Log:Golden Boy, Scene 1

Golden Boy 2013/05/11 	 Star Girl Ten 1

= Part 1 =

Night time. The city. Whatever Eve is up to gets interrupted by a phone call. It's Star Girl, phoning from the radio in her suit.

Ten was actually catching up on sleep. "Mm - hello?" She says a bit groggily.

"Heya!" Star Girl says, "You're going hate me, but I need a big favor... Oh jeez, did I wake you?"

Ten says, "Yeah.. what time is it?" She sits up as she begins to wake up. "Something wrong?"

"Not life and death, but important..." Star says. "I just nabbed a pair of cat burgulars, but the police are taking forever to show up, and I need to get over to Coffeebucks -- if I'm late on more time, I just know Stacy's going to give me the axe..." There's some talking audible in the background. Star Girl says to someone off the phone, "I said, shut it you two!"

Ten yawns. "Yeah, ok, I'll be right there, where are you?" She grabs her staff from under her bad and uses that to switch on the light as she grabs her Quinntex costume.

"You're a lifesaver!" Star Girl says. She gives the address of a home in Bayside. "Up on the roof," Star adds. There's more talking heard in the background. "See you soon," Star says. She can be heard talking off the phone for a few moments before disconnecting. "... Jeez you guys are chatty. What part of 'right to remain silent' are you missing...?"

Ten squeezes hurriedly into costume, leaps out the window and power=swings away at breakneck speed toward the named address.

When Ten arrives, the police are still not in sight. Star Girl is on her PDA this time, making a phone call while watching over two cat burglars, far enough away to be out of listening distance. The two guys are sitting facing each other on the roof of this building. The building is seems to be a luxury condo, not uncommon for this area. Their tools are in a pile about 5m from them.

Ten swings in, bringing herself to an instant halt by shooting her staff backward to brake her. "Hey. Anything I need to know to tell the police?"

"Naw, it's super simple," Star Girl, clicking her phone off. She points to a jimmied rooftop access door. "They used those tool to break in there." She greets Ten with a quick hug. "Gotta go. I owe you, Ten!"

One of the burglars says, "Come on! Can't we work something out?"

"Take care!" She looks at the burglars. "Doubt it. Heck, you just got me out of bed, so I'm not exactly in a good mood."

Star Girl bounds off into the night as fast as she can for Via de Vance.

The burglar said, "Look I just got out... I don't want to go back. I /know/ stuff. Guys who stole some serious loot. Let's work out a deal, ok?"

Ten shrugs. "I'm not the law. I mean, if you think you can cut a deal with the authorities, that's fine, but, you know, it's not like I'm really in a position to negotiate. And if you don't want to go back, what the hell are you doing robbing a place in *Colonial Bay*, of all cities?"

The burglar says, "Look, I'm just out to get a bunch of tvs -- insurance will take care of all of it. These other guys I know -- they have gold bars and stuff. They must have knocked over an armored car or something."

The second burglar says to the first. "Shut up man, you don't want to get a rep as a rat..."

Ten tries to play it cool and sceptical. "Gold bars. Really? What movie was this?"

Ten thinks. o O (maybe I can get them talking without having to promise anything.)

"Screw those guys," the first burglar says. "Leech owes me money, Dontae stuck a gun in my face once. And I never liked Ziggy and his high and mighty act. How'd those two-bit losers get their hands on that kind of good. They hit the motherlode, and I'm stuck here? Screw those guys."

Ten looks like she's not really following what's being said. The bimbo looks comes pretty easily to her, and she figures that they'll talk more freely the less she seems to be taking in.

"Yeah, gold bars," the first burglar says. "Zig showed me one at the bar. Not like one of the bricks you see in vaults. It was smaller." He shakes his head. "They hit the motherlode and Leech still won't pay me."

Ten giggles. "Some guy named Leech owes you money? Didn't the name give you a clue?"

The burglar says, "He sold me a POS motorcycle. It ran for a damned week before giving out."

Ten says, "Oh. Sucks."

The police eventually show up and take the burglars into custody and take a statement from Ten.

Ten mentions to them that they seem to have knowledge of some bigger fish - hopefully this will help them negotiate if indeed it is appropriate.

= Part 2 =

The police take the burglars away, and that's the last that Ten hears about it until the next day when Ten receives a message from Stargaurd -- There's a CBPD detective looking to get in touch with her. There's a contact number for Det. Jimenez.

Ten phones Det. Jimenez promptly.

"This is Jimenez," a man says on the other side.

Ten says, "Hey, this is Ten. Starguard says you've been trying to contact me?"

"Yeah!" Jimenez says. "Thanks for getting back to me. You got some time, I'd like to talk to you about the case."

Ten says, "Sure. There's something to it, then? You want me to come to you, or over the phone?"

"How about I fill you in over coffee. There's a diner over on 7th and Broadway," Jimenez says. "Know it?"

Ten says, "I'll find it."

7th Street Diner, the Next Day. Jimenez is sitting in a booth already when Ten arrive. He's seated comfortable, leaning back with one arm resting over the top of the booth-couch cushion. He's thirty-something and seems to take some pride in his appearance, with gelled hair and a well tailored suit. "Ten," he calls as she enters. "Over here."

