Character Capital

[City Center - Embassy Row]

"Oh," Qrlil replied simply. She felt as though it was an inadequate response, but she honestly wasn't certain what else to say: the idea of anthropomorphic gods had never made very much sense as far as her personal sense of spirituality was concerned. "I suppose I can see how that is sad, yes," she continued, not certain it was true but feeling that it was the appropriate thing to say.

The rain continued to sheet down, and thunder boomed overhead. She let out a faint trilling sound of discomfort.

"You know, it is funny," she said, glancing over at Zerrimus again. "Well, 'strange' might be a better word - er, continuing on, it is funny: the planet where I live now, Skrahsis, has storms that are far worse than this from time to time. Its surface is almost entirely water, so large storms can just build and build. The skrahs have a weather control network, but they feel it's better for the planet's climate to not use it all the time."

She looked up. While it was difficult to see clearly through the rain, her backup's display indicated the next cross-street was Embassy Row. "These large storms tend to leave us trapped inside buildings for up to a local week at times. But for some strange reason, I keep finding myself thinking that they are far more tolerable than this one. Perhaps it's simply because I will have such limited time here that I hate losing any of it to weather..."

Reaching the corner, she turned onto Embassy Row's sidewalk, then checked her map again for the location of the Commonwealth Embassy. "Hrrm. We are close."

Visitor's District - Karaoke Bar

"I confess I'm unfamiliar with the events you describe," he said, "but from the sound of things, you seem to be describing historical events—distant ones at that. How is it that you have survivors of such events? Is it advanced medical technology? Or time travel, perhaps?"

Archibald puffed on his pipe. "Very distant events, that pre-date my own birth by centuries in some cases - and I was born in what we call the nineteenth century. Kris, here, was born in the twenty-first century, around a hundred and eighty years after I was born."

He paused a moment to marshall his thoughts. "As to how, we don't know, exactly, but there are numerous theories. What we do know is that there are basically two ways by which people arrive on Terra Nova: being born there or by mysteriously vanishing from Earth and appearing on Terra Nova amid some rather unpleasant-feeling side effects.

"For some reason, the majority of arrivals - there have been a number of exceptions - have been from the British Isles and people vanishing from Earth a century apart usually arrive on Terra Nova only a year apart. This means that by Terra Nova's time scale, as measured by our oldest inhabitants, the beginning of the Earth's sixteenth century was only about sixty-two years ago. Certain extremely bloody wars are still very fresh in people's memories."

He smiled. "If you're thinking that that would have caused serious problems over the years, you're quite correct."

"We're some of the exceptions," said Kris. "All of us in the group, and one other man, appeared on Terra Nova within the space of five days, despite being from vastly different times from the mid eighteenth to the late twenty-first centuries. On top of that, two of us were from New Zealand and one came via France. And there was a whole group of Albanians that turned up at around the same time."

Hotel Fantastique - Exterior

"Ready when you are."

That was all Teri had to hear. She started heading towards the pub.

James and Wolfe grinned, both thinking along the lines of typical Teri.

"I guess we're off, then," said Wolfe and turned to follow her. He wondered what was wrong with someone offering them alcohol. It wasn't as if they were obliged to accept the offer. Were there religious grounds? Under age? Wolfe couldn't tell - they were young, sure, but he'd known 15-year-olds that wouldn't raise an eyebrow in any pub - hell, he'd been one, once - and twenty-five-year-olds who had been asked for ID when buying cigarettes.

The walk to the pub didn't take long at all and from the outside Wolfe could clearly hear the familiar lyrics of Muss i denn. He followed Teri through the door and held it open for James who, in turn, held it open for Marie and the others.

Visitor's District - Karaoke Bar

Kris gave a wolf-whistle as Teri - still dressed in her riding boots, black leather jacket and pink-and-black leather leggings - approached the table. "Very sexy. Très Biker-Chick." Then she looked past Teri. "And who's your pretty friend?"

Archibald was both surprised and delighted to see more guests. He stood politely. "Welcome. Make yourselves comfortable, order whatever you like from the bar and point to this table. I've put a– tab on it."

Teri's eyes lit up at the mention of the tab. "Wicked!"

"Sweeeet!" said Wolfe.

Sir Archibald smiled. "We'll do proper introductions when you're back."

Hospital

Gwion listened to the nurse's translation of what Foster was saying and nodded. Just as I suspected, he thought, when she relayed the bit about the guilt.

The nurse managed to put in a stern look of her own when she got to the bit about them not picking a less violent option.

