Log:Robot Aftermath, Immortal Mage Butterfly II

Guilt Complex 2013/08/05 	 Liam Regan Yameen

10

Champions Mush - Monday, August 05, 2013, 3:41 PM

Workout Room

''A superhuman gym. It looks like a traditional gym, just upscaled in all the obvious fashions. Treadmills that can handle hypersonic running speeds, weight sets that go up to a kiloton in weight, and all the other acoutrements of a gym. The floor is padded and comfortable to walk on, strong enough to handle the immense weights being slung about and the occasional droppage due to limits being reached. The computer monitors with force fields, protecting any whom look to have lost control of a piece of equipment to provide a safe and functional place for the supers of colonial bay to get a workout without requiring a villain to be present. ''

The door to the main room of the gym glides open and Regan moves inside, the hem of her skirt fluttering as she strides purposefully across to the control panel, activating it with a sweep of her hand before she begins inspecting a rapidly scrolling text readout.

Liam arrives, dressed in a suit once more. "I saw the news about the robbery following the derailment," he says. "I assume you are investigating. Anything I can do?"

Yameen is already present and making use of the facilities, now that an escort is not demanded. At the moment, the room appears more some sort of window shopper's dream than a training facility. Innumerable images are arrayed in a wide arc around Yameen that is several meters in diamter and three meters high. Gems, crowns and other jewelled items occupy one sector to her left. Items predominantly of jade, many unsurprisingly of eastern origin occupy the far sector to her right. In the center are what appear to be more martial items: staves, swords, sceptres and the like.

Liam looks over the pile. "Is this what was taken?"

Regan looks to the doorway at the sound of Liam's voice. "Hello." Her eyes flicker to where Yameen stands. "Maybe you can look over the display Yameen has produced and see if you can identify any patterns." She shrugs. "These people aren't interested in profit, their operation has cost them a substantial quantity in terms of materiel and no private collector will want to touch the proceeds of the theft with a barge pole." After a moments pause she corrects herself. "No sane collector."

Liam wanders among the displays. "Well, the good news is that I don't see excalbur or some magical equivalent here."

"Yes," Yameen answers, "to both. These are the items which were removed. Many contained gems or were crafted of precious metals, but other similar items were ignored. I believe their value to the thieves is the items, not the materials. Many if not all of the items have religious, cultural, or mystical ties."

Liam asks, "Is this display both what was taken and what was left behind or just what was taken?"

Yameen turns towards the question, "These are the items removed from the warehouse vault."

Liam nods, "Can you pull up the items that weren't taken?

"I did not acquire a full inventory, only the items unnacounted for," Yameen explains, even as she begins to enter more data. "These are the memorable items that remained in the vault." A fourth sector illuminates filled with numerous other items. Some are very mundane tools or crafts, but many are bejeweled ornate items designed for the elite of the time. "The thieves appeared very specific."

Liam looks around and says, "This is a magical shopping trip. All of the items taken have magic utility of some sort or another. The items left behind do not - or I should say, much less magical value. The blades taken all have a bloody history that could be drawn upon in bloody rituals, jade has connections to balance, purification and durability. The gems likewise have magical usefullness. They may have had a specific item or items in mind when they planned this, but once they had the storage facility open and time to spare, they took everything of magical usefulness. Given the use of non-magical robots to retreive items of magical significance, I think it would be safe to say whoever did this freely uses both magic and technology."

At the control panel Regan's lips purse. "The interesting part for my money is how they got into the vault." With a press of a button she brings up an image of a reasonably massive vault door that seems to have been eaten away by an incredibly corrosive liquid. On the floor in front of the vault are the liquefied remains of what may once have been a person. "Best guess is that this puddle here is one of the robbers or someone they brought with them. They slit the person's throat and at that point or shortly after their blood turned to acid which ate through the vault door.

Yameen's head and eyes turn towards the image, then Regan. "That effect could fall under high magic or possibly high technology. I am not deeply familiar with either. The thieves possess the wealth to purchase one, and they use this to collect items important to the other."

Liam doesn't rage or throw things. He just frowns slightly, but despite the lack of outward display, his emotions are still strong enough a light breeze passes through the room in a quick ripple. "It is highly likely," he says when he gets his voice under contol several moments later, "That these were the same people that bombed the hospital. There are other ways to open a damn door."

Regan nods or head rocks, whichever it is she does when thinking. "That seems quite probable. Same sort of multi-layered planning, same blatant disregard for innocent life, same amalgam of magic over generically available technology." Her lips purse. "Any obvious links between this crime and that in terms of objective?"

