Editing Aberrant: Triangle Nova Investigations, Book One, Chapter 5: Obstacles and Breaks

<br>
''Game Date: 04 May 2014''<br>
''Present: Tabby, Sara, Paul, and Maer''<br>
''Canon Date: US 13 Mar 2010/India 14 Mar 2014''<br>


'''Saturday, 13 Mar 2010'''<br>
'''Morrisville, NC'''<br>
'''1200 hrs, local time'''<br>
Gemma goes back to the apartment complex office and chats up the manager. She doesn't trust him and wants to keep tabs on him. She's just got that niggling feeling that he didn't tell her the truth when she and Chad interviewed him and looked at the suspect's apartment.<br><br> 

She uses her powers to read him. She's able to get snapshots of his memories going back 24 hours. <br><br>

The images she gets are:<br>
#People he's talked to
#Of him behind a different computer than the one in the office
#A man with metal ports in his shaved head; he sports a long goatee without moustache and has a tribal tattoo over his right eye
#The man with the eye tattoo hands the manager an envelope.<br><br>

Gemma reads the man again. She's able to go a little farther back:<br>
#About one week or less (feels like about 4 days) ago, she sees Tattoo Eye show up and talk to the manager. 
#There is no sound to the image but she can clearly see Tattoo Eye give the manager an envelope full of $100 bills. He and the manager shake hands over it.<br><br>

She ends the visit and gets out of there. She goes to the Utopia campus and finds an artist/student by name of Shawn who can draw the image as she describes it. The drawing will come in handy when she needs to show a picture of the suspect in our investigation. Shawn is all for drawing the image, as Gemma's an attractive female paying attention to him, and all he wants in payment is a day to draw it and a case of beer.<br><br> 

'''Sunday, 14 mar 2010'''<br>
'''Utopia Center, RTP, NC'''<br>
'''1400 hrs, local time'''<br>
He manages a spot-on drawing.<br><br>

Gemma gives him her dorm number, telling him to let her know what beer he'd like and she'll drop it off for him. Or she could just meet him in front of his dorm at eight o'clock. He agrees to the second option and kisses her. Gemma allows it on her cheek, which seems to suit the artist fine.<br><br>

Gemma takes a picture of the drawing with her phone at 1400hrs and emails it to Irina.<br><br>

Meanwhile, Chad asks Sara at TNI if she can remotely turn on our phone cameras, possibly with the view of turning us into walking covert video cameras. Sara apologizes but she regrets she can't do that.<br><br> 

Oh well, at least it was an idea.<br><br>


'''Monday, 15 Mar 2010'''<br>
'''Calcutta, India'''<br>
'''0300 hrs, local time'''<br>
While Gemma's spent the 13th and the 14th chasing down the visual lead of our prime suspect, Irina and Javier have spent the 14th getting blown up and recovering from it. Also: getting that Ufiber suit. By the time Gemma's email hits Irina's phone, it's 0300 on the 15th in Calcutta. Irina's phone chimes when the mail drops in and it wakes her. She opens the email, views the picture and responds back: Job well done! Track down the tattoo. The artist may have a more current name, address, and payment info with which we can track our suspect down.<br><br> 

Then she rolls over and goes back to sleep.<br><br>

'''Sunday, 14 Mar 2010'''<br>
'''Utopia Center, RTP, NC'''<br>
'''1405 hrs, local time'''<br>
Gemma receives Irina's message. She reads it and get back to her studies. She's still a college student and has class assignments to keep up with. When the evening rolls around, she drops off the beer with the art student as promised. She lets him kiss her again on the cheek, too. Is there anything else he wants? He thinks it over and chickens out, saying he's cool with the beer and the cheek kisses, thanks. Gemma cheerfully thanks him for his help and leaves him to his evening.<br><br>

Meanwhile Chad goes as ordered to Zero Cool's lair with pizza asking how to hack the traffic surveillance cameras in his search for the mystery car at the apartment complex. The cyberspace expert lets him in and tests his abilities on the computer by having him try to hack into the traffic network. Chad's strengths aren't actually in computing and so he fails. He tries again, Fast Tracking this time. The buzz saw speed at which he types nearly melts the keyboard. At the two minute mark, the system threatens to shut down. Zero Cool hits the kill switch to keep outside parties from discovering what they are doing, then reboots. He gives Chad a  link to "The Hackers Guide to the OpNet" and orders him to study it.<br><br>

He and Chad talk as the young man reads, but Zero Cool keeps Chad on task. When he's done, Zero Cool tells Chad to fuck off, dismissing him. Before he leaves, Chad asks Zero Cool how he can increase the bandwidth at TNI.<br><br>


'''Monday, 15 Mar 2010'''<br>
'''Calcutta, India'''<br>
'''1200 hrs, local time'''<br>
Irina and Javier wake near noon after catching up on some much-needed sleep, and get something to eat while they consider their next move.<br><br> 

They need to find someone in the black market healthcare business who deals with replacement parts—they're still on the hook for Zero Cool's new eyes. Also, they need to speed up the contact process with Samuel, Elim Garrick's son. The man hasn't called them back via the contact information Javier left at his shop.<br><br> 

