ic Medical Maladies (IC)

[Raveled]

Tory was led through the ship, given time to gawk at the high-tech nature of it all but not allowed to dawdle. In good time he was delivered to the brig and the -- open, unlocked, but still a -- cell that held his roommate, Vincent. Vincent looked up at Tory, eyes still red from crying, and gasped in shock. "Whu... Tea-Oh! What are you doing here?"

Tory glanced around and stepped inside the cell gingerly, clearly expecting the door to snap shut behind him. "I dunno, man. These superheroes showed up and started asking me a bunch of questions. But Vinny, what's wrong with you? You look like someone just died!"

Vincent threw his head back into his hands. "Oh man, T-O. I messed up big time. I'm done, I'm a washout, I'm finished."

Tory sat down next to Vincent and threw an arm around the other man's shoulders. "Hey, keep it together, man. Nothing can be that bad. What happened?" It took several minutes, but Tory got the story out of his roommate. At the end he patted Vincent's shoulder, stood up, and walked up to one of the crewmembers standing guard. "Hey, where'd your captain go? I want to talk to her."

---

The city passed by in eerie silence at Jubatus sped through it at super-speed, his own perception of time cranked to the max. It didn't take long to find the subway station the commuters had passed through; it was on the west edge of the city center, where the high-rises and skyscrapers started making way for smaller buildings on bigger lots. It was right at the edge of the city's business district, in other words, and even now there was a fair bit of traffic in and out of the station. The man-cat took the steps down easily. What he saw was typical of a subway station in a modern city; turnstiles to pay for the fare, long stone quays for people to wait on, small stalls selling almost any sort of food providing it could be stuck on a stick, and a pair of dark, cavernous tunnels leading into the city's subway tunnels.

There was maybe twenty passengers waiting for trains. A quick glance confirmed that the station wasn't at rush-hour just yet; a train had just departed, and the next one wasn't scheduled for a full ten minutes. A dark plastic bubble sprouted from the ceiling every so many feet; security cameras, no doubt. Perhaps that would be a profitable avenue of exploration.

[Cubist]

There was maybe twenty passengers waiting for trains. A quick glance confirmed that the station wasn't at rush-hour just yet; a train had just departed, and the next one wasn't scheduled for a full ten minutes…

Jubatus scanned the subway platform with his eyes. Okay… if I were an evil gizmo designed to infect innocent commuters with an engineered pathogen, where would I have myself installed? A thorough (and Timeshifted) search of the entire station revealed no signs that any such gizmo had actually been installed there; a second pass, this time focusing on anomalous scents, revealed that certain of the station's security cameras had had extra wires hooked to them within the past few weeks. The relevant cameras' collective field of view covered 100% of the passenger platform area, as well as the entire boarding area.

Right… makes sense. The gizmo's not in the station; the next choice would be on a subway car. The perp wants to make sure their gizmo will go off when, and only when, they want it to; that means they need eyes on the spot; and tapping into the station's security cameras is a lot less obtrusive and more reliable source of those eyes than deploying humans over the necessary period of time. Fine: Next question is, which car, or cars, did the perps install their gizmo on?

Well, acquiring the necessary data to answer that question was why Jube had set up a program to slurp that data from the Transit Authority's databases. Wasn't sure that password they gave me would still be valid after the end of that contract. Poor data-security practice, or the management figured they could trust a superhero? Okay, let's see what I've got so far… And luck was with him! With this new information, Jubatus knew exactly which cars had been part of the two (and only two!) trains that had stopped at this station during the short period of time within which the meta-bug's victims even could have been infected!

Excellent. Now let's look at the maintenance schedules for those cars…

[Blue Rose]

As Tory speaks up, four crewmembers come in bearing furniture. An well-dressed elderly gentleman- the only one without furniture- who overheard the request opts to answer. "My apologies, gentlemen, but the crew, captain included, is dining at the moment."

The other three come in, bringing in a pair of more comfortable chairs and a cart bearing the same meal being served above. The door to the cell wasn't even locked. "Please, enjoy your meal; the captain shall be with you shortly."

And with that, the group leaves, closing (but not locking) the door behind them, and taking the guard with them to give the duo some alone time. It's looking more and more unlikely that they even have anything to spill, unfortunately.

Silvia, meanwhile, continues eating. She contributes little to the conversation, distracted by her spying, but they don't have a great deal of information to share yet anyways. They're on their way to get answers, after all.

Unless her guests start misbehaving, she has no intention of going to them until everyone has finished eating.

[Raveled]

"No, I damn well will not sit down and be quiet!" Tory pushed against the crowmembers, who struggled to keep him in the brig without resorting to violence. "I don't want any damn dinner, either, take that crap away!" The guards pushed back suddenly and Tory tumbled to the ground. He picked himself up quickly though and faced them down, glaring. "I'm a citizen of Freedom City and the United States. I know my rights, you can't just hold me here!" He picked up a glass and tossed it against the bars of the jail cell. "You know what? This is looking more and more like some supervillain grabbing folks off the street to do whatever his sick little mind feels like! How do I know I shouldn't be calling for the Freedom League anyway, huhn?"

[Blue Rose]

"Oh dear," the captain says, setting down her wine glass, meal only half-finished. "It seems one of our guests is dissatisfied with the hospitality. If you would excuse me."

She rises, and adds, "Please, feel free to continue," making no objection whether her peers stay to eat or come to see what the problem is.

When she reaches the brig, her demeanor is utterly unperturbed, stepping deftly around the shards of the shattered glass, her men stepping aside to clear the way.

"I should like to remind you, Mister Vetto," she says with the same voice one might use to lecture a child, only raising her voice to overpower any attempts to interject, maintaining composure while managing to be very loud if need be. "We did not take you. You chose to come aboard. I should also like to remind you that despite the appearance seeming to come from your history books, you are aboard a space ship capable of interstellar travel, with alien technology far beyond your understanding. We keep you here for your own protection, lest you inadvertently damage yourself or the ship." An unnecessary precaution, but an adequate excuse.

"I have seen to it that you have been provided what comfort and hospitality I can while we attempt to resolve the situation and clear your name. It should be pointed out that certain dangerous parties with considerable access to information about you personally have released your creation on the populace. This makes you a person of interest to said dangerous parties. If you wish to leave, you are of course free to do so once we reach our destination. However, I would not like to see what these parties might do once they catch up to you outside of my protection, nor shall I be held responsible. Though in the aftermath, we might be able to glean some amount of useful evidence from your remains."

"Now, then. What was it you wished to speak to me about?" she asks as if she hadn't just all but issued a death threat.