Open ACME Retro

[Agent Z]

Zack mentally took down notes of what Jason West did. He rarely used pen and paper in classes.

His eidetic memory was one of the gifts he was born with. He believed though that this could have been the only gift he was really born with, it aided him in the ability to pick up languages and understand the world by remembering details and locating patterns just a slight bit faster than everyone else.

As the satellite feed came on, Zack couldn't help but think it looked like the minimap to a shooter. It must have looked even more like that on the instructor's screens where there were green and blue dots.

"Hey..." His eyes caught sight of a human figure on one of the monitors, clearly someone that was farther away from the group, "Is that person supposed to be there?"

 

[Lee]

"Copy, Agent Jordan," he tried to not laugh over the microphone, "one finger."

Hearing the confirmation, Lee started to pack up the tools they used to install the cameras. He tapped his own communicator and it told him that signals were good.

Being an overachiever, Lee knew how annoying he could sound, but he had to admit that liked his own voice. He was taught to grab the world by the collar when he could, and if the collar can't be reached, grab something else.

"You think we were being graded on how fast the cameras were installed?" Lee asked randomly to @Ivy and @Julie Justice.

 

[Julie Justice]

Julie looked @Ivy, hoping that she would respond to Lee, since the younger woman was clearly the person in authority in this situation. But, then, Julie thought that if she didn't say something, Lee might think he had intimidated her.

So Julie thought about about it for a moment, and looked @Lee, and smiled, and said in a *sweet* voice,"Well, I can only speak for myself, of course. But I was just eager to show everyone what I have learned. I'm sure you can understand that."

 

[Ivy]

"You think we were being graded on how fast the cameras were installed?"

"Well, I can only speak for myself, of course. But I was just eager to show everyone what I have learned. I'm sure you can understand that."

Ivy listened to the brief exchange between Lee and Julie, noting some tension. She turned to the other member of their team, @Kidman, who seemed to be keeping quiet.

"I think we did a decent job, but it looks like we're a bit behind schedule..."

She checked the time on her communicator, then paused to notice that the map was now active. A series of blue and green dots showed where the instructors and agents were in relation to the area.

"Hey, according to this map we can take a short cut back." Ivy pointed at one of the blocks on her screen indicating a building. Examining the boarded up window she grabbed a nailed piece of plywood with both hands, yanking it off from the frame, "We'll save some time."

Her eyes needed a moment to adjust to the darkened space as she entered. The floor was simple unpolished concrete, but aside from that the area looked secure. Ivy turned back to give Kid a hand. Unlike the other two Junior Detectives, Kidman was a mystery to Ivy. The young girl had no thrill for law enforcement like the other cadets. Though ACME was known for finding talent in odd places.

 

[Julie Justice]

Julie looked @Ivy. She knew the younger woman had a lot of experience, and trusted her to take charge in situations like this. Julie was surprised to see @Kid Kidman was there with them. Once again, the mysterious young woman seemed to show up out of nowhere, as she had been doing all day. But she was glad to see Kidman, too. After all, the more the merrier, right? After Kidman was safely in the building, Ivy helped Julie in the building too.

 

[Ennai]

Ennai took a deep breath sweat condensed on her skin, fighting off the oppressive heat. She looked up at the fanless ceiling accusingly, cathartically wishing she could just destroy the whole building. She cursed trying to feel any hint of the breeze from outside through the windows to little avail as she continued laboriously converting the council room into a sparring den.

The cinder block building that was supposed to be the city hall had been baking in the Mojave desert in the summer for who knows how long. The air conditioning had conked out at some point, and while Ennai had managed to get it back up again, she had yet to feel the effects. Her long, thick hair was pulled into a bun, and her pale blue button up had been discarded a half an hour ago on one of the chairs in the tiered seating facing the tall and wide circular panel that was to serve as a small arena once Ennai was done installing the mats she was almost done with.

By the time she had finished the air conditioning had kicked in, and with the panels and the floor completely covered in padding, she had closed the windows and put her shirt back on over her black sports bra. She lifted the leg of her jeans kneeling down to tighten the laces on her heavy, black swat boots. She noticed that her olive complexion had tanned significantly in the short period she had been there. Ennai grabbed her pack, black grip gloves hanging off them on a clip, and trotted up the couple stairs to eat her lunch. She sat in a fold out chair on the council ring, passively regarding the surveillance camera positioned high in the corner of the room as she carved her apple with her Ontario. Her bright, blue eyes lowered back to the Northern Spy.

The other guest-instructors and JDs had arrived some time ago while she was checking out another building. She hadn't been sure she'd be able to go on the field trip, as she'd spent the preceding week filling out the last of her reports, dealing with the process for her sabbatical, and working on lesson plans. Her seminar didn't start until after the field trip, but she had thought it would be an excellent opportunity to get to know her trimestral colleagues and the Junior Detectives. She wasn't sure why she was holding off on it now, but something was making her hesitate. Ennai shook her head. After turning on her communicator, she downed her bottle of water and started the process of packing up her tools.

 

[Jason West]

"Hey..." His eyes caught sight of a human figure on one of the monitors, clearly someone that was farther away from the group, "Is that person supposed to be there?"

"@Agent Z I believe that is a new instructor that Chase had mentioned to us last night during our poker game. I didn't think she would beat us here but it appears that she has. Why don't you go meet up with @Lee, @Ivy, @Kid Kidman and @Julie Justice to go meet her and introduce yourselves after you take Mr. Bilby's class? I'll send a message to their communicators while you're on your way down to meet them." Jason replied.

