Tales from the Table: Brisbane Knights, part 4
The Prologue
Our story starts with Matthew Chance, The Owl, in the Penthouse apartment atop the building he resides in, as the sun begins to set, setting the Brisbane River on fire with the reflected light of a warm summers night.
With him is "the old man", his mentor & predecessor, the two of them are playfully arguing over the import of a work life balance, between the identities of Matthew Chance & that of the vigilante crime fight The Owl, as the old man helps him pick out an outfit for this evenings boring social event of some gala at the opeing of an exhibit at the Brisbane Museum he'd helped sponsor.
The argument is cut short as an active report is forwarded from the Owl-Computer to his smart phone. "Looks like you've been given a stay of execution for tonight" the old man says with a smile, as he knows what this means: There is work afoot for The Owl.
Arriving at the Scene of the Crime.
The active crime report directs The Owl to a Trade Tax Exclusion storage zone, used by wealthy individuals importing antiquities & expensive items in to the country, without having to pay the importation & trade taxes on them until they are sold. As such these storage compounds have a tendency to be rather secure.... Not secure enough not to have been robbed tonight & the Owl arrives in time to find the place already swarming with police.
The Owl, having a rather strained, if not outright antagonistic relationship with the police at times, decides that discretion is the better part of valor & sneaks in to the building, bypassing the other officers.
Once in the crime scene, he notices that the detective in charge is Detective Yin, a recently promoted detective who The Owl has worked with before, to their mutual benefit, but who doesn't trust him due to their rocky first meeting. As she's processing the scene, he watches silently from the shadows until suddenly her back stiffens like she suddenly realised she was in a room with a deadly animal, she quickly clears the room of other officers & says without looking "come out of the shadows Owl."
He steps out of the shadows, surprised that she had detected his presence, so he askes "how did you know i was here?"
To which she answers "you are creepy as hell, that's how. I get a chill up my spine every time you pull that ghost in the shadows bullshit."
There is a second while they both stand there looking at each other, before she makes up her mind, sighs & walks The Owl through the crime scene, since she's baffeled & while reluctant to ask, could do with the help.
Someone killed the power & the reserve back up power, by disabling them at two seperate sources, neither of which have been broken in to, the first had to be bypassed to kill the electricity to the building, without disabling the flow to the "power out alarm", which was achieved with a small black sphere, with little green lights connected to an external security control box.
The second, the back up power supply, was deactivated in the generator room, none of the cameras leading up to the generator rooms picked up anything, nor did the motion detectors & no doors were opened. The crime seems all but impossible.
Whoever it was then broke through the final lock of only this one secure storage room, by ripping the security door from its hinges, by hand, since the lock was a superior mechanical lock. And yet only one thing was stolen, from a room full of treasures, in a building full of hidden wealth, whoever broke in only stole a single thing, a piece of ancient armour, a single piece of jet black metal armour, that would cover only the right arm, something called "The Ebon Armatice."
Reading through the documentation on the piece, it appears to be a early greek piece of armor of singularly unique construction, made out of a metal alloy process unknown for the time.
Already The Owl thinks he knows who is involved, this all has the hallmarks of the Felonious Five: A group of super powered criminals, their only goal earning money as meta-human criminals. And if he's right, he can't take them on on his own, time to call in The Vanguard.
Calling in the Vanguard: The Investigation Continues
Back in The Parliment, the secret bunker below the riverside high rise The Owl discovers what he feared he'd find. Inside the small sphere taken from the security control box was a small engraved capital G: The calling card of Gear, the Felonious Fives technical expert & inventor.
The Owl pores over the antiquities report taken from the crime scene, The Owl dives in to his work while waiting for the others to arrive, hoping to find a clue on why they wanted this one item & what their plan is. After all the Felonious Five are a criminal cabal, they don't go in for breaking in to a room of priceless artifacts just to steal a single item unless they already have a buyer lined up, or it's part of a much larger criminal endeavour.
Searching through references to the "The Ebon Armatice" he finds reference to two other artifacts, only one is listed, The Mantle of Bronze, an ancient bronze chest plate, an antiquity that is being shown tonight as part of an exhibition at the Brisbane Museum, exactly the Gala he'd help sponsor as a part of his civilian ID's cover.
And it would be just like the Felonious Five to strike at such a location, full of civilians.
