"So you guys movin in huh? You know more of your friends might have showed up if you had pizza and beer? Look, I'll answer your questions in a sec, I'm going to go see what that sound was since you two are obviously busy." Levi waves slyly as she descends through the floor and then drifts over to just under and behind where the guy with the gun was standing.
SCENE 2
SCENE 1
PAGE 3 of combat
The blue screws holding the grill of bars to the basement concrete foundation pulls out a half an inch but holds.
The voice of the guy with the gun says, "sit on the packages. Where's Jimmy?"
The sounds of the doorman strides have him heading toward and into a bedroom while he replies, "told him to leave."
The voice of the guy with the gun replies, "K. I'll call it in." He starts walking downstairs, then says when he sees you, "she's down here." He stops at the front door. He has his gun trained on Spectra and his cell phone to his ear in the other hand.
The U-Haul truck drives away.
It didn't strike Daniel too odd for the goth girl to walk out of the cafe. It seemed to be a coincidence that the young woman sitting next to him left a few moments later. Daniel raised an eyebrow when he saw the goth girl head over to the Reaper bar and head in. Getting up, he dropped a few dollars on the table, following the girls out of the cafe.
SCENE 2
Daniel exits the cafe to join to two girls in the cold overcast drizzly December afternoon.
Katie waits in the alley entrance. Gothic leans against the wall halfway between Katie and the locked door to the bar.
Daniel frowns, the gears on his head kicking into over drive... [i]What the hell does she think she's doing? Does she know that's a Reapers bar? Is she friends with the woman that dropped Vincent? Why is that other girl eyeballing her? Too many questions, not enough answers. Fortune favors the foolish, she's just a goth kid, but this is too much for coincidence.[i]
Walking up to the first young woman, Excuse me, what's your interest in her? Why are you watching the bar?
The goth girl slowly turns her head and looks at him with a glare that says keep away. If he persists, she taps a few times on her phone then tilts the screen so he can see it. It reads, "Not yr business"
Katie leans against the corner opposite the entrance, keeping the goth chick and the newcomer in her line of sight. Hmm, boyfriend girlfriend? No... or they're on the outs... Maybe he's one of Beard's thugs... wonder if Beard will show up soon. Maybe she's his sex toy, not that he'd be into goth from the looks fo him, but then again, based on his looks, he can't be picky... Where the hell is he, I don't have all day to wait for his sorry butt to come out... this is getting crowded, maybe I should just go home and come back another day when it's not so crowded...
Levi flies through the guy with the gun to short out his phone. "Here, let me dial the number. You should have gone with the truck."
Trevor yanks the bars out and kicks out the windows, briefly considers folding the bars to make a weapon, then decides against it and slides into the basement after clearing out any obviously dangerous shards of glass.
Not my business? I work with CPD, any interest in this bar is my business, espscially since it is a known Reapers bar. So I ask again, what's your business?
The girl continues to glower at the man. She doesn't look impressed when he claims to be CPD. She meets his eyes levelly, completely not caring that he probably outweighs her by a hundred pounds or more. After a moment, she types something else on her phone. "whats a Reaper?"
SCENE 1
PAGE 4 of combat
Trevor finds a basement that is relatively unfinished, uncleaned for decades, and a random storage location. It's naturally dark, but light streams in from your opened window and two other newspapered and barred windows near the ceiling at ground level. There's one set of stairs that ascend to a closed door near the back of the house.
"What was that?!" The guy with the gun reacts to Trevor's breaking the window. "Sounds like the basement!"
Then, he looks at his phone and curses at Spectra, "B!#ch." Then, he calls out upstairs, "Hey, turn off your phone. She shorts dem out. Get ready. She can't do anything else except annoy us, but someone may be coming from the basement. A back-up team will be here in a couple minutes." He puts the phone in his pocket. While training his gun on Spectra, he puts his back against a wall near the front door to clearly watch the approach down the hallway from the kitchen and basement door.
Cops... possibly, could be lying. Oh well, too much noise for me...
Katie retrieves the package from the bike and leaves...
The goth's attention suddenly shifts to the other woman. She leans past the CPD man to watch her.
Daniel looks puzzled at her question. You can't be serious. The Reapers: notorious gang of thugs and miscreants headed up by Enzo Capote. You really don't know? His taises an eyebrow as he looks over his shoulder to see what she's looking at, noticing the woman who was sitting next to him ride off.
