Log:ACRO - Bits and Pieces, Scene 3

ACRO - Bits and Pieces 2010/02/10 	 Dr. Derrick Jacobs Silver Spider

3

Dr. Jacobs: A fairly well built man...especially when you consider he's a scientist. He seems to have a scowl fairly often. He has brown hair which is well kept, dress slacks, and a white shirt with a solid red tie. His shoes are black leather.

Dr. Jacobs lives in a suburban area, north of town. It's a nice looking location, with well-manicured lawns. Well, it would be, if it weren't snowed over. But it's well-plowed and apparently everyone either has someone plow for them or owns a snowthrower.

Silver Spider bounces from house to house in the afternoon, reluctant to take certain risks as she vaults above the good doctor's house, tumbling upside down to land on Doctor Jacobs roof, before slipping under the lip of the roof to knock on the door. o O (Weblines are kind of dangerous here. Don't want to misjudge and become flat spider.)

There's a long moment before someone comes to the door. Perhaps he got home from work not long ago, as he's wearing a tie. Dr. Jacobs opens the door, "Umm...hello?"

Silver Spider peers in upside down. "Hi, Doctor Jacobs. My name is Silver Spider. I'm interested in your work, and your colleague's work, Doctor Roland Hammer?" She says. "May I come in? I'm really, really hoping that book of yours was meant to be comedy. Because there's a lot of people who think it wasn't so funny."

Dr. Jacobs snorts a bit at the mention of Dr. Hammer. "Sure...come on in. Why not?" He shrugs a bit. "The book is in the humor section of the bookstore. You figure it out."

Silver Spider nods. "Well, okay." She says as she flops down off the wall and walks inside. "I'm curious about Doctor Hammer. He's into a lot of things involving plasma research, and I'd like to know if he's connected to anyone who might have a hostile bent. ACRO, Next Generation, Enemy Ace in particular."

Dr. Jacobs chuckles. "He left ACRO long ago at this point. He did work for them at one time. As did I." He motions to the couch. "Can I offer you something to drink? I'm afraid I don't have much. Cranberry juice. Some water. A beer?"

Silver Spider shakes her head. "Nope. Don't drink. How did you survive ACRO and leave? I thought they had a "No Retirement Plan" retirement plan." She shrugs a little bit as she makes her way over to the couch, and then flips up onto the ceiling, viewing the whole room upside down. "So what's he up to now? Building some sort of giant plasma weapon?"

Dr. Jacobs shrugs a bit, and takes a seat. "That's a very good question. I'm not sure exactly how I survived, since I stole a prototype suit of armor when I left. I'm guessing the leadership of ACRO felt that I might be useful. Or, they had a soft spot for me, or something. As for what Roland is up to now, probably more of the same. He's not really a 'giant plasma weapon' sort of person. He runs a merc team. 'The Hammers'. Last I saw, they were protecting a city councilman from an attack by Liberty."

Dr. Jacobs continues, "That's assuming he's still running that group. He at least did, for a time."

Dr. Jacobs smiles a bit. "They had been based out of Harrisburg at one point. I'm guessing they had to move."

Silver Spider nods slowly. "Well, Enemy Ace apparently has done the same thing, or something similar. Roland Hammer runs a team of superpowered mercenaries? That's an interesting piece of information. Because he's buying illegal components from shady buyers. I'm not sure Mr. Hammer's intentions are entirely above board."

Dr. Jacobs chuckles. "Right...because you can just...buy the components necessary for power armor on the street, right? You either make them, or you have someone make them for you." He tilts his head, "He's probably about as 'above board' as you are, I'm guessing. You probably could have asked him directly. After all, he's fond of hearing his own voice."

Silver Spider turns to Doctor Jacobs. "No offense, sir, but that's not a positive sign. Anyone who's fond of their own voice is fairly common. Why isn't he building his own components? And why aren't these Hammers protecting him if he's getting picked up in a black van?"

Silver Spider says, "He can build his own components, right?"

Dr. Jacobs nods. "He can. To a degree. He and I worked together on the Armament prototype. He worked on the power supply and weaponry, and I worked on the cybernetics linkage. And I think they probably are protecting him. After all...who's driving?"

Dr. Jacobs says, "The Hammers are basically four or five strong, from what I remember. A speedster, named 'Tempo'. An alien flyer/blaster type, named 'Starstrike', and he usually has a mechanic working for him. I think he had someone named 'Flare' at one point."

