ANGELO DEADHAND and the Case of the Grimacing Weasel

Milos Regamer Jevtic · Thu 15/12/2011 09:18:36

>check the surroundings for potentional suspicious gas mask wearing hitmen >scratch yer left buttcheek

CaptainD · Thu 15/12/2011 12:54:52

>Mutter darkly about having to catch the bus when you're been wounded in the course of duty
>Mutter darkly about hospitals discharging patients the moment they're awake
>Mutter darkly about people shooting you
>Mutter darkly about Paisley sending you on this mission in the first place
>Mutter darkly about the general suckiness of your life
>Mutter darkly about nothing in particular
>Get a grip, stop muttering darkly and go to HQ, find out from Paisley what the hell is going on
>Mutter darkly a bit more, just for good measure

discordance · Thu 15/12/2011 19:08:03

> Wince painfully and think ,"Maybe I ought to start carrying a gun, Or at least wear a bullet proof vest".

Briefly, you consider breaking your Vow and carrying a weapon on your next mission. You reject the thought immediately. It might be a good idea to track down a bulletproof vest, though.

> Take bus to office

Taken!

> enter flamboyantly demanding to be brought fully up to speed on all the latest happenings in the case

You sweep in through the front door, strike a pose, and yell "Okay everyone, I'm back! What's been going on?"

Lola glances at you from behind the reception desk and raises her left eyebrow slightly. "I think Captain Paisley's in his office," she says. "He's been waiting for you."

>check the surroundings for potentional suspicious gas mask wearing hitmen

Still feeling a bit paranoid from that one time you got shot, you check your surroundings. It looks pretty clear, but you can never be too careful. The gas mask people could be anywhere.

>scratch yer left buttcheek

It was a bit itchy.

>Mutter darkly about having to catch the bus when you're been wounded in the course of duty

You do have a personal sky-car, but unfortunately you left it at home.

>Mutter darkly about an interminable number of things

For several minutes, the air is filled with the sound of dark muttering. Carol ignores you and continues to play Solitaire. You are wounded and slightly annoyed.

>Get a grip, stop muttering darkly

You finally give up.

> find out from Paisley what the hell is going on

You head into Paisley's office. He's buried in a pile of reports, but his expression turns to joy the moment you walk in.

"Deadhand!" he says. "Good to see you back on your feet. It was touch and go for a while there."
"So I've heard," you say. "What happened?"
"One of our agents pulled you out," says Paisley. "He also managed to track down your killer, somehow. I guess."
"Impressive," you say. "Who was it?"
"Waterloo," Paisley mutters, darkly. "But that's not important. Angelo, I know things got a little rough there, but are you willing to keep going on this case?"
"Of course, Captain," you say. "A little thing like being shot to death won't hold me back."
"Good. Here's where we stand. Tech Lab's been studying the guy who shot you, and he's an odd bird - you might want to check in with them. We still haven't heard anything about Blonde Jack. He never returned to the penthouse - he seems to have disappeared entirely. If you can track him down, that would be excellent. Oh, and your attacker was carrying this. You might find it useful."
He gives you the HANDHELD DATA DEVICE that you discovered in the penthouse.
"One more thing, Angelo," he adds. "After last night's disaster, we've decided to assign you a partner, just in case things go sideways again. I recommend Percy Sniff. He's a smart, reliable guy who plays by the rules."

Milos Regamer Jevtic · Thu 15/12/2011 19:17:35

>slap your face

>sigh

CaptainD · Thu 15/12/2011 21:31:08

>Use HANDHELD DATA DEVICE

mkennedy · Thu 15/12/2011 23:32:50

> Tell Paisley "Waterloo saved my life and avenged me, so I think I'll go with him as my partner!"

> Savor the reaction of Paisley.

> Go down to the tech lab and ask them what they found out about my shooter.

discordance · Fri 16/12/2011 20:55:53

>slap your face

You decide not to slap yourself in the face. It seems both painful and pointless.

>Use HANDHELD DATA DEVICE

You switch on the HANDHELD DATA DEVICE. It seems someone has hastily purged the drive, because only one message remains. It reads: "another flaw to correct meet at usual place tomorrow night only thirteen days left to wait". It was sent by someone calling themselves "The Lovely Parrot". Mysterious!

> Tell Paisley "Waterloo saved my life and avenged me, so I think I'll go with him as my partner!"

You drop the news. After all these years, you still want no partner other than Jimmy.
Paisley rolls his eyes. "God, I was afraid you'd say that," he says. "Fine. Have it your way. Waterloo's off today, you can give him the news tomorrow."

> Savor the reaction of Paisley.

You bask in the moment.

> Go down to the tech lab

You make your way to the Tech Lab, where mobs of scientists are crowded around countless blinking terminals and dangerous prototypes. In the far corner of the room, you find a DEAD BODY on a table. The body appears to be missing its head. KIM is studying something on a terminal nearby.

