Liz has a few things to do. First she makes the stolen items report to Eduardo so it can be properly filed with the police. Then she calls a locksmith and a taxi to meet her at her car so she can drive back to the hangar, pick up decent clothing, change, and head for the SEC to report. She'll also pick up spare keys and suchlike, and arrange to have all the locks changed on the hangar.
Demiurge says "Okay. We'll start at your hangar."
Liz nods.
Liz would be driving up to the hangar in her car. Sephar's probably no longer on pigeonwatch.
You drive up to your hangar, feeling somehow comforted by the sounds of the airplanes, the knowledge of the flow of commerce, the hum of business and transport.
<
Sephar is by the computer.
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Sephar was drawing stuff from Bellman's into Liz's machine... isn't sure of the time.
As Liz pulls out her key, she notices a couple of tiny scratches on the lock.
Liz blinks.
Liz hmmms.
Liz looks around for Sephar pigeon.
The pigeon is by the computer, and therefore out of sight?
Liz plucks out her cellphone, and dials her fax number.
Sepharpigeon startles, and possesses the fax phone to listen in...
Liz says, when it picks up, "Sephar, if you're there, please answer."
Sephar answers, "Oh, hi Liz."
Liz says "Hi Sephar. I know you've probably been busy, but have you seen anyone come in or go
out of my hangar? There are scratches on the door lock, possibly from a lockpick."
Sepharfax says, "Nope, didn't see anything, but I only just got back here after last night."
Liz says "Hmm. Do you have a pigeon inside? If so, would you check the door? I'm right outside,
and I don't want to hit any nasty surprises."
Sepharfax says, "Sure."
Sepharpigeon takes off to look around, checking the door for traps and things.
The door looks entirely innocent. No odd wires or lumps of explosive or timers attached.
<
Sepharfax says, "It looks okay."
That door is clean, baby.
Liz shrugs, unlocks the door, and walks in.
<
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The hangar seems empty. There is no Terry sprawled on any couches.
<
Liz locks the door again, and calls the lock people. This time she has Medico locks installed,
despite the extra expense. (Medico locks are nearly impossible to pick, unless you're a Kyrio of
Lightning.)
The Medico Lock people promise to come by shortly and install many beautiful new locks.
Liz then looks at her computer. "What are you up to, Sephar?"
Liz will, she thinks, meet these Medico Lock People, just in case.
Sepharcomputer says, "Drawing out the actual layout of Bellman's as Hitherby goes through
it."
Sepharcomputer says thoughtfully, "Well, part of it."
<
<
Liz says "Oh."
Liz smiles, and leaves Sephar to its mapping as she changes into 'real' clothing.
Liz makes a few notes, and hangs around long enough to receive the Medico people and see that
the locks get put on. In the mean time, she asks if Sephar can put her word processor up long
enough for her to type out a report.
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Liz no.
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Sephar gives Liz control of her machine.
There is a knock at the door.
Liz blinks.
Liz says "Hmm, that was fast."
Sepharpigeon flies over to the sink to drink while on its break.
Liz saves her report, closes the window, and walks over to the door. No gun, so she's just very
careful looking through the peephole.
There are a couple of professional-looking guys in uniforms there, standing next to a car labelled
LOCKSMITHS.
Liz hmms.
Sepharpigeon flies into the rafters, up at the vents, and just hangs out there while people are
around.
Liz nods, and opens up the door for the locksmith guys.
Liz says "Hi, come in."
Liz is now dressed in decent looking suit pants, blouse, flats, and so forth.
The first one says, "Good morning, ma'am. I understand you want your locks replaced?"
Liz nods.
Liz says "My keys were stolen last night, and I think someone might have already been in."
Liz points to the scratches on the door.
Liz says "No sign of anything missing yet, but..."
The locksmith nods, and clicks his tongue. "We'll see to it, ma'am. All the locks in the place?"
Liz says "Well, the hangar doors aren't openable from outside, and neither is the emergency exit
on the back wall. So just this one."
The locksmith nods. He and his assistant begin to go about the job of installing a new lock.
Liz lets Sephar keep an eye on the locksmiths. She goes over and takes a close look over
Amelia.
Sepharpigeon watches curiously.
Liz checks out Amelia with a Pilot's eye for detail, making sure nothing's happened to her precious
plane.
