Firefly: Black Cat Blues - 6.15 The Apprentice
Previous episode here.
Elisa Maza's life is a fairly good one, all things considered. She has a successful business on Persephone - a combination of a private detective agency and a breeding and training facility for police and other service dogs - and a helpful assistant in the form of her nephew, Matt Bluestone. She also has a well-trained and formidable animal companion of her own, a large dog named Goliath, who helps her in her investigative duties and protects her from any harm.[1] Elisa and Matt have recently concluded a very successful investigative job, but Elisa won't let her young charge rest on his laurels. They're treating the day after their great windfall like any other day and putting a new litter of puppies through attack training, with Elisa giving the orders and Matt (who has a lot of trouble getting animals to like him despite his job) holding the pads. But their training is interrupted by a phone call - and when Elisa hears who it's from, it becomes clear that dog training is over for the day.
The call is from Elisa's old friend and mentor, Detective Hector Marsh, but its opening words make it clear that this isn't a social call: "Hello, Elisa. If you're getting this message, it means that I'm dead. Sorry to be so melodramatic...but I had to let you know about the case I've been working, so that someone I trust can carry it on." Marsh explains, in general terms, his investigation into the Osiris dismemberment murders and how he realized that the murders were connected to the Dionysus Project, and how they went even deeper than that. He also explains how his search for the truth has put him in danger, and how he knows there's a chance he may not come back from the place he is now going. For that reason, he is sending all of his notes to Elisa, and also informing her of his association with the crew of Black Cat. If he dies, he wants her to look at what he's done, and bring the killers to justice if he has indeed failed in the attempt. Though Marsh would clearly not want Elisa to sacrifice herself for him, he knows that she values the same things that he does, so he wants to give her the chance to carry on his legacy how she sees fit. Marsh concludes by speaking highly of Elisa and her investigative skills, and saying that he's very proud of her as the message ends.
Very emotional, Elisa tells Matt a little of what has happened (though not too much, because he's only 17 and she still wants to protect him from the harsher realities of life) and asks him to look for information on Black Cat while she begins to go through the case files. Matt learns that Black Cat is a normal independent trading ship operating within the bounds of the law, with a few strange notations on its file - for example, they've been declared officially not slavers by the government of Hera, and officially not child pornographers by the government of Paquin. Despite these perplexing facts ("Maybe there's a correspondence course on how not to be a slaver. Step one, don't buy anyone."), Elisa concludes that it is safe to at least call Black Cat and speak to its captain, so she does.
Quinn answers the call and treats Elisa politely but cautiously before summoning Nicolas (who is just now waking up from being stunned, and bemoaning the fact that this rule-breaking experience means bad luck to come) to help out. Elisa introduces herself, explains what has happened and what Marsh wants of her, and suggests that it might be a good idea for her to meet up with Black Cat on Persephone to share information and establish whether she and the crew can help each other. Nicolas is able to overcome the effects of his superstition long enough to admit that Elisa probably has a point, even though he still isn't sure whether she's telling the truth or whether she means the crew harm. He says as much to Elisa, who says that she's just as suspicious of the crew, and that she won't object to any security measures that Black Cat needs to take in order to feel confident in meeting her. Black Cat is about two days out from Persephone, so the crew agrees to call Elisa when they reach Persephone and arrange a neutral meeting ground to share information.
During the next two days, Elisa spends equal amounts of time getting her affairs in order (in case she ends up leaving on Black Cat to follow up on Marsh's leads) and packing for a potential trip (and helping Matt, who has never been off-planet, pare down his luggage to semi-manageable levels). On the other hand, the crew of Black Cat finds most of their time taken up with removing every trace of Luke's presence from their ship. The crew doesn't realize just how pervasive Luke's influence on them has been until they're called upon to get rid of it all, a task that includes ripping the captain's chair (a gift from Luke to Nicolas) out of the cockpit, dismantling the hydroponic garden in the lower cargo bay (which was purchased by Luke), getting rid of the brewery equipment and all of the beer (since Luke's money started it up), and so on. The only thing the crew can't deal with is the custom protective metal sheathing installed around the former berth for Luke's shuttle, since it's welded to the ship's hull and not easily removed. However, Nicolas has Birgitta go over it carefully with scanning equipment until she can establish that it's devoid of anything suspicious and still quite safe. The crew has a raucous party consuming what they can of the best leftover beer (or root beer, in the case of Osiris and Quinn), says their symbolic goodbyes to Luke, and then sends everything he ever bought them out of the airlock and into the heart of a nearby sun.