Silver Spider nods slowly. "So how does Enemy Ace fit into all of this? He's the guy I'm really looking for, and Hammer's name is the only one that's turned up."

Dr. Jacobs smiles. "Perhaps it's totally unrelated. Maybe this person you're looking for isn't here. That was one of the villains who escaped Tranquility, yes? That happened while I was still with Starguard."

Silver Spider shrugs. "No, Deus Ex Machina of Acro called me on the phone and told me that he teleported them here. So they're here."

Silver Spider says, "I've just been looking and looking, and I can't turn up anything. It's like they've vanished into the woodwork. And Mortua is scary. She needs to be put back in a cage."

Dr. Jacobs furrows his brow. "Deus Ex?" He seems to get considerably more nervous...visibly. But his voice remains steady. "I doubt they were teleported back here. That's not ACRO's bread and butter. High speed transport, like a jet, though...that's another matter." He then adds. "ACRO is more subtle than you give them credit for. Much more. If they have him anywhere, it's probably in their local base of operations, off the coast someplace."

Silver Spider nods. "That would be a submarine." She says. "I wouldn't bet on these guys to have a nonmobile base of operations. The question is, what would they be doing there? I'm going to check on Roland, and I'm going to have to start looking around for large purchases of foodstuffs that get dropped off into boats and the like. I'm pretty sure they're not living on fish and seaweed."

Silver Spider says, "What do you actually get out of telling me this, anyway? Aren't you concerned that they'll come and shoot you?"

Dr. Jacobs chuckles. "How much food does a robot usually eat? Or a computer? Or a cyborg getting nutrients pumped into it directly?" He looks a bit amused by the thought. "I think it's technically a moving island, rather than a sub. I've never known exactly where it was, though I was there once. Trapped. I had to be rescued by some of the local heroes...they lost a fight with Deus Ex, and had to bargain for my release."

Silver Spider says, "How far off the coast is this moving island? They'd definitely need a sub to reach that. There's no way that the US Satellite Radar wouldn't pick up boats travelling to and from the nowhere field that the floating island grants. Someone would notice.""

Dr. Jacobs smiles. "If they wanted me dead, I'd already be dead, Miss Spider. And stealth technology has moved along in leaps and bounds."

He adds, "I'm not sure how far off the coast. I'd expect in international waters. Then again, it's been a couple of years. They might not be operating out of there anymore."

Silver Spider nods. "A hundred miles. That's what the US claims. No, they're closer than that. Enemy Ace has something in mind for this city." She murmurs. "So, how do I talk to this Roland Hammer? And how do I do it without fighting five super powered idiots who would all love to take me down and deliver me to Knox Pooley with an apple stuffed in my mouth."

Dr. Jacobs chuckles. "Why would they want to do that?"

He then adds as an afterthought, "I mean...if they were hired to take you down, sure. But you'd already know. Roland is a good tactician."

Silver Spider laughs. "I took down Epimetheus and fought Prometheus to a standstill alone. Roland's not that good. His best bet would be to swarm me right away and hope I didn't spot any powers that attack their allies weaknesses.'

Dr. Jacobs smirks, "I think we found your hubris."

Silver Spider shakes her head. "Are you kidding? That's the proudest moment of my entire life. Living through that fight was hard."

Silver Spider says, "There's no way that any of those guys are as powerful as either of those two."

Dr. Jacobs says, "Roland is a better tactician in battle than anyone ACRO has. It's not a matter of sheer power. His armor isn't the equal of ACRO's enforcers, but his team is a well-oiled machine."

Silver Spider nods. "That's a matter of finding the right link for your side and breaking it fast, then." She says. "The problem is, my side is me. I don't have a team of people backing me up."

He smiles. "That's true. And based on that, I'd avoid trying to deal with Deus Ex directly. You'll lose."

Silver Spider shakes her head. "It's not about fighting him. I can take down any one guy he's got. The problem is whole armies of guys. His agents aren't worth spit, my powers counter most of their abilities, but more than two supers, and I'm probably history." She shrugs a little bit. "Looks like I need to find Roland and have a little chat with him. If anything, he'll know the guy who is selling the components and is more afraid of ACRO than he is of Roland."

He nods again, "I would think its agents wouldn't be much of a challenge, no. But the machine itself is quite dangerous in a direct confrontation. It can move its consciousness from machine to machine. The name doesn't come from nowhere."

