The Offices of Thalia Trimble, Private Eye - vol 1

Martha rolls her eyes but otherwise offers no resistance. Radinka is able to quickly get her tied up and she continues to do as told during the trip to the farm road. Martha's eyes watch you and Radinka carefully. You have no doubt that she is burning your images to her memory so she can have retribution later on. It doesn't change the fact that on this day, Martha Bradford has been defeated.

Radinka is quiet during the trip to the meet up. She checks her weaponry a few times but otherwise makes no noise. Her eyes, as well as your own, keep a careful watch on your surrounding to avoid any sudden surprises and none are encountered. If Ivanovich had lookouts posted, neither of you were able to spot them.

The old biker bar finally comes into view and you slow down during the approach. The one story building is large and wide. It is common knowledge that some pretty awful things used to happen on the stage inside this place and I’m not talking about country music.

Radinka presses the button on the controller as you pull the car into the parking lot to progress to the clip of you making the hand movements needed to park the car. There is only one other vehicle. A beat up old yellow school bus. It has been driven up to the side of the building and the emergency door in the back is wide up. Most of the windows around the building are boarded up but you spot a few that have been pried loose. It looks like one of those windows is what the bus is backed up next to to allow for easy unloading.

"Who’s that?" Radinka asks. There is no sign of Ivanovich other than smoke pouring out of the chimney. He must be inside with Isabel. Sitting on a bench is an elderly asian man casually smoking a cigarette as he watches your car come to a stop. He makes no move to get up and greet you.

An educated guess leads you to the conclusion that this man is the final piece of the puzzle. The one player that has yet to surface in this mess. Carson Chang.

"I'd say that's the last of the players in this little conspiracy drama." She quickly summarizes what she knows of Chang. "I'll need to watch my step with him, make sure he doesn't have a chance to drug me."

She lets Radinka walk her through the coordination of timing her exit from the car to coincide with the video image of her exiting the car, then closes the driver's door and glances back into the front seat. The projection shows "Arthur" sitting alone in the car.

The back window has been cracked slightly, and Thalia says quietly to Radinka, "Here goes nothing."

She takes a few steps from the car and says, "Dr. Chang, I presume? Andrew sends his best. He really wishes you'd visit him sometime, although that's probably because he doesn't realize that you helped frame him for a triple-homicide."

Carson laughs but it quickly turns into a coughing fit. Once he gets a hold of himself he responds in a deep smoker’s voice, "That’s because Andrew Lawson is an idiot." There is a strong tone of malice in the way he speaks Andrew's name. You get the impression that Carson deeply resents having to have spent any time whatsoever with Andrew. The hand gesture he gives to the image of Arthur Fisher makes it seem like Carson isn’t too fond of most people.

Disappointed in the lack of response from Fake Fisher, Carson takes another drag from his cigarette and sinks deeper into the bench. "You’re late, Trimble. Ivanovich took Izzy’s left pinky as an interest payment." He watches you closely to gauge your reaction; completely unaware that your powers allow you to see right through this lie. "If I were you, I’d get Arthur moving before she loses any more digits."

Thalia shrugs. "It's unfortunate that Ivanovich didn't bother to ask where I was at the time his page came through. Since I was hours away from here when Ivanovich gave me his one-hour deadline, being late was a given. I'd expect a man of science like yourself to have a better command of the laws of physics, but then, you are just a chemist." She flashes him an impudent grin.

"Anyway, Arthur doesn't even get out of the car until I've seen Isabel. We'll do this as a straight exchange, Isabel walking toward me and Arthur walking toward you, just like in the movies."

She glances around, trying to see any traces of movement, booby-traps, and other surprises. No doubt the boards that have been pried away from windows are to facilitate watching the proceedings from inside the biker bar. Leaning against the car in a casual, I can wait all day posture, Thalia says, "So what's in all this for a guy like you, Chang? You were staring down the barrel of dying alone in your old age and decided to check 'accessory to mass murder' off your bucket list?"

