Final Investigation 2 - Phone Company (Day 19, cont)

[calloperators]

[The second location Mac Tonight drops you off is a tall and imposing building with a sign that reads SUPER SARGASO TELECOM CO. The rain is starting to die down a little, reduced to a mere drizzle. He pulls over and parks the car, but then pauses, casting an eye towards the entrance.

The doors are slightly ajar.]

Someone's been here already. The Delivery Men probably saw your friends searchin' the communications tower and decided to beat us here.

[He opens the door to let the rest of the passengers out--Peter Quill, Peter Venkman, Xander, and Booster Gold.]

I'll be back soon. Remember, we need to find out where they're being holed up.

[And then he drives away, splashing some water back onto the sidewalk. As soon as Mac Tonight disappears, however, you don't have any time to investigate first. Two figures wearing swan masks suddenly charge out of the doors, one of them holding a chainsaw and the other wielding a pistol.

The one with the pistol fires off one, two, three shots. All of them hit their target in the chest--Booster Gold. The man lets out a startled noise, clutching at his wounds before tumbling down to the ground.

Booster Gold is dead.

The masked figures then turn to face the remaining survivors, ready to charge. What will you do?]

Comments

[advancements]

[WELL THAT SURE DID JUST HAPPEN DIDN'T IT oh my god okay. Xander's thankfully been gifted with Michalis' lance for the investigation, and while lances aren't exactly his specialty, he is good with them. He's wearing his armor today so he can probably take a bullet better than anyone else here (maybe??), so he'll go after the gunman first. He figures if he can get in close range he'll be able to take the man down easily enough, it's just a matter of getting there.

...So yeah he's going to charge right in and try to fight, how poorly is this going to go.]

[hotlinenpcs]

[As Xander charges in with his lance, the chainsaw wielder turns to try and intercept him. The gunman darts off to the side, allowing their counterpart to take the blow. They make an audible sound of pain as they go to try and saw off his Whole Lance. They seem to be working in tandem to try and trip you guys up.]

[seventhsign]

...Not so fast.

[ Testament has been apparently following this group, apparently, and he pulls out a familiar-looking automatic gun and let's off a round at the person who is looking to maybe try to saw off Michalis' lance that Xander's currently wielding. ]

[advancements]

[PLEASE STOP HIM FROM SAWING THE LANCE IN HALF—]

Testament!

[Thanks for your help, buddy, he's going to attempt to get the lance free before this guy can break it, since it isn't even Xander's to begin with. Assuming he gets a chance, he'll attempt to just run the guy through and put an end to him.]

[hotlinenpcs]

[The chainsaw swan notes the fact that Testament, very obviously, is the larger threat in this situation and swipes their hand to try and slice him in half.

When the weapon passes through Testament without harm, they seem startled and stumble back, their knuckles white as they continue to grip onto the handles. They don't have any chance to react, though--the lance skewers right through their abdomen and a fountain of blood spurts from their chest.

Turns out, medieval weaponry is pretty effective if people don't know how to counter it.

As a last resort, they try to fling the chainsaw towards the two of them in an attempt to kill them. Watch your head!]

[seventhsign]

Watch for your head, Xander.

[ Testament figures the warning isn't necessary, but better safe than sorry. He steps out of the path of the chainsaw, out of habit, forgetting that's definitely not necessary, but hey. ]

[advancements]

[Good, at least this man's down. Xander doesn't even have time to pull the lance free, but he ducks at the warning. Thankfully he's not going to die to a chainsaw (today??). He'll free the lance from the guy's corpse and turn his attention to the other one - is he still distracted by Venkman?]

[neverstudied]

Shit-!

[hey ok cool this is a great start to any investigation

So Venkman's a little rattled, obviously. He has just enough time to shove his fox mask on his face before the first shots ring out. He's hoping it'll give him some sort of advantage in dodging any shots, considering the improved senses and ability to pounce on things.

He doesn't pounce, though. He doesn't even go near the swans, yet. Instead, he's pulling out the weapons he got from the very beginning of this whole mess- the throwing knives- and chucks one at the swan-mask holding the pistol. He's not really aiming his shot that well- he doesn't have time to focus- he's just hoping to maybe hit, or at least cause enough of a distraction to prevent someone else from getting shot down.]

[hotlinenpcs]

[There go your knives, Venkman! The swan with the gun is currently too busy trying to dodge Xander's attacks to realize Venkman is throwing knives at them. The good news? The knife hits them in the arm. The bad news? It isn't the arm that they're holding their gun with. In silence, they turn to face Venkman, readying their gun and aiming it at him. Better run!]

[neverstudied]

[Ah, motherfucker

The good news is that he moves faster like this. The bad news is Venkman has no idea where to run[or, better yet, leap] to. Any convenient hiding spots where he can regroup and dodge bullets for a second? If not he's just gonna book it in a random direction, flinging another knife beforehand and hoping that one hits in a more useful location.]

[hotlinenpcs]

[There's a mailbox that Venkman could conceivably hide behind! The knife hits the in the swan in the eyehole of their mask, causing them to let out a horrifying shriek of pain and fire blindly towards Venkman. A few shots ricochet off the mailbox, but a few others make their way in Venkman's direction. A few more hits and this guy's going down.]

