Spy Meets Trouble

[Kami-Gaz]

Annika #1

---

Night-time on Water7 was magical, the canals were light up by streetlamps and the commercial district was a buzz with activity and night life. People mingling between late opening stores, restaurants and bars all gave the area a feel of life after dark that excited the air. Bulls were ferrying people in their gondolas and the moon was out and bright, this was all completed by the crashing sound of the giant fountain the made up the central spire of the city.

Out to the outskirts of this was the police precinct, a place most looked up to as a house of authority and integrity. A home of people who help those in need and punish those in the wrong. Well... that was how the general populace saw them, to those in the know it was a vastly different case. This was a corrupt place of scum. With a leadership that bullied and extorted the wealthy in return for the protection they could offer. Those of the upper echelons of this dirty organisation were involved with bad people…

Anarchy Blue, the vigilante, was finally making a move against this. Recently a very good friend of the girl behind the mask was fired from his job and so was his supervisor, all for associating with her after he saved her life. Simon Rickshaw was unjustly fired and when Annika Stratonovski tried to stand up for him, she was both overtly and plainly threatened in many degrees. That was what lead the young woman to her current situation.

Annika was crouched down in the shadows behind the precinct below Chief Clancy Baltimore’s office. Her face was covered with a simple black and blue eye mask to hide her identity, her dark grey hood was up with only the twin fox tails of her hair falling out the front on her shoulders. As always with her vigilante work her gloves were off and so was her left sleeve to expose her glow in the dark swirling tribal tattoo that could be seen on her left arm. In truth it covered the entire left side of her body, neck and a slight part of her face included.

After some moments of preparing herself, the tattooed arm raised, from the palm of her hand a three-pronged hook formed and shot upwards, latching on the edge of the building. She had to be quick to gain entrance to the office of the chief of police. She zipped out of the shadows and up the building until she came level to a large window. “Perfect, he’s not here. He must have accepted the tickets to go and get dinner and watch the show.” She whispered to herself, managing to gain a small and sharp smile over this fact.

With a slight shift in her position, she swung and got over the balcony to the office in question and let her hook vanish, making her drop to the floor with a light roll. With a slight jiggle she noticed the door was locked. That was no issue as from a pouch on her belt a small set of lock picks was produced, and she got to work. What she would give for Fleur’s ability to just make the perfect key out of chocolate. That was fine though as Fonzie’s basic training was enough for this old and simple lock. It was clear no one expected entry from the balcony.

The young vigilante entered the office and breathed a sigh of relief. Now all she had to do was find the evidence she was after, if it wasn’t here then it would be at the chief’s home.

---

Annika: acd1fc

[Tokoz]

 Strolling down the street with their hand in their pocket, Lassa glanced out the side of their low fedora at the building across the street. Chief Clancy Baltimore was the man responsible for Simon's firing, and the recent resulting inclusion of him in the staff of the Stratonovski family. This, to Lassa's mind, could not stand. She had promised not to mess about with a certain former direct boss of his, but the chief? No such promises. 

Besides, if he really was corrupt, this was a problem for her too. She couldn't exactly let the Shipbuilding Capital of Paradise be protected by someone open to bribery. If she was just investigating him out of vengeful petulance, well, that was her business. Besides, if Miguel had been somewhat dirty, that usually implicated someone farther up the chain in at least a tad of tarnishing. 

The Precinct was fairly quiet at the moment, it being fairly late at the moment and most of the cops on duty out on the beat. Emerging from the alley, her suit was rapidly reformed into a basic soft policeman's hat and uniform, much like Simon's used to be. Heading towards the precinct, she walked through without slowing, past the man at the desk reading a novel who barely glanced up. He saw the uniform and immediately tuned her out, assuming she was one of his colleagues and too tired to check her specifically. 

Moving upwards, she headed for the chief's office. If there was any information, then it was likely kept there. A set of lockpicks and other tools were currently hidden in her clothing, and she only took a moment to retrieve one and then open the chief's door once she reached it. The lock was really pathetic. Government spending at it's finest. Shaking her head, she slipped in the door, closing it behind her. Then she stopped. 

There was a young woman who had just walked in from the door to... the balcony? She was wearing a hoodie, a small facemask, and had a pair of twintai- 

No. No, this was not happening. Come on. 

