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The Shadow Knows! (Final Update 6/3/04)
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<blockquote data-quote="The Shadow" data-source="post: 1372869" data-attributes="member: 16760"><p>In the evening, David announced he was going out to play a shirts-and-skins basketball game with the guys, maybe pick up some pizza afterward. Alex asked, "How is your shoulder? It might be best to play on the 'shirts' side." David responded, "It looks no worse than a cat scratch now, Dad." "Very well. Have you spoken to Twyla?" David shook his head, plainly uncomfortable with the question. Alex let it go.</p><p></p><p>At ten, the Shadow was stationed by the public library, his mental sight focussed through the wall on a particular computer. Shortly before the hour struck, a mental trace blossomed there that hadn't been there before. He reached out with telepathy, taking in the young man's cocksure yet respectful overtones. <strong><em>Michael.</em></strong></p><p></p><p><em>Hi, boss!</em> the response came, with only a little quickly-suppressed irritation over the name. <strong><em>Do you have anything to report?</em></strong> <em>Nothing unusual.</em> <strong><em>Very well. I have an assignment for you. An interesting one, this time.</em></strong> Unconcealed glee - all the Shadow's requests of him thus far having been dull and humdrum. <em>Tell me more!</em></p><p></p><p><strong><em>Very well. Give me fifteen minutes, then come to my 'home' computer again. I will have it connected to your site.</em></strong> Great surprise and greater curiosity - he'd never been "invited" to the base computer after that first fateful meeting. <em>I'll be there!</em></p><p></p><p>The Shadow sped back to the base. "Carlos, pull up DarKnight's site." Carlos looked mildly surprised, but clicked on Favorites. "Here you go, sir..." he said, then looked startled when the Shadow, instead of coming over to the computer, went and sat on his cot.</p><p></p><p>Then, "Sir! Mike's in our computer again!" Calmly, the Shadow told him, "I sense him too." "Is he allowed to do that?" "I have invited him this once." Carlos said a bit dubiously, "All right, then..." as the avenger of the night reached out with his mind again.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Here is the situation, Michael.</em></strong> He passed on what he knew of the black cars, sparing the boy only Grace's "cybernetic" theory. <strong><em>The trouble is that they can likely spot you in a computer as readily as I can...</em></strong> Mike's cocky confidence took a bit of a dive at that point. <strong><em>...So I propose to come with you. I am good at not being seen.</em></strong> Shock and a delighted-scared anticipation. <em>HOW?!</em> <strong><em>...Hold still.</em></strong> Then, aloud as he stretched out on the cot, "Carlos, I am going to appear to sleep for a little while. Do not be alarmed." A little more dubiously, "OK, sir..."</p><p></p><p>The Shadow wormed his way deeper into Michael's mind, getting a firm hold there and settling in. There was no resistance. He let his awareness expand in and through the boy's unique esper talent. [In game terms, I used Extra Effort to get an Extra for maintaining telepathic contact beyond Sight range. The GM and I agreed that my "touch" range Area Mental Invisibility could also apply to "mental touch" in this situation.] <strong><em>Let's go.</em></strong></p><p></p><p>Mike traced down the phone number obtained from El Bandito's mind in moments, but the information gained was not terribly useful. It was a cell phone, with a P.O. box given as address. The bills were always paid in cash. The name proved to be a dead end - evidently a false one. The Shadow did make a note of which post office the box was obtained from.</p><p></p><p>Searching phone company records for calls made to and from the phone recently yielded about sixty numbers, and soon sixty names - a couple of which the Shadow recognized as belonging to gang leaders. <strong><em>Dump the data into an Excel file and send it to my computer,</em></strong> he directed, intending to have Carlos do a cross-reference with the gang database at a later date. Mike promptly obeyed. <em>Now what?</em></p><p></p><p><strong><em>Is there any way to trace where a cell call was made from?</em></strong> Mike hit on the bright idea of checking the cell company's records of what stations calls from that number were routed through. After some tedious searching and triangulating, he reported, <em>Most of the calls are made from a single block, boss. I can't guarantee that they live there, but they certainly spend a lot of time there.