Ivy and Chrome PbP Forums

"It's about you standing right there while the sheriff puts you in cuffs." Dane keeps the gun level, watching the guy's eyes for any telltale signs of what he might be planning. "Stop moving." He pulls the hammer back on the revolver — slow and deliberate — mostly for effect.

"It's about you standing right there while the sheriff puts you in cuffs." Dane keeps the gun level, watching the guy's eyes for any telltale signs of what he might be planning. "Stop moving." He pulls the hammer back on the revolver, slow and deliberate, mostly for effect.

"Woah woah woah! Okay! Just don't kill me!" he pleads as Joe rapidly shakes his head while getting back to his feet.

"Wife's always gabbin' that I'm my own worst adversary..." Joe mutters as he calls out at the man, "Face down on the ground. Hands behind your back!" in an authoritative booming and unnerving tone. The man promptly complies, dropping to his knees, then lowering himself to his chest, then slides his hands to the small of his back. Joe kneels onto his back and immediately begins cuffing him. "Good job, Dane. You may become a deputy yet! Maybe even sheriff!"

The man confusedly states, "I didn't know Smith Falls had a sheriff's department."

"Is it safe to come down?" George asks from upstairs, "I've got the other guy."

"Yeah, Dad, we're secure." Dane lowers the gun until it's pointing at the ground and carefully releases the hammer. "Did you find anybody else up there?"

Part of him wants to hear that they found Vi safe upstairs. Part of him hopes she's nowhere near this place — that she's already long gone somewhere these guys can't reach her. oO( And somewhere Joe can't drag her back for a trial either. )Oo

He hands the gun back to Joe and wanders toward the computer terminal, making it look casual. "Alright if I take a closer look at this?" He directs the question somewhere between Joe and the guy in cuffs and no one in particular, then starts poking at it — partly to give himself an excuse to already know what he found, partly to see if he can pull the message board up. [OOC: No use of psionics beyond anything left from the last use.]

After a minute he steps back. "I found something. A message board post." He reads it off from memory. "'Teenage nuisance CHEAP. No questions.' and 'We made a mistake. Attractive teenage girl needing rehomed. 1000 credits OBO, no questions asked.'"

He hands the gun back to Joe and wanders toward the computer terminal, making it look casual. "Alright if I take a closer look at this?" He directs the question somewhere between Joe and the guy in cuffs and no one in particular, then starts poking at it, partly to give himself an excuse to already know what he found, partly to see if he can pull the message board up.

Within a few seconds, he finds the message board. His dad walks down another handcuffed guy, who looks quite similar to the one on the ground.

George nods to Joe, "There's a padlocked door up there. I'll keep an eye on these two." Joe grabs the hammer and heads upstairs, cowboy boots clopping loudly against the old wooden steps.

After a minute, Dane steps back. "I found something. A message board post." He reads it off from memory. "'Teenage nuisance CHEAP. No questions.' and 'We made a mistake. Attractive teenage girl needing rehomed. 1000 credits OBO, no questions asked.'"

“Good work, Dane.” George proudly nods allowing pride to soften the lines in his face. “Your first brush with danger. If your mama were still with us, I’d be a dead man by sundown. So let’s… try not to make this a habit.” His voice wavers between humor and something far more fragile. Before Dane can answer, a violent pounding erupts upstairs, sharp and frantic, like someone trying to break through the world itself as the sound of wood splinters shower the upstairs. A girl’s sob rips through the air within a heartbeat.

The men on the floor panic instantly.

“It’s not what you think!”
“We were set up!”
“You gotta listen! We’re innocent!”

“Save it,” George snaps, the authority in his voice cutting through their babble. “Falls PD can sort out your innocence.” He jerks his chin toward Dane. “Leave the computer. Mosley’ll handle the rest.”

Bootsteps creak overhead. Then a deputy escorts a young dark‑haired girl down the stairs. She lifts her face just enough for Dane to catch the flash of bright green eyes behind long, tangled black bangs. Her mascara has bled into smoky streaks from days of crying. She’s drowning in black leather jacket, skirt and boots and a spiked collar that looks more costume than clothing.

George’s brows shoot up. “Did these hooligans make you wear that getup?”

“No! That’s how she was!” one of the men blurts, desperate.

“You best exercise your right to silence,” the sheriff booms, “before I get a bigger urge to stomp your guts out.”

The girl flinches, voice barely a whisper. “No… this is what I like.” She shrinks in on herself. She is not the Violet they were looking for.

George softens. “Your parents are worried sick about you, Violet.”

Her breath hitches. Tears well, turning her green eyes almost luminous. She covers her face as her shoulders shake, each sob hitting like a tremor.

He keys his radio. “This is Deputy Stryker. We need police presence at Fritz Home Repair. Missing girl located. Over.”

OOC: Bonus experience: Saving an innocent.

Within ten minutes, Chief Lane, Mosley, and half a dozen officers swarm the place, taking control of the scene.

Outside, snow flurries drift in the wind as Joe stops George and Dane. “So… not the same Vi. Not the same case. I think we need to...”

The door bursts open. Chief Lane barrels out, breath fogging in the cold. “They’ve got information you’ll want!” He jogs toward them, winded. “They were contracted to kidnap a girl named Violet. They got the one. The target has pink and purple hair... the boxer girl who vanished last year. They grabbed this one ‘cause she had her hood up.” He pauses, then continues after analyzing their reactions, “That mean anything to you? They had a message board running. Mosley traced the post back to somewhere inside Smith Falls. Whoever they contacted has serious computer skills. Covered their tracks real well.” Lane turns to Dane. “Think your boy can dig up more?”

