Nothing's Free in the Free Zone (IC), Adventure 1: Broken Star Options

[Jack VII]

UCAS Hub, The Rising Sun Casino, 12:05 PM, July 30th, 2075

"Good call," Jack replied, "Lynx was definitely waiting for Mitchell, so its entirely possible Sanders was in on it. Overkill said she was an accountant or something over in the CAS. I imagine we could call him and get the details. I'm sure they have a publicly listed address and commcode. Dropping in would be preferred, just in case."

[DrZaius]

UCAS Hub, The Rising Sun Casino, 12:05 PM, July 30th, 2075

Grease frowns. "Getting INTO the CAS is going to be the problem. I don't know about you, but I'm not too enthusiastic about trying to get across the border with my current SIN. It may make more sense for us to see if we can get her to come to us. That, or we can put eyes on her, and see if she enters any zones we're able to move more freely in. Maybe Overkill can put a trace on her commlink, and we can track her and see when she leaves the CAS zone. Or we can put a literal camera on her; I bet one of my flies could get across the border."

Grease starts walking out of the Casino lobby as Jack follows. "Before we jump to any conclusions, let's review the video. There's got to be a sandwich place or something nearby we can go grab something to eat and look at the tape where it's more quiet."

[Jack VII]

UCAS Hub, The Rising Sun Casino, 12:05 PM, July 30th, 2075

Jack nodded his head in agreement. "Sounds like a plan."

The comment about eating reminded him of something he had meant to do. Pulling out his commlink, the ork sent Honeypot a quick message.

[Lobo0705]

Amy and Overkill, The King's Inn, 1045 AM, July 30th

Amy and Overkill get off of his bike, and walk into the cheap coffin motel. All the AR is working, but the workmanship, along with the building itself, is very shoddy.

Overkill checks in, transferring his 20 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) to the desk clerk and moves down the hall past the patrons stacked vertically three on top of one another. He reaches his room, a cubicle marked 275, and opens it. Amy looks skeptical, and remains outside as Overkill lies down on the pallet that has protruded from the wall, and then activates the controls to retract it. Amy remains in the hallway, thinking that once again she gets left out of all the cool stuff. crossing her arms, she puts her back against the wall and slides to the floor to wait for Overkill to appear again.

<<Before the pallet has even fully retracted into the wall, Overkill has jumped completely into the Matrix. Flying past the tiny motte-and-bailey building that represented the coffin motel, he flies across the UCAS, his wings propelling him to the apartment's host within seconds. Pulling out a heavy-looking key, he pushes it into the shimming field that separates the local grid from the public one, and turns, and then slowly pushes through, the virtual "air" around him clearing as he moves to the cleaner signal. He knows he has left signs for someone to see his intrusion, but he hopes to be long gone before GOD comes to investigate.

The host of the apartment building is a copy of itself, only 1/2 the height - with the entrance requiring the same sort of key fob that a normal building resident would use. Cupping his hands, a stream of 1s and 0s begin to flow into them forming his own fob, which he places against the door. It is only due to his natural aptitude that this fake passes, as the software to detect intruders seems remarkably good for such a simple host.

Once inside, he walks through the hallways of the building, passing other residents as they control their trids, or their heating units, or a million other such household devices. Ducking the janitors he can only assume are Patrol IC contstructions, he enters a secluded spot, and puts his hand on the wall, feeling more than looking to find the file that he needs. After 30 seconds or so of moving around, he locates what he needs, he smears his hand across it, the 1's and 0s flowing down the wall like water, washing away the paint and leaving a safe in its place.

He looks carefully at it, and detects something that is out of place, a tiny flickering red light, almost invisible. This is not good, he thought.>>

[Lobo0705]

UCAS Hub, 12:20 PM, July 30th, 2075

Jack and Grease exit the casino and walk two blocks in the noon heat before they see Rita's, a chain of steakhouses popular throughout the midwest. They wait about 10 minutes to be seated, and review the footage.

First they go over the footage from the club, and then the footage from Argent's eyes. In each case, it the girl's reaction seems genuine. Laughing one moment, stunned the next, the blood of her significant other splashed across her dress.

