We'll wrap things up here with Dash.

It was about time I established a little of his history in the city, anyway.

 
The shadows started to fall long as Sebastian Dash set out to gather some information in the city. It'd been some time since he'd last been here, but the city was ultimately mostly the same. Some buildings had fallen or been destroyed and replaced while many others looked to have been upgraded in some form over the years.

Sebastian Dash had grown quite a bit since he felt driven out of the city years ago. Grown and changed, like the city, though Dash often wondered if Honorburg had grown for the better or not. Still, the streets stretched out pretty much like Dash remembered them, although they looked more worn down than they used to, almost as if the city itself was starting to tire of the constant crime and setbacks.

These are the streets Sebastian Dash learned what it took to be a hero on, these streets and Adrule. Dash took a street which twisted past a glitzy and glamorous merchant section, winding into a more seedy and downtrodden area of town.

Dash had been here several times either as a part of general patrols or on his way to a specific mission. He'd also made his fair share of contacts as an upcoming hero of the city. After all these years away from the city, he wasn't sure who'd still be around, nor could Dash guess how different the people he once aided in the never ending job of trying to keep the city safe would be. There was a rookie police officer who used to hang out at a pizzeria. Dash met her when he'd just gotten to the city. Last he'd heard, though, she was in Skytopia, a suburbia on the fringes of the city, and Dash lost touch with her not long after her engagement to an ex hero turned teacher.

Or was it an ex teacher turned hero?

Or did it matter at this point? Who else.. a small time hero who worked with a part-time psychic called Dash up a few times, but Dash could hardly remember their names. No, they weren't the one he was seeking out tonight. He'd go to the old guy. The one who'd almost certainly still be in this part of the city, because the old guy had lived there and done his share of services for the city over the years.

The further Dash moved into this downtrodden section of the city, the more unsavory types he noticed. Dash's motto would be the same it was back when he patrolled the city on a regular basis; don't get involved unless an innocent life was at risk. Leave it up to the local heroes.. although Dash had only passed a couple heroes so far; two female heroes who seemed to be sticking together.

Two young cuties, but they looked capable of handling this section of town.

Odd.

Dash could have sworn he heard Aleena's voice for a split-second, but she didn't seem to be anywhere near Dash.

Then Dash remembered.. she'd said something about them always being in touch.. she couldn't mean.. but that'd mean those nanoites, or whatever she called them, were actually in Dash's head! Not a notion Dash was overly happy with... still.. with a bit of mental effort, Dash contacted her. She quickly picked up on his distaste for the form of communication, but Dash suggested they hold that conversation off for another time.

Said conversation had taken less than a minute, but it all took place in Dash's mind; the whole thing was a blur of fresh memories and images in his mind. Very disconcerting. The whole thing felt as if it had simply been left in Dash's mind, although he quickly dismissed the idea of it being a trick or trap. No, he'd definitely communicated with Aleena.

She'd left an image in her mind and a general sense of where the location was - not terribly far from their intended destination, the Corner Pocket club! Their next destination would be further away but yeah.. Dash could find it, and he would.. but first things first.

She's said something about the nanoites allowing them to communicate but those were from another world, and Aleena had said something about Dash's world being "unlike any she'd seen."

Dash shook his head and relied on his years and years of experience with this kind of task to push it to the back of his mind for the time being. Ignoring the fact his heart was racing a bit faster since the communication moments ago, Dash rounded the last group of thugs, relieved that nothing had gone wrong, yet, anyway.

There were a couple other good choices. Dash knew a private eye named "Chicago" Denver who did his beat around here.. "around here" being the operative word, however. He was much closer to the Millar Higher Education section of town, and that wasn't quite what Dash was looking for. Then there was Catch-All, a naturalist hero who was active part time, at least when Dash talked to him. Then again.. by now, he would have almost certainly graduated college and moved into either being a hero or a career full time. (Or somehow balancing both.)

Dash twisted into the old newspaper building, amazed and thankful that it was not only still operational, but still open late into the night. Although they'd at least had the sense to hire a doorman at some point.

Good thing Dash'd updated his 'hero' information for the city. Getting in was no problem. The fact the doorman remembered hearing about a few of Dash's exploits helped, too.

Dash saw just over a half a dozen faces in the building, which was even more run down than Dash remembered. A few of those faces, Dash recognized or remembered, but most of them seemed to have joined in the time since Dash left the city.