Nicolas also takes it upon himself to check in on Osiris during this time; he knows that Luke and Osiris were best friends and that this can't be easy on Osiris for that reason, plus he wants to make sure that Osiris hasn't gone off the deep end again. Surprisingly, Osiris is approaching his ordeal with great aplomb. The way Osiris sees it, Luke was just doing his job when he was ordered to torture Osiris; to disobey that order would have meant death, so Luke was just doing what he needed to do in order to stay alive. It's no different from what Osiris himself did at Dionysus Hospital - he compromised his morals to stay alive in the hopes that he could make up for it later - and it's no different from what Sekhmet did when she shot Detective Marsh to protect her own secrets. It's not something to be proud of, but it's understandable, so Osiris can forgive Luke and Sekhmet for their actions because he can see where they were coming from. Osiris concludes by saying, "With all the forgiveness I've been given, I wouldn't be much of a man if I didn't learn to forgive others."
There is a pause. Then Nicolas says, "We're still going to shoot those two on sight, though."
"Oh, absolutely," responds Osiris without hesitation. Then both of them go about their normal days.[2]
Nicolas also speaks to Quinn about the course she had originally set and about her interest in "Q planet." Quinn explains what she saw in the Reaver den on Osiris, and says that she thinks answers can be found in the very place they were so obsessed with - the home of their god. Nicolas is seriously dubious about this idea, and wonders if with all the trouble they're already in it's really a good idea to go to the center of that trouble. But Quinn clearly believes that the crew stands no chance of really stopping the Dionysus Project unless they face it head-on, and that now is as good a time as any. Finally, Nicolas tells her, "Okay, we'll go there because I don't got a better idea. But if I get one, we're changing course right away."
Two days later, Black Cat lands on Persephone at a secret, Syndicate-controlled spaceport, and calls up Elisa to arrange the meeting. Despite Matt's eagerness to come along and help, Elisa still wants to protect him[3], so she says that she will be coming to the meeting alone. However, she plans to send Matt ahead to sit at the bar where they will be meeting, and be prepared to step in if she runs into trouble. The Black Cat contingent will consist of Nicolas, Osiris, and Quinn. Elisa also plans to bring Goliath with her, though she does not mention this fact to the crew. Elisa gets to the bar without incident, but as Nicolas, Osiris, and Quinn are making their way through Persephone's crowded streets, Nicolas hears the sound of a motorbike coming up behind them and cannot react in time before the motorbike's riders deploy a long metal hook and snatch the bag containing Marsh's notes (which Nicolas was bringing to the meeting in order to prove his identity to Elisa) before speeding away. Nicolas and Quinn note a few identifying details about the thieves (long pink-tipped hair on the bike's rider, a sticker for a Chinese restaurant half-peeled from the bike's fuel tank) but cannot catch up to it before it's gone.
The crew enters the bar and finds Elisa and Goliath waiting there for them. The crew quickly gets over their initial nervousness around Goliath (who is really a very huge and ferocious-looking dog) and open up to Elisa about their interactions with Marsh and their purpose in carrying on his investigation of the Dionysus Project. Elisa is able to prove her identity with a few selections from Marsh's notes and a photo of herself with Marsh, though Nicolas must admit he can do no such thing because the notes were stolen on the way. Elisa is made a little suspicious by this, but the crew's general openness and honesty with any question she might choose to ask helps defer her suspicion. Nicolas in particular hits it off with Elisa and seems to greatly respect her polite, no-nonsense, and practical style.[4] Even the revelation (in general terms) of what the crew has been through and where they're going next is not enough to dissuade Elisa from her belief in doing what is right and finishing Marsh's investigation.
