Hot On The Trail

Log Info

Title: Hot on the Trail
Emitter: Adrian
Characters: Sunday, Linus
NPCs: None
Place: Local Shipyards
Time: July 6, 2010 — 10:00
Summary: It's been an hour since the kidnapping and Sunday and Linus track a heat signature to the local docks and dig up some clues.

It has been one hell of a night. And by now it's after ten o'clock. It's been an hour since all the events began back in the pharmacy. A little less than an hour since three masked, gloved neohumans attacked the Steranko teens and one of them teleported away with two of those teens. Kidnapped. Sunday Knight, presently in the artfully placed remnants of her burned clothing and Camille's jacket has tracked one of their attackers trails to here. And from here she called Linus Young, the twin brother of one of those kidnapped students.

It's probably not much time at all that passes between that phonecall telling Linus where she's at and when the boy actually arrives. The shipyards are quiet this time of night. The sounds of water lapping against boats. The wind making bells chime softly. It's almost eerily peaceful.

Sunday clings to the jacket as if it were sheltering her from a bitter cold, standing near the phone both she told Linus they would meet at. In one hand she fingers a cell phone - not her own, however. Camille gave her Adrians, and she as been turning it over and over again as a nagging thought refuses to go away. When Linus finally arrives with her clothing, she smiles wanly, greets him with a kiss, and then takes the pants and steps back into a shadow to oh-so-carefully pull the romper down under the jacket, then slide the pants up. She's not willing to try the same trick with a shirt, however, and so just makes sure the blazer is buttoned properly and immerges once more to his side. "The speedster came here, but the fire-girl went towards the residential area. Figured if they were keeping Adrian and that girl anywhere, though, more likely it'd be here. Right?"

Linus' arrival is slightly unorthodox in that the boy is flying. Well, sort of. He's hovering a couple feet off the ground, having flown 'nape of the earth' style the whole way back. That he's got a twisted amalgam of Sunday and Jerry's powers hasn't quite dawned on him, yet. Nor does he seem to notice that Sunday's kiss doesn't cause him to lose Jerry's powers at all. Some things just work better when you're not paying attention. He kisses her back, though he does take the opportunity to steal a look or nine at his unintentionally scantily clad girlfriend before handing over the goods. "That makes sense. I don't believe this shit, Sunday. Him of all people? The one trying to resume a normal life? How did they even grab him?"

"I don't know," she replies with a soft frown, turning towards the rows of warehouses with her Thermal Vision<tm> turned on. She wants to know where people are, and is vaguely hoping to find somewhere in particular that looks like it might be full of baddies and a pair of kidnapped teens. "But, Linus.. Camille told me one of them said 'One out of Two'." Sunday's frown deepens. "She said it looked like they were after you too. But they had no way of knowing you'd even be there, so it was just a bonus they didn't manage to pick up. They weren't ready. But, next time.." A chill runs up her spine, and she reaches a hand out wanting to take one of his. ".. Linus…" A guilty look crosses her face as she glances back at him, but only fleetingly. "… Do you remember.. when we talked about your dad..? How.. how /sure/ are you that he's not, just.. a normal insurance salesman?"

Linus scans the rows of warehouses with Sunday's Thermal Vision<tm> as well, frowning sourly at this recent turn of events. He reaches for Sunday's hand and lands on the ground beside her, still peering at the buildings. "They're not going to get me. And if they did, I'd just burst into flames or end up going really fast. I won't let them." He peers at the girl and sighs, "What… you think my -dad- did this? I have no idea. I just -know- he's not an insurance salesman. But this could be anything. As far as powers go, a nullifier and a duplicator have to be pretty high on the list of 'do wants'." Linus with the /b/ speak. Anon: It's ALL of us. "If they're after both of us, then maybe it's because of that. I'm not going to let them scare me, though. Adrian's a total dick, but if he hasn't managed to get home by now, then he really needs help."

The warehouses are more or less empty this time of night. The blips of figures are more than likely just various security guards or people who are stuck doing the manual labor of stocking or taking inventory or any other number of graveyard shift jobs. There are also thermal signatures on some of the boats out on the water, some of them being house boats. A few smaller sized warm areas that are likely animals. Cats. Rats. That kind of thing. The sound of a bouy ringing out on the water carries on the air.