She had seen that face before. After finding out about Simon's new 'friend', she had decided to identify as many members of the Stratonovski family as she could. 

Annika, said friend, was currently breaking into the police chief's office in the dead of night, wearing a simplistic superhero costume. At the same goddamn time Lassa was. 

"What are you doing in the chief's office?"  Lassa said sternly, affecting a slight Water Seven accent and adjusting the lilt of her voice a tad. It was fine, she was dressed like a cop, and at absolute worst she could simply...

Identify... herself as a Cipher Pol agent... in front of Simon's friend who she did not trust as far as she could throw her. That wouldn't work. Her face kept it's stern glower, while inside, Lassa proceeded to begin listing every dockworker swear she had ever heard in alphabetical order. 

[Kami-Gaz]

Annika was just leaning over to the desk as the door opened after a small click in the lock. She was about to crouch down and hide when the form the slipped inside closed it behind themselves and looked at her with recognition in their eyes. They knew who Anarchy Blue was… not just the superhero alter ego but the person beneath the mask. Annika Stratonovski also recognised this person. This person was Simon’s romantic partner! Or one of them at least… Simon seemed to have two in his life.

Those time following Simon to his dates to practice her own stealth had paid off… that and hiring someone to try and dig up some information on the romantic partners in question. They were squeaky clean… at least in water 7. Why were they here? This one must have had a similar idea to her at least.

“What are you doing in the chief’s office?” She asked at the same time as the other intruder. A look of surprise donned her face as her eyebrows raised and made her eye mask shift up slightly. The glow in the dark tattoo that covered her left arm flashed as her hand pressed to her chest. The other hand carried on opening the top draw in the chief’s desk slowly.

“I am here to expose the corruption in the police department.” She quietly spoke, though it was clear. There was no room for this to go wrong either this other intruder was on her side or they were an enemy that was going to shoo her away. Her ice blue eyes stared through the mask and the darkness to the other occupant in the room as if this was a standoff.

“I’m doing this for Officer Simon Rickshaw… He was fired because he saved a girl from pirates and took her home. They welcomed him inside and thanked him for doing his job and that got him fired.” She spoke, it was mostly the truth maybe she could salvage her secret identity. Her words were tinged with disgust towards the end and pure admiration at the start. Simon was a genuine hero, sure he was clumsy and a little silly at times but it just him all the more admirable to her.

[Tokoz]

 Lassa was about to continue, but then Annika piped up. 'What are YOU doing?'. That wasn't a sarcastic turnabout. That was a comment of surprise about her specifically. The stress on the words was questioning why she specifically was here, meaning...

Oh, son of a backflipping fuck, she recognized her. Come on. Seriously? 

Wait. No. Hold on...

If she realized the full extent of who she was, then it meant she was significantly more well-informed than Lassa thought. Not to mention she hadn't given any indication of her job on this island. So, presumably, she recognized her from some other context. 

Based on her mention of Simon, that was probably due to seeing them together at some point. She had tried to keep their interaction secret, but the local powers always had sneaky people. But why was...

"Are you... referring to yourself in the third person?" She asked slowly. Tilting her head for a moment, she considered the outfit. 

This was an interesting situation. She could just get her arrested right now, but that would put her at odds with Simon most likely. Not to mention... she did want to avoid giving the criminal family more cause to investigate her. 

The thing was, she actually had official reason to do this, if she had to. She could also always drop a hint later, especially if she claimed ignorance as to the identity of... whatever superhero who definitely was not the probable crimeboss's daughter this was.

The thing is, this was actually doing an incredible amount to dissuade her concerns. 

This was not the actions of a sly or calculating crimeboss. This was the slapstick stylings of a young girl who absolutely would get herself kidnapped by pirates. She almost, almost, considered leaving. 

Sighing, Lassa looked at the drawer she was opening. "So, Ms. Stratonovski...." She said, raising an eyebrow. "Have you found anything useful, then? Although from the look of things, you arrived only a few moments before I did." 

[Kami-Gaz]

Annika stood up and watched this newcomer with puzzled eyes at their response to her description. Had they just assumed her identity?! Well, they were right but that was a separate kick to the gut, this outfit was going to need some major changes to stop it happening in the future. “… Yes…” She spoke with a soft sigh. This was just what was needed, Simon’s crush coming to defend their clumsy smiling hero of a boyfriend the same way Annika was.

