Aug 26 10:03:07 109 PA - Getting a Read on His Men
From Chronicles
Aug 26 10:03:07 109 PA.
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES - MAIN FLOOR
Even performers have to be up by ten in the morning, don't they? That's Gabriel's theory anyway, as he has his assistant call over to the River Walk asking for Rubidia to swing by. Sage to, if she were available. Now here they are, slightly after ten and Gabriel is over near his large scrolling map, poking areas lightly with a good ol' yellow wooden graphite pencil. Three of his operatives are out on business today, leaving the two others working at fixing computers and oiling the hinges and mechanisms of the Cage. Four-armed Gracie is busy with appointments and calls, ready with a smiling, "Good morning and welcome to the Office of Strategic Services. How can we help you today?"
Rubidia arrives with a large to go cup of strong coffee in hand and returns a shrug to the blue four-armed receptionist. "Gabriel wants to see me. And he doesn’t realize I'm often up past two in the morning." She notes her tone already exasperated.
Gabriel walks over, and gives Gracie a subtle shake of his head. Yes, everyone is supposed to be asked to disarm, but why annoy the center of the universe? "Ruby, thanks for coming!" he greets with a smile. "Haven't seen you in a long time, I guess you still have a standing order for coffee? At least it's not 'bed head,' right?" The old soldier allows a sweeping arm motion further in. "Did I get the right term? It's a new one."
Rubidia shakes her head. "My hair is perfect, as is necessary for going out in public. Thus I had to get up two hours ago, two hours earlier than normal. Thus this had better be worth it, or I'll start billing you for my time." She answers in short before taking a long pull from her coffee.
Gabriel chuckles and finds the edge of one of the metal desks to lean against. "I'll be sure to forget my wallet if it comes to that." He clears his throat long enough to composes his thoughts, then states, "Ruby, I know you as a performer, and I know you as someone who lights up like a firefly but with more flair. To me, that says you're weird. Here? Weird sometimes helps. One problem you might be able to help with, based on what I know of you. A second and third, maybe not, unless your own particular uniqueness goes beyond what I've seen."
Rubidia finds a chair to unceremoniously plop herself into as Gabriel does his introduction. She shrugs at what he has and has not seen and takes another pull from her coffee. "And?" She asks afterwards.
"And, I have three problems," Gabriel reiterates with a grin. "Any chance you have time to think about 'em? You've heard of the supposedly 'missing' refugees out of the compound here in Kingsdale, right?"
"Missing, departed, hidden. Something along those lines yeah. So what are your three problems exactly?" Rubidia asks in turn, her tone lightening a little bit as some progress is made and more caffeine is taken in. "I can't tell if I have time to think about them if I don’t know what they are."
Gabriel smiles, "Just thought I'd give you a chance to say your guitar was already busy with other endeavors." He leans back slightly, then comes forward again. "Okay, three problems, short version. First, I want to know where the refugees are. Second, I want to know if you're psychic or something and can tell me what made the mercs kill each other. Third, I know for damn sure that there are going to be refugees coming in from Tolkeen, even if the important people are laughing at me, and I want to know where their front is, and where the bulk begins so I know how long I have to prepare. Finally, and as a bonus question, I have a bit of business on a very personal nature to consider."
Rubidia shakes her head. "Sage is a better psychic than I am. I have some capability. But my unique talents are the bulk of my extra resources. She could probably tell you about such things." She answers before pausing to consider the other questions. A few more sips of Joe as she does before she shakes her head again. "Where what front is? You expect them to be walking here or what?"
"They're probably not going to be flying in on a Trans-World Stratocruiser or via limo, are they," Gabriel asks lightheartedly. "Yeah, I expect land-based refugees, walking and driving when lucky. I know that Tolkeen's full of mages - or was - but they can't all travel like Leonard, can they? So yes, I am assuming there's going to be some front end, then some bulk behind that. Just hoping that perhaps with your zip, you could tear around North America for a little while, find it, and tell me where it is." It's a bit after ten in the morning, and there are only four employees at the office; Gabriel, two of his operatives, and the very bright, four-armed D-Bee receptionist-slash-personal assistant waiting at her front desk. Although technically he only received a single affirmative after his call to the Spa, Gabriel left a note with Gracie to let Sage in - no disarming her this time around, just to be fair.