Gothic shrugs and gives a slight shake of her head. While his attention is on the blue and violet streaked woman, the goth girl swipes her phone to its photo gallery. When he looks back to her, she holds up a picture of an auburn-haired young woman smiling into the camera in a basic selfie pose. The goth appears in the background, looking unhappy and reaching for the phone.
She pulls her phone back and gives him a look that says she knows he recognizes the woman in the photo.
I'll try again tonight.. should have used the night anyway, less people paying attention, and I'll need a better location to get an overview... Cafe was a mistake...
Katie vanishes into the crowds as she leaves.
Should have thought of a way to cover the window again. Don't know what they're capable of. Not gonna help anyone by getting myself killed.
Trevor finds a way to get himself hid and waits for someone to come check out the noise.
Levi materializes next to the guy and readies to go intangible again if she's attacked. "Its not like you paid for it anyway."
SCENE 1
PAGE 5 of combat
Trevor hides. Spectra lands, becomes solid, and speaks.
"Huh? That's my phone, b!#$h." The guy with the gun replies to Spectra. "You need to leave." He continues to train his gun on Spectra with his back against a wall near the front door to clearly watch the approach down the hallway from the kitchen and basement door.
SCENE 2
Gothic shows Daniel a selfie of the lady that he was following with the Goth girl in the background. Katie leaves.
Ok, they don't seem to be coming down. Let's see if I can get a closer look.
Trevor sneaks up to the door, listens closely in case someone is going to come in. If not, he slips quietly into the kitchen.
*3=33.
Daniel's face turns hard at seeing the selfie, resisting the urge to reach up and grab the phone. Your friend has some questions to answer. She's a suspect in an investigation for a very serious matter. How close are you to her? What's her name? Do you know anything about with whom she now appears to be associating? His voice starts off gentle, then turns a bit terse as he starts firng off questions.
The girl studies him with a frown. She swipes the photo away and types on her phone again. "Badge?"
Levi tries to sneak back up stairs behind the guy guarding the boxes using her ghost form.
The girl studies him with a frown. She swipes the photo away and types on her phone again. "Badge?"
Mouth hardening into a line, Daniel pulls out his ID. Typical kid. I bet that damned thing is glued to her hand. Who needs a zombie apocalypse, we're living in one. While no badge is present, their is a CPD photo ID showing him to be a Forensic Consultant.
Before you flip me off for not being a cop, I stated honestly that I work with CPD, not that I am a cop. Names, Daniel Dunsmore. I'm a forensic consultant with CPD. While I am not at liberty to discuss the investigation, I can tell you that your friend was the last person to be seen with an individual that had met a rather brutal end. Daniel's words are polite, covering the frustration he feels at the inability of kids to deal with reality beyond their widgets.
Gothic narrows her eyes as she looks briefly at the ID, then back up to his face. She powers off her phone and shoves it into one of her jacket pockets. Her other hand also jams into a pocket while she shrugs her shoulders, leaning back up against the bar's window.
She stares straight ahead, seemingly disengaged entirely from the conversation. Before Daniel's frustration reaches its limit, however, he hears a voice in his mind that definitely didn't come from him, sounding female and with a fair amount of vocal fry.
::A brutal end for a brutal man. Why do you care?::
Without moving her head, the goth's eyes flick in Daniel's direction to study his face.
SCENE 1
PAGE 6 of combat
Trevor gets to the kitchen without attracting attention. He sees a messy, unstocked kitchen, and a backdoor. The stairs leading to the second floor are the ceiling of the basement stairs and start nearer to the front door.
Trevor is in the kitchen at the back of the house. There's a hallway that runs beside the stairs to the front door. You remember there are living and dining rooms on the other side of the hallway. Everything has gone quiet.
Spectra becomes insubstantial and tries to sneak upstairs behind the guy guarding the boxes. At the top of the stairs, she finds the master bedroom. It's empty of furniture like the first floor, but has a large occult circle painted on the hardwood floor. Many fat unlit candles appear to illuminate the room at night; five of which are at the points of the pentacle overlaying the circle. The windows are newspapered and glow in the weak afternoon light.
Spectra finds a bathroom between two smaller bedrooms to complete the second floor. The bedroom between the master bedroom and bathroom contains the stack of boxes and the doorman quietly pacing back and forth. There's no way to become solid in the small room without the doorman seeing you.
