ic [IC] Irradiated Intervention

[olopi]

Monday, June 13^th, 2016

AEGIS Headquarters, City Center, Freedom City

8:21 AM

 

 

A Monday morning. Nobody likes Monday mornings. Not even the men and women at AEGIS. No matter how much they liked their job, they also liked sleeping, and Monday mornings generally didn’t allow for the latter, even more so when employed by the American Elite Government Intervention Service. Among the many employees currently working, both in the Federal Building, and the actual headquarters below, were Agents Ethan Stone and James Warne, codenames Upgrade and Adept.

 

After a run-in with an upstart hero a month ago, the two of them had been working to get the permission for a formal AEGIS Investigation. Not an easy task by any means. The company was spending a lot of money on their legal team, doing the best to make sure AEGIS would not come after them. Amongst them, Jonah Cullstone. Harvard Law. He had been making sure that any progress was denied, every little vulnerability covered. And not only was there opposition from outside. Many people inside AEGIS also believed that it was best to allow Neutron Industries to continue what they had been doing, they were important to the government. World needs power, and so long as they weren’t doing anything illegal that could be proven, there was no reason to interrupt.

 

Not that that had stopped the two agents. They continued doing whatever they could to gain permission. And they were not alone, a variety of people all across AEGIS gave them their support.

When James Warne entered his office that Monday, he was greeted by a familiar face. Vincent Clarkson. Clarkson had been assigned to the last assignment dealing with Bonfire and Neutron Industries, and had helped the agents with their efforts to get permission. His face showed exhaustion, and a smell of coffee accompanied him. In his hand, a file, only a few pages of paper inside.

 

“We’ve got the Go-Ahead.“

[Blarghy]

Agent Warne's habits took a peculiar turn when his cases stretched past the first few days.  He preferred to find and apprehend suspects rapidly; when he couldn't, the mission gnawed at him, gradually consuming his life and forcing lesser needs to the margins.  This particular assignment/vendetta had stretched on for more than a month, and so today, Warne drug himself to headquarters with a thick layer of stubble over his face and neck, soot-dark circles beneath his eyes, and a grimace that could shame Judge Dredd.

 

His frown, at least, lifted when he heard the good news.  The agent half-turned, ready to leave immediately and begin the hunt, but he reluctantly waited.  He had a partner to consider now, if nothing else.  Clarkson's file was probably worth a look as well.  Warne held out his hand for it.

 

"Good.  Finally.  Details?"

 

Full sentences were for people with sane sleep schedules, or failing that, more caffeine.

Edited June 17, 2016 by Blarghy

[olopi]

“We’ve managed to get the basic permission. We’re allowed to investigate. Actually intervening’s still problematic, but as soon as we can prove something they can’t really talk their way out of allowing us to do that too. I know it’s not a whole lot, but it’s what we managed to get. “

Clarkson handed over the file. It wasn’t yet labelled. Inside, the papers signed by the higher-ups, stating just what the team was allowed to do and what not. Standard AEGIS procedure, Adept had seen this exact template many times before.

“I sent a notification to Stone already. He should be here any second. I also went ahead and sent access to some of the files that might come up during all of this to your accounts. I imagine you’ve already got a plan?” 

[Blarghy]

"Find the Gas Man.  Interrogate him.  Find whoever hired him.  Interrogate them.  Keep going until I reach the top of the chain.  Compile evidence for a formal case.  Detain anyone I witness committing a crime during my investigation."

 

A low rumble came into his voice, but for once it was less of an angry growl than a lion's satisfied purr.  Adept was very willing to work within the limits his superiors had set; even with the red tape, a knowledgeable agent still had a lot of legal tools to utilize.  Now that he'd officially been set loose, it was only a matter of time before somebody went to prison.

 

"Hmm.  Should bring in that Bonfire kid, at least to identify the Gas Man.  Maybe if he'll help draw out that mercenary in the first place...if our little arsonist hasn't been caught by Neutron Industries already."

Edited June 24, 2016 by Blarghy

[olopi]

Bonfire had in fact been absent for a while. He’d posted something about taking time off on his blog, the disappeared completely for a good 2 weeks. No contact whatsoever, complete radio silence. There had been some fans worrying publically, but due to the announcement most assumed it was no big deal.

 

“He vanished, yeah. But, good news on that front too. He posted a short entry a few hours ago. Apparently he’s active again. Wonder what he did during that time

 

….

