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Post by Exterminator Delta on Sept 8, 2012 9:29:30 GMT -5
[continued from OLOS Mystery: Discovering the Clues]
[open thread, anybody of the city persuasion can join in, more 'private' moments are going to be taken offsite to not disrupt the gameflow]
*The bike's monstrous roar dies down to a mere purr when I reach the checkpoint into the city. I glance back at my passenger and smirk. In the interest of his safety, I'd given him my helmet instead, since if we did crash (however unlikely), he'd be the one in worse shape. Sure I would be fucked as well but- ah- I don't get the LUXURY of dying until the company says so. He's got his arms wrapped tightly about my waist and for the moment I think nothing of it other than its foreignness.*
*A checkpoint guard looks us over and inspects the bike to ensure that neither of us are sneaking any contraband into the city. Good for him, at least somebody is doing their goddamned job in this system. He lingers over the bloodstains on my uniform and glances back at me, as if he were putting the pieces together, between the triangle emblazoned on my chest and helmet that Vico had on, and the filth on my clothes. I swipe my tongue across my teeth to make sure they're clean.
He shrugs and waves us through*
Make sure to use club soda on those stains, sir. *He jokes lightly through the mask.*
*Leisurely now, I take the bike through the tunnel, speaking loud enough so Mr. Vico can hear me over the noise. I've calmed considerably...possibly something to do with the air quality? Hmm.*
Where do you live? I've got clearance enough to drop you off before I have to return to HQ to ah- decompress...
*Beat.*
And exactly HOW did you get tangled up with Corporal Fuckface?
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Post by Alexander Ludovico on Sept 8, 2012 20:01:22 GMT -5
*Ah, clean air again... and the closer we'd gotten the more the temperature had evened out, which was welcome in the extreme. The desert got cold after the sun set, and I don't know how they did it, but it couldn't have been below 50 once we were inside the city walls. I rattle off my address to Delta, eager to get home and take a well-earned shower. As for the second question...*
Long story. Killjoys were in the city, I was an idiot and went poking around on my own. Found the double homicide by the east wall - the one that got turned over to the low-level investigators - and ended up getting hustled out into the desert by Volume rather than being shot. She changed her mind pretty quickly, but, ah, Corporal Fuckface as you say, apparently took a shine to me. Thanks for getting me out of there.
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Post by Exterminator Delta on Sept 8, 2012 20:21:13 GMT -5
Double homicide? *Now this was news. Of course, it was the Company's judgment, not mine. They decided what quarry I went sniffing after. Big game. As much as I'd want to, I couldn't go claiming justice for every murder in the Neon Ghetto or in the bordertowns...I'd go absolutely mad (well moreso, I suppose).*
Interesting. It bothers me that the lower ranks are so quick to condemn...it's like nobody has common sense anymore. It's a tragedy when the most rational ones in SCARECROW are the ones that can snap at a moment's notice.
*I hum lightly, some tune that I picked up on my personal radio. Though part of my job was to decrypt Killjoy signals and determine where they were hiding and what they were planning, there were a few channels in particular that stayed true to the soul of a radio broadcast. Actual music, and not all of them were sickening noise. One in particular had a consistently perky DJ that had a proclivity for playing ukelele covers of pre-War songs and jive. It was a guilty pleasure.
I had a lot of guilty pleasures.*
But, you're welcome regardless...I might as well get one part of my job right. *The bike barely made a sound as we glided through mostly empty streets, playing peekaboo with the lamps. I don't say anything about how mid-class Vico's apartment building is when we pull in front of it, but I am amused by the lights coming on in certain windows. A city full of chemheads but they do still LOVE to gossip. And their neighbor arriving one night at the hands of an Exterminator- well...start the presses!*
I trust you're still on the case. I could use some level-headedness around to keep me sober. I can only stomach 'Joys for so long.
*At the moment, I am blissfully unaware of the double entendre of my last sentence.*
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Post by Alexander Ludovico on Sept 8, 2012 20:36:11 GMT -5
Yes, a pair of city dwellers. House had been all boarded up. They didn't seem to think it was killjoy-related, though. *I shrug and get off the bike, lingering after taking off the helmet and handing it over.* Yes, I suppose I'm still on it. Can't go leaving all the fun to you now, can I? Besides, I can probably be more useful when I'm not under a constant death threat.
*I eye him speculatively, glancing at the bloodstains and back to his face. Bloody men... the blue-tinged streetlight nearby is throwing rather fetching shadows and highlights across him, and he really cuts quite the figure.* When you're done... decompressing, do feel free to stop by. We can discuss the case, or whatnot.
