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

[Jack VII]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:15 PM, July 31st, 2075

Jack considered the elf's question before responding. "Honestly? My gut says no and I think we're probably jumping at shadows right now. Hitting an event like this in force with media coverage would seem like a great way to attract the wrong kind of attention for the Los Mags or whoever else is involved. I doubt they would try anything large scale that could be traced back to them, but an assassination? Maybe... all kinds of people who tried to help the little guy have been murdered over the years at public events."

"A lot of it is going to depend on the set-up, so it would be good to take a look at what they've got set up."

[Chrome Head]

Nic's Knacks, Aurora Warrens, 12:00 PM July 31st, 2075

Amy eats a second meal almost just after she had her first one, in preparation for her exhausting afternoon of binding a spirit into servitude. Having received no response from the rest of the team, she just assumed that it would be okay to have them say yes to Chomsky, although she still wouldn't speak for all without their direct consent.

<<@Chomsky (BCC: Team) [Amy] I'll be there to assist to the best of my abilities. You can think of the rest of the team as a high threat response team in case of something major happening. So don't put us officially in charge, we'll be behind the scenes, but at the ready.>>

[DrZaius]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

As Jiff tops off their soykaf with a smile, Grease makes what sounds like a gentle inquiry. "Say there.." he pauses, reading her nametag. "Jill. We had a pair of friends come in here yesterday, asking about that cop who got killed. They were going to come back today, but were tied up in another avenue of the investigation. We wanted to know if you would mind looking at a picture for us, and tell us if that's the person you saw when it happened." Grease gives her a kind smile, gently nudging Jack under the table until he responds with a Tusky grin.

[Lobo0705]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

Jill nods. "I remember them, both elves, pretty girl, the guy had an accent, right? Yes, lovely couple. Glad someone is looking into the case. So, you are friends of them too? Hope you all are making progress on the case."

[DrZaius]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

Grease nods along. "Yes; we're working with them although we've been pursuing other leads. Of course we'd like to keep this whole investigation confidential; we don't want anything to slip to the victims family and give them false hope. That said, we think we have found a person of interest; would you mind taking a look and telling us if you recognize them?"

Grease quickly throws up the photo on his commlink, and thinking quickly adds a few random pictures from the matrix alongside it as well, to make sure she doesn't just point at the first thing she sees.

[Lobo0705]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

She looks at each one of the pictures intently, but shakes her head after each one. "I'm sorry, but I don't recognize any of those people. I only saw the driver, he just doesn't look like any of those people."

She gets ready to take your order, and then says, "Did you just get this picture today? None of the four people I spoke to yesterday had it."

[Jack VII]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

Disappointed that his guess was apparently off, Jack was about to place his order when she asked her follow-up question.

Four?!? Jack kicked Grease under the table.

"They were given to us just this morning as potential suspects and we thought a few of them sounded like the individual you saw."

Jack paused briefly, trying to figure out the best way to approach this. "I'm sorry that we seem to be taking up so much of your time. I wasn't aware that any of our other co-workers were looking into this part of the investigation. Other than the couple from yesterday, who else has been asking around? It would be really helpful so we can get in touch with them and avoid tripping over each other."

[Lobo0705]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

"Um, sure. I - and I don't mean to be disrespectful here, but it is a little upsetting how this is being handled. I mean, at first, no one seems to pay any attention to this case, and then 6 different people show up in the span of two days, and none of you seem to know anything about one another. It makes me wonder what's going on."

With a frown, she says, "Well, they were as mismatched a pair as I've ever seen. One was a troll, barely fit in the booth, and the other one was a skinny little thing, looked like a mouse in a suit. The troll was African American, with long dreadlocks coming down to his waist. The other one, well, he was just a guy. Skinny, small, brown hair, he did all the talking, but can't say I remember much about him. Said that his name was Johnson, if that helps. The troll didn't say a word, just pointed at the menu."

