Ivy and Chrome (FF & MM)

[Father Figure]

Teak. That’s certainly what it looks like, smells, feels, and by god even tastes like. The larger details of the room are a similar marvel: high vaulted ceiling, recessed indirect lighting, deep plush carpet, and gold brushed walls covered with priceless Impressionist paintings. The finely upholstered chairs were as fine as they come and a precise match for the classic teak of the large conference table. The room is near perfect, except for one thing. It isn’t real. The quality of the room is the surprise, not its lack of reality. That they had been expecting.

The contact came about six hours ago, and it was a hustle to get the team together. Cameo’s fixer called with potential biz, but the meet with the Johnson was not to take place in some dimly lit night club, greasy bar booth, or some devil rat-infested back alley. At the Johnson’s request, it was not going to happen anywhere. Anywhere real, that is. The virtual meeting was being honest by VMI, a division of UCAS Data systems, and it had quite a rep among the corporate elite. If you need privacy, security, quality, and photo resolution reality then VMI was your company. Assuming you had the nuyen to pay.

Limelight had been smiling the entire time they had been getting set up in the comfortable plush reclining couch, tossing Cameo a wink from where he sat. The physical adept always had a thing for the high life, trying his luck to break into the Simsense Vids but to no avail. Adepts were a dime a dozen, so were runners, so LL had been trying his hand at some good one-line slogans in his videos. The last one (You got three options, honey. I’ll ditch ya, I’ll shoot ya, or I’ll impregnate you.) had not really raked in new gigs for him, so running it was.

Moments later they were ready with the sensory-induction setup and the tech ran her hand across the panels. The conference room slowly resolved into their sight, leaving nothing but their intuition to realize that it was not real. The conference room offered up all the luxury available to the extraordinarily rich and the privileged. Their own private little corner of the Matrix.

 

[Father Figure]

If she thought that was the case, then she was shit out of luck.

There was a brief moment as the man looked over the two of them, giving a slow once over as if assessing exactly how serious their version of an inquiry might be before he pressed a small button under his desk. There was a buzz from the nearby door and the gent very unwillingly grumbled. “Any information regarding students has to be pass through the Headmaster. He knows you’re on campus, verified at the entry and by security. Please go right on in.” With that he abruptly turns away from them and begins to peck away at his keyboard. He obviously might not have better things to do, but he certainly felt like he did.

Limelight gave a disgruntled look, obviously bothered by the fact that the man did not know who he was, but with a shrug at Cameo he moved over and opened the door to gesture her inside after him. As she stepped in, she saw a row of plaques running along the expensive RealWood paneling of this room’s walls. The awards commemorated the accession of previous headmasters to the Rhododendron Conservatory Hall of Fame. This particular headmaster though, a plum red-faced man, sits in his padded recliner behind a tidy desk. When Cameo and Limelight enter the room, he gulps and looks fiercely at the two of them.



The name plate on his desk reads Raymond Blum.

Blum frowns for a moment before pulling out a white handkerchief, slowly blotting the sweat from his brow, his voice almost mild as he chewed his bottom lip. “Um, please, have a seat if you would. You’ve come to ask about Fayette Myers you say? Well, I am sure you know, that discussion concerning students and their activities would require the utmost discretion. I would hardly wish to bring trouble to the doors of the Conservatory.”

 

[Merry Midnight]

Well, fine.

Past one hurdle in the form of a lower-ranking employee and on up the list to the Headmaster himself. She licked her lips to say something more, thought better of it, and then chose to simply soothe herself with another sip of coffee as she watched the man turn away from them to tap at the keyboard. LL's shrug was met with an expressive eyeroll as she followed him over to the other door. He pulled it open for her and she squared her slim shoulders and marched through it to confront the man sitting behind the desk.

The trio stared at each other silently a moment as he wiped his brow. The Headmaster spoke and offered them a seat, and Cam smiled just enough to be polite and did just that. Canting her head to one side, she regarded him thoughtfully as he addressed them. "Mr. Blum, we have no desire whatsoever to cause trouble and are capable of being quite discreet when necessary. We've merely come to pay a short visit to Ms. Myers and assure her well-being. If there's a reason why that is not possible, then I hope you can fill us in."

 

[Father Figure]

“Ah yes.”

