Elite Comic Universe PBP

Not getting what she wanted out that encounter in the STEM center; she was walking away from it and simply crossing the open area of the campus, lost in thought. A mariachi band came out of nowhere for a moment and followed her around for a bit, but they went ignored by Frankie even when a herd of red balloons started attacking the band by floating menacingly in their direction, before a flock of seagulls started attacking the red balloons in turn.

That was just the first minute or so of her walk, though. A series of unlikely events followed wherever she went. A squirrel emerges from its hiding place and tries to do a repeat of the mariachi performance with a flute cover, but it's a squirrel and squirrels don't really know how to play the flute so it just comes out like a mildly offensive cover rendition. The tree it emerged from claps in polite appreciation for a full minute, despite having no hands. A cabbage rolls on by, screaming like one of those eerie goats with the human-like screams; so you could also just say the cabbage was screaming like a human. Oh and there's more mundane sort of improbabilities too, like a couple of people's shoe-laces getting tangled at the exact same time leading them to stumble and crash into each other and possibly find life-long love in the process, we'll never know because they're just background characters and there's no budget to write out and illustrate their story.

Anyway, Frankie is just ignoring all of this as she's walking. At some point she stops for a moment, holds out a hand, which disappears into nothingness, then retracts it with a phone in hand. A large phone. Like one of those 1980's phones they had the audacity to call 'mobile'. Except this one is hot pink and lime green, and as soon as she presses a button an inflatable lcd screen pops out...

...so at least it was probably internet-capable. Or at least pool resistant.

She started fiddling with it as she resumed her walk.

Following his ears, Camilo made his way into the courtyard. He could swear he'd heard mariachi music over this way. Distracted by a squirrel running around in what looked like a tiny sombrero, he almost ran into another student. She had her face buried in a pink and green... phone laptop thing.

"Desculpe, pardon me."

"Desculpe? Desculpe of what? There's sculptures around here?" She looked up at him in confusion.

The phone laptop thing buzzing in the angry sort of way that seemed to mean 'no, whatever you're doing is stupid' in universal device language.

"Desculpe, it is sorry in my language, Português. My tongue slips here and there." He extends his hand, "I am Camilo."

"Oh... yeah, that also makes sense," she said, looking at the hand for a moment before shaking it.

"I'm Frankie," she said, "The one and only. Actually no, one of only two."

"Meu Deus! You are the one from os boatos. No, the rumors, about the evil twin like the telenovelas. Are you the good sister or the evil sister?" He gasps and throws a hand over his mouth, "Or is there another sister? Brother? No, a cousin right. It has to be a cousin, but they're actually the sibling who was taken away by a tia malvada!"

"Os boatos? Whuh?" She blinked, staring at him in slight confusion before something connected.

"Oh, nah bruv, we sorted things out.I mean, I'm the good one, but she's not evil or anything, that was just like, a misunderstanding, yeah?"

The disappointment was very evident on Camilo's face. "Ah, well that's good I suppose. I'm glad neither of you are evil." He said while grooming and rolling his handlebar mustache with his fingertips.

"By the way, did you hear the mariachi? I came here following my ears, but I can not find. I was hoping to sing a little with them, maybe let out some gritos."

"Sorry to disappoint bruv, but we're no Eastenders b-plot, yeah? But, mariachi? Uhh... maybe? I kind of just tune all that stuff out sometimes. Especially when I'm thinking about stuff that takes up some solid brainpower yeah?"

She was staring at his mustache, wondering if those were actually in style in this universe; which would be another one of those big differences she couldn't wrap her head around yet.

Camilo mistook her stares for admiration, which is to be expected. He's always catching them 'mirin.

"You tune out the music? This is very sad. What is it that you are thinking about that takes so much brainpower?"

"Just stuff. You know, superhero stuff. Saving the world. Having to figure out how to make sense of six petajoules of files. I think he said petajoules, anyway. Hey, stab in the dark here, but you ever hear of someone named Eric Gibson?"

"Saving the world seems um pouco above our pay grade. No?" He looks perplexed at the technical talk and pulls out his handheld to translate.

"Eric Gibson. The name does not ring the bell. Is he trying to take these petty jewels? If you want a partner, stopping a jewel heist would be good for the contest. I can call you when I get a lead, uma troca de favores?"

"Jewels? Heist? No I..." she stopped to think about it for a moment "...I'd actually make for a great jewel heister myself probably... but no! I don't think he's into stealing jewels. In fact, I don't even know if he's a bad guy at all, I just know he's important somehow, and someone helped compile a bunch of information onto this usb drive, so I was thinking of trying to go over it on this... phone thingie?"

He gave her a dubious look while she mused about turning to a life of crime. "Hmmm, I've never heard the name and I'm not very good with the computers. Arturo is, maybe he could help."

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D1, LA, Eric Gibson? Investigation | 1d20+2 ⇒ 9

"Well, I've been going over these files so... there's stuff here, I just... don't know yet how it all connects. I need... what's it called? A *lead*!"

She showed him the ridiculous inflatable lcd screen. Did that kind of technology even exist here? Well, probably given they had robots and stuff walking around, but still.

She opened up a few files, scouring through them together with mustachio man.

Intellect! | 1d20 ⇒ 13

File Image - Eric Gibson

After about thirty minutes of going down data rabbit holes, they come to an article about an ex-DCP scientist turned weapons dealer named Eric Gibson. It says that he ran with a crew of elites in the United States called Rising Eagle and may have been involved in the kidnapping of his own niece.

But no data on her in this article.

He escaped justice and went to ground but popped up in the DCP (Democratic Congo Protectorate), some years later and was working on top level projects. Stuff dealing with space time manipulation, teleportation, and multiverse theory technology.

When the DCP was destroyed he appeared years later as a weapons dealer and specialist for hire, selling technology and creating war time solutions for the highest bidder. Another article from reddit shows an image of him supposedly in Mudaba Adin at a place called the Champagne Room, a black market in the slums.

The picture is dated on the 12th of August, 2032 so a few weeks ago.

"The DCP. This Eric Gibson is very bad news. If he is in Mudaba Adin now, with everything going on in town, he is up to nothing good. We should tell the UNJE..." Camilo looked back at the photo of Gibson at the Champagne Room. "But, if we have more information, all the better. No?"

"Yeah. DCP?" She had no idea why that was bad news, much less *very* bad news. But she had a lead now.

"I'm like, gonna have to check this place out tomorrow, I guess."

Camilo was confused by her confusion, "The DCP... the Democratic Congo Protectorate, the 72 Hour Crisis, most likely responsible for wiping Mexico City off the map. Not exactly a local banger who needs roughing up to get in line, more like Security Council level threat.

If you go tomorrow, I will join you. For backup. No?"

"Sure..." She wasn't sure about taking him along with her. She was pretty sure that 99% of guys with handlebar mustaches were either cops or really old pornstars, and *everybody* knew it, so there was a 50/50 chance their cover would get blown right away.

But eh, he seemed earnest enough.

"Yeah, alright. I might bring a few more people along, though."