<
The locksmith seems to be operating competently enough.
Liz is going to spend an essence point. She's willing to lose the hangar, but Amelia is her
*baby*.
Liz whistles a little prayer while she checks her plane.
<
As Liz is prowling round Amelia's controls and in the cockpit, she notices two small bulges where
something packetlike has been tucked into the fabric of the plane.
Liz blinks.
Liz says "Hey.."
Liz hmms.
Liz pokes her head out of the plane, and waves (without calling) up at Sephar, calling the pigeon
down.
Sepharpigeon flutters down and settles to Liz's shoulder.
Liz pulls back into the plane, and points out the packets. "Have a look?"
Sepharpigeon peers at what she indicates and frowns quietly.
On closer inspection, there is a corner of canvas showing on one. At a guess, they're both
wrapped in canvas.
Liz says "What do you think?"
Sephar coo's quietly, "don know... cooovered. M'bee 'movable?"
Liz says "See if you can possess it, just in case it's a bomb?"
Liz says "Or would you rather not?"
Sepharpigeon bobs.
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<
Sephar possesses the packet just to see what shape it finds itself in... careful not to trigger
anything.
As Sephar possesses it, the Kyriotate realises that they are packets of .. some sort of white
powdery chemical. Int roll (at a penalty) to try and identify.
<
It looks awfully like the chemical structure for cocaine or a derivative of same.
Sepharpigeon blinks.
Sepharpigeon murmurs to Liz's ear, "Coocaaine."
Liz erks.
Liz says "OK. Stay out of sight."
Liz walks out, calls to the locksmiths. "Guys, hold on a sec."
Liz says "Don't do anything else."
Sepharpigeon bobs a nod and hops into the cockpit of the plane, out of sight.
The two men have nearly finished, but they stop, looking across.
Liz says "Do you have the old lock?"
The first says, "What's the matter, ma'am?" He checks. "Yup, got it right here."
Liz says "Ok. Just put it aside and don't touch it any more, please."
Liz walks into her office, and calls the police.
They glance at each other, and shrug. The old lock is put on one side.
A busy-sounding woman answers the phone. "Yes, madam?"
Liz says "Hi, I'd like to speak to a detective in your Narcotics division."
She says, "Just a moment, and I'll put you through." There is a buzz and a click, then another
female voice says, "Good morning. Anita Veris, Narcotic Division, DC."
Liz says "Ms Veris? My name is Elizabeth Bradley. I run Blue Sky Air Services out at the
airport."
The woman's voice says, "What can I do for you, Ms Bradley?"
Liz says "Last night my keys, ID, and some other effects were stolen. I have reason to believe that
someone might be using them to try to frame me. Could you, or one of your co-workers, come
out here right away?"
<
The woman says, "Could you explain what you mean, please?"
Liz sighs. "I've found two suspicious packets in my plane. I haven't touched them yet. I'd like
someone to come have a look before I do."
Liz says "And there were some odd scratches on my lock when I got back."
Liz says "They're round and sorta lumpy."
Liz says "Possibly contraband."
There is some muttering out of earshot, then the woman says, "I'll have someone come round.
Please stay where you are till they arrive."
Liz says "Thank you, Detective. I apologize for bothering you. I'll be here."
Liz gives the exact address, and directions.
The woman says, "Thank you very much. Someone will be around as soon as possible." She rings
off.
Meanwhile, the locksmiths have just about finished their job, and are tidying up.
Liz goes over to the locksmiths with her checkbook. "Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate the
quick service."
The senior one says, "No problem, ma'am." He accepts the cheque cheerfully.
Liz resonates him quickly, wondering what he thinks of the new lock.
He thinks it's a nice piece of work, and Liz is getting a bargain with their current rates on this type
of lock.
Liz smiles, thanks him, and says she'll be sure to mention the company to her associates.
He looks cheerful, makes the appropriate noises, and leaves.
Liz checks the hangar once more, looking for anything else that might be considered 'unusual' for
a bunch of narcotics police.
<
<
There do not seem to be any other concealed packages.
Sepharpigeon comes out of the cockpit and flutters back up to the rafters to pace up there like
a pigeon.
Liz fixes herself some tea, puts some coffee on for the police when they get here, and tidies up
the place, since she hasn't had a whole lot of time to do that lately.