Her eyes peered back down to the draw that was only half open now, with a quick motion it was slid out all the way and the hand that was poised to dive in moved into action. Paperwork, a stamp and ink pad… a book, was it a diary? It was too dark to see and the glowing in the dark tattoo was not giving enough light to read by.

“I don’t know yet…” She spoke softly moving to place each thing on the desk and turning on the lamp so she could read what was present. There were still so many draws to go through and potentially secret compartments and safes that could be used.

“Call me Annika. If you’re dating Simon, then you are my friend too.” The young vigilante explained, briefly looking up from the potential evidence she had gathered from the draw to let her cold eyes finally meet Lassa’s and a smile flash. It was a friendly smile one that rarely graced her face, but it was one that lit up a room when it was present. “I was hoping he would introduce us properly… but hey, I wasn’t expecting you to waltz into the chief’s office to get petty revenge like me.” Annika joked, the smile turning somewhat wry as she looked back down to the papers to start scanning through them.

Something here was going to paint Chief Baltimore as the corrupt man he was, and it was going to be the evidence needed to spread the truth. “I don’t even know your name…” The young woman whispered before looking up again, presenting a hand to shake.

[Tokoz]

'then you're my friend too.' Well, wasn't that just a gutpunch. Still... infiltration via social engineering was a tool all on it's own. The cold mechanistic logic of Lassa's brain quickly ran through the options. It was clear that she had been found out as connected to Simon. If she continued to avoid things, she made herself a curiosity. 

If she befriended Annika, then she had an in. She could keep an eye on the Stratonovski family. If they did mean Simon harm, or were getting him involved with high levels of criminal activity, then she could get proof of their malfeasance.

If not, and they were just low-level local criminals who weren't really hurting anyone... well, having connections was important. Better to let one fish go free if it could lead you to the shark. 

Making a decision, Lassa strode forwards, and quickly began to sort through the desk as well. "It'll go faster if there's two of us. And in Simon's defense... I did ask him to keep things quiet for now. I was a little worried about his new friends. You have a bit of a reputation." She snorted.

"Maybe not an unwarranted one, given you're breaking into the police chief's office." Still, said reputation hadn't said anything about the superhero costume. Was it a recent thing, or were people around here really fooled by this. Then again, she was a trained intelligence agent. Maybe her standards were a little bit high. 

"You can call me Lassa." She knelt down, frowning for a second. Moving around the desk, she began tapping her knuckles on the floor. Was there a hidden compartment in the floor? It seemed like a decent possibility.

If the chief really was corrupt, he would probably want to hide his ill dealings. Then again, the chief probably didn't have anything on Simon specifically. He was just a patsy. 

[Kami-Gaz]

Annika shifted her weight and made space for her new companion in the endeavour, she had barely put any thought into the action. She made the accommodation as naturally as she would have for Simon himself. ‘I really do trust Simon’s ability to draw people in at times…’ she thought as her hand started pressed on different points of the desk to look for any hidden switches.

The subtle knocking came from both of the trespassers as they thoroughly looked around the office to find any sort of evidence the captain had for his dodgy dealings. So, it was Simon who didn’t want the fact he had such a badass as a girlfriend getting out? That was actually so like him, he probably didn’t want to make Miguel jealous. “Well Lassa, I am only doing this because I want to do something actually good for Water 7…” Annika replied as she let her hands move under the desk to feel about for any secret buttons there. “And to get some petty revenge on the guy that ruined my friend’s life, but mostly the doing good for the city. The vigilante added, a hint of icy cold venom in her voice.

There was a sudden click as her hands finally found a small hidden button on the underside of the desk. The young woman’s eyes lit up as a wall panel near Lassa pushed out ever so slightly to reveal what could only be a hidden compartment or safe. “Bingo!” Annika grinned as she moved to shift around the desk, then stopping as a thought came to her mind. Why was Lassa, Simon’s partner walking into the office through the front door? Were they just that competent at sneaking or was their something else going on? Because with all the planning in the world Annika would have never been able to pull that off.

