Apollo 2015/05/13(Wed)13:01 No. 640189 ID: defceb
File 143154726755.png - (102.27KB , 600x600 , 15.png )

“Dispatch, this is Lemaire in the park again. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“Tall, dark, and spiky?”

“That’s what I was afraid of. I’m going to need backup in the park asap. Preferably SWAT type.”

I grip my taser and start running to the bridge as fast as I can. I need a plan.

>>640187
Don't run for the bridge!
Cut them off from the woods, wait for the SWAT team round the back of the gazebo and taze them if they get close you are NOT equipped for this.

>>640190
Sounds good.

Any idea how long it'll take for the backup to arrive?

>>640189
Get close enough that you can see them, but stay out of sight yourself- don't pursue unless it becomes apparent they're leaving, and even then try to make sure you don't spook them- we're delaying until backup arrives.

>>640189
Spy on them. See if you can get within earshot to find out what the FUCK is going on.

Apollo 2015/05/13(Wed)21:12 No. 640280 ID: defceb
File 143157676084.png - (68.01KB , 600x600 , 16.png )

Right. No running to the bridge. I come to stop by the edge of the woods. If they run this way, I should see them coming.

A few minutes pass before the doors to the park start to open. The dull creaking sounds echo through the otherwise quiet area. Dammit guys, you’re supposed to SNEAK in. The person starts running in my direction.

Apollo 2015/05/13(Wed)21:12 No. 640281 ID: defceb
File 143157677686.png - (135.37KB , 600x600 , 17.png )

...but where is the tall one?

>...but where is the tall one?
Behind / next to you.

Throw yourself to your left. Now. Unless you want a spike in the head.

Walk up to the kid, carefully. Do not appear hostile.

Put yer hands up.

They definitely have the advantage, here. So let's just have a chat.

Apollo 2015/05/14(Thu)15:55 No. 640407 ID: defceb
File 143164411221.png - (137.89KB , 600x600 , 18.png )

Behind me? I’m pretty sure I’d have heard something going through this underbrush to sneak up behind-

I come to in the medical wing. I can hear the doctor in the other room, talking about something to do with sports. My neck stings and my back is sore. The clock says it's now 1am.

Oh. Well...you're not dead, apparently.

>>640408
Or we're imagining the afterlife as a medbay.

...It's pretty chilly in here. The doctors aren't talking about Cubs and World Series, are they?

Hand on your neck. How bad is it?

Try calling out. Uh, Doc? How'd I end up here?

If there's no doctor or nurse, try looking around, or calling in with your wristwatch for an update.

>>640407
Ask the doctor what happened.

Apollo 2015/05/14(Thu)23:21 No. 640514 ID: defceb
File 143167087043.png - (124.54KB , 600x600 , 19.png )

“Doctor?” I shout out. It echoes around the metal halls.

“Oh, you’re up now? Uhm… police officer lady, right?”

“Yeah, where are you?”

“I’m over here!” Their voices echoes out from behind the doors. I can’t make heads or tails of where they are around here. “I’m in Office C, next to the- you know what nevermind, I’m kind of tied up at the moment. What do you need?”

No time for bedside manner.

“What happened to me?”

“You got hit by a hallucinogenic. Your pals said they found you wandering around the park singing opera.”

I rub my neck. There’s a small bandage where it stings.

“If your head feels all clear then you should be good to go. Might want to take it easy tonight though.”

>>640514
Okay... Check in, make sure you did in fact see tall dark & spiky before you got injected.

Assuming he is real, there's some good news: he doesn't want to kill you. Probably just wants to be left alone. Unfortunately we can't do that, not yet anyway.

We want a description of our 'pals' that checked us in, because our backup isn't supposed to even show up until 0135 unless we were rescued by backup we don't remember arriving in time.

>>640535
we called in for backup.

well i was right. should have secured the maintenance shafts with cameras. set up traps for tomorrow night, though they'll probably change spots.

No long term side effects on what they hit me with, right? I'm not gonna flash back or be addicted or anything?

First thing to do is called in. Make sure people know you're awake, see what they have to say.

>>640514
>Hallucinogenic
You had a camera on you.
Check the cameras.

Apollo 2015/05/17(Sun)17:35 No. 641114 ID: defceb
File 143190931074.png - (153.34KB , 600x600 , 20.png )

“You’re sure I’m all good to go? I won’t have any flashbacks or addiction problems?”

“That depends, do you take large amounts of LSD regularly?”

“…no?”

“Then you should be fine. You may still feel kind of loopy but that’s just the high wearing off. The drug will be completely out of your system in about 2 more hours, so just don’t operate any heavy machinery or guns for a bit.”

