Log:Hospital Bombs III

Guilt Complex 2013/07/30 	 Bee Sapphire Shield Regan Ariya

4

Steel's Gym

''Inside the door is a spacious reception area. Directly opposite the entrance is a wide full length window of thick armor glass providing a gallery view into the workout area. To the east is a desk where gym staff check membership cards, schedule sessions and give out information. Next to the desk are vending machines selling snacks and chilled drinks and a jukebox. The west side of the reception area has a pair of old fashioned pinball machines and a holographic Hogan's Alley combat shooting game. Some framed Photographs, a Plaque, and the Gym Rules are hung on a wall beside the gallery window. ''

''The central area of the reception has a half dozen tables and chairs for members who are waiting for their booked session or discussing the outcome. A short flight of stairs leads down to the massive stainless steel door of the workout room as well as doors to the restrooms and changing rooms that are equipped with showers for freshening up after an exhausting practice. An arched opening provides access to the more conventional areas of the Gym, a weight training facility, the exercise room, and a heated swimming pool. ''

"The simulation room is off limits, as are the private quarters. The exercise machines calibrated for meta-human use are marked with prominent red discs while equipment suitable for average people is marked with green discs." Regan illustrates her points by indicating the various classes of exercise equipment with an extended hand.

Regan 

Lustrous jet black hair is cut into a stylish bob, highlights of royal blue subtly shimmering as she moves, bouncing softly on her cheeks. Her skin is the colour of mist-veiled moonlight, pale and ethereal over a round, intelligent face still flush with the strength and promise of youth. High, full cheeks and soft, expressive lips hint at both the dazzling intensity of her smile and the dark and dangerous thunderclap of her temper, hovering for the moment somewhere in between. Above a fine, slightly upturned nose slate-grey eyes glitter mildly as they take in her surroundings. At 5'5" she is compactly built rather than statuesque, but her posture and bearing carry the languid, self-assurance and poise of an accomplished athlete. ''

''A magenta linen tunic drapes loosely around her form, clasped at her slender waist by a black patent leather belt. It is intricately patterned with a network of midnight black tendrils and though rather loose seems carefully tailored. It flares slightly over her hips to stop mid-thigh, its sleeves coming to a few inches above her wrists, and is very loose around the neck, occasionally threatening to fall from her shoulder. ''

''A black skirt of some heavy fabric falls to mid-calf where it meets the top of a pair of black satin and leather boots. The skirt's piping and pleats are of an eye-catching scarlet silk that shimmers with every graceful movement. She wears a minimum of makeup, a pair of black opal earstuds, an intricately worked necklace of amber, and a gold bangle on her left wrist. ''

Bee steps in the door and pauses to look about.

Ariya follows Regan's gestures with head and eyes to note the examples along with the manager's words. "Thank you. It could be unpleasant if I chose the wrong device or area to use."

Ariya 

''This woman is slender, standing perhaps 165cm tall and not likely carrying more than 55 kilos. Upright, confident posture and some inherent grace may add some illusory stature. Some of the confidence may stem from experience and maturity, as she appears to be in her early thirties. ''

''Straight black hair would fall past her shoulders were it not contained in a practical tail or more imaginitive bun. Pulled back, it exposes all of her slender face, divided by a prominent aquiline nose. Her complexion is just dark enough to be the result of sun or, more likely, genetics. ''

''Her clothing will vary by need or situation, but could be generally considered business casual: slacks or long skirt, blouse, and sensible flats. While the fit and style are pleasant, the colors are usually subdued. ''

Outside, it seems that the Gym is popular, even with the Starguard crowd. Or maybe Vicki was just coming here to talk to Regan or some such. Anyhow, she lands out front, the mask and blue hair both fading away till she is mask-free, and brunette again. Then she steps in through the front doors and slows to a stop. "Everything okay?" she inquires. "Or are we looking at pretty much situation normal?"

