Any Port in a Storm: The Search for Leads

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Adrienne and Bishop head back to Franklin's office to find someone worth talking to about Molekevic and any other enemies Franklin may have.

"So many science nerds," Adrienne muttered under her breath to Bishop, huffing out a long breath, "there are so many." She'd begged for a coffee break in the Baxter Group lunchroom after what felt like a million interviews. "How many people work here? And how many of those know how to tie their shoes and dress themselves and engage people in casual conversation? Science nerds. Wow. Special breed. We just have the R and D division left, right? And then I'll start Reading the crap out of stuff to see if we can get anything off any workstations this guy might have used?"

Bishop nodded at her plan, pulling the door to the lunchroom open and letting her step through first. "Did the chess club stuff you in your locker in high school?" He asked shortly about her nerd tirade.

"Yeah," Adrienne nodded, "after I would repeatedly beat their asses at chess." She appreciated Bishop being a gentleman and holding the door open for her, but that meant she was in the lead as they headed to the research and development division, so she hung back a step in the corridor so he could head in first. He was much more imposing, after all, which she hoped meant the nerds would be caught off guard and more inclined to spill their guts more quickly so she could get out of here. And with him taking the lead she might not even have to try to talk to the nerds!

A huge hand on the small of Adrienne's back kept her in the lead whether she liked it or not. If they had been picked on when they were younger, they'd be used to someone like Bishop being aggressive toward them and shut down. A pretty girl being sweet would throw the situation off from the usual stereotype. He also thought it would be good for Adrienne. "If they aren't good at casual conversation, they just need practice." He said softly as he guided her forward, enjoying being able to joke with someone new while out in the field.

"I hate you," the psychometrist muttered under her breath as she guessed at what he was doing. It seemed like rather than her tactic of wanting Bishop to play bad cop so she wouldn't have to do anything, he wanted her to play good cop. Well, he was damn good at what he did so he must have been on to something. She unbuttoned a button on her blouse so the top two were now undone and sashayed through the door into the department. It was a bullpen-like open concept area with workstations in a horseshoe-shape around the perimeter, a bunch of equipment in the middle, and offices- most with doors closed- along the walls. "Excuse me, folks," she called out with a sheepish smile in her most apologetic tone, "I'm so sorry to distract you from your very important work, but I was wondering if any of you could help me out?" Heads were raised from computer screens and instruments. "I'm trying to find a man named Molekevic? Would anyone be able to help me out with any info? I'd be ever so grateful," she added with her best flirty laugh.

The reaserchers looked dumbstruck, a beautiful woman had just appeared in their office and was asking for their help. A nervous pause filled the room as they tried to get over their shock and nervousness, they exchanged glances with one another none of them being willing to be the first person to talk.

"Discrete." Bishop whispered sarcastically. "How about we work the room clockwise?" His hand steered her toward the left end of the horseshoe by her lower back as he spoke. "Smile, be nice, don't flirt."

"But what am I gonna do without flirting? Flirting is how I get men to give me what I want," Adrienne whispered back in a mock-baffled tone. "Hi," she said to the nearest researcher with a wide grin. "Do you think you could help me? I'm trying to find this Molekevic person. I have something to give him. Something nice. Not something bad, I promise!" she laughed again. "Do you know where I can find him?"


The poor researcher looked like a deer caught in the headlights, his mouth opened and closed but all that came forth was "Ummm, a well, you see. That is to say."

"Excuse me," an older mans voice piped up behind the investigators, "did you say you were looking for Dr Arthur Molekevic?" The speaker was an old man dressed in a janitor's outfit, his supply cart behind him as he looked up at Adrienne and Bishop.

Bishop turned to face the janitor and nodded. "We're private detectives and Doctor Molekevic is a friend of the family. We just want to inform him of some things personally." It wasn't exactly the whole truth but discretion was a virtue.

The janitor stared up at Bishop, "The Dr hasn't worked here for oh 3 years now. Was a big hullabaloo back then, we had the police and army crawling all over the place. They made a mighty big mess, something about a special lab." The janitor shook his head sadly, "They took Dr Molekevic out of here in handcuffs. It's a shame, he always had a nice word for me when he was working late in his lab."

"It's usually the nicest ones that are the craziest," Adrienne nodded sagely. "What's up with this special lab? Think he could be there now? Did he ever say where it was?"

"The lab was in the building," the Janitor explained, "they said that he was doing crazy experiments in there but I never believed it."