The nervous way the words were said held the moment in uncertainty as to whether Mr. Blum was going to speak further on the subject. He seemed to gaze at the two of them, assessing, until Limelight made a small little motion. It was not meant to be threatening, nothing about the way he moved hinted at immediate danger, but LL had a way of conveying things when he needed to do so. This was just a casual relaxed motion as he leaned back in the chair, one arm going over the side of it as he kicked back. Every line of his body radiated one simple statement…we’re waiting, hombre. Let’s get our shit together before we start asking the hard questions.

The prompt in behavior caused the Headmaster to finally speak, something in his nature seeming just overall disappointed that he had to do so. “Well, yes, Ms. Myers. I will say I do feel a measure of responsibility for her safety, the fact that she does not appear to be on campus is concerning. I would also like to keep any potential besmirchment of the Conservatory to a minimum, please. It is important to maintain standards and I must tell you it is already difficult instilling breeding in teenagers under the influence of 21st​ century trash that they find on the net.”


He sighed slightly. “However, if you’ve been hired by the family, I can perhaps provide you with what information I have on Fayette and allow you free access to interview students and faculty at will. If you’ll give me a moment here….”

“Fayette’s tuition is up to date and paid from a confidential account in the Banque Orbitale de Suisse. Her grades have suffered over the past year, dramatically dropping. Ahem, she disappeared from campus three months ago, but Lone Star found her and returned her, but she refused to discuss the runaway attempt. We had her examined at the Juzu Clinic, but the doctors there found no sign of injury or drug use. After she was examined, she returned to classes but obviously there was problem occurring in her life, she just refused to cooperate with any help.”

 

[Merry Midnight]

The man felt a measure of responsibility for her safety? Cameo was never any good at hiding her expressions, and did not bother to attempt to do so at that statement. She wrinkled her little nose and frowned at the nervous man as he blundered through his speech. Sure, she could understand his bottom line to protect the reputation of the Conservatory, but it sounded to her like the girl was obviously troubled, and the staff had only done the bare minimum to avoid fault if something bad were to happen to her. Cam may be a runner and thus considered to be less than drek by people like him, but at least she had some fucking standards when it came to taking care of the people she was responsible for.

"So, you're saying she is missing again? Presumably run away? How long has she been gone this time?" She asked these questions with the same small frown, her eyes flicking to LL and then back to the Headmaster. So much for their simple payday; seems like there was something more going on here, and had been going on for awhile. "We'll need to speak with her friends and dormmates, as well as any teachers or other staff that she might have confided in, if any. And we'll need access to her room."

Leaning forward, she shook her head. "The better the cooperation, the quicker we find her and the less stink her family will raise at the Conservatory, I would imagine."

 

[Father Figure]

A brief swipe of the handkerchief later had Headmaster Blum more than willing to aid the two of them. There was the smallest of hesitations in the man’s voice as he reached out to type out a few commands on his computer in front of him, his voice wavering. “So...sooo…so…it seems that she has been missing since yesterday, mind you the students are heavily autonomous overall so we would not normally felt that there was an extravagant danger if there had not been the earlier problem with Ms. Myers. Now, I am…,” he paused for the smallest of moments before he vaguely continued, as if something had bothered him by what he saw on the screen.

“I…I’m coding your identities to give you access to the campus so you can speak with students. Fayette had several classes, but mainly kept to herself. Her room is in Oxus Hall under the purview of housemother Cyndy Reynolds, she also had required Phys. Ed. Classes at the Gymnasium. I can give you a printout of her class schedule and her teachers…,” his voice trailed off again and he frowned, his eyes narrowing.

“I, forgive me, it seems like these files have been accessed by a decker. Someone has scanned them recently.”

 

[Merry Midnight]

Cameo frowned at his last statement, though she wasn't terribly surprised. Perhaps the same decker that alerted them to the missing girl was the one that had scanned the files? She didn't mention this to the Headmaster, but gently prompted, "Then we should get on with our investigation to see Ms. Myers returned here or to her family safely as soon as possible. A list of her classes would be great." To further move things along, she hoped, she stood from the chair and casually folded her arms, awaiting the information that he had mentioned. The petite young woman was not in the least bit intimidating, but her medic training gave her a perfected no-nonsense mien that she could conjure up when she felt like it, as she did now. She disliked the Headmaster's nervousness and the inadequacy of his response toward the girl's obvious troubled state and newest disappearance. She disliked that, despite the reasonably decent amount of security around this place, that Fayette had gone missing more than once. Perhaps talking with some teachers and classmates would give some clues.