> ask them what they found out about my shooter

"Found anything?" you ask.
"Yeah, a few things," says Kim. "This is a weird one - it looks like an actual, organic body, with some kind of computer plugged into its nervous system. It looks like it was receiving signals from an external source, and probably transmitting data as well."
"Bizarre," you say. "Anything else?"
"We did a DNA check on the body," says Kim. "We have a match. It's a known weapons smuggler, Mark Lawless. He disappeared a few years back, and we never picked up any leads."
"Apparently someone chopped off his head and stuck a computer in there," you say. "Did he have any connections to Blonde Jack?"
"No idea. You can probably access his file from your office terminal."

mkennedy · Fri 16/12/2011 22:23:56

> Look at the dead body and say , "a human with a robot head isn't as cool as a robot with a human head!"

> Be glad you still have a head on your shoulders.

> Ask if they could determine which frequency the head computer was tuned to and then have them eavesdrop on that frequency.

Milos Regamer Jevtic · Sat 17/12/2011 01:14:18

>punch the body in the shoulder and say "See ya 'round" then wink at Kim >laugh sheepeshly then strike a thinking pose and think of any possible connections.

CaptainD · Sat 17/12/2011 11:58:57

>Go to your office and find out everything you can about Blonde Jack

discordance · Mon 19/12/2011 20:21:38

> Look at the dead body and say , "a human with a robot head isn't as cool as a robot with a human head!"

You shake your head sadly. "A human with a robot head isn't half as cool as a robot with a human head," you say. "Actually, now that I think about it, both would be equally terrifying."

> Be glad you still have a head on your shoulders.

You tap your own head for reassurance. You really like how it's attached to your neck.

> Ask if they could determine which frequency the head computer was tuned to

"So," you say, "this head-computer. Is there any way you could figure out what frequency it was tuned to?"
"I'm working on a trace right now," says Kim. "I'll make sure to call you up if I find anything, but it could take a while."
"Fair enough."

>punch the body in the shoulder and say "See ya 'round"

You give the corpse a friendly punch, as if to say that there are no hard feelings, you had a good run, better luck next time. "See ya round," you say. "I'd better get to work."

>Go to your office

You are in your OFFICE. Your DESK is here, piled with FRESH PAPERWORK. Sheesh. A few days off the job, and the backlog is already piling up.

> find out everything you can about Blonde Jack

You have a seat at your DESK and switch on your COMPUTER TERMINAL. It only takes you a moment to access the COMPREHENSIVE CRIMINAL DATABASE available to all police investigators. You look up Blonde Jack.

According to the entry, not much is known about Blonde Jack. His ties to a dangerous weapon smuggling ring are well documented, but he has never been arrested. Sources state that he is often seen frequenting a small cafe in the Lower City, a place called THE DRUMMER'S REST for some reason. It's believed that he owns an apartment somewhere in the Lower City, but recently took up residence in the penthouse of the Magical Wonders Casino and Hotel.

mkennedy · Mon 19/12/2011 23:17:39

> Look up the Lawless file on your computer then type "Blonde Jack" and "Lovely Parrot" into Google and see what hits you get, if you're lucky they might even have a twitter feed!

> Place a quick call to Waterloo to thank him for saving your butt and to let him you've recovered nicely.

discordance · Wed 21/12/2011 04:10:28

> Look up the Lawless file on your computer

According to the documents, he dealt in smuggled weapons out of his secret shop in the Lower City. He was also known to tinker in weapon design. Rumours said he was trying to build some kind of super-secret superweapon. He vanished without a trace three years ago, and no traces of him have been found since. Until now!

> type "Blonde Jack" and "Lovely Parrot" into Google

You've never heard of any kind of thing called Google. Maybe it has something to do with the mysterious Inter-Tube Network the techs sometimes talk about.

> Place a quick call to Waterloo to thank him for saving your butt and to let him you've recovered nicely

It seems only right to let Jimmy know you've recovered, especially since he saved your butt and everything. You ring up his home phone. It rings for a while. You feel a bit nervous - it's been a long time since you last spoke to Jimmy. You wonder what he'll think of you calling him up like this.

You get his answering machine. "Hey, Jimmy here, leave a message, I'm probably drunk." Beeeeep..

You hang up. Some other time.

CaptainD · Wed 21/12/2011 12:16:52

>Check FRESH PAPERWORK to see if there's anything interesting. (Probably not, but you never know.)
>Check if Jimmy is in the office

mkennedy · Fri 23/12/2011 00:13:17

> Check your computer and answering machine to see if anybody sent you any email , voice mails, phone calls, or other messages while you were in the hospital.

discordance · Mon 02/01/2012 23:38:52

>Check FRESH PAPERWORK to see if there's anything interesting

You sort through the piles of paperwork. It's incredible how boring it all looks.

>Check if Jimmy is in the office

Who knows, maybe Jimmy came in to work today, despite how wildly out of character that would be! You put a call through to his office. No one answers.

You are not surprised.

> Check your computer and answering machine

You check for new messages. You have quite a number of inter-office memos, dull calendar reminders, and about two dozen messages from Alex, who will never leave you alone. You have little inclination to respond to any of them.

mkennedy · Tue 03/01/2012 07:21:25

> Go back to the tech lab and ask them what all they were able to find out about the data device. Maybe have them scan it while you use it to send a message somewhere. Ask them to use their vast technical expertise to find out everything they can about "Blonde Jack" and "Lovely Parrot" using the interwebs.

> Pop into the armory to see if they have any body armor in your size. Consider swiping the exosuit if it's available.

> Check the time and consider going back home if it's late enough.