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(Setting) Ampersand Investigations
| > BANG!
> The man's pistol has been fired into the dartboard on his wall.
"Sufficient."
| > A young woman paces anxiously outside, making sure to keep just out of sight. She looks quite disheveled and possibly sleep deprived.
> The woman yelps at the sound of a gunshot coming from inside the building. She panics for a few seconds before deciding to peek inside the door, eyes searching the room for signs of danger.
"E-excuse me..."
| > Otherwise unmoving, the man's eyes snap to the woman.
"Come in. I was just testing my new weapon."
> The man takes a long drink from a mug of coffee, his eyes still locked on the woman.
| >The woman walks timidly toward the desk, clutching a leather purse. She pushes hair away from her face before speaking in a shaky voice.
"I guess I'll cut to the chase. I need you to investigate a certain person, a relative of mine. Y-you can call me Elisa, by the way. May I sit?"
>Elisa's eyes wander around the room out of both curiosity and intimidation.
| "Please, have a seat. Would you like something to drink? I find ginger tea is excellent for nerves."
> The man clears loose papers into a folder on his desk.
"You may call me Ampersand, or Ryuzaki. Either one is perfectly acceptable."
| > You notice that the room, while clean, has an air of unkemptness. There's a door behind the desk with a sign reading "PRIVATE".
| "I'm afraid I'm not much of a tea person, but thanks for the offer."
>Elisa takes a seat across the desk from the man. She's quiet for a moment before continuing.
"...Actually, I think I'll have some water. My throat is kind of sore."
| "Of course."
> The man disappears through the door before returning with a glass of water.
"Now, you said you needed a relative investigated? Why is that?"
| >The woman mutters a thank you before taking a sip from the glass. Its freshness is a nice change from the water quality at home.
"I'm afraid she's involved in online terrorism. She's always been a hacktivist, but she might have gotten in over her head. I think she's joined a criminal group."
| "It's not unheard of. Do you have any information on her, online handles et cetera...?"
> He's fiddling with a pencil.
| "Oh yeah, I have them all written down on a paper. Very old school, I know, but paper can't be hacked."
>She pulls out a sealed envelope from her purse and places it on the desk.
"It includes her name, any online info I know of and contacts. She probably has a lot of secret identities I don't know of, though. Do you think this is enough?"
| > An unknown woman with short gradient blue to black hair leans against the wall next to the entrance of the building. On her right ear is a sound tracing mechanism that allows her to listen in on the conversation. Chewing on gum casually while listening she stuffs her hands into her tight black jeans and relaxes with her eyes closed as she listens in.
| "This will be more than sufficient. You can pay me when the job is done."
> The man suddenly snaps his eyes right back to you.
"Thank you. I will begin immediately."
> The man gets up and goes to the room marked PRIVATE.
| > He exits.
"Thank you for your business. Now, if the woman listening in could please step inside the room, I will not need to fire."
> The man's pistol is pointed at the door.
| >A man with a briefcase and a duffle bag passes by the office. Is he wearing a Bulletproof vest?
| If you fire, you're going to be fired at back and eventually one of us is going to die. You can ask me again nicely and I might be more forthcoming.
> The woman replied casually without moving an inch.
| "I don't take kindly to eavesdropping. I'll ask you again. Please, come inside and have a seat, and no firearms need be discharged."
> The gun doesn't shake even a little bit.
| >Elisa slowly stands up and takes cover at a wall. She whispers to Ampersand.
"Do you know who she is?"
| "I don't take kindly to being threatened."
> She'd say while slowly pushing herself off of the wall and lazily opening the door with her foot. Her dark blue eyes slipped over the image of a man with a briefcase temporarily before her slow and relaxed gait led her inside.
"But I'll forgive you since you asked nicely~. Let it not be said that you don't have manners, Mister Ampersand."
| "No."
> The man's voice wavers as he says it.
| >The man stops at the apartment entrance next to the office, and begins to do something to the electrical lock.
| "Please, Detective will suffice. Did you have business other than spying on me?"