She was glad LL was here. He had a way of getting through to people that would easily dismiss her, and he typically could be relied on to back her up. They made a good team. Glancing back at him, she raised an eyebrow questioningly. Was there anything he wanted to ask the Headmaster, or should they be on their way?

 

[Father Figure]

Limelight seemed to be thinking too and he looked at the Headmaster with a steady ease in his gaze that hinted he was all pro. Maybe that is why he had let Cameo take the lead in discussing things, waiting patiently in case he needed to swoop in and play bad cop. They had pulled off being investigators, interested parties hired by the family of Fayette, but sometimes fronts could be broken a bit too easily. This man they were talking to looked like he was about to jackrabbit and he would only take a moment to break if necessary. The real question was if it were needed or if they could use it to their advantage. That is when LL spoke up.

His voice held a bit of commiseration in it but layered beneath was some menace that he manifested when talking to bugs he could crush. He leaned forward in his chair, those eyes unwavering as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card as he spoke, pressing it down on the table and sliding it across. “So, look, this can work out well for you. You’ve been helpful and we sure do appreciate it, don’t we? The family is going to know all about how much you’ve done for us, I guarantee you. In fact, I will make sure of it. We wouldn’t want them filing suit against the Conservatory and seeking recompense, now would we? So, if you have any trouble and you think we would like to know…so that we can keep up that wonderful rapport, you just get in touch. Good?”

The card was absolutely gorgeous. It had raised lettering, pail nimbus white, and was soft and thick. Eggshell with Ramalian type. It even had a watermark. A fucking watermark.

With that Limelight straightened and gave a small smirk over at Cameo before they stepped out to leave the office, taking a break back into the main hallway. There was a brief respite as he kind of casually stood there, looking around before glancing back at Cameo and he smiled. “Poor guy certainly seems a bit on edge doesn’t he…so, got a few possibilities. We can go check out any of her lockers, kids hide all sorts of shit in those places. Same goes for her dorm. We can shakedown the teachers, maybe run into one of her friends…if she had any. Doesn’t seem like she was much for socializing.”

He frowned. “More we look into this; more I think we go contacted because it’s gonna end up in a scrap. You come armed?”

 

[Merry Midnight]

She frowned distractedly and nodded, then discreetly tapped the deep side pocket on her cargo pants and the small of her back underneath the neon jacket that she had tied around her waist. Combat knife and light pistol, both fairly easy to conceal even on her petite frame. All in all, Cameo did her best to avoid heavy firefights. It just wasn't her wheelhouse and she knew better than to pretend that it was and make herself a liability on whatever crew she was running with, which was usually LL nowadays. "My bag is still in the car, so we'll swing out and get it on the way. I think I left a crowbar in the trunk last time too, just in case."

Looking up at him, she nodded. "Let's grab the gear and start with her room and locker. She didn't seem all that sociable, so we might have luck finding something there. If the roommate is around, we can question her then as well."

 

[Father Figure]

LL took a long moment to look back towards the headmaster’s office and he gave a small grunt as he tried to piece if all together. Truth be told he was a pretty boy to be sure, definitely a damned good hand in a fight, but he was nowhere ear as bright as Cameo was. Kind of why they made the best team together. “Locker is in the gym; her room is going to be where we’re gonna run into folk. Whomever oversees her quad, other girls. Yeah, gym first. And if we want to do some more snooping, then we do, not like these hombres can put a stop to us.”

He gave her a small wink while glancing up to a nearby security camera and they sidled on outside to get whatever she needed from the car. As they did so there was a bit more security presence, a couple of those identical plastic looking guards keeping an eye on them as they began to saunter on over towards Dearpark Gymnasium. Their new credentials let them step on through the entryway without a care in the world, finding themselves in the clear and empty cavernous room. The echo of the door shutting behind them left them cut off from the world, the lights switching on at the motion of their bodies and illuminating the basketball court.

Across the way the door opened, and a massive figure stepped out, shadowed in the light. A snort through pig like nostrils was exhaled and an orc in gym shorts and tight-fitting coach’s shirt stepped forward, a whistle swinging from a chord on his neck. The large “man” approached the two of them, a toothy grin crossing his features, a broken tusk on one side of his mouth as he scoffed at the two of them standing there. Hands went down to his hips resting there and to top it all off the large beast had spike hair modeled after Nailhead, the Urban Brawl star. His voice was deep and barrel chested as he spoke.

“Well, well, what do I have here. Looks like somebody has rolled into my gym uninvited. Do I got to hose up faces or what?”