Liz calls a few associates, tries to get business lined up for the medium term, and basically spends
her time 'en-role'.
The police do, indeed, turn up in half an hour.
Liz walks over, peers through the peephole before answering the door.
There are several plainclothes types, standing by a police car. They look somewhat Eduardo-like,
tough guys and jaded.
Liz invites the cops in.
The cops come in, investigate the packets of drugs, dust for fingerprints, and make inquiries of
Liz as to recent out-of-area journeys and any known enemies.
Liz resonates the cops on the drug packets.
The drugs packets (and the drugs are identified as crack cocaine) are very important to the cops,
as the things they're trying to bring the weight of the law down on.
Liz provides the cops with the last two months worth of flight plans, along with a couple of flight
plans she has filed for the near term.
The cops take copies, confiscate the drug packets (on which no fingerprints have showed up), and
caution Liz not to leave the area without telling them, for the moment.
The cops don't actually appear to suspect Liz, but they are somewhat puzzled as to why _she_
got drugs planted in her plane.
Liz nods, and tells the cops about the stolen items and the report she made this morning, offers
them coffee.
Liz apologizes for the trouble.
The cops drink the coffee, assure Liz she has acted as a good citizen should, get quite affable, and
ponder whether some airline competitor is trying to shut her down.
Liz says "It's a cutthroat business, sure, but not *that* cutthroat."
Liz shrugs. "Maybe someone stuck it in my plane the last time I took it down south, but was never
able to reclaim it?
The cops look dubious. One, a man, says, "Surely you'd have noticed it before now?"
Liz says "I only really took a hard look around because of the theft. For all I know, the stuff's
been sitting there for a while."
Liz says "Officer, strange as this may seem, I don't check the upholstery or the 'trim' that often.
Controls, yes, engines, all the time, particularly on an old bird like this one."
Liz says "But the interior's pretty spartan. Not much reason to look around in hiding places."
The man nods, eventually, and makes a note. "Could be they wanted to break in to get it back,
then."
Liz says "I'll call you if I find anything else."
Liz says "Unfortunately it's not like it's a lot of drugs. Doesn't seem to be enough to be worth the
trouble."
Liz sighs.
The cops all nod some more, take the packets, give Liz the number of the woman she spoke to
earlier in case there are any developments, and request that she lets them know if she leaves the
area in the near future.
Liz says "Certainly. You have the flight plans I've already filed. I specialize in last-minute
deliveries, though."
Liz says "I promise to let you know if I get one."
Liz says "But I might not be able to wait very much longer after I notify you."
The man nods. "We understand that. Thanks for calling us in on this one, Ms Bradley."
Liz says "Thank you, Officer."
Liz shows the men out.
The cops put down their coffee mugs, and shuffle out. They pile into the cop car, and are
gone.
Sepharpigeon flutter down.
Liz closes the door, locks it, and sighs.
Liz says "Hope that defuses whatever particularly nasty little surprise that was in store for
me."
Sepharpigeon bobs a nod.
Liz pets Sephar. "Thanks for the help. Now I should probably go off and report."
Liz gets down her pole, and wedges open a window. "There. Now you can fly out if you have
to."
Sephar coo's gently and rubs against liz's hand. "Thanks for letting me use your machine..."
Liz says "Any time."
Sepharpigeon bobs another nod and hops in and out, flutters off to.. uhm... use the bushes and
then flutters back in again...
Liz laughs softly, goes and prints off a copy of her report detailing everything she knows about
last night's escapades, as well as Azalea and Daimon's redemptions.
Liz makes a note to go buy a new gun as soon as her replacement permit arrives.
Sepharpigeon pecks at crackers quietly, leaving the computer for Liz to finish her report on, and
paces back and forth a bit on a countertop.
Liz smiles. "Okay, Sephar, all yours."
Liz puts out a few more crackers, and makes another note to buy birdseed.
Sephar flutters back to the computer.
Sepharpigeon bobs thanks and draws some more of the floor plan, including the entrance to the
'dungeons' as described by Hitherpigeon.
Liz says "Forward the map along to Trade when you're done with it, Sephar?"
Sephar says "Sure."
<
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Sepharpigeon also possesses the keyboard, remote controlling the mouse while it writes a report
of the Bellman's adventures and then adding the drawings to send to Lightning and then sends an
extra set of the drawings to Trade and to Pat.
