IC - Legwork

[arcanus]

This is the area for entries which support the imediate game (Ie: Using Contacts, Investigations).

[arcanus]

<To LTG: 44410018564>
<To: Cardinal>
<Hi,
Don't know you, but Vixen has vouched for you.
I have arranged a meet with a Fixer called 'Mogul' in 'La ciudad de ángeles', venue to be confirmed through physical channels.
---Biz>

[Cardinal]

At first opertunity -

Matrix search> Kessler

Data Search+Browse Program: 12 5 4 4 4 3

Matirx Search> Biz

Data Search+Browse Program: 9 9 8 5 4 4 4

Marix Search> "Mogul"+"Los Angeles"

Data Search+Browse Program: 17 5 5 4 shrapnel

[arcanus]

<Yo Sinner, might have something your interested in>~<LTG xxx/////////xxxxxxxxxx////xxxxxxxx>

[Black]

The signal was poor but it was enough to summon a cab.
Black picked his way carefully back across the debris that cluttered the warehouse floor.
A closer inspection showed that a vast amount of the debris was broken concrete.
Drake, in his eagerness to collect metal had even gone to the extent of ripping the reinforcing bar out of the building's concrete oversite!
Angel, having secured an agreement from Drake to come for Christmas dinner was coaxing the diminutive man towards the door with all the compassionate urgency of a father leading his children quickly away from some horrific scene.
Black followed cautiously.

Outside the sky was now completely dark, the low cloud obscuring any view of the moon or stars and under-lit by the orange glow of the city lights.
Angel pulled the collar of his coat up against the cold but Drake didn't seem to notice it, he walked alongside is friend with the gait of a man who has come to the last of his energy and moves only through sheer force of will.
A group of kids had gathered around the big motorbike parked outside the derelict looking old warehouse. They were older kids, in their mid to late teens, sporting blue or possibly indigo gang colours, it was difficult to tell in the gloom. Only one in three street lights seemed to work in this part of town.
As the short human and what appeared to be a child stepped out of the doorway the young gangers nudged one another. Very little was said among them but from their body language their intent was obvious to Angel.
The human stopped and sighed, putting a hand on Drake's shoulder to halt the oblivious man.
"Was it always going to be like this?" Curren/Angel thought to himself, not really wanting to get involved in any sort of fracas with these lads.
The door behind him creaked as it was pushed shut and the tall figure of Caliburn Black stepped up.
Whereas Angel was dressed in his everyday clothes and a long thick coat to protect him from the elements and Drake by his very purpose appeared as a small child, Black had an all together different look to him.
His long black coat over full body armour and the unusual visor over his eyes gave the gangers no doubt as to amount of grief any unfavourable encounter with these men could cause them. This guy was either a corporate agent or a runner. Either way - not worth the hassle.
"Problem?" Black asked Angel loud enough for the gangers to hear.
The lads began to back away from the bike and one, a dwarf, shrugged saying in response, "Nice bike, man!"
Black gave the dwarf a nod of acknowledgement as he and his two companions stepped onto the street.
The taxi arrived moments later. Black followed behind.


Despite Angel's efforts at healing Drake's wounds the small man was still suffering and had fallen to sleep on the couch within minutes of arriving at Black's apartment.
The building itself was a rather run down eight storey block with a boarded up shop on the first floor.
Black's apartment was on the second floor, what used to be the store owner's place.
The apartment was sparsely furnished and bore more resemblance to a hotel room than a residence. Even so, most of the household items were in good order and fairly up to date. The place was also secure.
Black had turned the local news on when they had arrived, something he always did. He was looking out for more reports on specific families within Oakland being targeted by the Japanese.
The trid projector filled one corner of the room with it's three dimensional holo-image of the 'Oakland Today' news desk with a pretty young newsreader describing the last minute Christmas rush in the Delevere Mall.

Whilst making a cup of tea for them both, Black reiterated the general outline of the Doc-Wagon job to Angel. Both men were quintessentially English and had not lost their predilection for tea rather than the American preference for coffee, soy or synthi-caff products.
Such a luxury as real tea was very expensive, but Black would not forgo the small indulgence.
The elf directed Angel in the direction of the coffee table. Somewhere amongst the flotsam of small drone components was a sheet of paper with Black's initial perceptions and thoughts regarding the Doc-Wagon job.

How did the Doc-Wagon guy approach/contact me?

[Black]

Security Breach at Doc-Wagon

(medical emergencies being picked up by persons unknown claiming to be from Doc-Wagon. Real paramedics arriving minutes after patient has been collected)

Point of Interest - all meta humans - no humans. Meta humans are from all varieties but with very few elves.

Initial Thoughts -

1. Some sort of anti-metahuman group? An expensive and potentially risky operation just to snag random meta-types.

2. Rival firm? If so then why the DW equipment. Rivals would want you to know who they are, plus med bills will be prepaid to DW so the rival would end up making nothing from the transaction.

