"...so that's about the size of it."
Adrian looks at you as you explain the situation to him. Gwen's been put to bed and you're both in your bedroom. The show "Renegade Cops" is on in the background, but neither of you are paying attention to it. You've been talking about your plan to to to Traveler. As you explain your plans, to Adrian, he looks concerned for most of it. But when you get to the end, he breaks out in a mirthless smile. A few seconds later, he even starts chuckling. "Honey. I really want to play up the 'normal spouse' married to a vigilante cliché right now..." He says. "Scream, cry, threaten to move to Siberia or Colombia or Morocco or something and take Gwen with me." Adrian chuckles to himself. "But, I can't..." He shakes his head. "These guys, they stole a fighter jet from Baxter. A city surrounded by more military bases per square mile than sports teams. Whatever they stole, it must've been a hell of a jet."
"Or a hell of a pilot" You say.
"Whether it's the jet or the pilot, we can't let one of the biggest villains in the country get her hands on a jet. But shouldn't the army handle this? No matter what Ordince sends, the army's gonna have bigger guns"
You shake your head. "I want to do that. I really do. And if there was more time, I would. But you know that they'd have to verify the information. By the time they do that"
"Yeah, and if they just sent in the troops without verifying anything... that's how you get another Silver City" Adrian says. For a moment, neither of you say anything.
"Just be careful. And I don't just mean with those guys down south. You don't really know Kachuusha. Chances are, she knew about the jet earlier and she didn't tell the army"
[] I'm sure she didn't know until recently either. And it wouldn't make a difference either way.
[] Maybe you're right. I'll keep my eyes open. But I don't think she's gonna stab me in the back.
[] Kachuusha seems like she's on the up and up to me.
[] I'm just trying to figure out how she manages to keep her camera-people alive during her streams. After that, I'm cutting ties.
[] Write in
------------------------------------------
The next day, it's Sunday afternoon. You've just gotten out of church, still wearing your dress in fact, when you walk into Jasmine's apartment. You told Gwen that you were just having lunch with Jasmine. Though you both are discussing your upcoming mission down south. You knock on the door and she lets you inside. You spend a few minutes catching up, just talking about life. You talk about how you've finally gotten Gwen that bunny she wanted and that she named the rabbit Bob. Jasmine talks about how her cousin is graduating from college this semester.
Eventually, you get down to business. "So, have you looked up anything about Traveler? Or the theft of the jet?" You haven't been able to find anything more than what Kachuusha told you. But then again, Jasmine's seems to have always been better at scaring up information.
"Yeah. You know, Sunny, if I keep doing this, I'm gonna have to charge you for this. I was planning on doing nothing this weekend and this really messed up my plans." She said with a chuckle. "But about the theft, I haven't been able to find much about it in the news"
"Really? Nothing?" You ask. "I mean, how much does a jet cost? A couple million? Something like that doesn't disappear without anyone noticing."
"I know" Jasmine says. "Thing is, I haven't been able to find anything about it on any of the major news sites, minor news sites, local news sites or anything." She said. "The most I have are posts on social media talking about jets flying, a guy who says his brother's friend was working on the base when it happened who says that there was a blackout in the area when it happened, some conspiracy theories about how this is the beginning of the President invading Texas." She started laughing.
"...What? You mean our President?" You ask. "But... he's already... I mean the federal government..."
"He also said they were doing it on behalf of Israel. Guy's crazy." Jasmine says. "Now that I think about it, that guy may have been a troll"
"...You know what, never mind. So you said that there was nothing about the theft"
"Yeah. The army isn't even acknowledging anything happened. 'Routine training flight as part of the ongoing training exercises in the area' is all I was able to find from the spokesman in there." Jasmine says. "But from what I've been able to piece together, the jet may have been taken by a soldier on base. A blackout probably messed with the bases radar system to keep the army from tracking them, though that still doesn't answer how the thief lost the jets chasing him, or avoided the other bases in the area..."
Your shake your head. "Well, I guess we aren't gonna find out anything else right now. So, what about Traveler? Did you find anything out about it"
"Mostly what Kachuusha told you. It's in the boonies. So isolated that you could set a horror movie there, even today." She said. She pulls up a map of the area. Sure enough, there were a few smaller towns about 30 miles away, but other than that, there was nothing."
"Doesn't seem like a good place to set up any sort of criminal enterprise." You say. "I mean, who are you gonna sell to? The dirt?"
"Not quite." Jasmine says. "Guys call themselves Bullet Farmers. There isn't much about them in criminal databases, but from what little I've found, they mostly sell guns to survivalist nutjobs and some anti-government militias. You know, the kind of guys that have a bunker, 30 years of food, waiting for the end of the world." She says. "Though they also sell weaponized vehicles, though those seem to be custom jobs, not their bread and butter"
"Well, if they believe that kind of stuff, I guess that explains why they isolate themselves. I saw some reservoirs from the map that Kachuusha showed me." You say, "So, what exactly do
"Fuck if I know" Jasmine says. "They sell guns, so chances are, they're packing, but it could be anything from an assault rifle to a missile launcher.." She paused. "There isn't that much info on them. Local PD is investigating them, but they haven't come up with much."
"Any enforcers? Any with powers, I mean?" You ask. "There had to be at least one Powered person to pull off something like that."
"Maybe I should just make a sign that says 'I don't know'" Jasmine says with a mirthless grin. "Only so many ways I can say it out loud. Besides, the army is perfectly capable of fucking up. These guys may have taken advantage of that."
"So, a lot of unanswered questions..." You muse.
"Life has a lot of unanswered questions. It's not like there's an itemized list of what you need to know just lying around." Jasmine says. "You still making the trip?"
"Of course." You say. "Though
"Here's hoping that Kachuusha has things covered on her end, cause I don't think I'll be able to help you down there." Jasmine says. "Don't think comms would work a few hundred miles away."
"True." You say. "And I didn't see a single traffic camera or anything you could see the action through"
"At least I can root for you from here." Jasmine says. There is a brief pause as neither of you have anything to say. "So... what did you tell Adrian and Gwen? Did you tell them about... you know..."
You sigh. "I told Adrian the truth. Gwen... I don't know. I have some family in Killeen and Waco. Maybe I could say I'm visiting"
"True." Jasmine says. "Well, either way, good luck down there."
"I'll see you when I get back" You say.
