Open ACME Retro

[Julie Justice]

Julie liked to think that she was creative...and good at thinking on her feet... and even strong...when she needed to be. But it seemed like Ivy was born to do these kind of things..it came so naturally to her. So Julie was happy to let Ivy take charge here. Julie stayed close enough to help Ivy if she needed it. But the bust was fairly big and heavy, and Julie took a very small step back, to stay out of Ivy's way.

And because she had been curious about these traps, and learning how to spot them..and how to avoid them..Julie kept glancing up at the ceiling...to try to figure out how Nace had put it up there. It seemed obvious enough now...just looking at it..but you would never notice it, if you were distracted..and thinking of something else...as Kidman had been.

 

[Jason West]

(Co-post with @Eugene)

Jason hurriedly made his way to what would soon be the shooting range. @Eugene had already found an old desk to use as a seated shooting platform and had targets already set up. Jason decided to expose the students to a few different common calibers in a few different set ups. Jason had brought his Glock 20 and his Kimber Crimson Carry II but had also packed a couple of different rifles as well. He withdrew his Glock and Kimber from their respective holsters and then reached into his backpack and took out 2 empty magazines for each weapon and placed them on the small table in front of him.

Jason then went over to his other rifle cases and began to open them up. The first case turned into a prone shooting platform once opened fully. Inside the case was Jason's GAP-10. His GAP-10 was a piston driven assault rifle, chambered in the common US made .308 round, made by Georgia Precision Arms and was set up for distances well beyond the confines of this small makeshift range but would do well for the students.

Jason placed two 10 round magazines on the table behind the rifle after opening the bipod that was attached to the rifle. He then went back to the other case that he had brought with him. The weapon in the second case was unique in its own right. There was nothing else on the market like it. It was a Kriss Vector and fired the common .45 ACP. This Vector was the carbine version rather than the fully automatic model and Jason thought the carbine version was a better choice for the students because he didn't necessarily want to give the Junior Detectives a machine gun to shoot even though they were in the desert. Once Jason had all the weapons set up on the table, he quickly placed boxes of ammunition with each weapon according to what each weapon required.

Seeing that Jason had finished setting out the weapons, Eugene was curious to see what Jason had actually brought with him and walked over to him to see. As Eugene approached Jason he recognized the Glock and Kimber and the shape of an AR but wasn't sure what the last gun was.

"Whats that on the end down there?" Eugene asked.

"Its the Kriss Vector Carbine. You've never seen it?"

"Not in person. Mind if I put a few rounds downrange with it?"

"Go for it. I brought plenty of ammo with me."

Eugene picked up a magazine and began loading it with ammo. Once the magazine was about half full, Eugene walked to the firing line he had previously made and pulled the weapon up to his shoulder. He was surprised at how quickly he could acquire a target while pulling the weapon up. He aimed down the sights and squeezed the trigger. The recoil, or the lack thereof, surprised Eugene and he continued firing until he had emptied the magazine.

"That was different." Eugene said as he turned to put the weapon back down.

"Different in a good way?"

"I didn't expect the lack of recoil."

"Instead of directing the recoil back, it directs it down and decreases muzzle rise which in turn makes it very accurate."

"It is very accurate."

Suddenly, they both felt their communicators go off. Jason looked down to read the message that he had received.

Looking over the Junior Detectives, he hoped they finish this summer with something memorable. Once he announced the case, he sent Eugene and Jason the same message: "We're going ahead with the shooting basics, then we're taking the kids on a case, will brief when I see you."

"Apparently @Chase is on his way here now with the Junior Detectives. He mentioned something about a case and that he would brief us when he got here." Jason said before Eugene could read his message. They both leaned on the table and made small talk while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive at their location.

 

[Chase]

"My name is Ennai," she said making eye contact with the students.

Chase Devineaux listened to the hand-to-hand combat instructor and noted the tone she used was encouraging. When they first met, he thought she seemed slightly distant and wondered about the way she may handle students. Least to say, he was pleasantly surprised.

Watching @Kidman get into a bind and the other junior detectives pitching in to help solve the problem was refreshing. They learned fast and are working as a team quickly. He'll have to promote the older ones to higher rank after the summer and they may well be moving on to take the full detective exam soon.

While the kids and instructors wrapped up, Chase decided to move first to the newly set shooting range. Arriving, Devineaux was impressed how promptly @Eugene and @Jason West put everything together.

"Not bad," he patted the dirt off his trousers after the walk from the schoolhouse and complimented the men.