[DrZaius]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

Responding smoothly, Grease addresses Jill's concerns. "Of course- I can imagine how from the outside it can seem confusing, how things start and stop suddenly. This is just one of those cases of cross jurisdictional issues; There's a task force involved from one end, an inquiry from another, a grand jury investigation; it's not uncommon for there to be crossed wires. I apologize that you've had to repeat your story so many times. Tell me; so we don't have to come back out and bother you AGAIN; what did the second group yesterday ask about? We don't want to cover the same ground; we can just review their notes back at the station." Grease smiles and looks at Jill expectantly.

[Lobo0705]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

Jill makes a face, as if to say, What are you going to do, and then says, "Well, they wanted to know what I knew about the murder, and they wanted to go over my answers to the first couple of elves, and then they wanted to know if the first couple had left me a card or contact information. I said they didn't, so they gave me a card. I put it in my apron, here it is..."

She pulled out a business card shaped piece of paper, but it was blank. She looks confused. "Huh, I could have sworn... Well, I'm sorry, I must have lost it between shifts. Wonder where I got this though?" She shakes her head. "Anyways, they said they would interview people in the apartment building across the street too. I saw them go over there after they finished eating."

[DrZaius]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

Grease chuckles. "Yeah, that's just like Johnson. I'm not surprised at all." Leaning in, he shares a conspiratorial look with Jill. "Say; we've kind of got a pool going at the office, first to crack this case gets bragging rights. I don't want the the elves and the second pair know how far we are behind them in our interviews. Makes us look bad, yaknow? You look like you've got a busy shift; let me cover anyone who might short-change you." Grease sends 50 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) over his commlink to Jill, smiling politely and winking. "You'll keep this between us, right? I'm going to review notes with my colleague here; you think of anything else you let me know."

Still chuckling, Grease thumbs a message out on his commlink.

<<@Team[Grease]: Got some info on a tail asking about Overkill and Amy yesterday. African American Troll with dreadlocks and a human male; small, skinny, brown hair, talkative. Possibly a mage.>>

[Jack VII]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

While Grease held court, Jack opened up a window in his AR-feed and ran a quick scan to see if the business card Jill just displayed contained an RFID tag. It sounded like the little man may have been a mage, successfully pulling off the trick Amy tried on the Yaks last night, but who could tell when it came to magic. Jack silently grimaced when Grease made up the bit about a competition. The waitress clearly seemed upset that the investigation appeared haphazard. Treating it as a game might make her even less pleased. Still, if anyone could pull it off, Grease could.

[Lobo0705]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

Jill looks less than pleased at Grease indicating that the investigation was being done in such a manner, but the money seemed to mollify her a little.

"I'll keep this to myself. Personally I don't care which of you solves it, so long as one of you does."

[DrZaius]

Inside Schaefer's Diner, 12:18 PM, July 31st, 2075

Seeing the frown, Grease nodded solemnly. "Yes; it's a bit distasteful, but they've done studies that prove that organizations are more effective when there are internal competitions between small sub-teams. Just know we're all working together to try and solve the case, and this helps us work faster." He gives her a kind smile, although this time she doesn't return it. "We appreciate your discretion."

[Lobo0705]

Apartment Complex, Stapleton, 12:45 PM, July 31st, 2075

After a quick lunch, Grease and Jack decide to go check out the apartments across the street. As they leave, Jack motions Grease to his vehicle. Once they are inside, Jack says, "Grease, I think we ought to be a little more careful on our approach, since we know that someone has been here before us."

Grease nods, and pulls out of the parking lot, driving around and approaching the apartment complex from the south. He parks on E. 29th, and then sends one of his drones into the air, sending it around to the north side of the building. "We can use it as a guide to figure out which apartments we want to look into, based on which windows face the street, and having another pair of eyes in the sky wont' hurt."

There are four buildings in the complex, but only one seems to be in a position to have a good view of the scene. They walk over to the building, Grease leading the way, the elf walking like he belonged there, nodding to the occasional tenant, and smiling at a couple of children playing in the common area. The two walk into the building behind an older dwarf who holds the door for them, his lack of height accentuated by a deep curvature of the spine.

Based on the feedback he is getting from his Fly Spy, Grease leads them along the corridor to apartment 103. "This one seems to have the best view. Ready?"

Jack nods, I never know what is going to come out of his mouth, wonder what it will be this time?