"Not necessarily," Sunday begins, catching sight of the trail again and begining to follow it as the pair talk hand-in-hand. "But if he's in a position to have enemies.." She too sighs, compensating for her mental frustration by just walking faster so they can follow the trail to the end before its gone. "Yeah, I guess you're right. .. But how would somebody even know about the pair of you? I know we're not exactly low-key about our powers when things happen, but Adrian? Is there really such a big organized criminal underground in Cove City that people know who we are and what we do?" Apparently Sunday finds Evil Dad or Evil Dad's Evil Enemies a more plausible explanation, but at the same time, none of this helps them find Adrian. They follow the path to the docks and further on to the slip, occupied by the boat.. which appears to have no one on it? Sunday frowns. ".. It ends here, but nobody's here. Should we…?" … Well hell, in for an inch, right? So Sunday releases Linus's hand and carefully climbs aboard, trying to be as silent as possible.

"I have no idea." If Linus is scared, he's not showing it much, though Sunday probably knows him well enough to get the feeling that he is, but simply isn't letting it control them. "I don't even want to speculate. I just want him back before they realize he's such a jerk that they make him head jerkwad, because then he'll be in charge." The humor is light, but he's clearly making jest without his heart in it, either. "Allow me." He zips off the ground with a faint purple glow and grabs Sunday in his arms, then wield the woman forward, like she's the human flamethrower she potentially is. The boy drifts towards the boat cabin and whispers low. "Do you see anything?"

The boat is empty of life, but this is where the heat trail ends. There's a concentration of residual heat inside the cabin, like more than one person was there for an extended length of time. And from the looks of the inside of the cabin itself whoever was there tore it apart to get what they needed, leaving it a mess, and got out of there. There's no trail out, but that concentration of heat signature inside implies that perhaps the teleporter was used again and that this may have been a pre-determined meeting place.

Sunday is scooped up and looks over the boat, frowning. "Nobody's there. Somebody /was/ there, but-" Blink. Waitasec.. Her attention focuses back on Linus, and specifically on the violet glow. ".. You still have Jerry's powers!" What the Eff? Her head shakes briskly, trying not to focus on that. Other things. Bigger things. Adrian. Gotta find him. "There were two people here, I think. Probably teleported out, but.. I think we should really look over inside it. Or at least find out who this boat belongs to. I think they were looking for something.."

"I… I do!" Linus is as surprised as Sunday, it seems, "But I can see the heat, still. I don't know how I'm doing this, but I'm… I've got a little of both!" Linus looks down at himself, but then turns back to the boat. Mission at hand, you know. "Yeah. I see it, too. Looks like them. Isn't a boat supposed to have a registry somewhere?" He puts his girlfriend down and then flies around the boat itself, peering into all the windows. "I almost want to sneak inside and stay the night." Leave it to Linus to suggest something like that.

If they do decide to go into the boat and get a better look around, they'll find the cabin unlocked. There are maps and papers scattered everywhere. It's clearly been used as a place someone is living. There are books stacked here and there and it should be noted that one of those books that is poking out from a tipped over stack is a High School Yearbook. Any guesses as to what school that yearbook belongs to? Steranko Institute. 2000-2001. The bed is unmade. There's a pad of paper by the phone that the top page has been torn off of. The desk drawers have been rifled through. The place is a mess.

Sunday can't help but look proud of Linus as he realizes that, yes, he is Evolving. She'd gush, but it doesn't seem like a good time to do so. A registry? "The name written on the side, and the slip number. We can use that to find out who rents this space, and maybe who the boat belongs to." Stay all night? She blinks at that idea. ".. Why would we stay?" Once they have both independantly seemed to confirm the boat is unoccupied, Sunday does finally step aboard, sliding her hand inside the sleeve of her jacket to open the cabin door without using her hand. Why? … Because! It seems like a thing to do. She walks quietly within and peers around, careful not to touch anything until her eyes find that highschool year book. She carefully pulls it out of the stack and flips it over, expecting to see a year other than the one she actually does. ".. A ten year old yearbook?" .. No matter. She's taking it. That and the pad by the phone. Isn't there some kind of pencil trick they can use to lift whatever was written from the page under it? She'd try it on the spot, but is too afraid of messing it up. Best to take it to someone who'd know. "Linus, look at this," she calls as softly as possible to him, holding up the yearbook before flipping it open in the hope that the owner has written their name. And address. And detailed plans about how to kidnap Adrian Young, along with the location he will be held at.

Linus drifts inside, arms bent as if he thinks he's in a fighting stance of some kind. Anyone who really knows how to fight is likely to see that he's just faking it. A boy playing at being a superhero, but sometimes you have to fake it until you make it. "Well, if they're using this place like a base of operations, then we know they'll be back. And if we're well hidden… we'll hear anything they have to say. I wish I had a recording device or something." He glances at his pocket, where he keeps his cellphone. Sure, it records, but not all night. He frowns. Apparently where his brother is concerned, he's not being timid. Sunday draws his attention and he peers at the book, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Okay. That's -really- trippy. So, I guess this means we have a lot of work to do." He glances at the phone, flips it open, and goes right to the settings section, and gets the number from the phone. Then he starts checking for text messages and goes so far as to hold down the '1' key to hit voicemail.

