Tag: Naked Lunch

“As the man said, for every complex problem there’s a simple solution, and it’s wrong.”

― Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum

“As the World Changes”

The kidnapping of actress Lucinda Fullbrigth, star of the popular RealSim soap opera As the World Changes hits the news. Clayton Reed decides the subject is too sensitive and decides to go and talk to Aziz Crowe about it. Neither of them are familiar with the actress or the soap but, as they chat, Aziz receives a panicked message from Nakatomi “Oh My god! they kidnapped Lucy. You have to do something about this!”. Crowe gets the feeling he should deal with the case, even if, officially, ZoneSec isn’t involved. He calls Nakatomi who, after calming down, explains that Lucinda is essential for the show right now: the soap is focused on the heated romance between Donatella Richmond and Mark Pendlenton, played by dashing Wagner Santoro. While they were chatting, an official request from the producers, Maddox Entertainment, finally arrives. Aziz asks Nakatomi to accompany him as a consultant, since he neither understands nor has patience for the biz. She agrees, but only if Doyle joins the party. Meanwhile, at the Blue Parrot, Doyle is greeted by the sensual Malena. She feels they have unfinished business: the concert that never took place, and maybe something else. They agree to book the concert for when her schedule is free. And, maybe, something else. The promise of romance lingers in the air!

Aziz calls Isabella early in the morning. The influencer is still ending her night and sipping a cocktail, but she is fully energised. Aziz tells her he is very intrigued about the British expat, but doesn’t want to risk a visit to the Hellfire club. He suggests Isabella to invite him for one of her parties. The influencer has a brilliant idea on the spot: the party will be at the Blue Parrot and the excuse will be the launch of Louise Sevignon’s (late Babaroux’s assistant) solo career. That will provide an excuse to invite Sir Nigel along with all the designer’s former customers. A duet by Malena and Ka’ athryn will be the main attraction. She asks for two days to put it together. Meanwhile there is Lucinda’s kidnapping to investigate. Isabella pledges to meet Aziz in ZoneSec later that morning, taking the opportunity to finally make her business proposal to the young agent who came up with the energy drink. Before leaving, she calls Doyle to put him up to speed on the party plans, and ensure the Blue Parrot’s and Malena’s availability.

At ZoneSec, the proactive O’Malley decides to combine Dark Dancer with Nutkicker to create a new version: Nutckicker Suave. The experience works like a charm, O’Malley has never felt so relaxed. And that’s how Jana finds him. O’Malley’s lethargy seems funny to her, and she decides to risk a sip, but not enough to feel anything special. That’s how Dr Nakatomi finds them: Isabella greets them and tells them the reason for her visit, O’Malley quickly presents her the new version of the drink and urges her to try it. In the name of science she does so. She leaves them with the drink in hand and goes to see Aziz but, suddenly, she feels so relaxed… She ends up falling asleep in the director’s couch, with the promise he will wake her up for their appointment with Marina Yasin, As the World Changes’s producer. While Isabella snores, Aziz calls Doyle to invite him to join them for the interview at Maddox’s offices.

The trio is expected (at least Crowe is) at Maddox Entertainment. Yasin receives them with a friendly and open smile; they are eager for news about the star whereabouts. After some questions, Marina admits that the actress’ behaviour changed lately. She wanted a raise and the corporate suits didn’t agree to that. Aside from that, she was a star and, fitting the part, she got along badly with everyone. Except for her co-protagonist Santoro; rumours say the two are lovers. It is also made clear the actress has been gone for almost a week, but since she didn’t have any shooting booked no one noticed it until the ransom demand arrived. They decide the next step is to talk to Wagner Santoro, who should be at the studio. As he leaves, Crowe shakes Yasin’s hand to try and get a feeling of her interactions with the actress. He sees flashes of a heated argument about money. Back in the car, Isabella says she has the feeling Lucinda kidnapped herself to get the extra money from Maddox “She isn’t very bright after all…”, the influencer adds.