> He hasn't put the gun down.
| >Elisa glances at the woman. She considers saying something, but decides to let Ampersand handle it. He probably knows what he's doing.
| >The woman didn't appear to be phased by the gun. She gazed at him nearly as if she wasn't even at gun point.
"Mister Ampersand is fine. I'll talk business when you put that away. Otherwise you can just shoot and have to either clean your floor or hope I don't have a faster draw."
| "Is that your man that's currently fiddling with the lock on the apartment door? Or is he yet another criminal?"
> The man makes no move to put the gun down.
| >The man in the Parka gives up, and shots the suppresed vp9 at the lock. The lock fails and unlocks.
(Don't worry, AM gonna be back in a few.)
| (And ive let go of my mystery, damn it.)
| > The woman shrugged casually. Then she drew a lighter from her right hand, careful to make sure he saw it was a regular zippo lighter and a pack of cigarettes. She'd showed her hands. Now she was preparing to light up. Now she was lighting up.
"Dunno 'em."
| >Elisa grabs the tip of her right hand's middle finger with the hand holding the purse. She pulls off the leather glove covering the hand, eyes narrowing like a cornered cat's.
| "Mmm."
> Finally, he puts the gun to his side.
"Your business?"
|
|
| (sorry about those, im a dumb)
| "Curiosity. You know those old Mick Acey movies they used to play on the holo-screens years ago? Used to have my face pressed against the glass protectors when I was a kid."
> She releases a soft vapor of smoke from her nostrils after taking her first draw and ensuring that her cigarette was well lit.
"When I heard there was a real private eye about I had to come see for myself...or hear. I'd planned to introduce myself after I was done, but eh. This works."
| "I think it quite rude that you would eavesdrop on us like that! That was private business!" Elisa hisses, glaring at the woman.
| > Woman looked at Elisa and raised a brow.
"Not from Glitch City, huh? Don't worry. Unless he shoots me nothing's gonna happen."
| "Psssh. In this town nothing is private. You can argue all you want. Someone somewhere is eavesdropping and much better at it than me."
| "It isn't out of the question. I take client confidentiality very seriously. Can I offer you some tea?"
| "Oh that's real comforting, lady. Is everyone in this city so... Shady?"
>Elisa asks.
| > She lifted her gaze toward Ampersand and then looked around thoughtfully. She took another drag from her cigarette and finally, slowly, slipped her way toward a seat and sat down. No hurry what-so-ever.
"...Got any Arnold Palmer?"
> She glanced toward Elisa.
"Yup. Beware the ones that aren't. Those are the ones you look out for."
| >Elisa blinks slowly. If the not shady ones were the dangerous ones... Does that include Elisa? That wouldn't make much sense.
"That's interesting logic. What about me?"
| "Half lemonade, half tea. An odd choice for someone in GC. It happens to be a favorite of mine. I'll fetch it. Touch my client and you'll be dead before you hit the ground."
> With that, he goes into the PRIVATE room, presumably to get a drink.
| "You've never watched a detective movie, huh, lady? A favorite old and tired plot twist is that the lady giving the detective the case is actually the culprit or an accomplice. So you're already super shady. Worse than me actually!"
> She'd say with a laugh before gazing over at Ampersand, eyes half lit. A soft shrug followed once more, her favorite gesture apparently.
"He sure is threateny."
| "I prefer it that way. If he was some wuss, I wouldn't be hiring him!"
>Elisa hesitantly walks towards the woman.
"What you said earlier, is it really why youre here? Out of curiosity?"
| "Do *you* often lie at gun point, Ma'am?"
> She replied with an amused smile. Then she glanced away thoughtfully...her eyes wandered and she closed them.
"Yeah. It was out of curiosity. Detectives are cool so...I wanted to see one up close. When this place opened up and I figured out what it was about I thought I'd have a look...and well here we are."
| >Elisa can't help but smile a bit.
"That's adorable. You're like a nerd from the countryside coming to a big city to see the high tech."
| > The detective exits the room with the requested drink.