The crew and Elisa both soon agree that they have a lot to offer each other, and agree to team up at least temporarily to bring down the Dionysus Project - though Elisa makes it quite clear that she will not be a member of the crew, and will not take orders from Nicolas. After that's taken care of, what comes next will be up for debate. She then introduces the crew to Matt (who has been sitting at the bar getting tipsy) and apologizes for the deception, but says she had him along for protection. (Fortunately for her, Nicolas just takes this as further evidence of her good nature - "The fact that you think he is protection means you're alright.") But before Black Cat can leave, Nicolas wants to go after the stolen notes - though the crew doesn't really need them now, he's concerned about them falling into the wrong hands, so he doesn't want to leave Persephone without them. After describing what happened, both Elisa and Matt are able to identify the restaurant in question as being located in a tong-controlled neighborhood not far from here, so the crew sets out on foot to get their notes back.
As the crew leaves the bar, Elisa is lagging behind because she walks with a limp, and also encouraging Goliath to come along. What she doesn't notice is the out-of-control taxi that suddenly comes barreling toward her! The crew and Goliath all throw themselves at her and succeed in knocking her out of the way as the taxi careens past and ultimately runs into a light pole. A small crowd is beginning to gather around the wrecked car and perplexed driver, but the crew wants no part of this ("Captain, shouldn't we find out what happened?" "Uh, no."). Because they can't tell whether this is a terrible accident or something malicious, they decide to just go on with their original plan - and to avoid major streets for the time being.
But this is only the beginning. It soon becomes clear to the crew that they're being followed by a couple of shadowy figures - who Elisa recognizes as being a couple of criminals who were jailed a few years back thanks to her efforts. Rather than stand and fight, the crew decides to run away from these guys (even when it means literally dragging Quinn into the shadows along with them) and stay focused on the real mission. Sure enough, soon they've lost their pursuers and are arriving at the restaurant in question. Nothing too suspicious seems to be going on there beyond the usual rough-and-tumble atmosphere of an organized crime neighborhood at night. Elisa suggests getting Goliath to pick up the scent of the bag (using Nicolas's coat as an example) and seeing if he can track it down that way. His powerful nose takes the crew into an alley where they notice a few motorbikes fitting the bill of the one the thieves rode parked in back of a restaurant, and up against a closed door. Wanting to see what's inside, Elisa knocks on the back door and sweet-talks the owner into giving her some food for Goliath while Matt literally gets his foot in the door to keep it from closing.
After a brief look around the kitchen reveals nothing suspicious but a staircase going down to a well-lit basement, the crew decides to send Matt down to check it out. He sneaks down the stairs and sees six young men and women (including a woman who fits the description given by Quinn) playing mah-jongg around a table, and placing bets on the game using a variety of cash, jewelry, and other valuables. A large pile of stolen bags, purses, and briefcases also contains Nicolas's bag, which was apparently discarded by the unwitting thieves as not worth anything. Trouble is, Matt will somehow have to get past the mah-jongg players to retrieve it. He gets clever and flips a switch that he thinks will cause the lights to go out...but really, it sets off a fire alarm instead and causes a general evacuation of the whole restaurant. Even so, Matt is able to use this distraction to wait for the thieves to leave, then grab the bag and go.
The crew establishes that all pages of Marsh's notes are present and accounted for and decides to get off-planet as quickly as possible. Luckily, Elisa was entirely prepared for the possibility of being followed, and arranged for her and Matt's luggage to be kept at a nearby hotel where a relative is employed, so they don't have to go back home in case someone might be waiting. But even this is not enough to lose Elisa and Matt's pursuers entirely. When the crew emerges from the hotel with the bags, they find five armed men waiting in the street for them - though the leader's gun is a large, strange-looking weapon that no one has seen before. "You folks led us on quite a chase," he says. "But it ends here. We got paid a lot of money to make sure that this lady and her dog don't leave the planet. Hell, we mighta done it for free considering what she did to our friends, but if we'd done that we wouldn't have been able to get this!"
