25. Kasual/Gothick

Bobby fails to reach the Finn by phone and notes the unsettling cosmetic filter on the Finn’s image. Jammer worries that Lucas and Beauvoir also aren’t answering, while Jackie insists her matrix “hoodoo” already warned her. The club sits oddly empty of staff and patrons.

Jammer and Bobby peek out to find the mall replaced by rival Kasuals and Gothicks, improbably massed together and clearly watching the club. As tension rises, Beauvoir drops from a ceiling duct, having entered via a rooftop line and a missed vent. He brings weapons and explains he had to bypass a screamer alarm and plant small mines to cover his entry route.

Beauvoir reports that Ahmed was killed on the Jersey freeway, likely by the same launcher used in the earlier attack on Bobby’s mother. He outlines his probe into the Lobes who stole Bobby’s deck, their tenuous links to Two-a-Day, and overheard talk from a Gothick named Raymond. He concludes someone has bought out most nearby tenants and hired Kasuals and Gothicks to pen them in while keeping armed allies out.

They infer Maas Biolabs may be behind converging moves: the missing icebreaker, pressure on the Finn, and the street cordon. The group decides to arm up, recon in the matrix using Jammer’s deck, and plan to capture at least one attacker alive as they break for the Projects when professionals inevitably arrive.

Jammer tests the door to gauge the crowd, but a pencil-thin red beam—likely a laser—pierces the door, burns through his fingers, and detonates a bottle behind the bar. Jackie tends Jammer’s cauterized hand while Beauvoir notes Jammer can’t deck now, forcing a change in their plan as the blockade and imminent assault close in.