"That explains why they needed a PI to inform him." Bishop offered. "Is it possible we could look around that lab? Might help satisfy your curiosity, too."

The Janitor looked at Bishop skeptically, "The investigators were all around the unused labs down on the 13th floor." He pulled out his keycard, "Dr Storm knows you're here right?"


"Of course," Adrienne answered with a nod, "he invited us. So 'they' said he was doing crazy experiments in the lab, right? Do you know if he was there all the time? After hours, I mean? Or did he maybe work somewhere else sometimes?"

"The Dr was a senior researcher, he oversaw a bunch of the labs here working on prosthetics. We're working on some of the most advanced prosthetics in the world here." the old man said proudly. "I guess he wold go home at night, he worked late into the night most nights."

"If he wasn't going home, did he mentioned anywhere else he spent a lot of his time?" Bishop pressed on.

The old man tilted his head and thought about it for a moment before answering. "He mentioned how he hated the smell of the 'chemicals from the damned factory'.

"Chemicals?" Adrienne piped up, looking at them from across the remains of the lab, where she'd been poking at random bits and pieces of office equipment, including an upended canister of writing utensils on a desk. It had been her hope that maybe he'd shoved a pen in a binder or clipboard of research and had taken it to another facility he'd been using, but she'd had no luck. Although apparently one of the pens had been to a hotel in Madripoor, the same one she'd stayed at years ago. "In a factory? Are chemicals common in a lot of factories?" she asked Bishop. "Could that be a lead?"

Bishop nodded to confirm. "It can be." He smiled to the janitor and produced an XFI card. "We appreciate you helping out so much."

The old man took the card cautiously turning it over in his hands before he deposited it in his pocket. With a Nod at Bishop and Adrienne he turned on his heel and walked out of the lab leaving the PIs alone.

"High five for finding a lead?" Adrienne suggested, turning to Bishop and offering her hand. "And me not having to flirt with him?"

Bishop hesitated for a moment. "Only because you didn't flirt." Then he held up his hand for a high five, high enough she'd have to jump at least a little. She was still going to have to work for it.

While her colleagues are off to the offices Vanessa heads out to the streets with Callisto to see if they can connect Molekevic's work to any street gossip and maybe find a lead back to him that way.

Coffee in hand, Vanessa headed in the direction of the Angels Clinic. She'd been too busy trying to find the Storm kids to sleep so caffeine would have to substitute."You know most kids are killed within the first three hours after being abducted if they aren't being held for random or something like that? It's been over thirty-six hours." Callisto said nothing. She knew. The cops had to deal with this all the time and it made Vanessa even more grateful she wasn't a cop. The said the likelihood of getting a lead drops by half if you don't have one within the first forty-eight hours. Vanessa had found people long after that. She'd also not found people plenty of times. "We know they were kidnapped and we know Molekevic is who everyone points at. Now if only we knew where he was so we could rule him out." Vanessa chased her yawn with a sip of coffee.

Callisto wasn't drinking coffee - she didn't take any stimulants at all, Vanessa had noticed - no coffee, no fizzy drinks. Mostly water, fruit juice, and sometimes some beer of an evening, but never anything caffeinated. She was eating, though, an overfilled looking jelly donut in one hand, only a paper bag barrier between her and certain sticky embarrassment. She finished the second half of the donut in a single mouthful, screwing up the paper and tossing it effortlessly into the nearest trash can and brushing the sugar off her fingers (and onto her thin, worn jeans). "These kids," she said once she'd swallowed. "They're okay, but they're pretty twitchy. They probably already know we're asking around so they'll have had time to make something up if they wanna lie to us."

Vanessa groaned. "My favorite sort. It's what I was really looking forward today, you know, people to waste my time with useless information. I don't suppose pulling a gun on them would get me any closer to the truth." She frowned and sighed, shoulders slumping as she took another sip of her coffee. "No, probably not. They'd either piss themselves or try to be badasses and it never ends well when people do that." A blue eye peered into the little hole in the cup's top in an apparent attempt to discern how much was left. "Are these kids you know from the shelter, then? I swear to not threaten any of your kids with bodily harm unless they're really asking for it."

"Some of 'em," Callisto said with a quick shrug. "They come and go, y'know? Some of them have homes, some of them're with foster parents - or real parents who don't treat 'em so good..." She shot Vanessa a thin sidelong smile, walking closer a moment to nudge her lightly in what had become a familiar gesture of unspoken companionship. "But yeah, no shooting my kids," she added with a smirk.

