| Logs |
2002 April 29
| Cosmic Guardians |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
| Realms: Guardians Logs |
The First Mission - Part 6
Cosmic Guardians: The Double-Edged SwordPart 6:Divergent Paths
Lupis pulls off the interstate, heading into Mesa, looking for a refueling station. He pulls into the first one he passes, to get his bike refilled. While it's filling up, he pulls his cell phone out of his jacket, and dials directory assistance to get the number for the hotel in Phoenix. He connects through to the front desk. "Hello, this is Lou Rodriguez, I'm one of your guests. Have there been any messages left for me?"
The man on the phone says, "Oh! Yessir, there was a message in fact....A Miss Sasha left her phone number, and said to tell you to call immediately." The voice sounds rather apologetic. "She seemed quite perturbed sir, I'm afraid." he reads off the number.
Lupis says, "Don't worry, I'll make it up to her. Thanks, pal." He hangs up, and enters the number into his phone's memory. He immediately dials it. The phone rings a couple times, and Sasha finally picks up. "Hello, Lupis." She seems rather neutral, over all.
Lupis says, "Hello, Sasha. I'm on the outskirts of Mesa. What's the score?"
"I've dropped Reynard and Nikki off at the campus. She's picking up her ID, and Reynard is doing...what he does best. Meet me at the Desert Plaza Inn. It's on Chandler Boulevard. Take the Exit off the Interstate, and it's a straight shot."
Lupis says, "I just pulled off the interstate. I'll be there in ten minutes, babe. Sorry I'm late." As he speaks, he looks around, to see if the road he's on is Chandler Boulevard. He hands the gas jockey his credit card to pay for the fuel. Sasha just replies, "We'll discuss it when you get here." She hangs up.
Lupis winces and puts his phone away. After paying for his gas, he hops back on his bike, and pulls out of the station, looking for the Desert Plaza Inn. The inn is actually a long ways down the road...he passes a set of buildings that look like they belong to a community college on the way. Finally, he sees the hotel on the right. It's a relatively small place, and he can see the white van in the lot. Lupis pulls his bike up and parks near the van. He unties his guitar case, and gets out, looking around for some sign of Sasha.
There is a loud whistle, and there's Sasha, leaning against a door. She doesn't look happy. She appears to have abandoned the eye-catching white jacket and beige pantsuit for a pair of jeans and a white blouse. Lupis heads over to Sasha. Seeing the look on her face, he doesn't even try to smile at her. He follows her inside.
Minutes before, Sasha had dropped Reynard and Nikki off at a parking lot just south of the Administration Building. Nikki was going to head over there to get her student ID. To the further south, Reynard could see the Technology Center Building. In his hands, he had the printouts Nikki made for him from her portable printer: printouts of today's Computer Science classes, the students, and the teachers running the classes. Before the left, Nikki reminded him, "Remember, you can't go farther than 150 yards. Don't start getting too creative unless I'm with you. I don't want to find out what happens to be if you start going too far away. I'll meet you at the Tech center." She then hurried off to the Admin building.
Now, Reynard glances over the list, and considers is options. He thumbs through the names, before tapping one at random. "Eric Pippen." A nod. Marching toward the Tech Center, he suddenly gets another idea. The bounty hunter finds himself a payphone inside, and calls up Dimmer, his hacker friend.
The phone is picked up after three rings. "Reynard? That you?" Dimmer growls. "Of course. Rooted up anything?" Reynard jives back.
Dimmer snorts. "Figured. I don't know anyone in Mesa. And yeah, I've got something for you. Means nothing to me, but maybe it will to you. That poetry that this So-va-gine guy did at the NYSE? I got it chapter and verse. You got a paper and pen, or should I mail it to you?"
"You can email it." He gives Dimmer the address to Gorgon, before offering, "One more thing. I need something; are there any minor, but still offensive hacker hyjinks done, lately? Other then the NYSE, of course."
Dimmer thinks. "Well, as I said, he totalled Sideswipe, and SinderRoze, but that's not public knowledge, just in the Playground." he begins, referring to the Hacker grapevine. "Let me see...since the NYSE thing, he's only shown up two more times that I've been able to track....He caused ATMs all over San Fran to start spitting out cash...and he also unleashed a killer email virus that's been hitting lots of folks. Actually, that happened before NYSE....but I only recently tracked that to him." He snickers. "My kinda virus, though. Sends first rate porn. ;)"
A smirk crosses the hunter's lips. "Yes, we all know you love your porn. But, what I was wondering was, any paticular minor hacker things that someone besides Sauvagine did. Something I could accuse a would-be target of? Any actual tampering gone on, that wouldn't have alerted the media?"
