"If you don't know, we would appreciate you pointing us at anyone who could help us."
Over the comms, Coldwar announces, "Alright, the daughter's husband Charles Fremault checks out clean as a broker from Metropolis. The mother Angelica Cooper was killed during a mugging gone horribly wrong. Her killer is serving a life sentence at Blackgate."
”Ix-nay on the om-may, CW.”
Leon quickly says, thinking the daughter might not want to be reminded right now.
”Sorry miss.”
He said apologetically.
”Have you had any recent contact with your father? Maybe a call or letter? An unexpected visit?”
"Query: Do you know of any previous colleagues or friends you father had that we could talk to? A therapist? Anyone who talked to him regularly for a chat? Did he frequent a particular Starbucks or similar drinking establishment? As I understand most single older men establish routines, often with similar men, to help keep them feeling active, productive, and less lonely. Unless you think your father was still working and is maintaining a hidden lab facility somewhere?"
On hearing this, TR goes back into the house and starts looking for reciepts, and/or a datebook or cellphone.
"We should check out this O'Shaughnessy's. It seems he spent some time there."
"Statement: Agreed. I will take us there and wait in the Javelin nearby. Please keep me linked in on the comms so I may be aware of what is going on. I will also monitor local police, radio, and television for any sudden news that may aid us in the search. Please enter the Javelin and prepare to depart as soon as you are ready. NOTE: Please use the bathroom before entering or wiat until we land. I believe Leon has 'clogged the facilities' again with too much 'toilet paper' and it is not functioning properly as a result."
Leon pauses mid buckling and looks up at MINOTAR.
”Did you just...”
He chuckles and smirks.
”Is that what you’ve been doing this while time? Sitting in here thinking up jokes?”
Buckled in now, he leans back in the seat and grins.
”Cause I have to tell ya, I think there’s hope for you. If nothing else comes out of my being here, then you developing a fully functional, honest to God, yes I see the irony in saying that, sense of humor. I will consider my work here done.”
”Well, that and getting Batgirl’s number.”
"Why would you want the number of a young female bat?"
MINOTAR looks at Tabula Rosa and stares for a moment.
"Explanation: Downloading from Wikipedia...'Batgirl' operates in Gotham City, allying herself with the one who is called 'Batman': One of the founders of the Justice League. They often fraternize with a young man called 'Robin.' Will this information suffice? Or would you like to know more? There are many more paragraphs...blurry photos, audio file links, 'fan-fiction' and 'fan-art,' and even 'locks of her sweet red hair' on sale from E-Bay."
"No, that's creepy enough. Thank you though. Although you should probably send that link to buy hair to Leon."
"Hello. I'm actually looking for someone and I was told he's in here all the time. Do you mind if I show you a picture?" Assuming they agree, TR will show them a picture of our missing scientist.
Nodding at the lack of info, MINOTAR reminds his friends (new and old) of what they know so far.
"Statement: Do not forget we are looking for his 'friends' Bob and Mike too. They come in late to eat evidently so we may just be too early for their usual time to arrive at the place, or their usual servers. Let us wait until the evening shift starts, and we may find they will arrive with the later dinner crowd. So I suggest getting a drink and finding a soft place to sit for a while. Try not to get impaired of course. I will remain on station in the javelin nearby-monitoring as needed. While it goes without saying so...the Justice League frowns heavily upon bar fights as I understand? There is a some by-law or something against starting one and is grounds for review."
"I like the way you think MINO."
Leon chuckled and found a table with enough chairs for the group, not to mention enough clearance for the automaton. Flagging down a server he orders.
"A round of pints and and order cheese fries. Anyone else want something?"
Looking back at the others, he grins once the server leaves.
"And now, we wait."
|
REBOOT
Realizing that your talents lie more in another direction, the Justice League sends another member to handle the detective work and lets you return to your base. A day passes, mostly spent in training. The next evening (Monday), as you are watching the nightly local news...
The anchor, Christine Kwan, is an attractive Asian-American whose voice is clear and without a trace of an accent. "And finally tonight, we take you to Horizon Research, where the vault was broken into last night. Michael Walker is on the scene. Michael?"