The leader aims the strange gun at Elisa and squeezes the trigger, catching her flat-footed. A strange balloon-like projectile has emerged from the end...but the fact that it's not a bullet doesn't change the fact that no one wants to get hit by it. Ever loyal to his aunt, Matt cries out and shoves Elisa out of the way, getting hit with the projectile in the process. The "balloon" bursts and splatters Matt's face, chest, and arms with a strange, sticky blue liquid. Then the more familiar sorts of guns start to come out, and the battle begins in earnest with the two sides trading gunfire.
Elisa begins to pick herself up off the ground, and looks over at Matt to see if he's okay. The blue goo is sticking to his skin and resisting all attempts to wipe it away, but Matt seems unhurt. Yet when Elisa cries out to him, he turns toward her, draws the small pistol he carries for self-defense, and shoots her in her bad leg! The rest of the crew is focusing on dealing with the gun-wielding goons, so they don't really realize what's going on until Matt starts shouting commands at Goliath and trying to get him to attack Elisa. (Luckily for Elisa, Matt's general difficulty with animals works against him yet again, and Goliath remains unmoved.) By now, Osiris has already dropped two of the goons with well-aimed headshots, so he turns his attention to Matt. Osiris aims for center mass and hopes that Matt is wearing ballistic mesh...but as it turns out, it doesn't matter. Osiris knows that he hit perfectly, but ballistic mesh or no, the bullets don't seem to have any effect. And when Osiris and the rest of the crew notices the blue film forming over Matt's skin, they begin to understand what might be going on.
Elisa can't bring herself to fight back against Matt, so instead she orders Goliath to attack one of the other men, who is quickly overpowered and torn apart. The remaining wounded antagonists decide to withdraw, as does Matt. Osiris is ready to take a few parting shots, but urging from both Elisa and Nicolas stays his hand. They allow Matt to escape, and decide to just get back to Black Cat and escape Persephone and move on. (Matt, for his part, gets picked up by a few men with blue hands, who tell him they have a lot to teach him about what he has now become...)
After Black Cat takes off, the crew sits down to talk about what just happened. Nicolas is particularly confused by what happened to Matt, seeing as how he wasn't actually present with the crew during their first encounter with the strange blue-handed men in the Blue Sun R&D base, and they have to explain to him what happened. The general consensus is that Matt has now become one of these "robots" (which is the crew's assumption about the nature of the bluehands). Nobody really knows what to make of the fact that the gunshot that turned Matt into said "robot" seemed to be meant for Elisa. They do their best to comfort Elisa since they can see that she has been deeply affected by this, and say that maybe there is a way that Matt can be cured. But Elisa seems unconvinced; as she puts it, "I think my nephew's last real act was saving me." Overall, the day has left the crew with more questions than answers, but they are glad that Elisa is safe, and she is still determined to finish Marsh's investigation. Quinn re-sets the ship's course for the general vicinity of "Q planet," and Black Cat continues on.
1 - Yup, third of three character changes here - a new PC played by mendeia. With our ranks so thinned and with mendeia already showing up just about every Sunday to watch the game, we figured it was high time that she joined us as a player, and we're glad to have her. But here's hoping this is the last major cast adjustment this game has to go through! BTW, her character is portrayed by Julieta Rosen. As for Matt, he is being played by mr_co, who previously played Kaji in season 4 and is returning to use for one session only.
2 - I'm not sure my summary is conveying it, but this was a great scene. Easily one of my favorites of the game so far.
3 - mendeia: She's very protective of you. You're the only family she has left that's close to her heart.
Noel: That's a helluva thing to say about a character that's only here for one session.
4 - Elisa: There are different kinds of justice in the 'Verse. Some of it's legal, and sometimes it ain't. I'm not a cop, and there's a reason for that.