“Lassa… How did you manage to get in through the door? There are enough eyes between there and the entrance that even Pipsi-Man would say no to doing that.” She spoke suspiciously, her hand hovering just near the secret compartment panel that had opened, did Lassa do something impossible or there is something going on. That was the only reason Annika herself used the window as an entrance.

[Tokoz]

 Ah. A 'fun' question. Specifically, how did a supposedly normal person sneak in here without being seen? 

Right, running down the priority list. Things she didn't want her finding out, priority one was her job. Trying to claim a normal person had snuck in here was probably not going to fly, she clearly wasn't dumb. It would also severely limit her fighting capabilities. There was no way she could use Rokushiki in front of this girl, not without potentially blowing her identity wide open. 

At absolute best, she was going to seem like a high-ranking Marine. So, the only other option was to keep from obviously using those techniques. So, that left her with....

"Well... I'm not Pipsi-man... I didn't eat a Pipsi-fruit after all." A smile tugged at the corner of her face, and she tipped her police hat down, pulling it down with a flourish across her body. As she did, her clothing shivered and whirled. 

Blue uniform swirled and changed, becoming the outfit she had often visited Simon with. A cream turtleneck sweater, long slacks, and a brown vest, along with a flatcap which she put on her head. She looked more like a writer or a journalist now. Giving a chuckle, she bowed slightly. 

"I ate the Cloth-Cloth fruit. I'm a Rag Woman! And, well..." She gestured to her new outfit. "If I walked in like this, people would ask questions. Just one more officer strolling through the precinct of a dozen that hour? Nobody looks at the face, they just assume they're supposed to be there." 

It was a little more than that. She hadn't just worn the clothes, she had worn the Persona. The purposeful but slightly shaky walk of someone at the end of a long shift, the stiff back, the slight slump of the shoulders indicating someone eager to clock out. The body language of a police officer just done with their shift and ready to leave. 'Don't talk to me, not this late.' might as well have been screamed into the person's subconscious. 

Tapping her hat again, her clothes shifted back into an officer's uniform, and she shrugged. "I didn't really get a good impression of the people who fired Simon. Might not be exactly legal, but well... you clearly had the same idea I did." 

All the best lies were just truth with some awkward details cleaned away for the listener, after all. 

[Kami-Gaz]

This Lassa person answered Annika’s question in a light hearted manner, one that turned impressive when the clothes changed in a magical way. Of course, she was a devil fruit eater, Simon attracted the weirdest and most wonderful people to himself. The display itself got the cold eyes to sparkle with a wonder and an almost childish grin out of the wannabe vigilante.

“That’s cool…” She spoke softly, distracted from what she had been doing and started to fumble around as she looked to open that secret compartment. “I’ve lived here my entire life and it was only when the current chief got his job that I noticed things going to hell. My father has always been very open to me and my mother about work issues.”

The young woman explained before fulling out the false bottom away and placing it on the table to reveal a draw that only had a few scraps of paper in it and a key. It was small and looked well used, so it must be to something that is not terribly far from this desk. With an inquisitive look to her face, she plucked it up and held it into the dim light of the office for Lassa to see. “I think this is for a safe or something…”

Annika placed it on the desk and then pulled the papers to start reading, one was a series of numbers that looked like dates but with no explanation to them. Another was a list of names, but different letters were capitalised and not just the first one of each fore and surname. The last was a pair of tickets to the upcoming Pipsi-Man Premier. For the same night Annika was planning on taking Simon to the Pipsi-Co headquarters to investigate them for his case. “I think all of these mean something too.”

[Tokoz]

 "Huh... so it's a recent development. Makes sense." Lassa muttered, rubbing her chin as she considered the explanation. Water 7 was a major thoroughfare, but if there was a corrupt cop in charge... It would definitely cause issues. It also wasn't a surprise, given Miguel's attitude when she had been here before. 

Leaning in, she examined the things Annika pulled out of the false bottom in the drawer. A key, a series of dates or other numbers, a list of names, and a pair of tickets. 

Reaching into her pocket, she removed a notepad and began writing down the names, circling the capitalized letters as she went. Then, on the next page, she copied down the letters, trying to see if there was a pattern or something to them. It could be a (very lazy) code, or perhaps some sort of marker?

The dates could be part of it, or it could be some sort of list of meetings. The Pipsi-man tickets seemed odd, but... well, perhaps she should try and acquire a ticket to see what was going on with that. 

