ic Dark Dealings (IC)

[Heritage]

Miracle Girl wrinkled her nose, nodded and winked. "Yeah, it's pretty much the same." Once they both out on the middle of the deck,  the blonde heroine nodded and sighed.

 

"Okay, this probably isn't going to be very dignified, but at least you can tell your grandkids about it, right?" She reached down and effortlessly picked the big man up in a bridal carry, the muscles in her arms barely flexing. "Arms around my neck; you can see what I meant about the 'dignity' part. Got a good grip? Okay, then off we go!"

 

Miracle Girl lifted straight up into the air, her whole body softly glowing gold with power; she always tried to make her liftoffs a bit gradual, to accommodate possible sensitive stomachs. "You've probably worked this harbor most of your life; today you get a special view!" Keeping a sharp eye out for any copters in the area, she chose a gentle parabola to get a decent amount of height while still staying on target to land Larry back at the dock. "You should see the harbor like this at night," she said with a contented sigh. "Sometimes I just sit on top of the Centurian statue just to take it all in."

 

As much as she loved to fly, Casey knew most civilians found it unnerving, so soon it was time to bring the tugboat pilot back down to Earth; she landed near the dockworkers so he'd be among friends, and quickly but gently got him back on his feet. "It was an honor working with you, Larry," she said as she smiled and once again shook his hand. "We make a good team!"

Edited October 17, 2016 by Heritage

[R. Bluefish]

GM Post

 

"Y-yeah," wheezed Larry, stumbling slightly on his feet as he shook her hand. "We sure do. I guess that was...kinda like parasailing." His face was slightly pale, but he looked excited nonetheless. "Only without the parasail."

 

Casey could see that while she had been rescuing Larry from the tugboat, more authorities had arrived. The area was now cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape, and black-and-white squad cars were piling up from all directions. As Larry's friends took him aside, chuckling at his expression, a burly bearded man in a suit got out of one of the cars. His eyes immediately settled on Casey, and with one hand he beckoned her over. A golden FCPD shield was hung around his neck.

[Heritage]

Noting the detective beckoning to her (she was pretty sure any cop in a suit was a detective, but she could be wrong), Casey stepped crisply over to him, doing her best to fix her hair a bit. Between the work she did containing the explosives and her dunk in the river, she probably looked pretty rough, but there wasn't  much  time to worry about cosmetic appearances. She stood with  her hands folded in front of her and gave the bearded man a nod.

 

"Hello, detective, I'm Miracle Girl; how can I be of assistance?"

[R. Bluefish]

GM Post

 

"I'm Detective Alan Kapoor," said the man, shaking her hand firmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miracle Girl. Some damned impressive work you did here - a lot of these people probably owe you their lives. And they certainly owe you their jobs."

 

This sentiment was met with a ragged cheer from the nearby workers as they overheard. Kapoor frowned slightly at them, then looked back at Casey. "I don't know if you noticed the label while you were," he made a vague twirly gesture with his finger, "flying around up there, but the container you just dealt with belonged to a company called Mercury Shipping. I've been..." he trailed off as he cast a suspicious glance around him at the onlookers, then jerked a thumb at a more secluded spot, away from the crowd. "You mind if we take this over there? Bit more private."

[Heritage]

Casey returned his handshake with a firm one of her own; her strong grip shouldn't have been surprising, considering she'd just lifted several tons, but it was still a bit incongruous coming from a such a young girl. "Likewise, detective; happy to help."

 

"Of course," she said in response to his querry, and she followed him away from the crowd. "I know the foreman said there was no record of it on his manifest; he suspected some sort of smuggling operation right away. Have you been investigating this 'Mercury Shipping'?"

[R. Bluefish]

GM Post

 

"You could say that," said Kapoor with a slightly bitter smile and a shrug of his shoulders. "As much as I can. But the thing with being a cop in this city, sometimes you can hardly move for all the red tape."

 

Pointing to the distant outline of the abandoned barge far out in the water, he said, "I've suspected Mercury Shipping's involved in smuggling for a long time now. Just wasn't sure what. As it turns out," he nods again in the direction of the barge, "it's weapons. That can was packed to the ceiling with high-powered, high-tech explosive devices. We've got our people digging around, trying to figure out where it came from, but for now we've got a problem."

