Futuristic AVALON CITY

[Feywild]

Sonia Caine
Location: Starship Apartments, Midtown | Time: 11:35 PM | Interactions: koala RoninN7 sleepyginkgo jakthemenace BloodThunder27 | Mentions: None​

“Makin’ a code, makin’ a code,“ Sonia sung, her tone snarky and toeing the edge of being mocking, though she began to think moments after she spoke. Flicking a careful gaze onto each of the strangers, Sonia hummed, musing to herself. “It must be easy to crack, if we’re expected to figure it out, it has to be.” Then she paused, brows creasing as she frowned and took in the appearances of the others and then herself. Maybe she should’ve put more effort into looking nice. She was very impressed with the Blackbird that was perched on one of the strangers shoulders, quite intrigued and filled with a sudden itch to get her hands on it. Though, she supposed that could wait. It didn’t seem wise to simply ask to borrow it, or worse, steal it. He was armed after all.

“Well, I assume the code has to do with the murders.” The curly haired woman supplied dryly, lip jutting upwards as she let a cold gaze rest on her letter. She gestured at it. “I’ve got a seven on mine.” She informed the group, sounding almost bored, noting in silence what they were all saying and jotting it down in her head.

Inspecting the number pad after it was scanned for traps, Sonia shot a wary glance back at the pregnant lady, “let’s not be too hasty to just put any code in, even if it’s not trapped it could still lock and refuse any more input.” Then she flicked her gaze back to rest on the number pad, mind blaring with thoughts of what it could be or what it wasn’t, “There’s eight numbers needed, there was eight murders,” She concluded after a moment, sounding rather confident, “I knew the second person murdered. My seven could be the second number in the code.” She really hoped it would be the order of the murders, that she wasn’t just making herself look like a fool after that previous comment about being hasty. “Of course, if any of you have any other ideas feel free to share.” Sonia added, a catty smile quirking on her lips as she spoke.

 

[koala]

Evelyn Hashur & Kendall WuLocation: Outside Apt 303
Tags: Everyone sleepyginkgo jakthemenace BloodThunder27 RoninN7​

Kendall was typing something up on a small device as everyone spoke. He was only half paying attention to what they were saying as he only took note of all the numbers they'd mentioned. The padlock for the apartment appeared to have taken eight numbers, and it was clear their letters played a large part of that. The only problem was that there were only seven people, so they only have seven numbers to go off of. Cybernetic Woman also brought up a good point about locking the padlock after too many failed tries. Without the eighth number, they were really just sitting geese.

"Should I run it through a program to see if there are any patterns in the number?" The man asked, drawing the attention to himself.

The pink haired woman from earlier stepped up, pushing her body off the wall she'd began to lean on. Her cigarette was still finally lit between her slender, gloved fingers and she let out a deep puff of smoke.

"There's a program?" She asked, turning her head away slightly so the smoke didn't blow into anyone's personal space.

"Not exactly," Kendall began as he held up the device he was typing on. It showed a black screen that lit a blue light and a bunch of coding and words that a normal person wouldn't be able to understand. "I have all the data from the murders. While you guys were talking, I put all your numbers in. I just need the names of the victims that you're personally related to." He casually shrugged at the end of his reply, noting the way the strawberry-haired woman scoffed and shook her head.

"It might not even work but it doesn't hurt to try. I think it's better than punching in a bunch of random numbers though."

The woman pursed her lips and sighed, Kendall smirking at her submitting. He could tell she agreed with him by the way her stern expression shifted slightly.

"Kyra Oliveira. She was the first one." She said lowly, turning her body away as Kendall add the name with the number.

"Anyone else?" Kendall asked before he made note of the others too.

After acquiring the names, Kendall spoke into his phone. "Iris, see if there's any relation between the numbers and victims."

"Will do, Ken." Came a female's voice. A few seconds passed before his phone began to speak. "I'm finding one similarity. The number is the last digit of each victim's age, excluding the missing eighth number. Would you like me to further investigate?"

Kendall shook his head. "Nah. What do you think the order for the pass code could be if we include 0?"

"There are 19,173,960 possible combinations. It is difficult to say, sir."

"What are the chances the combination is the order of the murders, then?" Kendall asked.

"I don't know sir. I do see why you would think that, however."

Kendall turned towards everyone and offered a crooked grin. "Sounds good to me."

 

[sleepyginkgo]

G E M M A
Location: Starship Apartments, Midtown // Interactions: koala jakthemenace BloodThunder27 RoninN7 Feywild & Kendall​

Eight digits entered onto the padlock and the door lock yielded in a crisp click. Watching the scene unfold, the raven-haired young woman hadn’t realized her breath was held in suspense until she let out a drawn out exhale. Slowly, the door swung open and the light of the apartment hallway stretched lazily and spilled into the dimness of the room.

