buster a moment, then gives a small, measured nod. One hunter steps back from the van and taps the side door twice.
A hidden latch clicks. The van’s interior light spills out, and a partition slides aside to reveal a narrow bench and a live feed from the west service lot.
The Stranger
She is already there. West lot, under the loading canopy. She asked for you to come alone, but she left the choice in your hands.
On the monitor, Mara stands beside stacked crates, calm and watchful, with the old pickup point marked in red behind her. The note she gave Buster was not a warning, it was an invitation to a meeting she arranged.
The Stranger
The transfer was for you, Jones. Mara wanted proof you would walk into the trap, then proof you could walk out of it. Either way, she wanted you at the lot.
The white van hums with restrained power. Buster has the location, Mara is waiting, and the road to the west is now the only open path.
Quest Complete
Learn what the pickup point west of here was for