Match of the Millennium

Description: Someone's stolen one of Abigail's prized trucks! Having gone legitimate, Abigail decides to hire a private detective to help him return it. But is this man really cut out for the job...?

[ABIGAIL]
The Bay Area isn't exactly known for being a quiet place of solitude and reflective learning. The warehouses, shipping yards and perpetual gang activity keep the place rather lively at times and the sprawling scrap yard and converted warehouse that houses the business known as Abigail's Scrap Metal, is no exception to this. In fact, things seem to be a little louder then usual.

Heavy crashes that shake the ground, sway buildings and cause plumes of dust to blast up into the air from deep within the warehouse and out behind it in the scrap yard, are the order of the day. Echoing over this is a loud deep voice roaring out, "Boooooo! Vroro-Vrooo..my Vrooooom! Nooooooo!" With another thunderous crash that shakes the area as an entire stack of flattened cars goes toppling over.

All in all it's a bit of a mess. In front of the garage, cast in the neon flickering light of the shop's sign, is a scantily dressed orange haired girl with a black peak cap, cut off shorts and a baseball bat slung over her shoulder as she casually pops bubblegum and uses her freehand to tweet this and that on her phone. She's either oblivious to the loud destruction going on out of sight, or she's just used to it. Probably more that.

[BOB]
And outside the shop, a rather large man appears. He's certainly not the biggest person in these parts, but a whopping 6'5 and well over 300 lbs, he's far from small, too. He runs a hand through his curly blond hair then tugs at his shirt--an open blue and red Hawaiian over a white button-up. He strokes his beard, then reaches into his jeans pocket to pull out a handwritten note.

"Hmm," he says in a pleasant baritone. "Looks like the place." There's another loud boom, almost enough to throw him off balance. Thankfully, he seems sturdy enough. "Excuse me miss," he gives her a winning smile, despite his girth. His teeth practically sparkle. "Was someone here looking for a detective?"

[ABIGAIL]
The punkish looking woman turns her attention towards Bob and then deftly flips her phone away, tucking it "somewhere" before dragging herself up away from the side of the truck. "Huh? You don't look like a detective to me...."

She draws closer, looking Bob up and down, "Maybe somebody needs to ease up a touch on their favorite food..." She circles him, slowly and then finally comes to a stop and places one hand on a hip, "Well, you're here so I guess you'll have to do. I'm Roxy. But the one who needs a detective is our chief. He's the boss, the CEO of the company here." She clucks her tongue against the roof of her mouth and then says simply, "One of his trucks has been stolen. A favorite one."

There's another loud *BOOOOM* followed by a crashing sound of metal and glass. "As you can hear..he's not very happy. He's got a bit of a temper on him but he means well." Roxy smiles slowly, "You're not from around here, are you. You sure you want to take this case?"

[BOB]
Bob seems to take the commen in stride. "Heh, you know, you wouldn't be the first to make that suggestion. Some things are just hard to pass up though, you know?" He smiles at her pleasantly. At least he has a sense of humor.

"A stolen truck, huh? Well, I did hear Metro City can be kind of a rough place." Bob strokes his beard again, despite the sound of the boom. "--yeah, sounds like he's a bit miffed. A job's a job though. Mind if I talk to him?"

[ABIGAIL]
"Yeah you're definitely new..ish.." concludes Roxy after Bob speaks. She turns to begin to lead him into the garage. "I don't this is just some random job of a truck being ganked but I'll let the boss clue you in..."

The interior of the warehouse is..actually better put together then one might give these people credit for. It's massive. Sprawling and filled with equipment, stripped cars, and a massive mural on the floor of cartoonish skull like symbol of Mad Gear. Pieces of metal are strewn about here and there though so at the moment it' s a bit of a mess and soon it's not hard to see why.

The very ground shakes as Abigail prowls back and forth near the center of the warehouse. His monster-physique thunders about like the movement of tectonic plates, foot falls sending cracks into the cement and his huge figure hulked and hunched over as it pivots back and forth like some sort of monstrosity of a junkyard dog looking anxious to be let off its chain and out into the world to wreck havoc.

"ROXY!" he roars, massive bill board sized back currently to her so he's yet to notice Bob, "Is he here yet? I want to find my VROOM!!" This final word is punctuated by him reaching out to grab hold of a steel girder. A loud wrenching nose fills the air as he pulls, twisting and grinding the metal in his grasp.

[BOB]
"Hey, sometimes newness has its perks. No presumptions about Metro City, right?" Bob winks at Roxy. "But I understand. Do you think it was organized crime? Maybe a chop shop?" Bob talks as he walks, pulling out a small pad and taking some notes on it.

"Ooh," Bob says upon spotting Abigail. "I'm guessing that's the boss there. "Right here. You're...Abigail, right?" Bob takes a moment to make sure he gets the name correct. He, if anyone, should know not to judge a book by its cover, or a man by his name. "The name's Bob. I'm here to help you with your missing truck."



