High Fantasy - Route 66 [update 12-16]
Acquana
First Post
Yay! I am now able to get back on the boards again. Oh the frustration ...
Well, anyhoo, I don't have a major update, but I do have one. It's now time for Rumors Around the Bureau!
During the time the PCs are in training, they become accustomed to BMM life, and hear what the other agents talk about in their spare time. While most try to remain professional about cases, everything else is fair game. The big buzz is about Terrance Marks, who you may or may not remember from the first time the PCs were confronted by BMM agents. He's a fairly recognizable member of the psions, having a far larger share of nervous conditions than he should. Aside from being a severe asthmatic, he has a habit of constantly washing his hands and breathing heavily whenever in small rooms or enclosed spaces.
Pretty much everyone had heard of his rather embarrassing encounter with a mundane. Marks had been forced to block the memories of a forest ranger on multiple occasions, but he accidentally ran into the forest ranger again while on mission. The encounter sparked something in the mundane and the guy somehow recognized that Marks had mindwiped him. And thus while Terrance was trying to help other agents quell a dispute some backwoods Elves were having (in Dublin, Georgia), the forest ranger snuck up on Terrance and demanded his memories back. Terrance put up a good fight, but the mentally resilient mundane managed to squeeze the breath out of him and make him pass out. While the mundane was restrained by the other agents, Terrance's lacking performance has been a light topic of conversation since then (this had happened only a few days prior to the PCs joining the BMM).
However, while the PCs are in training this has mostly been forgotten. Jared hears from the other psions that something worse has happened. Less than two weeks before the Olympics, Terrance disappeared. J'Qwuan had received no warning or even two weeks notice, instead finding a written resignation on his desk. This is big news, but the psion half of the Bureau has kept it under wraps, preferring the rest of the BMM not know they have a rogue agent on their hands. It's one of the very, very few times a psion has done anything like this, and finding him has been high on J'Qwuan's priority list.
Jared has informed the other PCs, but mostly in passing conversation. Of course why Terrance left the Bureau is a mystery. No one is sure quite why, perhaps for the stain on his reputation, perhaps out of fear of J'Qwuan for something more sinister ... It's anyone's guess right now.
So that's the Big Buzz around the agent's dining hall. Another actual update will be coming up soon.
Well, anyhoo, I don't have a major update, but I do have one. It's now time for Rumors Around the Bureau!
During the time the PCs are in training, they become accustomed to BMM life, and hear what the other agents talk about in their spare time. While most try to remain professional about cases, everything else is fair game. The big buzz is about Terrance Marks, who you may or may not remember from the first time the PCs were confronted by BMM agents. He's a fairly recognizable member of the psions, having a far larger share of nervous conditions than he should. Aside from being a severe asthmatic, he has a habit of constantly washing his hands and breathing heavily whenever in small rooms or enclosed spaces.
Pretty much everyone had heard of his rather embarrassing encounter with a mundane. Marks had been forced to block the memories of a forest ranger on multiple occasions, but he accidentally ran into the forest ranger again while on mission. The encounter sparked something in the mundane and the guy somehow recognized that Marks had mindwiped him. And thus while Terrance was trying to help other agents quell a dispute some backwoods Elves were having (in Dublin, Georgia), the forest ranger snuck up on Terrance and demanded his memories back. Terrance put up a good fight, but the mentally resilient mundane managed to squeeze the breath out of him and make him pass out. While the mundane was restrained by the other agents, Terrance's lacking performance has been a light topic of conversation since then (this had happened only a few days prior to the PCs joining the BMM).
However, while the PCs are in training this has mostly been forgotten. Jared hears from the other psions that something worse has happened. Less than two weeks before the Olympics, Terrance disappeared. J'Qwuan had received no warning or even two weeks notice, instead finding a written resignation on his desk. This is big news, but the psion half of the Bureau has kept it under wraps, preferring the rest of the BMM not know they have a rogue agent on their hands. It's one of the very, very few times a psion has done anything like this, and finding him has been high on J'Qwuan's priority list.
Jared has informed the other PCs, but mostly in passing conversation. Of course why Terrance left the Bureau is a mystery. No one is sure quite why, perhaps for the stain on his reputation, perhaps out of fear of J'Qwuan for something more sinister ... It's anyone's guess right now.
So that's the Big Buzz around the agent's dining hall. Another actual update will be coming up soon.
RangerWickett
Legend
Jessica's college is being difficult, refusing to let anyone online until every PC is inspected for viruses. So she can't update, at least not until the weekend, probably.
Acquana
First Post
Whoo hoo! Update!
Chapter Three: Bridges and Bombs
July 27, 1996
Atlanta, Georgia
The PCs have spent the last day in Atlanta, chillin.’ Trudi insisted on going to the Coke Museum with Jared, Alex, and Twilight; Del and Watanabe both went off by themselves, possibly to commune with nature around various parks. In the evening, they all meet at the Cheesecake Factory downtown.
They’re all rather relaxed--even Jared so long as he doesn’t think about the afternoon before. Del is using her disguise that makes her look like a very short woman as opposed to a child, so she orders alcohol. Twilight does as well, though as soon as it’s brought to her she simply places it in front of Sokar, who eagerly begins to down it. The sight of the bat and brownie slowly getting drunk is enough to amuse everyone. The group does talk a bit about the Dark Lady and the Knights of the Round, though Alex insists no one should worry about it while not on duty.
While finishing up desert, Alex receives a call. He answers, speaks into it for a few moments, then in frustration hangs up. “Sorry, guys ... I really hate to do this, but we’re needed. We’ve been called in.”
The group piles into their van, and Alex explains the situation to them: “Whenever there are large gatherings, really large ones, then that naturally attracts monsters who can sense it. Like the sewer demons yesterday.”
“Heck,” Del says, still tipsy, “Even I feel more comfortable around Atlanta right now.”
Alex shrugs. “So yeah. We’ve got a bridge troll downtown. And we’re available.”
As soon as they cross the fine line between the downtown highlife into derelict inner city they see their target. A lumbering, massive form lurks beneath the shadows of an overpass. The troll steps fully into the beams of the headlights as the van nears it; the PCs get their first glimpse of moss-covered flesh and trunklike limbs.
Watanabe lets out a disgusted growl. She’s the first to notice the blood on its long fingers and the pile of freshly stripped bones under the overpass, barely peering out into the light.
As the van stops and the Knights begin to step out cautiously, the troll grins broadly.
“Toll,” it demands in a low, sloppy voice.
“Sorry,” Alex says. “Bureau for the Management of Magicks.”
Impatiently the troll folds its arms.
“Maybe we shouldn’t fight this one,” Del whispers to Alex.
Alex begins to say something official, but is left somewhat speechless as the troll raises itself to its full height.
“WOAH! You’re big! WANNA SPAR?!” Trudi blurts out.
The troll snorts. “Toll. Wasting my time.”
“You mean the time you were using to kill mundanes?” Watanabe offers, pointing to the hole in the overpass wall.
“Didn’t pay toll.”