"I'll look around for a safe." She said, still scribbling as she began to peer around the room. Checking various places as she produced a pair of cloth gloves to keep from leaving fingerprints, she eventually noted the bookshelf in one corner. Most of the books were large, impressive tomes. A lot of them had dust on them, but a good few had faint lines in front of them, indicating they were removed more frequently. 

Interestingly enough, there was a chunk of 4 or 5 very large books which all seemed to be mostly dust free, indicating they were frequently used. Squatting down, Lassa hummed, poking them for a second. No shifting. This wasn't 4 or 5 books, it was one block with the spines of several books.  

"Annika, look at this. There's a group of books that seem to be one chunk, like someone stuck them together. It might be a cover for the safe." She also wanted to make sure the young woman didn't continue to question why she was so good at certain things. Breaking into a safe or disarming a trap would definitely raise some questions, so she was defaulting to the 'superhero' and her aid. 

No sense in making herself more suspicious than she needed to, and besides. If someone was going to take the blame, it might as well be the existing criminal family. 

[Kami-Gaz]

The vigilante was sat at the desk reading over the lists again and again as she peered over everything, leaving the key on the desk as Lassa made a move to start looking for a safe. They seemed strangely competent at this kind of thing, why? What did Lassa do to get so good at breaking and entering… to know how to blend in to just simply walk straight in. They were, however, very perceptive and managed to spot the books that were most recently moved and pieced together the fact that they were a solid block.

“Ohh that’s good!” Annika spoke up as she pointed to the list of names. Now she had a clear look it was a message, something that seemed hastily written and done with rushed thinking behind it. “I think I've cracked the note, it was pretty basic.” She spoke in a cold matter of fact fashion. The letter looked as follows:

MatthEw ETtins

ATon Piere

Milldred ANnette

Rodrick Eric dupLEASsE

NEWton JhOns

Brian FORger

YOrrik gamberson

Ulysses

roBert surrIG

PAtrick Yone

“Meet at P-Man release. New job for you, big pay.” She repeated before standing up to place that and the Pipsi-Man tickets into the false bottom of the draw, leaving the list of numbers on the surface with the key. “Looks like if we can get close enough to the Chief there, we could get something nice and juicy…” Annika spoke before arriving close to the block of books in question and starting at it inquisitively in the dim light.

“Good spot! Has Simon tried to hire you as a third member of his Private Eye business?” She asked half joking as she reached out to get a feel for these false books, gently tugging to see if they had any give of if they were stuck there. There was a small click and only a tiny bit of movement and no more than that. “Best not force it.” The young woman whispered before looking over to Lassa and raising a blue eyebrow.

“What else can your fruit do?” The young woman asked, clearly quite intrigued by what she had already seen.

[Tokoz]

 Unfortunately, it seemed Annika wasn't any more adept at safecracking than Lassa was pretending to be. Shrugging slightly, Lassa gave an awkward chuckle. "He's brought it up, but I'm more of a doctor than an investigator. Honestly, most of what I've tried so far has been lifted from penny dreadfuls and detective stories. I'm frankly floored that it's worked at all!"

Leaning back against the bookshelf, Lassa blinked at the sudden click. Looking down, her elbow had bumped a book titled... 

"Seriously? Opening Up to your husband or wife Safely?" Disguised as a self-help book, the switch to open the hidden panel had been hit accidentally. Sweatdropping for a moment, Lassa looked into the panel. 

Sure enough, there was a dial-locked safe behind the panel. "I'm not sure about this... 'P-Man' release? That might be further than I'm willing to take this." Looking nervous, she chewed at her fingernail for a moment. "If you want to... detect? Do detective work at it, feel free. I have patients to get back to, after all."

Actually... detective stories, doctor... that gave the Cipher Pol agent an idea. Reaching into their clothes, Lassa rummaged around for a moment, and produced a stethoscope. 

"... Does this actually work? It feels like it shouldn't. Although I guess most people don't have stethoscopes on them..." Looking at the safe for a moment, she shrugged and offered the stethoscope to Annika. Hopefully she'd jump at the chance. Succeeding in opening the safe herself would be preferable to Lassa displaying another instance of unusual competence.