Regan's head tilts. "That vast majority of the machinery is entirely safe unles you beat yourself against it, some such as the wind tunnel or the super-speed treadmill are potentially dangerous and are kept locked, they can only be activated in the presence of authorised personnel." As the door glides open her head swivels to regard the newcomers. "Hi Vicki, Bee." She gestures to the young woman next to her. "Have you met Professor Harim? She just took out a membership with the gym. Miss Harim, this is Agent Victoria Maitland of Star Guard and Bee of Hive Incorporated, both are meta-humans."

Bee corrects, "Hive Inc and Starguard, both. I like to keep busy." She holds out her hand to Professor Harim. "Pleased to meet you."

"I will be cautious nonetheless," Ariya responds before turning towards the conspicuous arrival of Victoria and then the offered hand of Bee. She accepts the hand for a polite shake. "Hello. My pleasure to meet you both."

Glowing blue fliers tend to be conspicuous, yep. Vicki inclines her head and then shakes Ariya's hand. "Vicki's fine." she says towards Regan. "It's not like I was ever really into formalities y'know." Then she looks over to Bee before saying to Regan, "I had initially come here to see if you wanted to help me workout but.. maybe we should compare notes on that hospital investigation." she says, turning her eyes back towards Bee

[To Sapphire Shield] Bee says, "I was thinking the same time, I have some investigation results I wanted to run by you, if you had the time."

Regan's shoulder lift in a supple shrug. "Once I have concluded showing Miss Harim the facilities and explaining the details of membership to her I would be more than happy to assist in whatever way I can."

Ariya hesitates slightly, likely due to the azure glow, but does accept Vicki's handshake. "If I am interrupting, the tour can wait, or I can tour the gym on my own." She looks to Regan with mild curiosity.

Regan looks between Bee and Vicki for some indication of urgency. "I am happy either way." She declares simply. "If there are pressing new discoveries to be discussed I can always give Miss Harim a tour some time later."

With a gesture towards Ariya, Vicki grins and says, "Take your time. In the mean time." she turns towards Bee and asks aside towards Regan, "Mind if the two of us step into the back room to make use of the holo emitters to try to help reconstruct the scene and such?"

Regan gestures in the direction of the simulation room, shaking her head slightly. "Not in the slightest, feel free, I have a lot of the relevant data downloaded already, you should be able to access it from the control terminal."

Bee says, "If you think that will help. Most of the data I have is just that: data. I rarely do crime scene reconstructions. Its usually easier to keep it all in my head."

Regan's lips curl into a soft smile. "If you do not think it will help you are not at all obligated to use it." She blinks momentarily. "You are free to use the facilities as you wish, which includes not using them at all."

When the other two proclaim no great urgency, Ariya nods. "Thank you. I will try not to keep her." She then turns her attention fully upon Regan. "What more did you wish to demonstrate? Also, when does you next self-defense training being?"

"Well, I find that I work best when I have visual aids to look at." says Vicki as she heads into the back room. "But, to be honest, it's not that I want to reconstruct the details on the spot so much as... just needing to get -something- to look at. I can use the Sapphire to make some images, but they're all blue and that doesn't -quite- work right for investigating." she says, gesturing to the huge gemstone that appears to be stuck in the back of her hand.

Regan's attention returns to Ariya. "The courses run on a three monthly cycle with two lessons a week, we offer introductory, beginner, intermediate and advanced courses, the more advances your skill level the less essential it is that you have completed the preliminary courses." Her head tilts. "As for other facilities, we have a pool, sauna, spa, and other facilities, we offer dietary advice as well as working on individual regimen." She begins leading Ariya toward the pool.

Bee follows Vicki into the simulation room, saying, "No, that makes sense. Usually, people just want to know the results, not the process. I can see how a simulation can be a great communication aide."

Ariya follows Regan towards the pool. "The pool is one reason for my inquiry. I have not had the opportunity to enjoy the water in some time. How did you come to manage the gym, if I may ask? The defense instruction is reasonable, but you do not seem like a ... bureaucrat."

Regan's head tilts. "My cover identity on arriving in Colonial Bay was as a fitness instructor and I got a low level job here, when the previous managers became more acticely involved in other operations I was promoted."


