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Bill Dodds
United States
Loveland
Ohio
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Issue 5
This Stakeout Service Sucks!
Attending: Red Raven, Neon, X, Flinch, Shiva
Note: some of the events listed in this Issue actually happened in Issue 4, but were condensed to Issue five for record keeping.
In the News: Detroit Daily News An article questioning Who is the Watch w2as run, mentioning something of their tactics of leaving known criminals wearing spray-monogrammed white paint-suits. At a police Press conference, it was emphatically stated that the Watch was unrelated to the Detroit PD, nor was it related to the Overwatch base located in downtown Detroit. It was also stated that the Police Department does not officially sanction the vigilantism of the Watch. When asked "and unofficially?" He smirked slightly and asked for more questions. Also in the news, a rare obsidian statue called 'The Whale Hunter' was stolen from a secure location in the Detroit Metropolitan Museum. Its value was undisclosed.
Ford Plant Base (pre-Cass Park clearing)
Methods for taking out the Reavers were hashed around. Utilizing Shiva's knowledge of the Cass Corridor, the political structure of the Reavers was revealed: At the top is the one known as Hook, often fatally referred to as Captain Hook. His reputation for cruelty was well known, and he ran the Cass Corridor Reavers with an iron, um, hook. His immediate assistants were The Doctor (because you're going to need one after you meet him) and Cyclops, a one-eyed mutant. The three underbosses are Juno the Pimp, Frank the Tank, and the Rattler. Juno was the most well known for his habits, and it was decided that the group would do some research on him. Critically succeeding on his Knowledge: Streetwise roll, Shiva told the crew that once a week Juno has a grand meal at Chevy's Steakhouse, a well known local steak and chop joint. Chevy's is where low-middle class Corridor families went to eat when there was something to celebrate over.
The crew piled into the van and headed over to stakeout the Steakhouse. They spent a boring 3 hours in the van with Red Raven on watch and one of X's invisible ghost minions on the inside of the restaurant keeping tabs on the maitre deâ's greetings of guests. Red Raven saw a tricked out silver Escalade pull up alongside the building, and several people get out. It was confirmed by X's minion that it was Juno, a scantily clad woman, and a nervous looking businessman that were seated. Drinks were ordered, and both Juno and his female companion downed shots. Juno seemed more interested in fooling around with the girl under the table than listening to the businessman, who turned out to be an accountant of some sort. X's minion vocally relayed what was being said, and it seemed to concern the CPA's worry about securing an upcoming shipment. Juno seemed to pay little attention, so X had his minion Drain a bit of strength from the dolled up girl, who seemed to feel a little ill afterward, blaming in on the shot she just took.
X's minion stayed until the food arrived and the conversation stopped. Juno and his companions left without paying, which seemed typical.
The CPA caught a cab and Juno and his girl got into the back of the Expedition. There seemed to be several people in or around the expedition. Juno had a posse. The group opted to follow the CPA, since he seemed to have a briefcase full of interesting material to investigate. They followed him back to a small apartment building and sent in the minion (now nicknamed Bob) to follow him. They all made it up to the roof (Raven and Tank leaping with Shiva and X in hand, Neon flying, and Flinch running up the wall at incredible speeds) and Shiva burned a nice hole in the door lock with his corrosion. Bob wad waved his ghostly arm out the window of the apartment and X was able to guesstimate where it was located. They located his apartment and the ghostly minion reported the man standing in his kitchen, drinking. They got his name (via Bob) off some mail that was lying around, and decided to check on him again the following day.
Move forward past the Cass Park Clean-up.
After a tense discussion about use of lethal force, the group dispersed to bed, since it was the wee hours of the morning and some of them needed to work or go to school the following day. It was pointed out that if lethal force is used when non-lethal would suffice; they were little better than the thugs and gang-bangers they were taking down.
They took a full day off to recover from the night's stresses and injuries, and decided to meet the following night. The day of their reconvening, Tank calls up Raven from work and tells him to go get a paper. He slips out of the base's secret entrance and wanders down to the corner convenience mart, where he picks up the paper and some OJ. The top story is of the Watch. He hurries back to the base and discusses the implications of public awareness and the importance of being viewed as a positive force rather than a brutal one. That evening the crew got together again, but Tank was unable to make it for some reason,. His cell phone was off and the Watch could not get a hold of him.
Red Raven X, and Neon had spent the day doing a little investigating, locating the man (H. Kirzner) and one of his offices, which was just 6 blocks up the street from the apartment building. X's minion (this one nicknamed Chick) was morose at having to leave the Kirzner's apartment because he was enjoying watching Home Shopping Network with the CPA's wife unaware of his presence. They dismissed him and X called up another minion to go check on the supposed office of Mr. Kirzner. Chick followed in Red Raven and wafted invisibly into Kirzner's office after Raven had confirmed through some fast-talk that Kirzner had an office there, despite it being a small law firm. Kirzner seemed to be arguing with either Juno or one of his cronies about how he was supposed to hide the income, and that the spending had to slow or the IRS will be auditing him.