Vanessa nudged Callisto right back, though she quickly affixed a bit of a pout on her face. "Okay. But I'm only doing this for you, you know. I wouldn't just go around agreeing not to shoot people for anyone. I mean, have you seen how much I love my guns?" She followed up with a heavy sigh. "I might even be willing to spring for food for them if they're useful. Fuck, I'd do almost anything for a useful lead."

"Yeah, well, we'll see," Callisto muttered grimly, taking a rather sharp turn down a narrow alleyway and jumping to grab hold of a fire escape stairway that started on the second floor, the first floor ladder apparently long-since missing. She swung herself up onto the metal landing with a clang, leaning down to offer Vanessa a hand up. "Time to finish the coffee, babe."

An all out pout answered those terrible, terrible words. And quite shamelessly at that. She chugged the rest of her coffee, destroying a few taste buds in the process and tossed the cup. "I hate you." The complaint was unconvincing, particularly since Vanessa followed it up by jumping and grabbing onto the offered hand. As Cal lifted Vanessa up the metamorph reached up to grab the edge of the fire escape to help pull herself up once it was within reach. It wasn't that Callisto actually needed the help, but it made Vanessa feel better to help. Otherwise she was left feeling a little like a ragdoll in the hands of her slight companion.

"You know, you're a little annoying." The nudge of an elbow countered the statement. "You don't have to show off all the time."

"Kinda do though," came the retort in that low, easy tone, and then Callisto was turning to lead the way up the fire escape, the metal clattering under the heavy soles of her biker boots.

Vanessa resisted the urge to poke her or something. Instead she pretended to be the grown up she was supposed to be and simply glared at Callisto's ass as Vanessa followed her up the stairs.

The building seemed to be 'empty' in that way that so many District X buildings were empty, which was to say 'condemned but not empty at all'. They passed rooms with families, with groups of squatters, and even what looked to be a drug deal going down on one floor - though looking up and seeing (a) who was outside and (b) that they were walking on by, all Vanessa saw as she took to the steps for the next floor was some hasty and purposeful 'packing up to leave'.

It was on the sixth floor that they stopped climbing, and Callisto ducked in through the window of the building into the room inside. The kids inside were obviously expecting them, already on their feet and, in some cases at least, attempting to look their very toughest, feet planted, arms folded, expressions grim. It was almost adorable.

Vanessa resisted the urge to smirk or giggle at the sight before her. Having dealt with child soldiers, kids who were militant and ready to kill you while they looked you in the eye, just made the sight before her funnier. These kids, maybe they thought they were fighters but they weren't. Maybe they'd fight back but they weren't truly dangerous. They maybe even thought they could kill but she seriously doubted anyone had it in them. The kids said nothing, just stood there in their tough caricatures, so Vanessa raised an eyebrow and looked at Callisto. "These the kids we're looking for?"

"Hey fuck you, lady, we're right here - don't talk about me like I'm not in the room," the smallest of them interjected.

"Mind your tongue, squirt," Callisto snapped, and the kid did just that, his long, forked tongue darting out briefly and waggling in their direction. It broke the tension, and Vanessa even spotted a slight snicker from one of the other kids.

"This is Vanessa," Callisto said, gesturing to her. "She's got some questions. Don't bullshit her, and I don't make trouble for you, got it?"

"Yeah, lady, whatever," another kid grumbled who clearly wasn't familiar with Callisto. It earned him a warning elbow from the kid standing next to him though all of their faces still held that fuck you wilfulness.

This was, clearly, going to be a lot of fun. "Some kids were kidnapped."

"'Round here?" one kid asked.

"No."

"So why you talkin' to us?" another put in with a sneer.

"They might've been taken by someone who used to experiment on mutants," Vanessa clarified, keeping her voice low and level.

"They mutants?"

"Not that we know."

A couple kids rolled their eyes and one squinted at Vanessa. "Ain't you that mutant cop chick?"

"Nah," another kid answered. "That chick's blue. This ain't that bitch."

Vanessa cocked an eyebrow.

"She a bitch?" the first kid asked.

"Well," the second kid hesitated. "I dunno. Peeps say they cool but, fuck that man. They call 'em mutant cops for a reason."

"Fuck the po-po," a third kid interjected.

"Did you really just say 'po-po'?" Vanessa shook her head.

"What? You got a problem with the po-po?" the smallest kid challenged with a cocky tone.