"You two should do a course on how to set up a shooting range in less time than it takes to play a game of poker."


[OOC: Players, please feel free to take the initiative and start moving your character to the shooting range.]

 

[Nace Bilby]

Having observed the students dealing with the MON-50 mine, Nace smiled lightly as he watched Zack (@Agent Z) rapidly come up with a solution, and work with his fellow Junior Detectives to disarm the MON-50.

"Right, now to get to the firing range you'll have to traverse three blocks to the range." Nace began, and handed out maps to each individual student.

"However," Nace began, with a faint smile, "the route is booby trapped. Now, understand I don't expect you to not trigger a single booby trap. However I expect you to display teamwork and good judgment. It is far better you trigger a booby trap in training than you trigger one in real life."

He pointed to the back exit of the classroom, "The way out of the building is not boobytrapped. But, the way to the range contains multiple booby traps."

The way out of the back of the school presented three different routes. One was just up the road, the other was through an old church, and the last was through an alleyway that led to a doorway into the church.

The road was booby trapped with a PMN anti-personnel mine in the large pothole and a trip wire connected to a POMZ-2 mine with a grenade underneath it. All triggering any of these traps would do would set off a camera flash bulb and create a lot of smoke.

The church door, which was open, was booby trapped with a garage door laser connected to a MON-50 mine in the doorway arch aiming downward. It would also flash and trigger a small siren. The church's roof had several PMN mines placed under the heavy clay tiles on the roof in case of a free-running style movement. One of the two Church windows fronting the school had a wire connected to the window, but it wasn't connected to anything.

The alleyway had a triple line of three OZM-72 mines connected to a trip wire partially concealed by weeds growing out of a crack in the alley pavement that stretched diagonally almost all the way across the alley. And if one were to step through the part not covered by a tripwire, that person would run afoul of another MON-50 hidden by a trash pile that was triggered by another infrared garage door laser aimed across the alley along the same line as the trip wire.

All any of these simulated traps would do would be setting off a flash of a camera bulb and make a lot of smoke billow into the sky.

 

[Agent Z]

Zack was glad to see both Julie Justice and Ivy thinking quick. He gave the word, Kidman moved her foot and Ivy dropped the object just in time to prevent the alarm from going off.

"We got lucky there."

"Right, now to get to the firing range you'll have to traverse three blocks to the range." Nace began, and handed out maps to each individual student.
"However," Nace began, with a faint smile, "the route is booby trapped. Now, understand I don't expect you to not trigger a single booby trap. However I expect you to display teamwork and good judgment. It is far better you trigger a booby trap in training than you trigger one in real life."

Zack accepted his map gladly. If the first few moments of this exercise was any indication, the traps up ahead were going to be a real challenge.

He turned to the other Junior Detectives, "Well it looks like there are a few paths we can take on this map. Should we take the route down the road, through the old church or through the alley?"

 

[Julie Justice]

Julie gave a little *sigh* glad that part of the exercise was over. She looked at her map. Julie usually had trouble using maps to find her way somewhere, but this one had a lot of details and it helped that they were all living in this little "town."

Julie had liked this place from the moment they had arrived. It reminded her of the small town that she was from; although the small town that she was from was still a bit bigger than this place; and of course the small town that she was from didn't have booby traps hidden throughout it, either. But she liked looking around and seeing older buildings in need of various stages of repairs. After all, the house that Julie grew up in was over 200 years old.

Julie said,"Well..I grew up in an old house myself, and I know that sometimes, when you try to fix things, you find more problems than you can see just by looking at them. The frame or sill of a window can be partially rotted. Or sometimes, someone else has painted a window shut. And since we were told of several different spots in and around the church that might be booby trapped, it might be better to take our chances and just go down the road."

 

[Jason West]

(Co-post with @Eugene)
Hearing the sounds of someone approaching the newly constructed shooting range, Jason West and Eugene momentarily paused their conversation to see @Chase enter the range.

"Not bad," he patted the dirt off his trousers after the walk from the schoolhouse and complimented the men.

"You two should do a course on how to set up a shooting range in less time than it takes to play a game of poker."

"The only reason poker takes so long is because we're generally waiting on you to analyze your cards and place your bet." Jason replied with a smile.

Jason had been thinking of the best way to teach the Junior Detectives how to shoot and be accurate. He decided that the best approach would be to show his own skills and explain that while its good to know how to shoot, the more important thing is to be accurate. He also planned to show them how to balance accuracy and time to be the most effective shooter in a timely manner. He began to look in his backpack for another magazine for the Glock 20 so that he could load it and have it ready when the students arrived. After finding a magazine, Jason loaded it up and placed it in his pocket.