[Jack VII]

UCAS Hub, Rita's, 12:25 PM, July 30th, 2075

"I gotta say, she looks completely surprised and scared out of her fragging mind..." Jack said after reviewing the footage. "I guess she could still have been on it and just not realized when they were going to geek him, but I'm leaning toward her not knowing right now. So what's our next play? We can get the accounting firm's name and probably commcode from Overkill and call her. I'm not sure how exactly we can talk her into coming to the Hub though..."

Jack lets his comment trail off as the waitress approaches. A slender little number wearing a bandanna tied around her neck and a nametag with the name Beth on it, the human waitress said, "Welcome to Rita's! Home of the Slab o' Rita and our famous RitaRita cocktail. What can I get you, gents?"

Jack ordered the Slab o' Rita and a soyveza. After Grease placed his order and Beth left, the ork asked, "Your thoughts?"

[DrZaius]

UCAS Hub, Rita's, 12:30 PM, July 30th, 2075

"I agree- she looks surprised. I say we get her commcode and give her a call; maybe she'll meet with us, maybe she won't. She looks pretty upset; she may agree to speak with us on principle; this was her boyfriend who was murdered, and the cops didn't even really talk to her."

Grease pauses, scratching his 5 o'clock shadow. You're not positive he slept last night. He looks significantly better than he did first thing this morning, but you wouldn't describe his look as "healthy".

"What about another one of the cops? Do we have any direct connection between this murder and one of the others? We could pull that string and ask to speak with her. If it's clear our investigation is beyond just her boyfriend, then maybe she'll be more candid with what she knows. I'd much prefer to meet her in person as opposed to just calling; I'm no good at reading people over the 'comm."

Throwing convention to the wind, Grease had ordered breakfast food for lunch. He lays into his Denver omelette as it arrives moments ahead of Jack's ribs. Between bites, he adds, "We should check out what the other team has been up to this morning as well."

[Jack VII]

UCAS Hub, Rita's, 12:30 PM, July 30th, 2075

Jack nodded his head, approving as Grease sketched out his plan. Tearing a genetically modified rib off the rack in front of him, he tore into the meat with relish, a strip of meat getting snared on the end of his left tusk in the process.

Between mouthfuls, he said, "Since she lives in the CAS and Lone Star doesn't have authority there, we might convince her to come over here and talk to us. All we would have to do is convince her we're Lone Star. I know if someone I was with was murdered in front of my eyes, I would expect a call from the police. We might even be able to tell her it would be a lot easier if she could meet us in the Hub due to all the 'hoops' we'd have to jump through to get authorization from Knight Errant to operate in their sector. If she cared about the guy like it looks like she did, I bet she'd make the effort. We could even sweeten the deal by agreeing to reimburse her travel expenses."

Tagging a swig from his soyveza, the ork looked up and to the left. It almost looked like he was trying to access a certain portion of his brain before you figure out it probably has more to do with him trying to pick some meat out of his teeth with his tongue. "I don't think we have anything connecting this incident to the others yet. The two incidents that are confirmed as being related happened in the UCAS sector, the rest of our crew is working on one of those now. With that said, there could be a connection if they find out Lynx or his crew were involved. We've got a photo now, so if they can pull a photo and it matches... that would connect at least three of the murders together. So yeah, give the crew a buzz. We need Sander's workplace in any event..."

[Lobo0705]

Overkill, Newton's Apartment's Host, 10:57 AM, July 30th

<<Overkill's persona shimmered, and his angelic armor flowed and thickened into a suit of full plate as he prepared himself for the worst. With a wave of his hand, two ravens that were etched into his armor came to life, and fluttered over to the safe, and buzzed around it like hummingbirds. Each then settled on the safe, near the detonator of the bomb, and began pecking away, each bite taking off another piece of code, until the blinking light went off, and the ravens flew back and merged with his armor.

Heaving a sigh of relief, his armor flowing back to its normal shape, he moved forward to the safe. He placed his hand on the locking mechanism, and again, 1s and 0s flowed over the lock, spiraling inward until the reached the core, allowing him to turn the mechanism and open the safe. Inside were a series of files, which he began to sift through until he found the right one.>>

[Lobo0705]

Overkill, Newton's Apartment's Host, 10:58 AM, July 30th

<<As Overkill opens the safe, a Janitor opens the door to the room and both freeze. The Patrol IC vanishes outside, and Overkill redoubled his efforts. He quickly sorts through the files by date and finds the correct one.

