Log:Golden Boy, Scene 2

Golden Boy 2013/07/05 	 Ghost Scrapper Ten 2

Nighttime. Colonial Bay. Ten gets a phone call from Detective Jimenez.

Ten picks up, changing into costume as she does so, figuring this will be a call to action. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Tony," the detective says on the phone. "This gold heist is starting to get... well it's starting to sound like something actually went down. I got some information that you might be interested in."

Ten says, "Hey.... ok. It's beginning to make sense then? I couldn't work out how the gold relates to the drugs or anything...."

"I ran down two known associates of our friend Mr. Leech," Tony says. "Dontae was a dead-end. He's gone missing and his place was tossed, just like Leech's. No sign of any gold, yet, but somebody's looking for something. I just got a tip that the third guy, Zig, is at the Embassy nightclub, right now. I'm jammed up on another case, but I thought you might want to check it out."

Ten pauses in her costume change. "Nightclub, hm? Any idea what he's doing there? Should I maybe be taking a plain-clothes approach rather than going in in costume and spooking him, or...?"

"He's partying like it's going out of style, buying out the bar..." Tony says. "I'll leave it to you figure out how to approach it, just... be careful, ok? I know you're a tough hero and all, but I'm getting a bad feeling from all of this stuff."

Ten says, "Yeah, ok.... yeah, somethig feels weird anout this, like there's more to it than meets the eye.... maybe I'll see if any other heroes are available as backup...."

Ten thinks. o O (Ghost has some way of scouting stuff without being around, right? Maybe she'd be good to call....)

"Sounds good," Tony says. "Hey, let me know how things go, ok?"

Ten says, "Sure thing. Talk to you later!"

Ten continues to change into costume - she has to get across town, after all - but takes a bag with clubbing clothes as well. Then she's out the window, swinging across town even as she calls Ghost on her PDA.

Ghost answers the call while chatting with Scrapper outside Past Times Coffee Shop, "Hello Ten. Ghost here. What can I do for you?"

Ghost asides to Scrapper, "My PDA was overwhelmed by retained calls when I first got back. Took almost ten minutes to download them. And nearly every call was an advert. Realy makes you realise how bad that is here."

Ten says, "Hey. Are you free? I'm about to go into somewhere plain-clothes - Embassy Nightclub in Upper East Side. WOuldn't mind some backup to keep and eye on me.... There's some crook there who's apparently involved in a gold robbery, but... well, things are a bit odd, just have the feeling there's mroe to this than just common criminals...."

Ghost says, "I'll be glad to help out. I owe you one or two anyway. Scrapper is with me. Would you like me to bring her if she wants to join in? Oh, is it right this minute urgent or do I have time to change into something less conspicuious? I'm in Fae clothing right now."

Ten says, "Other than that, I don't know much. There are three of them, Leech, Dontae and Zig - it's Zig I'm investigating now. THe other two had their appartments turned over. And Zig is spending money now like there's no tomorrow now - oh, I'm pretty sure you have time to change. Or you could stay outside and keep an eye on me - you can do that sort of thing, I think? And yeah, bring Scrapper if she wants to come - I don't really know what we're dealing with so it may be boring. BUt on the other hand, she may be needed, for the same reason!"

Ghost says, "I'll be there shortly, Ten."

Ten says, "See you soon!"

Ghost turns to Scrapper, "Did you hear that? I need to get to the Embassy to change and then get to where Ten is. Any chance of an air-lift?"

Scrapper can be heard in the background. She asks Ghost, "Need a lift? I've been practicing that teleport spell."

Ghost nods to Scrapper. "Let's go. Do you want to change too, to something more suited for being in a club?"

Ten arrives close to the club and finds a dark corner to change into her rather mimimal dress and impractical shoes. The staff she collapses into segments and puts, with her costume, in a handbag which is unfashionable large but not too far out of place.

Scrapper checks out her short outfit. "This isn't appropriate for a club?"

Ghost changes into her Harrisberg chic clothes. "To be honest, not having been in any clubs here, I haven't got a clue, Scrapper. How about me?"

Scrapper says, "Not sure about the tights, but I think most clubs have a policy against swords."

Ghost nods and leaves her sword in the Embassy, talking to it as if it were sentient and aware before doing so.