Ten heads over and slides into the booth. "Hey. You got here fast. Doesn't take me very long to get around the city..."

In her hand, or, when not in use, coiled about her, is a curious silver-coloured segmented weapon like a flexible staff in small sections held together by fields of force, faintly glowing blue. The individual segments are roughly cylindrical, yet the surfaces are not smooth, but rather shaped for a variety of functions.

"I was close, when you called," Jimenez says, "Running down a lead for another case." He checks out Ten as she joins him in the booth. "Where were you coming from?"

Ten says, "Near CBSU. But get about much faster than a car."

"Plus you don't have to stop for traffic lights," Jimenez says. "Neither do I," he adds. "Anyway, I'm guessing that you don't stop for traffic -- traffic stops for you," he jokes.

Ten giggles, and leans in, without really being aware of it, showing herself off better. "So... you were saying about the case?"

Jimenez places his PDA onto the table. "I pulled the files on the three guys your cat burglar mentioned. They're all small fish with rap sheets. Grand theft auto, B and E, that minor drug offences, that sort of stuff. You want my honest opinion?"

Ten says, "I'd think you;d think the cat burglars were making it up. Except then you wouldn't want to talk to me."

Jimenez smiles. "Your guy was so eager not to go to jail, he would have given up his own mother, so yeah, my radar is telling me it's bull. Plus there've been no reports of an gold being stolen from armored cars or bank vaults." He shrugs. "And I don't think there're many guys who wouldn't want to talk to you."

Ten laughs. "So was this all just an excuse to do that?"

Jimenez smiles a little. "Here's what we can do," Jimenez says, fixing his gaze on eyes. "This might all be bullshit - a desperate Hail Mary by a repeat offender. I've got last know locations on his three friends. We can go talk to them, maybe stake out a place or two. And if we happen to get to know each other a little better in the meantime, what's the harm?"

Ten smiels. "You know, I should warn you I *do* have a boyfriend. But I doubt that comes as a surprise."

Jimenez smiles, "Makes sense. The offer still stands though." He nods towards the exit. "Time is critical factor in these things. Want to check out the first address?"

Ten says, "Sure."

Jimenez rises from his seat, grabbing his PDA. "I'll drive," he says.

Ten gets up. "Though I suspect I'm not the best person for a stakeout. A bit obvious."

Detective Jimenez, or Tony as he asks to be called, makes small talk on the way over. He was born in Florida and moved to Colonial Bay when he was young. He was a football standout in high school before going to the police academy. The first stop on the list is the residence of Howard James Lechmere, street name Leech...

Ten says, "Not sure if that's better or worse than 'Lech'....."

Leech is a parolee, though his PO says that he missed his last phone check-in. His parole officer meet the two of you there. Leech's apartment is on the third floor of a dingy Upper East hotel where the rent is paid nightly. Approaching the door, it's possible to see that it's been busted in. Tony draws his gun.

Ten takes her staff from about her wiast and snaps it to staff form. "I'll go first," she whispers. "I'm pretty hard to harm." She waits to see if the cop approves of this plan before entering.

Tony frowns slighty, but nods for Ten to go ahead.

Ten heads in, staying alert, and being sure not to touch anything, in case this is a crime scene.

The tiny one-room apartment has been ransacked. There a dresser with open drawers on it. The convertible sofabed has its cushions strewn everywhere and some of them are cut open.

Ten says, "Clear. And a mess."

Ten says, "Someone clear thought this guy had something...."

Tony follows Ten inside. "'Clear'... you've had tactical training somewhere?" He holsters his gun. He sighs. "This doesn't necessarily mean anything... maybe your cat burglar sang the same tune to someone else..."

Ten stays still and doesn't touch anything, figuring that's for the police. She does, however, cast an inexpert eye over the room, in case her heightened senses which she's still getting used to, can spot something the police - or the prevuous searcher - can't.

Ten spots it at about the same time that Tony does, partly hidden by a tossed over sofa cushion: several plastic-wrapped bricks of drugs. They look to have been searched tooand discarded, with knife jabs through the center of each one.

Tony says, "That's got to be at least 10 G's worth, maybe more depending on the quality."

Ten says, "Hm. So, they weren't after drugs, adn they were after something smaller than these bags."

Tony says, "A gold brick wouldn't have fit into one of those bags..."

Ten says, "The small-gold-bar thing becomes a bit more plausible - though you'd have thought they could tell by the weight without cutting the bags open."

Tony pulls out his PDA. As he steps out side he calls over this shoulder to Ten. "I'm going to call the Crime Scene Unit."

Ten nods, and steps outside too to avoid risk of contaminating the scene.

Ten waves out.

This is a small coffee shop located on the second floor of a building not much larger than a two-family house. In the center is a counter with several stools, behind which are a couple of attendants and a row of coffee machines. Large canisters sit on the back wall with all manner of coffee beans from many different countries, and you can hear the almost-constant hiss of the cappuccino machine as orders are filled. In a basket on the counter are wrapped muffins, Rice-Krispy treats, bagels, and doughnuts, which people purchase to go with their coffee. Fresh sandwiches are made for those who wish to slake their appetite as well as their thirst.