At the studio, the handsome Wagner Santoro is waiting for them by the bar. He gives Nakatomi a sexy greasy smile, kisses her hand, and firmly shakes the hands of the gentlemen. While shaking hands with the actor, Aziz gets a flashback of a very sleazy hotel room, where he sees Lucinda, naked, lying in bed and Wagner kissing her goodbye. He knows the memory is fresh, it happened that morning. They start talking about the missing actress, Santoro gives them a lot of bullshit about how concerned he is, how important she is for the production, etc. The story of Lucinda’s disappearance is full of holes: she was driving alone, followed by her security guard and just vanished from the road. After some pressure from Doyle and Crowe his story starts to get even more confusing. Finally the actor cracks and ask them to continue the conversation at another place. Away from the studios, Wagner explains to them how Maddox is making tons of money and both him and Lucinda are being explored by the corp. Both the actors agree that Lucinda deserves a better treatment, and the suits at Maddox should realise how much they need her. So, following soap opera logic, they faked the kidnapping. Aziz says ZoneSec doesn’t care about salary disputes, their only concern is the star’s safety. After retrieving the address of the sleazy hotel, Aziz orders Jana to go there babysit Lucinda for a couple of days and, after that, perform an “heroic rescue” and a press conference.

The Party

Nakatomi and Doyle’s planning worked perfectly: the party is running smoothly and Malena and Ka’athryn’s duet its a success. But their intention was to attract Sir Nigel Smithe, and they aren’t relaxed until he arrives. Finally, Sir Nigel makes his entrance, dressed with a typical djellaba and accompanied by two young slutty, tacky and almost naked girls, one on each arm. He greets Isabella and asks why the hell he was invited. She gives him the official answer. Meanwhile, Isabella asks Doyle and Crowe about the plan. Apparently there isn’t one, they didn’t think that far ahead. The influencer decides to improvise and, once the expat looks drunk enough (he quickly gorges down four whiskies), she decides to approach him in seductive mode. It doesn’t take much seduction to attract the old drunken pervert (she actually has more trouble keeping his hands away) and, after some cajoling, Sir Nigel invites her to go to a hotel. Isabella convinces him that it will be much more practical and interesting to use the Blue Parrot: the guest room has recently been used by Malena and the sheets have certainly not been changed yet. Sir Nigel agrees and allows himself to be persuaded to walk ahead to the room.

While Sir Nigel drunkenly climbs up the stair, Nakatomi quickly brings Doyle and Aziz up to speed on the plan: take advantage of the man’s trousers being down to interrogate him. Aziz, using his powers and professional experience, should take point. Doyle isn’t too happy about the fact that they’re using Malena’s room, and Aziz says it’s not exactly what he had in mind, but “que sera, sera”. The ZoneSec director goes up alone, apparently nobody wants to give him a hand with Sir Nigel. Aziz knocks on the door and hears barking, followed by: “Come in darling, I’m waiting for you!” The scene that awaits him is peculiar: Sir Nigel lying on the bed, completely naked except for his white socks and a dog collar around his neck. “What are you doing where? You naughty man!” he asks Aziz. “Sir Nigel I’m not sure how, but it seems that we both met at the same time, here in this room…” suddenly he realises the state of the expat and stops his speech to ask politely, but more aggressively than usual: “Gentleman, please compose yourself!…At least put on some underwear”. Sir Nigel grumbles, but agrees. The chemical-induced erection is clearly visible even with boxers on. Crowe takes a deep breath and continues: “Well, since we’re here, something has been bothering me since Barbaroux’s death. Why would he kill those two models? I think you are connected to this somehow. What was your relationship with the designer?” Sir Nigel replies matter-of-factly and a little surprised: “I bought some suits from him… He was a good designer, even though he was a fag.” He pauses to remember. “I lent him money once, but he paid me back… So I guess the gal is not joining me after all?” Aziz replies: “Sorry, but no, this was just an excuse to gets us together in the same room… But are you sure you don’t have anything else to tell me, those symbols on the floor of the crime scene?” Sir Nigel replies, indignantly: “And that’s why you distrust me?! What I saw seemed to be a ridiculous hoax. The occult is a serious thing, he probably thought it would be easy to frame me.” Aziz finally begins to believe him. In the end Sir Nigel invites him to the select Hellfire club. The rest of the night at the Parrot is without incident; the curse over Malena’s performances seems to have been lifted, and she stays over to celebrate.

