::I'm outside. I've slowed them down, so get clear. And quit shouting; I can hear you just fine::
Gothic remains part of the crowd, and lets others push in front of her as the spectacle grows. Eventually, she falls back far enough that she stops recording on her phone, shoves it into her pocket, then meanders away.
Trevor relaxes.
We'll be at Darts' place. Text you the details, get scarce.
He turns to Katie.
We know they know who I am and they know Blankets here, so we ought to meet up and sort this all out and compare notes at either your place or Eyeliner's place. That good with you?
"We might also want to consider real names, or proper aliases so we can be less abbrasive by default." Levi reaches out her hands again, "Rooftops it is. Sewers are going to take too long at my speed."
Gothic doesn't bother watching how the cops react to the confusion she created. Instead, as she moves on down the street, she stays hyper-aware for any minds that may be suspicious of her or following her.
SCENE 16 - Another meeting
You four get together somewhere to discuss what to do.
Trevor shrugs.
Sorry, I'm not trying to be a prick about it, I'm just using descriptive aliases so we don't have to spend time sitting about talking about comic book aliases and everyone knows who I'm talking about without using actual names. I figure not everyone is willing to be a semi-public figure like me.
"That's ok, I'm being a b~!!% about the names. If I don't know the names, nobody can make me tell them." She grins...
When the discussion revolves to a place to meet, she puts her foot down, literally, stomping the concrete. "No g@&&!#n way, I've been freezing my ass off on that cafe rooftop for a month now. I'm not standing around in a frozen graveyard. I know a place..."
She leads the group to a bus, then to a university in Southern Chicago. (Not her own). Once there, the school library, on the fifth floor, she grabs an empty study room and points to the various uncomfortable chairs. "You there, you there, you there, and me here." One at each cardinal point on the table. "Ok, so, what are we meeting about?"
Gothic takes one of the chairs and drags it away from the table near one of the room's walls. She sits and leans back on the rear two legs until the chair's back bangs against the wall. She fishes into her jacket pocket and pulls out a stick of gum. With a few chews, she starts noisily popping the gum.
::I couldn't hear inside Enzo's office. Did you find out anything about Ciandra?::
Trevor follows Katie and goes to the library after shooting a message to Gothic saying where.
Ok, I may be shocking some of you guys, but I don't actually know much about drugs. I could go and ask some people about this "heaven" stuff - that's the product that those guys were shipping - he says to Gothic as an aside I'm not much of a club guy and ecstasy isn't something I know a guy for. I'll go and bust some heads if nobody else knows anything useful, but I figured we'd want to plan an attack together. This last time was slightly... suboptimal.
"To clarify what Tall and Muscled is talking about..." She says, to Gothic. "Enzo offered some information, Ghosty Girl's former employer is taking over the drug market in Chicago, which means Ghosty here used to work for Beard, or she worked for whoever Beard is working for. I'm still waiting to find out which. Apparently, someone named 'Horton' has some demonic friend who's using magic to soup them up, if you believe that crap. They're calling it Heaven, and it's either an X derivative or it's got the same kind of effect."
Gothic raises a quizzical eyebrow when Trevor starts talking about drugs. Her other eyebrow joins its twin in raised surprise when he mentions "heaven." Then she looks irritated when he talks about busting heads.
Her expression goes flat when Katie fills in some blanks.
After a moment where she punctuates the silence with her gum popping, everyone hears, ::I've seen its effects. It's way more powerful than X. And I know where to get some::
"I've got a bag of it. What's it do?" Levi shrugs "There's a load of it at a supposed shoe store if we need more."
::It gives you visions of fluffy clouds::
She glowers, shaking her head. ::It'll suck with everyone zoning out going ::OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!::
She sends her impression of someone in euphoric bliss and mind stuck on an endless loop.
Katie makes a moue of distaste. "No thank you, those that do drugs deserve what they get, honestly." She taps her teeth with one fingernail. "So... Someones using powers to amp up some drug, and people are going nutjob for it. Sounds like we need to start busting some drug dealer heads, cause Beard and his people enough trouble that they get mad, make mistakes. Flush their product, bust skulls, steal their money, smash his bike... And we need to make it look like they have more than just the four of us... Disguises, hired goons..."
