Log:ACRO - Jacobs, Scene 3

ACRO - Jacobs 2017/06/09 	 Night Marshal|Detective Carpenter Tap Chen Technohammer|Dr. Roland Hammer

3

The air is still quite cool on this June afternoon. Summer hasn't quite gotten a hold on the area just yet. Detective Carpenter is waiting outside of the Beach Hotel, almost like he has the place staked out, though he does keep an eye on the various tourists heading to teh beach proper.

Chen is on the beach, as a woman on stilts, twelve feet tall, dressed in the bright costume of a clown. She's holding a burning torch in one hand and doing fire-breathing, sending long jets of flame shooting up into the air while stepping carefully around the other beach-goers.

Tap came back to check on her friends in the sewers, to may sure the reptilians didn't hurt any of them. That done, she has decided that a swim to clean off is just the thing. So no hoody at the moment. Without it, she's a scrawny thing in a one-piece swimsuit, with shortish, messy, face-framing hair.

Carpenter spots someone coming out of the hotel and waves him down, "Dr. Hammer! I need to speak to you about Dr. Jacobs!" Roland stops and pulls off his sunglasses, "Detective, how can I help you?"

Carpenter follows it up with, "He's gone missing after that incident at the mall. I checked security footage, and he left the mall with you. He hasn't been seen since."

Tap lifts her head from the water, with a bit of spluttering, now more or less clean. And she spots, unsurprisingly, Chen, likely the most visible person at the beach.

Roland furrows his brow, "Derrick was concerned because it looked like an agent of ACRO might have been at the mall. The one that was attacked by a hero? They usually work in a team of five, at least. Well, the lower level agents do, assuming he was there on official business. The upper level power armored agents work in pairs."

Tap wanders out of the water and up the beach to get a better look at the fire-breather.

Carpenter nods and says to Roland, "Where did the two of you go, and when is the last time you saw him?" Roland rubs his chin, thinking about it. "He was a little rattled. More than I would have expected. The man has...had his consciousness inside a machine at one point. He's been a supervillain, and he's worked for Starguard. He's been around. So...his nervousness was notable. He and I went to get a drink. Scotch. At one of the local bars. And then we headed our separate ways. I think he took the MagLev back to the west side."

Tap watches Chen, but her attention is drawn to the conversation. She thinks she heard "ACRO" somewhere in there, which is never a good thing.

Carpenter nods, "You two worked together for ACRO at one point, correct?"

Roland nods, "We did. He was the cybernetics expert, and my field is plasma energy. The two of us and Dr. Donas worked closely together. But...I'm guessing you already knew that, since I'm sure you read Derrick's memoir?"

Tap frowns. Plasma energy. Was this guy maybe designing weapons that found their way into the hands of the gangs? She dislikes him already.

Tap(#2850PenACcF?)

Tap stands barely five foot tall, and looks like she must be thin as a rake under her clothes. She is typically dressed scruffily in well-worn jeans and a dark grey hoody, too large for her: its hood is easily big enough to hide her face in its shadows. Of her self, normally only her small and slender hands show.

She generally seems quiet, alert and skittish, as if always ready to run. But when she does stand her ground she betrays no hint of fear.

Chen(#2559PeACcF?)

Chen Li is pretty much indistinguishable from any other young Chinese girl. Maybe a little shorter and slimmer than the average even allowing for the smaller physical stature of those of Chinese descent. She wears casual clothes, jeans and teeshirts normally. Add a coat in cold weather. Her hair is the typical raven black like most Chinese girls, trimmed short. Her face is pretty rather than beautiful and usually animated and lively with unrepressed energy.

Tap makes up her mind and decides to butt in. She goes over to the talking pair with a scowl. "Did you just say you worked on plasma for ACRO?! What, weapons and junk?!"

Roland takes a deep breath and forces a smile. "Yes, that's correct. Many years ago now. I haven't worked for the organization for almost a decade."

Carpenter furrows his brow as Tap speaks up. He takes a good look at her, "Hmm. Let's keep this calm, shall we?"

Tap looks Roland in the eye, though this involves looking upwards. "Do you know how many of those weapons ended up on the streets of Harrisburg?" Really, she's being calm. Given that she's just found someone she regards as responsible for much of the misery in her life.

