Jake slowly and painfully woke up from a shallow sleep that he had fallen into during his cloud watching. The source? A rather loud 'BEEP!' whose origin seemed to be his left pocket. Reaching in with some annoyance, he grabbed his phone and pulled it out, listening to the voice mail that Penny had left.
'Jake! Meet me at the Giza! Er... As a guest, we're not going to assault the place.'
Jake looked intrigued, not so much at the message, but the sender. I don't remember telling her my number...
He chuckled. "Smart girl." Slowly he got up, streching and yawning. He didn't seem to be worried about time in the least. Finally, when he seemed satisfied with his muscles' and tendons' condition, he flipped on his rocket boots and began to speed his way toward St. Martial.
After about ten minutes of flight, and one ferry ride later, he had arrived, hands behind his head and his eyes lazily skimming over everyone in the crowd, looking for the villainess he had a rendezvous(sp?) with. Finally finding Penny over by a certain slot machine, he walked on other, with the same non-urgency we had seen earlier. "Now, before we start anything, how'd you get my number?" He joked, chucklling and taking a closer inspection of the slot machine.
War Bird took in all the details as the briefing continued. The captain took the briefing in his ready room, then called for all senior hands to meet him there. He laid out the plan for them with use of a star chart that plotted the Rogue Isles as a cluster of stars in three dimensions.
"We will be squawking enemy IFF and there will be hull modifications. Our hull silhouette is distinctive, so I suggest we try to emulate the Arachnos soldier. Cloaking will be helpful. What's the status on our cloaking device?" The captain turned to the main engineer.
"We're still working on it, praetorian, without the proper materials, it has been difficult. I'm hopeful that on a raid, we may secure the exotic materials we require to make it fully operational. For now, as long as we maintain some distance, we can avoid enemy detection." He looked worried. He should be worried, praetorians don't like to be told something isn't working.
"Make sure the helm is briefed in full as to exact ranges of effectiveness, I don't want to be a liability to this mission. Weapons chief, I want you to liaise with the other vessels tactical officers and inform them of our unique shielding capabilities. I want the admiral in charge aware of what our assets are, though I don't think we should mention our cloaking status. Showing any sign of weakness is not a good idea. Brief your men, keep the security teams on full alert for the duration of the mission. Remember that we are not a gunship, so follow the leadership of our admiral in terms of picking tactical targets."
Everyone saluted and when the captain didn't speak any more, they left.
The second in command took the chief engineer aside as they left the captain's ready room. "I must speak with you regarding your report to the captain. I am disappointed to find you have still not found a way to bring our cloaking device to full operability."
The chief engineer looked worried as they stepped from the bridge into the lift. "We are working extra shifts to try to work around the lack of materials, but without the exotics, there simply is no way to reach one hundred percent effectiveness."
Once the door shut and they were alone, the executive stopped the lift. "I told you I wanted it offline entirely. Partial can be seen as an obstacle that the captain can overcome. Offline entirely is required to prove incompetence. We had an agreement."
The engineer looked even more worried. "There are those loyal to the captain who would notice any deliberate sabotage. It's bad enough that the system worked perfectly before diagnostics testing and now it doesn't. It points to some tampering, and I'm having problems laying enough clues to throw suspicion on someone else. There are agents aboard this vessel who look for this very thing."
The executive officer stared into the chief engineer's eyes. "You let me worry about them. You do your job. This mission is the perfect opportunity for me to relieve the captain for his incompetence. I would hate to see it go by without a promotion." With that, he let the lift continue to the appropriate deck, where he opened the door and got off, leaving the chief engineer to think about his predicament on his way down to engineering.
Externally, War Bird simply sent a message on the coded frequency they'd been given, with low power so as not to go past twenty or thirty meters that explained his capability to extend his shields to other vessels and how his weaponry was capable of weakening enemy defenses. He also inquired to Gabe, "Where shall we acquire hull modifications for infiltration purposes? Can you upload those coordinates to us now?" He ended his transmission, "for the glory of the Empire!"
((Am I getting this right? Is War Bird a walking "Gnome" vessel? That's what I get from this, that we're all seeing what appears to be an armored man, but inside are all these tiny men(?) treating every movement as a military operation.))