The name inside the front of the yearbook is Jessica Quicken with a little note stating: If found please return to 1214 Edwater Drive, Edgewater, OH 44107. Being ten years old though, the address is unlikely to still be any good. Possible, but unlikely. There are all kinds of signatures and messages in the book from fellow classmates and teachers as well. Unfortunately it does not include a master plan for the current events.

There are only two text messages on the phone:
Text Message One: Main Street Pharmacy. T-F. 4:00-Close. Picture Attached Recommend gloves. POD. Other will be tricky. Unknown schedule. W&W.
Text Message Two: Undstnd Tue is busy. Distraction? Muscle handled. Will be there.

There is one voicemail message, and it's a male voice, "Jess. It's me. I got your message and I'm in… just… are you sure? Dierdre's Dad isn't the most sane person. I've worked for him for years now. I know. And he holds grudges like nobody's business. Maybe you're okay with people getting hurt, but I'm not. I'll be there Monday."

Sunday blinks once at the Ohio address… then glances up at Linus on the cell phone, frowning, contemplating the cell phone in her pocket.. But her attention stead goes back to the year book, and since she has a name she looks for a picture inside to go with it, also trying to pick out the one face she got a good look at - the Fire Starter. If she's in there, that is. "Jessica Quicken," she tells Linus once he's off the phone. "Name mean anything to you? Or… Edwater, Ohio?" Ugh. Please don't let her boyfriends dad be evil.. please please please.. It just isn't fair!

Linus snaps the phone shut and places it back where he found it. "Edgewater's in Cleveland." is all Linus has to say about that. He peers around the cabin, then spots a pair of gloves, "And I'm guessing those are the gloves." He picks them up carefully. If they're inside out, he picks them up especially carefully. "Jessica Quicken is who that phone belongs to. Here." He picks the phone up again, brings it to Sunday's ear, and plays the message again, then frowns, and pulls his own phone out. He pushes 'record' on his cell and presses the two phones together, effectively copying the voice mail message onto his own phone, and then he snaps it shut again. "If we're not staying the night, we'd better get out of here, huh?" Linus is, at last, spooked the hell out and showing it. His eyes are a little wider now, at least.

Maybe it's Sunday's contemplation of the cell phone in her pocket that triggers it. Or maybe it's just because it's been over an hour, but the phone vibrates. If it's not answered there will be a very bothered voicemail left on it. If it is answered, well… ahem…

In either case, the two teens have gathered information here, possible clues, and possibly over-stayed their welcome. From outside the boat the sound of a dog barking on a nearby boat can be heard. One of those 'Bow-wow-wow-wow-wow!' sort of howls that echoes out there. With that omen, it's probably time to wrap things up here!

Sunday leans in to listen to the message. Dierdre.. Honestly, she has no idea what to make of all of this. She watches Linus do his detective-ish stuff and just holds on to the book and the notepad. Get out of here? "Yeah," she answers, clearly just as spooked as he is. "I think we should-" then the phone vibrates. She sighs, pulling it out to look and see what she already knows. "It's your mom. Should I…?" She'll leave it up to Linus as to whether or not there is going to be any answering. But yes, the dog is barking and information is gathered. It's time to go. "Let's just get out of here. I'd rather not be here when they get back."

Linus blinks, and responds by immediately putting his phone on vibrate. He hadn't thought of that at all! "Yeah. I agree. Uh…" He peers around. "I'm going to fly us out of here. I cannot -believe- I just said that, but it's probably faster that way. Unless you don't think that's wise." He's creeping out of the boat, meanwhile.

Shaking her head, Sunday gets up close to Linus and wraps one of her arms around his shoulders. "I don't see why it wouldn't be." Wise. She thinks it is very wise to just get the hell out of here. Adrian's phone is pocketed, her prizes are held close, and she'll just rely on Linus' borrowed powers to get them the hell out of here.

"Because if they're coming and see people flying off the boat… I'm being paranoid, I guess." He wraps both arms around Sunday and, really, holds onto her tight enough that it might even hurt. One slip-up might very well kill the girl. Oops. Didn't mean to drop you. A worse slipup might kill them both. Linus, it seems, is intent on not letting that happen. He inhales and adds, "You know I'm afraid of heights, r-right?" then he smiles meekly and takes Sunday into the sky, and shoots towards the building which leads to the school itself.

"Yeah, I know," Sunday replies with a soft, sympathetic smile before she kisses him once gently. "I'll protect you." And pretend he didn't just crack a damn rib. Ugh. With that she'll just hold on for the ride home.

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