 

The number we have is in the files I sent to your PC, in case you didn’t save it on your phone. Stone should be here any second, so we’ll be ready to move soon, hopefully. “

Edited June 23, 2016 by olopi

[Sophistemon]

If one were looking closely they might have seen Ethan run down the hallway, completely miss the door that he was looking for, and then jogging back to enter. His face was sweating and he was clearly out of breath. "I'm... sorry," he panted. "Lilly... softball..." He swallowed, puffed air, and continued. "I wanted to catch the first few innings, you know? Let her see me in the stands. I swear, this kid -- she's gonna be MVP any day now." He looked at Clarkson. "I got your notice, so I'm pretty much up to speed. Do we have a plan yet?" He wiped his forehead, strode over to the water cooler and poured himself a drink, which he drained in a few frantically hurried gulps. "God, wow. I really needed that."

Edited June 24, 2016 by Sophistemon

[Blarghy]

Warne opened his mouth to respond as his fellow agent came running in.  Ethan's mannerisms and nature continued to throw him a bit off-guard; the family types weren't too uncommon in this line of work, but few people could balance the two spheres so closely.  He wondered again how this man was able to keep control of the XO-9 when he must have less-preoccupied rivals jockeying for his position. 

 

"...Well, in light of Bonfire's little vacation, I think our first move should be to find him.  He can help with the Gas Man, but furthermore, I want to know what he's been up to.  It's possible he tried to poke around on his own, and the sooner we know the details, the better."

 

His frown returned.  What if the kid had inadvertently jeopardized their investigation before it even started?  Or, optimistically, maybe he'd learned something useful.  Though Warne wasn't much for optimism. 

[Sophistemon]

Ethan, having finished his drink, sobered up almost immediately. "Yeah, let's talk about that vacation." He looked at Warne, and then back to Clarkson. "How can it be, after everything that went down, that we didn't have this guy under surveillance? We're AEGIS, for crying out loud! We watch everybody and we lost track of Bonfire after he nearly nuked the east coast? We don't have actual supervillains getting as close to wrecking the country as this kid and we let him go to ground without a handler?" He shook his head. "I'm not judging or anything, but wow, yeah, we need to find him and figure out what's going on pronto."

[olopi]

GM

 

Clarkson’s first response was to shrug. It wasn’t the most professional response, but it was his reaction in that moment. With all the bureaucracy going on, and the Bonfire/Neutron Case being completed officially, time had been spare. Clearly, he was quite tired too, so maybe he wasn’t at his fullest.

 

“The entire thing was laid down as completed after you came back. We couldn’t get a handler on back then, and afterwards it got lost in all the other things happening. I’ve been working on three other things, and this one whenever I had spare time. Add in the fact he disappeared a few days after your confrontation, and a lot of things played against ever getting full time handlers assigned on him. How about we just call him right now to see whether or not he’s still breathing? We do have his number after all…”

 

A few clicks later, and the office’s phone was on the speakers. Ringing, ringing, for about a minute, until somebody picked up…

Edited June 29, 2016 by olopi

[olopi]

PC

 

…

 

„Uuuuuuugh. Ca …. Bonfire here. Who’ssat? Do you .. have any idea what the .. time is? It’s fa..ar too early..”

 

…...

 

“..Cl… Clar… “

 

...

 

“Good Morning, Sir. Excuse my sleepiness, I only got off the plane a few hours ago. So, what makes you call?”

 

It had been quite the day for Cassidy Bauer, known to the public as the Super-Hero/Villain/Threat Bonfire. He had arrived back at Freedom City only a few hours prior, and while it had been a short flight, it had been a night flight and he had fallen asleep pretty much right as he had gotten back into his apartment. After social media updates, of course. And now, just 7 hours afterwards, AEGIS was calling. Truly, there was no rest for the wicked. And somehow, Cass felt like this would become one of those days. The ones where sleep was nowhere to be found, and all that kept him awake were Coffee and Adrenaline. Hopefully it would just be a quick status update, but he doubted that this wouldn’t lead to something where his heroic capabilities were needed.

 

 

Edited June 29, 2016 by olopi

[Sophistemon]

Ethan sighed. "Good morning, Bonfire; this is Agents Warne, Clarkson, and Stone. We were wondering where you've been and wanted to touch bases with you. We've been working on moving forward with the Gas Man investigation and were interested in knowing if you'd managed to dig anything up between contacts." He glanced sidelong at Adept and unspoken words were said between them. "How available are you right now to have a conversation? I'll be honest, it might go on for a while and be pretty in-depth."