</em> The Shadow smiled an unpleasant mental smile. <strong><em>Excellent. What is on that block?</em></strong></p><p></p><p>A quick search of city records, then... <em>A big office building. No floor plans available, sorry. There's about twenty companies that rent offices there.</em> He provided the list, and one of them niggled at the Shadow's memory. [I made a pretty good Int check.] He'd heard of "OmniMetal Inc." before - at work, or in the newspaper perhaps, he couldn't recall. <strong><em>Does OmniMetal have a website?</em></strong></p><p></p><p>Mike flashed them over to another computer. <em>Yeah, but it's down. Server trouble, it says...</em> Then the boy froze when the Shadow "shouted", <strong><em>Get us out of here, Michael! NOW!</em></strong></p><p></p><p>The connection was broken at the speed of thought. <em>What? WHAT?!</em> <strong><em>Someone scanned us psychically, or rather over our location. I do not believe they could have spotted us, but I also do not believe in taking chances. I think we have found what we were looking for.</em></strong> He did not mention the strangeness of the fleeting contact... a curiously "flat" mental trace, with none of the inevitable tiny fluctuations one found even in a skilled telepath like Grace. It was as if the scanner were completely focussed on the task at hand, even monomaniacal, with no distractions or other thoughts getting in the way. <strong><em>Excellent work, Michael.</em></strong> He sensed the young man swelling with pride the instant before he broke the connection.</p><p></p><p>Carlos started when the Shadow leapt off the cot. "Plug in, Carlos." "Already done, sir." The Shadow was already nearly to the hangar. "Good. Pull up this address on the master map so you can give me directions." "Done." The Shadow did a quick check on the cycle, then activated the lift. "Oh, and Carlos?" "Yessir?"</p><p></p><p>"Leave a message on Grace's machine. 'Mr. Shadwell is meeting the people he spoke with you about at this address.'"</p><p></p><p>"I suspect she'll be interested."</p><p></p><p>[And as SP put it, "A bit paranoid, are we?" <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> To which the only possible reply is, "ALWAYS!" <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />]</p><p></p><p>[BTW, when the Shadow smiled his smile and said "Excellent," I just about pictured him doing the Mr. Burns thing. Scary. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Shadow, post: 1372869, member: 16760"] In the evening, David announced he was going out to play a shirts-and-skins basketball game with the guys, maybe pick up some pizza afterward. Alex asked, "How is your shoulder? It might be best to play on the 'shirts' side." David responded, "It looks no worse than a cat scratch now, Dad." "Very well. Have you spoken to Twyla?" David shook his head, plainly uncomfortable with the question. Alex let it go. At ten, the Shadow was stationed by the public library, his mental sight focussed through the wall on a particular computer. Shortly before the hour struck, a mental trace blossomed there that hadn't been there before. He reached out with telepathy, taking in the young man's cocksure yet respectful overtones. [b][i]Michael.[/i][/b] [i]Hi, boss![/i] the response came, with only a little quickly-suppressed irritation over the name. [b][i]Do you have anything to report?[/i][/b] [i]Nothing unusual.[/i] [b][i]Very well. I have an assignment for you. An interesting one, this time.[/i][/b] Unconcealed glee - all the Shadow's requests of him thus far having been dull and humdrum. [i]Tell me more![/i] [b][i]Very well. Give me fifteen minutes, then come to my 'home' computer again. I will have it connected to your site.[/i][/b] Great surprise and greater curiosity - he'd never been "invited" to the base computer after that first fateful meeting. [i]I'll be there![/i] The Shadow sped back to the base. "Carlos, pull up DarKnight's site." Carlos looked mildly surprised, but clicked on Favorites. "Here you go, sir..." he said, then looked startled when the Shadow, instead of coming over to the computer, went and sat on his cot. Then, "Sir! Mike's in our computer again!" Calmly, the Shadow told him, "I sense him too." "Is he allowed to do that?" "I have invited him this once." Carlos said a bit dubiously, "All right, then..." as the avenger of the night reached out with his mind again. [b][i]Here is the situation, Michael.