He snaps his fingers and the tome that represents his deck's memory appears, a bright green and black quill begins furiously scribbling to record the relevant data. A noise causes him to turn, and a security guard comes around the corner, pulling a gun from his holster and firing at Overkill. Thinking quickly, he opens the safe door and puts it between himself and the IC, and the virtual bullet ricochets back along its trajectory, hitting the guard in the shoulder.

When the scribbling ceases, Overkill lowers his shoulder, and launches himself at the wall, breaking through it and outside the host, turning a corner and putting some distance between himself and the IC. With a mental command he shifts his perception back into his body, and then opens his eyes.>>

Hitting the command for the pallet, the panel opens, and he slides out to find Amy sitting and reading the daily news.

[Chrome Head]

Amy and Overkill, The King's Inn, 10:58 AM, July 30th

Blood purity? Are they still going at it with this non-sense? There's so much fraggin' hate in this world.

Overkill comes out of his coffin to find Amy deep in concentration, staring intently at the screen of her commlink. He can tell the shaman knows he's there, but she must be finishing a particularly difficult sentence. After a few seconds, she looks up with an expressive look on her face, though why she has it is up in the air.

"That took you long enough." Though her words are joking, her expression is strange enough that you're not even sure she is.

[Always Overkill]

Amy and Overkill, The King's Inn, 10:58 AM, July 30th



Drave, confused by Amy's expression immediately after returning from VR, responded hastily. "My apologies, Meine Liebling. There was a lot more to see in there than I had anticipated. We need to resume our objective for contacting Ms. Kelly, there are some conflicting details between the story we heard from our witness at the Diner and the footage from the security camera on Officer Newton's building. I am curious to see who or what is misleading us"

[Chrome Head]

Amy and Overkill, The King's Inn, 10:58 AM, July 30th

"So we should ask another witness? That makes sense. Let's go!" Amy is smiling again, and enthusiastic about unveiling the mystery. Her strangeness is gone - it must have been something she was reading.

[Always Overkill]

Amy and Overkill, Outside The King's Inn, 10:59 AM, July 30th, 2075

Drave pulled up Mary Jane Kelly's work comm number on his AR display and sent a message.

<<@Mary Jane Kelly: Hello, my name is Heinrich and I am a Private Investigator working on behalf of the family of Officer Terrance Newton. I have been informed that you were a witness to the horrible events of July 20th, and I would greatly appreciate having the opportunity to meet with and ask you a few questions about what you saw. We are in your area this afternoon and can meet with you at your earliest convenience. Thank you.">>



After sending the message, Drave turned to Amy. "Lets stop and refill our soykafs while we wait for Ms. Kelly to respond. I would also like you to take a look at the footage that I acquired." Drave led the way back into Schaefer's Diner, asking for two soykafs to go from the waitress. After getting their drinks and leaving the Diner, Drave pulled out a touch display connected to his Blitzfurhen Cyberdeck and loaded the footage he had just hacked out of the security cams for Amy to see herself.

He waited until she had finished watching the footage before continuing. "Now the waitress may not have lied to us intentionally. People's memories of events like that are notoriously unreliable. This footage has also been edited since it was first recorded, and was trapped with a very nasty Databomb, kind of like the Matrix equivalent to a land-mine. But we will see what Ms. Kelly saw that day, and then we can perhaps draw some firmer conclusions about what really occurred." He then prepared to send the footage over to Jack and Grease while waiting for a response from Mary Jane Kelly.

[Lobo0705]

Amy and Overkill, Outside The King's Inn, 11:02 AM, July 30th, 2075

<<Hello Mr. Heinrich, this is Juanita, Ms. Kelly's assistant. Ms. Kelly has not come in to work for the past week, and she has not responded to our phone calls. We already alerted the authorities that she has gone missing. If you do find her, please let us know, as we are worried.>>

[Always Overkill]

Amy and Overkill, Outside The King's Inn, 11:03 AM, July 30th, 2075

Reading the response from Ms. Kelly's assistant, Drave's expression turned grim.

He looked over at Amy and said, "We may have a problem. Mary Jane Kelly has not been to her work or returned any comm messages in the past week, and her employers have already contacted the authorities regarding her disappearance."

Thinking of their next move, Drave sent the security footage of the Newton murder to Jack and Grease, and included a message with the video.