When she was done, Gwion looked at Foster and shrugged. "You were there, you saw that I tried to tell them we didn't want trouble - I tried to de-escalate the situation, but they were intent on 'having their fun', as their leader put it. Then one of them tried to kick me in the nuts - he attacked first. I was hardly going to smother him with kisses.

"So I did what I've been trained to do: I put him down as quickly and non-violently as possible and did the same to the others. It didn't get nasty on my part until that other guy kicked me in the balls and I went berserk." ...some people try to rationalise it... "Hell, I didn't even draw my pistol until that dick started shooting at me. All in all, I think we were pretty restrained, especially given we were surrounded and outnumbered.

"As you say, there was no other way to resolve it. They were determined to smack us over and," he looked directly at the nurse, "they had every intention of gang-raping Rani and Miyuki when they were done."

He gave a wry smile. "None of us have anything to apologise for, and that includes Rani. I hope she sees that soon."

Interesting, he thought, he didn't answer Akira's question about the ghost.

edited 6th May '15 2:48:26 AM by Wolf1066

City Center - Embassy Row

Storms that keep you locked inside for a week? "That sounds annoying," Garkin said. "On some of our newest colonies you still need oxygen gear to go outside, but at least you can go outside."

As they reached Embassy Row, Garkin prepared his holograph's scanning function so that he could discreetly activate it with a single button press.

"Alright, let's do our best to look like two normal pedestrians," he said.

Old City - Moreena's Lair

"I suppose that explains it," Moreena said, though she suspected that Eliza had not told her the whole story. Perhaps she has not been told the whole story either? That was often the case with soldiers, was it not?

"If you do meet them however, perhaps you should just ask them? People never seem to think that's an option for some reason."

She let out a silent, hollow sigh before drinking some more tea, remembering her own world.

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

The Spire

Kyana looked down again then back at Joshua before taking his hand and slowly started to walk across with him. She did her best not to look down so she didn't freak out, keeping her eyes on the back of Joshua's head. The touch of his hand caused her to redden again and this time the fire girl couldn't shake it off.

Zan's Diner

Kiyumi and Midori looked a bit surprised that Naoko's abilities didn't seem to shock Sophie but got an interested looked from Samantha. They were however glad that they seemed at least impressed by it. When they mentioned that kind of power would be great with magical girl transformation and amulets Kiyumi suddenly exclaimed, "So you do transform with an object like regular magical girls!" which made Midori stare confused at her older friend but was curious about what they could be facing be with these girls.

Waiting until they were done ordering she peeped up and asked, "So...what exactly are we going to look for and face?"

"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"

[Embassy Row - Neriad Hotel Entrance]

The Commonwealth Embassy was located in the Neriad Hotel, nearer the far end of Embassy Row. The building itself was fairly unassuming, but a metal stand in front of the entrance bore a sign with an official-looking notice informing passersby of the presence of the Commonwealth mission. The note bore a series of stamps the first and most prominent of which was in the shape of a gear encircling a judicial gavel, with the words: By Order of the Technopolity in bold typeface below it.

Instructions on the sign pointed readers to the 27th floor if they had any official business with the Commonwealth diplomatic envoy. The hotel's management, in their willingness to accommodate such distinguished guests, had booked out an entire floor to act as the Embassy offices at the delegation's request. A private elevator in the lobby ran directly up to it, and was guarded and operated by a terse woman with a crew-cut and no smile. A bulge at the small of her back indicated the presence of a concealed firearm- a snub-nosed .33 caliber revolver- but given she stood with her back to the elevator doors and had her hands clasped together behind her back, nobody entering the hotel would be in a position to notice this.

In contrast to some of the other buildings along Embassy Row, the owners of the Neriad had opted for "tastefully understated" rather than "aggressively opulent" in the design of their establishment, with plenty of diffused lighting and muted colors. A set of cream-colored leather couches sat clustered around low tables in the lobby, and a vaguely avian-looking server of indeterminate phylogeny scuttled about attending to various guests. The front desk was a broad mahogany arrangement staffed by what appeared to be a svelte-looking bipedal feathered serpent, who was currently busy fussing with a ledger.

edited 6th May '15 12:20:33 PM by Gault

yey

[City Center - Embassy Row]

"Well, I can certainly attempt that," Qrlil said, with a humorous note in her voice. "But I must admit that being 'normal' has always been something of a struggle for me."