[neverstudied]

[Cool! He hides behind the mailbox like a cartoon character comically hiding behind a stick, except as seen in one particular episode he doesn't count as "cartoon" enough for that to actually work.

Venkman has a few seconds to think of a plan. He comes up with the stupidest one and goes with it. One more knife tossed at this guy- this one aimed for the hand holding the gun (hoping to force the guy to drop it), and while he's very rusty with a weapon like this, he could conceivably hit this shot if he has a little luck on his side. So far so good.

Then he's gonna jump from the mailbox and onto the guy himself, and pray that he doesn't get fucking murdered in the process.

This is a great plan.

(He's gonna die.)]

[hotlinenpcs]

[The knife hits! The swan drops the gun, and barely has time to react before Venkman is on him. He lets out a drawn out hiss, blood currently dripping from his eye and tries to punch Venkman in the stomach, trying to pry him off. In a final attempt, they cry out to their companion--]

Alex! Get this fucker off me!

[The voice is unfamiliar. Unfortunately for this person, Alex is dead.]

[neverstudied]

[Once Venkman's lugged a corpse out of the rain and had a minute to look around, he's checking out the Manager's Office first, if it's not locked. That seems like the most important place, so, therefore, that's where he wants to start.]

[hotlinenpcs]

[As Venkman walks into the office, there's a desk with a clunky-looking Mac computer sitting on the far side of the room. The walls seem to have been stripped of whatever decorations they normally hold on them. The blinds have been drawn, and the room is dark.]

[neverstudied]

[Why does he feel like he's about to either get ambushed or there's a guy in a swivel chair behind that Mac who's about to turn around and dramatically announce his presence

Well, whatever. For now Venkman's assuming that means that the only important shit in this whole room is the desk and computer, so that's what he's checking out first, after a cursory glance around the room.]

[hotlinenpcs]

[You're alone, Venkman, for now. Thank God.

The computer doesn't seem to be password protected, so Venkman can access the file with ease. There are a few applications on the desktop--a rudimentary e-mail application, a folder with some files in it, and one of those drawing programs included in most operating systems.

...The drawing program is not important. Where do you want to start?]

[neverstudied]

[Well of COURSE he's checking out the drawing progr-

Ok fine he's checking out the folder first. What's the folder name, and what about the file names?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[everett gets distracted for 20 minutes by florida man

The folder is named "untitled", creatively. There is only one file in it--a text document labeled "active police notes". Wanna read it?]

Phone Services

[seventhsign]

[ ...That being said, as this group is down one living person who could've also investigated, it looks like they might need some extra help with that.

So if he tried to go into the Phone Services, would that be possible? ]

[hotlinenpcs]

[Absolutely! The phone services room is filled with loads of little cubicles all in a line, where office workers are to spend their days filled with menial tasks and substandard pay for a job that will get them nowhere in life. It's eerily quiet, and Testament can even hear the flickering of the fluorescent lights overhead.

There's a lot of paper scattered around, like a conspiracy theory went to town, or if a tornado blew through a stack of computer paper and just tossed it around the room. Wanna take a look at what they have written on them?]

[seventhsign]

[ Might as well scrutinize those papers. He'll encroach upon them so he can get a better gaze for that exact purpose.

What kind of writing/information is he looking at here? ]

[hotlinenpcs]

[Well, it looks like these are mostly handwritten! The paper itself looks like something out of a journal or something similar. The handwriting is a little scrawled, like someone was in a rush while writing it.

The radio isn't working on them. It's probably fine--we can demonstrate that the experiment can be successful without necessarily using it. I can't seem to identify the cause of this, but, then again, the power of suggestion is not an exact science.

Spoke with F today. Says he plans on stepping back and taking a more passive role as a leader, but still holding the grip on the rest of those beneath him. Less suspicion will be drawn that way. If we want to make sure this endeavor is successful, we must make sure that nothing goes awry. The rest of the nation--no, the world--is counting on it.

Someone clearly enjoys contemplation. There's some more on other pieces of paper, if Testament wants to read them, too.]

[seventhsign]

[ Sounds like the kind of lingo someone from the Post-War Administration Bureau would throw around. At least he's pretty damn sure they're not involved, though.

... But.

Well. His mind is turning some wheels, thinking back to the radio blasting through the weeks, and the motive...was this supposed to be a mind control experiment and they so just happened to be the unwitting guinea pigs?

That being said, he'll push aside his own speculation and move on to read the other pieces of paper. ]

[hotlinenpcs]

[Let's see what's on paper number two! The handwriting on this is notably worse than the first one.

That damned clown appeared again on the foot of my bed during the night with a bright light and an earsplitting sound. The figure spoke into my mind. Told me that if I were to continue down my current path, there would be nothing but unbridled wrath in my future. I will not be beguiled by its words--I know that it is there to tempt me away from what is right. One of Satan's very demons, I presume.

I cast it out. Such comments are inconsequential. F has assured me that all the police under his power have been gradually introduced to our ideals and have readily accepted them. As long as they are willing and able, there should be no problem conducting the experiment, now.

There might be one more paper of interest to investigate!]