"Thank you, Christine. I'm here at Horizon Research, a privately-owned genetic research enterprise, where the human sperm storage vault was broken into. The door into the vault was, according to the police, torn from its hinges by someone immensely strong, though there are no fingerprints to be found. The security guard assigned to that area detected nothing untoward until about 2 AM when he noticed the vault door ajar. An extensive inventory has been performed and nothing appears to have been disturbed."
"Are there any leads as to who or why Michael?"
"Christine, the authorities are completing their review right now, but it seems that whoever broke into the vault was either frightened off or didn't find what they were looking for. Michael Walker, reporting for KKCO, Channel 11."
"And that's the news. I'm Christine Kwan and we'll see you at 8."
"Definitely supers are involved. Hope the investigation is obvious. Meet you at the jet." Coldwar announces and suits up in his Iceform. Then, he heads to the hangar.
MINOTAR follows Coldwar and waves to the others to follow.
"Yes. Such an instance calls for investigation. However...it appears the thief is incompetent? The vault of a sperm bank? I may be a robot/android hybrid, but even I find that hard to believe."
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Sitting around the HQ on watch, while doing some homework (which means watching TV while typing on his laptop once in a while), Straightjacket comments on the odd news bit "Seems like a lot of trouble to shoot a blank. "
Nodding, MINOTAR agrees again.
"Statement and clarification with humor: Agreed SJ, but I fear the humor is lost on most...and a bit premature?"
A metallic 'eyebrow' raises at the last part.
"Maybe they didn't want sperm, but information instead?"
He chuckles at MINOTAURs joke, and responds to Tabula "Yeah, but was information kept in the sperm storage area? I doubt it. "
Heading for the hanger, MINOTAR nods.
"Speculation: We are back to my original assumption then? Is the thief unintelligent, misguided, or just uninformed? We will have to see. Strap in to the Javelin and I will get there ASAP."
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After everyone is strapped in and ready, the javelin smoothly leaves the hangar and takes off, proceeding to Horizon Research. On arrival, the police are just finishing with the scene. They hail you as you arrive.
"I was wondering when you would show up," the officer states flatly. "You're free to take a look around, but I can save you some time.
"The vault door was torn off its hinges, but any fingerprints were wiped clean. The guards saw nothing and heard nothing until 2 am when one of the guards noticed the vault door ajar. The vault was clean except for this." He holds up an evidence bottle with a squashed insect inside. "The only other entrance into the vault is through the air vents, but they are barred, screened, and heavily filtered. Broken seals show that storage compartments inside the vault were opened, but the seals on the individual frozen samples are still intact. A routine examination of the stored samples failed to detect any contamination, substitution, or other tampering."
”And that’s everything?” Agent Sarah Rothman’s face was neutral as it looked out of the screen.
”That’s my report.” Leon confirmed.
Agent Rothman nodded. ”I see. Then I will pass it on.”
”And we’re clear on moving forward?”
”Affirmative.” Agent Rothman gave him a small smile.
”Good, then I’ll tell them at the next meeting.”
”You know you don’t have to.”
”I know. But they look like they could use the help.” Leon shrugged nonchalantly. ”Besides, they’d be lost without me.” He grinned and Sarah couldn’t help but smile back.
”Just don’t do anything reckless.”
”Would I do that?” Leon feigned innocence.
”In a heartbeat.” Sarah quipped, drawing a smile from Leon and she added. ”Just remember to place nice.”
”As you wish.” He told her, drawing another smile from her before disconnected the video.
In the main hall.
Leon nodded in agreement with Coldwar. ”Definitely sounds like it.”
As he follows the others to towards the hangar he tries not to chuckle as the bad jokes. ”There’ll be time for more bad jokes later, no need to blow the whole load now.” Leon smirks.
Heading for the hanger, MINOTAR nods.
"Speculation: We are back to my original assumption then? Is the thief unintelligent, misguided, or just uninformed? We will have to see. Strap in to the Javelin and I will get there ASAP."
As they board and Leon takes a seat he adds his own thoughts. ”You know, generally speaking, there’s more then one reason to break in to a place. In fact you can really boil it down to just two basic reasons. To either take something or leave something. Maybe this is a case of the latter.” He settle in for the ride. ”Guess we’ll get a better idea which when we get there.”
At Horizon Research
Leon stands with the others as the officer on the scene fills them in.”Was it already squished when you found it? Or did someone find it when they stepped on it?” Leon asks as he leans forward to get a better look at the bug. ”Hey Mino, can you get anything from the bug?”