The Embassy Nightclub is in the neighborhood bordering the Colonial Bay's red light district. It's a two story building that used to be something else. It looks busy tonight. Clubgoers wait in line in front of the building at the mercy of a pair of bouncers. There are a couple cars idling in front of the establishment too. The muted sound of electronic music can be heard from inside the building.

Ten joins the queue even before the others arrive, to avoid further delay in getting in. She figure they can communicate anything needed by PDA.

Ten keeps an eye out for anything remarkable while in line, of course.

There's nothing remarkable going on in line, though Ten does get the attention of one of the promoters. "Whose list are you on?" he asks Ten.

Ghost walks with Scrapper until she's in sight of the club and the long line. "I'm not going to get in, not in these clothes. Why don't you join Ten, and I'll sneak down an alley and go astral."

Scrapper frowns at the line as she approaches. "Think we should skip the line and crash?" she asks Ghost. "We could do a run like the goblin rescue and just bypass the doors."

Ten wasn't expecting that sort of question so just lamely says, "List?"

The promoter says, "Yeah, whose list are you on... Tell you what -- Don't worry about it, I got you. I'm Danny. How many in your group?"

"Um, there's me and...." She waves Scrapper over.

Ghost smiles, "Jo, you fit in. I'd look wildly out of place in that lineup. You go. I can find out more by going astral and having a good look around."

Scrapper walks up to the line at the Embassy Club and strolls straight up to Ten, looking a lot more confident than Ghost.

Ten says, "Just me and Jo here. Jo, this is Danny."

Danny the promoter nods. "Ok. You two follow me." He unclips the velvet rope to allow Ten out of the line. "Right this way, ladies." He leads Jo and Ten into the club. Some of the people in the line grumble about getting cut.

Ten thinks. o O (One good thing about the new me - I never seem to have any trouble getting into places....)

Scrapper smiles down at Danny. She has none of Ten's beauty, and comes off a bit more intimidating than pretty, especially next to the bombshell.

Ten gives Danny a smile and follows him in, looking about the place as she does so.

Ghost goes and finds a quiet rooftop where she can be hidden. Then she goes astral and starts a search of the club, aiming to see if there's anything suspicious going on before Ten and Jo even get inside.

Ten thinks. o O (Can't be too hard to spot Zig if he's spending money as was said.)

Scrapper smirks and mutters quietly to Ten, "So if we are being subtle, what do you want me to call you?"

Ten says, "Eve's fine."

Ten thinks. o O (DOn't see much point in lying about my name - I'll have to change into costume before doing any meta stuff, if it comes to that, anyway!)

Danny escorts Jo and Ten past the bouncers and inside the club. The interior is a high ceiling affair. One main room, with two bars on the ground level. At the rear of the space are another velvet rope blocking stairs up to the VIP balcony that overlooks the main floor.

Ten thinks. o O (What's the betting with all that money Zig is a 'VIP'?)

Ten scans the balcony are forst for anyone that could be Zig.

From Ghost's astral perspective, Zig is easy enough to spot in the VIP section. He's at a table stacked high with bottles of alcohol. Presently, it looks like he's chatting with some partygoers one table over. It's hard to hear the conversation over the thumping music. Casually he passes a handful of bills to a waitress.

Ghost moves closer to Zig so she can overhear the conversation. If needed she'll be just inches from him. And ignoring the thumping headache the loud music is giving her.

Ten decides her best bet to try to be (relatively) subtle about this is to try to get Ziggy to invite her up to the VIP lounge. To this end she positions herself to dance where he can see her and hopes he likes what he sees. . o O (THis body is pretty much made for this... let's see if it does any good.....)

Zig beckons one of the bouncers over. He says a few words to him, and he points point to Ten on the dance floor. The conversation concludes with Zig slipping some cash into the guards breast pocket, and both guys nodding.

Ten pretends not to have noticed immediately.

Ghost spots something possibly relevant, and moves to hover over another guy's shoulder and read what he is texting on a PDA. She'll look for any contact number visible as well.

The security guard goes down from the VIP area and approaches Ten. "Miss," he says over the music. "There's a gentlemen in the VIP would who like to buy you a drink..."

Meanwhile, in the VIP and man in a dark shirt and pants approaches Zig.

Ghost floats over to Jo and whispers, actually quite loudly, in her ear, "There's a guy up on the balcony watching Ten's target. He's just sent a text saying 'he's here' and received a reply 'let's do it'. It's the guy approaching Ten's target. I suggest stopping him from getting there."

