Doubts and Discoveries

NARRATIVE UPDATE
March 25, 2010 - 1530
Carpino, Italy
Participants: Armor,Southern Cross, Doctor Chronos, Tigerwasp.

The team spends the morning and part of the early afternoon running the tourist track. Joe and Lucy wander the shops in which Joe ends up flipping the bill after the first shop; Something about Lucy's account not being open or some such. Her mere name probably caused the charge center computer to short out. The good doctor, Armor and Cross find themselves in a winery tour encompassing drives up to a half hour out of town. This all lends itself to giving the team a good feel for the people. Carefully led conversations by the team leads to the general feeling that the people are in fear of the Council, very much like anyone might fear the authorities in a police state, but in general they are grateful because many atrocities have been averted due to their interference. No one however ever mentions anything about ever seeing a raging garou like the team witnessed in the garage this morning; a handy gadget produced by Armor confirms this.


Before the team split this morning, a rendezvous was planned for this late afternoon at the hotel. Entry back into the hotel is as norm, with the exception that elevator one is still out of commission. Men are currently working on it; apparently one of the hydraulic pumps that power the lifts blew up somehow this morning. No one was hurt but many were scared from the loud noise it created. At least that the story everyone now purports. There is no mention of men in suits and officers swarming the place earlier.

The entire team is now gathered in one of their rooms, food and drinks at the hand, discussing the events and discoveries of the day.

24 hours, or so, until the next update..

Armor chuckles appreciatively. "Spent a little money in town myself, but nothing so exciting as your apparel; couldn't think of anything I really needed." He's relaxed and low-key as ever.

{OOC: later that afternoon, the news will give an especially friendly report on his eight-figure donation to the cash-strapped local school -- on top of the seven-figure scholarship program he added for kids looking to save lives as first responders. Our top story: celebrity superhero takes break from fighting crime, foils budget shortfall! Says he's "helping people help each other". He'll reply to any teammate who asks him about it.}

"It's the sort of thing the Golden Age Superman would've done." Southern Cross replied.

Southern Cross wrote:"It's the sort of thing the Golden Age Superman would've done." Southern Cross replied.

"Well, sure," Armor responds, genuinely surprised. "Same way each of us fights crime and saves lives; we're all just making a difference however we can, right?" He pauses for a moment. "Which maybe brings us to the elephant in the room..."

Joe had been a hair distracted while he'd helped Lucy shop, and not just by Lucy's eye magnet clothes (although that didn't help). Clearly he'd been bothered by what they'd seen. He hadn't even blinked at the bill.

At the meeting, Chronos put it into words. He said, "Fire alarms. Presumably in every building, and presumably everyone knows... and yet they don't. Public supers and what might pass for law enforcement functioning almost as a secret police. No, like the military police from an occupying force. If everyone knows... when did they learn? And tall dark and grim... a rogue? Or maybe just a scout?"

"Can anyone shed some light on this?"

Doc didn't look at Joe, clearly not expecting any answers there.

Doctor Chronos wrote:And tall dark and grim... a rogue? Or maybe just a scout?

Armor leans forward at this. "He was clearly expecting someone, and lying in wait -- but I agree, it doesn't seem like 'assassination' was intended." He pauses, considering. "The whole thing could have been intended as a message, but without knowing the intended target it's hard to intuit."

"As for the rest, let's start with the basics: who benefits from the current arrangement?"

Doc replied dryly, "What bothers me is world domination is my thing, and I don't follow this either. But let's see, who does benefit from this... the wolves do. Presumably the council. Whoever makes those fire alarms."

"I think we should talk to that nice man who gave us his business card..." Doc nodded to Lucy. Questioning a man sounded like a job for Tigerwasp.

He continued, "...and we should look into the fire alarms. Someone builds those, someone installs them, and someone pays for all that. Following the money might be interesting. Ditto examining a unit and figuring out what makes it tick. That's apparently the front line sensor... I wonder if they'd let me buy one for my office?"

Armor shakes his head. "All fine particulars, and I'll help with those inquiries however I can -- but I fear we're overlooking the big-picture answer."

He rubs the back of his neck. "If it's some individual or group artificially propping up these policies, then, sure, we can proceed easily enough. But why postulate an external reason for the popular support? Just put yourself in the place of the man in the street, of someone without special abilities, and ask how you'd feel if unregulated metas largely did as they pleased -- and ask whether you'd support a registry that exempts you and yours, as surely as you'd tolerate and even celebrate those outsiders who vigorously police their own kind for you. What's in the interest of the general public: the alternative, or the status quo?"