Liz says "Right. I'm off to the Trade tether."
Liz says "Call me on the cell if you need me."
Sepharpigeon waves a wing. "Godspeed. Okay. I will."
Liz says "Godspeed."
Liz walks out, hops into her car, and drives for the SEC.
Demiurge says "Liz, you are in the stretch of area between Dulles and the city."
Demiurge says "Make a Per roll?"
<
You are, from time to time, having other cars driving close to you, but nobody's trying to force
you off the road.
You reach a fairly quiet stretch of road, with wooded land on either side, and you have just
noticed yet another bland car in your mirror, when... *POOF* Something goes off, underneath
or near you, and of a sudden a choking cloud of gas is spreading through the car, upwards from
under the driver's seat.
Liz acks.
Liz stops breathing, starts to roll down the windows.
Liz can make a driving roll to get the windows down and stop the car?
<
Liz holds her breath then.
<
Liz will roll Ofanite Resonance first, then driving.
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With incredible Ofanite speed and *knowledge of the road*, Liz manages to both keep the car on
the road and hit the window button. Smoke is still pouring from somewhere under her seat,
gushing past her and out through the windows, obscuring her view
Meanwhile, the car behind her has picked up speed, and is drawing level. The front passenger
window goes rolling down, and the man inside can be seen - if Liz had vision to spare - to be
holding something metallic.
<
Liz taps the brakes, kicking the car's speed down, then flicks the wheel to the left, colliding the
front left bumper of her car against the back right of the other car, trying to drive the other car
into a spin.
Liz hits the accelerator as she does so, powering through.
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Liz maneuvers, but the other driver - a flash of someone lean - manages to hold the car on the
road, also stamping on the accelerator.
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With great strength of will, for at least the next short while, Liz manages to hold her breath as the
car screams down the road.
Liz drives faster, right into the bumper of the other car, trying to drive it out of control, off the
road.
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The other car shudders as Liz collides with it, bumper to bumper, and there is a screech of metal
against kerb, but the driver manages to hold it steady. The man in the driver's seat of the other car
hefts the metallic thing in his hand - a fist-sized oval object - and then tosses it towards Liz' open
window.
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Liz dodges! She yanks the wheel to one side.
The metal object clatters against the side of the car, missing by inches as Liz yanks at the wheel,
and goes tumbling into the road. Gas billows from it, swiftly left behind by the racing cars.
Liz floors it, getting about 1/3 the way up along one side of the other car again, and yanking hard
to spin them.
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Both cars bang into each other again - man, that paintwork's going to need replacing - but neither
manages to force the other into a spin.
Liz grrrrs.
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With a struggling effort, Liz manages to keep her lungs sealed. However, she won't be able to
keep on doing this.
The other car just concentrates on staying steady. For the moment.
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Liz goes desperately for the crash them off the road maneuver. She sings two essence into her
resonance roll, to be applied against the *check digit* of her driving.
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As Liz moved into her crash-them maneuver, there was a pop as something fell out of nowhere
onto her back seat - one of those small metal ovoids, spewing gas. However, with _intense_
driving skills, Liz managed to hold control, slamming the other car off the road and sending it into
a spin, till the back collided with a tree with a *ka-thunk* and several shrieks from inside.
Demiurge says "Liz, you still have control of your car, just, but there's a whole new load of that
damned gas."
Demiurge says "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for a Str roll this time."
<
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<
Liz grabs her stuff, aims the car off the road, and jumps out.
Unfortunately, Liz can't help but get a breath of the stuff as she's jumping from the car.
Liz staggers out of the car, coughing and choking.
Demiurge says "Liz, you're feeling wobbly. Weak at the knees. You can still run - more or less
- but there are these little flashing patches in front of your eyes."
A few hundred yards back, three people come staggering out of the crashed car. One
brown-haired young woman - who looks vaguely familiar, though it's a distance - and two
business-suited men. They begin to run in your direction.
Liz fumbles for her phone, hitting speed dial for her hangar, or Pat's house, or anywhere...
Liz starts to run (stagger) in the opposite direction and probably hits the number for her
hangar.
Demiurge says "Sephar, the phone in Liz's hangar rings."
Sepharphone answers, "Hi, Elizabeth Bradley's."