 

Sighing, he looked Casey in the eye. "Mercury Shipping's big. They ship to just about every part of the country, and a decent chunk of the world. We have no way of knowing how many of their other containers might have those kinds of grenades in them. But if even one percent of them do, and if even one of those grenades is as unstable as those were..." He made a sudden explosive gesture with both hands. "Boom. Chain reaction. And they might not be so lucky as to have a superhero nearby when that happens."

[Heritage]

"Well, I checked all the other ones on this dock, and they seemed to be clean," Miracle Girl said as she swept an arm to indicate the containers; then she realized this might be confusing, so she pointed to her eyes as she elaborated on her comment. "I can see for miles and into infrared; the grenades give off a faint heat signature I was able to detect."

 

She shrugged.

 

"I'd happily offer my sevices to your investigation in any way I can, sir."

[R. Bluefish]

GM Post

 

"It's more than just this dock, though," said Kapoor. "Like I said, they ship to nearly every port in the country. Which is why it's in our best interests to get those containers taken off ships and safely dealt with. Problem is," his face twisted with frustration, "Mercury's lawyers. They're good. Some of the best. They've been blocking my investigation at every turn, and with them in the way, I've got no chance of getting the court orders I'd need to take care of those containers. They can just deny, deny, deny, swear that they're just another patsy in this whole thing. And all the while, people's lives are going to be in danger from those explosives. I'm betting that they didn't know those things were going to be so unstable - but that won't stop them from trying to ship them anyway."

 

With a furtive glance over his shoulder, Kapoor lowers his voice slightly. "What I need is proof of their dirty dealings. But I've exhausted all my leads, and if I push any harder then they're going to clamp down and cover their tracks even more thoroughly than they have been. Before now, I've been content to just keep working at it, but now that there are lives at stake..." He licked his lips nervously, clearly conflicted.

 

"Look. Mercury's main corporate headquarters are right here in Freedom City. If someone were to, say," he waved a hand with deliberate vagueness, "sneak into their headquarters and find proof that they've been smuggling weapons, I would be able to get the court orders I need to have those containers pulled from ships and safely dealt with. You know." He coughed. "Hypothetically speaking."

[Heritage]

Casey's eyes went a little wide for a second, but then they quickly returned to normal size as she began to think through everything she'd heard. "So hypothetically...if a concerned citizen were to make an anonymous tip, maybe providing copies of incriminating documents...basically like 'Deep Throat' did for Woodward and Bernstein, then the FCPD could do its job. Interesting..." 

 

Despite her squeaky-clean reputation, Miracle Girl was actually more willing to work outside the box than most people might think; in fact, recently she'd done something rather shocking in the name of justice, and this time innocent lives were at risk.

 

At length, she sighed and shook her head. "Well, detective, I wish I knew someone like that, someone with murky morals; if I did, maybe I'd tell them Mercury's address or what floor their office was on, and then let them make their own questionable choices. Buuuut, unfortunately, I'm pretty much a straight shooter." She shrugged and looked sympathetic. "I've got a reputation to maintain, you know? Little kids look up to me."

 

And then she stood there, expectantly. 

[R. Bluefish]

GM Post

 

Kapoor sighed theatrically. "That is unfortunate indeed. If there was someone here who could do that, and someone who could legally provide them with that information, then a lot of problems could be solved." He stroked his chin. "For example, in this situation, one person might tell the other one exactly where to find their corporate headquarters." Casually, he plucked a small piece of paper from his pocket and dropped it on the ground near Casey's foot. "Whoops. Clumsy me."

 

He continued, "Heck, in case the other person wasn't much good with computers, somebody might even provide her - er, or him - with a one-use computer worm designed by anonymous experts." Taking a flash drive from his pocket, he handed it to her. "On an unrelated note, have a free flash drive."

 

Thrusting his hands innocently into his pockets, he started to saunter away. "Good luck with your future endeavors, Miracle Girl. Don't go doing anything illegal, now."