Carson face maintains a disinterested expression as you speak. He isn’t raddled one bit by your comments. He casually flicks his cigarette butt and it lands near your feet. A small trail of smoke continues to drift upward. Carson slowly rises from the bench and takes a few steps toward you; stopping far enough away to maintain a gap of about 10 feet.

"That box was checked some time ago." Unfortunately you do not pick up any hint of a lie in this statement. "As for what is in it for me?" Caron’s expressionless face finally shifts into a disturbing half smile. "Being allowed to work without ethical oversight is a wonderful thing. It has allowed me to make several breakthroughs. How much easier would your job be if you didn’t have to deal with moral dilemmas in pursuit of your goals? But no, you probably consider yourself one of the ‘good guys’ who would never stoop to that level. Grow up, Trimble. Results are all that matter.

"I’m going to offer you some words of advice to help you through this. Christov doesn’t play games. You might want to watch your tone before speaking to him.

"Seeing as you are not in control here; I’m going to tell you how things are actually going to go. Arthur is going to get his big ol' brain inside where he will work with my support team to make a working prototype of that sonic weapon. When we’re positive we have what we want, you can walk away with Isabel. If these terms are unacceptable, then option 2 includes the exact same scenario except it has the addition of Arthur working while your corpse decomposes in the corner of the bar."

Through the gaps in the boarded up windows you notice signs of movement inside but there is no indication that anyone is keeping tabs on you. You see no obvious signs of someone watching from within. There aren't even visible surveillance cameras. If traps have been set, you aren’t able to spot any.

Ivanovich is too obsessed with having control for this situation to be as open and unrestricted as it appears, and Thalia is familiar enough with Chang's proclivities and area of expertise that she assumes the cigarette butt he's tossed at her feet is meant to deliver something special he's brewed up - a nerve agent of some kind, perhaps. She holds her breath and kicks it back toward him. It lands about three feet from his position.

"Nasty habit," she says, smiling. She watches to see if he moves away from the cigarette butt or continues to monologue.

Carson does neither. He looks down at the cigarette butt as it bounces across the ground. Once it comes to a rest he pays it no more attention. Smoke continues to waft up from it. Carson doesn't seem to care. His eyes remain expressionless as they watch you. "So are we all going inside or what? If this little stand off is going to continue I might as well have another smoke while I'm out here." He reaches to his back pocket to retrieve a box of cigarettes and lighter but holds off on lighting one just yet.

The way this is playing out has really thrown Thalia; what she'd been led to believe was a hostage exchange is turning out to be something much more bizarre. Somehow, they're expecting Arthur to surrender not only himself, but Thalia as well, without any proof whatsoever that Isabel is even alive.

She's frankly astonished. The project they want Arthur to work on could take days, even weeks. That they think they could keep Thalia prisoner that long without triggering some kind of action from those who keep tabs on her is, perhaps, puzzling. But then, they may think that nobody from her circle is important or powerful enough to worry about.

That they think they could keep Kate Lawson's executive assistant hostage for that long without triggering a reaction from Lawson and Lloyd Laboratories is... well, "puzzling" isn't a strong enough word. Something very strange is happening here.

There's an itching between her shoulder blades, a signal from her intuition that always bears paying attention to.

At any rate, it's clear that to Ivanovich and company, Thalia's not really a player in this situation at all, she's merely the driver. They believe that Arthur is the person they need to convince. Otherwise, they'd be outside with a show of force, demanding that he get out of the car now.

Well, if they think Arthur's in charge, she'll lean into it. She allows her shoulders to slump slightly, as though she's been trying to pull off some kind of con and the mark has seen through it. "Go ahead and have another cigarette," she says to Carson, making a show of trying not to look and sound demoralized. "I need to go talk to the boss."