SCENE 2
Daniel attempts to converse with Gothic.
Haven't heard any gunshots, and there are no sounds of struggles down here. Must still be upstairs. Probably restrained.
Trevor tries to sneak his way upstairs.
Daniel shakes his head a moment at hearing the voice, looking bewildered for a moment before it dawns on him that the "words" such as they were came from her. The bewildered look quickly changes to one of interest as he rubs his chin, carefully considering the young woman standing before him.
Interesting. Telepathy. Alpha wave attunement? Bioelectric transmission? Telepathy could explain the Gothic appearance. Keep people away to avoid hearing their thoughts. Though she put the phone away, so she "heard" that and can probably here this too.
Daniel's next words echo his thoughts.
The simple answer is because we are all human. The long answer is Justice, which is exactly the opposite of what was administered. If she was responsible and has gotten mixed up with the Reapers, as appearances seem, she's making choices now she may not live to regret. Is that what you want for her?
Gothic watches wordlessly as Daniel processes what she just revealed to him. When he talks of Justice she stiffens slightly and looks away, though her defiance deflates a bit when he asks what she wants for her friend.
Still looking down the street away from him, she responds mentally, ::No::
After a heartbeat, she rolls her head back to face him. ::Though if you really feel that way, you might want to stop that other girl from doing what she's thinking of doing. She scampered when she heard you mention CPD. But she's planning on coming back this evening::
Levi leaves the doorman to his tiny room and sneaks back over to investigate the strange room with the candles and symbol on the floor.
SCENE 1
PAGE 7 of combat
Trevor quietly steps from kitchen into the hallway that runs beside the stairs to the front door. There are doors to living and dining rooms along the hallway on the right. He instantly stops and sees the business end of a 9mm pointed right at him. The man with the gun grimaces and welcomes Trevor to the house, "Hello, Mr. Basement. Who the f@#k are you?" Then, he calls upstairs, "We've another one down here! Stay with the packages!" The guy with the gun stands in the middle of the hallway with his back against the wall next to the front door.
Spectra floats through the walls to return to the master bedroom. She determines that someone who believes in the occult conducted at least one ritual in here. The fat candles have burned down quite a bit. The material defining the circle and pentacle may not be red paint. Without becoming solid, Spectra wouldn't be able to search for any clues beyond this description.
=======================================================================
Beyond the awareness of our intrepid heroes, two black Ford Excursions pull up and park in the spot vacated by the U-Haul truck. Three guys exit each SUV and move to secure area around the vehicles to the front door with military precision with two guys arriving at the front door. The similarly clad drivers stay in the trucks keeping the engines running. Backup has arrived.
SCENE 2
Daniel discovers telepathy.
If he has a gun I doubt he's as strong as the man at the door. Charging him's out of the question, I don't think I'm bulletproof. Thankfully, guns can only fire in straight lines.
Trevor leaps over the debris and zigzags his way down the hall, rolling, spinning and otherwise making himself a hard target, and attempts to grapple the man with the gun.
+First roll=4
9*3=36
Levi takes a few pictures before becoming solid to investigate the symbol, moving with haste as the gun shot and scuffle below remind her someone more violent than herself is in the house.
Then it looks like I'm going to have to stick around to make sure she doesn't do anything foolish. Daniel responds.
I take it that you are looking for your friend as well? We're not learning anything outside here and your friend was not easy to track to here. I'm going to do something foolish and go check out the bar. Meanwhile, for your safety, take a seat in that cafe and keep an eye out. I also ask that you contact Detective Garcia at 555-1212 for me and tell him my location.
Gothic scowls, then punctuates it with a hostile glare.
She pulls out her phone in a huff and starts typing away.
"Dear detective Garcia, please send a hearse to to pick up the corpse of forensic consultant Daniel dunsmore because he charged into a Reaper bar run by Enzo Capote with no backup."
She holds up the message so Daniel can see. ::Shall I hit 'send' or do you want to rethink your plan?::
SCENE 1
PAGE 8 of combat
Spectra becomes solid and starts taking pictures of the master bedroom.
Trevor charges the guy with a gun like a crazy person. The guy fires. The bullet hits Trevor's shoulder and leaves a bruise.