 * Working the controls in the back, Sapphire Shield calls up a hologram detailing a map of the city. She tweaks some of the controls and starts inputting the stolen helicoptor's route while adding little notation marks for things like... ATM, traffic, or any other surveillance cameras that may or may not have had an angle on the vehicle. "This is what I was working with." she adds.


 * Bee nods "I surveyed the landing site and they used multiple vehicles after they offloaded.

Ariya ahs softly in acknowledgement and understanding. "Now your prior experience serves to instruct others. I admire those who choose to teach, for obvious reasons." She surveys the pool. "It is not as inviting as open water, but much more than the Thames."

Regan smiles. "There are those who swim in the Thames, I was never so courageous." She looks to the pool. "If you're a fan of open water, there is Chesapeake Bay which has ample room for sailing, windsurfing, swiming and all sorts of things, not such great surf though if that is what you are after."


 * Bee says, "The one think I still don't understand is *why*. The patients all had Type 1 Osteogenesis imperfecta. They require specialised care, and equipment and medications. A great deal of this seems to have been acquired during the abduction. Much of it wasn't. Now if they've been careful they can acquire this over time without raising any alarm bells. But to do so would mean this operation has been in preparation for at least a year. A lot of them will look like perfectly mundane medical purchases unless they're clustered together. Why go to that kind of trouble?"


 * "Perhaps they had a facility already prepped for them before they even went on this run." offers Vicki. "The question is... how far -could- they have transported the patients, using ground transportation, before they simply -had- to get them hooked up to medical tech?" And she manipulates the controls, adding in potential ground vehicle routes away from the crash. "That would give us a radius of how far away they could be from the site."

"Neither was I," Ariya returns the smile briefly. "The Mediterranean is much more pleasant, " she notes, with some reminiscence, " but I will investigate this Bay, also. What comes next?"


 * Bee says, "Do you think they might have used the same site for bomb construction as for holding the patients? The perpetrators had to have had access to a large facility that is probably in low density housing or in the middle of an industrial sector, otherwise the gases from their bomb construction would have been noticed. Back to being disciplined: it would be easy to mess this up and blow the facility sky high or get the detonators wrong but they did neither. They therefore have resources, internal structure, and a capacity for planning. Does that mean that the bomb contruction and patient holding area are likely to be the same area to reduce exposure or different so that an investigation into one won't lead to the other?"

"I always enjoyed the Cote D'Azure, though it can be insanely crowded." Regan leads the way through the change roomds, spa, sauna, weight room, various offices for dieticians and the like as the two converse is a casual fashion.


 * "Unfortunately, we can only file that currently as... answer unknowable. It's not like we have enough -facts- to answer the question. However, we /can/ speculate on theories that could go along with any of the -possible- answers." says Vicki. "We called that spitballing back at the precinct." she adds with a grin as she starts walking through the map, trying to just get some sort of inspiration here.


 * Bee says, "Does blue 'whites' have any magical significance?"

Ariya accompanies Regan past the various other amenities. "Too many tourists," is all she has to note on that particular area.

Regan turns to look at Ariya. "Well, yes, including me when I was there, I can hardly begrudge others for doing the same thing I was doing." Eventually their circuit is complete, the pair returning to the foyer.


 * "Only problem is, they -did- plan somewhat ahead. Harrisburg's cameras are mostly for show. Very few of them are even functional." says Vicki as she starts gesturing and turning off cameras at various locations. "But... we -could- extrapolate, if they followed only routes without cameras... then that limits where they could have been too. Maybe it's time to interview some witnesses."


 * Bee says, "Witnesses to which? The initial attack?"


 * "I mean potential witnesses, anyone who might've been along the route who -may- have seen vents go by." suggests Vicki. She shakes her head, "Whomever these people were, they know the procedures and the way things are investigated. What we need to do is... get into -their- minds. My current theory is the abduction had nothing to do with the patients as a whole. But -one- patient. The rest were just part of the smoke screen." she shrugs and looks to Bee, "That's just a working theory."