"Honestly, if Swiftgarde is caught up in this, it has to go deeper than just getting a bunch of addicts higher than kites. Enzo probably only knows part of the operation, but as of now so do we. Think I'm in agreement that stopping production and destroying any stores is as good a start as any."
::I'll ask again. Did you learn about Ciandra?::
"Sorry, that's all we learned. He wouldn't give up any more information, and he had a grenade ready to go off if Levi made us solid. With the police knocking, that's all we could get." She gives Gothic an actual sympathetic look.
We have another potential problem: if what he said about an old acquaintance of mine is true, it's definitely not just getting them high. I told you he gestures to Levi about this earlier, but I once tangled with a man who could turn people into raving monsters with.. abilities before. He worked out of an old abandoned house and addicts criminals and runaways would go to him and he'd turn them crazy. If they're trying to get it charged with him involved... it's going to turn very crazy very quickly.
Gothic folds her arms in front of her as she eyes each of them. The corners of her mouth turn down in thought. The she abruptly sits up, the legs of her chair returning to the floor with a thud. She pulls out her phone and starts checking status updates on her roommates' home pages.
Katie frowns. "Oh, joy. As if things weren't complicated enough. Generally I just deal with drug dealers and bottom feeders who hurt other people. You know, rapists, molesters, and their ilk." She begins juggling darts, keeping the points flashing in the air while deftly flipping them via the 'feather' end. "They're pretty easy, they're not used to being the weak ones. I always knew they were cowards, fleeing from someone more powerful while lording it over those who are weaker." She shrugs. "Guess it's my turn now, coward or not?" She shrugs and snatches the darts out of the air in one swift motion, ending with them held between the fingers of her fist, points out, as if they were some impromptu punch weapon. "Not, I think. So, I say we all have someone we want to see brought low on a permanent basis, whether that be in a graveyard, a jail cell, or a mental ward, or else someone we want to rescue from their own dark ends?" She eyes Gothic on the last one. "Not being a coward however, doesn't mean being stupid. Using powers in public..." She eyes Levi and Trevor... "...or pretending we are cops and not vigilantes... we aren't cops, they can do cop work, we need to do what cops can't. So, gather information, bust heads, destroy their product, steal their cash and use it against them..." She ends the last comment on a questioning tone.
I didn't have much in the way of options. When you're indestructible and there's a house fire, you don't run to the nearest Halloween store to grab a mask, and when there's already a webpage dedicated to your sports records with your face all over it and people outside have camera phones, well, two and two get put together. There was no real point in doing the whole spandex thing after that.
He pauses, then recomposes himself.
Speaking of destroying it, are any of you chemistry buffs? Because I ain't and I don't know what can happen with this stuff if we set it on fire or submerge it in acid. We need a place to keep it or a means to destroy it safely before we go stockpiling the stuff after taking it off the streets.
"Concrete." Katie says, then looks at everyone as they probably look at her strangely. "Dump it in with water and concrete powder, mix well, and pour it into holes in the ground. Plenty of abandoned buildings around to dump it in. And there won't be anyone sniffing it up their nose or gobbling it down their gullet if it's mixed with concrete and dried."
"I suppose that's an idea, though its very time consuming to relocate large caches of this stuff to the nearest hole." Levi says rolling her shoulders as she leans up to place her elbows on the table. "All particulars aside, other than Enzo telling us what we wanted to hear, do we really know anything beyond that? We already suspected they worked together. Do we have any additional leads?
Katie listens to the deafening silence. "It appears not..."
"So we have a shoe store filled with boxes of this stuff and a bar that serves as an office for this Enzo person. I'll look into Enzo, his associates, and the shell company for the shoe store to see if I can drum up a lead on an address or something."
"I can look for a portable concrete mixer to buy or steal from any of the associated businesses, if anyone knows exactly which local constructions companies are working with the drug cartels. Same for a portable generator to run it, and some concrete and sand." She grins. "I already know some places to pour concrete..."
Let's try it with a small batch first, make sure it doesn't blow up or catch fire or something.
Unless someone else says something Trevor stands up, stretches his shoulders and continues
I don't suppose any of you have an idea where we could get a small sample of the stuff? Like I said, not really my thing.
