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Post by skybright on Sept 19, 2009 22:08:34 GMT -5
Caddy grinned crookedly and settled onto the couch. "Okay then." He gestured vaguely at the duffel bag of plunder the group had retrieved from Voegel's apartment, which had been tucked away in a corner of the room; it rose into the air and settled onto the coffee table, unzipping itself as it did so.
Caddy plunged one hand into the bag and drew out a file at random, leafing through it with a quick, analytical glance. "Looks like bank account information." He said, setting the folder aside. "Not exactly my line."
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Post by Jordanna on Sept 19, 2009 22:38:14 GMT -5
"We'll have to take some of this stuff to Jai, see what he can make of it," Vance agreed. "Especially those computer memory gadgets--"
"The flash drives," Nate offered helpfully to his computer-challenged father.
"Whatever. We're not gonna touch 'em before Jai does. I don't want to take a chance on them being set to erase themselves or something if any amateurs try to crack them."
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Post by skybright on Sept 19, 2009 22:46:40 GMT -5
Caddy nodded. "Makes sense. If there's anything medical on them, you can always have Jai make me some copies to go over."
He withdrew another folder and flipped it open. "Hmm." He frowned thoughtfully at the contents. "This one's just a pretty standard patient's file -- but the name's blacked out." He held out the folder and pointed to several places where someone had censored the pages within.
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Post by Jordanna on Sept 19, 2009 22:55:09 GMT -5
Vance scowled. "That'll take some work, too. I have a couple of guys who used to deal with military intelligence--at least on a much lower level than whoever Voegel's working for. Maybe they can work around that censoring."
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Post by skybright on Sept 19, 2009 23:01:25 GMT -5
"Worth a shot, anyway." Caddy had withdrawn another pair of files, and now he spread them out telekinetically in the air in front of him. "This is odd -- these ones aren't censored. Two different projects, maybe."
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Post by Jordanna on Sept 19, 2009 23:06:08 GMT -5
"G. did say something about that," Vance muttered. "That Voegel had stuff on a personal project that was his. Maybe there's some truth in that--even if it only means they were rivals in the same nasty business."
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Post by skybright on Sept 19, 2009 23:09:36 GMT -5
Caddy grinned flatly. "Professional politics. I guess even evil scientists aren't immune."
"Speaking of which, there's a lockbox of vials in there that Doctor G. was pretty keen to get his hands on." Daws interjected. "Whatever's in them is probably pretty important."
Caddy nodded and, after a bit of mental rummaging, withdrew the box in question from the duffel. "I'll put it at the top of my to-do list."
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Post by Jordanna on Sept 20, 2009 21:24:17 GMT -5
"You be extremely careful with that," Vance admonished. "If any of the stuff in there is infectious or toxic, I don't want anybody getting hurt."
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Post by skybright on Sept 20, 2009 22:08:36 GMT -5
"Right. Gotcha." Caddy carefully drifted the case to rest on the coffee table beside the duffel bag. "We'll take all the proper precautions."
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Post by Jordanna on Sept 20, 2009 22:41:55 GMT -5
Vance sighed. "We found another lock box full of money... but I had to toast it to warn off G. I figured it was better to lose the cash than any of this other stuff that might give us the answers."
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Post by skybright on Sept 20, 2009 22:47:39 GMT -5
"Ouch." Caddy grimaced. "Rough call, but I can see where you're coming from."
He gestured at the small stack of financial files he had been sorting out from the medical information in the bag. "Well, maybe Jai can crack open one of these bank accounts and make it up to you guys."
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Post by Jordanna on Sept 20, 2009 22:52:20 GMT -5
Vance grinned crookedly. "There's a thought.
"What we really need, though, is a paper trail to track down G. and Voegel's bosses--and information about their experiments, so we can try to protect any more possible victims. And that just might include G.'s own lackeys. There was something wrong about 'em."
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Post by skybright on Sept 20, 2009 23:01:23 GMT -5
Caddy glanced up from the file he was looking through. "Wrong? Wrong like how?"
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Post by Jordanna on Sept 20, 2009 23:18:22 GMT -5
"I don't know." Vance frowned. "Through the whole fight, they never made a sound. Like Regina said--they seemed like they weren't all there. We've gotta consider the possibility they've been drugged or conditioned."
He folded his arms grimly. "I don't have to tell you that's a complication we don't need. If we have to fight 'em again, having to make the judgment call about hurting 'em is just going to put our people at more risk."
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Post by skybright on Sept 20, 2009 23:27:34 GMT -5
"Yeah, I can understand that." Caddy frowned. "Well, I'll let you know what I find out."
"Assuming there's anything on the henchmen in this stuff." Daws sighed. "Cole said Doctor G. brought those guys with him to the project. Whatever he did to them -- if anything -- he might've done it years ago."
"Yeah, maybe. We won't know until we try, right?" Caddy dug into the bag again, withdrawing another file . . . this one bearing a familiar name.
The doctor winced and glanced up at Vance. "You, uh . . . you wanna do the honors, here, or should I?"
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Post by Jordanna on Sept 20, 2009 23:32:47 GMT -5
Vance grimaced. "I remember all the test results they showed me after I first manifested. I wasn't good with the medical talk then, and I'm not good with it now."
He glanced up at the doctor. "So you go ahead, Caddy."
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Post by skybright on Sept 21, 2009 0:04:45 GMT -5
Caddy nodded. "Yeah, alright."
He opened the file with an almost hesitant motion, and began reading through the material within, occasionally frowning slightly or nodding to himself.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Daws lashed her tail. "Caddy -- the suspense is getting to me."
"Huh?" He glanced up from the file. "Oh . . . right." He grimaced. "Well, it looks like most of this is a copy of your Army files, Major -- from routine physicals up through your, ah . . . incident. Pretty standard diagnostic stuff."
He glanced abruptly down at the folder, scowling. "I've gotta admit -- even for clinical records, whoever wrote these was pretty coldhearted. It's kind of a trick making bigotry show up in something like a patient file, but these guys managed it."
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Post by Jordanna on Sept 21, 2009 21:49:22 GMT -5
"Trust me, that wasn't the only place they showed it," Vance muttered. "The first doctor they put on my case flat-out refused to touch me, like I had some kinda disease."
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Post by skybright on Sept 21, 2009 22:36:10 GMT -5
Daws made a dangerous noise in her throat, lashing her tail. "I'd like to have words with him." She said. "See what he'd make of me."
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Post by Jordanna on Sept 21, 2009 22:50:13 GMT -5
"I finally got a guy who wasn't too bad," Vance sighed. "Sympathetic--even though he had the usual idea that I should wanna be 'cured', instead of adjusting to what I am. He took care of my injuries alright, at least. But by the time I was healed enough to get out of the hospital... I couldn't even stand him anymore. Or anybody who treated me like I was sick."
He rubbed the rough scars surrounding his blind left eye. "Pity for this would've been bad enough, but knowing the way they felt about the rest of it... that was just too much."
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