Bored with the legal and financial mumbo-jumbo, the Crew split to rest up for a late-night insertion reconnaissance into Harold's apartment to steal and copy all of the documents in the two briefcases he never seemed to be without. Once again using Tom to stake out the apartment, the rest of the crew hid in the van while Red Raven occupied the roof of the apartment complex. Bob, hovering invisibly in the apartment, reported Harold to be arguing over his cell phone with someone, saying that it was too late and that he was not going out again. "Whatever trouble he has gotten himself into, it can wait till morning." Once Kirzner was in bed and asleep, the infiltration began.
X had taken an alternate power to his Ghost Shell of Alternate Form: Ghost once he had the experience points to do so and was eager to try it out. Wearing dark clothes and wrap-around sunglasses (he could see well in low light) he hopped out of the van and began crossing the street. He had already sacrificed his second minion to activate the insubstantial Ghost Form, and was crossing the street when a car came down, lights brightly illuminating the street. Because of the Insubstantiality, X was 'fuzzy' and blurred around the edges, made abundantly clear when the lights of the passing car illuminated his form. The car slowed down after passing him, then sped up considerably.
He slipped through the front door and into the foyer, bypassing the 'buzz in' style entry. He went up the staircase and into the hall, checking for possible witnesses. When it was clear, he entered the room and dropped the insubstantiality. He picked up the cases, sacrificed Bob, and headed back out. Unfortunately, someone was exiting their apartment next door at that very moment and stood there shocked as X stepped out through the doorway. He didn't even acknowledge the unfortunate witness and walked through them to get to the staircase. The lady shrieked and dropped her keys. X dropped through the staircase to the grouod floor, exited front of the bulding and hurried over to the van. Inside the crew quickly photographed the pages and pages of paperwork. Even with three people, it took almost 40 minutes.
Once completed, X picked up the cases and returned to the building, heading up the stairs to return them. As X was climbing stairs, a familiar silver Escalade pulled quickly up in front of the building and a couple of toughs in Reaper colors hopped out. One went around to the passanger door behind the driver and let out a large, well dressed black man: Juno. Juno said "Wait here," and stomped up to the building. He popped the lock quickly on the front door and foyer door, as Red Raven was relaying to X to "move, move MOVE." X hustled out of the stair well and over to Kirzner's door. His unfortunate witness was no longer in the hall (they surmised she was probably rocking back and forth in her apartment, crying) so he ran into the apartment as the elevator door dinged and opened just down the hall. He dropped the briefcases and threw himself into a closet when the heavy pounding began on Harold's door. He answered it, muzzily confused, and was quite surprised to find a very irate Juno in the hall. The two went into the den/office, and X listened to Juno give his accountant a verbal reaming for not doing what he had told him to do: go post bail on one of his Posse who had gotten himself picked up by police an couple hours earlier.
"I think you need to be taught a lesson," said Juno. X's invisible minion in the room reported that Juno pulled out a truncheon of gold that sparked as he swung it. X heard a terrible cry of pain as it was applied with brute force to the old accountant. Horrified at the attack, X told his minion to go cold and the temperature immediately dropped to near freezing in the den. Juno was not pleased. "Are you a @#$&ing mutant, Harry? Have you been holding out on me, you little $#!&*?" Juno struck him again and he cried out in pain. Harold's wife came out of the bedroom, calling his name, and X had his minion sap strength from the big man, which made him even angrier.
All the while, Red Raven has been ordering X to leave the apartment, but he felt responsible to help the old man. He acquiesced to his orders angrily and sunk thru the floor just as Harold's wife gave a piteous scream. He left the apartment he had sunk into, recalled his minion and went to the hall, dropping through the floors to the first floor below.
Outside, Red Raven had clambered off the roof to the street below and witnessed Juno's thugs receive a cell phone call. The one receiving the call motioned for them to go, and they went to the building and were buzzed in. As they were waiting at the elevator, they witnessed X drop out of the ceiling to the hall below. They were stunned for a moment, but one of the thugs had the presence of mind to ask if X wanted to earn some good money and dropoped his business card onto the floor. X was noncommittal and left.
Out front, Raven was waiting next to the front door and made a startling and terrible discovery: there was a live camera recording the foyer. X's comings and goings were potentially on tape somewhere. Raven thought it likely Juno would have slapped around the accountant for being mouthy, but not done anything else. Now, it was likely he was a dead man because of X's involvement.
X brushed past him, furious at leaving the old accountant and his wife to be beaten and probably killed by Juno. Raven was angry that X had not noticed the cameras and that he had let himself get involved with the 'disciplining' above, but X was not done yet. He banished the Ghost Form, sacrificed his last minion, and called the Shell. The 12 foot glowing white form stopped by the escalade, reached down, and flipped it completely over, tossing out the shocked driver, Red Raven knocked him out with a kick to the head, but was speechless as X banished the Shell and got back in the van. "At least they won't be leaving easily."
The Watch drove back in silence.
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Posted Mon Apr 12, 2010 1:53 am