[Heritage]

"Wouldn't dream of it, detective," she said as he walked away. There was a quick blur of movement, and the slip of paper was gone; her face was somewhat troubled, but her smile returned as she briefly rejoined the group of dockworkers.

 

"Well, it looks like my work is done here; stay safe! I'll be here if you need me!" And with that, she lifted off dramatically into the sky...

 

...and quickly doubled back to reclaim her hidden clothing. Casey Blankenship rode public transportation back to school, to give her time to figure out what she was doing, and not just in terms of her plan to break into Mercury's offices.

 

So is this who you are now? Just another vigilante, taking the law into her own hands? But that detective practically begged for my help; his hands are tied, and lives are at stake. And not just from those grenades; who knows what other high-tech weapons are moving through Freedom?

 

The pros and cons went back and forth in her head for the whole ride; she thought about her father, the Girl Scouts, Woodward and Bernstein, the Armed Forces, Terrifica, and a dozen other moral touchstones. By the time she reached the gates of Claremont, she had her answer: to know what she knew now, and to do nothing, would be far worse than any lawbreaking she was about to plan.

 

It looked like 'Hardcase' had another job to do.

 

First things first, she did her research; sitting in a reading nook at the main branch of the library, her fingers danced across the keyboard of her Powerbook as she her eyes devoured everything she could find out about Mercury, the history and design of their building, the neighborhood it was located in, other tenants in the building, including the management company, and who handled security and maintainence. If she got stuck, she found a librarian to help her with her 'research project for school'; the library had all kinds of city plans and records on file, if you knew who to ask and had a winning smile.

 

As before, she looked for different ways to do things, because 'Hardcase' didn't fly; she used the back door, or even the front door if need be, though if she really had to fly, she would, but only in dark clothing at night. Of course, Miracle Girl could check out the roof access while she innocently flew over the city in broad daylight...

 

Her bespectacled face lit by the glow of her laptop's screen, Casey chewed her way through two bags of Red Vines as she hatched her plan. "Let the caper begin..."

Edited November 15, 2016 by Heritage

[R. Bluefish]

GM Post

 

Despite her rookie status, Casey discovered a respectable wellspring of information at her fingertips, hidden just underneath the surface. As it turned out, Mercury Shipping was just the latest name of a shipping company that had been in existence since the late 1800s, when it had operated using railroads. It would also seem that this wasn't the first time Mercury's business practices had been under suspicion - there were a number of incidents of the company being accused of trafficking illegal goods, and each time the case had been defeated by Mercury's iron-clad legal team.

 

Looking up the address Kapoor gave her, Casey confirmed that Mercury's headquarters occupied six floors of a downtown skyscraper. Getting in might be tricky. The ground floor entrances were kept under surveillance, from both cameras and a security guard. She was able to find at least one side entrance in an alleyway, but there was a decent chance it was kept locked. The building almost certainly had a roof entrance as well, which may or may not be locked. Being who she was, of course, she could always try to go in through a window, which would save her from having to sneak up or down through the building to reach Mercury's floors - but it also carried the risk of being seen by outside observers.

 

As for where she would need to look once she was inside - if that information was publicly available, Casey couldn't find it. A "school project" was one thing, but corporate espionage a bit harder to research.

[Heritage]

Casey powered down her laptop and rubbed her face; she had to be very careful about how she proceeded, and not just avoiding getting caught. She was standing on a very slippery slope morally, and she could imagine just how quickly she could start sliding down it into lawlessness. How many other companies could she look into, American or otherwise, and see similar records of illegal, immoral activity? How easy would it be to use her powers to investigate their secrets? And then, how tempting would it take action against them, striking a 'blow for freedom'?

 

This is how vigilantes and ecoterrorists are created, Case; step very carefully moving forward from this point. 

 

Taking a deep breath, she returned to her planning, when a thought struck her: she couldn't do this alone. Well, she could, if she wanted to be super-obvious about it, but she was trying not to go that route. So she began a new search, looking for articles about sneaky, stealthy heroes who might be a bit on the shadier side. She could have called on Terrifica, but she wanted to do this without her mentor, if at all possible, for a number of reasons.

