Rei takes out a business card and writes the burner number upon it, "Use this number for anything involved in this investigation or if you need Mindstrike instead of Rei Rousseau."

She then says, "If there is nothing else, let us enjoy the rest of our lunch. I've arranged for my driver Simon to take you back to the museum."

She smiles and takes the card.  "Thank you.  I'll figure something out and get back to you.  Can I ask you a question about leading your dual life?"  She puts a few items on her plate and smiles at Zahrah.

Rei sighs, "I'm probably a terrible person to ask as I don't lead a dual life like some heroes. My identity is public, and I have resources most do not. I just try to do what is right. I will try to help with an answer though."

"You try to help...because you feel you should?  You have a power and you use it to help because you feel you should?"

Rei nods, "I try. I can only hope I can do enough, but I am not always able."

As before, Zarah took nothing to eat or drink, and simply stood obediently behind Stephanie as the conversation went on. The dual life question was not altogether foreign to her- Stephanie had her pretending to be a graduate student when encountering others in the museum, and previous masters had her pose as a girlfriend, lover, concubine, or assistant of some kind. She understood the wisdom of this in her case, but did not understand the necessity for why a human might do so. They did not change ownership in such a manner. So, she listened on as Mindstrike gave her response, even though she said she did not have such a dual life.

"How do you feel at the end of the day...when you can't?"

Rei becomes quite somber as she answers, "Not well. I don't know if you saw the news about the fire at the dry cleaners. There were people trapped in the building. I never would have been able to find them or get to them. Knight Wolf was there, and he saved all but one of them that had already passed from the smoke, I suppose. I was some help, but not much, and if Knight Wolf hadn't been there, none of those people would have survived."

Rei sighs and takes a deep breath composing herself, "It was as if I didn't have powers."

Stephanie seems to think on this and nods her head.  "Thank you.  I was debating how much I want to get involved and I think I've made the right decision."

Rei nods, "Doing what is right takes risk and can be monumentally difficult, but even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Zahrah remained silent. Stephanie's statement was concerning, even if she did not fully understand what she meant. That would be something to ask about.

And personally, she thought one must also remember that the cynics would say that the end result of a good deed is a slap with the palms.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:45, Tue 14 June 2022.

"My father used to ask, 'how do you eat an elephant?'  My reply was, 'one bite at a time.'   So I agree with you."

Rei smiles at Dr. Brown's wisdom of her father.

She says, "I know a few people that would try to eat the elephant all at once."

After lunch is finished Rei stands, "I'm sure we all have busy afternoons ahead of us, so I must bid you adieu. If you have any more information about the attempted robbery, please let me know. I will get back to you if I have any additional information."

Zahrah waited until Stephanie was finished, and departed with her, a step behind.

"Thank you.  I'll get back to you soon."  Stephanie gets up and takes her leave.  She looks at Zahrah and nods her head.

[Ooc]
We'll split the posts again. Let me know what you next moves will be.

Rei has her driver take Dr. Brown and Zahrah back to the museum.

She finishes her work for the day and goes to the roof. She summons her costume and flies to the trailer.

The remainder of the day is busy...like always.

When you get to the trailer, you are allowed in.  But once in, you see everybody working on something.

"Do a check to see if any of the items pieces are openly available on any online market place.  Also, do a general search for any similarities to known technology used by any of our technology based supers."

"Yes, doctor."

"Hey doc, what if we just find another and disable it to see who comes to fix it...Russian sniper technique...."

"We'll hold that just yet, I don't want to show our hand."

And quietly typing away in the corner is Shadow.

As she enters the trailer, Rei takes the satchel off as she asks, "Who are we after?"

The doctor looks up at you from the examination table (or tea table...depends upon need), and points to 5" x 5" box.  "This was found at Navy Pier.  Near the ferris wheel.  I like to keep that area monitored and this appeared without being seen by my cameras or CCT.  It appears to be a sensor/battery.  It was siphoning power from the wheel machinery (nothing too significant) to storage and monitoring the area, but no idea why or who yet.  We broke into its storage (encrypted, but nothing to spectacular...a grad student could have brute forced it in a week or two) and found the data.  Weather...power levels...a few raw numbers we think are a calculation of head count...some dates.  Shadow disabled it in the field and damaged the main processor.  The shielded it during transport and we made sure all of the power sources and antenna are were disconnected.  None of the parts used are that special...high-end over the counter parts...but for the siphon and batter.  The batter is very advanced and could hold high amounts of energy.  Shade is looking through footage there and in other places to see if she can find anything else."

Shadow walks over, I'm sorry, not sorry for damaging it."

Mindstrike sighs, "Things keep piling up."

She holds up the satchel, "I had a visit from Dr. Stephanie Brown of MSI. She has stumbled onto some things involving the attempted thefts of the artifacts, and she thinks some of the temporary security are infiltrators that may well be there to make a second attempt. She brought me several hard copy files and photos that I thought should be added to the database."

The doctor nods, "We are not getting far here and I'm sure the various searches need time.  This may be disturbing,  but not threatening yet.  what do you have?"

Shadow watches over the table as things are moved around.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:31, Wed 29 June 2022.

Mindstrike proceeds to lay out the contents of the satchel, "Dr. Brown has included observations, but the serious part is her mention about the security of the museum has been infiltrated which will likely mean another attempt on the artifacts that will be more quiet than the attempt by Diablo and Ghost."

"Diablo and Ghost was blatant...and would draw attention.  If it worked, it was a good thing.  If it didn't, it was a distraction.  You think we should do some digging?"

He shuffles through the papers on the table.

Mindstrike nods, "Dr. Brown has no faith in the leadership of the museum, so she confided in me. I'm the one she trusts to look into it, but this is more your realm of expertise. I do think it needs to be looked into considering the obvious conspiracy. Infiltrating security would be the best option to walk away with anything quietly."

She adds, "I would like to look into the upper management of the museum and the head of security in the hope we clear them and can bring them into the loop of this."

"Some of us have experience with infiltration."  He looks at Shadow.

"As to the research, you can use a terminal.  Multi-tasking is a good thing."