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Post by Exterminator Delta on Sept 8, 2012 20:50:58 GMT -5
I'll consider your offer, *I purr.* But maybe we can talk about other things. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Have yourself a great night, Vico. *A devilish smile, and I'm off. I'll give it there will be a message on my phone when I get out of HQ. Without fail.*
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Post by Alexander Ludovico on Sept 9, 2012 1:27:30 GMT -5
*I'm settled onto my couch about an hour later, washed and dressed in clean, comfortable clothes. Fact News buzzes at me from the television set, and I catch up on the day's reports with a mug of hot tea. No word on the killings, though news has certainly gotten back to the higher-ups because I see three separate ads during the commercial breaks for new, inexpensive vacation packages to the city. Way to encourage a Zones evacuation without distressing the civilians, Better Living.*
*I take out my phone eventually and toss it from hand to hand. My radio's back by the front door, but while I'm in the city I take advantage of the coverage while I can get it. To call or not to call... his number's easy to find with my employee status granting me access to low-level records, and he seemed casually encouraging. I settle for a text before heading to bed.*
[Exterminator Delta:
Found your number in records, and thought I'd pop in. If you can't tell who this is, I'll be terribly offended. Come to think of it, I'm a bit offended you didn't give the number to me in the first place. You'll just have to make it up to me somehow - say, my place tomorrow? After all, there's a murderer on the loose. Can't delay.]
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Post by Exterminator Delta on Sept 9, 2012 9:20:29 GMT -5
*Decompression is a nightmare of injections geared on settling all the chems in my head so I can handle civilian life again. The underside of my left arm has gone completely bruised and black from these things. I assure the team that I can adjust on my own given enough time, but time is money, they say, and I cost them a pretty penny to maintain already.*
You should have known that owning a pet is a responsibility, *I half-joke, but the lot of them remained straightfaced and tell me to go hit the showers while the meds do their work.*
*I step out of the shower, towel wrapped loosely around my waist, skin flushed and open from the steam. Simple pleasures, certainly, I think as I study my wrinkled fingertips. The very act of getting clean is a cathartic one, as if I could scrub away all evidence of my primal behaviors and headwhispers just as easily as I scrub dirt and blood off my hands. These are my quarters, right in the center of HQ. I used to have an apartment, but since the fall of the Four, BLI wanted to keep me more tightly under thumb, just in case I wanted to exact a little revenge. But it seems that this faceless group we're following now has taken that burden on themselves.
It's been two...three years? Whatever resentment I have has been dissolved away at this point.
I just...exist.*
But existing isn't all that bad, *I comment to nobody as I pick up my phone and open the text. A smirk. Guess I'm not the only one feeling more than a bit lonely lately. I send my message back as I drop the towel and move to the bed to rest.*
[Vico:
Eager, aren't we? I'll be over on the bright. Start a pot of tea for me, would you? Have to cut this short, my meds are making me tired. See you.]
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Post by Alexander Ludovico on Sept 9, 2012 11:21:55 GMT -5
*I don't see the return text until I wake up the next day, but luckily I'm an early riser on average. Sure, I only got a handful of hours of sleep, but I'm fairly awake by 6 am and I have a small stash of caffeine pills in the kitchen. Mm. Much better (and Better) than the pre-war variety - I start feeling the buzz in about ten minutes, by which time the kettle's on and starting to rock slightly on the stovetop. I ease the heat down just before it boils and retreat to the small table in the corner of the living room where my chess board is set up. A game with myself is a good way to focus, I've found, and I start thinking back over the day previous as I move the pieces around the board. It's less about the game today than it is about organization; I picture the dead civilians when I shuffle the pawns forward. Black is the killers, white the city - and, reluctantly, the killjoys. I don't know if it helps me any, but it's an interesting exercise nonetheless.*
[Delta:
Righto. Red rover, red rover, send Delta on over]
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Post by Exterminator Delta on Sept 9, 2012 11:33:30 GMT -5
*A certain vanity keeps me looking as clean and polished as I could possibly muster. When I have to move about in the public eye, I like to keep myself looking put-together, so people would forget the awful truth of me being a well-maintained and overmedicated psychopath. But this hasn't seemed to stop Vico from inviting me to his apartment. Considering I'm only meant to use the Superbike for Zone missions, I step out of a taxi in front of the apartment and adjust the collar of my shirt. The occasion certainly didn't call for a suit, but I don't make my public persona a t-shirt guy unless I'm running. Normally I would be doing just that at this hour, but I think I can live with this break in my routine.
I've already humored the man by wearing jeans.*
*A flash a smile at the woman who exits the apartment with her small dog on a leash. She nearly does a double take as I bid her a good morning. There were very few reasons Exterminators made 'housecalls', so I don't blame her. I wait on the front steps and send another text of acknowledgement to my host.*
[Vico:
I'm here. I think your neighbors are already starting quite a rumor about this get-together.]