[ABIGAIL]
"Y..Ye...YES!" roars Abigail, dropping the steel girder and stalking forward towards Bob, thunderously. "Skull Cross! Those bastards! They gotta be behind it this time!"

Abigail's massive physique creaks and swells, his skin turning red and gouts of steam billowing off it as he staggers closer and closer to Bob and then peers at the man to get a good look at him, "I aint part of Mad Gear no more. Not strictly..but they still like to mess around with me for old times sake. I'll CRUSH them.."

There's a momentary pause as he looks at Bob and then his nostrils flare bullishly, "Hrn..all that extra weight on you.. might weigh down your horsepower if your engine isn't strong enough. What do you know about Metro City and the gangs?"

[BOB]
Bob twiddles the pencil he's been writing with. He takes a slight step backward when Abigail approaches, but he doesn't back down. That'd make an awful first impression.

"Skull Cross Gang--so they're pretty significant here?" Bob asks for confirmation. "And you used to be Mad Gear -- is there someone in the gang in particular who might have bad blood, or is this an old grudge that wouldn't be limited to one person? --I'm kind of new here, so whatever you've got to help me get started helps. I'll get whatever else I need on the street."

[ABIGAIL]
Visibly calming down, flesh taking on its more normal hue and his muscles going from, Holy God he's huge to Good God he's huge, Abigail takes a deep breath and reflects on a few things before answering.

"Hrrrn..If you're new around here you're going to need some serious vroom and rrrrt and reeeee!!! It'll help you get used to things around here."

So he's slightly crazy, or at least is a little too in love with cars.. ..and slightly crazy. He rubs his oily hands onto jeans that still show tire prints from when someone once tried to run him over, "I'll answer your questions though 'Bob'.."

He points out of the garage, indicating the Bay Area and then the whole of Metro City beyond, "Mad Gear used to control almost all of Metro City. Although a gang, Belger, the guy in charge, had his hands In so many different elements of life around here it was probably more like a racketeering and underworld enterprise under his management. He targeted the youths of the city and folk like me who didn't have any place to go. In fact I eventually became the top enforcer and chief of the Bay Area..."

[BOB]
Bob raises an eyebrow when Abigail explains the situation with car noises. "I see," he says, as though it makes perfect sense to him. (It does not.)

"Hmm, right," Bob says as he scribbles down some notes, "sounds like some rough business and tough customers." He looks at Abigail, as it thinking about the boss of the Bay Area bit. He nods knowingly.

"So it was like that at first, but something changed. You left the gang too, right?"

[ABIGAIL]
"Yeah, something changed!" says Abigail, sounding impatient and aggravated, "Haggar. He became Mayor and he handled things more..hands on then others. Belger made a mistake, kidnapped Haggar's daughter to try and hold it over his head." Abigail snorts abit and grabs a towel to continue wiping down the oils and smears from his prior handling of the scrapped cars, "Haggar went on a rampage with his daughters boyfriend, Cody, and their friend, a ninja freak named Guy. They cleaned house block by block until they got to Belger. I was one of the last ones they had to go through." Abigail grins, looking briefly whimsical before he shakes that off.

Anyway, Belger got taken out and Mad Gear fell to pieces. Course it wasn't completely happily ever after for Cody and Haggar's girl but that's another story."

Abigail shrugs and then adds, "I had other plans. When Mad Gear went down I had already been setting up shop here." He gestures, indicating the scrap yard, "I'm a company president now. Legit. Even got some former Mad Gear working with me but..the gang isn't -completely- gone. An old member named Katana is keeping the spirit alive but trying to push it in a new direction so I help out from time to time... That's how we got hired by the UN. You keeping up with all this??"

[BOB]
Bob nods every now and then, scratching his beard thoughtfully. Here and there he scribbles down some notes on his pad.

"With you so far, big guy," Bob says. "So you and your friends are trying to go legit, but some of these Skull Cross guys aren't having it?" Bob rubs his nose. The bit on the UN is surprising. Bob makes another note.

[ABIGAIL]
"No! I mean..I don't know. They're just trouble." Interjects Abigail, "You see, Mad Gear was the top dog gang but what do you think happens when the top dog collapses and isn't the same anymore? Skull Cross is another gang, a rival group now. More rutheless. Dangerous. There are others as well. Anyway.. Like Mad Gear, Skull Cross has different members. It's got a leader but that doesn't mean that all of its folk stay in line."

Abigail quakes, starting to get riled up again, "One of my guys had my truck out on an errand he got jumped by Skull Cross members..now my truck's gone! GOOOONEEEEE!"

He looks on the verge of breaking out into another earth shaking rampage but then suddenly calms down as if a switch had been hit. "...You got all that?"

[BOB]
"A power struggle..." Bob says thoughtfully. "Young upstarts, too...sounds like some intrigue." But then, Abigail gets riled up again, Bob snaps to attention.

"OK, then I'll need to talk to your guy, maybe revisit the scene of the crime and see what I can find out."