"Shit, man, I'm not sure....Since Sauvagine started making news in the Playground, the big guys have been keeping kinda quiet....oh wait, I think I have something. One of the newbies. Some poser named zOrAD. He hacked into the fire surpression system of a local school, set the sprinklers off. Actually out your way, in Wyoming. That what you looking for?"
Reynard considers, and rubs his chin. "That's... usable. With some blemishing, I can make it look a little worse then it is. But, right, then. Thank you, Dimmer. And, go get some fresh air. I can hear you being pale." Dimmer snorts. "Eat me, Gonzo. I'll send you the pretty boy stanzas." Click.
Reynard bites at the phone, and grins absently, looking over the Tech Center map he got from a leaflet Let's see... Pippen is also in our guy's class, and... Professor Noah. A nod, checking the room number, before he's on his way. He abruptly notes two men in black suits and sunglasses are coming the other way, practically on top of him, and they bump into Reynard on one shoulder, then the other, spinning him slightly, without even apologizing. They're out the door before Reynard can even react. Reynard glances back after the two, straightening his coat, a shake of his head. Turning back, he actually moves to the door, glancing after them. Something makes him itch about the two. The two men get into a black limo that was waiting outside the Technology Building, the motor still running. The car pulls away and heads west.
With a frown, he turns back into the building, and heads for Professor Noah's class, noting, fortunately, that classes are still being held. A glance down at the papers; his class should be ending within a few minutes. In point of fact, several classes are getting out at the same time, and the first floor hall is quite abruptly awash with students as they start coming out. Reynard manages to push past them: he had always considered himself a crowd snake, able to slide easily between and past folks. Helps in chases. He walks into the classroom, but instead of going for the professor, simply looks around, walking along the back, peering at this or that, before heading toward the teacher himself. Professor Noah seems to be a youngish man, in his mid thirties, wearing a colorful silk print, and beige slacks. The professor seems to be shuffling around papers on his desk, and then looks up in response. "Can I help you?"
Smiling, Reynard offers his hand. "Yes, Reynard McCarter, I was actually curious about a few things." He glances about, "You have a big class, though." Peering back, "What do you teach, professor?"
Professor Noah looks curiously at Reynard. "Well, I teach a number of classes, Mr. McCarter. The one that was just let out was Introduction to Quantum Computing...which one were you interested in?" Reynard shrugs nonchanantly. "Odd, that it's a beginning course. I was actually looking for a student, Eric Pippen, I believe?"
The professor says, "Mr. Pippin? You probably just missed him. He was in class today? Who are you? Surely not his father...a friend of his maybe?" Reynard shakes his head. "Actually, not quite. I'm looking to ask a few questions about him. I noted he was in Professor Dash's class." He offers a thoughtful look. "Odd, that he'd be in both a beginner and in a more advanced class." Shrugging, "Of course, I could be just misjudging; what does Mr. Dash teach?"
"Well, Roland does tend to teach intermediate to upper level classes...but if I remember correctly, Mr. Pippin is taking Roland's second level Tesseract 201 class....this is just to fullfill some basic requirements." Noah looks Reynard over warily. "Can I ask what this is about?""
Reynard glances about, almost afraid to be heard. "Well, Wenston High School in Wyoming was assaulted through cyber tampering. Fire drills, sprinklers, their grading network crashed in on itself." A tip of his head. "Eric Pippin is from Weston High School, and, as is his brother. Who is failing there as a senior." The professor looks shocked. "Oh my. And you think Mr. Pippin is behind this? Oh dear." he sighed. "And I rather liked the boy too...never thought he'd do things like this." He looks back at Reynard. "Are you with the police or something?
Reynard nods. "Something like that, yes. He's not proven, but I'd like to have a personal word or two with him. Simply that, I thought by talking to you, his other professors, that I could get a hint of what he's working on, right now. See if any of his work may reflect upon his current actions, suggest any bragging, or may prove he was innocent. His gibson, for instance; it was a paticular gibson that did it. A rather top of the notch gibson."
Professor Noah seems to consider this. "Well, I seriously doubt that he could have done it with school equipment...all the gibsons here are standardized...he would probably be using his own computer...unless...." Reynard's brow lifts, head tipping to urge the man on. "Well, I don't know anything for certain...I mean, the boy is only a first year student, but he has gotten along rather well with Professor Dash....and he's in charge of the Munifican Project, Roland is."