"If I may ask - why were you eavesdropping? And don't try and lie to me - these walls are thinner than a typical alibi."
| "Didn't want to interrupt."
> She'd say casually while sitting up in her chair and leaning forward to try and accept the drink.
" That and I gotta admit sounds like this could get interesting. Figured it might be fun to see if I could figure things out before you did or even help for fun. I figured you'd say no because you're running a business and don't want to pay me, even more so if I said I'd help for free, because it was suspicious. So I went for plan C."
| > The woman paused and eyed Elisa.
"...That's oddly specific. You really aren't from GC?"
| "No, I'm not. My family is split in half, with some living here and some elsewhere. I recently moved here to join the half that does live in GC. That includes the person I came to mister Ampersand for."
| "What a dilemma I've been presented with."
> The detective shakes his head.
"I can't kill you, because you've obviously got a contingency in case of that, and I can't just let you go either."
| > The gradient haired woman turned to face the detective with a grin before pausing just as she was about to sip the Arnold Palm. She examined it carefully.
"So does that mean you're going to let me tag along? I promise not to be any trouble~. This is too exciting to mess up!"
| "You may not be trouble, but do you know what you're doing? This could get ugly if I'm right about her."
| "Ugh. I don't really have a choice. Until this case is over, I can't let you leave."
> The man sighs.
"Elisa, is it alright if she's on this case with me? It is your case, so it's up to you."
| "She's got a point. You're inexperienced."
| > She shrugged softly and took off her earpiece.
"Do you know what this is? It's a sound tracer. What these do is record sound patterns of a given area and translates them into digital audio. If you're good you can squeeze conversation out of these vibrations in little scrambled bits that barely make sense...If you're great..."
>She trails off and pushes the playback button. As clear as a bell's toll their entire conversation nearly twenty minutes prior followed.
| > Notably the playback was so clean that only Elisa and Ampersand's voices were present in the recording. No background noise. No static. Nothing. Just words.
|
| >Elisa's eyes go wide. Without thinking she grabs the gadget from the woman's hand and holds it in a light, examining it.
"Amazing... I've never heard of someone doing that! You can join the case."
>She smiles, cheeks blushed from amazement like her red hair.
| "..."
> Ampersand realizes he's still standing and sits at the desk.
"Color me impressed. Be here tomorrow morning sometime around noon, I'll have your first assignment ready."
| (math class, might have to slow down a bit)
| (alright)
| > She seemed unbothered by Elisa's actions and even laughed a little at her excitement. She really was an adorable nerd from the countryside. She let her have her fun while gazing over casually at Ampersand and shooting a plume of cigarette smoke away from him and the woman out of courtesy.
"Awesome! Well...You can call me REM. Nice to meet you two~."
| > At the name, the man falters for a brief moment.
"Good to meet you too. Be safe, there's some nasty characters about."
| "Ah, then I've met you before. In my sleep! Get it, it was... I'll shut up,the sleep deprivation is making me tell bad jokes."
>Elisa smiles awkwardly and slips the sound tracer back to REM.
| > REM slowly raised a brow and half-smiled at Elisa.
"I've heard that one before but that was the first time it was actually funny. Must be because you aren't hitting on me."
>Shooting the joke back she took the sound tracer back and looked Ampersand over thoughtfully.
"What's that reaction for?"
| "Nothing. Your name is similar to that of a previous client, nothing more."
> He still looks a little perturbed.
| > Shrugging softly she pulled her cigarette from between her lips and held it in her fingers thoughtfully.
"So. Is this your most secure place we can talk? Because I'm just as curious about that guy outside as you are."
| "Well then, I think that's all. I'll give you my contact information and-"
>Elisa is cut off by her phone buzzing. She scrambles to get it out of her purse, dropping it on the floor because of her tired fingers.