Carson shakes his head and sighs at the inconvenience of dealing with a wannabe fighter trying to punch above her weight class. He turns to head back to the bench, and Thalia moves back to open the driver's side door and crouches down as though talking to "Arthur" in the passenger seat. She'd thought ahead and changed the settings so that the interior lights wouldn't automatically come on when a door is opened.

"Okay, kind of a good news, bad news situation," she says quietly, addressing Radinka but not looking at her. "Good news, the projection's fooled them. Bad news, they never had any intention of exchanging Isabel for Arthur. They expected us to both walk inside, where I'll be held as an additional hostage while Arthur helps them create a batch of weapons. That would take days, maybe weeks, after which Isabel and I would allegedly be allowed to leave."

She's not terribly worried about "Arthur's" lack of interactivity. The car is far enough from both the bench and the roadhouse that all anyone can tell from the projection is that Arthur is still in the passenger seat. And the car's headlights are still on and aimed at the front of the roadhouse.

"Also on the good news side, they don't seem to be watching us from the inside. They don't see me as a threat. I'm going to tell Chang that Arthur refuses to get out of the car unless I go in and see that Isabel is alive and well. While I'm doing that, you can slip out and have a look around. Something is really fishy here; there's at least one more shoe ready to drop, and I'd like it to not land right on my head."

Radinka nods in agreement to the plan. When you turn back around you find Carson has his legs stretched out and his head back as he blows smoke rings into the air. Far too relaxed for your typical hostage situation. You get his attention and he sits up straight. He listens to your update on the situation without displaying any real reaction to it. Carson takes one last deep drag on his cigarette and flicks it a nautical mile few feet away. He waves for you to follow and heads toward the front door.

Carson delivers three hard knocks onto the plywood that covers the door. You can hear rapid shuffling footsteps inside and the door swings outward. The individual who opened the door hurries back into the shadows of the interior before you get a good look at him. Carson casually walks inside without paying attention to whether or not you follow.

You edge your way up to the doorway but don’t yet go all the way inside. From this vantage point you can see the entire building before deciding to venture any further.

The bar is in the center. It is long and oval shaped. In the center are both Ivanovich and Isabel. Ivanovich looks.... incredibly relaxed. He is leaning against the bar with a silenced pistol held limply in his hand. His eyes aren’t focused on anything in particular. They are wide and glassed over. It almost seems like he is having trouble supporting the weight of his own head.

Isabel is tied to a chair in the center of the bartender area. She looks the exact opposite of Ivanovich. Nervous, agitated, on edge. Her eyes are red and rapidly darting all over the room. One of her bare feet taps repeatedly on the wooden floor. Her behavior is mimicked by the rest of the men inside the bar. Her eye is dark and swollen and there is a small cut on her forehead. Duct is taped over her mouth, but it does not wrap all around her head. Just a single piece over her mouth.

It is difficult to get a count on how many there are since no one will stop moving. Some are pacing in erratic patterns. A small group looks like elders in the mall speed walking in circles for exercise. Others rush from one piece of equipment to another, checking connections and dials. All of them red eyed, manic, and twitchy.

Wires are run all over the floor to connect dozens of mechanical engineering machines. Presumably everything Arthur would need to make the sonic whatsis. A large stack of plastic containers is in the corner that appears to hold materials required.

You can feel chilled air being pumped out by the AC running at full blast. Something about the air smells off.

Carson walks over to Ivanovich and holds his hand in front of the Russian's face. He snaps his fingers several times to get his attention. "You’re turn." Carson slaps the lighter and pack of smokes on the bar. Ivanovich picks them up and leaves the gun, which Carson picks up.

Carson turns to you and nods his head in Isabel’s direction. "Satisfied?" Ivanovich walks past you as if you weren’t even there. He lights a cigarette as soon as he is a few feet out the front door. "In or out, Trimble? Go convince Arthur or feel free to chat with Izzy here, I don’t care. But either way, shut the damn door."

