Log:By The Numbers, Scene 1

By The Numbers 2012/11/02 	 Chen Pleiades Star Girl Okami 1

"So it's called Halloween," Star Girl explains to Pleia. The two are on their way across the city, courtesy of one of Pleia's light bridges, carrying them high above the chaotic streets below. "It's like tradition to dress up in costumes and go to parties..."

Pleiades nods slowly, "Oh... Hehe. At first I was thinking a whole bunch of new types of humans had arrived, and I wsan't sure if that was normal. So, um, should I be wearing a costume?"

Okami is passing through on his way to Bridgend and Steele's Gym, moving from rooftop to rooftop. As he spies the flying duo he steps out into the open, waving to the two of them.

Below in the market street of Chinatown fireworks are exploding, and crowds watch as robed Chinese swordsmen mock fight against a Chinese dragon. No painted cloth dragon. Seemingly, the real thing, scales and claws and all.

Star Girl laughs and says to Pleia. "You /are/ in costume.... Oh! Fireworks!" She points down at the exhibition.

Pleiades waves to Okami, "Huh? This isn't a costume, is my Shield Jacket, um, a combat uniform basically." She peers down at the display, "Wow!"

Okami sees the dragon battling the men down below and prepares to leap from the rooftop into the fight. He realizes at the last minute, however, that it looks much more like a demonstration than an actual combat and pulls up short. Quickly he scampers across a cable strung across the street to get a better view.

Pleiades arcs her Eagle Road downward, some distance from the demonstration so they can approach on foot without getting in the way.

The dragon puffs colored smoke from its nostrils as the swordsmen perform their martial dance around it.

Star Girl goes silent and her eyelets widen as her vision locks in on something down below on the street. With out preamble she leaps from Pleia's Eagle Road and down to the cable that Okami is crossing...

Star Girl pulls down on the cable and then uses it to snap herself up and over to a building rooftop.

Okami steadies himself as the cable shifts under the shock of Star Girl, paper lanterns dancing back and forth wildly. He rides the rebound, arcing through the air and flipping sideways as he lands on the rooftop next to Star. "Evening," he says with a hint of a smile.

The dragon appears defeated, moving slower and slower until it curls up and collapses onto the street amid cheers from the tourists and polite clapping from the Chinese spectators.

Pleiades lands and looks around, missing that Star Girl is no longer behind her at first, "Want to take a loo-- Huh? Where'd she go?"

Star Girl takes off like a bat out of hell, not pausing to respond to Okami. She hops between a couple rooftops and skids to a halt on a gravel strewn roof with a billboard on top of it. There's a door to the stairwell on the roof; Star tries it and finds it locked.

The dragon rolls back onto its feet, and morphs into Chen. Giving the swordsmen a cheerful wave the young wannabe heroine leaps up onto a rooftop to excape the crowds.

Pleiades calls out, "Hey! Star Girl! Where'd you go!?"

Okami arches an eyebrow at Star Girl's sudden departure. He turns and sprints off after her, moving quickly across the rooftops in pursuit. "Something going on?" he asks as he arrives at the door, his tone quieter now as he retrieves a set of small tools from his gauntlet.

ZAM! A bolt from one of Star's hand blasters makes short work of the door. The sound and the flash are visible from even the street. Star rushes inside.

Chen hears Pleiades call and looks that way, leaping off towards the sound, "Hi. Something going on?"

Okami sighs and shoves the rake and pick back into his gauntlet as he sets off after Star.

Pleiades looks confused, "I don't know. Star Girl was with me, and I spotted Okami. But when I looked away to land and take a look at the fireworks, both of them disappeared!"

Pleiades notices the flash above her, "Was that another firerwork?"

Chen shakes her head, "No. That was an energy discharge." she tells Pleiades, and starts moving fast in the direction of the ZAM!

Star Girl rushes down the stairwell to the apartment on the top floor. She bashes open the door with a jumping kick and ends up inside. The apartment is dark -- even though it's light outside, someone has covered up all of the windows.

Pleiades nods, "Right! Bitzraeder, Eagle Road!" Her light bridge carried her up to the blasted open door.

Okami quickly follows Star into the apartment, pupils dilating wide as his heightened senses try to take advantage of the meager amounts of light spilling in through the open doorway and being given off by Star Girl.

Chen runs in after Okami, her eyes instantly adapting to the limited light.

Star and Okami are currently inside a slummy looking apartment that someone seemed to have converted into a makeshift laboratory. The chief sign is some of the equipment that can be found here, microscopes, mixers, centrifuges.

Pleiades stands in the doorway, blinking and trying to peer at the shadows, "Did you find something?"

