The Astonishing Alchemist - vol. 01

"Well... uh... funny you should ask..." Lang avoids making direct eye contact with Alicia, finding stray toppings to pick out of the pizza box and pop into his mouth. "He's, uh... going to come with me."

He also avoids turning that last part into a question, but he does lift his eyes just enough to gauge her reaction. Seeing that she's about to launch into a protest, he beats her to the punch. "Nothing dangerous. When it comes to beating up on the bad guys -- though of course I don't want it to come to that!" he says, holding up his hands at a newly oncoming protest. "It's all on me.
Rocky's solely recon. Hearing, smelling, all those things he's an expert at. Helping me avoid trouble. You know."

"So yeah. Canine sidekick. What do you think?" he says, smiling brightly. Probably too brightly. He's trying awfully hard to put a good face on it.

Alicia cannot look you in the eye. She sits there, staring at the table, and taking deep breath after deep breath. You and Rocky exchange a glance but stay silent. Finally, Alicia responds.

"I should call animal protective services on you but I’m pretty sure I’d end up in a straight jacket. While I can certainly see the benefit of having Rocky scout out the area, especially after the disaster that was your last outing, have you put any consideration toward what you would do if he got injured? I’m not even talking about gunshots or super energy weapons. What if he pops his shoulder out of joint or gets caught in a bear trap. Do you have any idea how to provide medical care to him?"

‘I’m reasonably sure I could talk you through any necessary veterinary care, boss.’

Alicia does not hear Rocky and continues. "Did I mention that I once successfully gave CRP to my neighbor's Siamese cat?"

Lang sighs, looking at Alicia with a sad smile. "You want to come."

It's not a question, simply a statement of acknowledgement. It's hardly a surprise; Alicia's been trying different methods of persuasion to make Lang bring her along on a 'mission', as she calls them. It's been getting harder and harder to tell her no, as things get more complex and more dangerous for a single person to carry off. Now that there's Rocky to think of, it's even harder to say no.

"Look, Leesh... let's say you come along. Just for the sake of argument! I've got the mutagens. I've tested them on myself, and I know they work the way I think they will. I don't know if I can trust them on someone else, and I don't like the idea of you following me into Folstad's place without some sort of augmentation. I had super speed and super strength, and those goons he had with them still almost took me out. So, again, for the sake of argument... how are we going to keep you safe if you do come, and still be able to help out if I -- we -- need you?"

Alicia's eyes widen with excitement as you start to relent, but she quickly mimes for you to pump the brakes. "Easy there, Lang; not all of us are itching to get into fisticuffs. I wouldn't last two seconds in a fight and I know you say those concoctions of your are safe, but there is no way I'm drinking one. But every good hero needs support. I want to be your getaway driver, your lookout, your confidant. The ever faithful individual who is always by your side to offer support when you need it most."

Rocky puffs out a breath of air. 'Is she really trying to claim that she is more loyal than man's best friend?' Alicia eyes Rocky with suspicion and then turns her attention on you.

"He just said something about me, didn't he? I didn't peg you for a traitor, Rocky." In response, Rocky gets up and sits directly by your side. Alicia's jaw drops in shock. "Well we'll see who's your favorite in a few weeks when Langford is too busy to take you for walks, mister."

Lang breathes out quietly, relieved. "Okay. The woman in the chair, that's what you're thinking. Okay. Okay..."

He hops up from his stool and begins pacing. "If we're going to do that, we're going to need some tracking equipment. Some way for you to follow along with us remotely. Maybe some sort of suit-cam. And collar-cam. I am not dressing you up in actual clothes, buddy," he says to Rocky, then continues his thought process. Processes, plural. So very many processes.

"Which means you're going to need computer hardware and whatever we can put together to disguise your... car... yeah, it'd have to be your car. You've seen mine."

Lang has a car, technically. It rarely moves from its parking spot, partly because he can walk or take public transportation most places, partly because he just doesn't trust cars at all after the accident that took his family. As a result of that and the neighborhood, it's not always reliable. Or inconspicuous. Graffiti on a car does tend to stick in observers' minds, after all.