"Damn! Oh, that's strange. The caller's using something to hide their number... Should I answer?"
| >AM enters the apartment block, get to the roof of the building, and leaves his duffle bag just outside the door to the roof. He opens his briefcase and begins assembling something.
| >Turns out It's his rifle. The SPR300AM. He finishes carefully putting it together. He takes aim with the scope. and fires.
| > Ampersand nods.
"Go ahead."
| >AnoMeat cycles the action on the rifle, and prepares to do another shot.
| >AnoMeat takes another shot.
| >Elisa answers the call, raising the phone to her ear.
"Hello, who is this?"
>She waits for a response but gets none. Confused, she makes sure she didn't accidentally reject the call. Turning the volume all the way up, she can hear a hum, like that of a fan.
"Nobody's answering. Maybe it was a pocket dial?"
>She puts the call on speaker, but drops the phone again when a gunshot is heard. The phone's battery falls out.
"Aahh! What was that?"
| >AnoMeat keeps looking through the scope, seems like he is expecting something
| "I expect it's our man on the roof. I'll have a look - stay here."
> Ampersand grabs the pistol and walks to the roof entrance.
| (Seriously... how the hell did he hear that?)
"Ampersand, does the purchase suffice?"
>AnoMeat says while he begins to disassemble his rifle.
| "Wha- no! I'm coming along!"
>Elisa says, placing her purse on the desk to free her hands.
| "It does. I see that you aren't threatening my client, so I'll be taking my leave now."
| >AnoMeat finishes packing his rifle in to the duffle, the briefcase left at the roof as a decoy. He slings the duffle on to his back, and looks for a diffrent way out, be it jump to another roof top, climb down.
| >Elisa peeks around a corner at the strange man and mumbles.
"Oh geez. This is causing me some serious morbid curiosity."
| >Or doesn't... He leaves peacefully out of the apartment. Hood up, scarf covering his face.
| "Don't follow me."
| "Wasn't planning on it."
| >Elisa doesn't follow as much as she happens to stumble repeatedly. The stumbling is pretty slow however, so she only hears Ampersands say... Something and a suspicious man leaving.
| >She then makes a quick retreat back to the office.
| >AnoMeat gets a few blocks closer to the local scrapyard, and hide out in the alleyway. There he pulls out his 417AM, loads it, cocks it.
(see you at the scrapper!)
| > REM's casually playing...videogames? Yup. She'd used to GC's nonsense.
"Oh. You're back. Have fun checking out dangerous shit, Elisa?"
| "Dangerous? I preferthe word cool. But then again, I'm kind of naive..."
>Elisa peers over her shoulder
"What's that?"
| > REM's videogame seemed to actually be a hacked security camera. She'd somehow virtually rigged it so that she could control the hacked camera's directions and zoom. It was at first aimed at the scrapyard. Seemed some interesting things were going on over there.
"Something that's over."
> After replying she pressed the 'home' button and a normal screen appeared. Filled with digital games, a veritable library for a bored gamer.
| "Did either of you hear an explosion a while ago?"
| "Heard it. Unrelated to the case."
| (Damn. Amp is cold AF.)
| "I'd hope so considering what was over there." < REM laughed softly.
"If her sister was caught in that dumpster fire...I'd be *really* worried."
>Flicks her glance toward Ampersand.
"So you already have leads. What'd you want me to do?"
| "I'll be honest - I have no idea. You weren't exactly part of the initial plan."
> Ampersand thinks for a moment.
"I don't suppose you know how to pick locks? I've decided that our first stop should be the subject's apartment."
| "Sure. GG EZ."
> REM closed one eye and smiled lazily.
" Digital, physical, mechanical...I'm good with locks. Where we headed then? Is Elisa coming?"
> REM dramatically turned to loop a playful arm around Elisa's waist before drawing her closer.
"Time for an adventure, Sweets! You rea---Wait...Wouldn't you have a key to her apartment?"
> REM looked at Elisa with a blank expression.
| "I don't, actually. Her door has face recognition."
| "Hmmn. How much do you two favor? Do you have a picture?"
| "Yeah, I think so. I'll just... Put my phone back together..."
