Gardner Academy
Winter Break is over!
It’s time for a second semester assembly in the auditorium. The school is at capacity (Gardner took the advanced / AP kids, elitists that they are).
Teachers and staff, with dept. heads, up front. Welcoming students, be hospitable hosts.
Summer and Aria, twin sisters, are also enrolled. Sitting together.
Summer waves Jason over. He ends up sitting next to Leo.
Jason’s phone buzzes. “HELLO HERO” Jason slips the phone back into his pocket, wide-eyed. (Later, after assembly, responds, “HEY” --> “SSSHHHH, NO TEXTING DURING SCHOOL”).
.
Harry will be showing Adam around the school.
The assembly drags on
The Cemetery
Charlotte … a rumpled individual is meandering through the cemetery. Glasses. Looking at gravestones. Following a map / guide. Eventually finds her gravestone. Taps at it. She comes out.
“Miss Parker. My name is Mr Wright. I am a solicitor under the employ of the Quill Foundation, to see if you need any assistance. Do you want to not be dead? Legally, that is.”
Sits down and chats with her about the legal implications of being declared not dead yet.
She has no responsibilities, but no rights. As living, she would be under the burden and protection of the law.
Gardner Academy
New students getting orientation, any questions, faculty touching bases with particularly interesting people. Like … Dr Schumer zeroing in on Leo. “Uh, yeah, I’m all about science.”
Electives
Adam: PE (self-defense); Oh, and Speech
Jason/Leo: Home Ec [Family and Consumer Sciences].
Jason walks into class and
… and … NoNo Rodriguez, Summer, Aria, and … Alycia Chin.
Also, Kid Kelvin, trying to look super-bored.
Jason pivots and exits, hyperventilating (his nanobots were actually starting to armor up).
Leo - plays it cool, encourages Jason to breathe deeply, go in.
Kelvin is leering at the girls, without much luck.
Class starts.
“So we’ll get the squealing out of the way by starting with Health & Sex Ed the first week.”
Girls are playing it cool, but with a palpable inner delight at Jason’s discomfiture.
Harry: Poetry - with A-10.
Starting with … the romantic poets.
Lunch …
Leo – Trace comes over to Leo. Signing up for any after school stuff? Want him for the lacrosse team. Leo agrees.
Jason – text from Barbara: “ROOK WANTS TO HAVE A MEETING.” “WITH YOU.”
With me and not the board?
Location: the apartment block we’ve wanted to buy after the cemetery thing.
Don’t spot Alycia around, but do look for Leo.
Harry finds Adam.
Eat at lunch.
Keri sits down by them. “Introduce me to your friend who I have never met before.”
Harry officially does so. They establish they know each other so they can chat.
Jason lets Leo know. “And hell no.”
Otto will drive Jason.
Study Hall
Schedules are now set. Study session classrooms assigned. And in ours …
Jason, Leo, Adam, Harry, Summer, Aria
… and Waters, and Parker
… and Alycia.
Harry and Alycia banter [something].
Adam – wrong place?
Waters: Wanted to get you folks together to let you know what’s currently in the works.
Miss Chin here is here under the watch of AEGIS. Parker is her handler. She has surrendered herself to the agency, certain agreements as to father’s activities, helping those involved to be brought to justice. We’re working on some other agreements.
Miss Chin has shown an interest in … turning over a new leaf … and the Menagerie happens to be an organization with peers in her age range that she has some previous interaction. We thought it would be best to meet with the team. She will be attending Gardner as part of her probation.
Alycia: was smirking … but now actually looks a little uncomfortable / uneasy.
Waters: My understanding is that Leo is in charge of field operations, but we’re officially presenting this to Mr Quill, since it’s his name on the sheet on file, and we can’t engage in an agreement with Mr Snow because he is also an AEGIS asset, administered by myself.
Leo: I’d like to talk to Miss Chin in private.
They go to a corner.
Waters and Parker call over Jason to the other corner.
Waters: AEGIS official stance on Vyortovia – that V in Halcyon airspace for a second time, active hostility, no official understanding what they were here for, but were engaged by troops under direction of the city (Menagerie, Rook Industries, JHHL, Irregulators, etc.). Unclear if coordinated with attack on Vyortovia with the HHL.