George and Joe both swivel toward Dane, identical slow-building grins spreading across their faces. Grins that say we already know the answer.

Dane’s thoughts of his dead mom and his dad’s reaction shift into teenage insecurity, his hands shaking slightly and his heart beating rapidly now that the adrenaline rush is wearing off. "Yeah, I can try. I mean... this guy’s good. There may not be anything I can backtrace, especially if he accessed this computer and wiped his tracks from this end."

He turns toward his dad. "Before we head back to the station, I’d like to make a quick stop." oO(Amber should know they’re under arrest, and that this Violet is safe, at least.)Oo

Dane’s thoughts of his dead mom and his dad’s reaction shift into teenage insecurity, his hands shaking slightly and his heart beating rapidly now that the adrenaline rush is wearing off. "Yeah, I can try. I mean... this guy’s good. There may not be anything I can backtrace, especially if he accessed this computer and wiped his tracks from this end."

He turns toward his dad. "Before we head back to the station, I’d like to make a quick stop." oO(Amber should know they’re under arrest, and that this Violet is safe, at least)Oo

At that moment, Mosley pops his head outside, "Hey Dane! Come check this out. I may have found something."

Chief Lane frowns, "You best get in there, boy."

George looks as though he's about to defend Dane when Joe gestures for him to stand down.

Dane hesitates for a moment, his body warring between the adrenaline crash and growing mental fatigue. He swallows hard, then steps back inside toward the terminal. "Hey, Mosley, whatcha got?"

He hesitates for a moment, his body warring between the adrenaline crash and growing mental fatigue. He swallows hard, then steps back inside toward the terminal. "Hey, Mosley, whatcha got?"

Mosley excitedly waves him over as he begins explaining, "So, I got into the message board panel and I ran some geo-location and found the source of the post is from within Smith Falls! Come look!"

Seeing where the perp was tackled and having to grab the gun brings back anxious feelings as he circles the desk to the terminal. He could have been shot! As he stands next to Mosley, he sees what Mosley found. It's an address local the Smith Falls intranet structure. The site itself was a hijacked local business subdirectory and has been kept well hidden using a non-standard encrypted port for communications. A quick view of the address shows that the connection did indeed originate from a local vendor.

"And check this," his fingers begin clacking, showing Dane the vendor site, then shifting to the subdirectory to reveal the message board. "When I followed the address back, it shows a local wireless router was accessed with poor encryption. So when I got in," he pulls up a access log from the router itself. Dane questions if Mosley's tactics are legal, "It shows that whoever used it was within 75 feet of the access point." He then laughs, "but that's not all. The router belongs to an office building that has no other computer users or buildings close by. Just the bridge near the falls." He looks at Dane, proud that he's finally contributing, "We should check it out!"

His dad peeks in, "You two okay in here? Not playing video games again, are ya?"

"Yeah, Dad, almost done. Just let us finish up our game of Super Mario first." Dane gives him a teenage eye roll after naming a game he found on the device his dad gave him, then turns back to Mosley. "That’s good work, Mosley. Looks like our hacker just left us another clue to follow. Mind if I take a quick poke at it and see if there’s anything else before we give Dad and Joe the good news?"

OOC: No using his special abilities this time.

"Yeah, Dad, almost done. Just let us finish up our game of Super Mario first." Dane gives him a teenage eye roll after naming a game he found on the device his dad gave him, then turns back to Mosley. "That’s good work, Mosley. Looks like our hacker just left us another clue to follow. Mind if I take a quick poke at it and see if there’s anything else before we give Dad and Joe the good news?"

"Go for it," Mosley scoots over, allowing Dane to poke around.

Dane doesn’t just see what Mosley was doing, even without his abilities, he feels it, like a cold draft slipping under a locked door. He slides into the chair, eyes narrowing at the terminal. Mosley hadn’t just poked around the public‑facing site; he’d tunneled straight into the business network; deep enough that Dane’s pulse kicks up. No warrant or written permission, just pure defiance to the law and very illegal.

But the damage is done, and Dane moves forward anyway, fingers gliding over the keys with the quiet precision of someone who’s lived this environment for half his life. The company’s travel‑info webpage is just the surface. Beneath it, the ARP scan blooms across the screen like a constellation: a network switch, router, printer, half a dozen workstations, a media server hosting both the website and the hidden message board. And tucked in the corner, like a spider in its web, a full security camera system with automated backups.

Dane exhales. “Of course they left it wide open.” The security login prompt appears. He tries the factory defaults on a whim. Of course, they work. As the system unfolds: six camera feeds, all archived and timestamped. He scrubs backward to the moment the anonymous post about Vi went live. The footage jitters, then stabilizes.

At first, it’s nothing, just the sleepy street, the wind nudging snow across the pavement. Then something shifts in the corner of the frame. A familiar shape is parked. Dane leans in and can vaguely make out the Humvee. Parked across the street like a patient predator. No driver or movement inside. Then, without warning, it smoothly and deliberately rolls forward, gliding out of frame, heading toward the bridge over the falls. Someone knows how to remotely drive a vehicle around and use it to launch cyberattacks from it. Why hasn't local law noticed?