Nicolas: ...I like you.
Elisa Maza's life is a fairly good one, all things considered. She has a successful business on Persephone - a combination of a private detective agency and a breeding and training facility for police and other service dogs - and a helpful assistant in the form of her nephew, Matt Bluestone. She also has a well-trained and formidable animal companion of her own, a large dog named Goliath, who helps her in her investigative duties and protects her from any harm.[1] Elisa and Matt have recently concluded a very successful investigative job, but Elisa won't let her young charge rest on his laurels. They're treating the day after their great windfall like any other day and putting a new litter of puppies through attack training, with Elisa giving the orders and Matt (who has a lot of trouble getting animals to like him despite his job) holding the pads. But their training is interrupted by a phone call - and when Elisa hears who it's from, it becomes clear that dog training is over for the day.
The call is from Elisa's old friend and mentor, Detective Hector Marsh, but its opening words make it clear that this isn't a social call: "Hello, Elisa. If you're getting this message, it means that I'm dead. Sorry to be so melodramatic...but I had to let you know about the case I've been working, so that someone I trust can carry it on." Marsh explains, in general terms, his investigation into the Osiris dismemberment murders and how he realized that the murders were connected to the Dionysus Project, and how they went even deeper than that. He also explains how his search for the truth has put him in danger, and how he knows there's a chance he may not come back from the place he is now going. For that reason, he is sending all of his notes to Elisa, and also informing her of his association with the crew of Black Cat. If he dies, he wants her to look at what he's done, and bring the killers to justice if he has indeed failed in the attempt. Though Marsh would clearly not want Elisa to sacrifice herself for him, he knows that she values the same things that he does, so he wants to give her the chance to carry on his legacy how she sees fit. Marsh concludes by speaking highly of Elisa and her investigative skills, and saying that he's very proud of her as the message ends.
Very emotional, Elisa tells Matt a little of what has happened (though not too much, because he's only 17 and she still wants to protect him from the harsher realities of life) and asks him to look for information on Black Cat while she begins to go through the case files. Matt learns that Black Cat is a normal independent trading ship operating within the bounds of the law, with a few strange notations on its file - for example, they've been declared officially not slavers by the government of Hera, and officially not child pornographers by the government of Paquin. Despite these perplexing facts ("Maybe there's a correspondence course on how not to be a slaver. Step one, don't buy anyone."), Elisa concludes that it is safe to at least call Black Cat and speak to its captain, so she does.
Quinn answers the call and treats Elisa politely but cautiously before summoning Nicolas (who is just now waking up from being stunned, and bemoaning the fact that this rule-breaking experience means bad luck to come) to help out. Elisa introduces herself, explains what has happened and what Marsh wants of her, and suggests that it might be a good idea for her to meet up with Black Cat on Persephone to share information and establish whether she and the crew can help each other. Nicolas is able to overcome the effects of his superstition long enough to admit that Elisa probably has a point, even though he still isn't sure whether she's telling the truth or whether she means the crew harm. He says as much to Elisa, who says that she's just as suspicious of the crew, and that she won't object to any security measures that Black Cat needs to take in order to feel confident in meeting her. Black Cat is about two days out from Persephone, so the crew agrees to call Elisa when they reach Persephone and arrange a neutral meeting ground to share information.
During the next two days, Elisa spends equal amounts of time getting her affairs in order (in case she ends up leaving on Black Cat to follow up on Marsh's leads) and packing for a potential trip (and helping Matt, who has never been off-planet, pare down his luggage to semi-manageable levels). On the other hand, the crew of Black Cat finds most of their time taken up with removing every trace of Luke's presence from their ship. The crew doesn't realize just how pervasive Luke's influence on them has been until they're called upon to get rid of it all, a task that includes ripping the captain's chair (a gift from Luke to Nicolas) out of the cockpit, dismantling the hydroponic garden in the lower cargo bay (which was purchased by Luke), getting rid of the brewery equipment and all of the beer (since Luke's money started it up), and so on. The only thing the crew can't deal with is the custom protective metal sheathing installed around the former berth for Luke's shuttle, since it's welded to the ship's hull and not easily removed. However, Nicolas has Birgitta go over it carefully with scanning equipment until she can establish that it's devoid of anything suspicious and still quite safe. The crew has a raucous party consuming what they can of the best leftover beer (or root beer, in the case of Osiris and Quinn), says their symbolic goodbyes to Luke, and then sends everything he ever bought them out of the airlock and into the heart of a nearby sun.