Ten looks surprised, then happy. "Me, really? Ok!" She "scans" the VIP section for who this might be.

Ten follows the bouncer.

Ghost flies back up to the VIP balcony and stays close to the guy approaching Zig.

Ghost tries to summon up a messenger.

The man in question is just out of Ten and Scrapper's line of sight from the dance floor. Ghost, however is able to see everything. While the guard is occupied fetching Ten, the man approaches Zig. Only Ghost can make out the words. "You stole something that belongs to my boss. He wants to talk to you about it." The man shifts his coat to show that he's carrying a gun.

Ten is at the base of the VIP stairs about 10m from Zig, when Zig pulls out his own gun.

Ten hurries up the stairs (feigning for the bouncer enthusiasm to meet this VIP, "spots" the two men with guns, and sceams as loud as she can.

Ghost tries to summon up a messenger. If both Zig and the other guy survive she'll send the messenger to keepo an eye on Zig and follow the other guy herself.

Ghost cannot gather sufficient Mana at this point and time.

Zig runs deeper into the VIP area, heading for the emergency exit in the back. He turns and fires a shot at the other man.

Ghost decides to stay with her plan and stick with the unknown guy. She's had a good astral look at Zig. She may be able to track him down with a messenger later.

Ten leaps in front of the other guy with the gun, doing her best to make it seems like a panicked action.

The other guy ducks for cover behind a couch.

Ten thinks. o O (Doubt Zig will trust me now, unfortunately.)

The bouncer who was on the stairs with Ten, starts backing down the stairs, crouching. He's on his radio, shouting into it: "Gun! Gun in the VIP!"

The people in the VIP see the gunshot and begin to panic. Most of the rush for the stairs to the main dance, wanting to get away from Zig.

Ten, figuring the two shooter's can see each other now, pulls out her staff and puts on her mask, though not her whole costume.//draw weapon/change id for full phase. Unless you'll let me do it in a half for cutting corners on the costume change.

Ghost tries again to summon a messenger. If she fails this time she's fearful that Zig will be out of sight before she can try again.

Ghost is failing again when a sudden unexpect3ed shift in the ambient Mana field swirls over her location, and the extra Mana forms into a messenger. "Go and stay with him." she tells the messenger, pointing out Zig.

Zig bursts through the emergency exit at the back of the VIP and out to the fire escape that leads to the alley behind the club. He starts to descend. Meanwhile the other man rushes down the stairs to the dance floor. The stairs are clogged with panicking VIPs, but he tries to bullrush through.

A girl gets pushed out of the way and over the rail. She'll fall a couple of meters to the dance floor below if no one intervenes.

Ten leaps toward the falling woman in an attempt to grab her and take the brunt of the fall after falling off the balcony with her.

Ten grabs the woman and lands on her feet, if not as elegantly as she'd like, on the dance floor below. The impact, even with the two of them, is no problem to her.

Ghost stays with the unknown guy, following him closely. On the way she attempts to summon a second messenger.

Ghost continues sticking tight to the unknown guy and tries again to summon a messenger.

Zig scrambles down the fire escape and jumps down to the alley below. Just after he touches down. There's a van about 20m from him in the alleyway. The engine revs and the headlights switch on as the vehicle rolls towards him.

The other guy continues to push his way through the crowd, heading for the exit.

Ten flips and leaps above the heads of the crowd toward the exit, and attempts to grab the fleeing gunman with her staff.

Ten coils her staff about him and keeps heading for the exit: it's too noisy in here to question him! She hopes Ghost is keeping tags on Zig.

Ghost utters a few choice words in Old Saxon. Fortunately there's nobody nearby on the astral to hear her. Turning she reverses direction and heads after Zig, using the mind link with the messenger she summoned as a guide as to where he is.

Ten keeps running and leaping for the exit, her staff dragging her captive along with her.

Zig fires a shot at the van while trying to run aware from it in the alleyway.

The van guns its engine, and the driver tries to run down Zig.

There's no place for Zig to dodge to in the alley, the van slams into him.

Zig is crushed by the oncoming van and thrown down the alley, flopping limply like a rag doll. He's unconscious, which is fortunate because he's bloody, broken, and seriously hurt. The passengers of the van load him inside and drive off.