[MM3]Sunstormers IC

[jmucchiello]

Deborah opens the door. "Khemis? Come in." She closes the door behind her. "That's a nice shade. We can sit in the living room," she says leading them both to the living room. "Would like some coffee? Tea?"

[Tony Jones]

"Coffee would be lovely, thank you," replies Khemis, flipping off the hood of her burqa as soon as the door is closed and following Deborah through to the living room. "Wow! You have a very nice apartment. Nice building too!"

[jmucchiello]

"I've lived here a few years now." Deborah rattles off a short list of coffee flavors and starts making the one chosen by Khemis before saying, "What else did you discover tonight?"

[Tony Jones]

"Not a great deal, unfortunately," making her coffee selection. "I did make sure that the man who was shot made it safely to the hospital, where he's hopefully being looked after now."

"But as I said in my text, I saw that woman again, and I'm not sure if she is trolling me or something more sinister."

"Have you two found out anything about the guy?"

OOC: I don't think they'd shared the results of the mind reading etc.

[jmucchiello]

"Oh, at the site I tried to read his mind for details of his attack. He never saw his attacker. But his name is Albert Jun," Deborah says as well as giving the address she guesses he lives at that was on his mind. "I don't think I noticed why he was in that backyard in the first place though." She pauses to think about what she remembers.

[Tony Jones]

"From what I could see he was taking out his trash and got ambushed by someone lurking in the shadows. There were some tracks leading to the street, but I lost them and then the paramedics trod all over them..."

"Thank you for the coffee - it's really good!"

"But do we have any idea why he was shot? Is he a criminal or something?"

[kenmadragon]

"Hello Khemis," Sunny had greeted with a nod when the ink-black woman had walked in and taken off the veil of the burqa. Considering she hadn't worn one earlier, he wondered if that was what Khemis considered an adequate disguise. It seemed just as eye-catching considering the neighborhood, but Sunny said nothing as it wasn't his place.

Of course, hearing that Swe-Albert had been shot in the back while completely unaware raised some alarms in Sunny's mind. As far as he was aware, the only thing of especial interest about Albert was that he was a... Oh, that wasn't good.

"No. The shooter knew where Albert lived, knew he would have to take out the trash at around this time of day, and lay in weight to shoot him while his back was turned. They didn't want to risk the chance he might fight back or..." Sunny trailed off, frowning as he cupped the hot chocolate. "This was targeted, and our would-be killer was smart about it. And if the reason he was targeted was for the reason I'm thinking of, it's probably only going to get worse."

[Shadowmask]

Meanwhile several hours in the future:

6:30 AM Roll Call:

"Alright, rookies, settle down!" barked the watch commander. "You've all read the new policies regarding foot chases against perps in crime scenes. The higher ups have decided to bend over and lick the boots of the citizen's boards. Be that as it may we all have to comply to the new orders and practice more patience and restraint out there.

Of course in a few months, those whiners in the civvie boards decrying police brutality and corruption are gonna to be the same scumbags who will complain about police inaction because of the same mandates they shoved down our throats.

Now next item on the agenda is the topic on sunstormers. So far besides the incident in the plaza, thankfully there hasn't been anymore problems though that can quickly change. Official policy is to treat them carefully like WMDs. So use your best judgement on individual 'stormers and just remember that civilians have higher priority.

And Paladino, you can stop belching and making obscene gestures. That is all. Be careful out there. This city doesn't love us and never will but still we have to protect Chi-Town with our very lives when necessary.

Good luck."

Helen fidgeted in her seat while resisting the urge to float around the squad briefing room just for kicks. The workday hasn't even started and already she eagerly wanted to leave the station, to do her job yes but also to test out her newly found power.

Helen could do her testing at Rizzo's gym later but figured why not try things out in the meantime.

WMDs huh? Wait til they get a load of me.

[jmucchiello]

"I don't know what we can do about that," Deborah says. She looks at her phone. "It's pretty late. I'm not kicking you out but I don't know if either of you have to get up early or not. So I was just pointing out the time. I do have some charitable ties to a few hospitals I might be able to stop by Albert's room, assuming he's admitted, a couple days from now without raising suspicion."

[kenmadragon]

"I'm worried a bit more worried about whether they'll realize Albert is still alive and risk trying again in the hospital," Sunny admitted. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, but he could remember the plots to several movies and TV-shows where a killer would do just that. Granted, those were all fictional accounts, but whoever had gone after Albert had, through their methods, proven to be deliberate and careful in attempting murder. It stood to reason they might try again.

And then there was the second concern: "And of course, there's always the concern of what would happen when Albert wakes up in an unfamiliar environment, and uses his powers while panicking in confused..."

[Tony Jones]

"Hello, 'PK'," Khemis replies to Sunny.

"Yes, all those things are true," she continues in response to his words. "Oh, he's a Sunstormer too?! Oh. Yes. That's bad. Didn't take long for people to start gathering with the torches and pitchforks..."

"There might have been someone watching the house I didn't notice," she comments. "Who might have seen the paramedics taking him away. And there was that woman of darkness who I saw again. Though she wasn't going either directly towards or away from Albert's house..."

"I very much don't like the idea of anyone attacking a hospital to get to him. Or just trying again when he gets out. Or him going wild with his powers when he wakes up..."

"Can we anonymously alert the police or something? Have him put under guard? Without outing him as a Sunstormer? Or leave him a message of some kind?"

"But how did they know it was him? Are there maniacs out there just hunting down everyone who fell into a coma for three days? Hmm. Maybe we should look at his social media for clues..."

She pulls out her phone and tries looking up Alfred on social media. In particular whether there are any posts about his being in a three day coma, being followed, getting hostile messages and the like.

"And spinning off from that, whether there are any anti-Sunstormer groups out there, particularly here, in Chicago..."

[jmucchiello]

"I can get my researcher to look into that," Deborah says. "As part of the interview with you. It might worth putting some of that info out there as well. She'll probably be thrill the research doesn't involve makeup."

[Tony Jones]

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea," replies Khemis, looking up from her phone. "Sorry, rude of me to dive straight onto my phone at the drop of a hat. Maybe we can share the load of things like this so we don't get overwhelmed individually?"

[Tony Jones]

"And there is the question of what we want to do with these powers?" she asks. "I intend to use mine for good, and I hope you do too. But what's the best way? Should we go it alone? Or try and work with law enforcement? Not the CPD, but maybe the FBI or something? Would they have us? Would we have to give up our secret identities?"

[kenmadragon]

"Unfortunately, I think you're the only one who has no option about that. Your abilities would make maintaining a secret identity impossible. Especially since you've been posting your experiences as a Sunstormer online..." Sunny pointed out the obvious. "Deborah and I still have a chance to keep our identities secret."

He looked to the redhead, brows furrowed in thought. "Your identity has to stay secret far more than the rest of us. You're a far more public figure than the rest of us, Sunstormer or no. That you're a telepath only makes things worse - the public would be more willing to turn on you merely for being able to read someone's thoughts, and the less said about what people in power would do to make you work for them exclusively, the better."

"And I wouldn't trust the government at this point. They're already struggling to keep up with the infrastructural damage that the Sunstorm caused, and with word coming in from Eastern Europe and in Africa about Sunstormers wielding their powers to fight battles... I don't really trust D.C. politics to keep from meddling in our lives if we try to work closely with government agencies. Sunstormers like myself and Deborah on government payroll, forced to obey any orders those commanding-officers give? They'd leap for the chance. Even in the best case scenarios, if we work directly with the government or law enforcement, we lose the option of having a secret identity." Sunny sighed.