[/i][/b][i][/i] He passed on what he knew of the black cars, sparing the boy only Grace's "cybernetic" theory. [b][i]The trouble is that they can likely spot you in a computer as readily as I can...[/i][/b][i][/i] Mike's cocky confidence took a bit of a dive at that point. [b][i]...So I propose to come with you. I am good at not being seen.[/i][/b] Shock and a delighted-scared anticipation. [i]HOW?![/i] [b][i]...Hold still.[/i][/b] Then, aloud as he stretched out on the cot, "Carlos, I am going to appear to sleep for a little while. Do not be alarmed." A little more dubiously, "OK, sir..." The Shadow wormed his way deeper into Michael's mind, getting a firm hold there and settling in. There was no resistance. He let his awareness expand in and through the boy's unique esper talent. [In game terms, I used Extra Effort to get an Extra for maintaining telepathic contact beyond Sight range. The GM and I agreed that my "touch" range Area Mental Invisibility could also apply to "mental touch" in this situation.] [b][i]Let's go.[/i][/b] Mike traced down the phone number obtained from El Bandito's mind in moments, but the information gained was not terribly useful. It was a cell phone, with a P.O. box given as address. The bills were always paid in cash. The name proved to be a dead end - evidently a false one. The Shadow did make a note of which post office the box was obtained from. Searching phone company records for calls made to and from the phone recently yielded about sixty numbers, and soon sixty names - a couple of which the Shadow recognized as belonging to gang leaders. [b][i]Dump the data into an Excel file and send it to my computer,[/i][/b][i][/i] he directed, intending to have Carlos do a cross-reference with the gang database at a later date. Mike promptly obeyed. [i]Now what?[/i] [b][i]Is there any way to trace where a cell call was made from?[/i][/b] Mike hit on the bright idea of checking the cell company's records of what stations calls from that number were routed through. After some tedious searching and triangulating, he reported, [i]Most of the calls are made from a single block, boss. I can't guarantee that they live there, but they certainly spend a lot of time there.[/i] The Shadow smiled an unpleasant mental smile. [b][i]Excellent. What is on that block?[/i][/b][i][/i] A quick search of city records, then... [i]A big office building. No floor plans available, sorry. There's about twenty companies that rent offices there.[/i] He provided the list, and one of them niggled at the Shadow's memory. [I made a pretty good Int check.] He'd heard of "OmniMetal Inc." before - at work, or in the newspaper perhaps, he couldn't recall. [b][i]Does OmniMetal have a website?[/i][/b] Mike flashed them over to another computer. [i]Yeah, but it's down. Server trouble, it says...[/i] Then the boy froze when the Shadow "shouted", [b][i]Get us out of here, Michael! NOW![/i][/b] The connection was broken at the speed of thought. [i]What? WHAT?![/i] [b][i]Someone scanned us psychically, or rather over our location. I do not believe they could have spotted us, but I also do not believe in taking chances. I think we have found what we were looking for.[/i][/b] He did not mention the strangeness of the fleeting contact... a curiously "flat" mental trace, with none of the inevitable tiny fluctuations one found even in a skilled telepath like Grace. It was as if the scanner were completely focussed on the task at hand, even monomaniacal, with no distractions or other thoughts getting in the way. [b][i]Excellent work, Michael.[/i][/b] He sensed the young man swelling with pride the instant before he broke the connection. Carlos started when the Shadow leapt off the cot. "Plug in, Carlos." "Already done, sir." The Shadow was already nearly to the hangar. "Good. Pull up this address on the master map so you can give me directions." "Done." The Shadow did a quick check on the cycle, then activated the lift. "Oh, and Carlos?" "Yessir?" "Leave a message on Grace's machine. 'Mr. Shadwell is meeting the people he spoke with you about at this address.'" "I suspect she'll be interested." [And as SP put it, "A bit paranoid, are we?" :) To which the only possible reply is, "ALWAYS!" :)] [BTW, when the Shadow smiled his smile and said "Excellent," I just about pictured him doing the Mr. Burns thing. Scary. :)] [/QUOTE]
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