He rubs at his chin. "I've got some camera tech here at the apartment that we might be able to adapt, but... it's a short-term solution. You have anything you can think of? Any other ideas?"

Lang looks to both Alicia and Rocky as he says this.

"Well, I mean, that all sounds super duper," Alicia says while sounding a bit suspicious. "It seems like it might take a while to get all that going and don’t you need to act on Folstad as soon as possible? If only you had the foresight to have started on this plan sooner..."

Rocky gives you a sideways glance. When you both turn to Alicia, she has a wide smile on her face and keys jingling in her hands. "Let’s go for a ride, boys."

She refuses to divulge anything during the 15 minute drive. The destination ends up being the junkyard. Rocky seems pleased.

The guard at the gate waves her in as if he's familiar with her. She weaves through piles of cars smashed into cubes and eventually comes to a stop by the manager's office. "Follow me." Alicia leads you behind the office, spreading her arms wide as a beat up old white cargo van comes into sight. She looks positively ecstatic.

A grimy looking man comes out of the junkyard office. He offers no greeting and just keeps chowing down on a tuna fish sandwich. Alicia gleefully rushes to the sliding door of the van and throws it open.

The insides are filled to the brim with tech equipment and monitors. It looks like a full blown moving tech lab you might see FBI agents use during stakeouts in a movie. "What do you think? Me and Reggie have been working on it for weeks!"

The junkyard manager, mouth filled with tuna, speaks up in a deep voice, "I'm Reggie."

Lang's jaw drops, eyes widen, shoulders slump, the whole nine yards of 'what in the world am I looking at here?' all at once.

"I... you..."

He points vaguely at the wall of tech in front of him, then vaguely at another part of it. "That's... it's..." He looks at Alicia. Then at Reggie. Then back and forth one more time.

"Hi," he says to the tuna-chomping junkyard manager. "I'm Lang."

Finally, finally, the shock of the whole thing fades enough for him to have a real response. His face relaxes into the sort of joy you only see at Christmas time, when that last present under the tree really is the toy you've been dreaming of for months, drawing little pictures of it in the margins of your textbook when you really should be listening to the teacher, watching TV just to hope to see the commercial for it.

He takes a few tentative steps toward the door and carefully peers inside, his grin wide enough to split his face in two. Suddenly, an impulse strikes him and he turns to wrap Alicia in a hug. "This is AMAZING," he says. "I... don't deserve you, Alicia."

Alicia blushes a bit and tries to hide it. She recovers quickly. "Ain’t that the truth." She gleefully leads you inside so she can show off all the neat gizmos and gadgets the van has. She also details the installation process and how she might have implied to Reggie that the two of you are bigfoot hunters. "So, uh, we might have to make the occasional weekend trek into the woods with Reggie to go looking for Sasquatch. Hope that isn’t a deal breaker?"

When you exit the van Reggie is on a knee petting Rocky and feeding him the rest of his sandwich. He rises to his feet, gives you a nod, and walks back to the manager’s office.

"Alright. What’s the plan?" Alica asks.

Lang can hardly stand still, he's so excited. "Well, I think once we get my suit set up with the tech you need for communication and monitoring, and we outfit Rocky with whatever he might need for the same, then we start recon. Of course, we'll need to go back to my place to get a lot of that stuff, plus the mutagens..."

He rambles on about esoterica for a couple of minutes, and closes out with, "And then we hit Folstad's place. Still not sure what he's up to entirely, but I want to look into this Living Film Immersion device and what Lloyd Labs has to do with it at a minimum."

His face broadens into a grin once again. "Man, I am so excited to have you in the chair. Together again, huh? Instant analysis, risk assessment... I'm totally geeking out here."

"I know right! We’re going to do so much good working as a team. With my help, maybe we can even avoid you getting bad press. I’m assuming you saw the article this morning calling you a super villain? Can’t be having any more of that."

