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You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)


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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pam found next to nothing looking for those things. Never had the town had a serial rapist, there were only the standard cults, generally of the hippie, variety, the kind that wanted your money above anything else, and lastly, there had never been a case of mass hysteria in Clover Grove. Well, there was one time long ago, about 70 years now, but that was UFO related. Overall, Clover Grove wasn't really known for paranormal activity, infact, it was almost known for having a lack of that kind of thing...
 

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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pamela grumbled, "This city is too perfect...something is wrong." She dug back into the material this time looking into the center of town where the monster had appeared, had their been any odd construction, special projects paid for by mysterious benefactors or shady means?
 
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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pam had hit the jackpot. Well, not exactly, but there were at least three or four leads here, though nothing solid in its own right. There was definately something strange going on with the development of the city itself, though it was very well covered up.

For starters, it seemed that the moderization that occured around sixty years ago was helped along quite a bit by a few big corperations. There were five or so, never all funding one project, but generally linked together in more then one place with each of the others. All had their headquarters in the city, spread out nearly evenly, in fact, if the student remembered where these buildings were. They were pretty public and big name, after all, it was just very few would probably ever know how deeply connected they were!

Next, there were alot of government contracts involving the military and other R&D located in Clover Grove. Many of such were common knowledge, after all, the countryside was desert, very good for weapons testing, aided by two major bases East of the city, everyone knew about those. However, there was alot of funds unaccounted for, or codewords and projects that only their name was known. Some covert stuff to be sure, and as such, Pam would have to do more digging on that to know where to look next down that lead's line.

There was also, of course, the stories about government corruption. City officals were pretty shady in these parts, sometimes, and while every once in awhile a big story would break and a scandal would happen, for the most part nobody suspected anything big, just small time power plays, but upon closer inspection, there were alot of links between corrupt officals and the afore mentioned "big five" of Clover Grove. The seat of government was nearby, and might have more answers, but it was deeper towards downtown, and therefore probably more dangerous.

Lastly, there were some conspiracy theoroys about strange animals, both of the giant, hairy, man-like ape variety and the sea-monster type. Every place had them, world-wide, generally, but Clover Grove had alot more of these types of things it seemed. After all, within this country, all the urban ledges seemed to take place on this coast, though most of the time up North, not down here in the desert, but still... Either way, while no follow ups presented themselves on this lead, it was something to keep in mind.
 

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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pamela grabbed a pen and a notepad from the front desk and started to write down her note quickly in the dwindling light, the names of the companies, the codewords used for the government projects, the shape the company buildings made. She also jotted down some notes on another page which read....

"Mad human": Normal speed, no special surprises. Recomend: Fighting a few, for mob flee

"Leaper": Able to scale buildings and leap like giant grasshopper, long tongue for distracting prey. Recommended action: Fleeing

White Spider: Webs, venom which induces a female to grow a male member, not sure if it works reverse on men. Recomendation: Flee or give in, the white spider seems to be fairly passive. Once it's laid eggs it will move on and the eggs remove themselves very easily. Fighting one may result in being bitten many times and engulfed in webbing leaving you helpless for any other passing monsters.

Pamela smirked, "If I get out of all this I'm so publishing a book." She looked out the windows thinking. Going into downtown this late was a bad idea, she didn't feel tired though and she'd much rather be on the move than holed up in the poorly defendable library with who knows how many other mad humans lurking in the other rooms and basement. She wanted to do something though, she found herself incredibly interested in all of this, she was one of the few humans discovering these new things. Since going downtown would leave her in a tiny area with little escape she decided to go investigate these sea monster sightings. Finding out the myths were true would be huge. Plus any military bases were probably operating on 'shoot on sight' now, Pamela liked not being dead.
 
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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

There weren't many good places to go and investigate this lead. The ocean was a pretty big place, after all, and what could one girl do besides just stare at it. There was always the aquarium, but it was too far to travel to before dark, also, and the route was just as dangerous as going to the corperate HQs. However, alot of the myths also seemed connected to the urban legends of monsters living in the sewer. Pam could investigate the water treatment plants in the industrial districts. There were quite a few, and heading out that way would take the girl farther from danger, but they were also too far away to get to before the sun set. There was one final option, if Pam didn't want to set out and just camp for the night in some sort of shelter, find a manhole and go down it, into the sewers. She could do a bit of searching there, and it might actually be safer there, at the very least offering alot of cover, though a tad smelly of course. Clover Grove had a notable sewer system, being alot more spacious then other city's systems, and having a full support system down there with it, connecting to the subway system.
 

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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Considering her options Pam decided to hit the sewers, she might end up being able to travel all over the city with less directions to be attacked from. She crept out of the library and looked for the nearest manhole to travel down there, once down she would just follow the flow of the water. Hopefully leading to some underground cavern where a boss was she joked to herself.
 