[ABIGAIL]
"Maybe. They just want to cause trouble. I won some matches in a few fight clubs when I was bored ..cost some of them some money.." muses Abigail, "I don't know if it's all power struggle related over my truck! But..Skull Cross is meaner then Mad Gear you might say. More prone to violence and causing trouble if they get an excuse. Mad Gear's trying to be legit but Skull Cross..I don't' know.." his voice trails off and then he blinks and frowns abit.

"You want to talk to J? He's gone home but fine!" he peers at Bob, studying him and then he suddenly reaches a massive hand down, grasping for Bob's belt line in an attempt to grip hold there and haul Bob up towards Abigail's head height with all the ease of lifting a toddler. Unless Bob manages to get away that is. "Listen.." he rumbles

[BOB]
"Hmmm..." Bob considers that for a moment. "Dirty tricks because they lost a few fights..." he doesn't mention the fact that it seems obviously they would, considering Abigail.

"I can always give him a call or stop in--hey!" Bob is hoisted up his belt, which creaks dangerously. "I could have just found a step ladder, you know," Bob says more quietly. "What's up?"

[ABIGAIL]
It's a height difference of two feet or more. Up and up and up , Abigail cranes Bob, using merely his fingers alone to supper the vast weight of the other huge man. He looms forward as if about to unveil some profound conspiracy with his dark eyes flickering from side to side to see who might be watching.

"Listen.." he rumbles, "I love my trucks. They're like..pets.. I invest a lot of time into them. You might not have guessed but..I'm kinda hot stuff in the modding community.. So..when someone takes my truck..it' s a very serious iinsult.." His voice deepens as he speaks and he nods his head at Bob,

"So..I just need to know..when we find the trucks.. are you gonna be able to help me get them back?" he uses his other hand to make "air quotes"' as he speaks. By get them back he obviously means, flatten the ones who took the trucks into the ground.

"I mean..no offense but..you're kinda round but like.. Edi E., Bill Bull, they could put 'em away.." He lifts Bob up and down a few times, flexing his fingers, "Huh..actually you might be lighter then Bill by a few hundred... But he wasn't much of a main stream fighter. Wong Hoo was even heavier but all he did was kick and throw around head butts..."

[BOB]
Bob seems patient enough to deal with this. Perhaps he's just generally so good-natured that he just rolls with it rather than start a fight. While he's being held up though, he slides his pencil into the rings of his pad and then puts the pad back in his pocket. He then crosses his arms. This looks as ridiculous as you might think.

"Well," Bob says, "I'm the kind of guy who doesn't want to start a fight if it's not needed -- but these guys may need to be taught not to go around terrorizing people." Bob nods solemnly. "But don't worry, I know my way around a fight. My body is specially engineered for my original karate techniques."

"I can give you a demonstration if you want," Bob raises an eyebrow.

[ABIGAIL]
The titan seems oddly lucid throughout his spiel but when Bob reacts as calmly as he does, he's forced to blink abit. He expected at least a -little- nervousness from the PI. Looks like he needs to get a few more points into intimidate or something.

"Hrn.." rumbles Abigail, "Specially engineered? I don't' get it.. " When Bob offers a demonstration, Abigail blinks a few times and then belts out a rough disbelieving laugh, "Hahahaha! Alrighty Bob." He releases him, letting the man drop back down free of his grip. "What're you going to show me?"

[BOB]
"That's right," Bob says with a nod of affirmation. When Abigail lets him loose, he drops easily into a three point stance. He dusts himself off, looks around, and then spots a junked engine block. Bob nods his head at it.

"Do you mind if I use it for demonstration?" he asks. And, provided Abigail gives him the go ahead, Bob moves around to it. He drops into a handstand, doing a few vertical push-ups to limber up. From it he flips into the air, spinning into an upright position.

And then, Bob twirls through the air, acrobatically flipping around to build momentum. "Speeeeed and..." Bob delivers a power kick to the scrap engine block, sending it flying across the room. "WEIGHT!"

And, with that done, Bob dusts off his hands. "How's that?" Bob nods. "Now let's get your man's number and I'll follow up on that investigation..."

[ABIGAIL]
The engine block rebounds off of the steel girder and goes spiraling over head. Bob's control and trajectory are clear and true. It poses no danger to anyone but Abigail still reaches a massive hand up catches the engine block like a basketball being hurtled at him. The metal slamming into his palm with a loud meaty -THWHAM-!! The area shakes and the shockwave reverbates through the goliath's obscenely muscled frame but Abigail just grins as he lowers the engine with a single hand.

"Heeeeey..that's not BAD! Looks like you do have some horsepower and good maneuvering control to!" he says cheerfully, clearly impressed, "Bill, Wong, none of those guys could come close to doing that. Alright..you're hired!"

Abigail's massive hands spasm as he talks, the engine block suddenly compressing like a can in his grip. Folding in onto itself and grinding into exploding pieces as the behemoth rumbles, "I'll give you J's number. See if he can give you the block where those guys jumped him. But you might have to be ready for a fight if you go over there.."

Log created on 23:34:38 12/22/2017 by Bob, and last modified on 18:14:13 12/25/2017.