[Blarghy]

Adept listened in silence, having nothing more to add at the moment, and not wishing to clutter up the audio for Bonfire.  He too wished the agency had been able to keep better tabs on the young hero, but he felt a rare moment of sympathetic understanding; heroes who maintained secret identities were inevitably hard to track, and the nuclear business added a further complication.  Any handlers would have to be especially subtle.  If word reached the public that AEGIS was following Bonfire closely but refused to prosecute him for his past actions, it could raise uncomfortable questions in the press.  All considered, Warne probably wouldn't be voicing criticisms in this regard when he wrote his upcoming mission report. 

[olopi]

PC

 

“Oh? You got something? Nice. “

 

….

 

“Let me just get  … a coffee real quick, … then we can talk ….”

 

A loud sound, probably that of a coffee machine made it’s way through the communication, being distorted by the phone’s speakers. As Bonfire spoke up, it got more quiet, but could still be heard in the background.

 

“I got … some things. Not a whole lot. Chances are the big AEGIS machine probably has those infos too, … but I can quickly summarize.”

 

A bit of quiet, the sound of chugging through the speakers. It wasn’t a quick sip, it took a few seconds. Bonfire probably had just emptied an entire cup of coffee.

 

“Well. I got his business number. And I managed to dig up a location. The van operates in that area a lot, had a few contacts do some …. Work. Let’s not talk about the specifics, but yeah, I think I know where he operates from. I also got some more info on him. Does quite a bit of work actually, and from what I can tell he’s doing things legal. “

 

The sound of the coffee machine had started back up in the middle of the previous statement, and once again the sound of chugging could be heard.

 

“That’s the summary. There’s more obviously, but that’s getting into the details. So, what now? “

Edited July 3, 2016 by olopi

[Sophistemon]

Ethan stroked his chin and wondered if there was coffee available for himself anywhere nearby. When he spoke, however, it was slightly less self-absorbed. "We'd appreciate it if you sent us a copy of your findings," he said. "We'll compare what you've dug up to what we've found and do some more fact-checking along the way." He looked over to Warne, and then to Clarkson. "Look, I'm probably not the guy you want taking point on your debriefing; I've always been more SWAT than detective, do you follow me? I'm a follow-up guy, so I'm going to butt out now and let the other agents have their say; it's more their area of expertise than mine." He mouthed the word 'sorry' and motioned to the older agents, encouraging them to add on to what had already been said.

Edited July 3, 2016 by Sophistemon

[Blarghy]

Warne's head tilted toward the phone, stern again.  The Gas Man, who reportedly used explosives and poisons in public areas while pursuing bounties from private corporations, was operating legally?  And to really touch a nerve, Bonfire's investigative methods may've been questionable?  "Let's not talk about the specifics."  We'll be the judge of that.

 

"...This is a lot to discuss over the phone," he growled slowly.  "Let's meet in person.  We're going after the Gas Man anyway; the sooner we start, the better.  Maybe you'll be awake by the time we arrive, too."

[olopi]

GM

 

A meeting had been organized quickly. A car would come and pick up Bonfire from a specified location, close to the shore of south river. It would then drive him to the AEGIS offices, where he would meet with the Agents in one of the many meeting rooms that made up the upper, more public area of the AEGIS Headquarters. It would take some time for Bonfire to arrive, which allowed the Agents to go over the files once more, before then moving down into the meeting room. Clarkson, Stone, Warne and two other agents inside the room, two guards set up for safety. Yes, Bonfire had been cooperative, but he’d be in the middle of AEGIS’s HQ, security was an issue still.

 

About 40 minutes after the call had ended, a black car, looking like many others, arrived in front of the Headquarters. It was not an unusual sight, many cars like it stopped here, dropping somebody off, before driving onwards, usually into the building’s garage. But, usually the people getting out didn’t have a head made of smoke. The agents could see Bonfire walk towards the entrance, escorted by two members of AEGIS. It would be a few more minutes until he’d arrive at the meeting room, first he’d have to go through a few more checks and deal with the reception. Clarkson spoke up once again, his laptop sitting on the meeting table.

 

“Looks like he’ll be here soon. Any last suggestions, ideas, or remarks?”