Parker: watching Jason, sizing him up.
Leo: Do you know who I am?
Alycia: [Doesn’t know he’s the son of Rossum. This is in conflict with previous cutscenes, but will now be retconned into place.] You just came out yesterday, you have a knack for mechanics and bots and I, and assume you have a background like mine because you have a handler.
Waters is my Parker.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s quite the same as her relationship with mine, but, yeah.
Things are going to be rough with you. But. I need access to your brain to help my friend restore his memories. If you go along with this, you have my support.
That’s you? Yeah, I already told him … yes. I don’t have to like know … everything … about him, do I. We get to keep our private parts private, right? Focus on the damaged parts, right?
Leo won’t be privy to what’s being combined, but aside from that, it will involve whatever the machine needs to patch the memories.
Yeah, soon as I can get out from underneath … I assume you don’t want AEGIS to know.
I think they know. I don’t care. – Leo gives Jason a thumbs up.
Jason: I vote yes, but this needs everyone’s input.
Parker: Early days. We have support from AEGIS, and from congressional groups that need to give their approval. She will be brought on anonymously, of course. But we hope to have something concrete to offer and propose in a few short days. Wanted to let you know – and to ease your mind she hadn’t escaped and was stalking you through the walls of the school. Can arrange for a visitation arrangement.
We need to talk with her to make this a joint decision. Perhaps a reception at the Quill Residence this evening. Since you’re the ones in a rush. [So are we, but why let them know.]
They take her off to see the school counselor.
Quick wrap with the team – Jason serious that it’s everyone’s choice [and hers, too, a ghostly voice adds].
Jason lets them know about the Rook appointment, too.
The Cemetery
Charlotte, afternoon chat, first in the graveyard, then in the coffee shop.
If Rosa Rook decided to buy and tear down the cemetery, Charlotte would have no standing to stop it.
Potential complications – records, could take an indefinite amount of time, a while before it’s settled.
Could possibly also attract unwanted attention.
So start off research for as long as can without filing. Get some records to him.
Call from Jason – tell about the meeting that night, and about the meeting with Rosa Rook; Charlotte offers to come over.
After School
Leo: Lacrosse.
Harry: Another visit to the hospital.
Amiger was wounded, but not so bad. Paladin isn’t around, but nobody’s talking about that. HHL has been very quiet.
Adam: Will go along with Otto.
Jason:
Ground floor of the twenty-story apartment is a convenience store, business offices for rent – that’s where we meet. Couple of Rook security outside the building, call us in as we pull out.
Guards – Hand dice to Jason. 3d6. Stone bench. Verify them.
Weigh/judge the dice with the nanobots. Seems legit.
Go inside.
Rosa and a couple of corporate lawyer times on one side.
Barbara is there. A Quill attack dog lawyer.
Rosa: Rook Industries has an interest in this property. We both do. And we both know the provenance of that desire. No progress. Very good lawyers on both side. Stalemate. And the building is going on its merry way without any of the development or care that either of us would prefer. A partnership. To build a hospital. On this location.
Jason: That sounds like a bad idea.
Rosa: Roll those dice.
Jason: Barbara shrugs.
Roll the dice. 18
Roll again. 18
Roll again. 18
Rosa: Interesting quality in research here. Mathematical property about the area … quantum math is much more simplified in this area. Everything here rounds up. Imagine a 55% chance of a medical procedure being done made 100% … we could save hundreds of thousands of lives. Accomplish some good. By joining forces. And doing something with this. That’s my proposal.
She slides a single sheet over. No signature lines. Just a write-up.
Jason will consult with his people.
Rosa leaves.
Jason makes clear to Barbara that he doesn’t trust Rook (of course), and that she can’t get control of something that can affect probability this way (examples of shenanigans). Will meet tomorrow.
Charlotte – you know this is all Sepia probabilities. This needs to be closed.
And confirm … the same phenom in the cemetery.
Wrap-Up
Jason: Image of Self --> +Superior, -Mundane
Charlotte: Image of Self ==.
Adam: Closer (Harry) --> +Mundane [capped!], -Danger --> Afraid
Harry: Closer (Adam) --> +Mundane, -Savior
Leo: Image of Self -->
author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6150655