A blaring honk from a car follows which makes the Knights jump. None of them had noticed a sedan pulling up on the other side of the overpass. With the large group standing in the car’s way, the only natural response for the driver is to honk like mad. The troll ignores the Knights and instead turns to face the new car. The mundane, after getting a good look at it, tries to get the car in reverse quickly, but is interrupted as the troll slams a hand on the front of the car and holds it in place.
“Toll,” it growls.
The Knights run forward, all pretense of negotiation forgotten. The troll is forced to turn his attentions away from the car (the driver has run out of the vehicle screaming), and to the Knights attacking him. Twilight stays back and summons a dog (whom she has lovingly named Tripod), Del also stays back, finding that she’s been deemed “healing bitch.” Her services are needed fairly quickly when Jared the psion runs directly into combat and gets his shoulder broken. Alex, Trudi, and Watanabe (and Tripod) fight the troll in close combat, Watanabe and Trudi grow more and more frustrated as whatever they inflict on the thing seems to heal all too quickly. Tripod the dog gets too close and is crushed rather brutally, which sends the summon away.
After getting back on his feet, Jared tries the first thing he can think of other than running back into the fray. His silvery shadow, Platinum, appears and at Jared’s command flies forward, passing over the troll with a powerful mind thrust. The troll is thrown off its feet, stunned instantly. As it lets out a gurgle, Alex jumps back from it and shouts frantically at Twilight: “Burning hands! Burning hands now!”
Twilight obeys, and the newbie Knights are startled at the fast pace the troll burns. Alex catches his breath and explains that fire and acid are the weak points of the plantlike trolls.
The Knights face the grisly task of checking the troll’s lair, that is until Alex’s cel rings. He answers, and the others hear one half of a rushed, shocked conversation. Alex hangs up the phone quickly. “Everyone in the car! Now!”
Everyone piles in and Alex orders Jared not to waste even a second. As they rush away from the scene, Alex quickly forces out that the Olympics was attacked less than fifteen minutes before. While mundane police are handling their end, the BMM believes they may have a suspect of their own. For they past few months the BMM has been after a group of thieves who call themselves the Untouchables. They’ve been mostly considered a minor threat, any causalities linked to them were extremely minor. Lead by a minotaur by the name Dirk Bavarus, his small team of small-timers hasn’t had any terrorist motives--until several days before when the Savannah office received a threatening note about the Olympics.
So the Bureau has finally upped the priority level on catching the Untouchables. A hasty divination spell has located them in Atlanta, speeding toward an area called Druid Hills. The Knights will be sent updates.
The PCs are given their last lead as their van rushes into Emory University. The office gives them a license plate number, but their divination trail has gone cold. The PCs are the first Knights to get this far along the trail, and start making circles around the college. Jared is the first to guess that the only reason the Untouchables would’ve head to a college in the first place was to perhaps get another car from the parking garages, and so he turns the van into the first one he sees.
Near the back of the ground floor of the garage, next to a large van, is a small group huddled next to another car--they’re removing the license plate of a smaller car. Those who can see through minor magical disguises can see the extremely tall, wide man who turns to face them is actually a minotaur. Beside him a dwarven woman scowls through the headlights, and next to her a human in his mid-thirties turns paler.
The Knight’s van stops and the Knights step out, most of them trying their best to look intimidating.
“Untouchables,” Alex assumes.
The minotaur stands in front of the dwarven woman and shakes his head. “Ya got us, but we didn’t do it. The bomb thing the radio’s talkin about? We didn’t do it.”
“We still have to take you in,” Alex says firmly. “You’re charged with theft, even if you aren’t terrorists.”
“We were framed!” the minotaur, Dirk Bavarus, snaps.
“If that’s true then you can prove it back at the Bureau,” Jared offers.
A shot rings out and the party jumps. The dwarven woman is now standing, a cigarette hanging from her mouth and a hard expression on her face; she holds a gun in her right hand. “You don’t believe us, fine. But believe me, you don’t want a fight.”
The minotaur growls something in dwarven at her, and instinctively the PCs draw their weapons.
“Put the gun down!” Watanabe demands.
“WANNA SPAR?!” Trudi cries to Dirk.
“Not really, but I guess there’s no choice if you’re not gonna let us go peacefully,” Dirk shrugs.
In one fluid motion Dirk completely rips off the license plate of the Untouchable’s van and throws it at Watanabe. She jumps back and fires blindly. While the first gunshots go off, the human standing with Dirk and the dwarf runs for the back of the van and leaps through the open doors.
Jared figures, ‘Well, it worked once tonight, why not twice?’ and is about to try to use his abilities on the minotaur, when a familiar sensation falls over him.
Don’t even think about it, a voice speaks to him psionically.
“Wha--?”
While the PCs take cover from the dwarf’s shots, Jared looks around to see where the psion must be. His eyes land on a figure which steps out of the van, one he knows.
“That’s Marks! Terrance Marks! Rogue agent!” he cries.
Terrance’s eyes go wide at the sound of his name and he and Jared meet gazes. He stumbles backwards back into the van.
While this is happening Trudi has run up to Dirk and is fighting him hand to hand. His size and width prove to be too much of an advantage as he finally manages to grab her and shove her into Alex. The dwarven woman and Watanabe exchange gunshots, however when Trudi and Alex are knocked down Watanabe curses under her breath. She instead aims for the minotaur and shoots him in the shin. He lets out a roar of pain, which parallels the sound of the Untouchable’s van starting suddenly.
A human woman leans out of the driver side window and shouts for everyone to get inside. The dwarven woman takes a few more pop shots before complying; stumbling and growling, the minotaur steps backwards into the van. “Don’t follow us!” he warns. “And tell the rest of the Bureau the same!”
Seeing they’re about to lose their chance, Jared rushes. With a psionic burst added to his speed, he runs past Alex and Trudi and leaps. Jared slams into the minotaur and the two fall into the van. The doors slam after them and the other Knights stare in horror.
“That ... idiot!” Alex shouts.
Watanabe is forced to be driver (Alex declines Trudi’s offer to drive), and the Knight’s van peels out of the garage. A high speed chase through downtown Atlanta follows, even at nearly eleven at night the streets are packed (especially with the congestion from the attack at the Olympics). The Untouchables detour all over downtown, swerving to avoid being caught in traffic jams. The Knights follow and are finally about to hit I-75, when Watanabe sees the dwarf woman lean out of the passenger side window. She tries to avoid the shot, but the dwarf shoots out one of the front tires. The Knight’s van skids off the road, slamming into a gas station.
When everyone gets their bearings straight, Alex passes out cure spells, Delria picks herself off the dash and groans about how she should’ve been wearing a seatbelt, Watanabe beats the steering wheel furiously and curses about she’ll have to get a shotgun.
_________
Hours later after cleanup is done, Alex’s cel rings. Tired and frustrated, he debates taking it, but finally answers after it persistently rings. “Yeah, yeah. P’tarr here.” A pause. “Jared?! Where are you!”
Jared Belmont stands outside of a gas station in the middle of nowhere outside of Atlanta. Agents pick him up, and when he’s reunited with his teammates he’s bombarded by questions of how he got where he was, what happened in the van, why he’s still alive ... He manages to silence them long enough to explain what happened.
