Research Begins

Jp with mdman, Jaxx, Trustno1, and Cindy

Agent Powers helped Alyssa with her set up as he quietly listened to her orders. He wanted to make sure she had what she needed in order to do her job. He then asked, "What should we order for lunch and dinner since we will be here all day?”

"Let's wait for everyone to get here before deciding. We might have to order from a few places to meet everyone's requests. And there's places in Chicago who deliver here, that should give us a lot more options." Alyssa responded, as she hit some buttons on the box, went to her laptop, typed and went back to the box.

"Actually, though, what you can do is get delivery from one of the stores. Just get a variety of snacks, I suppose some should be healthy for those that want that. Drinks as well, plates and anything else you can think of. Oh, and go to the front counter to ask if they have a coffee urn that we can use. Two actually. If so, include coffee, tea, cups and anything else necessary for that.”

Agent Powers then nodded as he gave Alyssa a smolder. Then he pulled out his phone and began placing the order at Alyssa's request. He included a coffee makers, coffee urns, gourmet coffee grounds, Chai tea, Chai coffee, sweeteners, stir sticks, disposable cups with lids, napkins, paper plates, paper bowls, plastic cutlery Sea Salt Veggie Straws chips, assorted nuts, chocolate covered nuts, gummies, chocolate pretzels, fruit, cheese, meat trays, dried fruit and chocolate cover espresso beans. Then he placed the order so it would arrive in a few hours. He gave Alyssa a smolder as he said, "It should be here soon.”

"Thanks," Alyssa smiled at him, wondering what conglomeration of snacks the man had ordered. "Do you know how to put printer paper into the printer?" She was really trying to figure out jobs he could do while the others were researching.

Agent powers nodded as he replied, "Yeah. If I have trouble I can get the instructions on You-Tube." He nodded as he smirked.

Alyssa nodded, "Feel free to ask as well, if it's being particularly stubborn." YouTube tutorials did a good job explaining stuff, but sometimes printers were the worst piece of tech equipment to deal with.

Alyssa thought for a moment, "Max, can you set out the office supplies from that box," Pointing out one of the boxes they had brought in. It had a wide variety of various regular office supplies. "This way people have access to them." She didn't know why Cassani had thought to include office supplies but might as well use them. A few minutes later, a green light came on the black box. "Good," Alyssa half muttered to herself. She then went to her laptop and tested the printer. It all seemed to be working perfectly.

Agent Powers did as Alyssa requested as he sorted out the office supplies. Then his phone buzzed on his hip and he stopped to check out the message. He gave his phone a smolder as he read the message. Then he told Alyssa he was getting her order from outside. As he left he saw the drones dropping off the bags on the street before the left quickly. He gave the drones a smolder before he collected the bags and brought them in. He was packing a good 20 bags of merch in both arms as he made his way back to the hotel. Luckily he managed to get into the lobby without any incident and then headed to the meeting room where Alyssa was working. He then began to sort out the stuff he ordered from his phone. He set up the coffee makers and began brewing coffee in them before he sorted out the snacks and other supplies. He also had a few boxes of Starbucks gourmet coffee and chia for everyone next to the coffee pots. From the looks of it Agent Powers would make an excellent caterer. Once he was done setting things up he made himself a cup of good coffee and put in his cream and sugar to sample it. Once he was satisfied he looked at Alyssa and gave her a smolder before saying, "Snack bar is ready.”

"Good, thanks. Did you leave one urn with just water, for people that want tea instead of coffee?" Alyssa asked. "You know if you ever get bored with the bodyguard/chasing down crazy otherworldly things/ agent routine you could go into food services?" She joked.

Agent Powers gave Alyssa a smolder before he replied, "Ummmm okay, (confused expression) I just started making coffee so I haven't filled the urns up yet. But if you want water in one of them I can do that.”

"I'm full from earlier." Peter smiled. "What can I do to help, Alyssa?" asked Sartre.

Alyssa looked at Peter, "Do you have a laptop?”

“I’ve got my phone,” Choi confirmed. “It can do most of what a computer can do.”

"I do have a laptop. Probably not as powered as yours. He retrieved his Cassini customized 2012 laptop from his bag and handed it to Alyssa.