Nicolas also takes it upon himself to check in on Osiris during this time; he knows that Luke and Osiris were best friends and that this can't be easy on Osiris for that reason, plus he wants to make sure that Osiris hasn't gone off the deep end again. Surprisingly, Osiris is approaching his ordeal with great aplomb. The way Osiris sees it, Luke was just doing his job when he was ordered to torture Osiris; to disobey that order would have meant death, so Luke was just doing what he needed to do in order to stay alive. It's no different from what Osiris himself did at Dionysus Hospital - he compromised his morals to stay alive in the hopes that he could make up for it later - and it's no different from what Sekhmet did when she shot Detective Marsh to protect her own secrets. It's not something to be proud of, but it's understandable, so Osiris can forgive Luke and Sekhmet for their actions because he can see where they were coming from. Osiris concludes by saying, "With all the forgiveness I've been given, I wouldn't be much of a man if I didn't learn to forgive others."
There is a pause. Then Nicolas says, "We're still going to shoot those two on sight, though."
"Oh, absolutely," responds Osiris without hesitation. Then both of them go about their normal days.[2]
Nicolas also speaks to Quinn about the course she had originally set and about her interest in "Q planet." Quinn explains what she saw in the Reaver den on Osiris, and says that she thinks answers can be found in the very place they were so obsessed with - the home of their god. Nicolas is seriously dubious about this idea, and wonders if with all the trouble they're already in it's really a good idea to go to the center of that trouble. But Quinn clearly believes that the crew stands no chance of really stopping the Dionysus Project unless they face it head-on, and that now is as good a time as any. Finally, Nicolas tells her, "Okay, we'll go there because I don't got a better idea. But if I get one, we're changing course right away."
Two days later, Black Cat lands on Persephone at a secret, Syndicate-controlled spaceport, and calls up Elisa to arrange the meeting. Despite Matt's eagerness to come along and help, Elisa still wants to protect him[3], so she says that she will be coming to the meeting alone. However, she plans to send Matt ahead to sit at the bar where they will be meeting, and be prepared to step in if she runs into trouble. The Black Cat contingent will consist of Nicolas, Osiris, and Quinn. Elisa also plans to bring Goliath with her, though she does not mention this fact to the crew. Elisa gets to the bar without incident, but as Nicolas, Osiris, and Quinn are making their way through Persephone's crowded streets, Nicolas hears the sound of a motorbike coming up behind them and cannot react in time before the motorbike's riders deploy a long metal hook and snatch the bag containing Marsh's notes (which Nicolas was bringing to the meeting in order to prove his identity to Elisa) before speeding away. Nicolas and Quinn note a few identifying details about the thieves (long pink-tipped hair on the bike's rider, a sticker for a Chinese restaurant half-peeled from the bike's fuel tank) but cannot catch up to it before it's gone.
The crew enters the bar and finds Elisa and Goliath waiting there for them. The crew quickly gets over their initial nervousness around Goliath (who is really a very huge and ferocious-looking dog) and open up to Elisa about their interactions with Marsh and their purpose in carrying on his investigation of the Dionysus Project. Elisa is able to prove her identity with a few selections from Marsh's notes and a photo of herself with Marsh, though Nicolas must admit he can do no such thing because the notes were stolen on the way. Elisa is made a little suspicious by this, but the crew's general openness and honesty with any question she might choose to ask helps defer her suspicion. Nicolas in particular hits it off with Elisa and seems to greatly respect her polite, no-nonsense, and practical style.[4] Even the revelation (in general terms) of what the crew has been through and where they're going next is not enough to dissuade Elisa from her belief in doing what is right and finishing Marsh's investigation.