After falling with Dirk Bavarus into the van, he realized he hadn’t planned this out very well. As soon as he looked up he was staring into a pistol being held by the human man the Knight’s had seen only briefly. Beside him was Terrance Marks, the rogue psion. Terrance was rocking back and forth, holding his arms around himself and staring all around the back of the van--the nervous shifting of his eyes dotted with hacking coughs. The human with the gun warned Jared not to try anything.
Jared could only raise his hands and try to remain calm. He was taken aback when he heard the minotaur laughing. Dirk slapped Jared’s shoulder, laughing loudly.
“Holy sh*t! That was hardcore! I can’t believe you did that,” he laughs.
The dwarven woman, sitting shotgun, glares over her shoulder. “Stop congratulating him. The h*ll are we gonna do with him?”
The driver, a woman with blonde hair and a nervous voice, said “Please don’t kill anyone.”
“Haven’t had any reason to yet,” the dwarf replied.
The minotaur only chuckled at Jared’s expression.
Jared lowered an eyebrow at Terrance Marks. “Um ... Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay!” the psion snapped. “I hate being in the back ... hate it. No windows.”
“You’re the one who got in the back, Marks,” the dwarf said.
“Should I lower the gun?” the human holding Jared at gunpoint asked.
“No, not yet, Harry,” the minotaur shook his head. Placing a huge hand on Jared’s shoulder, the minotaur stares hard into the young Knight’s eyes. “Listen. We’re not gonna kill you. So that you can go back to the Bureau and tell them. Tell them we did not bomb the Olympics. We were just passing through.”
“I-I’d really like to believe you. But it’s not up to me ...”
“Sh. Listen. Someone’s after us. Yes, we’re thieves. Yes, we’re criminals. But we’ve never killed anyone.”
“And that was one h*ll of a sloppy bomb in that park,” the dwarf throws in. “If it was mine it would’ve been better.”
Jared took a deep breath. “Can I ask a question?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Terrance ...” Jared began. “What are you doing here?”
Terrance looks up at Jared, wiping sweat off his brow. “Why’d they send you?” he whispers hoarsely, adding a cough to end of his sentence.
“Huh? The BMM doesn’t know where you are, you think they sent me to get you back?”
“Get me back?” Marks repeats sourly, beginning to rub the tops of his hands furiously. A bitter grin crosses his face. “No, no, I guess you weren’t.”
“Why did you go rogue?”
“I had to get away. He was always there ... in my head. And the office ...” Taking shaky, asthmatic breaths, Terrance finally recollected himself. “I hated my office.”
Jared stared at him blankly. “What?”
“Things were being moved around. A lot of computers and things were being moved into my office. There was no room anymore. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“... You left because of claustrophobia?”
“Yes, alright!” he snapped defensively. “There is more ... But that’s the main reason.” When Jared could only stare slack jawed, Marks continued. “I came across the Untouchable’s files by luck. It just appealed to me. They’re always moving. I found them and caught a ride.”
“He’s our new good luck charm,” Dirk adds with a grin. “D*mn it’s great to have someone around who knows how the Bureau works. But sorry, we’re gonna have to cut this short.”
Before Jared could say anything more, Dirk swung his huge fist and the world fell black ...
As Jared finishes his story, his teammates all exchange glances.
Delria rolls her eyes and begins to walk out of the Atlanta office. “I’m gonna go get drunk again,” she grumbles.
Chapter Three: Bridges and Bombs
July 27, 1996
Atlanta, Georgia
The PCs have spent the last day in Atlanta, chillin.’ Trudi insisted on going to the Coke Museum with Jared, Alex, and Twilight; Del and Watanabe both went off by themselves, possibly to commune with nature around various parks. In the evening, they all meet at the Cheesecake Factory downtown.
They’re all rather relaxed--even Jared so long as he doesn’t think about the afternoon before. Del is using her disguise that makes her look like a very short woman as opposed to a child, so she orders alcohol. Twilight does as well, though as soon as it’s brought to her she simply places it in front of Sokar, who eagerly begins to down it. The sight of the bat and brownie slowly getting drunk is enough to amuse everyone. The group does talk a bit about the Dark Lady and the Knights of the Round, though Alex insists no one should worry about it while not on duty.
While finishing up desert, Alex receives a call. He answers, speaks into it for a few moments, then in frustration hangs up. “Sorry, guys ... I really hate to do this, but we’re needed. We’ve been called in.”
The group piles into their van, and Alex explains the situation to them: “Whenever there are large gatherings, really large ones, then that naturally attracts monsters who can sense it. Like the sewer demons yesterday.”
“Heck,” Del says, still tipsy, “Even I feel more comfortable around Atlanta right now.”
Alex shrugs. “So yeah. We’ve got a bridge troll downtown. And we’re available.”
As soon as they cross the fine line between the downtown highlife into derelict inner city they see their target. A lumbering, massive form lurks beneath the shadows of an overpass. The troll steps fully into the beams of the headlights as the van nears it; the PCs get their first glimpse of moss-covered flesh and trunklike limbs.
Watanabe lets out a disgusted growl. She’s the first to notice the blood on its long fingers and the pile of freshly stripped bones under the overpass, barely peering out into the light.
As the van stops and the Knights begin to step out cautiously, the troll grins broadly.
“Toll,” it demands in a low, sloppy voice.
“Sorry,” Alex says. “Bureau for the Management of Magicks.”
Impatiently the troll folds its arms.
“Maybe we shouldn’t fight this one,” Del whispers to Alex.
Alex begins to say something official, but is left somewhat speechless as the troll raises itself to its full height.
“WOAH! You’re big! WANNA SPAR?!” Trudi blurts out.
The troll snorts. “Toll. Wasting my time.”
“You mean the time you were using to kill mundanes?” Watanabe offers, pointing to the hole in the overpass wall.
“Didn’t pay toll.”
A blaring honk from a car follows which makes the Knights jump. None of them had noticed a sedan pulling up on the other side of the overpass. With the large group standing in the car’s way, the only natural response for the driver is to honk like mad. The troll ignores the Knights and instead turns to face the new car. The mundane, after getting a good look at it, tries to get the car in reverse quickly, but is interrupted as the troll slams a hand on the front of the car and holds it in place.
“Toll,” it growls.
The Knights run forward, all pretense of negotiation forgotten. The troll is forced to turn his attentions away from the car (the driver has run out of the vehicle screaming), and to the Knights attacking him. Twilight stays back and summons a dog (whom she has lovingly named Tripod), Del also stays back, finding that she’s been deemed “healing bitch.” Her services are needed fairly quickly when Jared the psion runs directly into combat and gets his shoulder broken. Alex, Trudi, and Watanabe (and Tripod) fight the troll in close combat, Watanabe and Trudi grow more and more frustrated as whatever they inflict on the thing seems to heal all too quickly. Tripod the dog gets too close and is crushed rather brutally, which sends the summon away.
After getting back on his feet, Jared tries the first thing he can think of other than running back into the fray. His silvery shadow, Platinum, appears and at Jared’s command flies forward, passing over the troll with a powerful mind thrust. The troll is thrown off its feet, stunned instantly. As it lets out a gurgle, Alex jumps back from it and shouts frantically at Twilight: “Burning hands! Burning hands now!”