Reynard looks curious, but none too knowledged. "Munification Project?" The teacher shakes his head. "Munifican. Roland says it's some literary reference...it's an ongoing project at Phillips/Western....where they're working on the next-gen Gibsons. They're trying to create true AI right out of the box. There's lots of ongoing Gibsons there that graduate students and professors are working on..."
Reynard rubs his chin. "Really? That is something, then," He nods to himself, absently. "Heh. That would explain the men that ran into me in the hall." While he says this, a man stops in front of the door to the classroom, briefly in Reynard's fil. He appears to be dressed in a leather jacket, black slacks, sneakers. He's actually quite noticible as his head is a mass of curly red hair, and his face is freckled. He doesn't appear to be looking at anything in particular, but he noes notice Reynard noticing him, and he smirks a little. Something else is suddenly apparent: something Reynard is trained to watch for. There's the faintest bulge in the jacket, indicating a possible gun in a shoulder holster. And then, just like that, the man moves on, dissapearing from the doorway. Professor Noah, noting none of this, goes on. "The men, sir? Which ones?" he says confusedly.
Reynard seems quite attuitive to this, and he frowns for the briefest of moments. "There were two suited men, rather well dressed up. Ran into me, got into a limo. I imagine these are from the people assisting with the gibsons." A glance at his watch, "Well, professor, I do appreciate your assistance in this." The teacher seems taken aback by this sudden change in position, but nods. "All, right, Mr. McCarter. If there's anything else I can do to help do let me know...I don't want any trouble to be caused at anyone's expense, but Eric's such a bright boy...I'd hate to lose him as a student."
Reynard nods once. "It may not be him, but I was hired by the assistant principle after a few days; someone was bragging on line, and word got to him. I'll have a word with Eric, see about this whole mess. Thank you, Professor; don't worry, I'm sure he didn't do it." A wane smile, "Half the chases are unfruitful." He turns, moving quickly out the door. Stepping out into the hallway, hand more absently at his side, close to the butt of his pistol, simply out of habit and caution. Ears still attentive inside the class, but he does peer about for the supposedly packing man. But, the redhead appears to have dissapeared completely. There are a few people in the hall, but none of them are him.
Noting the two students heading his way, from the direction Curly was going, the hunter slips a warm smile onto his features, and moves past them, glancing about as if lost. "Excuse me," He smooths to one of them, "There was another fellow, he had curly hair, a leather jacket. Might you assist me; did you happen to spot which way Peter went?"
The girl seems startled, but then smiles friendly-like. "Oh, him? Yeah, I spotted him right off...he went out the front door." Reynard offers a thankful smile. "Quite good, thank you miss." He meets eyes for a brief moment, before heading at a brisk pace to the front door. One of the girls giggles as Reynard moves past, but he does not turn to see which. The redhead does not seem to be in the immediate area of the main lobby, nor, from looking out the glass doors, just outside the building. Reynard frowns. Where did Curly go? Something made him itch about the fellow; it was the gun, as much as the expression. Still determined to find out something, Reynard pushes past, and slides out of the door, still keeping alert. However, his attempt proves fruitless. Scanning the parking lot reveals no redhead. Bollocks. He couldn't have just dissapeared into this air...could he?
Sasha sits on the edge of one of the beds in the hotel room, looking squarely at Lupis. "Did I, perhaps, not impress to you the seriousness of the situation back in LA, Lupis? I don't mind what you do on your own time, as long as it doesn't interfere with the mission." She sniffs the air. "Was she good? I can still smell her on you." she remarks coolly. Yin is sitting on the bed, watching TV as is custom, and reacts to none of this, as is also custom.
Lupis sets his guitar case down, and gestures to the huge tear down the front of his shirt. "I got into some trouble last night. Didn't even get to hook up with my friends." He smirks at her last question, and says, "And no, Sasha, good is not a word for her. Twisted and Evil are better choices. Look, it's not what you think."
