2000/1/05 - Burnt out, Sold out

[veekie]

'probe is unpowered'

[Agita]

With a last 'k' and a casual look over her shoulders, Kiley finishes her turn, logs off, and pays the proprietor on the way out. After checking that nobody is watching, as much to not be seen picking up the probe as to not be seen rooting around in a trashcan, she finds the 'recycling vat' and inspects it for the probe in question.

[veekie]

Kiley

Kiley finds, in the nearest trashcan, a ragged bag with a distressing smell under a layer of wrappers and newspapers. It feels bulky and squishes unpleasantly. If it's not the probe it's going to be pretty gross and certainly not even the more desperate trashpickers are likely to investigate it.

[Agita]

Wrinkling her nose, Kiley looks around again before grabbing the bag and trying to rip it open. Luckily, she should be able to use the wrapping to hold it without needing to burn her clothes afterwards.

[veekie]

Kiley

There are too many people around to open it in public, but a few short steps takes Kiley into a back alley, where the wrapping rips easily, revealing three thick balloons filled with some sludgy liquid, a plastic wrapped box and a broken vial of what smells like ammonia.  One of the balloons break open when discarded to produce a milky white jelly-like substance.
Discarding everything but the box, it seems to contain a cheap camcorder, a telephone, a fistful of cables, a mini tape and what looks like a homemade adaptor with a three pin plug, as well as jacks for a phone plug and an audio/video feed, all of which is wrapped in tinfoil and paper, with a brief message printed onto the paper.

Plug into any live wall socket in the Pits or Bootlegger's and dial 54539000105. Prepare a video recording of the goods beforehand, with all necessary handling instructions. If no response can be obtained, try again in an hour.

Aside from the lingering smell of ammonia, that went well enough.

[Bozwevial]

gotcha. meet you back here when you're done, then. With some spare time to kill and no particular inclination to do more paperwork, Sam heads up to the roof to get some fresh air and do a little research. Now, how many prisons without metal can there possibly be in the city...

[Agita]

Noting the contents and really hoping none of the ammonia got on her clothes, Kiley discards all the extraneous stuff in the next corner and stows the box in her little personal space for later use, then gets going to meet up with Sam.

[veekie]

Little of the ammonia got onto her clothing, though her hands did not escape unscathed and the box is beyond saving.  Heading back to Whitethorn was a trouble free but slow endeavor, giving Sam plenty of time to look into the matter of Steelhand's incarceration.

[Bozwevial]

Sam waves cheerily once he spots Kiley, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. "Got bored, did a little research after the meeting. They'd have put Steely Dan somewhere they could keep him locked up without any metal, so there's really only four good spots nearby. If they got Zero involved they could probably haul him out onto an island somewhere, but that doesn't seem really likely to me. Then there are rumors about an underwater containment unit in the river. Sounds pretty tinfoil hat to me, but it's not the weirdest thing I've ever heard. You could also just haul him out into the marshes or swamps, anywhere west of town really. Not too hard if you had a Mover on deck, I think, and there are certainly enough of those around...Last one's the least appealing, but they might have gotten some of the Tinkers at the university to slap something together and kept him in a spare lab. It'd be a patchwork job but on short notice that's one of the most secure places you could stick Steelhand, Tinker labs are built to last. Easy enough to check, but a huge pain to do anything about."

Sighing, he pulls a face. "Anyway, the meeting didn't go so well. No one jumped out as the right type and if I started poking around too much I'd be drawing attention...how'd your meeting work out?"

[Agita]

"Pretty well. We're supposed to take a video of our stuff and dial a number. Sounds simple enough." Kiley rubs her hands with a frown. "Gonna need to wash my hands, though. Ugh. After that, time to kill the afternoon and actually do my homework, I guess."

[Bozwevial]

"Wash your...never mind, not sure I want to know." Sam shakes his head. "I'm kind of fidgety after the meeting, thought I might go out for a stroll. Poke around for that river containment unit that's supposed to be there, clear up some of the rubble, I don't really care what as long as it's not more homework. I'm not ready for that just yet."

[Agita]

"Clearing rubble sounds more productive given how, uh, big the river is." Kiley stretches. "I'm up for it. Just need to drop Wire's thing off and wash my hands... oh, right. I read earlier that Zero was having a fight with Bunny, so the ship's probably out. So's the west, I don't think any of the flying movers here can carry Steely Dan. Except you." She cracks a grin.

[Bozwevial]

Sam snickers. "Probably! So that leaves the river and the Tinker labs. Ugh. Neither one of those sounds very safe...then again we did go into space yesterday. Let's just stick with rescue for the time being."

Once he and Kiley are ready, they make a quick detour to put on their costumes well out of the way of anyone who might be watching, then bound off over the rooftops in a series of easy, floating arcs toward the rescue operation.

[veekie]

While it's getting late in the afternoon with plenty of Specials out on the streets, making up for lost trouble of yesterday, the two of them making a beeline for the carnage, as well as several other flying Specials, are undisturbed by the conflicts at ground level.

One of these veer closer, a ten year old Special in a blue and yellow footballer's outfit with an oversized red cape, "Hey! You guys going to the disaster too?"

[Bozwevial]

Horizon glances over at the young Special whom he recognizes as Impact Kid. "Yeah, you been there yet? How's it looking right now?" he calls out, kicking up gravel as he sprints across a rooftop.

[veekie]

"Horrible mess. Steelhand really did a number on that carpark, and nobody has any idea who stuck two buildings together, so they need people who can rip them apart without smooshing whoever is trapped inside. I'm Impact Kid, need a lift there? " The junior hero keeps up easily with Horizon, "Where're you from?"

[Agita]

Kaleidoscope instinctively tenses a little as the kid comes close, and her blur reacts accordingly, but she relaxes when Impact Kid just talks. "From the city," she answers unhelpfully. "A... faster ride couldn't hurt, I guess."

[Bozwevial]

Horizon changes course so the kid doesn't have to slow down to pick them up. "We'll take a lift, sure! I'm Horizon, that's Kaleidoscope. We've been called Meteor and Prism before, but I think our proper names are better."

[veekie]

"You guys took down Pyrebird?! You must be very good at fighting! I just got burned when I tried." Kaleidoscope and Horizon are grabbed by a shoulder each, then with no sense of acceleration, all three Specials hang in the air and begin to pick up speed, "How'd you meet her? Any other big battles?"

[Agita]

"We like keeping it low-key. She just got mad and tried to fuck with us, so..."Kaleidoscope shrugs noncommittally.