Twilight obeys, and the newbie Knights are startled at the fast pace the troll burns. Alex catches his breath and explains that fire and acid are the weak points of the plantlike trolls.
The Knights face the grisly task of checking the troll’s lair, that is until Alex’s cel rings. He answers, and the others hear one half of a rushed, shocked conversation. Alex hangs up the phone quickly. “Everyone in the car! Now!”
Everyone piles in and Alex orders Jared not to waste even a second. As they rush away from the scene, Alex quickly forces out that the Olympics was attacked less than fifteen minutes before. While mundane police are handling their end, the BMM believes they may have a suspect of their own. For they past few months the BMM has been after a group of thieves who call themselves the Untouchables. They’ve been mostly considered a minor threat, any causalities linked to them were extremely minor. Lead by a minotaur by the name Dirk Bavarus, his small team of small-timers hasn’t had any terrorist motives--until several days before when the Savannah office received a threatening note about the Olympics.
So the Bureau has finally upped the priority level on catching the Untouchables. A hasty divination spell has located them in Atlanta, speeding toward an area called Druid Hills. The Knights will be sent updates.
The PCs are given their last lead as their van rushes into Emory University. The office gives them a license plate number, but their divination trail has gone cold. The PCs are the first Knights to get this far along the trail, and start making circles around the college. Jared is the first to guess that the only reason the Untouchables would’ve head to a college in the first place was to perhaps get another car from the parking garages, and so he turns the van into the first one he sees.
Near the back of the ground floor of the garage, next to a large van, is a small group huddled next to another car--they’re removing the license plate of a smaller car. Those who can see through minor magical disguises can see the extremely tall, wide man who turns to face them is actually a minotaur. Beside him a dwarven woman scowls through the headlights, and next to her a human in his mid-thirties turns paler.
The Knight’s van stops and the Knights step out, most of them trying their best to look intimidating.
“Untouchables,” Alex assumes.
The minotaur stands in front of the dwarven woman and shakes his head. “Ya got us, but we didn’t do it. The bomb thing the radio’s talkin about? We didn’t do it.”
“We still have to take you in,” Alex says firmly. “You’re charged with theft, even if you aren’t terrorists.”
“We were framed!” the minotaur, Dirk Bavarus, snaps.
“If that’s true then you can prove it back at the Bureau,” Jared offers.
A shot rings out and the party jumps. The dwarven woman is now standing, a cigarette hanging from her mouth and a hard expression on her face; she holds a gun in her right hand. “You don’t believe us, fine. But believe me, you don’t want a fight.”
The minotaur growls something in dwarven at her, and instinctively the PCs draw their weapons.
“Put the gun down!” Watanabe demands.
“WANNA SPAR?!” Trudi cries to Dirk.
“Not really, but I guess there’s no choice if you’re not gonna let us go peacefully,” Dirk shrugs.
In one fluid motion Dirk completely rips off the license plate of the Untouchable’s van and throws it at Watanabe. She jumps back and fires blindly. While the first gunshots go off, the human standing with Dirk and the dwarf runs for the back of the van and leaps through the open doors.
Jared figures, ‘Well, it worked once tonight, why not twice?’ and is about to try to use his abilities on the minotaur, when a familiar sensation falls over him.
Don’t even think about it, a voice speaks to him psionically.
“Wha--?”
While the PCs take cover from the dwarf’s shots, Jared looks around to see where the psion must be. His eyes land on a figure which steps out of the van, one he knows.
“That’s Marks! Terrance Marks! Rogue agent!” he cries.
Terrance’s eyes go wide at the sound of his name and he and Jared meet gazes. He stumbles backwards back into the van.
While this is happening Trudi has run up to Dirk and is fighting him hand to hand. His size and width prove to be too much of an advantage as he finally manages to grab her and shove her into Alex. The dwarven woman and Watanabe exchange gunshots, however when Trudi and Alex are knocked down Watanabe curses under her breath. She instead aims for the minotaur and shoots him in the shin. He lets out a roar of pain, which parallels the sound of the Untouchable’s van starting suddenly.
A human woman leans out of the driver side window and shouts for everyone to get inside. The dwarven woman takes a few more pop shots before complying; stumbling and growling, the minotaur steps backwards into the van. “Don’t follow us!” he warns. “And tell the rest of the Bureau the same!”
Seeing they’re about to lose their chance, Jared rushes. With a psionic burst added to his speed, he runs past Alex and Trudi and leaps. Jared slams into the minotaur and the two fall into the van. The doors slam after them and the other Knights stare in horror.
“That ... idiot!” Alex shouts.
Watanabe is forced to be driver (Alex declines Trudi’s offer to drive), and the Knight’s van peels out of the garage. A high speed chase through downtown Atlanta follows, even at nearly eleven at night the streets are packed (especially with the congestion from the attack at the Olympics). The Untouchables detour all over downtown, swerving to avoid being caught in traffic jams. The Knights follow and are finally about to hit I-75, when Watanabe sees the dwarf woman lean out of the passenger side window. She tries to avoid the shot, but the dwarf shoots out one of the front tires. The Knight’s van skids off the road, slamming into a gas station.
When everyone gets their bearings straight, Alex passes out cure spells, Delria picks herself off the dash and groans about how she should’ve been wearing a seatbelt, Watanabe beats the steering wheel furiously and curses about she’ll have to get a shotgun.
_________
Hours later after cleanup is done, Alex’s cel rings. Tired and frustrated, he debates taking it, but finally answers after it persistently rings. “Yeah, yeah. P’tarr here.” A pause. “Jared?! Where are you!”
Jared Belmont stands outside of a gas station in the middle of nowhere outside of Atlanta. Agents pick him up, and when he’s reunited with his teammates he’s bombarded by questions of how he got where he was, what happened in the van, why he’s still alive ... He manages to silence them long enough to explain what happened.
After falling with Dirk Bavarus into the van, he realized he hadn’t planned this out very well. As soon as he looked up he was staring into a pistol being held by the human man the Knight’s had seen only briefly. Beside him was Terrance Marks, the rogue psion. Terrance was rocking back and forth, holding his arms around himself and staring all around the back of the van--the nervous shifting of his eyes dotted with hacking coughs. The human with the gun warned Jared not to try anything.
Jared could only raise his hands and try to remain calm. He was taken aback when he heard the minotaur laughing. Dirk slapped Jared’s shoulder, laughing loudly.
“Holy sh*t! That was hardcore! I can’t believe you did that,” he laughs.
The dwarven woman, sitting shotgun, glares over her shoulder. “Stop congratulating him. The h*ll are we gonna do with him?”
The driver, a woman with blonde hair and a nervous voice, said “Please don’t kill anyone.”
“Haven’t had any reason to yet,” the dwarf replied.
The minotaur only chuckled at Jared’s expression.
Jared lowered an eyebrow at Terrance Marks. “Um ... Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay!” the psion snapped. “I hate being in the back ... hate it. No windows.”
“You’re the one who got in the back, Marks,” the dwarf said.
