Detective Arcee

Arcee has come to Ibex to see if she can locate that cute and popular racer. She knew he came from this town, and that the locals might have an idea of where he oculd most likely be spotted. Now, she regrets having been sort of cagey with him the night of the surveillance in Vos, because she hasn't seen him since and she's beginning to wonder where he went, especially since he can be most anyplace he wants in record time. She decides to ask a few fans in The Circle about who might know what's become of him.
The Circle is a very pretty place. VIPs and other rich members of society mill about, laughing and enjoying themselves. Blurr is nowhere to be seen, however. Now, who will she ask? There are certainly more than just a few options, here.
Arcee decides to look around and see if she can find any racer-types. Not racer wannabes, but ones who might actually see him quite a bit in friendly competition.
Arcee's in luck today, as she spots what is clearly another racer who actually has a similar body design to Blurr's, though he has a crimson-colored paintjob instead of a blue one. He's standing over by the bar, talking to his crew.
Arcee doubts she can charm him very much -- he looks like a total narcissist, but she can see why...she'd be in love with herself if she looked that way, too. She decides the worst that can happen is he can just walk off. Putting aside her nervous misgivings, she heads over to the bar with a cheerful smile. "Hi."
The mech doesn't notice her right away, but when he finally does, his reaction is a bit more than what she'd initially expected. He seems to think she's quite the looker. "Well hey there. I'm Fasttrack, what's your name?"
"I'm Arcee, it's nice to meet you!" Oh boy, she thinks to herself, if she weren't so worried about Blurr, maybe she'd just skip the topic of him altogether and go straight to wherever this guy wanted to go! Ahhhh, but that was bad, bad thinking. Mustn't get distracted! Or...TOO distracted, at this point. But by Primus, was this mech a dreamboat. "I, um, I was looking for a friend of mine who stops here from time to time, but I hadn't seen him in a little while, and was getting worried. Do you come here a lot?"
Fasttrack shrugs. "Sure, I come here on a regular basis. What's your friend look like?" he asks. "Want a drink? My treat." he grins.
"Well, thank you very much, I appreciate that." Arcee doesn't want to cut to the chase too terribly fast (FAST! See what she did there??) ... because she doesn't want Fasttrack to get the idea that she's just milking him out of a drink and some info. Because that totally isn't true! Especially if she gets a date out of this. Ahem. "Well, he's kind of blue, and he's really fast," she explains. "And...I'm a little bit worried, because typically he'll drop by to say 'hi' or something -- I'm in Rodion most of the time because of my job -- but I haven't seen him at all in the last few cycles. It's really strange." She gives Fasttrack a meaningful look, hoping that he isn't some kind of archrival or something. Perhaps he's a friendly competitor! Or some kind of frenemy! She'll know pretty soon, one way or another.
Fast, and blue? Fasttrack laughs good-naturedly. "Really fast and blue, huh? Well then there's only one mech you could possibly be talking about, and that's Blurr." He chuckles, thinking her a bit airheaded. "You must have trouble remembering names, because if anyone around here knows a name, it's Blurr's." The bartender begins to serve the two of them up some high-grade engex of the best quality. "Anyway, as for where he is, I'm not sure. I haven't seen him in a while either, but I know him well enough to know he can take care of himself. Still, if it's urgent, you might visit the IAA office to see if he's over there. If not then someone there might have a better idea than I do."
"Aw, I didn't want to be too obvious about it," Arcee laughs. At this early phase in her life, she probably comes across as airheaded much of the time, because social graces are more learned than they are programmed. "Oh my, are you sure you want to pay for this? That's very generous..." Wow, top shelf. How often does she actually get TOP SHELF in a place like this?? -- Focus, Arcee, focus. He said something. Review the memory. IAA office. Stay on target! She peers at Fasttrack with wide optics. "So! Do you ever get to Rodion much??"
"Darling I get -everywhere-." Fasttrack chuckles. "Hey, it's no problem." he says, handing her the drink once it's ready. "I'm sure you know I've got plenty of shanix to spare. So, what do you do? How'd you meet Blurr, anyway?"
Arcee grins. Darling! That's a new one on her. She kind of likes that. Why did she have to go back to Rodion to that idiotic Senate job, when she could be living the good life with this guy?? She could see it now: fabulous locales, exciting venues, a little crazy, reckless fun...she could live with that!