A loud "Ding!" sounded in Power Breaker's head. Looking at the young girl and the odd man conversing in front of the Slot Machine, he tried to connect the dots.
"Is that you John Wayne? Is this me?"
Ding!
For a moment, the cyborg was a little perturbed that Slot Machine had (A) got the call, (2) answered and (D) understood the reference. He shrugged and walked up to the man, as women tended to be a little frightened of him upon first meeting.
Men tended to have that "Alpha Male" complex to protect their psyches.
Where the Hell did all this come from?
Oh yeah... The nanites. They were always learning... Always reading... Always figuring things out when he didn't want them to. And, since they lacked a true memory core, they just stuffed what they learned into his subconscious... Like the Malleus Mundi... Why did he ever open that book up?
"Excuse me," he intoned, "I believe you're here to meet me..."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
((OOC: No, War Bird is just a Crey Droid with a personality disorder fed to him by bored lab workers so he thinks he's a Romulan War Bird, to entertain them before he escaped. All the little people are holographic simulations inside his neural net and don't really exist as anything more than light. No one can see them, unless they peer directly into his visor at close range when he has the viewing panel "open". ))
((That's funny!
E D I T:
*looks down*
Ha-HA! I can totally see that!
"Erg! URGH! Dammit! Separate! There's a malfunction!"
"You okay, Warbird?"
"Leave me! I will take care of them... I... just... need to... SEPARATE!"
"Dude, there's a back way out..."
"Augh!"
"Calm down, War Bird... Have some orange juice!"
I'm gonna stop right there...))
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
(( Just so long as he doesn't try to seperate and self-destruct...
Lol! Brings a whole new meaning to "warbridge" IE: Lower brain? 
))
[ QUOTE ]
"Now, before we start anything, how'd you get my number?" He joked, chucklling and taking a closer inspection of the slot machine.
[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Excuse me," he intoned, "I believe you're here to meet me..."
[/ QUOTE ]
Penny looked from Jake to Power Breaker. Her look at Jake was similar to a deer in headlights: her look at Power Breaker was more appraising.
"Trade secret," at least she had the nerve to look embarrassed.
"Nice to meet you," she said to Power Breaker, "I'm - "
She stopped, with her mouth open, then closed it again, putting one hand to her ear. "Sorry," she said, "I have to take this - Yes," she said to the call which was clearly going through her earpiece, "I am here. Yes - uhhuh - oh, that is outrageous," she sounded scandalized. "If you are going to rob me you could at least have the decency to use a gun!"
"No - no, of course I am interested - Believe me, if you weren't the best information broker in the Islands I would have... Dammit! Highway robbery... fine. Transferring the funds now..." Her fingers moved in the air, typing on a keyboard that it seemed no one else could see.
"Mr Golde - really? You're sure....? Uhhuh... uhhuh... feed those coordinates through again?" She exhaled slowly, in a whistle. If one squinted just right, it was possible to just see text scrolling up the inside surface of the lenses of her glasses, though it was impossible to see what it said.
"Well... I suppose you get what you pay for... yes, that is interesting. That's very interesting... Dammit, I am not made of money!...."
There was a long silence. "Yes, I will buy the codes. Transferring more funds, you blackmailer, and I hope you are ashamed of yourself... uhhuh... receiving them now... Right. OK, thanks. And yes, call me if you get anything else, of course I am interested, and you won't be satisfied until you have sucked out every cent..."
She lifted her head, closing her hand with the distinct air of snapping closed a cell phone. "Jake, Power Breaker, Power Breaker, Jake. Er - I hate to rush you but we need to go. We need to make a phone call, and I mean right now. Come on, I will explain on the way..." She headed out of the Giza.
((OOC - I am working on the lead-in to joining up with the task force.))
Power Breaker nodded as he started to follow. Oddly, at that moment, his head started doing that buzzing thing again.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Brother," the voice of leader of the Brotherhood, the Dregs, or whatever odd name the banded together destitute of the Rogue Isles were calling themselves this month, intoned clearly into his head, "I trust you've been appraised of your situation..."
"No," Power Breaker thought, and the words were transferred to Mauthe as if he had spoken them (a most unusual phone), "I have no clue what's going on, but an old friend let me know who to trust."