“Well, that’s one problem out of the way,” Gemma murmured. Considering the rather intimidating number of combinations mentioned earlier, it was either incredible luck or (as she had to agree with the cybernetic woman) it was U’s intentions all along to give them an easy opening...could there possibly be a trap waiting inside the room for them instead? Her instincts all pointed to the worst possible scenario, but she hadn’t come all this way to stand idly by. Since the man’s mechanical bird had already scanned for threat moments ago, it had somewhat eased Gemma’s paranoid thoughts.

The bedroom was eerily quiet as Gemma took a cautious step inside, her eyes scanning around in growing curiosity. Immediately, her senses were greeted with a heavy, warm rancid smell that seemed to wrap her like a stifling blanket. It wasn’t nowhere near as awful as the stench on the first floor, but it was certainly far from pleasant. Gemma wrinkled her nose. Her movements must have triggered a sensor somewhere in the room as the lights flickered on...and remained flickering in malfunction, which only added another degree of creepiness to the room.

Sheets of paper were strewn about the room. A pillow lay neglected on the floor and twisted bedsheets lay across the single bed like an afterthought. Whoever had been here was clearly in a rush to leave. But judging by the smell, Gemma could hardly guess how much time had passed since then; she had a feeling someone else in the group would have a better idea. On alert, her gaze roamed along the darkened corners before finding purchase on a desk where an old computer sat in a piled up mess of more papers. “Wow, this thing’s ancient,” Gemma muttered; she was no expert but she could at least recognize that the computer was beyond outdated and that there was a hard drive attached to it. Approaching it, Gemma leaned closer for inspection; her finger slid along the corner of its screen, coming away with a thin film of dust.

A harsh beep rang through the stillness of the room, causing Gemma to leap back in alarm, bumping into the closest person behind her. There, on the computer screen, a number flashed in incandescent warning.

15

Eyes wide in alarm, she looked to the others with her palms held up. Her words came out in an apologetic whisper but the chagrin that colored her tone spoke volumes, “My bad. I swear I barely touched it.”

Another beep called out to their attention and the screen flashed again.

14...

 

[jakthemenace]

__= Elijah Hastings = Location: Starship Apartments, Midtown = Mentions: None = Interacting with: =_Gemma directly sleepyginkgo , everyone indirectly koala , BloodThunder27 , RoninN7 , Feywild =__

". . .Professor George Seere. He was the sixth, I believe. Using that order could work." Elijah replied to Kendall in an even more nerved manner than before. He crossed his arms as a self-comforting reflex, as he brought up those memories of the incident once more. His meaningful experiences with the professor before he was murdered would be etched into the student's mind for quite an indefinite time. Even mentioning his name was enough to bring back an onslaught of flashbacks and a vivid recollection of the old man's appearance. It wasn't the appropriate time to dawdle on the past however. And so he just shook his head to clear away any lingering thoughts, averting his gaze back to the locked door.

While the computer whiz was busy with punching in codes and generating possible combinations, the boy took the time to fish for something out of the front pockets of his muddled jeans. Resourceful as he was, Eli always carried around a few key tools for forensic investigation. One of them was a little bottle of powder that was used to pick up invisible fingerprints on any surface. It made a little mess, but as long as he was careful and focused on the area he was supposed to cover, he should be fine. Finally finding it after a few subsequent shuffles, the budding investigator notified everybody of his actions, so they wouldn't think he was acting more suspicious. "If you don't mind, I'll check for fingerprints on the padlock.."

With the small bottle in his hand, he tapped the dust onto the surfaces of the lock, taking care not to waste too much or ruin whatever electronic circuits were powering it underneath. Eli then leaned down to blow the residue off, revealing unfortunately no evident fingerprints. His brows scrunched in disappointment as he bent back to standing position. The padlock still seemed to work just as fine as it did before though. Whoever adjusted this device, either the killer or a devil's advocate, was smarter than he had naively thought.

Eli moved aside as somebody had finally entered in the right pass code to the apartment, his face lighting up in surprise that the exact one had been picked out of millions of combinations. Following a consistent order definitely worked, but he couldn't help but worry if this was the path he wanted to delve into. Or rather, the path the mastermind intended for them to flock to like sheep. Stepping into the opened room felt like he was stepping closer towards an untimely fate. But, where else would he go if he cowered out? Probably back to wandering the streets of the Mire aimlessly with no definite end in sight. The determined boy decided to face his fears and immerse himself into the setting.