[R. Bluefish]

GM Post

 

Casey's search was not an easy one, given the sheer number of heroes present in Freedom City, and the fact that the more sneaky and less scrupulous ones by their very nature tended to avoid the spotlight. Even of the known operators, there weren't many that it would be easy to get in touch with, and of those there weren't many who seemed like the type who would be open to working with partners.

 

As Casey was scrolling through months-old news reports, seeking a promising candidate, a story caught her eye: the case of Stewart Bench, a local candidate for city council, whose campaign had been dismantled after evidence of election fraud was discovered. Bench had been prosecuted on a variety of charges, and during the investigation, much of the initial evidence was attributed to the efforts of a pair of local heroes. One was Jack of All Blades, but he might prove difficult to get a hold of, and even then there was no guarantee he wouldn't have other things to do.

 

The other, however, was a minor operator who went by the name of Echo. There wasn't a great deal of data available on her, but from what Casey could tell she seemed to be some sort of speedster-martial-artist hybrid who had a special flair for investigative work. Rumors indicated a loose affiliation with the Interceptors, but by all appearances she wasn't particularly active either with them or with high-profile work - which might mean she would be open to a spur-of-the-moment teamup. And the caper itself seemed as though it might be up her alley, since there were also rumors that her investigation of Bench had involved breaking into his campaign headquarters.

 

It wasn't easy to pin down exactly where Echo's territory was, since being a speedster she tended to be sighted all over the place. But according to a superhero-watching blog, the most common location for her to be seen at these days was Midtown...

[Heritage]

This 'Echo' might make a potentially good partner, but first Casey had to find a way to contact her, which was easier said than done. If she worked in Midtown a lot, chances are she did at least some rooftop patrolling in the area. So the blonde powerhouse went to the local FedEx Office and printed up some fliers on bright orange paper which read:

 

HELP ME, ECHO

YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE!

MEET ME ON TOP OF

THE CENTURIAN STATUE

TONIGHT AT 9 PM

SNACKS PROVIDED

 

A CONCERNED CITIZEN

 

It was a long shot, but it sounded like Echo was young, so she hoped the rather irreverent tone might intrigue her and get her to at least poke her head out, if only to see who would put fliers like this all over Midtown. Which is exactly what she did; she printed out a hundred of them, and taped them them on rooftops all over the neighborhood.

 

And then at 9 o'clock that night, Miracle Girl was sitting on top of the Centurion's head with a cooler of drinks and a bucket of KFC, idly drumming her fingers on the metal.

 

No way is this going to work.

[R. Bluefish]

Around 9:30, on the top of a nearby building, there was a gentle whumph sound and a thin, masked woman with white hair appeared out of thin air.

 

Echo always did her best to be understanding. Superheroes could be notoriously difficult to get a hold of when you needed them, and it wasn't as if she exactly had a public inbox. So scattering day-glo orange flyers all over her favorite haunts was, when you thought about it, a perfectly valid means of getting in touch with her. Assuming I'm the Echo they're looking for. Wouldn't that be embarrassing? "We meant the other Echo who hangs out in Midtown, go away."

 

Thing was, it also kinda spelled "trap." Kneeling down on the edge of the rooftop, she produced a small pair of binoculars from her utility belt and held them to her eyes, scanning the Centurion statue. It wasn't easy to tell in the fading light, but Echo could see there seemed to be a young woman hanging out on top of the statue, along with some stuff she couldn't quite make out. Well, there's somebody there all right. Question is whether or not there's also somebody waiting to put a sniper round through my skull the moment I show my pretty little head. That would suck.

 

Prudence dictated that Echo should yield to caution and leave it alone. The whole thing seemed suspicious, and if she wound up walking into a trap she might not walk back out of it. But on the other hand, who was there who had a real grudge against her? With one notable exception, she didn't have a whole lot of major enemies that she knew of, so her paranoia probably wasn't that justified.

 

And besides, no evil person would ever make a Star Wars reference. Rising to her feet, Echo placed the binoculars back into her belt pouch, then suddenly blurred forward, zipping down the side of the building. Time and gravity bent to her will as she sprinted straight down the vertical surface to the ground, across the park, and up the side of the Sentry Statue in a handful of seconds.