The crew and Elisa both soon agree that they have a lot to offer each other, and agree to team up at least temporarily to bring down the Dionysus Project - though Elisa makes it quite clear that she will not be a member of the crew, and will not take orders from Nicolas. After that's taken care of, what comes next will be up for debate. She then introduces the crew to Matt (who has been sitting at the bar getting tipsy) and apologizes for the deception, but says she had him along for protection. (Fortunately for her, Nicolas just takes this as further evidence of her good nature - "The fact that you think he is protection means you're alright.") But before Black Cat can leave, Nicolas wants to go after the stolen notes - though the crew doesn't really need them now, he's concerned about them falling into the wrong hands, so he doesn't want to leave Persephone without them. After describing what happened, both Elisa and Matt are able to identify the restaurant in question as being located in a tong-controlled neighborhood not far from here, so the crew sets out on foot to get their notes back.
As the crew leaves the bar, Elisa is lagging behind because she walks with a limp, and also encouraging Goliath to come along. What she doesn't notice is the out-of-control taxi that suddenly comes barreling toward her! The crew and Goliath all throw themselves at her and succeed in knocking her out of the way as the taxi careens past and ultimately runs into a light pole. A small crowd is beginning to gather around the wrecked car and perplexed driver, but the crew wants no part of this ("Captain, shouldn't we find out what happened?" "Uh, no."). Because they can't tell whether this is a terrible accident or something malicious, they decide to just go on with their original plan - and to avoid major streets for the time being.
But this is only the beginning. It soon becomes clear to the crew that they're being followed by a couple of shadowy figures - who Elisa recognizes as being a couple of criminals who were jailed a few years back thanks to her efforts. Rather than stand and fight, the crew decides to run away from these guys (even when it means literally dragging Quinn into the shadows along with them) and stay focused on the real mission. Sure enough, soon they've lost their pursuers and are arriving at the restaurant in question. Nothing too suspicious seems to be going on there beyond the usual rough-and-tumble atmosphere of an organized crime neighborhood at night. Elisa suggests getting Goliath to pick up the scent of the bag (using Nicolas's coat as an example) and seeing if he can track it down that way. His powerful nose takes the crew into an alley where they notice a few motorbikes fitting the bill of the one the thieves rode parked in back of a restaurant, and up against a closed door. Wanting to see what's inside, Elisa knocks on the back door and sweet-talks the owner into giving her some food for Goliath while Matt literally gets his foot in the door to keep it from closing.
After a brief look around the kitchen reveals nothing suspicious but a staircase going down to a well-lit basement, the crew decides to send Matt down to check it out. He sneaks down the stairs and sees six young men and women (including a woman who fits the description given by Quinn) playing mah-jongg around a table, and placing bets on the game using a variety of cash, jewelry, and other valuables. A large pile of stolen bags, purses, and briefcases also contains Nicolas's bag, which was apparently discarded by the unwitting thieves as not worth anything. Trouble is, Matt will somehow have to get past the mah-jongg players to retrieve it. He gets clever and flips a switch that he thinks will cause the lights to go out...but really, it sets off a fire alarm instead and causes a general evacuation of the whole restaurant. Even so, Matt is able to use this distraction to wait for the thieves to leave, then grab the bag and go.
The crew establishes that all pages of Marsh's notes are present and accounted for and decides to get off-planet as quickly as possible. Luckily, Elisa was entirely prepared for the possibility of being followed, and arranged for her and Matt's luggage to be kept at a nearby hotel where a relative is employed, so they don't have to go back home in case someone might be waiting. But even this is not enough to lose Elisa and Matt's pursuers entirely. When the crew emerges from the hotel with the bags, they find five armed men waiting in the street for them - though the leader's gun is a large, strange-looking weapon that no one has seen before. "You folks led us on quite a chase," he says. "But it ends here. We got paid a lot of money to make sure that this lady and her dog don't leave the planet. Hell, we mighta done it for free considering what she did to our friends, but if we'd done that we wouldn't have been able to get this!"