One of the men has pulled a gun, and tries a ranging shot, which slaps into a tree not far from Liz.
The brown-haired woman yelps something at him, in which only the word, "... alive!" is
audible.
Liz calls, "Sephar, S'Liz. They followed me. I ran 'em off the road but they got gas into me. Can't
think qui-right. Running... on foot."
Sepharphone says, "Where?"
<
<
Sepharbird takes off towards the SEC, knowing the general direction, and trying to stay high
enough to see accidents.
Liz says "Half a mile outside of DC..."
Sepharbird knows she ran them off the road, so there might be smoke.
Liz gives the route and the last mile marker.
Sepharphone says, "Okay. I'll try and call other help, too."
Sepharphone clicks down.
Demiurge says "Liz, make an Agility roll."
<
Sepharphone calls Pat's celphone.
<
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Sepharbird flies (tell me when it gets there...)
Unfortunately, drug-hampered as Liz is, her three pursuers are gaining on her. The brown-haired
woman, who bears a strong resemblance to the one Liz shot three days ago, breaks pace to
gesture.
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The brown-haired woman shrieks and gestures, and Liz can feel _something_ bounce off her
shields. Mmm... nice shields.
Liz keeps running.
Demiurge says "Sephar, you aren't yet there: it was a few miles from Dulles."
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The brown-haired woman is falling behind - no stamina, these modern girls - but the two men are
beginning to catch up with Liz.
Demiurge says "Sephar, you have just caught sight of the two cars, and as you spiral higher, you
see the runners below."
Sephar possesses the shoes of the men and unties the laces to try and trip 'em.
<
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The two men are caught entirely by surprise, and go sprawling, cursing.
Sepharpigeon avoids the smoke... keeps flying high, trying to fly with other birds if possible, flying
back and forth with others rather than as purposefully as before.
Liz pants, trying to catch her breath, run off the effects of the drug.
Sepharunpossesses the laces and looks for a gleam of metal on the men, small metal, like guns or
something while they're on the ground.
The men do, indeed, have guns, and one is currently fumbling his out.
Sephar possesses the gun and fires it before it's out.
<
The brown-haired woman makes a rapid calculation of relative speed and distance. Her eyes
unfocus, she spreads her hands, and she *shrieks* as she Sings Thunder.
The bullet goes into the man's leg. Blood sprays.
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The two men go limp, eyes rolling up in their heads.
<
With efforts of will, Liz and Sephar both manage to throw off the Thunder that _echoes_ in the
Symphony behind them: before them lie the suburbs of DC, and busy roads, and comparative
safety.
The brown-haired woman has had to fall further behind, when she stopped to Sing Thunder. Liz
now has an appreciable lead.
Sepharpigon possesses a driver that's just a bit ahead of Liz.
<
<
Liz says "Sephar, I've an idea."
Sephardriver pulls to a stop and unlocks the doors of the car and opens a door and calls,
"Liz."
Liz runs over, grins. "Move over."
Sephardriver moves over.
Liz says "Got a question for you, Sephar."
The brown-haired woman shrieks again in pure thwarted rage. She comes to a stop beside the two
downed men, clearly *seething*.
Sephardriver says, "Be careful though, please?"
Liz nods.
Sephardriver nods, "Sure."
Liz says "Think you can posess the vessel of that female demon?"
Sephardriver blinks. "Uhm. No. Not right now. Too many things are happening elsewhere."
Liz drats.
Liz says "OK, we're gone."
Sephardriver says also, "And I've had really bad luck, lately, trying to possess demons."
Liz nods. "I bet, but I'd just *love* to be able to pull the same trick on them that the Imp did on
me."
Liz drives very quickly towards the SEC. A few blocks away, she halts the car, gets out, and lets
Sephar put his driver back in place.
Sephardrives chuckles, "Well, I'll try next time. But I couldn't have left you in the shape that Imp
left you in."
Sephardriver gets back into place, and waves to Liz.
Liz says "Maybe you couldn't. I bet if we went to the Justice tether, they might have some neat
toys for keeping demons in line."
Sepharpigeon dives from the sky and lands on Liz's shoulder... "Not leaving alone this time."
Sephardriver nods.
Sephardriver shivers just a bit, "Yeah. Likely."
Liz begins walking away from the car, figuring Sephar will cope from here.
Sephardriver waves.
Liz waves.
---