Sasha blinks, suddenly shifting from irritation and anger, to concern. "What do you mean? What happened?" Lupis sits down in one of the chairs, and pulls out a pack of Marlboros. He lights one, wondering if he can avoid the question. He decides he can't, and that he'd better tell Sasha the truth, as much as he doesn't want to talk about it. "I went to the Abyssal Fire club to meet my friends, the Nyte Krawlers. Suddenly, next thing I remember, I'm actually in the Abyss." He takes a drag, and exhales, sighing. Sasha watches him, bemused. "I spent the night in the lovely infernal realms of hell, Sasha. It took me until 10:30 this morning to get away. The demon that tainted my blood found me, and sucked me down below for a chat. "
Lupis falls silent and smokes, taking deep, rapid drags on his cigarette. He looks extremely uncomfortable, and even fidgets in his chair, like he's a kid who's been caught doing bad by grandma. Sasha's eyes open wide, looking shocked...and then chagrined. It takes several seconds before she can form a response. "I was worried that one of the group's assorted pasts would come back to haunt us sometime...but not now, not so soon...how did you get away?"
Lupis shrugs, and pulls out another smoke, lighting it off the butt of the first one. Somehow, the first was almost finished in almost no time "Basically? I told her off. We argued for a while. She kept trying to win me over with empty promises. Finally she got in a miff over my stubborness, and sent me back here to the real world. Unfortunately, time there doesn't seem to work like it does here, so three hours turned in to ten, and I was late. I came straight here."
Sasha sighs, standing up and laying a hand on Lupis's shoulder, in apology. "I'm sorry, Lupis. I assumed the worst of you from your reputation, and you deserve better than that, especially from me." Lupis smirks. "Didn't know I had a rep." He looks up at Sasha, an eery green glow emanating from behind his sunglasses. "Don't worry about it, babe." He reaches up to pat Sasha's hand reasuringly.
Sasha shakes her head. "I will, Lupis. The same way I worry about us all. Overconfidence killed the last Coincidence #8. Maybe paranoia will save this one." She sighs. "Well, I should update you on what else we've found out...."
Lupis says, "Yeah, well, I'll be a lot more paranoid myself, now that she's found me again. Guess I was kidding myself that I could slip away so easily. Yeah, what's the deal?"
Sasha takes a moment to show Lupis the new letter from Sauvagine, which Nikki printed a hardcopy of. Then she reiterates that she'd dropped Reynard and Nikki off at the campus....she reccomends then, that they should go down there as well, to pick up Lupis's student ID, and possibly meet with the others.
Lupis says, "I'm going to school, huh? I wanted to go there anyway, so talk to the student union reps, see if I can set up a gig for my friends." Sasha nods thoughtfully. "That's not a bad idea, actually...you mentioned that earlier, in case we needed a diversion..." Lupis says, "Yeah, no better diversion for a run on a university campus then a rowdy rock 'n' roll show. Security guards hate it when kids are having fun...."
Lupis stands up, and grabs his guitar case. "I'll follow you, since you know the way already." Sasha smiles and nods. She glances at the guitar. "You gonna carry that around with you everywhere?" Lupis shrugs with a toothy grin. "I feel naked without it. Beside, I won't look like much of a music student if I'm not packing an axe. Uh.. that's slang for a guitar."
Lupis gives her a look then over the top of his shades. "C'mon. Let's roll, babe." Sasha laughs. "Oh very well...come along then." She gives Lupis a look when he calls her babe, but then gives up and doesn't say anything.
After Nikki warned Reynard about going too far and agreeing to meet with him in the tech center, she turns towards what is obviously the Admin building and starts walking towards it, trying not to act or feel out of place. College was something she was looking forward to, but plans change. As she enters, the Admin building appears to have lots of signs: Bursar's Office, Admissions, Student Services, Student Employment, Financial Aid. There's a small gaggle of students going this way and that, one or two boys giving Nikki admiring glances as they go past.
Nikki chews her lip and flags one of them down to get directions. The boy she catches can't be much older than her...perhaps a freshman. He's dressed smartly in semiformal shirt and slacks, with short cropped blond hair. "Yes? What can I do for you?" Nikki smiles. "Uhm. Yeah...I was looking for the kiosk that dispenses ID cards. I've ordered replacements and need to pick them up."
The boy laughs. "You must be new around here. Yeah, it can be a little confusing at first. You pick up replacement cards from the Student Services window, down there." He says kindly. He seems to give a look that implies he hopes she has other questions, just so she'd stick around.
Nikki ohhs and glances down the hall. "I'd've figured they'd have a machine doing that." She gives him a smile. "Thanks." The boy sadly gives a wave, watching her go down the hall. Nikki walks down the hall to the Student Services window and gets in the line. Looks like Lupis is going to have to get his own card. The line moves...like most student lines do. Slowly. But finally, she's at the counter, and a woman that couldn't be more excited if she were a postal teller looks at Nikki. "What can I do for you." she asks in a voice that implies she's less than thrilled with her current job.