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Post by Alexander Ludovico on Sept 9, 2012 12:00:19 GMT -5
[Delta:
Fuck em. They just wish their lives were as interesting as ours]
*I smile when I step out into the main lobby and see Delta waiting by the doors. I can guess why the neighbors are kicking up a fuss; even if Delta didn't have a reputation, he has a way of carrying himself that's definitely not middle-class-pencil-pusher. I wonder if it's even physically possible for him to /not/ look professional and slightly intimidating. Pushing one of the double doors open, I hold it aside and gesture grandly in.* After you, sir. Elevators over there.
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Post by Exterminator Delta on Sept 9, 2012 13:19:56 GMT -5
*Again, I say nothing about the middle-class digs. I was spoiled. Exterminators made a pretty penny and I spent my pretty penny on more lavish accomodations until I was relocated to my quarters in HQ...but even those were still a lot nicer than this. At least it didn't smell like piss, which is more than I can say for other places I've had the misfortune to be in.*
Sorry I didn't say more last night...I'm sure you're quite familiar with how powerful the evening dose can be when you're running on high stress anyway. Personally, I'm paranoid that I'll be- ah- decommissioned if I don't solve this case...
*I know I said I didn't want to talk about it, but those piles and piles of bodies and trashed lives just wouldn't leave me in peace, no matter how many of my prescribed pills I take.*
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Post by Alexander Ludovico on Sept 9, 2012 13:28:11 GMT -5
*I wave off his apology and lead the way to the elevators* Don't worry about it, completely understandable. And I doubt they'd decommission you even if you can't crack this one, with a record like yours. *I pause as the lift stops at my floor and the doors open again to let us out.* Then again, I suppose your record could work against you, too... hm. In any case, don't worry about it. The biggest thing in your favor is that the crazies /want/ to be found. You'll get there eventually.
*Down the hall to my door, with a woman two doors down taking longer than necessary to sort through her keys. I smile cheekily at her, then unlock my own door and usher Delta in.* Make yourself at home. Water on the stove's hot.
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Post by Exterminator Delta on Sept 10, 2012 9:29:29 GMT -5
*For the surroundings, Vico's apartment's a little nicer than I anticipated, with the exception of the terrible beige carpet and walls that seemed to plague every mid-price apartment in the city. I simply stand there and observe things, playfully scrying what I could about Vico just by looking at his things. Not much for music, this man, but I recognize the channel that his radio's turned to, even if it's off*
Heh, you listen to that ladyjoy too then? One of the few Killjoys I actually like since- ah well that's not important.
*I move to the kitchen like it's my own apartment, locate the mugs on my first try, teabags on my second (people like Vico were slippery in their words, but as far as behaviors, fairly predictable -or maybe I hung out with his sort for too long when I was desert-dwelling- ), and get myself situated. The tea steeps, and I'm left to think.*
Maybe I should apologize for my...unprofessional behavior at the opera. I get- unruly- when I don't have enough pills in me. *Unruly was a good word for it, no it wasn't like I kept myself separate to avoid ripping random throats out.* Shame we couldn't get more out of that man though.
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Post by Alexander Ludovico on Sept 10, 2012 9:38:53 GMT -5
*I glance at the radio - yes, it's on her station - then half smile and nod once* Yes, she's an interesting commentator. Doesn't just sit there and play music. *I'm a bit surprised that Delta listens to her as well; if I'd known he'd recognize the channel I'd have made sure to change it, anticipating a rebuke. Interesting, though.*
*I sit down on one of the stools, folding my arms on top of the counter.* It's understandable. We're all slaves to the pills to one extent or another. And I don't think anything would have made a difference... whoever left him there knew exactly what he was able to tell us. Either he genuinely didn't know anything else, or he was devoted to the point of insanity.
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Post by Exterminator Delta on Sept 10, 2012 9:48:24 GMT -5
Not my first time dealing with cultists...*I add casually as I wring out the teabag and toss it. I lean against the counter and take a sip. No sugar, no cream. It ruins the integrity of the tea.* At least we know now that interrogations are a time waste- so from here on out, we simply tear through them like tissue until we get to somebody that knows something...
*A sip, quietly admiring Vico. It's not like I get callers often, much less ones that seem to want to be around me despite the fact that I'm really a fucking awful person. I withhold a smile for now. Business first.*
Or we could enlist the services of one of our scant collection of Killjoys to infiltrate this group and become a mole for us. Obviously they have to know when and where to strike next in order to make their move towards their Helena or whatever the fuck they believe in. It's all jibberish as far as I'm concerned.
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Yes, I'm still running - sort of. But it is lonely out here. Haven't seen anyone else for a while.
//