Javier looks Elim and Samuel up online, verifying that they aren't incorporated. They're sole proprietors of their respective businesses. Javier suggests contacting Elim's and Samuel's lawyers and threatening them both with an injury lawsuit due to Elim's shop explosion. That should get them to pop up from whatever hole they disappeared into.<br><br>

Sure enough, Samuel's representative by name of Vijay Seetharayanan calls Javier. Give him 48 hours, he says, and he should have the full information on the black market man we're looking for. Javier tells Vijay to let Elim know that he and Irina were both in the blast. If he needs any info, they will provide it.<br><br>

The call ends and Javier moves on to the next idea he's got: contacting any of his buddies from his old unit, the Deadhead Bulletcatchers, who might still be based in the area. He finds a hole in the wall bar and arranges to rent it exclusively for the coming night, then runs an message through the grapevine that he's hosting a unit reunion there from 2200 – 0200 hours. Once that's arranged, Javier tells Irina not to wait up for him but if he doesn't contact her by 0300, don't answer the door to anyone and to call Vijay to report "Pancho" missing and that he needs to talk to the "Cisco Kid". (Oh by the way, he hates the Cisco Kid ….) Instructions given, Javier leaves the hotel to prep the bar for the evening.<br><br>

While Javier is busy with that, Irina stays in her hotel room and spends the hours familiarizing herself with her new Ufiber suit and learning how to control it. It's exacting, if boring and frustrating work, but she's iron-willed and perseveres. Damned if she's going to let sentient underwear get the best of her.<br><br>


'''Monday, 15 Mar 2010'''<br>
'''Calcutta, India'''<br>
'''2200 hrs, local time'''<br>
Later that night, Javier waits at the bar he's rented. An hour later, only two of his old unit has shown up. A hitter named Jake and a demolitions expert named Anna. Both are Novas. Javier asks about what they've heard about Elim or his son. He's been trying to get in touch with Elim but his shop was blown up. Anna asks where Javier was at the time of the explosion. Javier replies he was there when it blew. He was alright but his employer nearly died thanks to that bomb. Had it not been for a tourniquet and a Nova with Healing Touch, his employer would be dead.<br><br>

Ooops, sorry, says Anna. That was her bomb that destroyed the shop. Elim had hired her to set it some time ago as a "Megalomaniac Special", to be triggered only when absolutely necessary. Anna tells Javier that Elim's got 3 boltholes that she and Jake built for him as part of that contract.<br><br>

Javier tells her that he needs to get in touch with the guy who makes the black market eyes. Help a fellow unit member out?<br><br>

Anna replies that Elim is the one who would know how to get in touch with the man, sorry. Elim had been getting more and more paranoid lately, she adds. It was one of the reasons he contracted her for the special.<br><br> 

At that point, two more people walk in, bruisers by the look of them. They aren't part of the old unit. One walks to the bar and the other stays by the door. The one at the bar gets into a heated conversation with the bartender in Hindustani.<br><br> 

Javier keeps tabs on this but stays with Anna. Is there anyone else he could talk to about the black market eyes?<br><br> 

No. Elim's the best.<br><br>

Javier asks if they've heard of anyone starting up their own private OpNet. See, someone Stateside ripped off a tech company of equipment and about 3 kilos of fiber colony. <br><br>

That gets a whistle of appreciation from the other mercs. Wow. That couldn't have been an easy job to pull off. And no, they haven't heard of anyone starting up a private OpNet. In their opinion, something like that is just too damned hard to do.<br><br>

The newcomer at the door walks out as the other grabs the bartender, yelling at the man at the top of his lungs. As Javier watches, the belligerent man's skin turns to stone and just like that, Javier has the situation pegged.<br><br>

'''Javier:''' Oh shit.<br><br>

Jake's right there with him.<br><br>

'''Jake:''' I'll get the door.<br><br>

Jake walks calmly for the door. This leaves Javier to take care of the Nova at the bar. <br><br>

Stoneskin shakes the bartender and bellows a question. The bartender is too petrified with fear to answer coherently. Stoneskin slams the bartender's head through the bar and faces off with Javier as the unconscious bartender slides to the floor.<br><br>

Javier punches Stoneskin. Stoneskin soaks some of the damage but most of it gets through. He staggers back, visibly shaken.<br><br> 

By now Jake has made it to the door and has his hand on the latch. He turns to tall Javier something and—<br><br> 

'''BOOM‼!'''<br><br>

The door explodes and an energy blast rips through the room. The energy blast sends Jake flying across the room and through the backbar wall into the kitchen beyond. The cooks starts screaming as Jake lands on the stove and starts to burn.<br><br>

The Nova who blasted the door walks in. It's two against one and Javier has no time to help his friend<br><br>. 