 

Casey had been waiting for slightly over half an hour when the blue-and-silver clad woman appeared out of nowhere, joining her on top of the Centurion's head. "You got a funny way of getting somebody's attention," she said. "Why not just hire a skywriter? It's flashier!"

[Heritage]

During the half hour she'd been sitting on top of the statue, Casey did her best not to touch the food before her guest, which would be the height of rudeness. But after about twenty minutes, the fried chicken and biscuits (she'd skipped sides out of fear of sporks or plates blowing down into the park; a Girl Scout does not litter) began to smell awfully good. Besides, she'd gotten the 16-piece bucket of Original Recipe, so even if she snagged a drumstick or two, there'd still be plenty of chicken left over...

 

By the time Echo reached her, Casey was working on her fourth piece of chicken and her third biscuit, with a can of Pepsi held between her knees. Her gloves were off and stuck under her belt, and a plastic bag tied to the handle of the cooler held her trash.

 

"Oh, sorry," chuckled the blonde powerhouse as her cheeks went bright pink. "I got hungry waiting. My name's Miracle Girl. Are you hungry? There's still plenty left, and I've got pop, juice and water in the cooler. Help yourself!"

Edited December 15, 2016 by Heritage

[R. Bluefish]

Behind the opaque lenses of her mask, Echo's eyes flicked to the food, then to Miracle Girl, then back to the food. Stomach and brain fought, and stomach won. "You know how to start off on the right foot, I'll give you that," she said, sitting down next to the blonde girl and delicately picking up a piece of chicken. "I'm going to be very disappointed in you if this is poisoned, though."

 

Holding up the chicken to her eye, she inspected it with an air of faint suspicion, then sniffed it. Eh, seems legit. Rolling up the bottom of her mask, she took a bite, then sighed appreciatively. "Right, so did you just call me up here to give me chicken? 'Cause that's okay with me. It can just be about chicken. There don't need to be aliens or zombies or anything. There's no need to introduce any life-or-limb peril on my account."

[Heritage]

"Mm, I wish," sighed Casey as she fished out another piece. "I sought you out because I was hoping you might help me on a case; it involves a crooked shipping company that's been smuggling very dangerous, high-tech weapons through Freedom for, gosh, maybe years." She took a big bite of chicken, which she chewed very thoroughly before swallowing. "I just helped the city move a cargo container full of some kind of energy grenades off the docks today, some of which had already blown up; I guess they weren't a hundred percent stable or something. The point is, if that whole container had gone off, everyone working on the docks would've been dead."

 

She worked on her chicken for a little bit, letting the information sink in. "The company's been under investigation before, but the cops have never been able to make anything stick, because they've got a pack of sleazy lawyers on call 24/7.  One of the detectives working the case asked for my help; he couldn't do it directly, because, well, the law, but he made it very clear if I could help him get some dirt on these jerks, then maybe we could finally put them out of business."

 

The blonde heroine sighed as she carefully tucked her bones in the trash bag and wiped her hands.  "Look, the fact is I'm normally what you'd call a 'straight shooter'; I fly around in a flashy suit-" She indicated her red, white and blue costume. "And I help people. I think there's value in being a symbol of hope these days, because the world is not perfect, and can use all the help it can get." And here she paused. "But, I've been starting to see the value of being subtle now and then, even downright sneaky; not every battle can be fought in broad daylight, and sometimes as much as I hate to admit it, you need to...well, get your hands a bit dirty."

 

Casey looked at Echo and shrugged. "I'm not great at sneaky. I mean, I'm getting better at it, but it's still very new to me, and it goes against all my instincts; I tend to want to sock problems in the face. But I did some research, and it looks like you're pretty good at sneaky, especially when you and Jack of All Blades helped bring down that Bench guy. That was some real Woodward and Bernstein stuff, and that's the kind of help I need." She shrugged again. "So, could you help me out with this? I could really use a good partner."

 

A more earnest plea for help with a break-in you couldn't imagine.