Vanessa gave Callisto a look, her expression clearly not impressed. "One, we aren't cops we're PI's. Two, 'po-po' makes you sound like an ignorant idiot which isn't helping your case. Third, I am that blue chick-"

She was cut off by a kid pointing out the obvious, "You ain't blue."

Vanessa just looked at Callisto and sighed. "Not at the the moment."

"Whatchu you mean 'not at the moment'?" The tone used to mimic Vanessa's words was high pitched and obnoxious.

"Whatever," the little one brushed it off.

"Have you heard about street kids disappearing," Vanessa asked, trying to bring the focus back to the important topics. "Coming back cut up or with needle marks when they don't shoot up? Stories about doctors fucking with them and not in a real hospital? Anything like that?"

The kids just stared at her.

"You know how I promised not to threaten the ones you know?" Vanessa asked Callisto without looking away from the kids. "Which ones am I allowed to threaten? Or maybe shoot?"

Callisto just scanned the group. A couple of them flinched in spite of themselves. "Hey, squirt," she said when the short kid made the mistake of meeting her gaze. "Help me out here. You heard about anything like that? Any mutant kids been taken away and messed with?"

Somehow it was a little harder to keep up that stony facade when he was being addressed directly. "I dunno," he tried at first. Then, "Maybe. Kinda. Greg mighta-"

"Shut it, dickface." But Callisto was already rounding on this new speaker - 'Greg'.

"What'd you hear, Greg?"

Greg shrugged, shuffled his feet a little and stared at his feet. "People, like, taking the fuck off but then they show up and they like don't remember where they were."

"How long are they gone?" Vanessa's voice was instantly softer and kinder since the kid was cooperating.
Another shrug from Greg. "Dunno. Couple days? Zero came back all fucked up."

"What kind of fucked up? Like beat up? Cut up?" Reluctant sources of information required a lot of hand holding to get information out of but if it got Vanessa what she needed.

He shook his head. "Nah, like high but not like in a good way. And he had like a bandage on his hip."

Vanessa's brow furrowed. She glanced over at Callisto but it didn't look like that had any significance to her either. "Why the bandage."

"Looked like someone stuck 'im with a needle or some shit."

That could have been something. "Where'd Zero turn up?"

Greg remained silent for a second, glanced up at Callisto and then went right back to staring at his shoes. "Under the Brooklyn Bridge. Near Rose & Gold or sumthin."

Callisto just tipped her chin in a nod. "Anyone else hear about anyone showing up like that?" she directed at the room in general. Now that one of them had talked...

"Uh..." A girl near the back who was mostly hidden in shadow fidgeted. "Mikey said Jewel and Tommy did too. But he thought they were makin' it up."

"Everyone's been making that shit up," the little one said, his tone utterly dismissive.

"You know that dude?"

"Which dude?" another kid asked.

"The one that's kinda blue but not that blue?"

"You mean Ty?"

"Yeah, he said he woke up there. Saw the hole but it was like a scab and didn't have no band aid on it or nothing."

"These kids always show up down by Rose and Gold?" Vanessa asked as she wrote the note down.

"I heard some say people be showing up at like Lex and East 37th," the girl added in.

Vanessa wrote it all down, Callisto surveying the crowd with a look of silent approval (at least, it might have been silent approval - it mostly looked like Thoughtful Pout Number Two).

"Thanks guys," she said as the offerings of information dried up again. "You did good. Stay outta trouble, 'kay?"

There was a low grumble of combined defiance and assent that Callisto seemed to take as an acceptable response, glancing at Vanessa and jerking her chin in the general direction of the window.

Pocketing her note pad, Vanessa gave another glance in the direction of the kids and headed for the window. She slipped out first and started down the fire escape, only pausing on the landing long enough to make sure Callisto was following her. At the end of the second floor landing the metamorph knelt, back toward the empty alley, grabbed the lip of the escape and slid off. She dangled there for a second before dropping down and landing softly.

When Callisto landed with all her annoyingly catlike grace next to her, Vanessa pulled the notepad out. "You wanna hit up Lex and 37th or Rose and Gold?"

Callisto shrugged, slipping her hands back into her pockets. "Rose and Gold, I guess? Either way, though."

Vanessa nodded. "You head over there and I'll have Adrienne meet you. Lucas and I need to track down another possible lead for Molekevic and then we'll grab Lex. Let me know if you guys find anything. Adrienne'll be good to confirm the kids' stories if she can find the right time and something to read. If we all come up empty then we'll figure out what our next step is."