The Commonwealth Embassy came in sight, and she shifted her posture to more of a slouch - hunched against the rain as she already was, it wasn't much of a big shift. She looked over at the lobby that was visible through the windows; even with eyes that had originally evolved for low-light conditions, she needed the help of her backup to see it clearly.

"It appears that the embassy takes up much more of the hotel than I had expected," she said softly to Garkin, turning her head away from the building. She let out a quiet cough, hoping it would help further create the impression of a miserable individual stuck out in the rainstorm. "I'm not certain how we should proceed. Is your scanner ready yet?"

Visitor's District - Zan's Diner

Sophie ordered a meal of fish and chips, passing on the tartar sauce, while Samantha decided to get a chicken salad with french dressing. Once the waitress took their menus and left, Samantha turned her attention back to the other three.

"There are 'regular' magical girls? News to me," she said with a tone of slight amusement, "But yes, you're correct. Incidentally, the objects in question just so happen to be among the things we're looking for."

She then held out her pendant for the ninjas to see. "Most of them look something like this, at least in the fact that they're pendants. Sophie has one of her own if you'd like to take a look at another, although she keeps hers hidden most of the time."

"It's so I don't alert anyone about it unless I need to," Sophie explained, "That way it's easier to fool our enemies."

Samantha smirked. "Sure, Sophie. You keep telling yourself that." Afterwards she took a drink of her water before looking back at the other girls. "Although that brings me to what we're fighting against...." Her voice then became very serious. "Our enemies are the Bleaksteel; a relentless force of machines that want nothing less than total control of all that they see. And if you get in their way, they will show you no mercy."

She sighed. "So far I haven't seen any of their ilk in this city, and hopefully we will never see them during our time here. But there's always the possibility...and I want to make sure that you're ready for them if worst comes to worst." She looked each of the ninjas in the eye. "So do you think you have it in you to face the risks?"

---

Old City - Moreena's Lair

"If I ever do meet them, I intend on trying," Eliza said simply in response to Moreena. "Provided, of course, that they are willing to listen to me." She frowned heavily. "So far, I've heard that they're the sort to just try and attack first and ask questions later. Complicating matters is the fact that the commander with the most experience fighting them, Sabaoth, is also among the most bloodthirsty members of the Bleaksteel. I wouldn't be surprised if he's tainting their view of us."

After that she fell into silence for a few moments as she finished off what was left of her cup of tea.

Icon by Civvi the Civilian!

City Center - Embassy Row

"A slow walk across the front should be enough for now," Garkin said in a low voice, and did his best to look 'normal' as well, with questionable results. He pressed a button on his holograph, disguising the move as a shiver followed by crossing his arms.

The device went to work. An echo-pulse to get the basic layout of the rooms and such, then a thorough search for power lines and electronic equipment, and finally a scan for lifesigns using thermal imaging.

All he needed was a minute or so without being noticed...

Old City - Moreena's Lair

"Yes, I can see how that would complicate things," Moreena said, before returning to her cup as well.

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[City Center - Embassy Row]

Darting glances at the Commonwealth building from under her hood, Qrlil swayed back and forth slightly as she walked. She hoped it would help contribute to the impression she wanted to create, but at the same time she knew that it was mostly out of nervousness. She didn't regret getting involved in this, not when it was the right thing to do, but still: this wasn't the sort of thing she felt comfortable with.

Though at least she seemed to be better at appearing inconspicuous than Zerrimus.

Thunder rumbled overhead. "Anything yet?" she hissed at him.

edited 6th May '15 2:18:32 PM by nrjxll

City Center - Embassy Row

"Soon," he whispered back as they passed the entrance of the building. The place looked normal enough at first as he glanced through the window, but as he spotted what was most likely a security guard near an elevator, he averted his eyes. Perhaps a bit to quickly? Stay calm. Was she looking back? Don't check!

The scan should be almost over by now, but Garkin dared not look at his wrist. Just keep walking.

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[THE SPIRE-BASEMENT]

Holding tight onto the girl's hand, Joshua walked with excellent balance to the other side. After crossing, he knelt down again on the rafter and gripped the wire they had just traversed on. Holding the wire tightly, he first pushed down on it, and then pulled it up. A faint click was heard from the two cartridges as the hook on the other side detached and the two wires retracted , leaving Joshua with only two, retrieved cartridges in his hand. He quickly replaced them back on his wrists and stood up.

"It's getting late. Is anyone likely to worry about you?" He asked Kyana.

[MOREENA'S LAIR]

Lara gave in to the temptation and set preparing a second serving of tea. Her first sip was interrupted as Eliza explained the complications of having to deal with the strange amulet-users.