Silver Spider blinks. "It's a machine? It's not a person?" Her eyeslits widen. "That sounds interesting. But that means I have the tools. I just need the right people. What happens if the machine can't leave?"

Dr. Jacobs chuckles, "The name wasn't a clue enough for you? 'Machine of God'. And if the machine it's inhabiting is trapped, it will either reconfigure the machine it's in, or it will jump to another machine. At least...that's how it used to act. It's probably evolved since then."

Silver Spider nods slowly. "That's bad. Who built it?"

Dr. Jacobs hesitates, "Well, it was a joint effort of a large team. But, I was part of that team. As was Roland. But it's evolved way beyond the original specifications."

Silver Spider nods. "Did you build a backdoor into it? To shut it down? There has to be some sort of failsafe mechanism. What was this thing's original programming specifications?"

He nods. "We did. It's long gone. Like I said, it evolved. It can effectively code itself now."

Silver Spider blinks. "That's crazy. You have to give me some specs on the original program. There has to be some way to stop this thing before it infects every machine on earth. I know why it hasn't killed you, now, though."

Silver Spider thinks. o O (This thing could infect me, maybe. That would be bad.)

Dr. Jacobs says, "You might also gain some insight by speaking to either Miss Markham or Dr. Simmons. I believe both were working on investigating Deus Ex at one point. I dont' have hte original specs. They were left in the ACRO facilities when I left the organization. And taking that home would have been...detrimental to my health, I think." He pauses a moment, considering. "As I said before, ACRO is subtle. Anything as blatant as infecting all the machines in the world would draw attention."

He adds, "You could ask Roland, though...he left the organization after I did."

Silver Spider nods slowly. "I don't think you understand. It probably already is all machines in the world."

Dr. Jacobs shakes his head. "I don't think so. But I'm basing it on the original concept. The code was supposed to act as an information hub for the organization. Slowly, it started to handle all data being transfered between agents and enforcers, as well as the R&D, marketing, and sales teams." He pauses a moment again, considering, "It's primary objective was to extend the reach of the organization as a whole, through various means. At least up until my last encounter with it, it only is able to inhabit a handful of machines at once, so that kind of expansion isn't that feasible, unless it's altered quite a bit since then. Perhaps it's the equivalent of a 'subconscious decision' on the part of the AI to use agents to expand."

Silver Spider nods slowly. "So if you had a technology that could somehow force technological duplicates to recombine, you might be able to inject it into one of the machines, use a cyberpath to control it, trap it in one machine, and pull the plug?"

Dr. Jacobs smiles. "I suppose that might be possible. But both risky and highly unlikely to work. I've inhabited a machine it was in, at one point. It can push around other programs at this point."

Silver Spider nods slowly. "It's not a program. It's Multitask's nanites. He's an old superhero from the old days. His nanites are suspended in my blood in a solution. I'd just have to dig them out and get them working."

Dr. Jacobs shakes his head. "Still seems unlikely. And also tangential from your original goal."

Silver Spider nods. "One step at a time. Thanks for everything, Doctor Jacobs. I'm going to go pay a visit to Roland now. Don't tell him I'm coming. I need to make sure he's not just building Enemy Ace a bunch of stuff."

Dr. Jacobs nods. "I think between he and I...I'd have been the one more likely to do that. At least before I worked for Starguard. Not anymore. But, I'm sure you should rattle his cage." He smiles.

Silver Spider nods slowly. "Well, his cage is getting rattled whether he wants it or not. I'm probably going to have to fight my way through about half of them. Guys like this don't take prisoners, so I'll have to deal with that the old fashioned way. See you soon, Doc, when I have more info."

Silver Spider walks quietly across the ceiling, padding over to the door. "Do you mind if I let myself out?"

Dr. Jacobs gets up, and gets the door for you, and then smiles. "Well, good luck to you. Be sure to shoot first. They'll take that as a show of strength."

Silver Spider nods. "Well, I'll keep that in mind." She says quietly. "By the way, it hasn't attacked you because it thinks you're it's parents.'

Dr. Jacobs nods. "I know." He looks a little melancholy as he opens the door.

Silver Spider flips under the door jamb and extends a webline, attaching it to a telephone pole as she springs away. o O (Well, that's a lot to think about. But now I know how to beat it.)

Silver Spider thinks. o O (I just have to get him into contact with it.)