“Should I lower the gun?” the human holding Jared at gunpoint asked.
“No, not yet, Harry,” the minotaur shook his head. Placing a huge hand on Jared’s shoulder, the minotaur stares hard into the young Knight’s eyes. “Listen. We’re not gonna kill you. So that you can go back to the Bureau and tell them. Tell them we did not bomb the Olympics. We were just passing through.”
“I-I’d really like to believe you. But it’s not up to me ...”
“Sh. Listen. Someone’s after us. Yes, we’re thieves. Yes, we’re criminals. But we’ve never killed anyone.”
“And that was one h*ll of a sloppy bomb in that park,” the dwarf throws in. “If it was mine it would’ve been better.”
Jared took a deep breath. “Can I ask a question?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Terrance ...” Jared began. “What are you doing here?”
Terrance looks up at Jared, wiping sweat off his brow. “Why’d they send you?” he whispers hoarsely, adding a cough to end of his sentence.
“Huh? The BMM doesn’t know where you are, you think they sent me to get you back?”
“Get me back?” Marks repeats sourly, beginning to rub the tops of his hands furiously. A bitter grin crosses his face. “No, no, I guess you weren’t.”
“Why did you go rogue?”
“I had to get away. He was always there ... in my head. And the office ...” Taking shaky, asthmatic breaths, Terrance finally recollected himself. “I hated my office.”
Jared stared at him blankly. “What?”
“Things were being moved around. A lot of computers and things were being moved into my office. There was no room anymore. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“... You left because of claustrophobia?”
“Yes, alright!” he snapped defensively. “There is more ... But that’s the main reason.” When Jared could only stare slack jawed, Marks continued. “I came across the Untouchable’s files by luck. It just appealed to me. They’re always moving. I found them and caught a ride.”
“He’s our new good luck charm,” Dirk adds with a grin. “D*mn it’s great to have someone around who knows how the Bureau works. But sorry, we’re gonna have to cut this short.”
Before Jared could say anything more, Dirk swung his huge fist and the world fell black ...
As Jared finishes his story, his teammates all exchange glances.
Delria rolls her eyes and begins to walk out of the Atlanta office. “I’m gonna go get drunk again,” she grumbles.
Acquana
First Post
Yet Another Route 66 Gallery ...
Not a storyhour update, but still cool.
I recently asked my friends to hand over the Route 66 art they've been doing, and I was shocked to find just how much artwork Delria's player has done. Wendy Witherow has such an amazing work ethic, and is constantly drawing.
Delria's Gallery, Portraits of a Druid
Admittedly there's not much at the moment, but a lot of it doesn't quite apply to the storyhours yet. Just wait, the best is yet to come.
Not a storyhour update, but still cool.
I recently asked my friends to hand over the Route 66 art they've been doing, and I was shocked to find just how much artwork Delria's player has done. Wendy Witherow has such an amazing work ethic, and is constantly drawing.
Delria's Gallery, Portraits of a Druid
Admittedly there's not much at the moment, but a lot of it doesn't quite apply to the storyhours yet. Just wait, the best is yet to come.
Acquana
First Post
Just a bump
Well, a bump and an apology. Lotsa work this quarter, but for SCAD school is out for winter break! So in between EN Publishing work (I hope) and getting more sleep I'll be updating Route 66.
Big news! The campaign is almost over! Some really big stuff went down this quarter in game, so I'll all rearin to get the rest of you caught up on it! I hope to update soon!
Well, a bump and an apology. Lotsa work this quarter, but for SCAD school is out for winter break! So in between EN Publishing work (I hope) and getting more sleep I'll be updating Route 66.
Big news! The campaign is almost over! Some really big stuff went down this quarter in game, so I'll all rearin to get the rest of you caught up on it! I hope to update soon!
Acquana
First Post
Holy Crap Omg Omg It's An Update
OMG Can this be an update?! You betcha it is! It's an update! Whoo hoo!
What do I have for all of you? Why, more story, a new player character, and more art! Yay! For the new art check the links, and in Trudi's Sketchbook.
This is gonna be fun.
_________________________
Chapter Four
Interstate 10
July 28, 1996
The morning after their wreck, the newbie Knights all gather in a spare office the Atlanta headquarters can offer. Marshall Whitman, their commander from Savannah, and Autumn Yieotanna, one of the high ranking psions from Savannah, both arrive in Atlanta. The Knights are told they’re about to be given new orders.
Whitman arrives first, Autumn close behind. Marshall sits down at the head of the small meeting table, Autumn stands by him rather than sitting. This is the first time the PCs other than Jared have met the psion, and none of them get a very fond impression of her. Mostly because of Autumn’s very smug expression, that and when she speaks half of what she says hints of her doubts on their performance and competence. Well, alright, that and she dresses and holds a manner of herself to make it seem like she probably just slept her way to the top. Del is horribly hungover, and has little patience for Autumn’s attitude.
Whitman finally clears his throat and pulls out a set of files. “Please don’t take Agent Yieotanna’s criticism harshly. You all did rather well under the circumstances.”
“Thanks!” Trudi blurts out.
Whitman is taken back momentarily, but smiles and continues. “Considering that you’re the only agents we’ve got who’ve faced the Untouchables head-on before ...” he says with a grin to Jared. “... You’ll be the ones on this case until further notice.”
Alex lowers an eyebrow. “Um. Aren’t we a little new at this? Shouldn’t an investigative team be on this case?”
“Don’t worry. You’ll have help. You both can come in,” he calls to the door.
The door opens and a large man with a mess of brown hair steps in. He’s wearing a Black Dog t-shirt over his gut, jeans that are too tight. A huge grin is plastered over his face. “Agent Greenman, at your service,” he announces himself.
Del’s headache gets worse as soon as he walks in and she grumbles under her breath.
“I’m your tech man,” Brian says, shaking Alex’s hand. “Or tech god is more like. I can make pretty much any computer sit up and dance for me.”
Jared smiles brightly at Brian’s t-shirt. “Hey, you play Black Dog!”
“You kiddin? I play everything!” Brian says, eagerly turning to the fellow gamer.
“I work there!”
“Hey, no sh*t! Awesome!”
Marshall Whitman clears his throat. “Agents.”
“Oh, sorry,” Brian says with a sheepish grin. He squeezes himself between Del and Jared, Del scoots away from him and stares deeper into her coffee.
“Greenman will your tech support. He’ll be handling most of the file searching and information gathering from Savannah,” Whitman continues, adding a glance to the door. “The rest of you will be on the road as soon as possible. We have a van for you, it’ll be up to you to fill in the gaps between what we can do from here.”
“How’s the divination going?” Watanabe asks.
“Not as well as it should,” Whitman sighs. “The Untouchables obviously have something they’re using to throw us off. It’s not very strong, we have found a trail here and there. Enough to tell that they’re at I-10 by now. We’ll get you on the road, just I’m going to inform you a little more in detail of what you’re going up against.”