"Not necessarily trust," Mauthe seemed to chuckle, "But... I guess a leap of faith is required for redemption."
"What's your interest in this?"
"Curiosity, mostly. Since you helped us to repair that Giant Freakshow Tank, I've kept an eye on goings-on that concern you... You have a peculiar destiny woven into your aura..."
"Look, Mauthe... Do you want in on this job?"
"Not just yet. If you or your friends hit a snag... I will send my brothers to assist in any way they can."
"I see..." Breaker rubbed his jawline, "Well... I'll keep in touch."
"You won't," Mauthe did chuckle this time, "I'll be the one keeping in touch. Good luck, my large friend."
Breaker blinked involuntarily as the "phone" clicked off. Every couple of weeks or months, the nanites did something new to his body. Usually, it was something small (like a muted version of night vision, or a magnetic sense to find things like car keys), sometimes, something major (like his various energy shields or the conduits in his skin that channeled energy into his punches).
Every change frightened him a little. He was further from his former humanity than ever before, and he lost a little more every day.
It was so strange, then, that he felt regret. Maybe that was the last thing to go. Maybe...
Self Analysis Initiated.
"Oh, don't you start," Breaker winced as his "interface" started up.
Concerns raised:
Loss of Life
Loss of Soul
Loss of Self
Query?
"What?"
Why do you fear us?
This was new. The nanites had never talked to him like that before.
"I... I don't..."
Yes you do. You worry that we'll turn you into little more than a walking corpse, fit only for keeping us alive.
"And?"
You know so little about, us, yet assume so much. We have worked hard to improve you... This is hardly the time to start doubting us.
"In my experience, everybody's trying to use everybody," Power Breaker sighed, "What assurance do I have all this cool [censored] wasn't just fattening me up until you could engage in your vendetta?"
If you die, we die. If your mind ceases to function, we lose our will. You want our most sincere assurance that we won't harm you? We are you.
That definitely was new. The conversation was also over. His brain had stopped that odd buzzing. Funny, it took only a second or so.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Jake looked at her quizically for a few moments and was on the verge of asking her what she meant when she was saved by the bell, so to speak. Taking the time to glance over Power Breaker, he determined that he was some type of bio-mechanical being, but that was about all he could figure. Deciding not to delve further, he began to turn his attention back to the slot machine, only to hear Penny abruptly introduce them to each other and take off, not seeming to wait for either of them. "... But... we just..." Jake sighed and followed, placing his trust in the fact that Penny knew what she was doing.
Where shall we acquire hull modifications for infiltration purposes? Can you upload those coordinates to us now?
Gabe nodded, and then lifted a massive cardboard box, and another, and another, onto the table. He opened one up, and dumped it sideways. Out spilled assortments of armor, weapons, gear, ranging from practical to uniquely useless. Helmets, equipment belts, guns, chest plates, gloves, crowns, several different fashion of knife, all slapped together for taking. Gabe looked around the room for a moment, and smiled. Remember, the point of this is to look nothing like you currently do. Go as wild as you want, but make sure the stuff works. We cant have any of you dying on us. With that, he reached out and grabbed a pair of Crey gloves. Theyd go wonderfully with tech-y chest plate lying in front of him
"I wouldn't worry too much about that." Acid added to Gabe's explanation, "Arachnos isn't known for generous dissemination of intelligence, so as long as you guys stay away from surveillance systems linked to their network, chances are you'll be fine."
"Heh, come to think of it," he chuckled quietly, the hooded head looking down at the cloak, "Longbow isn't much better at it..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Cedric smirked and shook his head sadly.
"Any bureaucratic system is terrible at disseminating information to those who should be its allies. Look at how the F.B.I., N.S.A., C.I.A., D.O.D. (even the departments within the D.O.D.) and so on treat each other! When I was in the Marines, we would have cut off our left hands to avoid giving the Air Force any good information..."
He paused to think about that.
"Well, okay, I'm exaggerating a lot, but still... You get what I mean! It's highly unlikely that all of Arachnos is gonna be scouring the islands looking for us."
"Mercy Island," Matt rolled his eyes, "That might be a little different... And who knows what kinds of hired guns that frosty witch is gonna pull in for the job? Don't worry, in a second, i won't look anything like this..."
