“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

As Goodwill went off on his quest for cloth, Lynx stalked around, looking for a nice, comfortable chair to relax in. Finding her mark, she plopped down with a satisfied sigh. It had been a long day. Glancing over to Cosmic Girl, she offered, “So how are you feeling? Certainly has been a shocking few days, hasn’t it?”

Cosmic Girl also took a seat. "It has been very eventful. I really hope we can catch up to that fleeing villain soon, before he can construct any more of those creatures. I do not like the idea of going through all this a second time."

She craned her head to watch Goodwill leave. He was very qualified for the job. And while she was a superhero with remarkable powers, and rigid training, she was also a sixteen year old girl. No power on earth could have stopped her looking!

Scraps* had meet got excitedly under everyone's feet as the gathering came together.
He bounced around happily, his usual rascally self, seeking to both claim as much attention as possible, and lick everyone to death.


He, of course, was completely non-concerned about Goodwill's return from the dead.  To a puppy, if it happened, it just happened.  It was easy playing a puppy-dog character who just took all this kind of thing in their proverbial stride.   No need for metaphysical confusions and contemplation here, no sir.   Just bouncing and excitement and LOVE FOR EVERYONE**.



* Who's player wasn't online yesterday way all this began   ;-P

** except Spite.   She was just awful.   No biscuit for her!

"Indeed. That was truly a frustrating encounter. Honestly, I'm still recovering from the last time. At least now he won't have Blackjack, right? In any case..." Lynx paused, a light smirk donning her masked face, "Got something caught in your eye there, ey Cosmos? Or is this some new-fangled neck exercise I haven't heard about yet?"

Shifting her attention a bit to focus on the four-legged member of their group, Lynx offered a hand to give the Wonder Dog some scratching. Apparently dogs enjoyed that sort of thing. She did not know exactly why that nugget of information popped up while looking into the existence of immortality, but pop up it had. And who was she to deny the dog his dose of scratching?

Gil re-emerged from the bedroom in a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt, without shoes or socks. His hair was still damp, but combed neatly. He hadn't shaved yet for the day, and had a bit of a five o'clock shadow.

"Can I get you ladies anything to drink before we start?" he asked, one foot already pointed towards the kitchen. "Or do you want to just get right to it?"

Pondering for a moment, Lynx asked, “Do you have any Pepsi? I’m feeling like thinking young at the moment.” It was rude to refuse someone’s gift, especially in their home, after all. And, for something as innocuous as this, following Brin tradition here wasn’t going to raise any eyebrows, right? Besides, the advertisements were entertaining and she wanted a taste.

Besides, wouldn’t it give Cosmic Girl something to look at?

Cosmic Girl could not help but blush, and the colour did not match her mask very well. "Nothing!" She said it just a little too fast, as well. "Um, yes, soda is fine!"

She bent down and fluffles Scraps. He was the best little wonder dog ever, after all!

The apartment being a converted loft, the kitchen wasn't exactly separate from the living room. It was just one corner of the cavernous space, partitioned off by a bank of countertop. Thus Gil and the others were still within line of sight and earshot at all times.

"Would Coke be okay instead of Pepsi?" he called back over his shoulder while peering into the refrigerator. He drank either indiscriminately, but he knew that some people were die-hard supporters of one brand or the other. He just bought whichever was on sale. (He also called them 'pop' rather than 'soda' but that was a Midwest thing.) He pulled out the iconic glass bottle and held it up. "It'll literally take me a minute to fly to the corner store and back if you'd rather have Pepsi, so that'd be no problem."

Lynx stopped to ponder for a moment. Would it be normal to insist upon Pepsi? She knew these “soda pops” were supposed to taste different, but she wouldn’t want to make the guy leave his place just to get her a particular kind. No, Coke, also known as Coca-Cola, she’d learned, would have to be fine.

With a nod, she replied, “Yes, Coke would be fine. My apologies for asking for something you don’t have.”

Leaning back into the seat, Ch’rava enjoyed the moment. Technically, they were all here on business, but it was nice to just sit and relax with comrades. Admittedly, they were likely only going to be together until this odd business concerning this Norwood fellow were over and done with. She had assumed they would all go their separate ways after the hostage rescue, maybe have some impromptu team-ups here and there, but this situation just kept revealing more odd notes and cowardly foes. Though, if she really wanted to get down to tacks, even this was ultimately business...not that Ch’rava could really send out any reports in the first place.

"Oh, Coke is fine!" Cosmos piped up, still a little embarrased. But starting to get back onto focus. They had work to do. Though she had to admit, Goodwill did have a nice loft. She only had a room, and anything she wanted in it requires strict parental scrutiny and approval. She rather liked the idea of a little freedom.

Gil returned a few moments later with three bottles of Coke and three glasses. Foregoing the use of a bottle opener, he popped the caps off the bottles with his thumbnail.

"Anyway," he said, "what was that note I found?"

Having brought the note with her, Lynx laid the envelope out on a nearby table.

“On one side,” she gestured with the opened Coke, “Some sort of chemical notes. There’s formulae, combinations, reactions, whatever. I don’t really have an understanding of this stuff, but... I think it’s safe to assume this entails those Chemical Men that...we fought.” She certainly wasn’t going to say, “that killed you, Goodwill, and tried to do the same to me.” That’d be too much.

“On the other,” Lynx flipped over the paper, “we have the actual letter. For our new friend, Dr. Norwood, this is a bill. For, like, expensive lab equipment from ‘SciLabCo.’ The full itemization is missing, along with the bad doctor’s mailing address, but it looks like he needed some transistors.”