With that he opens the files and sets out a series of photographs. The PCs recognize the members of the Untouchables they encountered the night before, and Whitman gives them names to put to faces. The minotaur, as they knew, is Dirk Bavarus, their leader. He’s been in and out of Gaian prisons for nearly twenty years, but for nothing major, only petty theft and the like. His main partner is the dwarf, a woman named Colma “Dyna” Anders, the Dyna is short for dynamite. She’s their demolitions expert. She’s the one with the biggest criminal record of the lot: Dyna was briefly an illegal weapons dealer, has been charged theft of components for explosives, and arson. The human the Knights saw was Harrison Felton, the first of two mundanes in the Untouchables. The BMM is unsure how Harry met Dirk, but all that matters is that Harry is now their hacker.
At the sound of the word “hacker,” Trudi tenses and everyone hears her repeat it in a furious growl.
Unfazed, Whitman continues. Harry’s younger sister is Sadie Felton, and is the Untouchables’s driver. She’s the enigma. While even her brother has had a criminal record (for hacking into corporate systems), Sadie is completely clean. She is one of a group of mundanes who own a completely legitimate, normal auto repair garage in Dallas, Texas. The Bureau’s sources can only assume that Sadie has been dragged into this by her brother.
The most disturbing news of the night had been the new addition to the Untouchables: Terrance Marks, missing Bureau psion.
While Whitman is speaking, Jared hears her voice speaking only to him: Good morning, Belmont.
Morning, Agent Yieotanna, he replies.
I’m giving you your orders on behalf of J’Qwuan.
I have different orders than the rest of my team?
Yes. Your only target is Marks. And when you meet him, kill him.
Jared accidentally knocks over his drink and fumbles to try to clean it up. When he looks back up at Autumn, she wears a dark grin over her face that lets him know he didn’t misunderstand her.
Whitman recollects himself after the brief distraction of Jared cleaning up the spill. He is about to say something more, until the door opens again. A stack of books lumbers in. Everyone who faces the stack can see it’s being held by someone, but the thin-armed someone is having great difficulty getting in.
“Will you be needing help?” Whitman offers, standing slightly.
“Oh. Oh no, I’m fine,” a soft, male voice from behind the books says. “I’ve go--” Before he can finish his sentence, the young man lets out a soft cry as the books begin to tumble from his hands. As the books pile at his feet, the Knights get a good look at the young man who has just entered. He looks no older than seventeen, soft-faced and smooth featured. He stares at the books at his feet with a look of disappointment more then frustration and begins straightening them.
“I hope you’re not planning on bringing all those ...” Whitman says softly.
The young man raises his face suddenly, his steel blue eyes widen and the long, platinum hair that hangs down his back flutters with the movement. “I can’t?”
“Who’s this?” Alex asks.
“Hey!” Trudi says, standing. “You need help with those?”
Before the young man can answer, Trudi rushes beside him and begins grabbing books off the floor. He turns red in the cheeks slightly as he stares up at her. “You’re tall ...”
“This,” Marshall Whitman begins, “Is your new member. His work with the Bureau has been brief so far, but he’ll be a big help. He knows at least something about everything. This is Pr--”
The young man coughs loudly.
Whitman stops and the two stare at one another briefly. The newcomer’s eyes thin slightly and his lips tighten. Finally sighing deeply, Whitman tries again. “This is North.”
“A pleasure,” North says with a gentle smile, offering his hand to Trudi.
“Hi! I’m Trudi!” she shouts, eagerly shaking North’s hand. He grunts as his hand is squeezed rather tightly.
“North, I briefed you beforehand. These are your teammates: Jared Belmont, Trudi Schneider, Twilight Lokya, Rebecca Watanabe--”
The other agents all face Watanabe. She rolls her eyes.
“--Delria, and your commander Alexander P’tarr. Brian Greenman will be tech. I wouldn’t worry about that,” Whitman adds when North seems lost as to what he means exactly by “tech.”
“That’s enough,” Whitman finishes, recollecting the files. “You’d all better hurry.”
_________________________
The Knights receive a new van for the journey, and Delria has a bit of evidence to start off the mission. Before leaving, she places an inhaler in Brian Greenman’s hands.
“I found it at the scene when the Untouchables fled. I’m pretty sure it must belong to someone in their group.”
“I betcha you’re right. The name’s been scratched off of this prescription sticker.”
Delria stares at him, not really up to speed on Terran medical practices.
“But hey, the insurance info is there … This is definitely good. I’ll get back with ya.” He pats the top of her head, something Delria absolutely can’t stand from tall folk, but she manages to control herself.
Trudi has packed the van to the brim with emergency supplies for the trip, most of it being snacks from a convenience store. While Alex tries to tell Trudi it’s not necessary, North slams a pile of books next to him. Looking between North and Trudi, Alex sighs in frustration.
“No,” he snaps to North. “What are all these?”
“For research.”
“That’s what Brian is for!”
North frowns.
“You were supposed to be on this mission for whatever knowledge you’ve got in your head. There is room for you, not all this crap.”
An expression much like his entire lineage has been insulted, North growls out something in a language no one in the party can understand.
Alex is taken aback by the thus-far soft-spoken youth’s outburst, then shakes his head. “Look if you understand nothing else, understand I am ordering you to leave the books and to get in the van.”
North notices the van as if for the first time. He looks it over, staring questioningly at the tires.
Delria has walked beside Alex and flies up close to his ear. “Did you hear what he was mumbling in?”
“Yeah … Not sure I understood it though.”
“Sounded Orcish to me.”
“No, no. Too much … I dunno, Greek thrown in to be Orcish.”
“Is there any other way to get there?” North suddenly asks, looking slightly ill.
Alex stares at him, dumbfounded. “What? No! Just get in the car.”
“You’re ordering me?”
“… Yes! Everyone just get in and stop wasting time!”
As everyone piles in Jared is once again driver, Watanabe takes shotgun, and the others try to find a comfortable seating situation. Predictably North is the last inside. As he crawls into the far back he is again muttering in his strange tongue.
“There it is again,” Delria whispers to Alex.
“Yeah, yeah … Funny, I feel like I’ve heard it before.”
_________________________
The trip down I-10 is fairly uneventful. The group receives calls from the Bureau every hours or so as the attempts to follow the Untouchables’s whereabouts grow increasingly more difficult. The group stops for lunch at a Denny’s (North chooses to stay outside of the van alone, and Trudi entertains most of those inside with much shouting at the claw machine and playing with Delria), and then head back on the road (Alex again has to order North back in the van before he’d do it).
Shortly after this a call finally arrives from Brian. The asthma medicine turns out to be Terrance Marks’s! Through the insurance he has managed to track that a refill prescription was put through only hours before, at a Walgreen’s in Tallahassee, Florida. (Most of the team more familiar with technology can guess that in order to get the information this quickly Brian isn’t using wholly legal methods, but no one lets on to the still oblivious Trudi that their new partner is a “hacker.”)
A real lead, and only day one. The team now has a direction to go, and Jared raises the volume of his skaa tapes in excitement.
They arrive at Tallahassee and begin a search. They all realize they probably won’t be lucky enough to run into the Untouchables at the Walgreen’s, but it seems a fairly good place to start looking. Jared parks the van and the group begins to get out. As soon as Alex, Trudi, and Twilight are out, however, they stop. Exiting the Walgreen’s is Sadie Felton and Terrance Marks. The pair look horrified and Terrance grabs Sadie’s arm to run.