 

Edited July 3, 2016 by olopi

[Sophistemon]

Ethan, having procured a cup of coffee for himself, drank. When he set the mug back down on the table, he shrugged. "I guess, ah..." he looked over to Warne for inspiration. "Look, this whole thing has become sort of a mess, right? We've got to get things straightened out and pronto before they spiral even further out of control. This 'Gas Man' is operating legally? Really?" He shook his head. "Something's fishy about the whole thing. Someone, somewhere, isn't telling the truth." He took up the mug once more, and drank. "Beyond that, I don't know. Give me something to punch with a two-ton fist and I'm your man. This stuff? It's beyond me."

[Blarghy]

Adept continued to stew in silence, flipping through the minimal file in his hands and the more extensive one between his ears.  Jonah Cullstone and others like him--that's how these bastards are "operating legally."  Money, loopholes, connections, and more money.  So far, it's been enough to save Neutron Industries from any consequences.  No more.  It's time they and their trained war-dog found out that the law doesn't work for them.  It works for us.

 

He shut the file and looked up at Clarkson.  "I want to temporarily deputize Bonfire as an agent of the courts to assist in this official AEGIS investigation.  It's a risk, given his, ahh...flammable tactics, but Stone and I will keep close watch on the boy.  Once he's got this stamp of legal approval, we have our trap for the Gas Man.  Let him try to come after Bonfire; no matter how many permits and licenses he has for his weapons and activities, he can't attack a federal agent in the pursuit of warrant-authorized duties and still stay out of handcuffs.  If he cuts a deal and turns on his bosses to avoid prison, well and good.  If he doesn't, then we still confiscate his dangerous gear, investigate his home and transport, and go looking for whoever put a flimsy layer of legality over the bounty on Bonfire.  Things like this, they don't stand up to scrutiny very well.  You can get by with all kinds of shady activities if you keep them in the dark and pay the right people to look away.  AEGIS is a spotlight, and once we turn the light on them, it's just a matter of catching all the roaches that scurry for cover."

[olopi]

GM

Clarkson was clicking through a few more pages on his laptop, occasionally using the keyboard, probably to enter passwords. He looked quite calm, but at the same time he clearly was tired. When Warne suggested making Bonfire a temporary deputy, Clarkson once again typed a few things down, by the time Warne had finished speaking he looked up from his laptop.

 

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll try to get the various approvals as soon as Bonfire agrees, hopefully it should be quick and easy. Then again, considering the last month, I have my doubts. You might have to start off without him having the status if we really want to get this moving now. Or wait a few days, and complain to the higher-ups until we get what we need. “

 

After having finished speaking, Clarkson continued with what he’d been doing before, focusing on his laptop again. A few minutes passed, a few more agents walked into the room and quietly sat down, or had some small talk with their colleagues. And then, one of the current floor’s secretaries took a few steps into the room.

 

“Bonfire has arrived on this floor. He should be here in just a few seconds. “

 

 

Edited July 5, 2016 by olopi

[olopi]

PC

 

Finally. Not only had Cass been woken far too early, it had actually been by something important. He wasn’t on the best terms with AEGIS, letting them wait sounded like a bad idea. So he had agreed to come to a meeting. Far too early in the mornings. Cass wasn’t a morning person at all. Anything before 11 AM was just painful. But here he was.

 

And the journey wasn’t all nice either. Yes, AEGIS’s cars were quite nice. And the driver was good too. But then he’d arrived at the Headquarters, and the … fun … began.  A signature here, a security check there. One after he’d gotten off the car. A few in the entrance area. X-Rays played weird with all the smoke making up his body, so that caused some delays. Then he got patted down, and then that, and then another signature, a few NDAs, and then one final check. He’d actually decided on wearing actual pants today, not just smoke ones. It had made getting patted down a lot more comfortable, that much was sure.

And then he was finally free to go. He’d totally deserved a coffee after all that, so before even taking the elevator, he went off to find a coffee machine. A nice double expresso in hand, he then made his way upwards. Obviously, by the time he’d left the elevator he’d already finished. Fortunately, there was another machine quite close to the elevator.

 

He’d kept AEGIS waiting long enough. He took a few steps forward, before being patted down again. They really cared about security here. After all that, he was finally allowed to enter.

 

And so, the man known as Bonfire walked into the meeting room. Wearing some …. Interesting … lime, tight fit pants and a light blue shirt. In his hand, unsurprisingly, coffee. And his head, like usual, in the form of a cloud of smoke, extending upwards quite a bit more than the last time the agents had seen him.

 

“Greetings. Sorry for the wait, X-Rays and Smoke don’t go together so well.”