He picked up a jar of warpaint and headed for the bathroom. Cedric's eyes bugged out a little.
"Oh man, there's a chance he comes back wearing nothing but the paint..."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
"Yeah, that'd probably be bad." Acid nodded thoughtfully, turning to Cedric, "Unless he can cut out the whole breathing through his skin thing. But I don't think humans can do that, right...?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Cedric grimaced.
"He'd probably leave his butt bare..."
Gathering up some of the outfit junk and a can of spray paint, he started heading out.
"I'm gonna find a nice ventilated room and get to work altering my armor. See you guys in a tad."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
(You didn't reply to waht Static said)
((Whoopsies! I'm out of time to reply this morning, but this afternoon I'll certainly write somethign up. Sorry about that.))
Penny Arcade zipped along the Isles, gaining altitude easily, expecting the others to follow. Data flashed across the lenses of her goggles. The last bits of background checks for Jake and Power Breaker came through, and contained no surprises. Though it hardly looked like it, Penny Arcade left very little to chance.
Receiving a transmission from Paragon was a relatively simple matter. Sending a transmission to Paragon - particularly undetected - was a significantly more complicated proposal. Still, anything could be done on the Isles, if one was determined enough.
The transmitter was one of the highest points on any of the islands. It was relatively unguarded, for the strength of its signal was such that any unshielded individual would fry themselves like a bug if they got too close. "It's a gigawatt or more up there," Penny Arcade paused at a safe altitude to address her following. "If your shielding is not rated for it, wait here."
The stealth suit performed beautifully as she all but faded from view. Rising gracefully up the tower, she finally lit on the very top, next to the enormous blinking red light meant to warn off aircraft. Had her shielding not been superb, she would already have died. Some fifty feet below this was a gigantic dish: and on one side of the tower were a variety of boxes wired to it. She crouched on the edge for a moment, looking at each one, then floated gracefully downwards again, lighting on a particular girder next to one of them. The lock on the box held out for a few seconds, but under duress it popped, and the door swung open to reveal a bundle of wires. Penny Arcade's supple fingers traced these carefully, scraping the protective coatings off of several, revealing bare wire, and attaching clips to them. The other end of the wires ran to a box attached to her wrist.
It was time to call up Paragon.
"Ten to one odds," she muttered to herself, "within thirty seconds I hear both, 'Trace this call' and 'ohmygawd! How did you get this number?'"
The signal piggybacked on an official Arachnos transmission. Splitting off at the satellite, it lost its Arachnos identity, becoming anonymous, and bouncing back and forth between several satellites before finally arriving at its destination. The resulting signal was completely untraceable, as Penny Arcade had intended. "Now comes the beating," she sighed, and, at the prompt, entered in a variety of codes.
The Paragon City Police Department guarded its access codes carefully. The Hero Corps was even more cautious, let alone with the crucial classified channels. So, the fact that Penny Arcade was able to dial in, at all, was something of a scandal. The fact that she was able to dial into a secure channel, in the middle of preparations for a secret strike force, was nothing short of horrifying. And the fact that her image came through as a rather generic, cartoonish-looking character - rather than her real features - only added insult to injury.
So perhaps the unfortunate tech who answered the call could be forgiven for the look of shock that came over her face. The reactions, both from her and from those in her immediate vicinity, were fairly predictable. "Penny Arcade!" "Ohmygawd!" "How did you get this number?" "This is Alpha post 57-B, we need a trace..."
Penny Arcade held up her hand. "Please calm down," she said to the tech, who not only looked petrified, but whose uniform markings indicated she was a recruit, probably fresh out of training school. "This is only a phone call. Who *is* the ranking officer on duty toda-"
"Penny Arcade!" He was an old man, wearing an eyepatch. His moustache was razor-straight and his clothes looked as if they had been freshly ironed that morning. Everything about him telegraphed, "Old School." He immediately dismissed everyone back to their posts, and switched the call to his private line - she simply wasn't able to get so far into the system as to get to the private lines.
Penny Arcade looked very surprised. "Oh - Hello, Niles. How's the leg?"
"It's Commander McMillan to you!" He pointed imperiously at the screen.
