A Steel Canyon AE Ticket
Overview
From the Story Arc "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" given by Ashling Corlett.
This Souvenir is restricted to the level range of 41-49.
Souvenir's Text
A Steel Canyon AE Ticket
One of the realities of being a hero, or as near to being a hero as circumstances allow, is that you don't always win. That's why you often refer to this moment in your career as:
'Only Love Can Hurt Like This'.
Sometimes you just have to take the rough with the smooth and carry on, hoping that maybe the next time you can make a bigger difference. That's pretty much what happened with you and Hero Corps' Ashling Corlett when she asked you to do some covert investigation for her into missing Hero Corps data misappropriated by Crey. It turned out to be far more insidious than that though. Your first task was to infiltrate a Crey facility and scour their computers for specific metadata identifiers.
You found most of Hero Corps' data, but the intel revealed the remainder, mainly genetic samples, might be found in a secret lab on the site of what should have been the Hero Corps HQ in Boomtown, back in 1999. There shouldn't have been anything there, and it definitely shouldn't be using Hero Corps genetic material.
Heading to the ruins of Boomtown you achieved entry into the site and proceeded to investigate. Inside you found a dingy but working lab, obviously an off-the-books black site. Things then got stranger as you encountered Paragon Protectors who were imitating Hero Corps members! They seemed confused, blurting out sentences as though having a conversation with someone not there. Several computers offered up clues as to what was going on - on one, a delivery manifest revealed that worked up samples were sent off site but no destination was listed; another had a heavily encrypted file that would need professional decoding. After defeating the befuddled clones and Lab Manager Wistermann you emerged into Boomtown and questioned local Trolls on the comings and goings around the area. They reluctantly told you that Crey choppers were seen arriving at night from the direction of Kallisti Wharf, unloading pods of some kind.
Corlett's response to your discoveries was anger and shock, the first true expression of such from her thus far, and wouldn't be the last. Examining the encrypted data file she recognized similarities with AE's tech and arranged for you to view the file as a simulation while she located the source of the choppers. Heading to the Steel Canyon AE you negotiated with the Junior Security Analyst, Neil. He took your capeDrive and converted the data into an AE story-data chit, and played dumb with a verbal expression of complete personal denial of the goings-on.
Entering the simulation you found a hastily rendered copy of the black site lab. At key points you were able to play parts of a recording made years previously - in it Countess Crey and an unnamed doctor conversed about a patient who had been exposed to a nerve agent and how to save him. Countess Crey seemed genuinely concerned about the patient, which ran contrary to the stone-cold persona she showed to the rest of the world. The recording revealed that the patient was Hopkins, the Countess' right hand man, while the nerve agent was the one which had been developed to place Count Alphonse Crey in a coma! The simulation ended with the Countess vowing to use her powers to save Hopkins, and directly meddling with his delicate state against the doctor's wishes.
Ashling was stunned by the revelations when you reported them - this was above her paygrade to deal with, so she escalated the operation right to the top and told Rebecca Foss, Hero Corps' owner. In the meantime she wanted you to rescue any remaining Hero Corps clones still in Crey's labs, as clones or not she still considers them Hero Corps members in duress.
You were dropped off under cover of night and entered the Crey lab. You encountered several clones and were forced to subdue them as you progressed. One of them seemed to be a composite of several personalities, not matching anything on your MIA dossier. Further in you found a captured hero, Shiverstrike, and freed her - despite the circumstances, she tended to the fallen and wounded immediately. You also encountered facsmiles of Crosswind and Feralina, incapacitating and medivac'ing them out. Finally you confronted Dr. Haverstrom, the Lead Geneticist, defeating him and recovering the last of the data.
Corlett was pleased with the result until she received a call from her boss. Countess Crey had contacted Rebecca Foss for a meeting to arrange a handover of any remaining copies of Hero Corps' files and gene data in exchange for the original video data you stole from the lab. The meeting was to take place in Jenkins & Jenkins law firm, neutral ground, in Kallisti Wharf. Devious to the end, Countess Crey moved the time of the meeting and you were late, unable to give your testimony at the rescheduled time - only arriving in time to find the deal already done and the Countess giving back 'old' data in exchange for the evidence that could bury her! Corlett was furious but at that moment she could do nothing but stand down and commiserate with you. Afterwards you found Corlett had a plan to take things further, not to mention the fire in the belly to carry it through.