Looks like it's time to call in the Vanguard.
Our story starts with Matthew Chance, The Owl, in the Penthouse apartment atop the building he resides in, as the sun begins to set, setting the Brisbane River on fire with the reflected light of a warm summers night.
With him is "the old man", his mentor & predecessor, the two of them are playfully arguing over the import of a work life balance, between the identities of Matthew Chance & that of the vigilante crime fight The Owl, as the old man helps him pick out an outfit for this evenings boring social event of some gala at the opeing of an exhibit at the Brisbane Museum he'd helped sponsor.
The argument is cut short as an active report is forwarded from the Owl-Computer to his smart phone. "Looks like you've been given a stay of execution for tonight" the old man says with a smile, as he knows what this means: There is work afoot for The Owl.
Arriving at the Scene of the Crime.
The active crime report directs The Owl to a Trade Tax Exclusion storage zone, used by wealthy individuals importing antiquities & expensive items in to the country, without having to pay the importation & trade taxes on them until they are sold. As such these storage compounds have a tendency to be rather secure.... Not secure enough not to have been robbed tonight & the Owl arrives in time to find the place already swarming with police.
The Owl, having a rather strained, if not outright antagonistic relationship with the police at times, decides that discretion is the better part of valor & sneaks in to the building, bypassing the other officers.
Once in the crime scene, he notices that the detective in charge is Detective Yin, a recently promoted detective who The Owl has worked with before, to their mutual benefit, but who doesn't trust him due to their rocky first meeting. As she's processing the scene, he watches silently from the shadows until suddenly her back stiffens like she suddenly realised she was in a room with a deadly animal, she quickly clears the room of other officers & says without looking "come out of the shadows Owl."
He steps out of the shadows, surprised that she had detected his presence, so he askes "how did you know i was here?"
To which she answers "you are creepy as hell, that's how. I get a chill up my spine every time you pull that ghost in the shadows bullshit."
There is a second while they both stand there looking at each other, before she makes up her mind, sighs & walks The Owl through the crime scene, since she's baffeled & while reluctant to ask, could do with the help.
Someone killed the power & the reserve back up power, by disabling them at two seperate sources, neither of which have been broken in to, the first had to be bypassed to kill the electricity to the building, without disabling the flow to the "power out alarm", which was achieved with a small black sphere, with little green lights connected to an external security control box.
The second, the back up power supply, was deactivated in the generator room, none of the cameras leading up to the generator rooms picked up anything, nor did the motion detectors & no doors were opened. The crime seems all but impossible.
Whoever it was then broke through the final lock of only this one secure storage room, by ripping the security door from its hinges, by hand, since the lock was a superior mechanical lock. And yet only one thing was stolen, from a room full of treasures, in a building full of hidden wealth, whoever broke in only stole a single thing, a piece of ancient armour, a single piece of jet black metal armour, that would cover only the right arm, something called "The Ebon Armatice."
Reading through the documentation on the piece, it appears to be a early greek piece of armor of singularly unique construction, made out of a metal alloy process unknown for the time.
Already The Owl thinks he knows who is involved, this all has the hallmarks of the Felonious Five: A group of super powered criminals, their only goal earning money as meta-human criminals. And if he's right, he can't take them on on his own, time to call in The Vanguard.
Calling in the Vanguard: The Investigation Continues
Back in The Parliment, the secret bunker below the riverside high rise The Owl discovers what he feared he'd find. Inside the small sphere taken from the security control box was a small engraved capital G: The calling card of Gear, the Felonious Fives technical expert & inventor.
The Owl pores over the antiquities report taken from the crime scene, The Owl dives in to his work while waiting for the others to arrive, hoping to find a clue on why they wanted this one item & what their plan is. After all the Felonious Five are a criminal cabal, they don't go in for breaking in to a room of priceless artifacts just to steal a single item unless they already have a buyer lined up, or it's part of a much larger criminal endeavour.
Searching through references to the "The Ebon Armatice" he finds reference to two other artifacts, only one is listed, The Mantle of Bronze, an ancient bronze chest plate, an antiquity that is being shown tonight as part of an exhibition at the Brisbane Museum, exactly the Gala he'd help sponsor as a part of his civilian ID's cover.
And it would be just like the Felonious Five to strike at such a location, full of civilians.
Looks like it's time to call in the Vanguard.