"What's this about a case?" Eugene asked quizzically.

 

[Agent Z]

"Well..I grew up in an old house myself, and I know that sometimes, when you try to fix things, you find more problems than you can see just by looking at them. The frame or sill of a window can be partially rotted. Or sometimes, someone else has painted a window shut. And since we were told of several different spots in and around the church that might be booby trapped, it might be better to take our chances and just go down the road."

Zack nodded at what Julie had to say. "You're probably right. The buildings could get us in a bind. @Kid Kidman is the fastest and quietest out of all of us and she triggered a trap in the school house. We might as well travel where we have visability."

He turned and got a sense that the other detectives agreed, "Keep your eyes out for anything that looks funny guys and we should pass this class like Hobbits through the mines of Moria."

 

[Ivy]

Ivy had to roll her eyes at Zack geeking out once again, but she had to agree with Julie and her brother. Sometimes the direct route was best.

The Junior Detectives kept vigilant as they walked down the road. The air felt cooler now that it was later in the day, and Ivy noticed their shadows getting longer. She never knew why this complex was abandoned, or how ACME secured it as a testing site. The baked brick dwellings retained a very quaint small-town America vibe, and while some buildings were clearly unfinished in construction, others looked like the inhabitants left deep in the night.

In her mind she was dreading the next part of their trails. It was no question that she was a poor marksman, having always found it difficult to get comfortable with firearms. The weakness forced her to try overachieve with close quarter combat weapons like blades and eskrima sticks... but avoidance was futile. An ACME issued firearm would be the difference between rising in the ranks and remaining out of future fieldwork.

Lee Jordan broke the silence, "Man I can't wait to get the traps over with and get on to the range," He positioned his hands as if using an assault rifle, clicking his tongue as he pulled the imaginary trigger at Ivy.

She scrunched her nose, "Not funny, Jordan. I--"

Ivy's foot seemed caught on something and it seemed within the trail end of a millisecond that she recognized it as the trip wire. Just as quickly, someone grabbed hold of her, causing them both to tumble away from the site of what would have been a mine's impact. Strangely enough it was Lee who was playing hero.

His quick thinking allowed the other detectives to move out of the dust cloud, and even though there was a camera flash and alarm, everyone seemed to be out of damage range.

[fieldset=Written With:][with]22[/with][/fieldset]

 

[Sophie]

Trailing a few metres behind the stalwart company of Junior Detectives, Sophie Conrad and Nace Bilby had fallen in pace beside each other as the team moved out from the old schoolhouse. “They seem to have taken to your lessons well,” she began, twisting apart the cap from the cylinder of her stainless steel canteen, “that was quite a remarkable display of collaboration, earlier.”

“I think so, Doctor. However, I've my misgivings about Kidman. What was she doing, slipping off like that?” Nace frowned, looking at the small pocket notebook where he wrote down that observation.

“She does seem to have an impulsive streak.” the young woman nodded, empathising, “perhaps she is unsuited for having to remain in one place for too long at a time..."

“She seems a tad flighty, yes,” the reply was gruff as Goliath barked at something. Nace turned his head, following its line of sight.

“Goliath seems sufficiently excitable.”

Smiling down at the puppy before glancing briefly in the direction of its expressed consternation, Sophie paused to drink from her bottle before continuing, “Has he ever run off on his own?"

“No, he hasn't. At least, not yet.” The soldier tugged lightly on Goliath’s brown leather leash, and the trio observed the lizard that had fixated the canine's attention, idly skittering by on a nearby wall, “Have you any pets at all, Doctor?”

“Not personally, no,” she shook her head, then added with associated affection, “We do have a Labrador: Ruffian.”

“He's about six years old now,” wry laughter made her eyes sparkle in the sunlight, “and still thinks he can fit into spaces half his width.”

“Dogs never outgrow the puppy-stage, it seems at times.” Nace said, with a smile as he prompted Goliath to stay alongside them when they resumed walking.

He paused, thinking of another dog with fond nostalgia, long since deceased from age and infirmity, “I grew up with a Boerboel, a South African mastiff, as a lad. Dad raised him from puppyhood.”

“Ah… Was this in South Africa?” Sophie reflected, “Whereabouts did you live?"

“Yes, in South Africa. My family lives in Johannesburg and my grandfather owns a small ranch on the outskirts of Kruger National Park.”