Grease knocks, but there is no answer. He knocks again, a little more insistent, but again, receives no answer from inside.

[Jack VII]

Apartment Complex, Stapleton, 12:45 PM, July 31st, 2075

Grease frowned for a moment. "The curtains on the windows are closed, my Fly-Spy can't see anything."

Jack responded, "I think there's a cat inside, but I don't hear anything else other than the appliances. It is lunch time though, maybe whoever lives there is grabbing a bite to eat?"

Jack looked around to see if there were any residents near-by to ask, possibly the gentleman dwarf who held the door for them.

[Lobo0705]

Apartment Complex, Stapleton, 12:45 PM, July 31st, 2075

Grease looks around and, seeing no one else in the hallway and no visible cameras, takes out his other Fly Spy. Patting it gently, he puts it down on the floor, then sits down next to it, putting his head back against the wall. He winks at Jack, "Watch my back for a second." He then jumps into the little drone, walking along the threadbare carpet of the hallway, its color faded with time. As the drone approaches the door, Grease switched on the olfactory sensor, was hit with an odor of feces and urine.

Opening his eyes and blinking, he tried to clear the smell from his head, although it was purely psychosomatic at this point. "Something smells real bad in there, Jack."

[Jack VII]

Apartment Complex, Stapleton, 12:45 PM, July 31st, 2075

"Bad like death?" Jack asked.

Grease shrugged, but then slowly nodded his head while still pinching his nose even though he knew it would do no good. The ork shook his head. Way too many innocent people related to this case seemed to be missing or dead. The ork removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes.

"Alright amigo, what now? There's probably a body in there, so I don't think we really want to be caught around here doing anything suspicious. We could come back at night and try to break in somehow, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. This lead seems to be..." The ork slipped his glasses back into place. "... a dead end."

A cat mournfully meowed inside the apartment.

[Lobo0705]

Apartment Complex, Stapleton, 12:46 PM, July 31st, 2075

Grease goes to slam his hand in anger into a wall, but then things better of it, and simply smacks the palm of his hand with his fist. "Damn it. I don't know what is worse. The fact that some poor schlub got whacked, or the fact that we can't even get in there to see if there is anything the killers might have left behind that would help. It wouldn't bring the person back, but it might mean we could stop them from killing someone else."

He thinks about it, "Controlling drones I can do, driving I can do in my sleep. Locks? Not so much. Do we just head back to Nic's and see how Overkill and Amy are doing?"

[Jack VII]

Apartment Complex, Stapleton, 12:46 PM, July 31st, 2075

"Unless you can figure out a way to clear out the apartment comp..." Jack stopped mid-sentence and thought hard. "I have an idea, but you're not going to like it. Hell, I don't like it given the risk versus reward ratio. These old places still probably have manually operated fire alarms, right? The alarm noise could cover the sound of breaking the door open assuming I get it in one go. The downside is the fire department would show up and the body would be discovered. We'd have very little time."

Frowning, Jack rejected the idea. "No, I really don't think its worth the risk. I guess we should head back to Nic's."

[Lobo0705]

Apartment Complex, Stapleton, 12:46 PM, July 31st, 2075

Grease bows his head in defeat. "Maybe we can try and head back here later on... but for now you are right. Let's swing by Horseshoe Park and see what is going on there."

The duo moves back through the apartment complex, and gets in Grease's car. Jack can tell that this must be bothering Grease, since he keeps it to under 90km per hour on the side streets. While on the way there, Jack sends a quick message to Chapel.

<<@Chapel [Jack] Chapel, might need to top off my ammo supply, do you have any gel rounds for an SMG and S&S for a hold out on hand?>>

The response comes back a few minutes later: <<@Jack [Chapel]Sure, got plenty of that stuff in stock. Swing by the Rusty Bar-rel and we'll make the exchange - say in around an hour?>>

<<@Chapel [Jack] See you then.>>

Grease is a million miles away, letting the car drive itself, really, as he wrestles with the thought of using again. I might need it for tonight, don't want to be too slow to have someone else get killed...
With Jack right there, however, he is able to push down the urge, and continue driving.

