Part Three: The Drive

[lestercraft]

Who: Arthur and Bucky, possibly more later
When: Early March (after the bird attacks)
Where: Maybe leaving Sweetwater??
Open/Closed: Noted in prompts!
Applicable Warnings: No Good Very Bad Awful Ideas



Closed to Bucky

Arthur hates using his Bluetooth, but it's easier than trying to blindly wander around trying to find the man he's after.

Look Bucky its its Arthur I was wanting to um to talk to you about the about something you mentioned at dinner before. Right so if if if you could come find me we could discuss it in person thanks. Fuck how do you turn the

...he also hates speech to text a lot.

Comments

[freakymagoo]

Well you can take the man out of the mission but you can't take the mission out of the man. He doesn't know exactly where all Arthur's haunts are but he starts at the house since that made the most sense.

Where most people would have rocked on up there and banged on the door, Bucky makes two non-identical rounds around the property, checking out the immediate neighbours, if anything is amiss about the house. He couldn't read any immediate distress in the message but he has to assure himself more than anything that Arthur doesn't need immediate violent intervention.

Only when he's sure that there's no signs of forced entry or anybody watching them or anything like that, does he circle around the back of the house and send his reply:

back door

[lestercraft]

Luckily the house is exactly where Arthur wanted to meet him, but he's still a little surprised by Bucky's choice of entrance.

Still, he opens it just a few seconds later: he doesn't wear his jacket inside so it's his vest and sleeves rolled up, obviously no eye contact when he gives a dry smile to Bucky but not using his cane either, since he actually knows his house now.

"Hey, Bucky. Come in, please." Better to talk with the doors shut, after all.

[freakymagoo]

What's wrong with guys who like coming in by the back door?

"Hey." He slips in quietly and glances around the kitchen. There's every chance that there's someone else there whom Arthur might or might not know is there, so he's a little extra cautious sticking his neck out just trying to visually confirm that they're alone.

"Did you um, check your place?" Don't mind him not waiting for an answer and proceeding to silently picking up a few objects within reach, checking for wires, chips, Wakandan beads, anything out of the ordinary. He doesn't trust that anyone else in town has really checked.

Yes, he had booby trapped his own house. No, he's not paranoid.

[lestercraft]

Helly was already at work, at least, so Arthur's just here house-husbanding it up.

And he tries not to make a fact at the insinuation. "With all respect, Bucky, half the technology here doesn't exist in my time. Even if I could see, I wouldn't know where to begin."

But- still, he can put the kettle on and pretend they're just here for a casual visit. "Look, you said something at dinner before that- I've done some following up on. And it seems like whatever answers we want, they won't be in the Sweetwater general hospital."

[freakymagoo]

"I'll check." Later though, since they have more important things to discuss, and Arthur might not be comfortable while Bucky scours every nook and cranny of the house.

He's not entirely sure what Lester is referring to but it becomes clearer the more he talks. Especially when he mentions the hospital. Bucky holds a phonebook up in mid-air and pauses, turning to face Arthur.

"Didn't I say to leave it?" It's hard to sound irritated and curious at the same time. "What did you find?"

[lestercraft]

"Well, namely that there's no way of entering the morgue in the hospital," he comments dryly, "since it's under constant surveillance. If- if what you saw, if you did see that within the confines of Sweetwater, I'd hoped that perhaps there might be a-a copy of things to be able to follow up on, here. But if that's not an option, then logic dictates we go straight to the source."

[freakymagoo]

Bucky linefaces even though Arthur can't see his expression. Just as well he doesn't display such a wide range of them.

"I'm not killing anyone here just to get you into the morgue." Because clearly that's the only thing Arthur could have possibly implied.

"Unless we're kidnapping the doctor and stuffing him into a body bag." He is oddly a lot more okay with making the doctor uncomfortable.

[lestercraft]

Arthur linefaces at the first comment, and he wears it pretty impressively, all things considered.

"Despite what impression I may have given you all before, I'm not fucking bloodthirsty," he returns flatly. But then his tone is more dry when he adds, "I'm not opposed to the kidnapping, though. But- n-no, er."

He clears his throat a little as he turns the kettle off, finding mugs for them next. "Our next option, if we can't follow up on one source, is to go back and pursue a second. We're doing it rather backwards in this case, but since I'm hardly in a position to drive myself to, uh- Sweetwater MD, it said, right?"