She let her cup down as Eliza went on about looking bad because of one particular person in the ranks.

"And the rest of you are just standing around, and letting him make you look bad?? Kick him out!"

[Clarke Hospital] (Foster's Room)

They were determined to smack us over and, they had every intention of gang-raping Rani and Miyuki when they were done.

"Not that they would have succeeded in doing so." Muttered Miyuki, under her breath, still leaning against the wall by the door. Even if she hadn't outclassed the thugs in every way, at least in terms of combat ability, her Strike Suit would have been just about impossible to cut through without dramatically better equipment. To say that she had been unafraid would be somewhat of an understatement. And besides, Rani had proven herself to be deceptively capable.

"Well, um," Akira said, slightly uncomfortable with where the conversation seemed like it might be heading, and also a little unnerved by Foster's telling non-response to his mention of the ghost. "I'm glad Rani won't be permanently upset with us. I hope you both feel better soon." He said, a bit stiffly.

He paused, briefly, and glanced at a near-by clock. "Looks like it's getting pretty late." He remarked, and looked over his shoulder at Miyuki. "We don't have anywhere to stay..." Then a realization came to him, and his head snapped back to Foster. "I- I mean, you guys offered your house and stuff, and that was really nice, d-don't get me wrong!" He said, quickly. "But, I mean, I just... With the ghost and all..." He couldn't finish the thought. Another awkward pause came, and went when he continued. "Maybe we'll just find a... What were they called? Hot-ells? Maybe we'll find one of those." Then, more to himself than anyone else, he murmured "I'm kinda running out of money, though."

Not entirely dead.

Old City - Moreena's Lair

"I'd love to see him gone, but unfortunately it isn't anywhere near that simple." Eliza sighed again, before setting her teacup down for a minute and counting off on her fingers. "One, I'm not the one responsible for who gets into the Bleaksteel in the first place and our policies are a little...restricted regarding leaving of any sort. Two, Sabaoth outranks me so I can't tell him to do anything. And finally, there's not a lot of people who think he's actually a problem. He's one of our best fighters and our combat leader, so most think him useful for that alone. He actually was dispatched to deal with these girls to begin with, for the reasoning that they attacked us first and that clearly meant they weren't interested in helping us."

She shook her head before picking up her teacup again. "I do wish we could have handled this a little better, but such is life." She then went to prepare herself a second cup. "So, anyone else want to complain about her job or can we talk about something happier?"

edited 7th May '15 9:31:24 AM by Yomegami

Icon by Civvi the Civilian!

Hospital - Foster's Room

"It'd also be a bit off staying at someone's place when they're not there," said Gwion, "especially if they don't know you so well." And after the events of the evening, he was looking forward to a proper bed rather than crashing on someone's floor.

"I was going to stay at the Hotel Fantastique, which is said to be very nice and reasonably priced, and I had offered to pay for Ulf's lodgings. Now, it would seem that Ulf's accommodation for the night has been decided for him. I will happily pay for your accommodation if you need a place to stay and don't worry about the cost: I've had a bit of a windfall lately - easy money that I wasn't expecting - so it's no inconvenience to me."

[MOREENA'S LAIR]

Lara smirked bitterly, looking into the blaze in the fireplace. "Hm. Complaints. The only one I can stand to give is that a certain, snot-nosed archeology professor is still alive today."

In truth, she was also growing weary of whining about the things that have gone wrong. Eliza was right; they should just talk about something else or shut up.

edited 7th May '15 3:32:18 AM by TroPartner

[Embassy Row - Neriad Hotel Entrance]

The scanner did it's work. A layout of the 27th floor began to resolve on Garkin's device. A smattering of translucent rectangles popped up, each marking a room and giving it's approximate dimensions. Power cables were next to appear, traced out in blue, distinct from the bright red and orange splotches of the occupants' thermal signatures. There were in total about thirty people, some of them sitting at desks, others standing a post. However, there were a handful of anomalies. A few of the thermal splotches appeared a good deal colder than the rest, barely registering against the hotel's background temperature. The device could give him no explanation as to why this was.

Through the scanner's information, Garkin could see that the private elevator was the only means of access to the 27th floor. Dark inert masses appeared to be blocking the corridors immediately out from the building's two stairwells- likely physical checkpoints- each attended by a pair of armed guards. These wore their weapons openly, folding-stock carbines cradled idly in arms or hanging from straps at their shoulders.

yey

Police Station

Derek read through the statement carefully, ensuring that it faithfully represented what he had said. When he was finished, he turned to his appointed lawyer. "Do I sign it now?"