It seems that Sage has an inkling of things that go within her own domain as she makes her way to Gabriel's office. Whether to follow in Rubidia's footsteps or for her own reasons remains to be seen. Her manner polite and pleasant enough with the secretary before moving to see Gabriel himself.
"Why not?" Rubidia asks Gabriel with a cock of her had and raised eyebrow. "I don’t know much about magic, but that city had a lot of magic. Mages that can travel a thousand miles in a step, mages that can ride ley lines, mages that can bend time. I dunno. Assuming all will be walking seems silly to me. What's stopping the Coalition army from slaughtering them? No I think if they are coming here, a number of them are already here, making arrangements for others. But that’s a big if. As there are a lot of other cities they could go to instead. Some much closer."
Gabriel makes a 'pfft' noise in response to one of Rubidia's comments. "Well then I would have liked it if they'd been brave enough to let me know, when I was poking my nose around trying to help." As Sage enters, he sits up straighter from where he's leaning against the edge of a utilitarian metal desk, waving her over with a smile. "For people who could step a thousand miles in an instant, they're taking their sweet damn time. As you ask - if they're still there, what's keeping a big Coalition army from slaughtering them? But I can ask around. While I'm asking around, could you zip around for me anyway, if you have time between concerts?"
Sage offers a faint smile as she wanders over, placing a hand lightly on Rubidia's back once she's close enough to do so. "Hello." She says simply Gabriel and quite possibly a silent greeting to her wife. "So, you're going to steal my wife for a bit, hm?" She asks softly, before letting a little amusement show on her features.
Rubidia brightens noticeably when Sage joins them. She smiles sweetly and looks to her partner. "I should let you decide how much to charge him for my time and presence." She notes with a sly smile before shrugging to Gabriel. "Just because they are not here or in between does not mean they are there. They could be hiding, or taking shelter in other settlements. You should just ask a clairvoyant for your answers." She notes, gesturing to Sage.
Gabriel stands up and leans out enough to shake Sage's hand in greeting. "Hi, Sage, glad you could make it over. As I've been explaining, I have some problems that I think I've reached an impasse on, when it comes to my own skills. Mostly having to do with refugees, and one for me." He looks back to Rubidia. "I will. But would it really be too much of your time to take a look for me anyway? Even in Tolkeen itself, they weren't all mages. In the surrounding thousands of square miles, they certainly weren't all mages, or knew a teleporter." He turns back to the psychic in the room. "So, Sage. I have two sets of missing refugees, one compound with a bunch of heavy magic on it, and a few missing people of my own. That's the brief version; any chance you could help me out?"
Sage reaches out a hand to briefly shake the offered hand, "No problem." She replies simply before looking over to Rubidia with a smile growing on her lips. "Well, he does owe me one favour already." She replies, "Of course, if he's going to make you run around on errands... perhaps it's only fair that he should return the favour." She muses, before turning her attention back to the conversation at hand. She purses her lips after her potential task is addressed. "It is possible that I could foresee something with Clairvoyance." She replies, "But, the more I know or have to use to sense with would be likely improve the odds."
"Yes it would actually." Rubidia replies with a shake of her head. "I could bring my maps to explain it better, but I'll try without. When I 'zip' around as you say a travel around the planet 4 times every second. Doesn’t allow me to take in a lot of scenery en route. Your refugees would be a blur in a fraction of a nanosecond. Unless I managed to stop where I can see them. You point out a location on a map and I can go there no problem, navigate by the stars and bam, in there fast. But without even a general location, it's a needle in a haystack. We'd have to do a grid search that would take several weeks. Sage can probably find them in a few days."
Gabriel nods at Rubidia's explanation. "Okay, I didn't know that, sorry to press you on it, Ruby." With eyes turning back to Sage, he crosses his arms and wonders aloud and slightly off-topic, "Could I erase my debts and put you on retainer for a while with unique gifting of something difficult to find on this planet?"
