2012-08-28 - Reach Out and Touch Someone

Candi's on her computer, just checking online shopping or Craigslist or news or who knows... when the laptop starts flickering. Then a face shows up on it - looks like am ask actually. "Candi Carson Floss?" comes a voice from the computer's speakers. Sounds like an artificial voice, like a synthetic male and female voice combined.

Candi picks up her laptop, where she'd been looking at guitars and lingerie and facebooking and watching Youtube vids. She looks for something stuck onto it, then she sits it back down and flips through her various tabs. She doesn't see any apps that would be doing this. So... "Hello?" The face replaces what you were looking at on the screen. "Hello Candi. I hope you are doing well after your earlier ordeal? I was watching and was a bit ... alarmed" The laptop screen changes to a video of the Prime Sentinel and Friend of Humanity attack, taken from an ATM video camera across the street in Times Square, then switches to a second camera view from a traffic video cam. "You handled yourself very well. Do you know who those people were, or the man in metal?" It switches back to the Oracle avatar face.

"Whoa! Shit! Fuck!" says Candi. She hops up from her computer and rushes to grab a tee shirt. She pulls it on over her bare chest and says, "Hello. I don't know who you are, but how did you get on my computer? What do you want?"

"My name is Oracle. And yes, good idea to be dressed." The laptop's videocam just rests there over the laptop screen. "Let's just say I'm very good with computers. Consider this a meet and greet. Just to say hello. I'm a bit of an information broker. I help people by giving them information they need. Been working on the Friends of Humanity angle to see their weak spots, but that attack with the cyborg or robot or whatever it was threw me for a bit of a loop. A lot of people - humans and mutants and metahumans alike - got killed." Your laptop starts showing different screen caps of police reports and obituary articles of different people. "I'm not a fan of being in the dark when people are dying, and this seems like a mutant affair, so it occured to me to reach out to people in the mutant community. So... like I said, hello."

"Um. Yeah. Hello. I should get you someone you can talk with." She grabs up a cell phone, checks the time, then says "I'm not...I aint the person you should be talking with. I don't pay attention to any of this stuff." She calls Alex, asleeep. Professor X, no answer. She sighs, "Goddamn old bastards never pay attention to their damn phones." She then stops her frantic dialing to say, "Oh. Hello. Oracle."

"It's okay. If I wanted to contact Charles Xavier or Alex Summers, I would have." How did she know who you were calling? "I contacted you. You're not as high profile, and that's sometimes a good thing. I'd like us to become friends. I realize we don't actually know each other yet, but I'm one of the good guys. And you don't give yourself nearly enough credit - you pay attention just fine. For now, I just wanted to know if you had any idea on who the one who killed all those people are?"

"I think you made a mistake. I don't know anything. They were just dumbass Friends of Humanity bastards. If you want information you really should talk to one of the instructors. Or Laura." She rocks the laptop around as she moves to sit up, putting it in her lap. "You are a pretty good hacker. Is this your power?"

"I know my way around computers. And I may be contacting Laura Kinney as well. She's a very good fighter with more offensive powers, but I thought it better to first talk to you. You were very brave and you underestimate yourself far too much." Change to a video zooming in on you trying to protect Laura during the fight. Back to the Oracle avatar face. "Testing the waters to see how agreeable certain mutants might be in the institute to be freelance agents and friends with me. I'm a bit paranoid about who I associate with, and bravery and loyalty is a rather big thing with me - two things you show an abundance of. Of course, it's not just a one-way street. You keep me informed on information, and I can give you information as well to help your people."

"Look. Okay, I'm brave and am super loyal, and yes, I am super cool too. Like Fonzy. But if you want information, you need to talk to someone else. I don't know shit. I know what you can get off of Google. I am like, a folower and not a leader. I wouldn't know what to ask you, and don't know the answers to any questions unless they are about music or sex."

"Again, you really underestimate yourself. Just keep your eyes and ears open. If you decide to contact Xavier or Summers, that's fine. I'd still be wanting to deal with you instead. Call yourself a 'point of contact' if you want. Cool huh?" But as for what sort of things to ask me... how about where Friends of Humanity are congregating? Or FCC reports on unidentified flying persons. Or your friend, Kensington Young's father." Video of the fight again, zooming in on Kensington's father with his smgs getting his leg blown off. "Hospitals keep records."

"Well, you have the questions. So why don't you just send me all that stuff so I can give it to the ones who do all the heavy lifting with their brains?" She cringes at the video, then says, "Cause, I don't know you, so I'm not going to tell you anything without say so from one of them anyway. Well, unless it is about things that I can talk about with a stranger."

"Don't worry. Feel free to get their say so first. It's not like I'm trying to spy on your Institute. Not that I couldnt if I wanted to without using human agents. Your institute is rather heavily automated. Like I said, I'm one of the good guys." For now I just have the question of who the metal man was. If you find out, contact me. I'm interested. Just leave a message on one of the computers at the Institute, or on your laptop. Or if that gives you the heebie jeebies, you can send a post on Craigslist in Metropolis, with the message "Looking for a Spotted Owl." Don't worry - I'll find it. Seriously, have a nice day, stay safe, and I hope your friends heal up soon. Here's a little breadcrumb by the way. He used a fake name, but hospitals need to take pictures of any injuries involving gunfire." And with that the Oracle Avatar disappears from the screen. And you find your computer open to a pdf file of a hospital report for Anthony Bellamy, a FoH who was hit with crossfire during the attack.