"If you are satisfied that it's accurate."

Derek nodded then signed and dated the form. The officer and the lawyer signed that they had witnessed his signature and then the officer sat back with a smile. "Well, that's about it. Thank you very much for your assistance in this matter."

The lawyer shook Derek's hand and said he would see him in court the next morning to arrange bail then Derek was led away to a nice, warm, dry, cell for the night.

The officer looked at the statement and shook his head in wonder. Even by Capital City standards, this was a doozy - a werewolf, a mad cyborg, a flying woman, a masked girl with burning cat-ears on her hoodie, strange flying force fields, chains that could incinerate people, strange lights and ice, a mysterious earthquake and a miniature star that took the roof off the building.

He took the statement back to his desk and pulled up the report received from the paramedic crew: two GSWs - a young girl in a cat-earred hoodie and a mask and a man who reportedly had been half-human, half wolf at the time the paramedics had arrived. Two unconscious patients: one male with a contusion on his cheek and one female, otherwise unharmed. One cyborg with a contusion on his face and showing signs that he had recently been hit in the groin but not seriously injured - apparently some sort of licensed body guard. Two uninjured: one female, one male.

He nodded in satisfaction, then typed "Brett Andrews" into the search box. Yep, there he was, numerous arrests for a variety of violent offences but nothing big enough to put him out of circulation for a decent amount of time.

"Got you now, you little punk," the officer muttered under his breath. Two attempted homicides. Derek had cut a deal and named names - Brett and the rest of his gang and three back-room surgeons that, going by Derek's description of the events at the mall, were probably going to be very busy that night.

edited 6th May '15 11:50:59 PM by Wolf1066

[City Center - Embassy Row]

As the two of them continued to walk down the sidewalk, Qrlil's eyes kept darting back and forth between the Commonwealth embassy and Zerrimus's scanner. Between her hood and the pouring rain, she felt fairly confident that this wouldn't look suspicious to any observers, but she couldn't deny what it represented in terms of her own nervousness. Or rather, she could try to deny it, but if there was one thing made clear by her past life, it was that denial didn't work for her and only created greater problems.

Instead, she did her best to acknowledge her anxiety and manage it with humor. And despite the circumstances, finding humor was easy: all she had to do was consider the day so far. I arrive here just wanting to do diplomatic negotiations - normal, or as normal as possible - and almost immediately encounter an old friend. Then I meet someone who I actually want to go on a date with - someone who looks like a chimera no less - and who feels the same way. Then I encounter still another (distractingly physically attractive) old friend, who needs my help with a kidnapping, and now I'm acting as, of all things, a spy.

...Different is good, but sometimes I do want 'as normal as possible' too.

She hissed softly, then glanced over at Zerrimus again. "Is the scan complete now?"

City Center - Embassy Row

"I think so," Garkin answered. "This way." He headed for a nearby alleyway, taking care not to pick up his pace until he was out of sight from inside the building.

Once a good distance away from the street, he stopped to nervously look back across his shoulder, before examining the scan results.

"This looks like fun," he said in a flat voice.

Old City - Moreena's Lair

The girl was right. There had been a lot of complaining.

"I've been planning to explore the Undercity," she said in a perhaps somewhat clumsy attempt to change the subject.

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[Embassy Row - Neriad Hotel Entrance]

Zerrimus and Qrlil, despite their odd insistence on staying out in the torrential rain, didn't seem to have drawn much undue attention. There was no apparent change to the behavior of the people inside, as far as the scanner could tell. It appeared the two of them were in the clear, for now at least.

The data recorded had shown no sign of a captive being held in any of the Embassy rooms. Any humanoid figure that wasn't standing guard had been either hunched over a desk or walking casually around the offices. Either the would-be spies would need to take a closer look, or else write off the Embassy as a lost cause.

yey

The Spire

Kyana followed Joshua and her expression fell when he asked if anyone was worried about her. Throughout the day her thoughts flickered to her parents who knew she was out but might not have known everything she had been through. She decided she needed to call them, if anything to let them know she was ok. "My parents are probably wondering where I am since I've been out so late. I..I hope Genocide wasn't on the news." she replied, feeling a bit guilty though it wasn't her fault exactly that she got into this mess.