Trevor grabs and disarms the guy. Trevor has the guy grabbed and control of the gun.
The guy without the guy unsuccessfully attempts to break free. Trevor realizes that this guy is as good a wrestler as he is. If it wasn't for Trevor's super strength, this contest could go another way.
Then, the door breaks in. Three guys enter the house. It's crowded near the front door. The first heads up stairs and points his automatic rifle at Spectra and says to her. "Don't move." The second guy heads up three stairs but directs his automatic rifle at Trevor.
The third guy steps inside the front door with several more troops behind him. He points his automatic rifle at Trevor and orders, "Drop the weapon. Release the man. Hands up where I can see them."
SCENE 2
Daniel receives some very sound advice.
Good. I'm glad I could confirm that there is something more beneath the hard exterior you present. Can't be easy trusting people when you are privy to whatever is rattling around in their heads. Daniel responds calmly, unrattled by her sudden display of anger.
Not going to be easy to earn her trust, of course trying to push her aside just made that more difficult.
Look, I apologize for marginalizing your own concern for your friend or your effort tracking her down. Stare death at me all you want. But please join me back in the cafe. I'll call Detective Garcia and see if maybe CPD sends some officers down to look into the bar. And you and I can talk about your friend. Daniel is polite, never taking his eyes off hers as he talks.
"How did you know exactly where I was standing... from outside?" Levi raises her hands and becomes insubstantial again as she passes through the floor and sneaks outside toward the SUVs.
Her hands return to her jacket pockets as she pushes off from the bar's exterior. Without looking to see if Daniel is following, Gothic moves across the street and heads into the cafe. She selects an empty table near the window and slumps into a chair.
::I'll take a kapha tea if you're going to be asking a bunch of questions:: she mentally projects.
Daniel follows and joins her at the table, ordering kapha tea for her and large black coffee for himself. He then pulls out his cell phone and calls Detective Garcia.
Detective. This is Dunsmore. I was calling to let you know I tracked down the young women last seen with Vincent...
She walked into the Matador a little while ago. I'm sitting in a cafe across the street from the Matador now...
No, I won't do anything foolish...
Yes, I'll sit tight...
Good Bye Detective.
Sitting down with her at the table.
Now, while I am immensely curious about your gift, or curse if it pleases you, a more mundane approach would be less conspicuous. Wouldn't you agree? So, let's start with you. Name? Your friends name? How you two connected? Why did you get tense when I mentioned Justice earlier?
After leaving, and getting a good 5 blocks away, Katie stopped, and cursed. If she left, she might not see if he left and be able to follow him. But she also didn't want trouble with the cops.
After debating, she vanished down an alley, and used her acrobatic skills to get to the top of an apartment building. Then she went over the roof tops, and returned to the building with the Cafe. Safely ensconced on the roof, four floors up, she was able to see the cop and the goth girl head back into the diner.
Certain she wouldn't be noticed up here, she settled in to watch, from the corner of the building.
Should have stayed up here earlier, hot chocolate and donuts are not worth risking a cop remembering me, even looking like this.
Gothic accepts the steaming cup and tears the wrapper off the teabag. She drops it in and watches it steep. She hears his questions, but she doesn't look up.
After a short moment of silence as she tends to her tea, Daniel hears in his mind, ::I go by Gothic. And don't worry about conspicuous. Everyone's wrapped up in their own lives to worry about us::
Her eyes glance up at him, frowning. Reluctantly, she comes to a decision. ::Her name's Ciandra. We're friends, I guess:: She again concentrates on her tea, pulling the bag out and setting it aside. After blowing on it and taking a few tentative sips, she shrugs at his next question and stays silent.
One guy with a handgun is one thing but three with machine guns can still f%~~ me up pretty good.
Trevor drops the gun and backs up slowly to the wall with his hands up.
Daniel sits patiently, sipping at his coffee, not willing to press the girl anymore than he already has.
Gothic? Fair enough... Looks like she may trust me, even if it's a minor, it's a good first step... Friends she guesses? Either she's being aloof or they're just acquaintances... Don't push it Dunsmore... Daniel muses as she finally answers.
I get the distinct impression you're not used to trusting anyone, so, thank you for trusting me now. Daniel responds verbally, gratitude and warmth in his tone, before continuing, So, Gothic, how long have you known Ciandra? Where did you meet? Does she go by anything else other than Ciandra?