He quickly typed out a message to send to all the students and instructors communicators that the new instructor had arrived. Once they all returned, the students would be handed off to @Nace Bilby for his EOD portion while Jason and @Eugene were setting up the weapons for the shooting portion of the trip.

 

[Julie Justice]

Ivy, Kidman, and Julie were in the building for a minute, while Ivy was deciding their next movie. Julie was happy to stop walking for a moment, although it wasn't much cooler in the building than it was outside. Julie reached into the left pocket of her pants, and took out an energy bar, and started to eat it. Of course, that was when Julie's communicator *went off.*
Julie looked @Ivy, and said,"Ivy, I'm getting a message."

 

[Nace Bilby]

Nace had received the message from @Jason West and sent an affirmation that he received it.

He had set up his lecture in a large open room. There were tables with dummies of several common types of explosive munitions, various electrical circuits, and a large whiteboard with the words Booby Traps and UXBs.

As he passed a mockup of an Italian anti-tank mine he crossed himself, recalling a mate of his in South Africa who had been killed in action attempting to disarm a similar mine that had been booby trapped.

"Resquiat Im Pace." He solemnly whispered.

He had set up shop in an old schoolhouse near the town square, thinking it quite appropriate a location for teaching the junior detectives about booby traps and UXBs, both of which he had seen kill and maim long after conflicts had ended.

Goliath trotted obediently beside Nace as he inspected his various displays on long wooden tables. In eight years, to include five years as an EOD operative Nace had encountered or disarmed various IEDs based on many of these munitions on the tables.

 

[Neb]

The cases included technological surveillance equipment, survival equipment, and weapons among other things.

Julie was surprised to see @Kid Kidman was there with them. Once again, the mysterious young woman seemed to show up out of nowhere, as she had been doing all day. But she was glad to see Kidman, too. After all, the more the merrier, right? After Kidman was safely in the building, Ivy helped Julie in the building too.

Kidman had been in and around San Francisco all her life, making the sudden heat a new experience. Having to shed most of her clothes to deal with it had been another new experience, the shear amount of materials another, and flying in a plane even more so.

The girl paused. Flying. It was amazing. She felt the moment the landing gear left the ground she felt she would do anything to stay in the air.

But now was not the time for that. New was new, and that meant rapid adaption, using what she had to fit a new puzzle. Urban landscape was obviously not a problem. Kidman had long ago developed a sufficient skill of free-running, and proved to be surprisingly agile for someone who looked so frail. Still she accepted the other woman's (@Ivy ) help all the same as she had with (@Julie Justice )'s. Offers of assistance were always to be respected and appreciated in her line of living, and she flashed the redhead a quick smile as she jumped through.

 

[Agent Z]

Zack started to head down towards the other detectives, keeping in mind to check and make sure he had his navigation gear. The last thing he wanted to do was get lost in a place like this.

That's strange. Where is everyone?

He checked his communicator again, there was the message from Jason West telling them to go through @Nace Bilby's class before meeting the new instructor. Then there was the tracker, which showed that Ivy, Lee, Julie Justice and Kidman were inside a building. It looked like they found a short cut.

Zack wasn't exactly sure how they got into the buildings, but took a moment to look for clues. He saw that some sand had been tracked up to the side of a building and one of the windows seemed to have been pulled open.

"That looks like Ivy's doing..." He reminisced about the time his sister punched a vending machine in a fit of range. She really didn't know her own strength sometimes.

Jumping he, Zack looked around. They couldn't have gone far.

"Hey! You guys still around!?"

 

[Ivy]

Urban landscape was obviously not a problem. Kidman had long ago developed a sufficient skill of free-running, and proved to be surprisingly agile for someone who looked so frail.

Through the houses they went, some with basic covered furnishings, some gutted, and others seemingly frozen in a state of construction. Everyone seemed to navigate easy enough, but it was @Kid Kidman's ability to move about that surprised Ivy the most. She met a lot of competitive fighters, and the young woman acted like she was taught how to traverse with ease in this environment.

Julie looked @Ivy, and said,"Ivy, I'm getting a message."

"Let me have a look," Ivy stopped, and peered over at Julie's communicator, it was faster than checking her own. She read a message from @Jason West to move forward to @Nace Bilby's lecture. In addition to that it seemed @Zack was joining them.

"Hey! You guys still around!?"

The voice was distant, but she recognized it right away. Zack was always good at picking up clues and details, so she wasn't surprised that he was able to find them relatively quick.

"Climb up the stairs and you'll see us lil'bro, and watch your step!" Ivy yelled back before turning to the rest of the group. "We can wait for him a moment before heading past those doors and over a courtyard wall. It should take us right to the old schoolhouse where Instructor Bilby is."

Since they had a bit of time she turned back to Kidman, hoping to sate her interest, "You seem at ease here. Where did you learn those moves?"

 

[Neb]

Since they had a bit of time she turned back to Kidman, hoping to sate her interest, "You seem at ease here. Where did you learn those moves?"

Kidman chuckled slightly. "You learn these things fast when you're always running from th-"
She stopped short.
'Don't tell a cop you run from cops, you idiot!' She scolded herself.
She didn't plan or want to be a thief, panhandler, or squatter, but sometimes such things were necessary.
"-thugs on the street."
That was true too, after all.