Satanic Panic (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

August 1, 2015 

Shreveport, LA 

Argonaut and Pulsar got the message a couple of days ago - inviting them to meet Detective Samuel Winters at a murder scene in Shreveport, Louisiana. The murder took place in Apartment #404 in the Venture Arms, an impoverished part of a city that's not very wealthy at all. The Venture is located close enough to Barksdale Air Force Base that the airmen come here to buy cheap liquor and maybe gamble away from the watchful eyes of MPS - but it's not really important enough for the city to devote a lot of attention to. The Venture, a squat, four-story building is just off the exit from Interstate 20 by the base, is one of the largest buildings in a neighborhood of chain gas stations, convenience stores with lottery tickets, and pool halls. A week ago, on July 23, local resident Vincent Sabatelli strangled his girlfriend Carla Bell to death. Shreveport PD got a full confession - Sabatelli, angry but obviously remorseful, said he strangled his girlfriend to death when she wouldn't stop laughing at him. It would normally be an open-and-shut case. 

Except - the day after the murder, Satanic Panic, the Southeast's most famous glam/death metal band, rented the apartment just below Sabatelli's to record for their latest album. This isn't too strange; Satanic Panic is something of a vulture when it comes to real-life crime and murder - they've recorded near Littleton High School, the 9/11 Memorial, and other scenes of carnage and mass killing. (No mainstream distributor would touch them, but they have a massive Internet following). However; Satanic Panic's manager, one Richard Little, called the building's owner and reserved the apartment the day _before_ the murder took place. Winters wants to investigate - but his sergeant isn't interested. After all, they have a signed, videotaped confession from the killer. Why look further? 

So Winters has contacted AEGIS - going in two directions. One message has gone to the nearest AEGIS office in New Orleans. which has wound up getting forwarded to Freedom City because people in Freedom City tend to deal with the rough stuff. Argonaut will need to be careful operating in Shreveport, a city with a bad institutional relationship with AEGIS, but she does technically have jurisdiction there. Another message went out to the man who gave Sam Winters his favorable attitude about AEGIS - Pulsar, who once had a perfectly fine mission in Shreveport about five years ago blasting swamp creatures attacking the city alongside Shreveport PD Officer Sam Winters. He was a little surprised to hear Pulsar was no longer with the agency, but still gave him all the vital information he needed. 

It's late on the night of August 1, and hot and sticky in Shreveport, enough to make even some superhumans sweat. There's traffic on the freeway tonight, and from the sidewalk in front of the Venture Arms one can see the cars backed up all the way to the last exit, and the emergency lights from a nearby roadblock. Somebody's not having a good night up there. 

 

[Brown Dynamite]

There were two things Yves hated about the heat.  The first, was that she could easily avoid it if she had decided to armor up as it were.  Heat was a mild inconvenienced to the fully armored Omegadrone.  But, she was far from distracting in that form making a quiet investigation all but impossible.  The second and arguably more bothersome issue, the heat made her less than skin showing attire all but unbearable.  Rather than walking around in an AEGIS uniform, Yves was wearing a brown leather jacket on top of a blue blouse and black pants.  An AEGIS badge sitting comfortably on the waist of her belt.

The Freed Omegadrone's scarred visage looked right at home as she stared at the emergency lights from the sidewalk.  Chaos and death were almost a familiar comfort.  Rather than going inside the Venture building, the small woman continued to stare in the direction of the lights.  Silently waiting outside for signs of the local police contact rather than stepping right inside.

Officers tended to be friendly until the threat of jurisdiction being pulled out from under them.  Especially when a case seemed so open and shut.  From her understanding Shreveport PD was especially territorial when it came to AEGIS.  Making the view away from the emergency lights all the less appealing. "..."

[Nexus]

Jake had to admit, he was very surprised to hear from Winter. He had a relatively decent mission when he worked with him five years ago, now that he was out of the agency, he could only wonder how bad it was this time. After a long argument with his editor about doing a story about Satanic Panic, he got a good excuse to head down to Shreveport, LA. Packing his things he fly down Shreveport, making sure to bring his costume and transformation watch.

Unlike a lot of people, Jake liked the warm weather of the south. Because of his powers he didn't feel the sun like a normal person, he felt pleasure when the rays of the sun hit him not pain. On the four hour flight he managed to absorb a great deal of ultraviolet light. He wore a light blue button down shirt, blue jeans and penny loafers. By the time he got to the town, it was getting dark and he could tell the people of the town were on edge. Anybody from out of town was getting the sideye. It didn't help that he had his press badge on. After getting directions he flew down to the site, he hoped it wasn't as bad as he heard.

[Avenger Assembled]

Winters stepped out to meet Pulsar when he arrived, his red mustache and hair having begun to gray in the years since he'd last seen him. "Manning, good to see you." In his faded trenchcoat over jacket and tie, he looked a bit like a police detective right out of Central Casting. He shook Manning's hand, then said, "I think the regular AEGIS contact is...over here!" He shook Argonaut's hand too, sparing only a glance for the AEGIS agent's scarred face. "You must be, uh, Agent A. Glad you could both come out." He looked from one to the other before saying gravely, "Listen, Manning, I know you're not with the agency anymore, so I hope this isn't going to be awkward. I trust AEGIS more than most cops in this part of the country, and I trust Jake Manning more than most AEGIS agents. If we're going to do this, we need to do it together." 

When neither of them objected, he led them inside the building, using his key to open the cordoned-off crime scene. "We've been over everything forensics-wise, but you're welcome to use your super-gadgets to look it over yourself," he said, standing in the foyer of the small, shabby apartment. The murder scene itself had been in the living room; he'd sent pictures of the gruesome strangulation, but the unfortunate body of Carla Bell was long since removed to the morgue. "I hit the Web and I found some information about Satanic Panic, if that's more your speed," he went on, carefully closing the door behind them. That must have been in the manila folder under his arm, a sign of just how behind the times the Shreveport PD had to be, at least when compared to the high-tech, well-equipped Freedom City cops. He kept his voice quiet; the walls were thin here, and they could hear footsteps and noise in the other apartments. 

[Brown Dynamite]

Yves extended her arm out to motion the detective to hand her the manila folder.  It seemed as if examining the research would be a simpler task than combing through the apartment.  It also gave her the opportunity to see how this Jake Mannings carried himself.  Even if she wasn't entirely sure any of the info on Satanic Panic would be useful.  One would think half the bands in the country were formed on Nihilor the way some outraged parents comment about the latest musical craze.  Not that any group that could be described as a craze would ever rent this crime scene for a night.

"Do the findings in the morgue match that of the statement in the video confession?"  Yves asked without making eye contact.  Instead her eyes were examining the room.  She wasn't carrying an AEGIS investigator kit or anything that would count as a super gadget.  For,the freed omegadrone was a much better soldier than she was cop.  So, she took things from that perspective.  Looking for signs of a violent struggle before the gruesome strangulation.

Edited July 14, 2015 by HG Morrison

[Nexus]

"It's okay, Winters I understand what you mean," Jake gave a slight smile and gave him a firm handshake. With a quick lookover at the agent standing next to him he made sure to not to comment on the amount of clothes she was wearing. It was quite hot here, just because it didn't effect him like the norms, doesn't mean he didn't notice.

Jake followed in behind Vves and Winters, making sure not to draw too much attention. He had done some research n the band in question, from what he could gather,they were mostly attention seekers who wanted it from the lowest common denominators of fans. As he entered to room, it was a disaster area, looking more like a horror movie with each passing second. Blood and guts all over. It reminded him of the last mission of he had with AEGIS, though that had less guts and more the smell of burned humans.