It takes the utmost restraint for her to reign in her fantasy and focus on the task at hand. Maybe something SERIOUS had happened to Blurr, and he needed her help! Arcee sips her drink. "I'm the official aide to Senator Proteus," she says. "And you know what? The politics are kind of interesting, but the job itself? Boooorrrrinnggg. So...one day I snuck out of the building, and decided to go out and meet mechs, be sociable! And there he was, I met him and some other friends of his. He was like... 'Well, you must know who I am cause everyone does!' And no, I had no idea who he was, because I can't watch the races in the Citadel. Not allowed. The Senators are, though." She smirks.
Fasttrack nods, smiling still. "Oh, Proteus, eh? Big shot. Yeah, it sounds boring. But I'm glad you had the courage to get out some." He takes a swig of his drink. "Pfff." he shakes his head at the mention that she wasn't allowed to watch the races. "Of course they are. They're always ordering everyone about, but they never practice what they preach. That's politicians for ya."
Arcee chuckles. Boy, she REALLY likes this guy. She's kind of curious now as to what Blurr would say if they hit it off or something. Imagine that! Arcee CAN imagine that; she has a vast imagination of completely fake scenarios going on at any given time. "Well I'm sure you're a busy mech, I won't be so bold as to ask you to take me right to IAA, but the general direction from here would be much appreciated. Ummm..." She glances around in a cute, conspiratorial kind of fashion. "Hey! Want to do this again sometime??"
"Sure," Fasttrack escorts her to the door and points across the expressways toward a towering structure southeast of the bar. "There." he says, directing her attention toward it and giving her the exact address as well. "Shouldn't be too hard to find."
He chuckles when she suggests hanging out again. "We'll have to see about that, but here." he hands her a datastick with various modes of contacting him. "If you ever find some free time in your schedule, talk to me, okay?" he grins. "Good luck."
"Thank you! Thank you, oh thank you so much." Arcee grins up at Fasttrack gratefully. She wondered just how charming he'd be to her if he knew she spray-painted herself with a cheap black laminate and ran around Vos like a ninny. He'd probably think she needed help. She was beginning to think she'd need to go seek out that mech with the forgettable face again, what WAS his name? He had a nice office.
Arcee winks, and heads out the door, transforming and making a beeline for the IAA offices.
"No problem!" Fasttrack waves as she leaves, then returns to The Circle. The IAA is an impressive building, perhaps even more so than that psychiatrist's clinc. The main doors are open to guests right now, and the atrium is quite beautiful, with a massive sculpture of the Ibex Cup floating in the middle of the room. There's a large desk at which three receptionists sit. Two of them are speaking to guests standing in front of the desk, while a third is busy with something on her workstation.
Arcee sighs nervously as she enters. This seemed kind of clinical to her. Sterile. She knew that charm was going to get her nowhere against an office worker, because she WAS an office worker. But status was another thing entirely.
Arcee adjusts her shoulder cloak bearing the Senate insignia, and she strides over with a sense of purpose toward the third receptionist's desk. "Pardon me, may I have a word?"
The receptionist looks up at her momentarily, then looks right back his holoscreen. "Yes, how may I help you?" The mech asks, his voice dull. He appears incredibly bored, upon closer examination.
"Yes, madame, I'm here on behalf of Senator Proteus," she explains, wearing her best serious expression-slash-poker face. "I have to serve a judicial summons, but I'm having a little trouble locating his whereabouts to serve the process. I was wondering if you know where I might be able to locate Blurr."
"Blurr?" The receptionist finally shows some hint of emotion, arching an optic ridge at her. "Uh...well he doesn't exactly have an office here or anything, so I don't know why you've come here looking for him. So is the summons for him, or what? I guess I could leave a message for you."
Arcee ponders how to play this. She actually DOES have a summons to deliver in Ibex...just...not to Blurr, it's to someone else entirely. "Oh, he doesn't? You'll have to forgive me, I'm really not from around here," Arcee apologizes. "And due to his public status, it's a bit of a conundrum because it isn't something I'm able to look up. This is...not a matter that would be wise to leave unanswered, there is some urgency involved." Which is all completely true. Blurr's address isn't publicized, AND a mech by the name of Gearhead will be in considerable trouble if he misses the summons deadline. She just...leaves HIS name out of this, in the hopes she can snow her way through this bureaucratic garbage.