“Everyone out, now!” Alex snaps.
The BMM team gets out, but are unable to beat Terrance and Sadie to their van. Watanabe tries to shoot out their tires, but the van speeds backwards straight out of the parking lot nearly as soon as it’s started. Quickly the team rushes back to their vehicle and Jared slams on the gas.
The two vans give chase through the middle of Tallahassee, swerving by other cars and taking sharp turns. Jared grits his teeth and tries to follow Sadie’s movements, but she’s a d*mn good driver. The other agents all keep their weapons ready; and also keep trying to tell Jared how to follow her. In frustration Jared snaps at the rest of the group so they’ll all stop shouting at once.
It’s at that point that a cold rush goes through the van. Jared’s breath nearly stops. How could he have forgotten what Terrance could pull off? Everyone in the van winces in pain as a sharpness pierces their heads. Jared is the only one left conscious, but even then as soon as he lifts his head he realizes he’d briefly not been watching the road. He lets out a horrified cry as he swerves out of the way of an eighteen wheeler. The car skids and screeches off the road, landing in a ditch.
When everyone regains their senses they see that the van has been wrecked twice in two days. While no one is hurt, North has disappeared.
More investigation follows. With the help of the BMM clean-up crew that arrives to aid them the Knights are able to find the hotel the Untouchables were staying at. Were. They had checked out in a hurry, naturally.
Frustrated and bruised, missing a team member, the Knights take up the offer of one of the clean-up crew to stay at one of the local motels. To their surprise, North is already there, waiting for them. Alex and North get into a short argument when North refuses to say what exactly happened, but Alex finally gives up and retires to a room.
Delria follows Alex briefly. “So, hey. Figured out what his language is yet?”
Alex shrugs. “Funny thing … It kinda sounded like Centaur.”
OMG Can this be an update?! You betcha it is! It's an update! Whoo hoo!
What do I have for all of you? Why, more story, a new player character, and more art! Yay! For the new art check the links, and in Trudi's Sketchbook.
This is gonna be fun.
_________________________
Chapter Four
Interstate 10
July 28, 1996
The morning after their wreck, the newbie Knights all gather in a spare office the Atlanta headquarters can offer. Marshall Whitman, their commander from Savannah, and Autumn Yieotanna, one of the high ranking psions from Savannah, both arrive in Atlanta. The Knights are told they’re about to be given new orders.
Whitman arrives first, Autumn close behind. Marshall sits down at the head of the small meeting table, Autumn stands by him rather than sitting. This is the first time the PCs other than Jared have met the psion, and none of them get a very fond impression of her. Mostly because of Autumn’s very smug expression, that and when she speaks half of what she says hints of her doubts on their performance and competence. Well, alright, that and she dresses and holds a manner of herself to make it seem like she probably just slept her way to the top. Del is horribly hungover, and has little patience for Autumn’s attitude.
Whitman finally clears his throat and pulls out a set of files. “Please don’t take Agent Yieotanna’s criticism harshly. You all did rather well under the circumstances.”
“Thanks!” Trudi blurts out.
Whitman is taken back momentarily, but smiles and continues. “Considering that you’re the only agents we’ve got who’ve faced the Untouchables head-on before ...” he says with a grin to Jared. “... You’ll be the ones on this case until further notice.”
Alex lowers an eyebrow. “Um. Aren’t we a little new at this? Shouldn’t an investigative team be on this case?”
“Don’t worry. You’ll have help. You both can come in,” he calls to the door.
The door opens and a large man with a mess of brown hair steps in. He’s wearing a Black Dog t-shirt over his gut, jeans that are too tight. A huge grin is plastered over his face. “Agent Greenman, at your service,” he announces himself.
Del’s headache gets worse as soon as he walks in and she grumbles under her breath.
“I’m your tech man,” Brian says, shaking Alex’s hand. “Or tech god is more like. I can make pretty much any computer sit up and dance for me.”
Jared smiles brightly at Brian’s t-shirt. “Hey, you play Black Dog!”
“You kiddin? I play everything!” Brian says, eagerly turning to the fellow gamer.
“I work there!”
“Hey, no sh*t! Awesome!”
Marshall Whitman clears his throat. “Agents.”
“Oh, sorry,” Brian says with a sheepish grin. He squeezes himself between Del and Jared, Del scoots away from him and stares deeper into her coffee.
“Greenman will your tech support. He’ll be handling most of the file searching and information gathering from Savannah,” Whitman continues, adding a glance to the door. “The rest of you will be on the road as soon as possible. We have a van for you, it’ll be up to you to fill in the gaps between what we can do from here.”
“How’s the divination going?” Watanabe asks.
“Not as well as it should,” Whitman sighs. “The Untouchables obviously have something they’re using to throw us off. It’s not very strong, we have found a trail here and there. Enough to tell that they’re at I-10 by now. We’ll get you on the road, just I’m going to inform you a little more in detail of what you’re going up against.”
With that he opens the files and sets out a series of photographs. The PCs recognize the members of the Untouchables they encountered the night before, and Whitman gives them names to put to faces. The minotaur, as they knew, is Dirk Bavarus, their leader. He’s been in and out of Gaian prisons for nearly twenty years, but for nothing major, only petty theft and the like. His main partner is the dwarf, a woman named Colma “Dyna” Anders, the Dyna is short for dynamite. She’s their demolitions expert. She’s the one with the biggest criminal record of the lot: Dyna was briefly an illegal weapons dealer, has been charged theft of components for explosives, and arson. The human the Knights saw was Harrison Felton, the first of two mundanes in the Untouchables. The BMM is unsure how Harry met Dirk, but all that matters is that Harry is now their hacker.
At the sound of the word “hacker,” Trudi tenses and everyone hears her repeat it in a furious growl.
Unfazed, Whitman continues. Harry’s younger sister is Sadie Felton, and is the Untouchables’s driver. She’s the enigma. While even her brother has had a criminal record (for hacking into corporate systems), Sadie is completely clean. She is one of a group of mundanes who own a completely legitimate, normal auto repair garage in Dallas, Texas. The Bureau’s sources can only assume that Sadie has been dragged into this by her brother.
The most disturbing news of the night had been the new addition to the Untouchables: Terrance Marks, missing Bureau psion.
While Whitman is speaking, Jared hears her voice speaking only to him: Good morning, Belmont.
Morning, Agent Yieotanna, he replies.
I’m giving you your orders on behalf of J’Qwuan.
I have different orders than the rest of my team?
Yes. Your only target is Marks. And when you meet him, kill him.
Jared accidentally knocks over his drink and fumbles to try to clean it up. When he looks back up at Autumn, she wears a dark grin over her face that lets him know he didn’t misunderstand her.
Whitman recollects himself after the brief distraction of Jared cleaning up the spill. He is about to say something more, until the door opens again. A stack of books lumbers in. Everyone who faces the stack can see it’s being held by someone, but the thin-armed someone is having great difficulty getting in.
“Will you be needing help?” Whitman offers, standing slightly.
