ic [IC] The Cretan Connection

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

Failed sniper? After her? 

 

If in doubt, the truth served best. 

 

"A woman dressed in a Swiss costume sent me" he explained. "Although I have not the faintest idea who she is, or who you are for that matter. I stopped the Sniper, for what else could I do? I saw a man about to fire, and presumably kill, and that would not sit well with my heart if I stood back and did nothing" he explained. 

 

In the blink of an eye, his force field zipped on - a shimmering field of blue silver light. And from his hand, an elegant sword of the same light. 

 

"I was feeling light a noble knight!" he said. His pose was indeed noble. Not agressive, but theatrical, an emphasis to his words, whilst at the same time it meant he wouldn't get easily blasted. 

 

"And equally ignorant. I am being played!" he concluded. "But by whom? you? or her?"

[olopi]

There was a silence, followed by some muttered words coming through, even though they were intelligible. The voice soon continued to speak. “This is what I get for using different filters, argh. It’s me. Same person, you….” Once again the voice became muttered, essentially intelligible.

 

Within moments of Auguste activating his powers, the turrets pointed at him became a bit more active too, probably beginning to aim properly. “Noble Knight my ass. You all couldn’t get me when I was prepared, so you tried to lure me into security and kill me here. Too bad I prepared for that one, eh? Last chance, you can run and figure out how to deal with your colleagues coming after you, or you can leave the place in a bodybag. I stopped playing around a long time ago. ”

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

That would explain it. 

 

Well, start to explain it. 

 

A ruse, a trick, surely. But the nature and flavour was as yet obscure. 

 

"I had nothing to do with that sniper. Other than stopping him" he protested, and protested firmly. "If there is a conspiracy..."

 

...and that's a big if. She is showing signs of thought disorder. Paranoia. Psychosis?

 

he hadn't studied post graduate psychology for nothing. 

 

"...then I had nothing to do with it. What proof do you have? Surely you do not expect me to disprove your conjencture? I cannot prove a negative, and should not be expected to. What evidence do you have for your assetation?"

 

Russel's Teapot. He had studied philosophy too, of course!

 

 

[olopi]

“Oh, I’ve got a bit. One mome-“

She pretty clearly moved her head away from the microphone, but after a second or two moved closer, sounding more annoyed now that she was responding.

 

“Agh, already removed the displays. No fancy graphics, then. Let’s see.”

 

“You’re using your powers, out in the open. Without even trying to conceal your identity. So either you have no idea what you’re doing, which judging by how quickly you were up there and took the guy out is unlikely, you’re hilariously stupid, which I also doubt, or you don’t have any reason to worry about disappearing.”

 

“And if the past few years, hell, probably just time in general has shown us, unless you’re in Geneva that’s not really an option. I have no idea why the hell you’d forget about that part when it comes to luring me in, but I have to thank you, I did get a bit careless while running away and would probably have just let you in normally.”

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

"Yes. I dont wish to conceal my identity. Too much effort" replied August, calmly. "I wont go around advertising them, either" he added. "I don't like keeping secrets". 

 

This was true but twisted. The fact he had some truly horrible family secrets he did want to keep locked away was another matter. But with regards to super powers, he took the view that it was safer to be open about them, rather than panic about keeping them secret. 

 

"I don't really know who you are" he answered. "You haven't told me. Just babbled on with cryptic reference after cryptioc reference. I told you. I'm in the dark here. Who exactly are you? And who is after you?" he said, firmly. 

 

Another day, he might have played along, been deceptive. That was his normal style. But this woman seemed to random, to chaotic, to play. 

[olopi]

"Okay, let's go with "has no idea" then, for now."

 

The two turrets which had up until now been pointed at August, while not powering down, did seemingly go into standby, no longer targeting him directly. Some whirring in the background suggested that some other technology inside this base had just been activated, although there wasn't any immediately visible effect.

 

"Ever wonder why Switzerland is so quiet when it comes to powered activity? Both historically and currently. Almost nothing. "

 

"Considering the amount of money that changes hands here, and so on, there should be way more activity, just based on what we see just about everywhere else globally. But it isn't there. Now, there's been some heroes across the years. But, and that's the big thing, never for long. As soon as they received some amount of attention, they disappeared. Never to be seen again."

 

By now a relatively large LED-screen had appeared at the far wall of the base, showing a bunch of newspaper clippings and photographs, some modern, some fairly old.

 

"And, well, considering what just happened – and the few other times things like this have happened . I think it's pretty obvious that these aren't coincidences. "

 

"I've got you, them, it, whatever, all figured out. "

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

Feeling somewhat reassured that he wasn't going to get splattered by some cosmic beam, or punched in the face, Diamondlight relaxed and tuned out his powers. 