Star Girl stands in the middle of the room, breathing deeply, shoulders rising and falling as she takes in the scene. "I... I feel like I've been here before..."

Pleiades says, "But you don't remember it?"

Chen steps over to a container marked with a bio-hazard symbol and a Starguard logo. "This shouldn't be here." she says, pointing down at it.

Okami drops to a crouch in the darkness as he narrows his eyes and tilts his head to one side, heightened senses searching for clues. "Two people," he says a bit gruffly, his nostrils dilating. "Man and a woman. They've been her within the past week or so."

Star Girl shakes her head. "No..." she says to Pleiades. She looks over at Chen and the container that she's spotted. Her eyelets go wide with shock. "Let me see that," she says, marching over to Chen and the container.

Chen steps aside.

Pleiades moves out of the doorway to let what the light from the streets in.

Star Girl picks up the cannister and examines it. "Empty." she says angrily.

Chen asks Star Girl, "Do you know what was in it?"

Star Girl says, "Dr. Rudder had a sample of my suit in a container just like this one."

Pleiades's face hardens, "The one that was working with one of Scarletti's Numbers?"

Star Girl nods to Pleia.

Pleiades snarls, "Good."

Chen asks, "Bad people were here?"

Meanwhile, on the stairwell, someone is coming up to the apartment. "You! Hey! You!" It's a tiny Asian woman, somewhere north of sixty years old, climbing upto the apartment.

Okami holds out a hand for the container. "Let me see it," he says.

Star Girl hands the container to Okami.

Chen turns to the approaching woman, and in Mandarin "Good day, little mother. May I help you?"

Okami raises the container to his nose, carefully sniffing the opening. "Got your scent inside," he says in a low growl. "Good chance a piece of your suit was in it."

The woman calms down a bit as she climbs up there and finds Chen. "Oh, I heard a noise," she says in Mandarin. "I thought that my no-good tenants came bad. Do you know they owe me for two months of rent?!"

Chen says, "in Mandarin I will see you get paid for the rent, little mother. Can we speak American so my friends will understand?"

Chen adds, ".. and paid for the damage to the door."

Star Girl frowns at Okami's information.

The landlady says, "They late with rent... But I say, take time.. they promise to pay... I say ok because husband is doctor..." Her accent is pretty strong.

Chen says to Star Girl, "I promised she'd be paid for the rent and repairing the door. Hopefully Starguard will do that. Since I'm guessing it was Dr Rudder here?"

Pleiades hmmms, "Did the 'wife' look like..." she describes the Number that had been with Rudder.

The landlady nods. "Yeah, that her!"

Star Girl nods to Chen. "Yeah, I think they can cover it."

Pleiades slams her gauntlet into her open palm, "Yes! Finally, a lead! When did you last see them?"

"Last week," the land lady says. "I tell them, pay rent or I call police... Doctor say he need only one more week."

"How'd they pay when they first moved in?" Okami asks.

The landlady says, "They have some money."

Okami nods. "They paid cash?" he asks. "You didn't ask for ID or run a credit check?"

The landlady says, "What? English not so good..."

Chen translates

"Oh.." the landlady says, looking away. "Normally I do all of the paperwork, but they said that they needed a place in a hurry, and they seemed nice so..."

Star Girl folds her arms and says, "She didn't do the paperwork, because they paid her under the table."

Okami nods and tries to give a reassuring smile. "It's all right," he says. "I'm asking because the more we know about what they did when they rented the apartment the better we can narrow down where they are staying now. Knowing they are paying under the table limits the places they could be staying."

Chen asks the landlady in Mandarin, "Is your house under the protection of Lee or of Pride." being pretty sure that one or other side will have laid claim to it.

The landlady frowns. "Lee," she responds.

Chen nods politely to the landlady before telling the other heroes, "This house is in Lee's sphere of influence. I know some of Lee's people. I'll talk to them, see if there's anything they can tell us. But, if I do, I'll owe them a favour which they'll call in some time. Do you think it's worth it?"

Star Girl says, "We can have Starguard send a tech team to scour the place for clues."

Okami shakes his head. "Hold off on that," he says to Chen, "If they're paying under the table their options are limited. Now that I have their scents let me check out places they might be staying and see if I can locate them."

Chen nods to Okami, "Okay. I like some of Lee's people. But they're still Lee's people, and Lee isn't all that much better than Pride."

Star Girl says, "Who's Pride?"

Chen says, "One of the two crime lords in Chinatown. The other is Tim Lee. Pride has a lot of guns and agents. Lee has a bunch of exiled Chinese Metas. Currently there a bit of a truce, generally because the Twins threatened to tear down whichever side won if they went to war.""

Star Girl holds her hand up to her side of her head. "I'm calling Starguard."