Zan's Diner

The three girls orders came right after Sophie's and Samantha's, a cheeseburger and chocolate shake for Kiyumi, a small cheeseburger, some fries and a soda for Midori, and a large chicken salad for Naoko. As they ate they listened with interest to Samantha's explanation of their enemy. Swallowing a bite of her cheeseburger Kiyumi exclaimed, "So..magical girls fighting robots...It sounds like an awesome movie!" Her blue eyes sparkled at the thought.

When asked if they could handle it she looked to Midori and Naoko. No matter what crazy scheme she dragged them into, she would never put them in danger unless they didn't mind. Her face turned serious as she said, "I can." She looked over to the other two. Midori gulped but then nodded. "I-I can. I want to help." Naoko silently nodded as well and Kiyumi smiled.

"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"

[City Center - Alleyway]

Qrlil followed Zerrimus into the alleyway, making certain to keep hunched over in her cloak against any observation. (Though again, the weather alone would have been a good reason for that). She checked her backup's map to be sure that there was another way out of the alley - just in case - then shuffled towards the cravyn and touched his arm softly, tilting her head to see the scan results.

"Well. That is... troubling," she said, blinking rapidly. "I suppose it does make sense that they wouldn't hold a prisoner in the embassy after all - but I'm not certain how to proceed in that case." She let out another quiet trilling sound. "And I'm also not certain what... those are," she continued, indicating the strange cold spots that seemed to be moving around. She hesitated before continuing "Some type of magical constructs, perhaps?"

I cannot believe this is a situation where that is a logical suggestion.

"We should make for the hotel now," she went on, "unless you have any other ideas. Though I think we should take a... more roundabout way of getting there instead of going back out onto Embassy Row."

[Visitor's District—Karaoke Bar]

David had picked up his drink to take a sip; it was only a few centimeters above the tabletop, but it still clattered and splashed as he dropped it onto the table. He didn't even seem to notice that he'd done it; he was staring, wide-eyed, at Sir Archibald.

He'd drastically misunderstood their situation—he had thought this was some scientific colony that had fallen on hard times, perhaps lost contact with the homeworld. This was something very different, and much more interesting. Now he simply had to see it in person. He was already mentally composing a checklist of equipment and materials he'd want to bring to help him analyze the state of spacetime on the plane, and the various energies on and around the planet.

"I don't mean to discount the no-doubt traumatic experience," he said cautiously, "but that is absolutely fascinating. I wonder if it's a natural phenomenon? Perhaps there is some as-of-yet unidentified agent transporting people from various time periods on your homeworld for an unknown purpose... An experiment? A test? Are individuals being singled out for some purpose, or are the victims randomly selected?" He was muttering at his drink as he wiped up the small spill.

"Hostile? Perhaps they're identifying and removing the people most capable of posing a threat to an invasion force... no, if that were the case, they'd all come from the time in which the invaders intend to attack. Perhaps this is an unintended side effect of some unrelated activity?"

He continued to ramble, proposing more and more possibilities and then moving on as if they were already forgotten, though in truth he was filing them away for later consideration. At the moment, he was just shotgunning as many ideas as he could.

edited 7th May '15 11:20:46 AM by SolipSchism

City Center - Alleyway

"Or zombies," Garkin answered, only partially as a joke. The results were troubling, to say the least. Even if there had been any signs of prisoners, getting inside would have been nearly impossible. "We'll figure something out," he said in an effort to sound hopeful, but at the moment he was out of ideas.

"Let's find the hotel."

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[Embassy Row]

A new contact sprang to live on Garkin's scanner. It seemed to pop up out of nowhere, giving no prompting as to why it may have suddenly appeared. It was thermal and in the shape of a person, though like some of the other anomalous humanoid readings, the signal it gave off was barely strong enough to distinguish it from the ambient temperature.

However, that wasn't all that was strange about the new reading. Where it had appeared wasn't in the Embassy up on 27th floor, but rather somewhere several floors below ground level, in what might be a sub-basement.

The anomalous signature had sprung up next to what appeared in the digitally enhanced view of the scanner as a series of dark blue rectangles, each about the size of a small room and identical to one-another- likely a row of large walk-in freezers. According to the scanner's holographic display one of these freezers didn't have an active power supply running to it, and it's thermal signature was correspondingly warmer than the adjacent units.

The person-shaped anomaly walked down the hall, then paused for a moment. A few seconds later, it shifted slightly and began moving upward at speed. It's position on the X and Y axes indicated it occupied the space of the elevator shaft the two of them had observed the terse woman guarding when they had cased the lobby.

yey