[freakymagoo]

"Do you want me to pour." He does not feel like he should stand around nosying at everything when Arthur is about to pour boiling hot water.

"I can drive." There's no 'I'll drive us there' because he's not thinking of an 'us' at the moment. "Tell you what I find."

Be a bit weird with his... work commitment though. He'll have to come up with an excuse. He hasn't fallen sick in 80 years so it doesn't occur to him that most people might call in sick every once in a while.

[lestercraft]

"Thank you." He can at least get the teabags out, then.

"But, um. With all respect - you realise that I'm coming with you, right?"

There's a fresh dry edge to his voice as he looks towards the sound of Bucky's movement.

"I provide a certain convenience in the excuse for entry, in wanting a second opinion for my blindness, I-I have experience entering such places under subterfuge, and- and I can hardly ask you to do it on my behalf, when I'm prompting you to do it to begin with," he finishes, and there's a genuine compassionate concern in his voice when he says it.

[freakymagoo]

"What." It's not an outright no at least, but. Bucky might sound a little irritated, whether or not that's intentional. Maybe Arthur can read into that tone a little bit, that he might be perceived as a liability. Not so easy to tell though when Bucky is normally brusque and grumpy.

"What's your plan." Is what he ends up saying after a stretch of silence. It's not outright dismissal, and it's only a fair question he might have asked anyone else expressing interest in tagging along.

"For all we know, it doesn't mean anything." It might get them in trouble if the doctor was to find out, too.

[lestercraft]

The tone is immediately recognised, and Arthur visibly bristles, and gives him (or, the general direction of his mouth, a few inches to the right) a severe look.

"And we need to confirm that. If it's nothing, we at the very least exhausted an avenue to follow." He straightens then, tilting his chin up in challenge; but it also serves to make him seem more composed, more sure of himself despite his blindness. "Tell me, do you have any idea what you'll be asking them? Any ideas or cover for why you're inquiring after a man who died under mysterious circumstances? Or were you going to just storm the fucking place until someone called security on your for demanding confidential answers. I'm a private investigator, Bucky. I can make people talk - no violence required."

[freakymagoo]

"I haven't. Planned yet." Bucky steeps their tea for a bit, brows furrowed at the darkened mugs of hot water. He's not incapable of thinking something up, but he much prefers following someone else's plan.

"Do I seem like a violent guy to you?" he asks quietly instead, wondering if that's the kind of impression everyone gets. That he's a storm the place, demand answers, fight everybody and kill the doctor type. It doesn't really bother him. Or so he keeps telling himself.

For Numbers

[lestercraft]

~*~Arthur hates speech to teeext.~*~

look numbers its its Arthur. I had a um a thought about what I wanted to bring to your uh your book club would we be able to meat and discuss it thanks

text -> action

[workingthenumbers]

Oh. Huh. Well, Numbers isn't going to turn down an invitation from Arthur to discuss 'books'. Arthur has proven himself to be a trustworthy investigative partner--he can only assume something has popped up.

Ok

I'll be there

And so he does. Before he leaves, he plucks a random book from a bookshelf and tucks it under his arm to give credence to the idea that he might be heading over to discuss book club stuff. When he arrives, he rings the doorbell and steps back. When Arthur answers the door, Numbers clears his throat and makes himself known.

"Arthur." He states the man's name in a very business-like manner. "You said you had a book you wanted to discuss?"

[lestercraft]

There's an edge of tension that drops when he recognises Number's voice, and it's less of a smile than a satisfied grimace.

"Numbers-- yes, u-uh- please, come in." He can contain himself at least until the door is shut again - and it says something about the nature of the discussion that he chooses to lock the door behind Numbers.

[workingthenumbers]

Numbers is quick to enter Arthur's house, waiting for him to shut the door. He raises the book under his arm--though, he realizes Arthur can't actually see it.

"I brought a book so you can say we talked about--" He glances down at the cover, then frowns. "--uhhhhh. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male? Maybe not, actually."

He shakes his head, dropping his arm at his side.

"So, what am I here to actually talk about?"

[lestercraft]

Sorry the title of that book is distracting enough that Arthur levels a baffled look in Numbers' direction. Jesus, if people saw the title of that, rumours would fucking spiral.