The leader aims the strange gun at Elisa and squeezes the trigger, catching her flat-footed. A strange balloon-like projectile has emerged from the end...but the fact that it's not a bullet doesn't change the fact that no one wants to get hit by it. Ever loyal to his aunt, Matt cries out and shoves Elisa out of the way, getting hit with the projectile in the process. The "balloon" bursts and splatters Matt's face, chest, and arms with a strange, sticky blue liquid. Then the more familiar sorts of guns start to come out, and the battle begins in earnest with the two sides trading gunfire.
Elisa begins to pick herself up off the ground, and looks over at Matt to see if he's okay. The blue goo is sticking to his skin and resisting all attempts to wipe it away, but Matt seems unhurt. Yet when Elisa cries out to him, he turns toward her, draws the small pistol he carries for self-defense, and shoots her in her bad leg! The rest of the crew is focusing on dealing with the gun-wielding goons, so they don't really realize what's going on until Matt starts shouting commands at Goliath and trying to get him to attack Elisa. (Luckily for Elisa, Matt's general difficulty with animals works against him yet again, and Goliath remains unmoved.) By now, Osiris has already dropped two of the goons with well-aimed headshots, so he turns his attention to Matt. Osiris aims for center mass and hopes that Matt is wearing ballistic mesh...but as it turns out, it doesn't matter. Osiris knows that he hit perfectly, but ballistic mesh or no, the bullets don't seem to have any effect. And when Osiris and the rest of the crew notices the blue film forming over Matt's skin, they begin to understand what might be going on.
Elisa can't bring herself to fight back against Matt, so instead she orders Goliath to attack one of the other men, who is quickly overpowered and torn apart. The remaining wounded antagonists decide to withdraw, as does Matt. Osiris is ready to take a few parting shots, but urging from both Elisa and Nicolas stays his hand. They allow Matt to escape, and decide to just get back to Black Cat and escape Persephone and move on. (Matt, for his part, gets picked up by a few men with blue hands, who tell him they have a lot to teach him about what he has now become...)
After Black Cat takes off, the crew sits down to talk about what just happened. Nicolas is particularly confused by what happened to Matt, seeing as how he wasn't actually present with the crew during their first encounter with the strange blue-handed men in the Blue Sun R&D base, and they have to explain to him what happened. The general consensus is that Matt has now become one of these "robots" (which is the crew's assumption about the nature of the bluehands). Nobody really knows what to make of the fact that the gunshot that turned Matt into said "robot" seemed to be meant for Elisa. They do their best to comfort Elisa since they can see that she has been deeply affected by this, and say that maybe there is a way that Matt can be cured. But Elisa seems unconvinced; as she puts it, "I think my nephew's last real act was saving me." Overall, the day has left the crew with more questions than answers, but they are glad that Elisa is safe, and she is still determined to finish Marsh's investigation. Quinn re-sets the ship's course for the general vicinity of "Q planet," and Black Cat continues on.
1 - Yup, third of three character changes here - a new PC played by mendeia. With our ranks so thinned and with mendeia already showing up just about every Sunday to watch the game, we figured it was high time that she joined us as a player, and we're glad to have her. But here's hoping this is the last major cast adjustment this game has to go through! BTW, her character is portrayed by Julieta Rosen. As for Matt, he is being played by mr_co, who previously played Kaji in season 4 and is returning to use for one session only.
2 - I'm not sure my summary is conveying it, but this was a great scene. Easily one of my favorites of the game so far.
3 - mendeia: She's very protective of you. You're the only family she has left that's close to her heart.
Noel: That's a helluva thing to say about a character that's only here for one session.
4 - Elisa: There are different kinds of justice in the 'Verse. Some of it's legal, and sometimes it ain't. I'm not a cop, and there's a reason for that.
Nicolas: ...I like you.