The receptionist nods. "I understand. Well, the best I can do is take a message for him, in case he does come by sometime." At that moment, a technician carrying a toolbox scurries past, headed for an elevator. He looks like someone who works in maintenance, and is kind of dirty, in contrast to the pristine atrium and reception desk.
"OK, thank you, but that won't be necessary." Within, Arcee's so frustrated she could just POP. She thought that particular word salad was fairly impressive, as it was made up on the fly. Something about the technician catches her attention, and she strides off non-chalantly so as not to make the receptionist suspicious. Then, when she's nearly upon the exit, she makes a quick bank to the elevator doors and tries to shimmy her way inside.
Now, if she'd been just about anyone else, she probably wouldn't have made it because she definitely wasn't supposed to just get into that elevator. But no one had exactly expected someone like her to pull a move like that. There are some urgent shouts of "Hey!" as she rushes into it. But the doors close just before anyone manages to get to her, and she just barely manages to slip inside with him. The mech waves a badge in front of a security scanner, and directs the gravlift to a subbasement level. As the elevator starts to move, there's a moment of very awkward silence as they just...stand there. Finally, he speaks up nervously. "Er...um...I'm sorry, but I don't think you're supposed to be in here, ma'am."
Arcee smiles slightly. "I'm sorry if I startled you," she says to the startled mech in the elevator, turning on the charm just a bit. "I was in a hurry." This is probably a common dilemma in Ibex. She flashes her Senate badge. "Official business."
The mech frowns. "But...why would Senate personnel want to go down into the maintenance shafts? Awfully dirty and slag...didn't think they'd ever wanna send any of their people to a place like that. Especially not someone who looks like -you-."
"...Look, maybe...maybe you can be on the level with me," Arcee says. "Because I felt like I was bumping into a steel wall with the receptionists. I...have to find Blurr. My problem is that due to his status, obviously, I can't get his address. But it's important that I locate him. Would you have any information that might be helpful?" She puts on her best 'sweet little lost turbosquirrel' expression. It's gotten her far in life.
"..." The maintenance guy's optics widen. "Look if you're just some crazy fan trying to make up some scrap about needing to see him, then you might as well just give up it up all right?" He looks even more nervous. "At any rate, no one's seen him for the past few megacycles, so I'm afraid you're out of luck." At that moment, the doors to the gravlift open, and he scurries out, eager to get away from this.
Give up? Yeah, maybe Arcee should just pack it in. She's beginning to consider that. SANE mechs would just give in and go home.
Arcee stares after the mech silently, until the doors begin to close -- and then, impulse causes her to suddenly block them back open with her arms, and slip into the corridor silently. She follows the path he went down very quietly and with great caution.
The mech puts as much distance between himself and her as quickly as possible, and soon disappears around a corner of the many narrow, winding corridors of this subbasement level.
Down here, it's dirty, and dim. Definitely a contrast to the beautiful atrium above. There's a lot of exposed circuitry, and piping. And wait, are those drag marks on the floor?
Arcee peers around, observing the area with what little light there is between ambient light and her own optics. She frowns as she notices drag marks on the floor. What is THIS? She tries to follow them along, to see if they actually lead somewhere or are only in one particular ares of the corridor.
The trail leads a short way down the corridor, and to the left down another, even narrower corridor with nothing but a single door at the end of the hallway. There's a small window in it, and if Arcee peers into it, she can see Blurr inside a mostly barren room, looking quite dejected with his optics lowered in gazing at the floor.
Arcee creeps down the creepy hallway, following the trail...following...following...oh boy, it's a literal 'dead end'. Not good if she's spotted!
Arcee peeks inside the room, and she gasps as all the creepiness she's feeling hits her a thousand times stronger. Her blue optics probably cast a strange light within the small room as she peers inside. She scratches to get his attention, because at this point, she's pretty sure any loud tapping would be heard by Mr. Creepo who's still lurking around this makeshift dungeon.