3. Organ leggers? Possibly. Still risky if the real DW should turn up - but one of the better options. Relies on being in the right place at the right time - a little too random for serious leggers.

4. Emergency call response tome for DW even in Oakland would be a matter of minutes, ten at the outside. If this is someone randomly waiting to pick up emergency calls to DW then to be able to pick up the victim and be gone before the real DW turns up than they would have to be at least twice as fast. Which means that they would need double the coverage. That's a lot of vehicles not easy to hide. Unless they are operating in a small area and only responding to calls from that area.
How many victims? Which areas are the snatches occurring?

5. How often does this occur??

6. Where would someone locally get hold of convincing DW equipment and paraphernalia?? Cold the vehicle spray jobs have been done locally??

7. Has this occurred in other DW contracted cities??

8. What if there is only one fake DW team? This would mean that they would again have to rely on pure luck to come across an injury within five minutes of them. Are they waiting around the corner and the victim being deliberately injured? Targeted?? Seems to be a lot of that going on at the moment? Who are the kidnap victims?? Is there a connection between them??

9. What is the nature of the medical emergency? Has the fake team actually acted as paramedics, strapping people up prior to extraction?? If so that would indicate a degree of trauma training.

10. Witnesses? Who? What did they see??

11. Were there any DW vehicles off site for 'maintenance'? any irregularities in vehicle logs. Someone is intercepting the DW signals. Could it be an inside job? Who took the 'call' at DW for the victims? Was it the same person?

Any other points?....

[Black]

"Have a look at that at tell me what you think." Black said to Angel as he carried in the two steaming mugs.

[Curren]

'Cheers' Dave said as he sipped tentatively on the hot drink placed the cup on the table and sat down to look at the findings that had been so far ascertained.

'It all looks pretty good, just a few elaborations to some of them.'

'How about being able to pin down where all of these incidents took place?' he said to Black. 'Obviously there have been other occurances of this nature that haven't been reported, but we may be able to get some sort of pattern from their operations so far?'

'Also I think the witnesses, preferably friends and relations rather than off the street witnesses should be located. It would be a lot better to have a witness with an emotional connection to the missing, we'll want to make sure that the team or organisation doesn't hear too much about us snooping around.' Curren rubs his eyes, the long day was starting to catch up on him.

'Furthermore, how easy it it to be able to intercept radio transmissions? Surely Doc Wagon would have highly encrypted tech to stop this from happening?' Dave juggled the information quickly; as he tried to get a lead.

'We must be dealing with a proffesional unit, no surprise there.' he surmised as he leant back on the sofa with his hands behind his neck closing his eyes.

'I have a few questions for you mate.' Dave said as he opened his eyes to regard Black.

'Who gave you this job, and what are you being paid for it? And the second question is, have you thought about what we're having for Christmas Dinner tomorrow? As its getting close to the event and I'd hate to let down Frank.'

'To be honest we can take the day off tomorrow, I'll need to make sure everything went well for our soup kitchens and handouts for the homeless back in Seattle tonight. We can discuss the rest of the job on Boxing Day.'
Dave leaned forward and grabbed the mug of tea and took a deep gulp of it.

'But the truth is, we have plenty of time to sort out an effective plan and counter most eventualities.' he concluded.

[Black]

Arcanus -

Could you answer the questions raised by Black and Curren

[arcanus]

Brent Fuller sat back in his 42nd Floor office, turning upon his office chair he looked out across the Downtown Oakland skyline, his gaze finally settling upon the Old Oakland Tribune Tower.
Fuller examined the reply from the Shadowbox, the matrix contact 'Necron' had contacted, agreed and replied, matrix meets were always more risky in 'Fullers' opinion but infinitely safer and more expedient.

The face of 'Emanuel Sanderson' appeared within a window, Docwagon Oaklands Resource Acquisition Specialist or in-house fixer, smiled.
"We're good to go" he said
"Not a moment too soon" replied Fuller, the Divisional Controller has got my balls in an almighty sling"
"Nice image" smiled Sanderson in an all too familiar way
Fuller dismissed the window, the last thing he needed was Emanual hitting on him, he popped some ibruprofen.

ALPHA CODE:TNXNF///10001001/1110100011-COMM CODEC Docwagon Red-link Matrix Ultra secure connection established, RED-10 status acquired.
Necron thank you for the speedy response, further information for clarity:
* All of the patients were in fact female Homo sapiens robustus, all within their third Trimester of pregnancy.
So far 3 women have been kidnapped, each had activated their transponders due to pregnancy related issues, each had a DW contract paid for by their employers.
No DW vehicles have been unaccounted for.
Each of the kidnappings occured in various districts of the flats.
I can provide you with further details upon a physical meeting and confirmation of agreement.

I cannot stress enough is that time is of the essence, as DocWagons wish is that these people are returned safe and well.
Mr Johnson

ALPHA CODE:TNXNF///10001001/1110100011-COMM CODEC Docwagon Red-link Matrix Ultra secure connection disconnected, RED-10 status deactivated, activate -#TRACE & CLEANSE#.