The fact that Niles was on duty was a stroke of luck. He was an honorable veteran, recipient of a number of medals, and as straight as they came in Paragon City. He was the sort that wouldn't normally have given Penny Arcade the time of day... but then there was that inconvenient fact that she had saved his life some time ago on an ill-fated raid on the Isles.
"Commander McMillan," she replied politely, "I wish to invoke code Janus."
"You?" His voice was skeptical.
"Well... not for myself, personally. I have some... packages to be delivered."
"There are channels for these things - " He spat.
"We don't have time. I know there is a task force gathering - don't bother to deny it," she held up her hand as he started to huff. "I know it will be coming, and I know why. I have three individuals, including myself, who would like to offer our assistance when they arrive. At least one of them wants to return with the task force upon its completion. I would like to speak to the leader of the task force, now... before the force comes here. I have some information which I believe would be useful upon their arrival... at the very least, it would save them some time. And we both know... time is of the essence."
"I have no reason to believe anything that you say."
"But you also have no reason to disbelieve it. You yourself have observed the pride I take both in the accuracy of my information, and the status of my reputation because of it."
He glared. "You are a conniving, selfish, devious, known villain - "
" - who has never harmed ANYone in Paragon. Ever."
"You're wanted for fourteen bank robberies!"
"In which there were no fatalities."
"The incident on Talos Island!"
"In which you were damned lucky there was someone who had the connections with Freakshow to learn beforehand what they were up to!"
"There are any number of possibilities," he spat, "as to what scheme you have concocted, what plan you have put into motion, what you think you are up to - "
"No," she cut him off, and sounded angry now. "There are NOT many possibilities. There are two possibilities: either I am lying, or I am telling the truth. You're missing a hero, Niles. You know better than anyone else what heroes face if they go missing on the Rogue Isles. Besides," her lips thinned, "Haven't you heard the phrase, Better the wasp you can see..."
"Humph." He got up and left the office without a word, but paused at the door. "Wait here," he growled, and stalked off.
Acid gave a chuckle, slinking back to his spot to lean on the wall. He supposed he really should be doing more research on these creatures sometime. Most curious, they were.
Then again, so had been their ancestors. They'd worn clothes virtually all the time as well, even when on a planet and having no need for pockets to carry anything. Yet they'd still managed to build a great nation.
Acid found himself chasing these thoughts away. Every time he went back to the time trap, he got lost in what might have happened had the future never connected to the past. Logic said it couldn't happen, as the connection had been necessary, and if it hadn't been there, things never would have turned out how they did, so it had to have been there because they did turn out just so.
Acid shook his hooded head violently. It figured. Try to stop thinking about something and there you go, he thought about it even more. Typical.
Then he suddenly froze.
"We might have a problem." he told the others as he slid off the wall, "The level of emotional distress in this building just went up considerably. Something's wrong..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Well don't look at me," Mad Matt said from the doorway, then, noting everybody's puzzled glances, "What? That nimrod tell you guys I was coming back naked? Look, I did something like that once, in high school... It was a hot day, I didn't have swimming trunks or a change of clothes and the river was right there! Bridge too..."
He looked ponderous for a moment.
"...Maybe I should've considered that people would be driving by..."
He glanced at his garb.
"Oh yeah... I shaved my head, switched out the denim jacket for a black leather vest, got a pair of those snazzy Malta Group fatigues, and I had some of the wizards in that M.A.G.I. office zap this warpaint into my skin... Doesn't last like a tattoo, maybe a couple weeks, a month, tops, but if this op takes longer than that duration, everybody else'll know we're in trouble."
((YAY! I found them! Mad Matt's current appearance: Mad Matt Undercover))
"So, what's wrong?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Jake hurriedly followed, still not quite having caught up to Penny Arcade, when she suddenly stopped right in her place, warning of at least a gigawatt of power. Jake flipped on his PFF, not sacrificing any of his momentum, and continued following Penny Aracade to the transistor. Taking mild interest in the process of contacting Paragon, he leaned against a wall until the signal went through, making the apparent 'Oh God!' 'A villain!' 'Trace the call!' responses a reality. Nonchalantly walking over with his hands in his pockets, he let himself be seen by the transmitter, giving a slight wave to the Commander. "Ah, Commander McMillan, how're you? Been a while, aye? So how's my dad?"