It sunk in a bit deeper. How long Dash had been gone from the city, I mean.

He'd have to make this quick and get over to help keep Sunset and Aleena out of danger.. or was it just a twinge of jealousy on Dash's part?

Naaaah.. Of course not.

One of the cub reporters approached Dash. She was a spunky redhead who looked like she'd be better suited to college, if not high school, than this dusty old ramshack right now. "Can I help you, sir?"

"Anna, hun, don't you know who this is?!" Another older writer-type said, coming up and quickly shaking Sebastian Dash's hands. "Hey, Kingdomer.. thought you went back to your old stompin' grounds years ago!"

Jon Denver, the younger brother to the very editor Dash came looking for. Course, Dash'd had his opportunity to talk to Jon and several of the other writers while dealing with Jon's older brother. In fact, Jon once gave Dash a chance to write about the Blue Imp Traveling Caravan of Gloom's original reign of terror over Honorburg later in Dash's heroic career.

"I was, Jon," Dash said. "Business brought me back into the old town short term.. but we had complications."

Jon shook his head knowingly. "Isn't that always the way it is?"

"Sure seems like it." Dash turned his attention to the young girl that'd greeted him. "Sebastian Dash. A pleasure to meet you."

She shook his hand, briefly and tensely. "Great, a super.. no offense, old guy, but your type tends to bring us all kinda headaches."

"Anna-belle, mind yourself!" the elderly contact said. She apologized and briskly walked off, muttering something about how she had work to do and well wasn't she right, anyway, Uncle Jon?

Dash raised an eyebrow at the 'Uncle' part.

"Real firecracker, isn't she?" Jon said. "Gets it from her dad, speakin' of whom, I'm guessing you're here to see our editor himself, huh?"

"Yeah," Dash said. "Hoping he can help me identify a little problem I've run into."

The old guy lead him through the room, with a few of their small staff greeting Dash as he passed. Jon lead Dash through a conference room with only the scruffy looking janitor in it, cleaning the floor. He nodded to the two as they passed into the office. There he was, the grizzled old reporter Dash remembered!

"Chicago" Denver was pretty much known by that, even by the people closest to him. If they knew his real name, they tended to forget it easily. "Dash. Heard you were back in the city. Lil incident with another hero?"

"Misunderstanding, you know how those things go," Dash said.. He sat down in the closest chair while Jon stood, eager to see what was up. "Me and some friends got ambushed not long after we got to the city."

Denver raised his eyebrow as he puffed on a stogie. "I heard about a run in with the Philler gang and a bunch of outlanders. I assume that was your crew?"

"We didn't know who'd attacked us," Dash said. "That was one of the reasons I came by. The other is, I wanted to get a general idea of who the group was. What can you tell me about them?"

"We don't know nearly as much about them as we'd like to," Denver admitted. "Real mysterious group, almost as bad as the Mercs Club."

"We do know they've been raising trouble for a while now," Jon said. "In fact, we're hearing they might be behind a rash of kidnappings. Mostly villains but some heroes too.."

"I better get moving," Dash said. "I got word from a fellow adventurer that something's going down at .." Took Dash a second to remember the name of the place. Pellr Hotel. P, E, L, L, R."

"Supposedly, it's a misspelling of Pearl," explained "Chicago." "But if you look closely.. the address is 1 Perrl Hotel.. change the one for an l, and you can rearrange it as 'Leo T Philler.'"

"An amalgam, huh? I'll keep that in mind," Dash said. "Good catch."

"Chalk it up to my lil girl," "Chicago" Denver said. "Did you run into her on the way in?"

"Yeah, not a fan of adventurer types, I guess." Dash shrugged. "I'll meet back up with you, if I'm able."

With that, Dash turned to exit.

"Mind if I walk with you down there?" Jon asked. "Gotta be big news in the making."

Dash thought it over. "Okay, but only if you promise to keep a safe distance from the action. I don't want another kidnapping to complicate things."

"Agreed," Jon said. "Safe minimum distance works for me."

And with that, the two set out for the hotel.. big trouble, yes, but if Aleena and Sunset were already on their way, Dash didn't have much of a choice but to go with.. maybe get some answers once and for all.

And roleplaying's wrapped up! Dash is on his way to get answers, and you've hopefully read how the rest of the mission shapes up. Next up, if you're continuing, is the two part Mission Finale!