Blurr looks...exhausted. There's something...different about him this time around. He actually looks quite miserable. But he looks up to find Arcee standing on the other side of that door, and his optics widen slightly. He seems to recognize her. As she taps against the window, it actually slides open, though it's far too small for her to climb in or anything.
"Hey, what's going on?" Arcee whispers, too paranoid to speak any louder because she's almost positive the sound would carry down to the creep. "You aren't supposed to be here, are you? I'm getting you out." She rummages around in her satchel. "...Soon as I can get this door open. I promise."
What...is Arcee doing here? Blurr is baffled as to how she found her way down here. Did she really...go looking for him? He doesn't say anything, just gives her a sad look, shaking his head.
But then, there's the sound of footsteps, and voices. Someone is coming, in fact, most likely more than one someone. Optics widening in alarm, he gestures frantically, trying to tell her to close the window or at least get away from it. There's actually another, larger door in the room he's in, and a light blinks on. It's about to open...
Arcee ducks down so she won't be visible from the opposite side, but she remains watching, peeping in from a different angle and trying to see who's entering the room.
The mech who enters first is a tall and stately-looking one. He might have been a Senator, even, but if he had been Arcee probably would have recognized him, and she doesn't. The other two look like bodyguards or security of some sort, they're bulky and even taller than the first guy.
The leader has what looks like a short rod of some sort in his hand. He nods to the guards. "Restrain him." Quickly, they move to grab the speedster's upper arms and drag him over to a berth in the corner of the room. He struggles, but his movements are oddly sluggish, as if he's been drugged. They force his body, face-down onto the berth and into clamps that are bolted to it, locking him in so he can't move a single servo.
And then, the one who had entered first brings the rod-shaped device around, and needle-like protrusions come out of the tip of the device, driving themselves into the back of Blurr's head. The speedster writhes in pain, though the clamps don't really allow much movement at all. The Senator-looking mech shakes his head. "Such a shame." he mutters. The agony lasts for what seems like an eternity, though it probably was only about a breem or two. Finally, the device is withdrawn, as well as the clamps, and the three mechs turn to leave. They don't bother locking or even closing the door behind them, though. Blurr just lies in a limp heap on the berth. shaking slightly.
Arcee covers her mouth, watching in helpless horror as the watches...wait, WHAT did she just see? Who were those mechs, and what in Primus' name were they doing to poor Blurr?? She can only look on helplessly as this terrible injustice happens. And then the doors are left open on the opposite side -- but how can she even GET to that side to get in, she doesn't even comprehend the layout of this torture dungeon! All she knows is that she HAS to find a way to get Blurr out of here. This can't go on indefinitely, because one of these times they're going to end up killing him for sure.
She waits for a moment, listening and trying to determine if there's footfalls coming from *any* direction before she plans her next move.
Nope, no more footfalls. Those mechs are long gone now, and no one else is around. No one but Blurr. And it isn't too difficult to find out how to get to the other door. There's a left turn at the other end of the narrow one she's currently in, around a corner and there you are.
Once she's absolutely certain that the coast is clear, Arcee does, in fact, make her way to the opposite side and steps in to comfort the poor speedster. "What the hell have they done to you," she murmurs worriedly, checking to see if maybe she can just...well, carry him out, in the condition he's in. After what he's just endured, she can't imagine he can walk on his own...and even before this latest indignity, he was having problems. "I got you, okay? I'm getting you out of here."
Blurr struggles to get up from the berth, looking up to find Arcee standing over him? He looks incredibly confused, and somewhat panicked, as if he doesn't remember at all how or why he got here. "Wh...whoareyouwhathappenedwhyamIherehowdidIgethere??" Scrambling to his feet, he backs away from her, looking frightened.
"Ssh, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," Arcee says soothingly, giving Blurr a little bit of space in the event he gains his strength back and completely flips out. "My name's Arcee, and I want to get you out of this terrible place. Please..." She holds her hand out. "I know it's hard to trust after everything you've been through, but I just need you to trust me."
Blurr looks her up and down, then stares at her hand for a while. He actually doesn't remember what he'd been through. Or anything that happened at all, right now. But...she seems to genuinely want to help. And she looks vaguely familiar to him, perhaps he's met her before? Finally, he appears to calm down. "O-okay...okay. I trust you." he nods, and takes her hand.