At the Hellfire

Isabella is very excited to know about the invite to the Hellfire club, she also sends Sir Nigel a gift basket apologising for the deceiving. Meanwhile a couple of days go by, and Lucinda is “rescued” by ZoneSec. The fans rejoice, the soap opera gets back on track with filming schedule and both Fullbrigth and Santoro get a raise.

That night they finally decide to call on Sir Nigel at the Hellfire club. It is a small old, discreet building on the Crepuscule District. The impeccably dressed doorman is reluctant to let them in but, after being shown Sir Nigel’s invitation, they are ushered into an elegant, richly furnished, room. It smells strongly of leather and cigar smoke. In a corner there’s is a bar stocked with drinks that make Doyle go green with envy. One wall is occupied with a huge bookcase full of tomes on the occult. The few men present, distinguished looking elderly gentlemen, are either reading, or playing chess, and they ignore the visitors.

After asking to be announced, they are directed to Sir Nigel’s office. The bait, Isabella, leads the way. This time they find Sir Nigel dressed, but accompanied by three naked young women, lying voluptuously on chaise longs. Sir Nigel signals to one of the women who, obediently, slides under the table, positions herself between Sir Nigel’s legs and goes to work. Isabella asks permission to go to the toilet and, meanwhile, snoops around. Aziz and Doyle stare at each other and wonder what they are doing there… They must have done it out loud, because Sir Nigel replies: “Mr Crowe, you work for ZoneSec right? Maybe I have something interesting to tell you.” The eccentric Briton goes on telling them a tale of supernatural beings working secretly behind the corporations façade. He claims there are demons at work in Avalidad, Kobayashi probably being one of them, and that the most astonishing technological breakthroughs are due to them. Meanwhile, Dr Nakatomi returns and finds the conversation very entertaining, although for her it doesn’t matter how they got the technology, all that matter is that they have it. Doyle is feeling a bit vindicated about his distrust of all things technological and Aziz is still unbelieving. The conversation ends with them all agreeing in one thing: Barbaroux was an idiot and the only responsible for the murders. They leave the office with a weird feeling, Nakatomi carrying a borrowed book, Codex Voluptate et Dolorum, and dives into it that night.

Outside, Nastasja warns Crowe he has an encrypted call from ZoneSec. A worried Reed informs him there was an attempt on Takeda’s life. Clayton doesn’t have any details about it: the old man was protected by is one personal security, probably Yakuza types, but he has a bad feeling about the secrecy around the matter, and tells Aziz they are to meet Takeda and Bentley the next morning.

While they are approaching Doyle´s car, he hears a strange noise near it. It sounds like something is crawling around the vehicle. Pointing a flashlight at the spot he sees something crawling inside a gutter, followed by a flash of blue light. Then silence. Doyle moves to inspect the car and discovers the door was forced, the glove compartment is open and some things are missing: A 20th century poetry book, some bullets and an old fashion camera. Doyle exclaims “They broke into my car!” waking Aziz from a trance. He just had a disturbing vision: Crowe saw a strange figure, larger than a human being, heavily muscled and naked, but without sexual organs. The figure walked toward him, and Aziz feels a shiver of pure fear. He feels a something terrible related to that creature is about to happen.

The night ends in a sorrowful note.

“Junk is the ideal product… the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy.”

William S. Burroughs

Dancers in the dark

Borges keeps her promise and drags Jana and Peter to one of her favourite filthy dens in the Crepuscule District to celebrate the rookies’ baptism by fire. The Küchenschabe is – as usually – jammed with a crowd of lower corporate workers and criminals drinking and getting high. Near the party there’s a small group of teenagers, looking less destitute than the regular customers. But what really stands out is that suddenly a girl collapses over the table. She’s drooling and seems to be having a seizure and her friends are frantic. O’Malley notices it and immediately yells “Is there a doctor in here?” but nobody seems to care. Borges explains to him that this is usual at the Küchenschabe and, besides, they aren’t working tonight. Suddenly the girl stops convulsing and her friends get even more hysterical. Jana decides to check the girl, who appears to have died. The ZoneSec psi immediately calls for an ambulance. O’Malley, has managed to get himself some electric equipment and approaches the young girl with a bare wire, to shock her heart back to life. Both Borges and Gibson ask him what the hell is he doing. O’Malley’s response is: “This usually works in vids!”. Alas, it didn’t this time. Borges checks the body for any signs of life. “She is dead for sure now!”, staring disapprovingly at O’Malley.