"Watch for someone selling drugs, drag them into alley in the dark, scare them into telling you..." Katie says, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
Gothic rolls her eyes as she turns off her phone and returns it to her pocket.
"I have a bag of the stuff. I can probably get more if we need it."
"So, white lab rats, you can get those pretty easy in the city. An air-tight container with enough air in it that burning a small amount of the drug won't use up all the oxygen. Rats in cage, cage in container, drugs in container, Ghosty lights the burner from the outside, watch the rat to see if it is affected, and Gothy checks the rats mind to see if it's being altered by the burning drugs."
::It doesn't work like that:: she sends as she taps the side of her temple.
"I'm not comfortable subjecting lab rats or anyone to a drug that we already suspect is super addictive, and potentially mentally damaging. I also think,we should consider alternative means as to what to do with any drugs we find, if anything at all. The quantity out there is going to take days to move and longer still if we are filling holes with concrete. It just seems like a lot of time given there are only the four of us." Levi slides her chair back so she can stand. "Alright, I've got my research to do. I'll leave you three to discuss what you'll need to do. I'll be in touch."
Levi thinking to herself as she leaves, ' Good luck grasping for straws.'
Wait wait wait. Can't we just like get a gram of the stuff and test it? Drop it in battery acid, light it on fire and see if it explodes or something? That seems easier, and then we might actually have a solution and not need this whole concrete mess.
Gothic rests her chin in her hand and drums her fingers on her cheek. ::You know, if it's new, it's probably not even illegal yet::
"I suggested that, but the lab rats were shot down. How are you going to know if it's safe to burn it if you don't have something around to breath the fumes? We don't want to make half the city high burning it."
Levi pauses at Trevor call to wait, "I'm not shooting the idea down. I'm just not going to be the one pressured into doing it."
"And another good a point," Levi motions and shrugs toward Goth."I'll also look to see how long this stuff has been on the street and if its caused enough problems to be outlawed yet."
Over the next couple of weeks, this is what you get. It's January in Chicago.
Enzo Capote is the leader of the Reapers. Notorious street gang operating near the lakeshore. He got where he did through sheer determination. Enzo didn't start off walking a life of crime, that's just where things lead him. By the time he turned 18, he had spent almost as much time locked up in Juvie as he had been not. Murdered and intimidated his was to head up the Reapers.
The Matador is the headquarters for Enzo Capote and his Reapers.
Heaven began as a premium brand of Ecstasy. Users become consistently repeat customers. It’s named for the time of high and memories that users have of their experience.
When you start to use your phasing powers, your flight is uncontrollably fast.
When Katie arrives some morning to vandalize Beard’s bike, she finds it missing.
Using Gothic’s roommates for first contacts, Katie & Trevor identify a couple of the lowest levels of distribution.
After many aggressive negotiations, Trevor and Ms. Punisher extract many samples of Heaven and work their way several chains of distribution. They all eventually lead to members of the Reapers. A notorious street gang operating near the lakeshore. Led by Enzo Capote and a scary guy called Beard.
You've identified several locations to target distribution.
During the next couple of weeks.
* Experiment 1 (the control): what happens to rats inhaling smoke of regular Ecstasy?
Katie grinds the pills to powder and ignites it funneling the smoke into a cage of rats. After several minutes, the rats react with some initial nausea and disorientation. Then, some rats sleep, while others meander around the cage.
* Experiment 2 (the test): what happens to rats inhaling smoke of Heaven?
Katie repeats the procedures using Heaven and does not discern any significant differences with the control.
Gothic spends the next two weeks returning to her usual routine. She resumes her shifts at the Covenant and glowers at the customers as normal.
She goes along with her roommates when they meet their dealer to start the process of working their way up. She texts Katie, Levi and Trevor the location of the dealers, but doesn't come along. Katie's promised methods of shaking them down for information doesn't interest Gothic in the slightest.
Idly, she peruses the webpages of big corporate law firms looking for a picture of Enzo's lawyer. Similarly, she goes through the Chicago Bar Association's social media, looking for him within pictures of the various charity galas and events that the profession loves to throw.
Trevor gets himself a face-covering motorcycle helmet. After that and the knocking of heads, he waits until everyone is ready to meet and compare notes.