<<@Jack, Grease: "We are investigating the Newton murder, and I acquired this footage of the shooting. The file has been edited since it was first recorded, and was trapped with a Databomb. The footage does not match the eyewitness report we just received from an employee at the nearby Diner, thus increasing the suspicion that the footage was doctored. We have also run into a major snag in trying to contact Mary Jane Kelly. She has not been to her work or returned any comm messages in the past week. We will be trying to find some leads on what may have happened to Ms. Kelly, and will try and keep you informed if we learn anything new.">>

After sending over the footage, he looked back over to Amy, "Perhaps we should return to Ms. Kelly's residence and see if we can find any clues there as to what may have happened to her there. Hopefully, she got spooked and left town, otherwise..." He let the end hang in the air, not caring to speculate as to the alternatives.

[Chrome Head]

Amy and Overkill, Outside The King's Inn, 11:03 AM, July 30th, 2075

At first, Amy has nothing better to reply than "Oh." So Kelly might have been.. eliminated, by those who committed the Newton murder, or their accomplice, or even their employer. Anyone who didn't want to be identified. "Yeah, so she was maybe taken out, or she left. Either way she was in danger. If so much care was taken to cover the tracks of this murder, that means we're probably on the right trail though, right?"

"And you think we might find something useful at her apartment? You think.. you think her body might still be there?" She couldn't help but to see this as an eventuality. "Also, if they put a matrix land mine on the video? Couldn't they also put a bomb inside her apartment, to get rid of anyone investigating? Maybe we should wait for the others, maybe this isn't safe. Clearly, Amy had learned from last night's mistake.

[Always Overkill]

Amy and Overkill, Outside The King's Inn, 11:03 AM, July 30th, 2075



Drave listened to Amy's reservations carefully before responding. "I doubt they would risk placing an actual bomb in her house. A databomb in the Matrix is one thing, worst case scenario you fry some hacker wanna-be's brainpan, not going to draw too much attention. An actual bomb going off in her house that could potentially kill innocent bystanders or other cops investigating Ms. Kelly's disappearance could draw way too much added attention. But you are right, Meine Liebling, we should remain careful. They could still be watching."

Considering their options, Drave continued, "If you are apprehensive about going into her house, we can skip it. But it may be one of the only opportunities we have to find any clues regarding what happened to her."

[Chrome Head]

Amy and Overkill, Outside The King's Inn, 11:03 AM, July 30th, 2075

"I don't think we should skip it entirely," Amy agrees, "but I think we should wait for the others. Last night, I learned I should have waited, even though I could handle the situation. To me, this is the same. Who knows what we'll find there? Maybe there's no bomb, but there might be some kind of scanner or recording device, I don't know. Is there something else we can investigate that's less risky while they're at the hub?"

[Always Overkill]

Amy and Overkill, Outside The King's Inn, 11:04 AM, July 30th, 2075


Drave smiled when he saw Amy was learning that discretion is the better part of valor, and replied, "Very well, we shall wait until Unsere Freunde have returned from the Hub. There are several locations we could investigate, the first that come to mind are the Officer Jimmy Manuel murder scene, who was shot in his home on Leyden Street; and the Stuffer Shack where Officer Samantha Jackson was gunned down during an "apparent" robbery."

Drave pulled up his AR display and began setting a few programs into place on his Blitzdrive before finishing, "Which would you care to look at first, Meine Liebling?"

[Chrome Head]

Amy and Overkill, Outside The King's Inn, 11:04 AM, July 30th, 2075

"We'll have to check all of those, so might as well go to the nearest. That would be the Jackson murder at the Stuffer Shack I guess. Let's go check it out, chummer."

[Lobo0705]

Amy and Overkill, Stuffer Shack, East 47th Street, 11:20 AM, July 30th, 2075


Overkill and Amy get on his bike and head north to the scene where officer Jackson was killed. As they drive, Overkill watches his AR display as his Agent becomes intangible, unable to be seen by most, but still visible to Overkill himself. The small orb, its center pulsing green with concentrated bits of code launches itself off of his shoulder and begins a sweeping pattern around Overkill as they drive.

About 10 minutes later they pull up in front of the Stuffer Shack - and it is indistinguishable from every other Shack they've been to.

Entering the store, Overkill feels like he has to physically push his way through the AR advertising that hits him like a wall. Amy, blissfully unaware of the virtual assault on the senses, simply walks inside, a curious look on her face as she glances at Overkill's slight hesitation.

