[MM2e] Salton City Needs Heroes! Episode 1: Premiere

[Relique du Madde]

Keiko places the bullet into the scanning device and presses a button. There is then a loud buzzing sound as the lasers begin their scan and almost immediately an magnified image of the bullet appears on the

Kieko: Notice Check 1d20+7=24
Max: Notice Check:1d20+3=17
Sven: Notice Check 1d20+4=13
Terrance: Notice Check 1d20+3=19


Beyond the usual expected markings (that indicate gauge of the ammunition), everyone notices that there are marks on the bottom of the bullet casing's rim that it appears to be barcode.

[sblock="What Keiko, Max, and Terrance Notices"]
Each line of the "Bar Code" is formed from the word "LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY"
[/sblock]
[sblock="What Keiko also notices.."]
The surface of that bullet itself (the projectile portion) seems to be moving!
[/sblock]

 

[Shayuri]

Keiko frowns as she reads the barcode.

"Los Alamos. Why do I know that name?" Abruptly she sucks in a gasp of air in surprise. "Did it just move? Zoom up a bit..."

She taps her fingers on the control, zooming in on the bullet itself. "I swear I saw it move a little."

 

[Relique du Madde]

Keiko zoomed onto the bullet, revealing that the bullet's surface seems to be covered in countless microscopic machines. The movement Keiko noticed was not caused by individual machines moving about, but instead, by large clusters of the nanites skittering over each other, giving the surface a liquid-like appearance..

 

[jkason]

Max Freedman: Dord

Max stared at the zoomed in view.

"Is that what Inferiorium really is?" he asked. "Those ... tiny robots all clumped together?"

A thought occured to him then, and he shuddered. "I think we need to record the image and get that thing back in its case. Someone who could program those things might have a way to *re* program them remotely. I'd rather they weren't loose if that happened, you know?"

[sblock=OOC]Max has Eidetic Memory, so he can use Know skills untrained. It's just a plain +3 bonus from his Int, but let's try Know: Technology Know: Current Events checks to see if either of them give him insight into the nanites / Los Alamos[/sblock]

 

[Relique du Madde]

Max Knowledge: Technology/Current Events (Los Alamos) 1d20+3=22
[sblock="Los Alamos"]
Beyond the usual real life information that one may get from various online sources about Los Alamos National Laboratory, you know that LANL is one of the institutes (or in some cases corporations) that have been meddling/researching the nature of super powers. It is rumored that LANL has been trying to developed and perfect a super serum* for the US military* and that their last greatest success in this field was the serum that produced The Peace Keeper.

As far as you heard, one of the last times you heard about LANL in the news was when they announced the discovery of inferiorium...

* It should be noted that every super serum developed by every World Power since WWII had less then stellar results (a (99.9% failure rate). Successful tests only seem to result in "physical" powers.
[/sblock]

Max Knowledge: Current Events/Technology (Inferiorium) 1d20+3=20

[sblock="Inferiorium"]
When inferiorium was announced, it was sold as being a "super alloy" which was impervious to super human levels of strength (and never as a nanite). However during a well publicized test of Inferiorium's properties, it was revealed that the "alloy" also negated super strength when a group of nameless third string supers were publicly humiliated on Late Night with Jay Leno after being unable to bend a paperclip composed of inferiorium and then lift a 200 lb bar bell with one hand when a super human child was able to do it (thought it should be noted that the child was given a regular paperclip as part of the joke).

A few weeks ago you remember hearing something about some UCLA robotics researcher being tapped by LANL to work on some project dealing with Inferiorium (which sounded strange at the time).

Also, there was one recent story that mentioned inferiorium having to be stored in an electromagnetic field which makes using it for "law enforcement" purposes difficult..
[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

Max Freedman: Dord

Max snapped his fingers.

"I'm an idiot," he said. "The national lab in Los Alamos discovered the stuff." he fowns. "But I'd heard it needed to be kept in an electromagnetic field, which bullets wouldn't be able to--"

He snaps his fingers again.

"Ooh! One of the robotics researchers at UCLA just went out there. What if that's what the nanites are doing? Maintaining the EM field this stuff needs to maintain itself?

"Of course, that'd mean these bullets are cutting edge, which means someone has access to the latest research at LANL. Which ... oi. Conspiracy out the yin yang."

 

[Ginnel]

"Well conspiracy or superpowered break in, either or isn't a great prospect" Terrence looks to Emma for a moment "you sure this ain't you guys spicing up the first season?"
[sblock=ooc]
Terrence would like to sense motive Emma at this innoculous out of the blue question
[/sblock]
then he grins giving a quick chuckle
"Anyhow guys we have a couple of leads now this military base where the bullets came from, the woman who was in charge of the assassination groups phone number and any communication the mayor may have had from the kidnappers"
turning to the mayor Terrence asks "you got copies or records of any comunication you received from these blackmailers?"

 

[Shayuri]

Keiko snickers. "As if a brand new TV show would have the money and power to convince anyone to give them special bullets to assassinate a hero. I'm sure Emma wishes she served such a program. Perhaps next season we can take control of orbiting laser satellites for a few minutes."

Another Keiko appears from thin air behind and just to the right of Terrance. "Don't listen to her," the new Keiko advises. "She's just being mean."

The first Keiko glanced over and poked her tongue out. "Am not." Then she dissolved into smoke and was gone.

The second Keiko, now the only Keiko, chuckled and said, "The Russian mafia has the money and muscle to pay off or blackmail an insider. But the employee list at a place like that would be classified, so unless we're willing to break the law, all we can do is warn the government and let them follow it up."

Another Keiko appears in the kitchen. Or maybe it's the first one turning visible again. She's dressed differently though, so it's hard to tell. "But we could follow the mafia links and see if that gets us anywhere."

 

[Relique du Madde]

Terrance asked Emma Emily, "You sure this ain't you guys spicing up the first season?"

Amused, "I am certain that we are not responsible, and as Keiko stated, we do not have the power nor resources to pull off such a conspiracy."

Terrance: Sense Motive: 1d20+0=17
[sblock=Result]
Terrance concludes that either Emily is a good lier or she's telling the truth.
[/sblock]

Terrence then asks the mayor, "You got copies or records of any communication you received from these blackmailers?"

The mayor nodded. "Yes, I do. They are locked in a safe located in my office back at city Hall."

 

[Blackrat]

The Viking listens to all the talking, trying to figure out what was going on and suffering from the heat. Slowly the room temperature starts to lower as he unconsciously makes it more comfortable for himself...