 

He went to study the news clippings, soaking up all the jigsaw of information on them. 

 

"I take your point" he said. "Switzerland hasn't exactly been rife with superheroes. Or supervillains, for that matter, unless you count the bankers..." he quipped, stroking his chin as he contemplated both the words and the images. 

 

"But what are you saying? Is there some politico-social drift? Or some strange influence on the area. Something in the water, so to speak..."

 

He turned to face the woman again. 

 

"No...I think you are talking about some conspiracy aren't you?" he asked. "But who are the conspirators, and what possible motive could they have?"

[olopi]

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm talking about. There's coincidence, but at some point a pattern becomes the sign for something larger looming underneath. And I think it's pretty obvious that point's been reached."

 

"As for the conspirators … I don't know. That's what I'm working on at the moment. Actually…"

 

Not too far away from where Auguste stood right now, a door opened in the wall, previously hidden. Once more, the woman talked over the intercoms.

 

"I think you've proven you're not here to kill me, or at least not immediately, so step on through. Let's talk about this face to face."

 

Once Auguste stepped through, he entered a smaller room which seemed to be more of a living quarters-slash-workshop. A bed, sink and mini-fridge were located in one corner, while in the other, the armour that Auguste has seen previously took up most of the space, with some tools scattered on a workbench next to it. A woman – almost definitely who August had been talking to so far, turned around her chair, sitting at a desk with a running PC.

 

She was wearing a white tanktop and brown cargo pants, held up by suspenders. Her black hair was tied into a bun, as she motioned for Auguste to take a seat on the bed.

 

"So, conspirators. I have a few theories, but nothing concrete. First of all, this has been going long enough that we can safely assume it isn't a single person. Beyond that, who knows. I have a suspicion, and it ties into what you said before. Namely, banking. It would fit a motivation. The more stable the country is, and the less heroes there are sniffing around, the less likely people will look into shady dealings going on. And as much as it's a stereotype, we all know how us swiss like to make their money."

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

Conspiracy theorists...don't tend to be exactly stable. Paranoid personality disorder common. Although they might be right...it all depends on quality of evidence, and breadth of attitude. 

 

August did not study psychology for nothing!

 

He took the bed, and kept alert. It seemed violence was not on the menu; at least not for now. And he was best pleased. He didn't enjoy fighting. At least, he didn't ejoy physically fighthing. 

 

He considered the words, and the person who spoke them. 

 

"mmm...although the larger the group involved, the more difficult it is to keep a conspiracy secret" he commented. "But you have a point...the Swiss banking system is hardly a bastion of moral fortitude" he commented. Indeed, although he had a vein of patriotism, he found the banking in Switzerland disgusting. 

 

"But thats just some dots. How do you connect them?"

 

Here was the real essence of her psychology...was this justified speculation or paranoid thinking?

[olopi]

"That's the issue. I have no solid leads on who actually is behind this. This isn't the first time they've tried to attack me, and up until now they always managed to escape before I could interrogate them. I don't know how closely you looked at the sniper from before, but did you notice his tech? It's not stuff you can buy, it's not even military issue. It's breaking-edge equipment, which means there's a lot of money involved in taking me out."

 

"I was so focused on you I didn't pay enough attention to the other guy and judging from what I heard on police radio he got away. Straight up disappeared, apparently. "

 

"Still, this gives us an opportunity. You made your public appearance. You foiled a hit attempt. So I'm pretty sure they're after you too. So I'm thinking if we do it right we might be able to bait them out and then figure out what's going on by actually getting the info from the people in the know."

 

The woman looked as if she'd just realized something somewhat embarrassing, as she quickly added on another thing before Auguste had any real chance of responding. "Now that we're face to face, who do I have the pleasure of dealing with? I … well, this piece of metal here… "she pointed towards her armour, standing some distance away " is known as Helvetia. No, not the insurance provider, we figured out a deal some time back."  

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

After me? Yes --- if there is indeed a "Swiss Conspiracy" --- they would be after me indeed. But...I wonder if there is more swirling around this than first meets the eye....this Lady may be jumping to conclusions, although I don't think she is completely off the mark either...

 

"I can't say I like the thought of being bait..." he said, softly and earnestly. 

 

"I am known as Diamondlight" he said, by way of introduction. "I don't hide my identity, though. I am also August Zoss" he added. "I suppose you could say you have me hooked. I am invested, if you pardon the financial implications of the word"

 

He didn't know if she knew of Zoss. Probably, if she was swiss. But it was best to find out her nature by honesty rather than deception right now. Often, in his experience, honesty was the best deception. 

 

"And you? What dragged you into his web?"