Alyssa realized that for what most people did on a computer, Choi's words were probably true. She nodded at Choi, "Yes, that's true. Are you skilled in internet based research? Normal website stuff."

Alyssa raised a brow, when she saw Peter's laptop. "Well, if Cassini has had her hands on it it's more powerful than one would expect. Do you, as a consultant for the FBI, have access to their database?”

“I can use search engines like the best of them,” Choi replied with a grin. “And I know enough not to fully trust Wikipedia.”

Alyssa smiled at Choi, "Perfect. I need you to find out the history of the buildings surrounding the theater. Also, find out if there's a section of Gary or outside of Gary where more affluent people live, but not Chicago." She paused, "My thought is this, even if he's a vampire, no Prince or ruler would live in a rundown section of town, so, he must live somewhere else. Also, perhaps an area where the homes might have a decent acreage, because it would be easier to hide in such a place. I don't want to include Chicago because if Gary is ruled by a Prince, it would make sense if Chicago had its own Prince." She paused. "And find out what you can about the more affluent area. Who lives there, when houses were last sold, long term residents, etc.”

Choi raised a brow. That was a lot of research. He was more an impulsive action person. Now, the team would certainly see Alyssa at her best. He grinned. We can’t all be Little Hackers, now can we? He thought.

“Will do,” Choi said aloud, like a loyal teammate.

As Choi answered, Dahlia and Ekaterina entered with their own respective laptops. Dahlia’s was easily identifiable, as it had the Star of David on the top.

"Dahlia, I'm going to put you on religious research. Anything you can find out and if anyone has questions of that sort, they can go to you." She paused. "Ekaterina, I think I can leave you in charge of finding out if there are ley lines in Gary or the surrounding areas and anything unusual in those other areas. The Templar do have a database of such things, I suspect." Actually, Alyssa knew they did, but how much she knew about the different factions databases was something she preferred to keep to herself. "Now, I sound dictator-like and don't mean to so if anyone has a problem with their assignment or wants to work on something else let me know. These are just what has to be done and we have hours to work on it." Alyssa thought for a minute. "Sorry, I know looking at a computer screen all day isn't everyone's thing but we need more leads before we can go back into the field.”

Choi began pecking in a search on the buildings around the theater. An article appeared showing the preservation of historical buildings in Gary. The theater was of course the main piece in this article, but it also mentioned the building next to it. The historic Elks Lodge was built in the same time period. It was now being utilized for city government offices.

Dahlia decided her look into Cain had to begin with the beginning. The very beginning. Genesis.

The creation story said that God had made man in his own image. He breathed this image into man and man became a living being. Dahlia knew enough that the Hebrew word used for breath as in breath of life, was also used for wind and spirit. So that image of God was the spirit God had placed within man. The spirit is the housing of this creative source taught in the Kabbalah.

Then came the fall. The evil one tempted Eve through the serpent. He placed within her a thought that she could become as God and pass this on to her children. She ate the forbidden fruit, choosing the lie of the evil one over the truth and guidance of the Creator.

Then came Cain and Abel. Dahlia knew that in ancient Hebrew times, a person’s name often told of their character. This was why certain names were changed: Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel. Cain means to acquire as in a business deal. So, perhaps Cain was one to attempt to gain favor by his own means. Abel means breath or vapor. So, perhaps Abel sought the power God placed within him.

Ekaterina elegantly smiled at Alyssa and replied, "I believe I should be able to find that information." Then she looked at Agent Powers and elegantly asked him for a coffee with sweetener and creamer. Agent Powers nodded as he prepared it for her the way she wanted it. Then he handed it to her with a smolder. This made Ekaterina smirk as she accepted the coffee and thanked him, then she began looking up the information Alyssa was looking for. She found an old map of several Ley Lines in Indiana and narrowed it down to the section within Gary, Indiana. It was indeed an odd thing to see considering what happened to Gary in today's time. She then forwarded it to Alyssa then went to work on the unusual events in the area.

Peter looked through his files from the FBI database.

"I do have access to the database, but I don't think the general database won't have anything about the Paranormal in it. However; I can look for financial records of this supposed vampire family that acts like the mafia.

Here we go, There are several cryptographically hidden wire transfers of money from Giovanni to Giovanni. It's as if money is something they had to hold on to, even if it risked exposing their vampiric activity." said Sartre.