Meanwhile Jana approached the hysterical friends, and reassures them that an ambulance has already been called. When the screaming stops, she manages to ask some questions. The dead girl’s name was Chu Mei Feng and it seems she took some drugs. Jana looks over the dead girl’s pockets and finds a small vial with traces of a black liquid. “Was this it?”. The friends acknowledge it and show their own untouched vials. While O’Malley collects the vials for analysis they discover that one of the girls took half the dosage, but still feels fine. Regarding where they got the drugs, they claim the dead girl was the one that bought it, but they know the narcotic’s name: Dark Dancer, a new hot drug. While they wait for the ambulance, Marilyn, the one that took half a dose, says she’s starting to feel something, while giving O’Malley bedroom eyes and rubbing herself on him. Apart from that, she is fine and O’Malley just became very interested in the drug. Checking the web they discover some one else had an overdose tonight at the Blue Parrot. Borges reminds them again that this is their night off, but the rookies are in full operating mode. They inform the ZoneSec paramedics, once they finally arrive, about the occurrence. As soon as the stiff is gone, the team returns to heavy drinking.

Before going to sleep, Crowe is informed by Natasha that another death by Dark Dancer happened tonight at a dingy bar in the Crepuscule district. Agent Gibson and her teammates were at the place – actually they still are -, claims the personal assistant. Crowe is happy about the team’s dedication and immediately asks her to call agent Borges. Still drinking at the bar when she gets a call from her boss, Borges rolls her eyes and gestures to the other two: “You see, now I have the boss wanting to talk to me, while we are supposed to be off duty!”. She answers the phone with a deep sigh, and briefly explains to Aziz that it was by chance they called the OD in, they are off duty. Aziz tells her they are assigned the case and should start working on it the next morning. Meanwhile he also gets the information that the first dead kid, Kenji O’Hara, had eye implants, so images of the dealer may have been captured. Aziz orders Nastasja to take care of it. The personal assistant swiftly reviews the last 24h of the youngster’s life and finds the moment of the transaction. They now know the dealer’s face.

In the morning, slightly hungover, Borges get the case files and a new information: there were two other victims last night, at the Neon Dragon. One of them survived and is currently in the hospital. Back at the lab, O’Malley is analysing the drug samples. It’s an unknown formula, but obviously derived from LSD. O’Malley concludes that taken in the correct dose it should be as harmless as any other drug. In the spirit of science, he decides to take a quarter of the full dosage himself. When Jana and Eva reach him, the Dancer has just kicked in. Patrick sees the door opening and two shapeless shadows approaching and exclaims: “Ah! pink tigers!”, and starts petting them. He is actually petting Borges, who he’s exasperated when discovers the idiot took the drug. O’Malley gets excited with the fact the pink tigers can speak and starts a lively conversation about his experience and conclusions: the drug is made of rainbows and cotton candy! His trip ends with a sip of Nutkicker, provided by Jana and, suddenly, the pink tigers metamorphose into Gibson and Borges. As usual, the older agent is mad: the correct procedure for testing drugs in ZoneSec is using prisoners as guinea pigs… Now that O’Malley is back to “normal”, Eva updates the team on the new developments. Meanwhile, they are also informed by Clayton Reed that Doctor Leary – from Leary Pharma – would like to speak to them.