Edited July 5, 2016 by olopi

[Sophistemon]

Ethan smiled at the younger man and looked, not for the first time, for a sense of features within that roiling mass of smoke. "I'll bet," he said, his voice friendly. "So, we understand that there's been a lot going on lately; that much goes without saying, huh? Being a super-hero's got to be at least as time-consuming as being a super cool government agent, so we're all on the same page so far as that goes." He looked down at his files of notes. "With that said, yeah, might have been nice to hear from you at some point after our first meeting. I don't mean to hammer it home or anything, it's just, you know. To follow up and everything. Future notice, okay? F.Y.I. and all that." He grinned, and took another sip of his own coffee, by now lukewarm. "Anyway! Welcome to AEGIS. I'm not gonna bust your balls about that anymore. No promises for Warne, though, yeah?" He looked at the older agent and grinned. "So, this Gas Man stuff; what a trip, huh?"

[Blarghy]

This waiting and small talk began to grate on Agent Warne; he drummed his fingers against the tabletop before sitting up straighter and saying, "Yes, we perhaps should've been in touch as well.  Your little vacation came at a worrying time, in light of the bounty on your life, but you had the presence of mind to give something of a notice.  Even if it was public."  Tsss.  Bloggers. 

 

"Regardless.  Now you're back, and you have information.  We're curious as to what you've learned...and how you learned it."

[olopi]

PC

“Yeah, I did pull a disappearing act, sorry about that. It all was pretty sudden and I didn’t really have much time to work things out before going completely silent. I wasn’t really acting as Bonfire that entire time, so my more … heroic ? Not really but let’s stay with that … obligations weren’t really on my mind. I did the quick blog post but was more concerned with my private life, and I guess I …. kinda forgot … about all of this? “

 

Oh great. It wasn’t a complete lie, Cass had actually forgotten about telling AEGIS. A bit of a lie to make it sound like the entire thing had been a lot more urgent than it was. The joys of two identities. Great. These agents probably didn’t like him beforehand, and messing up like that? Oh boy, that was a great way to just get him imprisoned. Sure, they’d told him they wouldn’t, but that statement was very much focused on the “for now”.

 

“So, what did I learn? Not a whole lot, to be fair. Let’s see… “

 

“He’s got a business card, with a cool catchphrase and all. Oh, and yeah, a phone number. Couldn’t find it online, but I managed to snag one through a few friends of mine. I know some people that know people, and so on, and this is just a business card, so there ya go.”

 

From the pockets of his lime green pants Bonfire pulled a small business card, the design held rather simple. He laid it onto the table, somewhere everybody could see, before moving on.

 

“I had somebody track down the number. It’s mobile, so no location to be had from that. I dug in a bit deeper. His Van was quite noticeable, being armored and all. Surely it would stick out on security feeds and the likes? Probably registered too, but that wouldn’t tell me much about where.”

 

“I had a few contacts do their magic, and managed to pin him down on Greenbank. Security feeds primarily. You’d be surprised what you can find if you spend some time going through CCTV feeds. Actually, wait, isn’t that part of your job? Anyways, I don’t know where exactly, but that seems to be where he’s operating from. “

Edited July 10, 2016 by olopi

[Sophistemon]

Ethan stroked his chin and read the card. "A super-powered bounty hunter? Because we don't have enough of regular loonies running around, right?" He sighed. "Well, okay. We've got leads, then. How do we go about making the most of them?" He looked to his fellow agents and arched his eyebrows. "Is anyone else thinking that we should set a trap? Get the word out that Bonfire's back in town, wait for Gas Man to show up to collect, and bag him when he does?"

Edited July 10, 2016 by Sophistemon

[Blarghy]

"My thoughts too," Adept agreed in his usual growling tones.  He wasn't entirely pleased with the answer, or lack of one, Bonfire had given him about his recent methods.  He's got connections and doesn't want to share them.  I've sure seen that before.  For now, we'll let it slide.  In the future, once Neutron is wrapped up...who knows?  "But when we charge the Gas Man with assault, I want it to stick.  He might be clever enough to stand down as soon as we enter the scene, and if his bounty on Bonfire is somewhat legal, then we'll be left with a very flimsy case.  Criminals don't cut a deal and rat their bosses if they aren't legitimately worried about going down.  If we're going to set a trap, the bait needs to be right."

 

He looked to Clarkson.  "What's the word on deputizing this kid?  Can we get it done today, or are you running into opposition?"