Roland shakes his head, though the forced smile leaves his face, "I have no idea. But I can tell you that my technology has also been put into generators to create efficient clean energy. I also can tell you that I left the organization when I realized exactly what kind of group they were. And I've actually fought them directly on numerous occasions, in armor of my own design."

Tap doesn't really have an answer to that. The wind is taken out of her sails, but she's still angry. "Tell that to the dead of Harrisburg," she mutters. Trying to stay calm. Trying not to punch a hole through this guy.

Carpenter, for his part, just listens quietly to the exchange. He's getting good information from this. If nothing else, Roland's reactions tell him quite a bite.

Roland nods slowly, "I would, if I could, miss." He definitely looks like he's considering arguing it further, but he lets it go. "And I'm sorry if any of your friends lost lives to weapons my technology might have been used in."

An apology. One that even sounds sincere. Tap doesn't know what to say. Nor can she forgive. In the end she turn her back and kicks the ground in frustration, sending up a strikingly large dust cloud.

Roland adds, "For what it's worth, I've modified the weaponry on my armor to be non-lethal."

Chen steps over to get closer. Which is only a couple of steps when you have seven feet long legs. Her approach is not stealthy. Far from it.

Carpenter nods slowly, changing the subject "Dr. Hammer, do you have any idea where Dr. Jacobs might have gone?" Roland looks happy to change the conversation again, "I'm assuming you already checked his home, but he has a workshop-slash-second home up in Green Acres.

Tap stares at her feet. But listens to this stuff about Dr Jacobs.

Chen seems to detach her head from her neck and hold it in her hand to reach down to the level of Detective Carpenter and Tap, "Hi, Detective. Can I offer you a helping hand?" she asks.

Carpenter winces a little seeing Chen shift. "Please...don't do that...it makes me nauseous. But I could certainly use the assistance."

Tap is rather taken aback by that strange move - it's gets her attention, anyway!

Chen shrinks down and morphs into Chen, a rather cute young Chinese girl in a business suit. "Sorry Detective. I got a bit carried away. So, someone has gone missing? I could check out that address if you like?"

Tap turns back to face the group, recognizing Chen from the other day and curious.

Carpenter nods. "We've already checked out his home. But it sounds like we have another location to check out. I didn't realize he had another home."

Tap says, "Who is this guy and why are you trying to find him?"

The detective chuckles. "He was reported missing, and it's my job to track down missing persons. The man's name is Dr. Derrick Jacobs. Again, as we discussed, he's a former ACRO scientist, though he also worked for Starguard while Random Factor ran Gamma. He's written a couple of books, the one most recently was a memoir. He was confronted...or threatened or something by a cyborg in the mall a few weeks ago. Dr. Hammer here believes it was likely an agent of ACRO, though it's unknown if the cyborg was there on 'official business' or not."

Chen grins at Tap, "Because he's gone missing?" she says cheerfully. "Only got a vague idea about who he is. I think I remember my aunts mentioning him, and this guy," she gestures at Dr Hammer, "one time."

Tap says, "So - this guy also left `ACRO - do you think they forcing him to come back?"

Roland shakes his head, "It seems unlikely. Unless..." He pauses and thinks about it. "...unless Deus Ex Machina has a real issue of some kind that needs fixing. The three of us: Jacobs, Donas, and myself, were all instrumental in designing the AI that runs ACRO in our own way. None of us could have done it individually. Something about the algorithm caused the AI to have...shall we say...parent issues."

Roland continues, "So...unless that's the case, then the answer is probably something more low scale than trying to pull him back into the fold."

Tap says, "That's good then."

Chen turns to Tap, "So want to go look over the other address? I'm Chen Li. Shifter, sometimes hero, full time trickster."

Carpenter makes some notes as Roland speaks, and then he says, "Thanks for your time, Dr. Hammer. We'll be in touch once we know more."

Tap says, "Hey. I'm tagged Tap."

Carpenter makes a note about both Chen and Tap as well before putting his PDA away.

Chen chuckles, "Well you're the detective, Detective. Tap and I will keep the bad guys off your back while you do the detectiving. That work as a plan?"

Carpenter smiles, "I would appreciate that. Thank you."

Tap says, "Sure. If you want me."