Alicia drives the van back to your house and entrusts you with her car. Once you get back the two of you set to work making minor adjustments to your costume to make the most of the new setup. Alicia sets you up with a fancy radio device that interacts with the bone structure of your face to transmit sound directly into your inner ear. It also allows you to communicate back without actually speaking. Simply silently mouthing the words will send transcribed messages back to the van.

You guys give it a test run and everything works at acceptable levels. The transcription software isn’t perfect and jumbles words, but the meaning is plenty clear most of the time. "It should improve more and more with each word that you ‘speak.’"

Next she gets you and Rocky hooked up with GPS signal transmitters and miniatures cameras embedded in a pin. These are not always on transmitting. You’ll have to tap it to start a transmission. "We don’t want any tech savvy individuals using this type of thing against you, after all."

The trio sets out in the van once everything is tested to satisfactory levels. "Check out the records of the neighborhood I got from city hall," Alicia calls back to you from the driver’s seat. One of the monitors displays some neighborhood blueprints. "It looks like there are about a dozen mansions inside this place. The one Falstad is using is, naturally, in the dead center.

"First step is getting inside the neighborhood. Virtually the entire neighborhood is surrounded by a 12 foot high fence. With some help, you might be able to get Rocky over it to start the recon. We could also try to bluff our way past the guard at the gate. Look at those blueprints though. The mountains are used as a natural barrier on the south side instead of a fence. You guys could potentially use that as a way in as well. It’s not too far a jump from the cliff to the roof of house 114."

Now dressed up in his suit, loaded up with potentially useful mutagens, and fully miked up, the Alchemist looks over the blueprints. He tilts the monitor so Rocky can see as well, suspecting that the dog might actually be smarter than he is. "I'm not liking the bluff angle, but I think we can make the jump work. I've got a mutagen that ought to help out with that, and make it a quieter landing. I can carry you with me," he adds to Rocky.

Just don't drop me, boss. I'm not a cat, you know. I have one life and don't always land on my feet.

He traces a finger over the plans of the neighborhood. "I'm afraid we've got a lot of recon to do. Which means leaning on you for analysis and suggestions, Leesh. Let's take it from the south side and come at it from there. I'm guessing they've got ways of detecting people coming over the fence, but might trust the natural barrier to keep your average cat burglar from getting in without any advanced tech."

The van takes a side road that circles up toward the foothills and pulls off at a trailhead that overlooks the city a short distance from the cliff above house 114. The three of them climb out of the van and walk to the cliff, scanning over the gated community.

"We have any idea which place is Folstad's?" asks the Alchemist. "I'd hate to have to go door-to-door. It's a long time until Halloween after all."

"Lot 117. Should be in the dead center of the neighborhood, on the right side of the street if you were coming in from the main entrance. So the opposite side of the street from where you guys will be dropping in. This place is well lit, so getting across might be tricky. You’ll have to keep an eye on your surroundings and pick your moment. There is always the option to try a localized blackout, but I feel like that would attract more attention than it is worth."

Alicia speaks in a serious and confident voice. The giddy excitement from earlier is all gone but it hasn't been replaced by doubt or worry. It is business time and she is bringing her "A" game.

"Do you want me to keep the van up on the hill? Maybe I should keep circling around the area?"

Peering over the cliff you can see the mansion on lot 114. It is three stories tall and has a grotto-like pool with a slide built into a mock miniature mountain. The water cascading down the fake rock structure should help to drown out any noise you and Rocky make.

The house has many large windows. Lights are on throughout, but you only see one person moving about. It looks to be a servant working in the kitchen to clean up after a meal.

The yard is wide with shrubs and hedges separating this lot from the next. Only about 2-3 feet high, they shouldn’t pose as a real obstacle.

The Alchemist turns to Alicia, and though the dark and the mask make it hard to see well, he's smiling as he replies. "You know what's best for the tech in the van. I trust you to make it work."

He reaches over and clasps his hand over her arm for a short moment, then reaches to his belt to take a vial. With one quick movement, he downs the contents, then crouches down to extend his arms to Rocky. "C'mon, buddy. It's time for us to take a little trip."