Nikki leans on the counter. "Hi. Uh. I'm Jessica Nollans and I ordered a replacement card. I'm just here to pick it up?"
The woman looks at her, and calls something up on her computer. She looks between it and her a couple times, as if scrutinizing her. And then she nods, and reaches in a drawer, pulling out the new ID. "Here ya go. Please sign here that you picked it up."
Nikki grins and signs 'Jessica Nollans' with a quick flourish. This is too easy. Heh. The woman seems satisfied, and waves Nikki on. Nikki nods and takes the card, keeping it palmed as she can't really pocket it safely: her pockets only last as long as she stay solid. I'm gonna have to have someone buy me a purse. She steps out into the sun and squints a bit, looking towards the Tech Center.
In the glare of the sun, walking towards the Technical Center, she catches the view of a man getting into a convertible in the parking lot between the Admin building and the Tech Center...as he pulls out of the space and turns to exit, she absently notes he has bright red curly hair. Nikki's eyes widen in semming recognition and she starts to run towards the lot, hoping to at least catch the license plate number. No fucking way...I pushed that son-of-a-bitch off a ten story building... She absently presses her ID into her pocket as she runs, wanting both her hands free.
As the car swerves around the parking lot, heading down a streetto the right of the Tech building, she just barely catches the license plate number...she also notices Reynard outside the front of the tech building, who likewise spots the car.
On the opposite side of the parking lot, Reynard smiles lightly as he sees the red-haired man he saw earlier driving past. Ah hah. Gotcha. He tips his head, and tries to catch the fellow's licence plate. Unfortunately, he doesn't manage this as dust gets blown into his eyes from the backlash. Before he can react further, the car is around the corner.
Reynard rubs the dust off his sunglasses, and gives a displeased little grunt, before glancing about. Spotting Nikki running towards him, he waves. As she comes close, he can tell shehas a dark expression on her face: an unhealthy mix of determination and hatred.
Reynard gives a rueful smile. "Got hit on by a college boy, eh?" Nikki turns her glare towards Reynard and then deflates a little at his ludicrous joke. "No...I saw someone...looked an awful lot like the bastard that killed me and my brother...but...I'm not sure...it can't have been. I scared him off the side of a building."
Reynard glances after the car, considering. "Saw a fellow, looked like he had a piece. Was hoping to get a peek at his licence plate." He shrugs, as he turns back to Nikki. "Find anything? Or just get your ID?"
Nikki ignores his question, however, latching on to his earlier comment. "A piece? You mean a gun? Did he have red hair?" she asks rapidfire. Reynard thinks a moment. "Right on. Red hair, freckles, leather jacket."
Nikki blinks. "Freckles..." She clenches her fists a little. "I got the number...we'll look it up later. I'll...just have to kill him again." The idea of that seems to brighten her day a little. Reynard's brows arch a little. He glances after the car, commenting absently, "Y'know, death didn't seem to stop you." Nikki nods and glances up at him. "Yeah...but maybe it's more permenant for people that deserve it."
Reynard spreads his hands in response. "Anyway, I got a little out of a professor. I think we might have a lead. A very, very small one."
Nikki nods. "Good...oh...and 'Antonio Ramirez' - that's Lupis - will have to pick up his own card...they have an actual live person checking to make sure you look like your picture. If you could call her alive. I'm more alive than her."
Reynard gives a slight smirk, and taps the girl on the nose. "Sure are. I'd like you to do something." Nikki blinks and looks up at him curiously. "Like what?" Reynard grins. "I'd like you to snoop around our Professor's office. Invisible, of course."
Nikki nods slowly. "Which professor would that be?" Reynard shrugs. "Dash, of course," He replies. "The project he's working on is Munifican. I was thinking that, if we find his office soon enough," A glance at the class schedules, "He has about twenty minutes left of this class. We find it, and you can snoop about; if need be, I can detour him."
Nikki nods. "Alright...sounds like fun. You should know that I can only do a minimal of moving things around when I'm invisible, though.
Spreading his hands Reynard gives a grin. "I know you'll improvise."
Nikki grins. "Well...time is short, I guess. Reynard gives a nod. "Well then, let's be going. Curly can wait another time." Nikki bites her lip. "Okay...I wonder why he's here, though." She contemplates that as she walks quickly towards the computer building with Reynard.
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