 * "And I have no idea if anything has any mystical relevance. I'm not exactly a magic expert." adds Vicki

"I am sorry," Ariya explains when Regan makes her point as they return. "I did not speak of all visitors. Only the ignorant or arrogant."


 * Bee says, "What do you have to support that theory? As for the magic, I don't know anyone. Do you know anyone with that type of expertise? Most of the experts I've been seeing lately are more the power armor type."

Regan shrugs "I am not easily offended." She declares bluntly. "So there's no need to apologise. It's a lovely region, the people there are very nice."


 * Shrugging her shoulders, Vicki remarks softly, "My gut." she says, "I'm sure Starguard knows -someone- with that sort of knowledge. Also, I would bet that Regan knows someone too. She gets to know like every meta in the city. But... " she studies the map a bit, her eyes zoning out a bit. She gestures and her sapphire glows blue as she starts adding details in blue to the holo. "They had time to plan, and they have internal discipline, which is the most important thing we investigators always hope that they will have -someone- slip up." she shakes her head... moving her icons around almost like chess pieces to help her think but it has nothing to do with the actual case. "But the gear they took... means that they -do- want these folks alive for a while at least. If the other patients are a smoke screen, it's supposed to be a long lasting smoke screen. Now... maybe they want something from one or more of the patients, but they don't know -which- one in particular." She shakes her head then and adds, "Unless I'm way off base and they just need five folks for one of those whole... numerology magic thingamagoobers."

Ariya nods lightly. "Thank you for the tour of the gym. I expect to visit often. If the next cycle begins soon enough, I may attempt your training class as well."

Regan smiles and inclines her head. "A very great pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Harim, and I look forward to your visit. You will always be welsome at training sessions."


 * Bee sighs, "Back to mages and magic."


 * Closing her eyes, Vicki does a mental exercise she's done before. "I think one thing we'll have to worry about is... a pro and a con. Imagine you're kidnapped. With folks totally random... you don't know them, you don't really truly care as much about them as you care about yourself. Now, imagine you've been working side by side with four other people, working like a team to overcome an illness. You've gotten to know them. You've gotten inside their heads. Now you are -all-kidnapped... are you going to try something heroic that would endanger those others?" she asks. "Ninety Nine percent of people wouldn't."


 * Bee nods slowly, "How does that knowledge help us?"


 * "It really doesn't... I'm just thinking out loud here. But... do we know how -much- of the supplies for their support and medical aid were taken? IE... how long they'll be able to go before needing to restock?" asks Vicki.


 * Bee says, "That depends if the supplies are for one person or five. If your single target hypothesis is correct, once they've gotten their diversion, there is no reason to keep four of the five alive... and these 'people' have certainly not shown a reluctance to kill."


 * "Yeah, but the fact that they took supplies for everyone... tells me that they're not interested in killing any of their prisoners yet. Can't be -sure- of that but it's the best theory I have." offers Vicki. "I mean, don't take my word for it. Please take my theories and poke all kinds of holes in'em." she says to Bee.

The door of the simulation room opens and Regan moves inside. "Hey you two, how goes the theorising and reconstruction?" She looks from Bee to Vicki and then to any holographic simulation that may be in evidence.

Bee sighs. "We lack critical pieces to the puzzle."

Nodding, Sapphire Shield agrees with Bee. "We have a handful of theiries that match the situation, but... we have no evidence which, if any, are correct. Mostly, it's like we are looking at a small part of a completed puzzle, and trying to figure out which of several puzzle boxes are the right one, based on a single piece that could belong to any of'em."

Bee says, "I'm convinced that we can figure this all out, including possibly where the prisoners are being held if we can solve the big question of why. There hasn't been any ransom demands and neither Vicki or I know anything about magic."

Regan nods. "This is the advantage that criminals have.. They know why and they just have to work out how. We know how but it's not really connected enough to the why for us to work it out." She looks to Bee and nods. "Ellbeth and Doctor Reynard are both users of magic andmay be able to tell us something by looking at the wards on the bomb."