[olopi]

 "It's an option – but only if you do feel up for it. If not, I am sure there are other ways we can get a tangible thread of this web."

 

If she knew who the Zoss were, she did not give any visible indication of it. Instead, she just responded to August's second question.

 

"I decided to spend my time doing something good. Just 'cause there's no supervillains doesn't mean that the people couldn't use somebody who does some actual good. Had time to spare, the necessary know-how, and began to work on my gear over there. Not on my own, but that's a long story. Started doing things publicly last year – the landslide, some flooding, some criminal activity – and got a fair bit of attention with it. "

 

"Pretty soon after that I got a letter telling me to stop, with a lot of personal details on it, not that my name was at all associated with all of the hero-ing I was doing. We actually lost a business deal or two, but I could never tie it down to anything. They couldn't find any traces of DNA or technical information on the letter and it disappeared in the postal system when they tried to return it to me."

 

"Then, somebody tried to break into my house at night. I was working overtime spontaneously, but the apartment was pretty much entirely ruined. Some more stuff happened -including a short hospital stay that ended with me having to leave …prematurely - but that sniper from before was the most direct attempt at killing me so far."

 

"So, Mister Zoss, what do you suggest we do now?"

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

Now that does sound a bit paranoid, but really there is no good way of disecting out what is perception and what is truth...

 

He had no intention of being bait. But it was a good plan. Perhaps the only viable plan. That, he had to concede, and he said as much. 

 

"Your plan is good. Just because I don't like being live bait doesn't mean I won't do it. But, forgive my feelings on the matter...I am very much up for being a superhero, but taking caution over my life is something that is also very important to me..."

 

Honesty, oft the best policy!

 

"So whats your plan? I hope it has some...ah....safety considerations!"

[olopi]

"Thank you. Trust me, I fully understand your feelings on this and do not like the fact that this is the best option we have either, but as it stands, doing this now means we can hopefully shut down whoever is behind this, and avoid however many deaths that may come in the future. "

 

She got up and took a tablet from the desk next to her armour. "Let's figure this out, then…" She walked back into her hideout's main room and waited for August to follow her. Once he was there, she pulled up a big map of Switzerland on the screen, which she controlled from her tablet. "I'm thinking we strike while the iron's hot, so to say. Give our would-be assassin some time to recover, and then have something flashy enough to surely attract his attention. So I'm thinking we do it later tonight, in as public a place as possible. Make some big waves."

 

She turned to August, while highlighting some points on the map, all of them in major cities. "I'm not sure just what the event could be, though. The flashier, the better. We need something that takes long enough for whoever the attacker would be to arrive, so it can't just be a fight. Any ideas? "  

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

"I had an inclination to go to the Opera" replied August, smiled on his face. "I believe Bern is hosting the opening night of La Boheme tonight" he said. He had mulled over going himself, but he was more a fan of modern art. 

 

"As long as I can get tickets, that might be a good place" he suggested. "Plenty of politicians and businessmen. Artists and Hangers On" he mused, tapping his chin. 

 

"The only disadvantage is it might be too crowded, and put others in danger. Which I am even less inclined to do. Which means we may have to make adjustments...."

[olopi]

"Oh, oh!"

 

The woman seemed to be quite excited by that suggestion as she rapidly tapped her tablet and a map of Berne showed up on the screen in front of them, while the opera house's website was loading on the side.

 

"A building full of people, with only a small amount of exits which can easily be observed. A lot of connected people in one place. And a villain who wants to use that situation to his benefit. But what he doesn't know is that THE Diamondlight is sitting in the audience, ready to thwart his plan. Now that's a true hero story!"

 

Then, she quieted down a bit, as she got to thinking about the logistics of it all.

 

"The amount of people could be an issue, yeah… Means that news will definitely get out, and we can plan around them … but it gives our would-be assassin the ability to hide in the crowd, and we can't guarantee that nobody gets injured if he doesn't give it up peacefully. Which … we can probably assume he won't. "

 

"And I won't be able to use my full powers, either. Can't fit the entire suit in there, probably. And yet … I think it's still a good option. The risk is massive though…."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"The risk is always going to be massive" countered Diamondlight. 

 

And he didn't mind. Risk was a like a drug, and he was hooked. 

 

But one had to play risk, like a maestro played a violin. 

 

"But lets be clear. We aren't here to fight, or even grind horns. This is bait, to find out whats going on. Pure and simple. Its...intelligence gathering...." he summised. He wasn't exactly a spy, but he wasn't far from it either. 

 

"If you cant fit in the suit, then you will either have to wait outside, or come up with some appropriate black tie attire" he said, wondering, with some amusement, what she would choose...