Thalia actually wouldn't mind a quick chat with Isabel, but her keen deductive powers have alerted her to the likelihood that spending much time in this place with the doors closed is likely to leave her too jacked up to do what she's come here to do. She wonders exactly what Chang is pumping in through the air conditioning, and wonders even more what he's put into those cigarettes to counter it. Whatever it is, it's apparently strong enough to keep both Chang and Ivanovich feeling pretty mellow.

"I've seen what I need to see," Thalia says in a sullen, defeated tone, stepping out to allow someone to close the door after her. She tries to get a look at them, intrigued by the fact that they'd seemed to want to avoid her detection when they opened the door.

She follows Ivanovich out, maintaining a prudent distance from him as he smokes. She remains outside his easy reach, relying on her powers to detect if he's about to attack, but she's hoping to catch a whiff of the smoke, just to see if she can tell what the cigarette is laced with. "So, you're answering to Chang these days, huh? I had the impression that you'd sorta had it with taking orders from these arrogant brainiacs. I mean, a guy like you, you could bend him into a pretzel without breaking a sweat. So what's up?"

After walking back out the door, Carson gives a snap and one of his minions rushes over to the door to slam it shut. You turn to get a look at him and notice his hand is held over his eyes, deflecting the light shining in from the headlights of your car. The headlights were casting the brightest light into the bar. If it weren’t for them, the room would have been fairly dim.

You find Ivanovich standing about 10 feet in front of the car. His vacant eyes stare directly at the fake Arthur Fisher. His hand goes to his side as if to draw a weapon but he finds nothing on his hip. Instead he takes another drag off the cigarette and the violent urge seems to pass.

"Shut up, Trimble. This is business. Sometimes you have to put pride aside and get the job done. If I had things my way you would all be six feet under and we’d find some other genius to build this damn gun. But we’ll try Chang's way first." He turns his head to face you. "But don’t worry, when the time for the killing starts I’ll show you just how good I am." He turns back to stare at Arthur. The longer he watches, the more likely it is he’ll notice where the video loops.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger," Thalia says, clearly trying to appease him. "I wish I'd never heard of Andrew Lawson, or his sister, or Arthur or any of them. Look, do me a solid, will ya? Can you just stop glaring at him for a while? I gotta convince the guy it's time to go inside, and you looking like you're ready to snap his neck the minute he gets out of the car isn't going to make that easier. Jeez, this whole case has me on edge. Can I bum a cigarette? I quit years ago, but sometimes when things get really stressful, that old urge comes back just like it was yesterday."

Ivanovich turns around and gives you an incredulous look. He breathes smoke out through his lips without withdrawing the cigarette. The smoke flutters close enough for you to get a whiff of it. It mostly smells like normal tobacco. You don’t pick up the scent of marijuana but there is a unfamiliar chemical scent.

He takes a few steps in your direction until you are only separated by a foot. You have to crane your neck to look this towering figure in the eyes. He breathes out another puff of smoke right in your face and then takes the half smoked cigarette between his fingers. "How much are they paying you? Don’t take that the wrong way. I’m not trying to get you to flip sides. I only want to know how much you feel your own life is worth. You aren’t walking out of here alive." He flicks the cigarette at your chest and walks away while lighting up another one.

Even this brief exposure to the chemical inside the cigarette is having an effect on you. Your limbs feel more rubbery, your breathing is slower and more even. The effect isn’t so great that you think you would have noticed it without being on the lookout for it, but you have no doubt that if you finished the cigarette it would become more pronounced.

Thalia fumbles the lit cigarette briefly but allows it to fall to the ground. As the big Russian walks aimlessly back toward the roadhouse, lighting another cigarette, she trudges back toward the car and opens the door. Bending down, she starts talking to "Arthur" in a low voice, telling him the gist of the situation, although Ivanovich certainly can't hear what she's saying from his position.

As she'd hoped, Radinka is no longer in the back seat.