Summary over and done with, Lynx took a sip of the cool, supposedly refreshing beverage...and had to stifle a small cough. Wow, that was fizzy. Good though. Somewhat sweet.

Cosmic Girl frowned at this news. "I do not like the sound of that! I do not really know anything about this sort of thing, but transistors... that's for electronics! Machines! Do you think he is building some sort of terrible death machine? If it is anything like what he did with chemistry and biology, I think we are all in very big trouble!"

She rose, and took a drink from her bottle, before starting to pace. It made her cape swirl. Dramatic, but distracting. "I am pretty sure I could blow it up if I were close enough, whatever it is!"

With a raised bottle, Lynx smirked, “And I just might be able to overload his mechanical crafts with electricity. Still, we should be careful. It sounded like last time was some sort of research project for Dr. Norwood, so anything he makes here might be made specifically resistant to our abilities.” She paused for another swig. With a satisfied grin, she exclaimed, “This soda pop’s pretty tasty! Aaanyway.,.if there’s anything I know about science types, it’s that, even when someone’s got a specialty, they tend to try different inventions, experiments, et cetera. Dr. Norwood’s most likely doing something technological, but we should try to be ready for anything. Of course, we have no real way of knowing whether or not there’ll be more Chemical Men. On the one hand, we’ve seen them before, so they’d be less effective than when we knew nothing. Although, they were pretty effective last time...”

"Maybe we should check out this 'SciLabCo' and see if we can get a look at their customer records," Gil suggested. It was the only thing he could think of. They probably had a policy of not sharing that sort of information, but it wasn't as though it was protected by a legal privilege or anything. They might be able to convince the SciLabCo folks to give them a peek. "If we have their return address on the envelope, it should be easy enough to go check them out."

He didn't know where SciLabCo was, but two of them could fly and the third had super-speed. They could get anywhere in the country in a matter of hours.

Hopefully, though, they would be in the tri-state area.

With a nod, Lynx explained, “Good plan. As it happens, we do have SciLabCo‘s return address. It’s in New Jersey, so it shouldn’t take too long to find the place. I just hope it’s a real, normal company and not some villainous supplier or something. I’m not keen on running into a trap, after all!”

Lynx took another swig of her Coke. She’d have to consider getting some in the future for herself. Maybe even some Pepsi too, if it was really something that people might insist on over this. “So, should we head on over right around now, or should we do some more planning first? I can’t really think of anything in particular that could help yet myself, though. Hopefully, we’ll be able to simply have a chat and get those records.”

"If we're going out, I ought to change into my 'work' clothes," Gil said with a slight laugh. He had just gotten dressed. Clearly he should have just opted for his uniform in the first place. "Give me another minute."

He headed into the bedroom again.

Cosmic Girl stopped her pacing and nodded. "It is a good start. I wonder, though. Maybe we should do a two pronged approach? Two of us go in the front, all obvious and making a fuss, and the third tries to get in covertly? While they are busy dealing with the noisy ones, the third might be able to find something out. If they are spooked, they might try to hide some evidence, and I absolutely think we want to know about that."

"I'd like to think that they'll be on the up-and-up," Gil called from the bedroom, perhaps demonstrating a bit of naivety. "I mean, they sent the guy a letter in the mail, they didn't send guys to break his legs."

Maybe he was being too trusting, but he was known for his belief in the inherent goodness of people. Apparently a trip to (and from) the morgue did nothing to darken his preconceptions.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Mon 22 June 2020.

“Maybe they’re using some sort of strike system? Like, ‘forget your payment the first time, and we’ll send a letter. Forget it again, and your legs are mine!’ or some other such threat? Still, you’re probably right. After all, it was addressed to Norwood, as opposed to some sort of villain name like Doctor Mischief or Mr. Chemical or The Fountain-Overflower. They might not even know the guy’s a baddie,” Lynx called back, standing. Gesturing her half-emptied bottle to the other heroine in the room, she continued, “Still, that’s a good plan, Cosmos. We don’t know if they’ve anything to hide, but if they do, we’d have better odds at finding it. Probably shouldn’t have Mr. Famous over there do the sneaking though.”

"Yes. Actually, we might be better off if they did see Goodwill and panic. People who are nervous and in a rush tend to make mistakes. It would be easier to catch them doing something nefarious in those circumstances. And if they are not up to no good, a visit from someone famous might turn enough heads that they won't spot someone poking around inside." Cosmos was warming to this idea, clearly.

She took another swig of Coke, and started pacing again. "Okay, so. If Goodwill and I go in the front, it means that Lynx here can get inside and do the really devious part of the task. She's the fastest, after all. And I am not really designed for sneaking. My costume is almost as loud as my powers!"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:44, Mon 22 June 2020.

"It's settled, then. Cosmic Girl and Goodwill will walk in the front door and make a polite, direct inquiry, while White Lynx sneaks around and finds out if there's any dirt to be had on them." It was as sound a plan as any, Goodwill thought as he emerged from the bedroom again, in full uniform. He even had on the cape, which he didn't always wear. It made an impact, though, and they wanted that impact.

He held out a hand to Cosmic Girl, and added, "I believe the expression is 'Come fly with me'?"

“Sounds like a plan! I’ll make sure to keep out of sight.” Downing the rest of her Coke, Lynx let out a subdued burp. “Apologies.” That was moderately annoying.

Securing her mask, she said, “I’m all set! Thanks again for the beverage.”

Soon, not far from Lakehurst, New Jersey... Right on the edge of the Pine Barrens...

At the business address of SciLabCo...

...It looks like a perfectly ordinary office building/warehouse...