Horseshoe Park, Aurora Warrens 1:15 PM, July 31st, 2075
They reach the park, and it is abuzz with activity. All around you see men and women of all races wearing bright yellow "Rebuilding Together" T-shirts helping to set up a stage, put up portable barricades, and hustle around. Meanwhile, several men in black uniforms emblazoned Cruz Security across the back watch over the proceedings from four checkpoints around the park. They all seem to be carrying stun batons, but are otherwise not armed. Chomskey and Greeley are both standing in the middle of it all, directing traffic.

Not wanting to get in the way, Grease sends up a couple of drones, gets some aerial surveillance photos, and then recalls them. Jack still doesn't seem happy at the prospect of all the open space, but he shrugs, and says "Listen, I have to make a stop at the Rusty Bar-rel, can you swing by there?"

Grease brings them to the Bar-rel, and they meet Chapel in the parking lot. Chapel opens the trunk of his car, and Jack pulls out the ammo he needs, and then slots his credstick and transfers the money. "Pleasure doing business with you as always." Chapel winks, and Grease and Jack head on home.

Nic's Knacks, Aurora Warrens, 2:00 PM, July 31st, 2075
When they arrive, they find Nic, Sam, and Kevin all hovering around an old lawnmower. Nic is explaining in great detail how each part fits together, and its function, along with various tidbits on where to find the best replacement parts, where you can sell those parts, and a long list of scavenger dos and don'ts. Sam looks on with a serious expression on her grease-smudged face, holding the distributor cap in one hand. Kevin is looks generally confused. He keeps poking at the machine, an old John Deere from the 20th century, and says, "How does it work? Its dead, the whole thing is dead." Nic sighs and then begins to patiently explain how "back in the olden days" not everything had to connect to the Matrix to work...

Heading inside, they find Overkill propped up in the bed, eyes closed as he continued the search for Lynx. From the back yard, they could hear Amy's voice, sometimes quiet, sometimes strident, but never quite understandable. Jack and Grease decide to leave her alone for now, and head to the living area. Dropping heavily into a chair, Jack tries to relax, while Grease pulls out his disguise kit. "Well, I best get started, and at least I won't have to tell him to hold still." He starts walking toward the bedroom and Overkill's resting form.

Nic's Knacks, Aurora Warrens, 5:30PM, July 31st, 2075

Amy had come in an hour ago, looking very tired, and collapsed on the bed next to Overkill, not even noticing the other elf's changed appearance. She fell asleep almost immediately. Grease, sitting on the floor in the living room watching the trid with Jack sighed, got up and said, "Now I know how morticians must feel." Rolling up his sleeves, he again marched into the bedroom to begin working on Amy.

Now the whole team was assembled in the kitchen, picking from a selection of stuffers that Jack and Nic had available. Grease looked over at the two elves. "What? You two look good as blondes. Although Overkill, we have to get you in the sun more often, its bad enough with the black hair, with blonde you look like an albino." Sam still tittered a little at seeing her mother look so different. Grease's disguise was very good, and if you didn't know them, you would be hard pressed to tell what they looked like before.

Grease put the surveillance photos up in AR, and said, "Ok gang, now what?"

[Jack VII]

Nic's Knacks, Aurora Warrens, 5:30PM, July 31st, 2075

Taking in Grease's work, Jack figured that Amy and Overkill probably wouldn't thank him. They definitely didn't look like themselves, but the change was generally not for the better, if the ork was going to be honest. Luckily, no one was asking for his opinion of how they looked, but rather how their disguises looked.

"Good job, Grease, Jack said, "a small ghoul pack will make a welcome addition to our team. Seriously though, good work on the disguises. Anyone looking for the Amy and Overkill we know and love will be hard-pressed to ID them."

As the AR feed popped up and the map unfolded, Jack started explaining the layout. "Two bridges on the west and northeast for controlled access. Two security points at the parking lot, from where the majority of foot traffic should be coming. Security is being handled by Cruz Security. I don't know much about them, but they only appeared to be carrying stun batons, which I guess makes sense given the folks putting on the show. The stage is going to be here in the middle of these baseball diamonds."