Thalia's voice begins to climb in agitation, as though Arthur is arguing with her, and then finally she cries, "Arthur, stop! Don't touch that!" and dives into the driver's seat. As she does so, she hits a button on an aftermarket panel on the dashboard, and thick plumes of dense gray smoke pour from all four corners of the exterior of the car. The car has remained running all this time, and she drops it out of "park" with a lurch and steers the car toward the left erratically, as though someone is fighting her for control, until the relative smoothness of the unmaintained gravel parking lot gives way to tall grass and brush in the scrubby patch of bushes and trees that border the lot, then she drops it back into "park" with a loud clunk.

Her transmission isn't going to be singing her praises after this job.

She lunges to fling open the passenger door and scuttles back to the driver side, popping the trunk and tumbling out of the still-open driver's door into the clouds of smoke.

"Arthur, stop! They'll kill her if you run!" she screams as she rushes around the side of the car, feeling for the back of the car and curling herself into the trunk. She lowers the trunk lid, quietly latching it, feels around until her fingers find the sonic whatsis and another surprise or two, and waits.

A couple of things catch your eyes through the haze of the smoke just before the trunk latches shut. One of those is the welcome sight of a very shocked Ivanovich. He stands still with wide eyes, cigarette barely clinging to the moist lower lip of his open jaw. The chemicals keeping him calm seem to have slowed his killer instinct which normally would have propelled him to action by now. The other sight is also a welcome one. Radinka is on the roof with a silenced pistol drawn and ready.

"Chang!" Invaovich screams. "Put the girl down and get me guns. NOW!"

You hear the soft sound of a silenced weapon firing and then Invaovich grunting in pain. It doesn’t stop his footsteps from growing louder and louder as he rapidly approaches your position. There is a loud clang of something crashing onto the roof of the school bus. More silenced pistol fire. Some of the rounds slam into the trunk but do not pierce it. Radinka may be using non-lethal ammunition. Ivanovich yells out in pain and his large body crashes against the trunk, rattling the entire car.

Grimacing as the lid of her trunk buckles briefly under the impact of the huge Russian man's body, Thalia listens for him to slide off and the sounds of his feet in the scrubby grass as he shuffles away from the trunk somewhat. Then she reaches for the latch (she's practiced getting out of her trunk for situations just like this, so she can find the latch easily in the darkness) and quietly releases it.

Pushing the lid up with one foot, she quickly sits up in the trunk, her eyes finding Ivanovich first in her peripheral vision. Turning her head toward him - he's trying to use her car for cover from Radinka - she smiles at his expression of surprise (two times within minutes, very satisfying) and blasts him with the sonic whatsis from a scant two feet away. As soon as she's fired, she pitches herself forward face-first toward the ground, coming out of the trunk into a flawless forward roll and rolling up onto her feet, turning to face Ivanovich again, the sonic weapon raised.

The sonic blast launches Ivanovich into the air. He lands with a hard thud about 10 feet back from where he was standing. You look to the bus and see Radinka give an approving smile before leaping off the roof of the bus. She pries open the doors to the bus and makes her way toward the bar.

Ivanovich rises to his feet. He moves slow and cautiously. He has a lot of experience staring down the barrel of a gun. He brushes some dirt off his pants and raises his hands into the air. The prior shot clearly knocked the wind out of him and you get the impression that he is stalling until he is ready to strike. There is no fear in his eyes despite the weapon being trained on him.

"What was the point of all of this, Trimble? You come way out here just to make this boneheaded move? She’s dead. You realize that, right? You just killed Isabel." His muscles tighten. You know he is moments away from attacking. Your finger tenses on the trigger to stop him before he gets the chance. And then the shots ring out.

Machine gun fire and Radinka’s familiar suppressed pistol. Instinctually you lean your head to see around Ivanovich. Holes punch through the plywood as bullets rip through it from within. This half second distraction is the opening Ivanovich needed.