>Elisa puts her phone battery back in place and presses the power on button. The screen lights up.
"Thank gods it didnt break. Now let's see... How's this?"
>Elisa holds out a picture she took with her sister. The biggest difference are the sister's piercings, of which she has quite a few.
| > She leaned over to look closer at the phone carefully. Her eyes sharply looked over the imagine as if she were trying to figure out a code.
"Geeze. You two could be twins."
> Laughing softly she leaned back a little and tilted her head before opening her closed eye.
"...Hmmmn...With some tweaking I could probably get you to pass for your sister on the scan. The only real issue is whether or not she's smart and has smart nodes in her peircings."
| "I wouldn't know. She's really secretive at least, so, maybe."
>Elisa browses through her phone for any pictures of her sister's apartment.
"I have a few pics taken at her place. Should I send them to you? So you can think of a plan B just in case."
| > REM nodded lightly and flipped her handheld around. She hit an application a certain way and a cellphone screen came on. Then she flipped a switch.
"Wireless' on. Jump me those pictures."
>She glanced at Elisa with an amused smile and released her waist. She'd had her arm around the woman the entire time and she'd never noticed or seemed to care!
"Elisa I took you for being the shy mousey type...You ain't after all, huh?"
| "So Amp. When do you wanna hit this apartment?"
| "I usually am! Shy and mousey, that is. But now, with you two around I guess I feel safe enough to just be excited. I mean damn, my life is turning into a thriller!"
>Elisa grins.
"Either that or Im becoming delirious. I really need to sleep tonight."
| "Tomorrow. I'm staking it out tonight - get a look at her schedule."
| "Yeah I'd say you could use some sleep. I don't mind you being excited, I sure as hell am~. But safety isn't common in Glitch City. Make sure you stay at someone's place tonight, okay?"
> REM said with an easy grin, though she was being serious. Weird shit was going on these days.
| >>96678 "Gotcha. I'll just prep for what I gotta do then. Elisa you jumping me those pictures or what?"
| "Sure, I guess. I'll figure something out. How will you tell us when and where to meet tomorrow, mister Ampersand?"
| "Yeah, sent them. Sorry, it was laggy."
| "Charlie, would you mind coming with u-us?"
>Cain asks the little boy.
| > Grinning playfully.
"Well Miss Elisa, since we're honorary Detective's Assistant and Detective's Client, maybe you can stay at my place tonight? It's just roomy enough for two~!"
> REM looked down at her handheld and glanced over the pictures. She tapped at the screen like it was a smart phone and every gesture caused the screen to respond.
"Hm. Okay. I see what we can do..." ( You're going to GM the apartment when we play with it, right? )
| ( WHOOPS WRONG TAB FAILURE. Lmfao retcon that.)
| ( Oh. Wait...I'm good.)
| "If thats fine with you, sure!"
(I've never GM'd before, but I get the gist of it. I shall do my best!)
| > REM raised a brow at Elisa and shrugged lightly.
"Yeah I'm cool with it. Just don't stab me in my sleep okay?"
> Laughing REM got up from the chair and knocked back the Arnold Palmer. It seemed clean after careful examination so she didn't bother worrying about it. She flipped her handheld around in her palm and beckoned Elisa to follow with her chin.
"Unless you need us, Amper...I'm headed back home to work on our 'lock pick'."
| "Thank you for taking on the case, mister Ampersand!"
>Elisa smiles gratefully and hurries after REM, barely remembering to take her purse from the desk.
| ( Guess I'll go ahead and make a thread! )
| > Ampersand collapses at his desk.
"Ughhhh... what a day."
| > Under Ampersand's desk was a folded sheet of paper under his desk. If he found it he'd find REM's phone number and e-mail. 'I'm sure you could have figured it out, but let's not waste time~.'
|
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| > A cool breeze comes through an open window, shifting the papers on the large mahogany desk.
> A man with unkempt black hair sits at the desk, lost in thought.
> The sign on the door blinks OPEN.