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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

In the fading light, Pam found several manholes right outside, in the trashed plaza. They were bolted down, of course, so the woman would need to find something to open them with. Things were never as simple as they seemed. Still, it couldn't be too hard to find a prybar or something of the sort. There was plenty of debris around to search through. Even if the student didn't want to take the time to do that, she might be able to find her way into the sewers via the subway station, which she could now light up with her lamp.
 

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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pamela thought a moment, the subway system was probably crawling with mad humans by now and it would be easy to get lost without anything like water flow to guide her. She decided to take a few moments to check the debris around her, all she needed was something flat and sturdy to get these manholes open.
 
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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

The paths between buildings had piles of debris in them, but mostly brickwork and paper material. There did not seem to be anything useful there, for the current situation at least, there was a small chance of something small and interesting "hiding" in those ruins. However, across the plaza from Pam were burnt out vehicles, no doubt one of them would have a propper object to use, like a tire iron, assumeing they hadn't been taken by looters to smash shop windows or something like that. If searching there failed, the block around the corner had some of said, looted shops it looked like, on the off chance one of them had something useful or an object to use as a makeshift wedge.
 

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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pamela decided her best shot at the moment was the burnt out cars, walking towards them she figured that any looters would have avoided them while they were on fire and assumed them a loss once they were a burnt husk.
 
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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

There was still a "fresh" fire, but most of the flaming wreckage had burnt down by now. Most of the interiors were destroyed, but that made it easy to take a quick look and see what they had inside. For the most part nothing at all remained, but a few cars had some unrecognizeable twisted pieces of metal. Pam could just grab one and try it, or perhaps search the vehicles a bit more closely.
 

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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pam decided to give a thorough search of the cars, who knows what might have survived the fires in the end.
 
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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

The first few cars didn't have anything at all, save for some melted metal, probably from soda cans. However, under the charred seat in one vehicle was a metal briefcase, locked tight, but safe. There was no way Pam could open it right now, but if she wanted to lug around the large object she might be able to in the future with bolt cutters or another heavy duty tool.

Following her find, Pam also noticed a slightly open trunk, it easily swung open to reveal a proper crowbar, perfect for opening a manhole, no need for the random twisted metal. Might make a decent melee weapon too...
 

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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pamela practically hugged the crowbar, trading out her unweildy pipe for it. She decided to take the suitcase too out of curiosity's sake and it may come in handy eventually, she hurried back to the nearest manhole and used some of her gathered clothing scraps to tie the suitcase to her back before going to work on the manhole cover and decending into the sewers.
 
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Tieing the case to her back didn't work so good, but it seemed like she wouldn't fit down the hole with it on her back. The cover came off pretty easily, though Pam being a small student, she wasn't exactly cut out for the job. Upon inspecting the opening, the only way the case would get down is if she just dropped it right down the middle, letting it fall into the sewer below, into muck or whatever was right at the bottom of the ladder.
 

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"Feh I made plenty of noise prying the stupid thing open....what the hell." She drops the case down and then shimmies down the ladder behind it. "I wonder what kind of stuff I'll find down here....."
 
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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pam was covered about half way to her knee with nasty feeling water as she reached the bottom. The case was right under her foot, almost making her slip, but thankfully her hand was still on the ladder, stopping her from faceplanting into the muck. The current was strong for the waterlevel, but not enough to carry the metal object away.

There was one last issue before Pam decided whether to go with or against the water. Light. The manhole made a bit coming down, but not good enough to see either direction. The lamp wasn't safe down here, as sometimes gasses could ignite and burn, but it might be worth it. If wanting to pay it safe with fire, Pam could always just bumble along blindly, but she'd be blind. She'd have to pick one danger or the other.
 

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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pamela looked around and then shook her head. "No....No this is a bad idea...." She sighs and heads back up the ladder leaving her torch hear the manhole before going back down the manhole and pushing the case up before popping up herself. "What the hell was I thinking, going into the sewers. I've seen like 30 stories of idiot frat boys going down there and drowning..." She shook her legs a bit getting some of the muck off them. She glanced around, "I really grabbed the idiot ball there." She picked up her case and light before headed towards the nearby shops, though looted perhaps something remained...


(Sorry for backtracking but everything in my head said that going into the flooded sewers was just asking to drown, fantasy or not :p)
 
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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

(It's okay, makes things more interesting)

It was nearly impossible for Pam to lug the case back up the ladder with her. It barely fit, and she'd have to use a hand for it at all times, instead of using it for the ladder. In the end, it was impossible to bring it back up, Pam emerged on the street tired and covered in filth. It was almost dark, but she had just enough light to make it to the closest side street and take her pick between a high end sporting goods store and a music shop, both with their front windows broken and the displays trashed.
 

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Re: You can't Hide what's Inside (Archer)

Pam grumbled and tried to tuck the case away so she could come back later for curiosity's sake. After finding the two stores she headed towards the sporting goods one. "A music store wouldn't have anything in stock that would help me survive for the moment..." Pamela was sore and tired, hoping that she could find something comfortable left in the store.
 
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