The large man moves with uncanny speed. He lowers his shoulder, one hand reaching behind him. You fire and get a glancing blow on his left shoulder. It jars his movement but Ivanovich keeps moving forward like a linebacker.

His left hand swings back into view and hurls a small throwing knife. You are forced to dive out of the way, firing wildly with the sonic whatsis to try and slow down his advance. Ivanovich doesn’t come right at you though. You hit the ground and Ivanovich plows through your passenger side door. It is ripped right off the hinges. The gunfire inside the bar continues. It takes a moment for you to get back into a stable position and get your sights trained on Ivanovich.

He’s standing in a crouched position with your car door held in front of him like the shield of a Roman Centurion. You fire and he braces for the impact. The sonic wave hits the car door and crumbles the metal. The force drives Ivanovich back a step or two, but a moment later his smiling face pokes out from behind the makeshift shield. He lowers his head, lets loose a battle cry and charges forward, leading with his shield.

---

Dice Pool Limit: 5

Current HP
Thalia: 3
Radinka: ?

Threat Rating:
Boss: Christo Ivanovich --- 3
Mooks: Tweaked out Scientists --- ???

Thalia ignores Ivanovich's "Isabel is dead" routine. It's an obvious distraction tactic, and from what she's seen, nobody is particularly anxious to off Izzy. Thalia hasn't entirely written off the idea that Isabel and Chang are both masterminding this whole escapade.

But it's just pure reflex to react when the gunfire begins, and that's the thing that pisses her off. Reflexes can be influenced, but never fully overwritten.

That doesn't piss her off nearly as much as Ivanovich ripping a freaking door off her car. What kind of an animal does that?

As he charges her, she adopts a ready posture and raises the 14-inch stun baton she'd lifted from one of Martha's goons, ramming it into the car door and sending twenty million volts into its surface and into the Russian's hands as they grip the metal edges of the door. Then as his momentum continues forward - possibly diminished a little by the electrical infusion - she uses her tai chi to perform a nimble ducking motion to get under the shield and kicking at one of his legs to trip him up.

Her own momentum and form carry her on around to slightly behind Ivanovich, and she raises the sonic whatsis again and fires at his back.

The kick sends Ivanovich tumbling to the ground. By the time you aim the sonic whatsis, he is just getting back to his feet. The blast hits him directly in the dead centor of his shoulder blades. He cries out and drops to the floor once more.

Instinct must take over for the assassin. He wasted no time rolling over and over until the car can give him some measure of cover. By the time you get into position to get another shot off, he is lying on his back and has drawn a small PSM pistol from an ankle holster.

You both fire off a series of shots while continuing to move in order to limit chances of getting hit. No one is terribly accurate under these kinds of circumstances. The sonic whatsis starts rapidly beeping. You can feel the heat coming off of it and assume it needs a moment to cool down from overheating. Luckily, Ivanovich has emptied his clip at the same time.

Ivanovich has maneuvered himself to the front of your vehicle while you are behind the trunk. He is in a crouched position when he slams another clip into his pistol. His head is peeking out of cover just enough to keep his eyes on you. The sonic whatsis stops beeping. Like two gunslingers from the old west, you lock eyes and wait to see who will be the first to make a move from cover to try and get a shot off.

---

Dice Pool Limit: 5

Current HP
Thalia: 3
Radinka: ?

Threat Rating:
Boss: Christov Ivanovich --- 3
Mooks: Tweaked out Scientists --- ???

Thalia has already shoved the stun baton under one arm so she can reach into her jacket pocket where she's stowed her key fob. She presses a button and the horn of her car sounds. Given where Ivanovich is standing, the sudden honking is deafening.

She uses this distraction to drop out of sight behind the trunk, ducking to her left and throwing the stun baton to land off to Ivanovich's left side. Moving quickly around the driver's side of the car, she straightens and aims at the Russian as she reaches the driver's door and fires the sonic whatsis.