Edited December 18, 2016 by Heritage

[R. Bluefish]

Intrigued despite herself, Echo scratched her chin as she chewed. "Huh. Evil company. Big bomb. Sneaky things happening. It does sound like my forte, now that you mention it. Okay, maybe I didn't exactly design my suit with sneakiness in mind," she gestured with a vaguely self-deprecating air to her blue-and-silver costume, "but y'know, it's all about skill. If you're really good at sneaking, you should be able to do it in a pink tutu if you wanted to."

 

As she rambled, she realized that there was no way she was going to walk away from this, so there was no point in being coy. "Okay, okay, I'm in. I like this city and anybody who tries to blow up small parts of it is gonna have to answer to me." Cracking her knuckles, she asked "So what exactly are we doing? Surveillance? Break-in? You'd be surprised at how many problems can be solved by going into places people don't want you to go and finding out things they don't want you to find out."

[Heritage]

"It will be breaking & entering," Casey said with a sigh; part of her, a fairly big part, was still very disappointed in herself for going down this path, but she thought of the greater good, and moved on. "I've been given a flash drive with a worm on it; we just need to plug it into the right computer and let it do its thing, then pull it out and I give it back to our guy." She shrugged. "Easy-peasy frank 'n' cheesy. I did a lot of research on the company, but I have no way to get my hands on any floorplans or schematics; I'm just a kid, you know? If you do, that would be great."

 

She popped open another can of Pepsi and took a swig, as she gave the new girl a chance to think it over some more.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Heritage

[R. Bluefish]

"Sounds easy," mused Echo. Which, in her experience, meant it would probably be anything but, but hope sprung eternal. "Pop in, plug in thing, get proof they're bad guys, pop out. Back in time for dinner. What could go wrong?"

 

Taking a contemplative drink of soda, she said, "Not being noticed will probably be the hardest part. We would want to keep this one, uh, under the radar, if you catch my drift. Wouldn't look good if footage of us committing corporate espionage blew up on the evening news, y'know? We've got reputations to maintain. It's a dirty business," she waved a hand airily, "but somebody's gotta do it. Stuff is at stake. Apparently."

[Heritage]

"Oh, I know," said Casey with a chuckle. "Miracle Girl cannot be seen breaking into office buildings at night, and neither can Echo." She ran her fingers through her hair and looked a touch embarrassed. "I, uh...sort of created a kind of criminal alter-ego a few months back; it was part of another sort of shady hero op, which turned out fine, actually. It's actually what gave me the idea to try this." Then she frowned. "Of course then, we had a super-genius to do all the planning..."

 

The blonde heroine stopped herself, took a deep breath and shook her head. "Look, the point is, I think we can do this. 'Hardcase' wears a totally different outfit, doesn't sound at all like me, and is pretty much just super-strong and super-tough; she doesn't fly or use any other of my superpowers.  Maybe you can do the same; come up with a different M.O. in case anyone sees us, maybe use your powers differently?"

[R. Bluefish]

Echo cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. "Hmm. Not a half bad idea, come to think of it." All the time she had been doing somewhat-less-than-legal missions, that had never occurred to her, but it might save her a world of trouble under the right circumstances. "Although sounding different might be a tall order. I don't know if you've noticed, but I kinda have trouble shutting up."

 

Still, it couldn't hurt to have a layer of insulation between her Echo persona and her imminent misdeeds. "I think I should be able to get something together, though." Standing, she pulled her mask back down and looked out over the city. "You ready to head out and do this thing?"

[Heritage]

"Well, I didn't bring my sneaky outfit along with me; to be honest, I didn't think you'd show," admitted Miracle Girl. She pointed across the river, in the general direction of Bayview. "All that stuff is back in my dorm, but I could get it in no time." She shrugged. "Maybe we should rendezvous near the target site at a specific time?" Then she frowned. "Also it sounds like we still don't have a strategy; are we just going to show up in costume and wing it? Because we can try that, but I'm not sure how successful we'll be."

 

She was starting to get the sense that Echo was fairly impulsive, which wasn't bad in and of itself, but Casey was a planner who was used to working with planners; might it be a good idea to try things a little looser, or should she stick to the tried and true?

Edited February 9, 2017 by Heritage