Leonturns towards the others and lowers his tone. ”If nothing was disturbed, could just be our perp was looking for something specific but didn’t find it. Oooor…” He drags out the word. ”They could be tryin to cover up whatever was lost.”
Turning back to the officer he asks a few more questions. ”Were all the containers opened, or just some? Have you found any connections between the samples stored in the opened containers? Are the samples still viable?” He asks the officer.
"Do you have access to security camera footage yet?"
Taking the insect evidence, MINOTAR will scan it then return it, and see if he can find a similar exoskeleton example on-line quickly.
"Statement: I will let you know if we find anything officer. PLEASE NOTE: I do not have finger prints, but I have witnesses as to my whereabouts when this happened. Please let us know if you come up with any updates if you can. I do not think you want to meet this 'thief' if he shows up again somewhere. Call us if you see or hear of anything of similar nature."
Turning to the others, he assigns parameters for their part of the investigation.
"Suggestion: Coldwar? Since you are the expert with cold, check out the cold storage vault and see if there is anything the human's senses may have missed or would not have thought about. SJ? Check the perimeter. Rarely such a strong person or persons leave no evidence of their passing. I often scratch the ground or walls with my weight or armor plating even though I'm being careful not to do so. See if you or your father can see any signs of such in our reality or the supernatural reality he exists in. Mr. Moore? Talk to the people who work here quickly. See if you can help them to remember something...anything that might help us. I will return to the Javelin to upload the insect scan into the the JL computer network to see if I can get a match with something useful. I have an idea on this extreme vandalism, but I do not want to say anything until we have more evidence to go on."
Coldwar shrugs but walks over to the cold storage vault to investigate. He doesn't touch it but moves around the surface to examine anything out of place.
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The insect proves to be a Periplaneta americana, a common American cockroach. The police confirm that it was stepped on prior to their arrival.
”Were all the containers opened, or just some? Have you found any connections between the samples stored in the opened containers? Are the samples still viable?”
"That's the thing," the officer replies. "The storage containers were opened, but the samples themselves were intact and unopened. We haven't done a full spectrum of tests, but preliminary testing shows that has been contaminated or substituted."
"Do you have access to security camera footage yet?"We've reviewed the footage and there is tampering, but it was well-done and we've no clue as to what happened in the time frame that was removed.
Coldwar finds nothing out of place within the cold storage vault.
"Would you please repeat that?" Coldwar asks.
This is not clear: "preliminary testing shows that has been contaminated or substituted"
Noting the information, MINOTAR speaks to the company personnel himself.
"Query and Statement: Are roaches like these common in such a sterile location? As I understand such things, it is possible, but usually unlikely. My supposition is that whomever walked into the vault brought the insect with them somehow. Either before or after it was stepped on. Does that sound correct?"
Nodding again, MINOTAR will contact the police by internal cell connection and suggest by text that they fast-tack the insect sample for testing. Checking primarily for contaminates and where those particular contaminates can be found usually. He hoped to gain a location from it.
"Yeah, sure, no insects in this area. I saw Creepshow. "
TR will still request a copy of the tape for the entire day be sent to MINOTAUR, and then take a look at the neighborhood. Maybe there are other security cameras he could find that held useful footage?
"Have you done a complete inventory? Double-checked each sample? Maybe you have more. How many do you have to recheck?" Coldwar asks.
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There is no useful footage from any of the other security cameras. All of the available cameras show a closed loop at the approximate time the break-in took place.
"No, not exactly," the doctor replies to Coldwar. "Doing a thorough examination of all the samples would take hours, not to mention the expense of doing so."
"Mr. Moore? Talk to the people who work here quickly. See if you can help them to remember something...anything that might help us."
"Can do." Leon nodded and grinned. "After all, who can resist this charming smile?"
"Yeah, sure, no insects in this area. I saw Creepshow. "
"Oh ya, Leslie Nielsen was seriously underrated as an actor." He comments as he slips off to question some of the employees and security.
"Statement: Once we are finished here, we will file a report with the Justice League, and send a copy of anything useful to the police as well."
On the way back to the Javelin he comments "Maybe it's just me, but I didn't get a whole lot of clue out of that. Seemed of a bit of an impotent trip. "