I leave the medical wing. All the lights have been dimmed for the night and most of the stores are closed. At daytime this place is packed shoulder to shoulder, with people shouting over each other to get anywhere. During peak hours they have to keep the ventilation pumping at full power or else the CO2 buildup will make people drop left and right. With all the noise I never found the will to go here during the day. Supposedly the local governor is going to reorganize the area to make a neater market district. Or so they claimed when they were elected a few years ago.

“Dispatch, this is Lemaire.”

“Up already? I think Chief wants to see you.”

“I thought he’d be asleep by now.”

“Justice never sleeps, Luc.”

“Haha, very funny. You were watching the cameras, right?”

“Did I ever. Your tall friend skipped out of view pretty quickly but I saw the other person run straight for the maintenance paths. I also got a few minutes of you trying to figure out how a chair works if you want to watch that later, it’s pretty funny.”

Well, I hope someone went over the scene after I was out of it.

We must be getting close to out 1:30 lunch, right?

Tell dispatch you'll be done to see the chief as soon as you can. Doc wanted to make sure you ate something first.

Apollo 2015/05/19(Tue)23:42 No. 641613 ID: defceb
File 143210412191.png - (151.99KB , 600x600 , 21.png )

“Tell Chief I’ll go to see him as soon as I can. It’s almost 1:30 though so let’s grab that lunch.”

“You sure? I don’t think the chief will be happy to hear it.”

“Doctor’s orders.”

The walk to the diner is uneventful. Miranda from dispatch arrives shortly after me, walking in with a hurried pace. “Thank you so much for coming!” She says. “I’ve been wanting to try this place all week but I never wanted to go alone, you know? Do you know? I don’t know- uhm- SO. How've you been Luc?”

She’s practically a whole different person compared to her radio personality. Fidgety hands, always looking around the room, her anxiety is spiked tonight.

“I- uh- noticed you weren't around the office for a while. Are you okay? I heard about- you don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”

Mirandas always been the nervous type in person, but she’s never been THIS bad before.

>>641613
That's cause she liiiiiikes you. And was worried about you.

So be friendly! And also put her worries to rest.

>>641615

I concur with the 'she liiiiiikes you' hypothesis.

Do you like her?

Give her a hug. Then tell her you're okay, though your pride is a little damaged.

Apollo 2015/05/20(Wed)02:23 No. 641633 ID: defceb
File 143211381332.png - (101.09KB , 600x600 , 22.png )

Do I like her!? No- I mean- well, I don’t dislike her? I certainly wouldn't turn her away if she showed up at my apartment either. But I barely know her beyond work.

“I’m okay, even if my pride isn't. Doctor gave me a clean bill of health and everything.”

“I wasn't just talking about -um- tonight. I noticed you were gone for a while, longer than that necessary for recovery and since then you've seemed very, uhm verryy…” I can see the gears turning in her head. “...secluded? No, distant? Something like that. I’m sorry if this is too personal, I just meant to ask you to lunch. Order anything you want, it’s on me.”

She frantically looks over the menu, tapping it with her idle hand and looking around for the waiter. “So how about that case? Weird thing to see, huh?”

"It was like 12 feet tall and hit me with a dose of lsd that purportedly had me singing opera in the park and forgetting how to use chairs, I can safely mark this as one of the more surreal experiences in my life.
And now I'll probably have to go after the darn thing."
Order a bigass hamburger and enough soda to drown an infant. Be very specific about this.

Well, it's nice someone cares, even if you don't want to talk about that right now.

>the case
Yeah, very weird. Just my luck the guy who keeps showing up alone brings a giant creepy bodyguard the one night we check into it.

Unless that thing was there every time. Dunno how the previous reports missed it then, though.

>>641633
>Order anything you want, it’s on me
yep, this is a date.
also she's worried because you seem to have some serious PSTD.

>>641683
Oh wait, yes. The food. What do we want. Quick, skim the menu! Maybe you can get your caffeine fix after all.

Order a synthbacon burger, ask if she wants to hold hands.

Apollo 2015/05/24(Sun)23:36 No. 642936 ID: defceb
File 143253578790.png - (129.20KB , 600x600 , 23.png )

“I’m fine, really. You look nervous. Would it help if we held hands?”

She blushes and hides behind the menu, muttering something about needing to order food. I take the time to ring up one synthbacon burger and enough coffee to drown myself in.

“That thing was 12 feet tall and dosed me with some sort of LSD, so yeah this case is pretty damn surreal. Just my luck that tall dark and handsome shows up when I get sent to take a look.”

“It all doesn’t make sense though. You can’t miss something that big, but it wasn’t in any of the reports. I don’t think it could sneak through those tiny maintenance shafts either.”

“So what, it just slipped through the walls?”