'''Anna:''' Sorry, boys.<br><br>

She's a speedster and she zips out the ruined door faster than the eye can follow.<br>v

Stoneskin is punch drunk. Javier moves first. He explains that the bar is closed for a private reunion but he's willing to buy the man a drink before asking him to leave.<br><br>

The offer falls on deaf ears.<br><br>

Javier picks up Stoneskin and bodily throws him at Blaster. Blaster sees his compatriot flying for him.<br><br>

'''Blaster:''' On the strong survive. Hail Mal.<br><br>

And he BLASTS another energy blast. Stoneskin takes the brunt of it and what he doesn't soak bleeds over onto Javier. Stoneskin falls to pieces—literally—a victim of the blast. Javier shakes his head clear and spends some Quantum to Super Leap through Blaster, leading with his foot. He misses as Blaster ably sidesteps his maneuver. Javier goes through the wall of the bar into the street. <br><br>

Blaster turns and blasts at Javier. Javier takes the blast in the back. He soaks it thanks to his Ufiber suit but it depletes his suit. The blast sends Javier over 15 feet farther down the street. Javier draws his gun and shoots, hits Blaster for lethal damage … but Blaster is able to soak it. He runs and Javier shoots again, winging him in the back. Blaster takes the damage this time and Javier Super Leaps again, striking him down. The momentum sends Blaster tumbling down the street. He tries Blasting Javier in return but the blast goes wide and Javier sidesteps it easily. Blaster lands up against a wall and is visibly dazed by Javier's kick. <br><br>

'''Javier:''' I don't suppose you're going to come quietly.<br><br>

Nope.<br><br>

Javier punches him. He has no intention of killing the Nova. He's just going to knock the man out. Blaster goes out like a light and Javier drags him by the ankles into the ruined bar. <br><br>

The bartender is returning to consciousness, woozy from his beating. Anna is nowhere on the scene.<br><br>

Stoneskin's bits and pieces are GONE. WTF? Did they grow little feet and walk out of there? <br><br>

Sighing, Javier puts the mystery aside and questions the bartender. <br><br>

'''Javier:''' Hey, mister.<br>
'''Bartender:''' Huhnnnh?<br>
'''Javier:''' You all right?<br>
'''Bartender:''' Hurhhh 'M all right.<br>
'''Javier:''' I'm going to call an ambulance and have them check you out and make sure you don't have a concussion.<br>
'''Bartender:''' Nnnn'okay...<br>
'''Javier:''' Do you remember your name?<br>
'''Bartender:''' Mmmaybe …<br>
'''Javier:''' DO you know if you have any family near here?<br>
'''Bartender:''' Yeahhhh ….<br>
'''Javier:''' Do you know where they are?<br>
'''Bartender:''' Home …<br>
'''Javier:''' Where's that?<br>
'''Bartender:''' Down the street?<br>
'''Javier:''' We'll get there. Do you know what happened to the chunky bits on the floor?<br>
'''Bartender:''' What chunky bits?<br>
'''Javier:''' They weren't here when you woke up?<br>
'''Bartender:''' Nuhhh …<br>
'''Javier:''' Was anybody else in the kitchen?<br>
'''Bartender:''' Uhhn … cook. But …. he's still there ….<br><br>

Javier checks on the kitchen. Jake is dead from his injuries. The Cook pulled Jake off the stove but is totally freaked out. Nothing to be done for Jake, all that's left is damage control. Javier talks to the Cook.<br><br>

'''Javier:''' Hey, Mister.<br>
'''Cook:''' Uhhhnnnn, yeah…?<br>
'''Javier:''' You all right?<br>
'''Cook:''' Uhhh … think I will be.<br>
'''Javier:''' (points to bartender) This guy says he has family down the street. Do you know who they are?<br>
'''Cook:''' Yeah … I'll …. I'll get hold of them.<br>
'''Javier:''' All right. Did you call the ambulance?<br>
'''Cook:''' Yeah …<br>
'''Javier:''' Good. Did you call the cops?<br>
'''Cook:''' Yeahh …<br>
'''Javier:''' Did they call Novas?<br>
'''Cook:''' I don't know …<br>
'''Javier:''' What's the number?<br><br>

Cook gives him the number. Javier dials it. The line picks up.<br><br>

'''Javier:'''  Yeah, you just got a call to come to this bar?<br><br> 

Javier gives the cops the name of the place.<br><br>

'''Javier:''' You're going to need to send some Utopia reps.<br><br> 

Javier ends the call. He calls Irina.<br><br>

'''Javier:''' Move location, just to be safe. Call me when you get there.<br>
'''Irina:''' Will do.<br><br>

Javier hangs up. Irina pockets her phone and bugs out.  It's just a little past 2300 in the evening. <br><br>


'''Monday, 15 Mar 2010'''<br>
'''Raleigh-Durham/RTP'''<br>
'''1000hrs, local time'''<br>
Gemma is in her Microeconomics class, listening to the lecture with her head back and her eyes closed. Blessed with Eidetic Memory, she isn't taking notes save for one or two. She listens and memorizes and starts to zone. Her focus slips and she hears the professor thinking inside his head:<br><br>

'''Professor:''' (thinking) ''… God, why am I up here talking to all these bloody idiots? There's not one student here that will surprise me ...''<br><br>  

Meanwhile, Chad is still pursuing clues online. In keeping with his logistical bent, he tries hacking into social networks. If our suspect uses any to contact anyone, we might be able to pinpoint his location via his posts.<br><br>  



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