"The setup isn't too bad for crowd control. But all this open space," Jack paused, pointing to the baseball fields, "...is bad news if someone wanted to set up a sniper in one of the surrounding houses. The three areas of housing closest to the stage are all well within sniper rifle range... Hell, you could pull it off with an assault rifle and a good shot. It's also very much inside the range of heavier weapons if someone just wanted to rock n' roll."

"We haven't really even scratched the surface on magic threats, but I don't really know enough about that stuff to give an opinion. One thing I do think we need to do is ask Chomsky for some of those t-shirts to blend into the crowd better."

The ork tugged on one of his tusks before continuing. "As for a plan... I'm not sure. We don't have any guarantee that a sniper is going to leave the wireless signal of their weapon turned on, so there's no telling if matrix surveillance would work. We could try and set Rhex up with someone serving as a spotter as well as the Fly-Spys to try and serve as a countersniper but, as Grease mentioned earlier, Rhex'd have to be really well hidden. We probably should have one or two people near the stage just in case they do try for something close-up. Also, if the principals aren't wearing armor, they should be, although I know that can send the wrong message. Really, it's not an ideal situation all around"

"Amy, can you add anything on the magic front? What should we be concerned about?" Jack asked the now-blonde elf.

[Chrome Head]

Nic's Knacks, Aurora Warrens, 5:30PM, July 31st, 2075

Amy looks at herself in the mirror and laughs. "Well this suits me just fine, doesn't it, Sam? Oh you don't like it?" She asks as she places her new hair. "It's still me even without the tattoos, honey, even with a -- strangely shaped nose, too." She takes her adoptive daughter in her arms and turns to Grease. "But seriously, good job Grease."

The shaman listens to Jack's explanations and stares at the map, thinking hard about the problem, with her mouth slightly open while she concentrates. "Well if you think about it, sniping and shooting combat spells is similar, except that it's harder to get a one-shot kill. You need line of sight.. and that's pretty much it. The difference is that you can do a whole lot of other things too, like manipulating the minds of a portion of the crowd. To target someone on the physical plane, you don't have to perceive the astral, and this makes you pretty hard to spot, especially in a crowd. What I can do, however, is use my powers to protect others from magical harm, at least to an extent. If I'm close enough to Chomsky and whoever else I try to protect, it can make a significant difference in their chances to resist an attack. I'll have a powerful spirit on hand, to do astral surveillance at the same time. He'll be able to spot anyone - especially those who are magically actice - in the astral, as well as active spells, other spirits, stuff like that. Spirits are magical beings, and this makes them the perfect tool for magical security. With the other spirit I binded to me today for backup, I don't know what more I can do on the magical side of things."

[Jack VII]

Nic's Knacks, Aurora Warrens, 5:32PM, July 31st, 2075

"That's really helpful, Amy," Jack replied to Amy's contribution. "So it sounds like you probably need to be one of the ones closest to the stage if we want to protect the principals from magical threats. Plus, your reaction speed is faster than anyone I've ever seen which can certainly help when guarding people."

A rough plan starts to form in Jack's mind. "OK, just follow me here. Amy and I set-up on or near the stage to deal with any close threats, magical threats in Amy's case, or just to act as a meat-shield in my case. Grease sets up in the taxi in the parking lot with his full crew of drones doing surveillance and serving as fire support. He's also there in case everything goes to drek and we have to get the principals out fast. Overkill sets up in the crowd running matrix overwatch and taking care of any threats coming from the crowd. It's not that great, but we can't do much given the timing. Anybody got a few smoke grenades?"

[Always Overkill]

Nic's Knacks, Aurora Warrens, 5:32PM, July 31st, 2075


As he listened, Drave kept looking into the mirror, and couldn't help but be reminded of this crazy Neo-Aryan back in Berlin, who he now shared an unfortunate resemblance to. Shaking off the thought, he refocused his attention on the rally.

"Its good enough, Mein Freunde." Drave replied in appreciation to Jack, "Given the layout of the event, und our manpower and resources, we can't really lock this place down any better. No smoke grenades on hand, but I do have a couple flashpaks I could set up between the crowd and the podium as a last resort. I can set my Agent to run silent and scan the Matrix for Icons running silent. Also, do you want me to look like I am working or just blend in as another spectator?"