Nace asked, as he turned to address the woman beside him: “What about you?”

“Me?” there was a pause as she glanced towards the backs of the Junior Detectives, considering her reply, “My mother is based in Geneva, and my father, in Maine. They both travel a fair bit and I have had the good fortune of benefiting from that. I’ve been to Kruger. It has an amazing variety of wildlife within its boundaries, though...” the medical student winced, almost imperceptibly, “I recently read of trouble with the poaching of the white rhinoceros.”

“I thought I heard a Franco-German tone to your words.” Nace mused, touching one finger to his temple and scratching lightly, a habit he had whenever recalling facts, “Yes, my grandfather is a retired gamekeeper there. He now owns a ranch and hunts still, despite advancing years."”

“Do you hunt, too?”

“Yes, I do, usually with my father and grandfather, usually on my summer vacations," he replied, remembering the hunts that often gained plenty of meat for the family for the duration of summer. A faraway look crossed his features as he thought about the issue.

“That sounds like a decent expedition,” Sophie prompted, “What about your mother? Do you have sisters?”

"My mother is an OBGYN in Johannesburg and I've five siblings in total: a big sister, twin brothers, a sister after me, and a youngest sibling." Nace smiled, remembering the family and thinking of home as he spoke. They were separated for now, but the international telecommunications plan they had meant he could keep in touch with them at will. Unconsciously, his hand reached to pat the cargo pocket where his cellphone was currently nestled.

“Ah…” the amiable redhead offered a smile at his wistful tone, “This does explain why you seem like such a family-oriented man. It serves you well with the Junior Detectives.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Nace replied, recalling Zack’s moment of brilliance and getting the students to work together to deal with the MON-50 mine. He did honestly care about the Junior Detectives and that they were well-trained. He wanted them to succeed and become full fledged detectives, ideally with long and rewarding careers.

“What about you, any siblings and all? And your family? What interested you to take the Hippocratic Oath?” the sombre South-African asked, as he faced Sophie again.

“I'm an only child,” she paused to consider, “but I've never lacked family. My grandparents live in Menton--southeastern France,” the orientation was lightly interjected, “and, when I was younger, I spent most of my summers with them.”

“As for medical school... It seemed a practical choice--” she turned to look away into the distance and her tone softened, “It’s better to know how to save a life than merely read the genetic code…”

Then, with a breath, she brightened: “What made you enlist?”

“In some ways, family tradition. Since the late nineteenth century, a Bilby has served as a soldier for the British Crown, the former nation of Rhodesia, or the nation of South Africa. My earliest ancestor was a British soldier from the 24th Regiment of Foot.”

Nace closed his eyes for a brief moment, recalling the pride of five generations of service for three nations. Then, he opened his eyes to remark, "And... France, Geneva, and Maine, quite a spread-out family. Quite impressive."

Sophie had to laugh, colouring slightly, “We are, aren't we?”

“What about you,” she prodded with accompanying mirth, remembering what little she did knew of military history--which, as it turned out, was not quite so little, “24th Regiment of Foot? That is quite an extensive history. I commend your dedication to this legacy."

“Thank you--”

But, whatever that Nace had wished to add was lost as the sharp shrill of an alarm interrupted their exchange.

Sophie stepped forward, instinctively reaching out a hand towards the nearest Junior Detective, but she found her actions unnecessary. A small smile of pride warmed her features: Lee Jordan had risen to the occasion.




[fieldset=Written With:][with]38[/with][/fieldset]

 

[Joe Kerr]

The heat of the desert sun shone down as Joseph Kerr made his way to the shooting range.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire," he chuckled under his breath.

A little over 24 hours ago, 'John Doe' had been busy working his way into a network of thieves working out of Morocco. He had just come out of a less than successful meeting when he received Chase Devineaux's heavily encrypted email.

The invitation had been both unusual and intriguing. Seeing as staying in Casablanca would do him no good, Joseph had opted to accept the offer to help train the new batch of ACME Junior agents. It would be a good chance for him to try his hand at something new and to also step away from the web of lies for a brief respite.

 

[Agent Z]

Zack saw the whole thing happen like a summer block buster action movie. After the dust settled it looked like Lee had used himself to shield Ivy from a would-be explosion.

"That was awesome!" Zack yelled, "Lee's a hero!"

The younger Monaghan checked his map, they were a lot closer to the shooting range now. He could actually see some of the instructors already there.

"Let's hurry up, looks like the teachers are waiting on us."