“I don’t think so… this isn’t like some natural world where they could sneak through old pathways. We built this place. Or rather… our great, great, great… you get the idea, grandparents built it. We still have the blueprints. If there was a place for it to go we would know about it.”

Technology marches on. If this place was man-made, how hard would it be to hack it? These guys might have invented a literal wall-hack.

"heh, maybe it's an alien the stowed away on the ship."

[feigning fear] "Oh no, that means that this is the part were something burst out of my chest and starts killing everyone on the ship. Oh the humanity, and since I'm fated to die to such a horrible end I guess that means you'll have to cover the bill."

>>642936
...maybe it's always been there. Hiding.

What if... it's a robot or something. And can reconfigure itself. If it's not that tall all the time it would be able to sneak around easier.

...other obvious question. How do we know the blueprints are right? It might be easier to alter the records to make something secret than actually build a new secret passage.

>blush
That confirms that.

Hold her hand anyway. Surprise her.

Don't let her leave your sight until you've given her at least one hug. For caring about you, if nothing else.

"The ship's changed a bit over time, right? There's probably a few things on the blueprints that are a little out of date at this point. Speaking of dates... is this one?"

Apollo 2015/05/25(Mon)12:44 No. 643117 ID: defceb
File 143258304310.png - (95.07KB , 600x600 , 24.png )

“Maybe it’s an alien that stowed away on the ship. Oh- oh no! That means this is the part where something bursts out of my chest and starts killing everyone! Oh the humanity, this is the end of me I can feel it coming already!”

Apollo 2015/05/25(Mon)12:44 No. 643118 ID: defceb
File 143258305651.png - (84.48KB , 600x600 , 25.png )

“Bluuuuuhhhhhh!!!! I’m dead! I’m completely dead now. The End.”

Wait for laughs or some other reaction. Try to keep a strait face before peeking out of one eye.

>>642967
Still something reconfigurable could explain how it gets around. That, or doctored blueprints to hide how it's getting around.

Wiggle your arm around.

If they have some really useful way of making quick/temporary modifications to the ship they could maybe move through places that aren't big enough by changing them and changing them back quickly. What is the ship made of, and what are the self-construction/modification features of most of it anyway?

Launch the chest-burster-arm out at her and tickle her.

If this didn't get a reaction, that certainly will.

Index and pinky up, pivot hand as if looking side to side, then move your thumb like a jaw and say something about missing a left turn at Alpha Centauri (mushed together so it sounds like "Albuquerque") in your best Bugs Bunny voice. Then, the classic "what's up, doc?"

Apollo 2015/06/09(Tue)01:50 No. 647296 ID: defceb
File 143383981149.png - (99.22KB , 600x600 , 26.png )

I launch a tickle-assault, triggering a series of yelping laughs from her. “Stop, stoooooppp!~” She says between gasps of air. The waitress delivers our food shortly after, sparing a slightly judgemental glance at our loud noise. “C’mon Luc, we should keep it down it’s late.” She’s blushing harder now, partly from the laugher and partly from- well, I suppose that would count at flirting.

“Allright, allright, I’m all business now.” I spare a moment to collect my thoughts, and enjoy a taste of the burger. Synthmeat, the kind grown in large vats in labs. Supposedly impossible to tell the difference between it and the real thing. Supposedly.

“The place has changed over time, hasn’t it? Maybe there’s a secret passageway or something left over. If the big guy can reconfigure themselves then maybe they can slip through small passageways too.”

“You think?” She speaks up between nibbles. “There shouldn’t be any automated repairs happening in this district, last I heard. I suppose you could go through the archives and see all the changes that have been made over time. I think all the engineer information could be requested too. Since we’re, y’know, cops and all.”

Between the food and the company the next hour goes just as soon as it came. We walk together back to the station, giving idle chatter all the way.

Time for real work. Chief Morgana might still be here, I could visit him now. Alternatively, I could also walk to the archive and check out those blueprints. There’s also the wristband I found in the park. Supernova nightclub, perhaps I can find some clues there.

Evidence-locker and document that band, in case things go to the level of screwed-up that they want something to run forensics on because our perp rises to suspected murderer. Check in with the chief in case they've passed our assignment on to other people or assigned us a partner for this now that there is evidence our perp doesn't hesitate to screw with security: We were steamrollered out of nowhere by a crazy giant and drugs, it would be prudent to upgrade the resources for the investigation now that it includes assaulting an investigating officer..

see your boss first, not a good idea to keep the man who can give you shit jobs as petty revenge waiting longer then needed.

>synthmeat
Like there's even room for a proper pasture in this tin can.

>what do
You had orders to report back to your boss- you already made one excuse and pushed it off. Don't push your luck. Check in with the chief.

Report to boss. Afterwards, this nightclub sounds like a good place for a late night "investigation."