Rocky jumps into his arms, and he turns one more time to Alicia. "We're all taking care of each other as best we can. It's a pretty unusual set of Musketeers, but... all for one, and one for all!"

The Alchemist salutes Alicia, then turns to jump down from the cliff. The mutagen has given him the extra strength to not only jump long distances but absorb the impact of a landing so as to make it nearly silent. He puts it to good use as he sails across, Rocky in his arms, to first land quietly atop the roof of the third story, then down to the next level, and over the hedges to land in the yard of the next lot over.

He avoids the temptation, given the dog in his arms, to do the classic three-point superhero landing, but he does make certain that he lands in a crouch to keep a low profile. All right. Looks like we recon the situation before we decide how we're going to get in. You keep your ears and nose open, I'll case the joint visually before we make our move, he broadcasts silently to Rocky.

The house Folstad is using is now easily within view. It is smaller than all of the surrounding houses. The ground floor appears to have about the same size dimensions as the neighbors, but there is only one additional floor. The second floor only covers the left half of the house. The roof over the right side of the house appears to have been made into a patio. A small fence surrounds it and you can see a wide variety of seating areas spread out up there. You don't see any stairs leading up to it, but you could easily leap onto it.

A guard, dressed like the men you faced off with the other night, is pacing about the patio area. Every once in a while he pauses and looks out over the neighborhood.

Like all the other houses in the neighborhood, large windows are found throughout. Unlike the house you leapt onto, the view through these windows are obscured by closed shades. Small bits of light peak through the corners in some places, but you cannot see into the house in any way from here.

On the left side of the house is a two car garage. The doors are closed and there are two luxury sedans parked in the driveway. Another guard rests leaning against one of the cars while smoking a cigarette. He does not appear particularly attentive.

Rocky begins sniffing at the air rapidly. 'I’m pretty sure they have at least one or two dogs in there, boss. Do you have anything on that belt that can neutralize our scents?'

The Alchemist nods, replying silently, If you can believe it, I thought of that before we left. There was that time with the German shepherd and the... never mind. Story for another time.

He takes a small aerosol canister from his belt. Close your eyes. Stings a little if you don't. He sprays a light mist over Rocky's head and back, and then over his own head and shoulders. After a few moments, Rocky experiences a discomfiting disorientation as the two of them go nearly invisible to his nose. At a distance, they should be completely undetectable by scent. If the guard dogs get this close, it won't matter if they don't smell.

Smaller house than the others. Doesn't seem like Folstad's sort of thing. I'm guessing there's more below ground, especially if he's got something to hide. If that's the case, I'm thinking that's where we need to go.

As Alicia had indicated, he mouths a question to her, hoping the tech is still working at this distance. Got any records on the floor plan of Folstad's place? Is there a basement? If there is, what looks like the quietest entrance?

Rocky shakes like he is trying to dry off after diving into water. You can tell that the lack of scent is making him terribly uncomfortable but he does not openly complain about it.

"I wish. They only publicly available records were the original floor plans and it is clear that multiple renovations have gone on since then. There are permits on file for a wine cellar but they made sure to obtain details regarding underground pipes and cables to depths considerably deeper than any wine cellar I’ve ever heard of. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an entire complex under there.

"Since the original plans didn’t call for a basement or cellar of any kind, I am not sure if there is any way to enter from outside. I wouldn’t doubt that the only entrance downstairs is from inside the house though."

Rocky paws at you to get your attention. ‘You see that small shed in the backyard? Looks like a normal tool shed, right boss? Take a look at the roof.’ You notice a standard TV satellite dish, but behind it are dozens of smaller antennas pointing in various directions.

"Thanks, Alicia. We'll keep our eyes open."

He nods to Rocky. That's a lot of reception equipment. Let's start our search there and see where it leads us. You're quieter than I am. Why don't you sneak your way over there and see if you can hear or smell who might be inside, and find us an entrance.