Sage nods faintly to Rubidia's first comment, "There is a chance, yes." She admits to her possibility of finding the refugees sooner. She turns her attention to Gabriel, before raising a brow faintly. "And, how do you propose to erase your debts?" She asks softly, before glancing towards Rubidia. "You can add suggestions, if you like." She decides, before looking back to Gabriel.
Rubidia nods to Sage and goes to take another sip from her coffee. She comes up short though as the cup is empty so she rises to see if the office has coffee. In her search she turns up a brochure sitting the new transport service. "I have an idea for repaying, but it'd be a bit exclusive in favoring my ends dear."
After listening lightly to Rubidia, Gabriel turns his head slightly toward where his operative is working on the Cage, letting out a brief warble as he does so, something a little blue bird might do. The man looks in his direction and Gabriel thrusts his chin briefly. "Bring the jacket," he says. It's not an order per se, but it's definite that he's in charge. To his credit, the operative is well-trained himself, understanding the hierarchy. It only takes a moment for him to open a heretofore concealed bit of the wall, reach in, then lob a length of orange-and-gray mottled material the Colonel's direction. Deftly caught, Gabriel stands, holding it to reveal... chain mail. "Best that Wormwood can offer, and it's yours to do with as you will. Wear it, sell it, hang it on the wall. Payment for a rushed psychic reading and a few to come?"
"I wouldn't be surprised." Sage replies to Rubidia before she turns her attention to the activity caused by the request for the jacket. She raises a brow, before she wanders to take a closer look at the item. "Is it more than it appears?" She asks simply, letting her hand drift towards the jacket. Given time, she could probably sense what the jacket might be able to provide.
Rubidia shrugs. "Well I'm going to be performing at the Lady Luck fairly regularly in the future. But.. Some of my fans are a bit queasy about venturing into the dregs to see me. You could solve that for me Gabriel and earn good credits in the process. Charge whatever you like, that’s between you and Fizzlesnoot. What's key to me is that there is a service available to take my fans to and from the Lady Luck when I perform." She explains, paying little heed to the mail as she searches for coffee.
Gabriel gives Rubidia a little sigh. Not at her, but at the idea, as he explains. "I'm sorry, Ruby, but I can't do that. I won't do that. Every dime that finds its way to that club eventually finds its way to organized crime, in one form or another. I hope that you get all the listeners you want - but I'm not going to bring 'em there. I didn't show up at the opening for it, and I already denied one question from Fizzlesnoot about it. This business is messy, but I do what I can do to something about it." He then tosses the full chain mail suit - very light, apparently - back across the room. "Jake, hold it up, would you?" The man gives him an affirmative nod, and holds it out fully before himself as if he were measuring a dress against his girlfriend's back. Gabriel himself draws the pistol from the calf-holster, a rarely-see treat for anyone. "Here, Sage." A moment of steps takes him across to the other corner of the room, about thirty feet away. The long, sixteen-inch barrel is raised, and he takes his time sighting it in on the suit. The pistol then moves just barely enough to be seen, and the end of the barrel gives a tiny wink, nothing more. Back at the armor, it puffs back a bit with an impact, and a blunted round clatters down to the floor. "I wouldn't have wanted to shoot him without that thing in place. I hate writing letters to loved ones."
Sage makes sure to be out of the way for when the man makes the demonstration, before considering the results. "So, it is a good suit of armor." She replies, "Likely no more subtle than another I have." She adds, before pursing her lips. "Perhaps a little better protection, though." She adds with a faint shrug, "Perhaps if you let me read before deciding one way or the other."
Rubidia shrugs giving up her search for caffeine. "That’s too bad. it will be up to Sage then. Fitting as she's the one who can really help you."
"It's very, very, quiet" Gabriel says, selling one of the Wormwood-origin armor's finer points. "But here's what I'm looking for. I want to know where the refugees from our local compound have gone." One finger is ticked off. "I want to know where or when the new refugees are, or will be." A second finger is ticked off. "I want to know about the magic at the compound - was it some kind of deliberate ritual? Something unfortunate?" Third finger goes down, then the fourth is simply held. "Then a matter of personal nature. Some of my men, who I saw die, are now alive again and I need to know more about them. It's not an undead thing, it's a time travel thing," he adds on quickly.