“Oh. Oh no, I’m fine,” a soft, male voice from behind the books says. “I’ve go--” Before he can finish his sentence, the young man lets out a soft cry as the books begin to tumble from his hands. As the books pile at his feet, the Knights get a good look at the young man who has just entered. He looks no older than seventeen, soft-faced and smooth featured. He stares at the books at his feet with a look of disappointment more then frustration and begins straightening them.
“I hope you’re not planning on bringing all those ...” Whitman says softly.
The young man raises his face suddenly, his steel blue eyes widen and the long, platinum hair that hangs down his back flutters with the movement. “I can’t?”
“Who’s this?” Alex asks.
“Hey!” Trudi says, standing. “You need help with those?”
Before the young man can answer, Trudi rushes beside him and begins grabbing books off the floor. He turns red in the cheeks slightly as he stares up at her. “You’re tall ...”
“This,” Marshall Whitman begins, “Is your new member. His work with the Bureau has been brief so far, but he’ll be a big help. He knows at least something about everything. This is Pr--”
The young man coughs loudly.
Whitman stops and the two stare at one another briefly. The newcomer’s eyes thin slightly and his lips tighten. Finally sighing deeply, Whitman tries again. “This is North.”
“A pleasure,” North says with a gentle smile, offering his hand to Trudi.
“Hi! I’m Trudi!” she shouts, eagerly shaking North’s hand. He grunts as his hand is squeezed rather tightly.
“North, I briefed you beforehand. These are your teammates: Jared Belmont, Trudi Schneider, Twilight Lokya, Rebecca Watanabe--”
The other agents all face Watanabe. She rolls her eyes.
“--Delria, and your commander Alexander P’tarr. Brian Greenman will be tech. I wouldn’t worry about that,” Whitman adds when North seems lost as to what he means exactly by “tech.”
“That’s enough,” Whitman finishes, recollecting the files. “You’d all better hurry.”
_________________________
The Knights receive a new van for the journey, and Delria has a bit of evidence to start off the mission. Before leaving, she places an inhaler in Brian Greenman’s hands.
“I found it at the scene when the Untouchables fled. I’m pretty sure it must belong to someone in their group.”
“I betcha you’re right. The name’s been scratched off of this prescription sticker.”
Delria stares at him, not really up to speed on Terran medical practices.
“But hey, the insurance info is there … This is definitely good. I’ll get back with ya.” He pats the top of her head, something Delria absolutely can’t stand from tall folk, but she manages to control herself.
Trudi has packed the van to the brim with emergency supplies for the trip, most of it being snacks from a convenience store. While Alex tries to tell Trudi it’s not necessary, North slams a pile of books next to him. Looking between North and Trudi, Alex sighs in frustration.
“No,” he snaps to North. “What are all these?”
“For research.”
“That’s what Brian is for!”
North frowns.
“You were supposed to be on this mission for whatever knowledge you’ve got in your head. There is room for you, not all this crap.”
An expression much like his entire lineage has been insulted, North growls out something in a language no one in the party can understand.
Alex is taken aback by the thus-far soft-spoken youth’s outburst, then shakes his head. “Look if you understand nothing else, understand I am ordering you to leave the books and to get in the van.”
North notices the van as if for the first time. He looks it over, staring questioningly at the tires.
Delria has walked beside Alex and flies up close to his ear. “Did you hear what he was mumbling in?”
“Yeah … Not sure I understood it though.”
“Sounded Orcish to me.”
“No, no. Too much … I dunno, Greek thrown in to be Orcish.”
“Is there any other way to get there?” North suddenly asks, looking slightly ill.
Alex stares at him, dumbfounded. “What? No! Just get in the car.”
“You’re ordering me?”
“… Yes! Everyone just get in and stop wasting time!”
As everyone piles in Jared is once again driver, Watanabe takes shotgun, and the others try to find a comfortable seating situation. Predictably North is the last inside. As he crawls into the far back he is again muttering in his strange tongue.
“There it is again,” Delria whispers to Alex.
“Yeah, yeah … Funny, I feel like I’ve heard it before.”
_________________________
The trip down I-10 is fairly uneventful. The group receives calls from the Bureau every hours or so as the attempts to follow the Untouchables’s whereabouts grow increasingly more difficult. The group stops for lunch at a Denny’s (North chooses to stay outside of the van alone, and Trudi entertains most of those inside with much shouting at the claw machine and playing with Delria), and then head back on the road (Alex again has to order North back in the van before he’d do it).
Shortly after this a call finally arrives from Brian. The asthma medicine turns out to be Terrance Marks’s! Through the insurance he has managed to track that a refill prescription was put through only hours before, at a Walgreen’s in Tallahassee, Florida. (Most of the team more familiar with technology can guess that in order to get the information this quickly Brian isn’t using wholly legal methods, but no one lets on to the still oblivious Trudi that their new partner is a “hacker.”)
A real lead, and only day one. The team now has a direction to go, and Jared raises the volume of his skaa tapes in excitement.
They arrive at Tallahassee and begin a search. They all realize they probably won’t be lucky enough to run into the Untouchables at the Walgreen’s, but it seems a fairly good place to start looking. Jared parks the van and the group begins to get out. As soon as Alex, Trudi, and Twilight are out, however, they stop. Exiting the Walgreen’s is Sadie Felton and Terrance Marks. The pair look horrified and Terrance grabs Sadie’s arm to run.
“Everyone out, now!” Alex snaps.
The BMM team gets out, but are unable to beat Terrance and Sadie to their van. Watanabe tries to shoot out their tires, but the van speeds backwards straight out of the parking lot nearly as soon as it’s started. Quickly the team rushes back to their vehicle and Jared slams on the gas.
The two vans give chase through the middle of Tallahassee, swerving by other cars and taking sharp turns. Jared grits his teeth and tries to follow Sadie’s movements, but she’s a d*mn good driver. The other agents all keep their weapons ready; and also keep trying to tell Jared how to follow her. In frustration Jared snaps at the rest of the group so they’ll all stop shouting at once.
It’s at that point that a cold rush goes through the van. Jared’s breath nearly stops. How could he have forgotten what Terrance could pull off? Everyone in the van winces in pain as a sharpness pierces their heads. Jared is the only one left conscious, but even then as soon as he lifts his head he realizes he’d briefly not been watching the road. He lets out a horrified cry as he swerves out of the way of an eighteen wheeler. The car skids and screeches off the road, landing in a ditch.
When everyone regains their senses they see that the van has been wrecked twice in two days. While no one is hurt, North has disappeared.
More investigation follows. With the help of the BMM clean-up crew that arrives to aid them the Knights are able to find the hotel the Untouchables were staying at. Were. They had checked out in a hurry, naturally.
Frustrated and bruised, missing a team member, the Knights take up the offer of one of the clean-up crew to stay at one of the local motels. To their surprise, North is already there, waiting for them. Alex and North get into a short argument when North refuses to say what exactly happened, but Alex finally gives up and retires to a room.
Delria follows Alex briefly. “So, hey. Figured out what his language is yet?”
Alex shrugs. “Funny thing … It kinda sounded like Centaur.”
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