While Rocky does that, he begins cataloging the windows and assigning them to rooms on the floor plan he has in his head. He shifts a bit, takes a few careful steps this way and that to try and get a clearer view of what might have been changed since the original plans were filed with the city.

Rocky gives you a little nod of his head and scampers off. He pauses at the edge of shadows, makes sure the coast is clear, and sprints across the road into the darkness on the other side. There are no signs that any of the lookouts spotted him.

From the floor plan you know that the second floor features the patio, a master bed and bath to the rear of the house, and two smaller guest bedrooms in the front. The lights are off in these guest bedrooms. If you could get past the guard in the driveway it might be safe to gain access to the house by climbing upon the garage and going through the guest bedroom window.

The bottom floor is supposed to be laid out by four major areas. On the left in the back is the kitchen that looks out into the backyard. There should be an open air floor plan that leads across to the right side of the house which features a bar and a dining area. To the left side in the front of the house is a large open room with plenty of electrical outlets which leads you to believe it is set up as the main living room or area for entertainment. This room is attached to the garage.

On the right side of the front of the house was supposed to be another large open room of equal size to that of the living room. Judging from the light peeking under the blinds, the area has been split into multiple rooms. There is a section of light, then darkness, then another with light. So maybe 3 separate rooms now.

"Ready for a report, boss?" Rocky breaks your concentration. "There is definitely someone in there. I can smell the sweat dripping off of them. I only smell the one person though. I can hear the hum of electronics and fans running to keep them cool. Around back there is a pretty heavy duty electrical hookup to feed this shed with all the juice it needs. Clearly this is not just a tool shed. Unfortunately the only way in or out seems to be the one door in the front."

Mental mapping is fine and all, but at some point someone needs to be able to keep track of all this, and Lang's not exactly known for his prodigious memory. While Rocky's looking around, Lang passes the info over to Alicia so that she can start building and extrapolating a more sophisticated layout of the house. When his canine sidekick chimes in, though, he replies to both the dog and the woman in the van.

Given what Folstad's interests have been, a recommissioned tool shed humming with that many electronics is worth checking out, I think. Alicia, see if you can find anything about telecomm accounts to this or nearby addresses. That much usage might look suspicious if it's all coming out of one address. I'm going to go silent and see what I can find inside. Rocky, you keep nose and ears peeled. Hopefully I'm able to get the jump on the person inside, but if it feels like I've been detected, give me a warning, okay?

Time to be the Alchemist.

He takes a vial from his belt. The liquid inside is dark enough to be black in the shadows, and he downs the contents in one quick pull. He shudders once. To do (for the 17th time): work on the flavor of these things... He separates from the shadows where he's crouched, but his dark outfit keeps him relatively well hidden from eyesight. As he walks across the grounds, his footfalls make no sound at all, even when he inadvertantly steps on a fallen branch from a recent windstorm. Despite his weight, the branch merely bends slightly and doesn't break at all, the mutagen producing a curious anti-gravity effect around him. It's a simple matter to move to the door and quickly check to see if it's locked.

Unlike a normal shed door, this resembles something you would expect to see in a top secret laboratory at Lloyd’s. It is a solid metal door with a lever door handle. There is a small red light by the side of the door that no doubt indicates it is mag locked but you lightly test the handle anyways. It doesn’t move at all. This does allow you to deduce the method of obtaining entry.

There are no signs of keycard slots, badge readers, or numeric pad to enter a passcode on. Instead, the door handle itself appears to be a biometric scanner. It must scan the fingerprints of those that wish to gain entry to the shed.

‘You might want to take a look at this, boss. Across the yard. Doghouse,’ Rocky chimes in. It doesn’t take long to spot the traditional red wooden dog house on the other side of the yard. ‘Seems a bit strange that this would have a cold steel floor, right? Edges aren't quite seamless with the walls either. If I had money, I’d wager this floor can open up to the basement. What I'm not sure of is if it is designed to allow people on the outside to get in, or for letting something out that is already inside.’