"I will perform a reading on it, and decide." Sage comments simply, "I have sets of armor already, after all." She comments, before pursing her lips. "But, I have some other needs that may be more important." She adds, "It may take some time to explain, however, so you might as well tell me what you need." She says before listening to the list of things the man would want, then nodding faintly. "You don't ask for much, do you?" She muses simply.
Rubidia eyes her empty coffee cup one more time and shrugs one last time. "Well you two seem to have things in hand. I'm gonna go get more coffee, and check on the vending machines I ordered."
"Thanks, Ruby. Have a good concert tonight. Great idea on those machines, if they work," he jokes. To Sage, "Just trying to pay for time spent," Gabriel says to Sage with a smile. "I don't know hard it is for you to do what you do, either. But assuming that there's some odd correlation between what we do, this suit would pay me for equivalent investigation work." He can't help but shake his head a bit, asking, "What do I need about what? The men? Because the rest I hope I clarified." Without any further preparation, he hurries into his private office, and comes out with a small data pad, extending it to Sage. "You need a list of questions or something? Can you... ah, 'clarivoy' -" he tries to conjugate "- them as well? I don't even know what that provides."
Sage nods faintly to Rubidia, "I'll see you later." She replies, before she looks towards the man. "And, it may not take as much effort as doing all the legwork that conventional means require... but it can be a fickle thing as well." She comments with a shrug, "But, it could provide better results if I had a clear idea of who I would be looking for... abstract ideas could potentially lead to misleading information." She comments before shrugging faintly. "But, if there are items belonging to the people, that could also yield results." She points out, "Of course, if you were to think of what they look like, that might be enough."
Gabriel looks, and seems pleased enough that the pad was handed over. "This is all very quiet, Sage. All of my operatives know about it, but it can't leave these walls. No one. Maybe not even Ruby, because she talks a lot." He leans out to poke the small pad. "My men are currently living in Chi-Town, or so I am led to believe. I've actually spoken with two of them via video from Whykin. Some very, very strange contradictions, and this pad was supposedly smuggled out to me. I know that it's from them. But there's just too much that I *don't* know, and don't know what I can trust to believe." He lists a few items that he needs to know. "Their location, as precise as you can. How they were captured. Their state of mind. And... now, this is extremely important. There are forty-seven of them, forty-two who are supposedly still with me in a meaningful way. Here's the thing. What I got on the vid at Whykin showed a man who had been thoroughly brainwashed into believing a very strange, warped view of history and duty to country and Coalition. What I got on this pad? Is the man I know. I need you to tell me who I'm really talking to, because they're trained well enough to fake it either direction." A little sheepishly, he asks, "Is that possible?" After a moment of silent pause, he adds in, "Of course, anything else that you can tell me about them."
Sage considers the man, holding the data pad simply. She considers the words being offered. "Clairvoyance is something is more seeing something briefly than knowing everything about it." She replies, "Whether I'll be able to sense enough remains to be seen." She adds, before she moves towards a place to sit. "Give me some time to review this, have something to drink brought to me, and if I seem unresponsive for a time... see that I am not disturbed unless you have reason to suspect something is not right."
Gabriel passes the instructions around the room, but does ask one thing. "You can... read this pad, just like you did St. James' gear, right? In addition to this new power?"
"I could read the device if needed." Sage replies before raising a brow. "I am not sure what you mean by new power, though. I have been Clairvoyant for some time."
With a decent shrug learned in the early half of the Twentieth Century, Gabriel muses, "It's new to me." He offers one short wave towards his own office. "If you're looking for somewhere not to be disturbed, that's one of the safest places in the city. I can sit in there with you if you need someone to.. ah.. watch over you?"
"Not entirely... where do you think those impressions of the secret base near Whykin came from?" She asks with a little musing in her tone before nodding as she moves to relocate. "I should be safe enough, but you may sit in the room if you wish."
Gabriel moves to allow Sage to sit and work wherever she pleases, following her as needed. "Secret base? Hmm." That said? It's all up to powers now.