Their first step is going to the hospital to interrogate the surviving victim, Malcolm Green. With her best bedside manners, Jana interviews the boy, who identifies the dealer from the photo as Skinny Pete. O’Malley gets his address from the ZoneSec database but, before going into the Underworld, they decide to stop at Leary Pharma. Stan Leary receives them in his office and explains them the formula for the drug (now known as Dark Dancer) was stolen from the lab two months before. The thieves left no traces. The drug is a failed Leary Pharma project: when it works, it has very impressive enjoyable results, but the risks associated with the wrong dosage are too high to market it as a recreational drug. Dr Leary doesn’t want this story being traced back to Leary Pharma; that’s why he asked for ZoneSec to insure that all copies and traces of the formula are destroyed, as well as the people involved in it.

While on the way to the Underworld, Borges reminds the recruits that their mission is to retrieve information from Skinny Pete and not necessarily to kill him. Gibson and O’Malley both try to use their special skill sets to see inside the dealers apartment. Jana gets the feeling the suspect is on the second floor. O’Malley hacks Pete’s phone camera and shows the team the image of a skinny naked guy sleeping on soiled sheets. Borges forces the cheap lock easily. Inside they find Skinny Pete asleep, just like O´Malley had shown them. A big knock-off pistol is resting on the bedside table. The team moves slowly around the room, but Pete seems to be deeply asleep. In a fit of inspiration Eva decides to pick the guys big pistol and press it to his exposed butt hole. That gets some movement out of him. Suddenly he is awaken and scared, especially when they identify themselves as ZoneSec. They ask for his stash and he franticly tells them where it is, but no Dark Dancer there, apparently it sold out… Pete tells them the new drugs were delivered by a small group called the Drugstore Cowboys, but he’s hesitant about giving them away. Jana and Eva play their good cop bad cop routine, and finally get the info out of him. The Cowboys operate out of a warehouse in the Underworld running a small business. They produce, consume and sell the drug. Believing the small time drug dealer knows nothing about the Leary Pharma Connection, they let him be.

The warehouse is not far from Pete’s apartment. The agents survey the place, it has only two small windows and two doors. Gibson tries to sense how many people are inside. Though she cant get a clear picture, Jana knows that there’s a small group inside. They decide to trust lady luck and storm the place, sneaking through the back door. The door opens into a dark corridor full of junk and little visibility. Turning on the lenses sonar function, O’Malley detects a cluster of six people in the main room. Borges silently approaches the area where the group is and throws a concussion grenade. Unfortunately it does little more then attract the group’s attention. They come in the agents’ direction, dragging one unconscious body. O’Malley points the sub-machine gun and screams at them to surrender. Two of them do it immediately, the others just stop. The group looks frightened and confused, they don’t look like serious criminals, just pathetic junkies. The team starts to handcuff them, while asking about the Dark Dancer, and who is in charge. Apparently the leader, Rick Vargas, and Bob Smith, the chemist, are away. The agents decide to give a small dose to each junkie, and lock them aside in a closet, while they wait for the bosses to appear. They are lucky: O’Malley hacks the phones and sees they are probably coming back to the warehouse already.

The team hides in wait, but they don’t have to stay long. Minutes later, four people enter by the back door, two males and two females. They women look like cheap hookers, and are probably customers. Once the group is flanked, the agents jump out of hiding. Patrick screams, with his usual enthusiasm: “ZoneSec, put your hands up!”. One of the guys automatically pulls one of the women by the neck, trying to use her as a hostage. Coldly, Borges shots the woman in the head. Her shot isn’t accurate, but it’s enough to scare the guy, who accidentally shoots the gun he had pointed at the hostage’s back. The other woman starts screaming in panic, and both men surrender. Gibson takes charge of interrogating the dealers who, in shock from previous events, confess to everything. They went to Leary Pharma looking for formulas they could use and got lucky. Backup is called to remove the Drugstore Cowboys and the home-made laboratory is burned to the ground. Another victory for the team!

Once again Aziz Crowe and Clayton Reed are impressed about their efficiency. Borges has a side talk with Gibson: she is worried the psi agent is too soft for the job, and explains the younger woman that most ZoneSec agents are not very good people when they are recruited, and bad things for the greater good are expected from them. Jana answer is that some of them are good people, just look at O’Malley! Meanwhile, O’Malley is already thinking how he can safely add the Dark Dancer to his Nutkicker formula…