Jake's father, ever since assisting his first hero with his gadgetry, had become ever-intwined with Longbow, constantly being asked to upgrade and create new equipment for them. One one particular visit, Jake decided to come, and had met the Commander himself; however, hastily deciding he didnt' like his strict attitude.
Could I speak to you privately?
Gabe looked up. One of the members of his task force had approached him. Gabe nodded. Please, step outside with me. They left the room, and took several steps down the hallway.
Whats on your mind.
---------------
Cell Block had dropped the leather coat in a pile, along with several of his effects. Disguises might be necessary for some, but he doubted hed be identified by any villains. Still, Frost Fiend was significantly better known than he was, and Arachnos was aware hed be coming. Cell Block decided if he was their leader, hed have changed his appearance, as well. But he wasnt. He was simply a grunt, and he had no real reason to change out of his armor, not when he could wrap a large trench coat around his frame, and the zip it closed. Impractical as hell, but stylish. It would work, he supposed.
Static walked out with Gabe. He waited till the door shut behind him before speaking.
"Seeing as how you're in charge of this mission I figured your the person to tell this to. Truth is I'm no hero. I used to be, but I sorta snapped one day and I've kinda been, well for lack of a better word, a villain ever since. I've got strong contacts in the Rogue Isles so I've been trying to keep my ear to the Longbow chatter. That and I've still got my old Freedom Corps emergency radio frequency on my communicator. To make a long story short I can help you get around the Isles, blend into the crowds."
"All I ask in return for this is that you please put in a good word for me with Longbow. I doubt I'll be able to stay in the Isles long if word of this gets out, and I'm sure Longbow would still like to throw me back into my old Zig cell, but if you put in a good word that might change things."
Gabe looked a bit surprised at that. Clearly, Static hadn't quite thought through what they were doing.
"Static." Gabe reached forwards and planted a hand on his shoulder. "We're going to Rogue Isles to save a hero. No one's going to consider you a villain after this. We're about as heroic as you can get. If that's not going to sit well with you, I said it before. Walk out now, because once we hit the point, there is no return."
The captain called for his Chief Weapons officer to meet him in his ready room off the bridge. After placing a junior officer in charge, the Chief Weapons officer complied. "Yes, praetorian?"
The captain initiated a scan for listening and recording devices in the room, green laser beams moved up and down the walls, as the Chief Weapons officer stood there, at attention. "How are the hull modifications coming? How soon will we be underway?"
"The modifications will not take much longer praetorian. Though it's doubtful they'll stand up to scrutiny at close range. We will have to rely on our ailing cloaking device." The Chief Weapons officer answered while waiting for the scan to die down.
"I believe there is a Tal Shiar agent aboard this vessel, and what I have to say isn't good news for the empire. Several ship systems have been going offline for no reason that makes sense recently. We have a saboteur. I want you to start preparing for the possibility of a mutiny. Your reward will be promotion to second in command." The captain stood to emphasize his agitation at the situation.
"What of the first officer?" The Chief Weapon's officer stared straight ahead.
"It is his duty primarily to detect and put down mutiny. If he is negligent in his duty, and you are proven capable where he is not, it is only fitting that he be
replaced." The captain raised an eyebrow.
The Chief Weapons officer nodded and saluted. "Yes, praetorian."
"You're dismissed back to station." The captain sat once more.
On the outside, War Bird was welding various armor parts to the outside of his carapace. Once he was done, he signaled to Gabe he was ready and moved to the staging area in preparation for the mission.
Jay hefted his bag over his shoulder and exited the room. Making his way to the nearest men's room. As he stood washing his hands, he glanced up at him self. A look of worry was etched on his face, He came from a long line of cops, he thought like a cop, he talked like a cop, hell he even /looked/ like a cop. For several long moments he looked himself over, and then with a sigh he opened his duffle bag and pulled out the clippers he used to trim his thick red beard. He plugged it in and flipped it on. It came alive in his hands and with one sad look to his head he began to remove his full red hair until it was about 1/2 and inch off his head. Next he pulled out a razor and cleaned the beard from his face. After he was complete he rinsed his head and looked back up, he barely recognized himself... and that was a good thing. He cleaned up and exited the men's room, bag over his shoulder and sat morosely on a bench, waiting for the play in the game.