But the question makes him shake his own head, and he moves further into the house, the kitchen so he can set the kettle up, talking all the while. "Bucky and I made a few discoveries the other day. Namely that when we tried to leave town to follow up on that toe tag he saw... w-we couldn't." He looks back towards the doorway, expecting Numbers to have followed him. "There's some kind of barrier around Sweetwater - Bucky said it's invisible but it's fully tangible, pushing us back when we tried to approach it. Even a car wasn't enough to force our way through it."

[workingthenumbers]

Numbers dutifully follows Arthur to the kitchen.

"So...we can't leave. Even if we wanted to." He frowns. At least that answers that question. Ever since he got here, he's wanted to just take off in one direction and just keep going. The only reason he hasn't is...well, because he's supposed to be dead. He'd argued with Wrench, saying they should try to leave, but the fear of losing his partner again had stopped him. That maybe he was pushing his luck already for being a dead man walking.

"Do you know if other people leave? Y'know, like, the townies and shit? People who aren't...us."

[lestercraft]

There's no hiding how pleased he looks with the question, that he can tell immediately that Numbers is already on board. "That is what we need to find out."

He turns to lean his hips and hands on the counter, not even bothering with the pretense of the kettle. "If there's some way for people to enter and exit town, we have to find out how. And the best way to do that is going to be the supply chain - find out where the shops and restaurants are sourcing their ingredients. If there's a way into the town then there must be a way for delivery trucks to enter, we'd be able to tail them and see where they come from, how they do it."

[workingthenumbers]

"So you'll need someone to tail them." Numbers says. Arthur can definitely hear the devious grin in Numbers' voice.

Being a hitman is less exciting than what TV shows make it out to be. Stretches of waiting and driving, followed by bouts of extreme violence, and then more waiting. A lot of it is just tailing the target and tracking their movements, seeing how they go about their lives and mundane investigative work. But it does mean Numbers is well versed in tailing people.

"I assume you have an idea on how to not get caught this time?"

[lestercraft]

"Attacking multiple fronts simultaneously," he answers immediately. "I can't help with a stake-out at this point, I can acknowledge that. But what I can do is take the personal approach. I can ask the shopkeepers and diner staff themselves where they might get their ingredients from, see if we can't get a specific location. If you and Wrench can take a car and see if there's any outside deliveries - especially with anything that has stock that can't be produced in town, like- cans from the grocery store, o-or any fresh produce - then we can set up a two-pronged attack. Maybe we can even get someone to check out the school or the library, see if they've got any book deliveries that we can track."

[workingthenumbers]

"We can do that." He says it without hesitation. He knows that Wrench will be on board--when was the last time that the two of them had tailed someone together? For Numbers, it's been three months. For Wrench, it's been ten years.

"Leave the details to us. When do you want us to do this?" A pause. "And when do we regroup to share this information? I'm sure the other people stuck here will want to know this."

[lestercraft]

"We should see how long it takes us to get any results from this first," he returns readily. "If it's anything like my time, we'll be lucky if these places restock more than once a week, maybe two, so focus on the fresh produce first. Let's go for two weeks, maybe. We can always try and get more people to help with it if we need more eyes, but I trust your judgement if you see anything else unusual happening at night to follow up on it."

He pauses, his gaze flicking sideways as the gears turn in his mind, then continues, "Whatever we discover, any leads or dead ends, we ought to do another meeting after the turn of the month. Most of the things that keep happening to us seem like they happen at the start of the month, a-at least so far, and it seems to be when new arrivals show up - for their sake we ought to loop them in as soon as possible."

[workingthenumbers]

Numbers nods, brow furrowing. That's right--there was that mute woman in the park the other day that he hadn't seen before, who was clearly out of place. He hadn't seen anyone else yet, but if she suddenly appeared overnight, then surely more people could've shown out.

And there's the fact that a handful of people have also gone missing--perhaps taken in the night for acting out too much. Are these new people to replace them? Whatever the case, the implications are disturbing.

"Agreed." He scratches his beard, looking thoughtful. "We should change the location, if possible--and spread the word by mouth. It's too dangerous to be broadcasting that shit through those...computer...things."

He gives a sort of dismissive wave with his hand.

"Y'know, if we're going to keep working together, it might be a good idea to learn a little bit of sign language."