5punk

Daniels gently ushers everyone inside if you aren't already, and closes the door.

Mr Daniels wrote:Hmm. I'm trying to establish what's causing this. I'm sure you understand this could be very embarrassing for Karma. Are you interested in some contract work around this?

Grimmie quirks an eyebrow.

Grimmie wrote:Paaaid work?

Mr Daniels wrote:Well, of course. I don't expect Operatives to work on a salary. Now's not really the time for contract negotiations though. What evidence have you accrued here?

Dirk wrote:So...

Our contact Lloyd Langley (you may know him from the television) passes a BPN our way. Investigate a possible subversive - a lady called Briony. The contact is her boss, Ms. Sumner. We're told to follow Briony but take no direct action. Something wasn't sitting well with me on this one, so we tested the water...

Whilst having a laser mic on Sumner's house, we called her and pretended that we'd kidnapped Briony. Of course we'd done nothing of the sort, but Sumner's reaction was very interesting. It became clear that this wasn't an official and authorised BPN at all. We put pressure on Langley, but I don't think he's involved - just didn't do the due diligence when issuing a BPN.

So, knowing this wasn't legit, we approach Briony directly to see if she has any idea why Sumner wants her following. Briony was at home with her boyfriend who we had previously followed to a biker bar but got no further.

Briony has no idea why Sumner wanted her followed, nor why she thought she was a subversive. The only time she has met Sumner outside of work was when she bumped into her in a bar [insert correct name of bar here]. Briony said she seemed a bit uncomfortable when she saw them. We found a receipt for the bar in her office.

Next thing know, Doobrie! Stabbing! Ran over!
Breadknife attack! Victim down! Zapper bullet! Fzzt!

It's bizarre. The two cases don't seem connected, but I hate letting things go.

So, what's the story from your side?

Grimmie nods sagely at Dirk's brilliant recollection of Doobrie attacking events, he couldn't have put it better.

Mr Daniels wrote:Hmm. Well we're getting a few initial reports from similar situations. Almost all have been Shivers, most have been in Uptown. Not surprising I suppose, most Doobries are sold in Uptown. So we need to start some damage limitation, and obviously we need to get to the bottom of why this is happening. I don't like all the Shiver involvement, and it would be useful to have a discrete reaction squad at our disposal. It's a happy coincidence that we've worked together before, and we were very satisfied with your performance.

Dirk wrote:Groovy, where shall we start?

Mr Daniels wrote:First off, get that BPN you're on signed off. We don't need any more complications.

we were very satisfied with your performance

I guess they forgot how we swiss cheesified the place.

How do we get it signed off? Does Langley need to do that?

*Makes a Bureaucracy roll on the squad's behalf*
*Passes it*

Normally your contact would do that, but since she's dead normal rules don't apply. Langley was the broker so while he can't sign it off himself he could hand the BPN in to the Dept of Delegation (was it delegation?) on your behalf. Whether or not they consider you to have completed it or not is another matter. Offer up a report in reply to the original BPN and see what happens.

Yeah I'm not sure we've quite solved the original BPN yet. I'm still staking out their place, just to hedge our bets.

We could just get Kt'rr and Eraser to make a visit and bully her into confessing?

Torture skill t the ready...

I'd love to get to the bottom of the original BPN, but I think we're running round in circles. Let's get it signed off and go blast some dood(brie)s.

Dirk wrote:Lloyd, Dirk here. Bad news - Sumner is dead. We're investigating now but need you to sign off the first BPN.

Langley wrote:What do you mean she's dead? This is a total clusterfuck, send me a report and I'll try to sort it. Did you figure out if one was a subversive? Or what the hell Sumner was up to? If not I might be able to get it rescinded without a penalty.

Dirk responds, a little tersely at first.

Dirk wrote:Yes, it hadn't escaped our notice that this hasn't been particularly straight forward. I don't know about you, but I don't like finding out that I've been manipulated by some corporate bigwig who doesn't even get a BPN authorised correctly.

We've still got our eyes on the original target, but so far we've discovered no signs of any subversive activity. Sumner might have been offed to keep her quiet, but we'll have no idea until this investigation is over.

I'm sending the report over now, but we may need to make a statement in regards to Sumner's involvement in raising a fictitious BPN.

Langley wrote:Oh, don't get upset Dirk. I'm just trying to salvage something. You want to get paid don't you? At any rate, with the things going on around this BPN I should be able to get it voided.

I can never tell if Langley is keen on helping us, or just out to raise his own profile.

At risk of tying this up...

Langley wrote:Dirk! Bad news is they didn't let me close this BPN. Good news is Cloak adopted it as a Grey and paid it off. Someone up there's smiling on us. Lets just hope it's not a grimace. Their nerds dragged up Sumner's data after your tip off and it turns out she had an unhealthy obsession with Miseo. Mr Miseo, I mean. Sounds like a serial killer in the making to me. Maybe a missed opportunity, but never mind. Speaking of serial killers, how come she's dead?

You were so close to the answer I couldn't deprive you of the reward. .5 SCL, 200c each. It was only a mini-BPN (although it might have felt like a marathon), so 2 XP each and a bonus point for Roman working out that Sumner was dodgy. Clue's in the name.

5punk

SLA Industries: I Spy