"I do not have enough information," Yameen admits with annoyance audible even through her heavy accent, "but I expect a link. They may plan more events as well. There is a goal."

Liam shakes his head. "For acid, an evil heart and betrayal are the best ingredients. I doubt that the victim here was one of the missing hospital patients. If the betrayal also erodes their trust in each other, members may start setting up contingency plans, creating 'just in case' evidence, etcetera; particularly if the one betrayed was a leader."

Regan says, "Notice that they tend to use magic whenever they might need highly specialised skills. And brute force magic too, they could have used a spell to see into the past to get the combination of the vault or telekinetically manipulated the tumblers or made the door or themselves insubstantial." She head shakes. "I remember reading a book once with two demons in it, minions of the bad guy. At one stage they're asked why they killed a bunch of people. And one of them replies 'Can't make an omelette' the other one finishing: 'without killing a few people' These guys have much the same mindset.""

Liam smiles at Regan. "If there are evidence caches being created, it would be an amazing stroke of luck for one of them to fall in our hands before the owner was ready to release it. Know anybody who could make that happen?"

Regan nods. "Porter may be able to manipulate fortune but I'm not certain if this is something he can do." She squints for a moment in thought.

Regan says, "I also wonder if he might not prove a very tempting target for people who wish to manipulate destructive energies."

Liam says, "We are all temping targets for manipulation. I believe a few days ago he told you he couldn't disarm a bomb. All he would have to do is dial the right number, say 'Mail the package' and hang up."

Regan's head tilts. "I will suggest it to him. and see how it goes, I'm not sure this is quite as zero risk as the bomb situation, when his powers don't work they have negative effects, with the bombs the logical structure meant the negative affaects targeted him rather than the bomb. In this instance the negative effects might be targeting him with heaven alone knows what."

Yameen considers the combination of magic and technology with Regan's additional observations. "Perhaps they see either only as weapons. It is clear they do not value life. It requires less skill to pull a trigger than to open a lock. Brute violenceis efficient when there are no other constraints." She does not know the referenced individual, but the name is noted. That it came up in the context makes it significant.

Liam smiles at Yameen's comment. "When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail? Do do realize what will happen if my idea works. Whoever created the package will try to intercept it before it is delivered. doorstep."
 * That* is the likely backlash if Porter's trick works: violent people on his

These people don't think twice before endangering thousands of lives. Porter may be remarkable but do you feel no reservations abut putting him in their path?" Regan asks. "Even by the rather lofty standards of Colonial Bay these seem like murderous psychotics of the very highest calibre."

"If you have man tools," Yameen offers, "but only know to use a hammer, all tools are hammers." She pauses for thought, then seeks clarification. "You plan to draw many of these people to one person? They would not limit their violence to one person. Unless you will include a very precise trap?"

Liam says, "Actually, you are both correct. Knowing their style, a car bomb on a postal truck is much more likely than an opponent we could capture making themselves known to us. Forget I said anything."

"There are potentially some other leads to follow, they must have stolen the emergency sevrices van and uniforms, maybe the robbery will yield some sort of evidence. The van itself has been found burnt out, just like the helijets, further reinforcing the similarity in styles." Regan adds. "They're unscrupulous people, we need to all be very wary in our dealings."

Yameen returns her attention to the missing items once more. "If we can determine their goal, we can better predict their actions. If their means could murder thousands, how vile is the end?" It is motivation for her to pour over the items once more, individually.

Liam says, "Well, I'm a surgeon and a mage, not a detective. If you have any questions of a magical nature, I'll be glad to help, but I'll leave following 'leads' to the experts."

Regan says, "Is Yameen familiar with the events at the hospital?"

"I know what was broadcast." Yameen's eyes are focused on the images, yet her ears and voice are available. "A bomb threat to empty the building for kidnappings. The explosives seemed designed to delay or prevent standard disposal. Brutal and effective."

Liam nods "I assume you told her. There were magical antitampering sigils on the bombs."

"In our brief acquaintance I haven't had much opportunity to bring Yameen up to date on all the details of all the outstanding cases." Regan observes. "But she seems to have a handle on the bombs, which, while eye-catching were only the distraction."

Liam says, "I hadn't heard that. What was the real target?"

Regan blinks to Liam. "The five patients suffering from the bone disease osteogenesis imperfecta." Her brow furrows. "They were flown away by helijet during the confusion. I thought that was on the news."

Yameen turns towards Liam. "Patients were taken. All possessed a similar ailment. I do not understand the full connection to the artifacts, but I am neither a mystic nor a physician."

Liam hmms, considering.