"You say it's almost like everyone knows what's going on. What if they simply do? What if it's their idea? How can we counter a global sentiment if it's spontaneous and genuine?"

"Who watches the watchers?" Southern Cross replied." Besides which, how do we know the global sentiment IS genuine? If they have enough psis to have "redaction teams" in cities,they could have enough redaction ability to manipulate entire populations."
"And even if the sentiment is genuine,it isn't fair or just to assume a minority group are potential terrorists,which is what they seem to be doing."

Doc replied, "I don't feel repressed, except perhaps by the wolves, and I don't get the feeling anyone is afraid of us. Everyone seems to fear the wolves, apparently for good reason, and they seem to be in charge. They're also not operating openly with the consent of society. Read the newspaper tomorrow and it might talk about us, but it won't talk about them."

"I think we're all on the same page: the wolves are bad, other metas deserve the benefit of the doubt, and we need more information about the rest of the situation." Armor pauses, considering. "If that wolf had survived, possibly we'd have a fit subject for interrogation; we'll need a better way to handle 'em in the future."

Doc said, "The wolves are supposedly representatives of this council. This has the feel of... I don't know... call it World War 2 occupied France say two generations along. The wolves aren't civilian authorities and they don't represent the locals, they belong to a different power structure. To follow that analogy, there will be collaborators everywhere, especially in the civilian power structure that answers to them."

Doc hesitated then smiled and said, "Or I could be seeing things. Four blind men examining an elephant. We need to find out what everyone knows and thinks is obvious."

Armor nods in agreement with Doc. "If things are being kept out of the papers, it strikes me that we might learn a thing or two -- off the record -- from newspapermen themselves; we can stick to innocuous questions so long as each one's a potential collaborator, but sooner or later we'll reach someone friendly enough to give us the answers we're really looking for." He grins. "Maybe even on the first try; I tend to get on well with the press."

"Then Armor had better handle the press" Southern Cross replied."I'm better suited for bodyguarding the Doc here-if nothing else, I can always fly him out of danger".

Southern Cross wrote:"Then Armor had better handle the press" Southern Cross replied."I'm better suited for bodyguarding the Doc here-if nothing else, I can always fly him out of danger".

Joe eyed Southern Cross but didn't object to or seem distressed by the offer to replace him. Did Cross know? They weren't dumb or unperceptive. Sooner or later they'd figure it out.

Doc only said, "Thank you. I like the idea of talking to the press, they're clearly in the know. I think... I suggest before that we talk to the cop who gave out his business card. He seemed to want to tell us more, but in a more private setting. Then let's get rid of the language barrier by going back to the states. Whatever is going on seems to be global."

Armor shrugs amiably. "Makes sense to me."

"Same here" Southern Cross replied."We need a base of operations-and it had better be in a place where we can easily communicate with the locals."

Doc nodded and said, "Good."



Doc suggested they try to meet their 'good Samaritan' after hours in a bar or some such. Trying to keep things low key we'll use cash rather than credit cards.

{OOC: Request Scene Change. If he turns us down then I think we just leave.}

NARRATIVE UPDATE
March 25, 2010 - 1900
Carpino, Italy
Participants: Armor,Southern Cross, Doctor Chronos, Tigerwasp.

It turns out that Hellers number leads to a message service. After the message is left rather discretely,(which he promises on the message), it only takers about 15 minutes for him to get back with Doc.

He agrees to meet with you all but is a little apprehensive and says his team had to leave Italy in a hurry. They are back in the states in Lansing Michigan. He says to contact him when you land and he'll send a car.

Pleaes take liberties and detail in brief (or at length) your travel to Michigan.

On the trip back, Doc rested and Joe disappeared from the first class section at the start only to reappear at the end of the flight.

During the flight he asked, "Does anyone want to claim they're a good driver? If we're trying to be discreet I probably shouldn't be hiring cars."


{OOC: Observation rolls please, Doc will look, and q-scan for those fire alarm things both on the airplane and in both airports.}

The member 'Doctor Chronos' has done the following action : Die Roll

'2D10' : 2, 7, 7

Lucy was generally not the most observant. This held true throughout the flight. If any devices were so blatantly obvious as to be detected by her they would most likely be seen by the others first. Nonetheless in her perusal of others' attire she may glimpse something odd.

Also, I've forgotten how to generate the dice rolls.