A disgusted expression mixed with anxiety from an unfamiliar atmosphere was donned on his face, but Eli mustered up courage to deal with it. He switched on his neural interface and accessed the camera feature, his field of vision acting as the lens. Then, he started to take pictures his surroundings, thoroughly walking around the not-so-pleasant space to get possible evidence of everything. However, nothing of interest really stood out from the dreary scene. His last stop was the computer, moving up behind Gemma warily. When she triggered the countdown with her finger, the kid became so taken aback that his interface cut off. Her abruptly bumping into him didn't help either. "I knew t-this would be some kind of trap!"

13... 12...​

 

[BloodThunder27]

Brianna Shimamoto
Interactions: Gemma sleepyginkgo (Indirectly) | Mentions: Everyone | August 16, 2258
Location: Starship Apartments, Midtown

As the door opened, Brianna felt her heart sink. She would then feel a stomachache. Was that a contraction? One of her babies kicking? Or a legitimate stomachache? If something were to happen, she couldn't run, so it was either leave now, or hope someone was strong enough to carry her. As she pondered on the thought, she began cradling her swollen belly as everyone began slowly crowding the room. Brianna continued to look around, examining the room quietly. Unlike half the people here, she didn't really bring anything useful besides the sidearm within her purse. The flickering lights reminded her very much of a horror movie setting. Slowly, she began caressing her belly as she started feeling a lot of fidgeting and kicking. Frowning, Brianna looked down. "Shhhhh, its okay...we're gonna be okay..." She whispered, hoping that no one heard her talking to her babies.

She then interlocked both her hands underneath her belly while looking her around, but was mindful not to turn too fast or anything, not wanting her kimono, dress or especially her hair to collide with anyone by accident. The apartment did also seem rather bland to her, making her miss her colorful home. As Brianna continued to scan the surroundings, she felt disappointed as she didn't find anything, besides a messy apartment which seemed like it hasn't been cleaned in quite some time. The only things she really noticed were the pillow on the floor and the desk that was super messy with papers all over the place and a computer. A very old one, much like what she saw in one of the tech museums that she went to with Michael several months ago, long before he was killed. One of the girls then leaned towards the computer, before jumping backwards and bumping into one of the boys, startling the young mother. One apologized for 'barely touching' the ancient looking computer, while the other claimed that they knew it was a trap of sorts. Brianna didn't say anything, but seeing the numbers on the screen left her feeling uneasy. "Are you guys sure that thing isn't filled with explosives or something?" She asked, reinforcing the claim of the apartment being a trap.

From fifteen, the numbers on the screen kept ticking downwards, furthermore making her feel uneasy. "The fact that its counting down is kinda giving me a stomachache..." She said, glancing at the screen before finding herself next to the cyborg lady. 'God if this anxiousness and stress keeps up, I'm gonna go into labor before they're due...Breathe momma, breathe...' she thought to herself before taking another deep breath, before coughing a bit as she inhaled a bit of dust.

As she did so, she covered her mouth with her elbow, one hand still on her belly.

11...10...

 

[RoninN7]

Carlos Price
Location: Starship Apartments | Time: 11:45 PM | Interactions: koala sleepyginkgo jakthemenace Feywild BloodThunder27 | Mentions: None​

Carlos looked at the odd-looking boy as he spoke; despite his appearance, he seemed to have some sort of grip on the situation and everything he was saying made sense. When he asked for others for names and the order of the murders to come up with a code, Carlos spoke up. "Jessica Stone, she was the fourth..." Once that was done, the boy began working on the code and eventually managed to input the right one. The pad beeped and the door clicked open after Kendall input the code he'd come up with. It was an ingenious idea to mix the numbers with the order of the murdered victims to type the code, but Carlos couldn't help but feel like it wasn't difficult enough. U was someone that had taunted many people, a couple of them dangerous, and was related to the murders in some way; whoever they were, they managed to avoid detection for months, even with Carlos sending his best out to find them. It simply didn't make sense for U's grand scheme to culminate with something so easy (at least relative to the apparent skills U possessed). Despite his doubts, Carlos chose to keep his mouth shut, deciding that he needed to play along until U revealed themselves.

He hung back and turned to Blackbird. "Stay and scan for anything that moves. Notify me immediately," he commanded. Once Carlos was done and Blackbird was hovering at the doorway, he walked in. Relatively unimpressive, the apartment looked like it belonged to some average Joe who'd bolted as quickly as they could. It wasn't the most unsightly thing in the world, but it was far from what Carlos would call "acceptable." He moved around the room, trying to find anything of interest, such as blood, secret compartments, or weapons. Carlos wasn't entirely sure that U lived in this place once he got a good look at it, though was certainly plausible, it seemed more likely that U simply owned this place for the sake of this game. It didn't take long for someone to discover something as a young woman called out to mention that she'd found an ancient device. Before Carlos could step up to investigate it beeped and a countdown began. As the numbers flashed from fifteen down to fourteen, and so on, Carlos quickly walked right up to the machine to inspect it. He leaned over the device and looked at the screen for anything that could explain what was going on.