Great tracts of neon and fluorescent lights that leech away color to make everything a uniform, dull gray indicate that they have arrived at the home of synth-alcohol, soykaf, porno-simchips, Holohayo 3D greeting cards, pneumatic fluid for your bike, cheap fetish trinkets for the magical wannabes, soygrits, and a full line of stuffers with no redeeming nutritional or social value. The good ol’ Stuffer Shack, home to a smell they can’t recognize (and probably don’t want to) and thousands of nuyen worth of stomach-rotting chow. As an added benefit, it’s open 24-7-365.

The store is not crowded, but there are several different customers from all walks of life shopping here, several women with small children, a few college-age kids, none of them looking particularly pleased they have to shop there.

There is one clerk behind the counter, a young kid reading an AR magazine while waiting for someone to come and check out. Maybe he's twenty years old, brown hair, blue eyes, and a complexion leaves a lot to be desired. He leans on one elbow, eating a stuffer which occasionally drops bits of soy on his Broncos t-shirt.

[Always Overkill]

Amy and Overkill, Stuffer Shack, East 47th Street, 11:20 AM, July 30th, 2075

Drave reflexively flinched as he pushed his way past the various buy-two-get-one-free virtual coupons and ads for SoyClean Car Cleanser, and that was just to get in the front door. The glaring light coming off all of the 27,500 augmented products on its shelves could probably blind someone without an AR display, Drave was just going to have to get through it. He made note of the various security cameras inside the store, and approached the young clerk behind the counter.

"Guten Tag good sir. My name is Heinrich and we are Private Investigators working on behalf of the family of Officer Samantha Jackson. We were informed that Ms. Jackson was killed during an attempted robbery at this establishment on the 26th of June. We would appreciate the opportunity to talk to any of your staff who may have been working when this horrible tragedy unfolded. Were you working that day, Mr...?" Drave let the question hang and made a motion indicating he wanted to shake the man's hand.

[Lobo0705]

Amy and Overkill, Stuffer Shack, East 47th Street, 11:25 AM, July 30th, 2075

The young man shut off his magazine at the approach of Overkill, although you could tell that most of his attention was on Amy. "Yeah - that was crazy! I was working that day - I work the night shift mostly, I'm just here today 'cause Terry called out sick." He speaks rapidly, your best guess is that it is social awkwardness and excitement to talk about something other than the weekly special that causes him to do so. The presence of a pretty girl does not seem to help.

"Anyway, Sam, uh Officer Jackson, I mean - I know her, er.. knew her pretty well - stops in for her usual cup of soykaf - same as most nights. She's great, really nice, really pretty" a surreptitious glance at Amy again" er.. anyway, I asked her what's new, and she tells me she busted a coupl'a guys carrying this weird green pill comin' out of the Warrens yesterday - uh, I mean yesterday like the day before she got shot, not yesterday like yesterday."

He reaches down under the counter and pulls out a drink, and takes a sip. "Where was I? Oh - anyway, she just about finishes the story and this guy comes in - tall, thin - old - had to be in his thirties. Walks right up to Sam and blows her away, then turns the gun on me, makes me hand him any cash that was in the register, plus a certified credstick I had on me, and then heads out the door. Didn't say more than two words." Finishing his story, his face a little sadder than it was when he finished, he adds lamely. "Oh, and my name is Steve."

[Chrome Head]

Amy and Overkill, Stuffer Shack, East 47th Street, 11:25 AM, July 30th, 2075

Aaahhh Stuffer Shack, it wasn't anything special, but there was so much stuff here, and cheap! Amy had come to Stuffer Shacks since she was a kid and never disliked it. Yeah, sure it was full of mass-produced drek from the mega corps, but there was so much of it! Sometimes, the good memories you get as a child never leave you. But they were here on business, and she follows Overkill to the counter and this... Steve.

Amy immediately notices how this idiot appreciates good-looking girls and has an eye on her. Eww. It takes all of her willpower to actually smile back at the weirdo. "Thanks Steve," is all she manages to say at first. She forces herself to turn on the charm a little. "That's really helpful, you must have an amazing memory. What more can you tell us about what the shooter looked like? What was he wearing, do you remember what the gun looked like? Any detail might matter to our investigation." The guy looked mesmerized, so she had to add "It matters to me."