Before he could think to call Blackbird for analysis, Carlos spotted a blinking sign in the top-right corner. It said SYSTEM WIPE IMMINENT, at which point Carlos knew exactly what to do; he reached for the hard drive and pulled it out immediately, taking a second to look at it. Once the countdown reached zero, the computer went blank and reset itself, the screen going blue. Before Carlos could have a chance to think about what had just happened and what he'd done, Blackbird's robotic voice rang out in alarm as the bird flew back to Carlos' shoulder. "ALERT: Ten heavily armed individuals rapidly approaching your location!" Carlos' eyes went wide and he reached for his watch, tapping a few things into it before the door was flung open once more. Ten individuals stepped through, all of them looking like some sort of SWAT team, with their guns trained on Carlos and the others. Instinctively, Carlos stepped forward so he was closest to these people and he raised his hands. "All of you! Freeze! DON'T MOVE!"

 

[koala]

EVENT

Ten individuals are standing at the doorway of the apartment, guns and shields raised towards the group of seven. The SWAT team's presence is very alarming, and they don't look like they're playing any games. But, something is off about them. Their uniforms aren't fitted properly, as if they aren't the actual owners. The way their pants aren't neatly tucked into their boots is another thing to note.

You notice the pink-haired woman. She walks carefully so she's right behind the man with the crow but still standing in front of the pregnant woman. She whispers something to him.

"No talking!" Shouts one of the SWAT members.

sleepyginkgo jakthemenace Feywild BloodThunder27 RoninN7

 

[koala]

Kendall WuLocation: Starship Apartments [Midtown]
Time: 12:00 PM
Interactions: koala sleepyginkgo jakthemenace Feywild BloodThunder27​

The air was tense as the group of 7 had a stand off with the FBI agents. Something felt off about the whole situation, but everything was happening so quickly that he couldn't figure out what. All he knew was that the situation was getting increasingly dangerous and that the agents were beginning to pat the others down. They'd taken the weapons that were visible to the naked eye, however, their pat down was so thorough enough that they dug into bags.

"You all are not supposed to be here," spoke up one of the agents. "We'll be taking you in for questioning."

Before long, they were being guided down the stairs and out into the dimly lit street. The particular part of town they were in was as quiet as a graveyard. There wasn't a person in sight, and he knew that was because of the celebrations going down in a different area. Even if someone did see what was going on, it wasn't entirely odd for arrests to happen. Only the fact that they were being shoved into black vans to god knows where.

"Can I ask where we're going?" Kendall inquired, leaning back against the cold, bullet-proof wall. He gazed at the rear-view mirror and made eye contact with the driver. The driver ignored him.

"Right..." The male sighed. "Quite the talker, aren't you?"

To pass the time and ease his jitters, he turned to the other two he was jammed into the van with. "This is horrible timing, but I don't think I got your names?"

Spoiler: Van Grouping

Van 1
Agent - Driver
Agent - Passenger
Agent
Agent
Agent
Agent

Van 2
Evelyn
Briana
Sonia
Elijah
Agent - Driver
Agent - Passenger

Van 3
Carlos
Kendall
Gemma
Agent - Driver
Agent - Passenger

 

[BloodThunder27]

Brianna Shimamoto
Interactions: None | Mentions: None | August 17th, 2258 (Midnight)
Location: Starship Apartments, Midtown >> FBI Van

Before anyone could do or say anything, the group was confronted by an FBI SWAT Team, weapons raised and shields up. For the first time in years, Brianna felt truly afraid, not only for herself, but for her babies as well. She didn't even move from where she was standing. One by one, each person in the room was being searched, presumingly for weapons. When she was being patted down by one of the SWAT Operatives, Brianna tried not to cry, even after the Operative touched her swollen belly. When one of them said no talking, she bit her lip to keep herself from screaming. She couldn't help but feel that something was off, but didn't have the nerve to voice it. If anything, they were being detained for trespassing as well as breaking and entering, which they were technically doing. Finally, they searched her purse and unfortunately confiscated her side-arm, much to her dismay. These guys were very thorough.

Soon everyone was detained and led out of the apartment at gunpoint. The streets were quiet and not another soul in sight, which left Brianna terrified. A tear even rolled down her cheek because she was scared. Soon they were herded into black vans. Where exactly were they going? That left the young mother-to-be even more scared. She was trembling a little by the time they were inside the vans. Using her hands to cover her face, Brianna started crying.