Lost if the fire

[Match-Stick]

it was about 8 days ago, I was trying very hard to concentrate on bringing out my abilities...after several min i got all 13 candles around my room to light and stay burning with much vigor.

somepeople call me a fire starter.

but i hate that name. im just like any other person,except i have gifts that allow me to...umm...start fires...but i can do other stuff too!

but,im getting side tract

anyway,after bringing the lights up, i felt another presence in the room...
it was my friend joey (you guys would have known him as "biggie") he apeared in my room behind me and to the left. well,it wasn't really him,more or less a shimmer of him...kinda like a hologram...IDK,he was into stuff way over my head.

anyway, he told me that i had to meet him in GA within the next 24 hours...he said it was a matter of life or death...at the time i was in SC so it was no problem getting there...but,do to that fact that he didn't tell me where to meet him sepcificly,i was in his home town,just wondering around.

there was this coffe shop there called BlackBird. its a nice little coffe shop,quiet,tucked away,and verydark...so i figured "biggie" was a regular.

turns out he was in there and had a table next to the back window. i sat with him and he gave me a cup of coffee(it was just how i loved me coffee too...weird) anyway,we catch up for a min and things get seriose.next thing i knew,i could no longer hear anyone outside of our table,joey had his hand over some design he scratched into the table.

he told me that somebody was looking for him,and he was in a lot of trouble.
he said that he had ben followed eversince he left our training facility in canada 2 years ago.

after telling me about the guy after himand the arrows with red scorrpions. he took a sip of his coffee..six seconds later, his heart stoped.

after his head hit the table i saw the life drain from his eyes,then behind me, i heard clattering and the shattering of glass.

someone aparently tried to run out of the store but he hit one of the other customers on his way out,that person triped over a table and crashed through the window.

when i turn to see the guy who was trying to run, i cought a design on his jaket. it was a red scorrpion,it looked VERY similar to the one joey just discribed...i shot through the shop (knocking more people over in the process) and cought up to the guy (joey was a good friend and everything,but i can't get cought with another dead body) i made a mental note of what he was wearing...and set it on fire from across the street. he freaked out and threw of the jaket...after that...he disappeared...

so,anyone know anything about,ninjas with vanishing jakets?

[Grace]

1. He's not a ninja.

2. He's not a professional killer although he may have killed before.

3. He may not be a he.

That's all I can gather from what you've said.

[Match-Stick]

thank you for your oppinion Nemesis,

The way biggie told me about this guy (or these people) is that he (they?) have followed him for a while. he said they were after this braclet he found in a cavern,but when i check out his body,it wasn't there.

but i do have the jacket (most of it anyway) its made of a really strange material. it burns easy,but no matter what i do i can't cut it,rip it,pull the threads out,or take it apart n anyway. the damn thing wont even fit me....i swear,sometimes it's to big and falls off,or i can't fit my arms through it...its deffinately like nothing i've seen before.

right now,im staking out biggies apartment,hopefully he left the bracelet there and i can catch anyone trying to get it.

ill post something when ever i can about it.

its time to play the waiting game.

[Grace]

thank you for your oppinion Nemesis,

Well, you know.

It's the opinion of a professional in the field. So take it for what it's worth.

Pro's don't wear easily identifiable symbols or clothing.

Pro's prefer not to work alone.

Pro's don't strike where there are witnesses.

When witnesses stumble into a scene, they aren't left left alive.

This sounds like a gang hit.

[Match-Stick]

well,that does narrow my search down alot,but also leaves me with a road block.

i have absolutely no knowledge of the criminal underworld. Gangs and other mundan Criminal activities are far off my radar.

that and the one thing i do know about gangs is that there are many members,im just one guy...i mean i'd have the upper hand in a 3-4 on 1 fight but 30+...im dead. If i could,i just want to take out the guy who did this to biggie, that one is def. going down.

The only thing i have to go on is this red scorpion symbol.

would anyone know about these "red scorpions" ?


also,the stake out was a bust. i took up shop on the roof-top of an adjacent building when i saw someone come up to a window at biggies house,he looked in,stoped and looked up at me...how he knew i was there, IDK, but he too off after that. i figured i would check out Biggies apartment then.

after desiding to stay in his place till i could find better acomidations i started looking through his things. most of which was packed up from the maintainence man trying to go ahead and move him out. but i did find the bracelet he mentioned...its not as cool as he described though,and i can't make it work.

anyway,Nemesis...i normaly wouldn't call out to help from a stranger,but i'm at a loss here. If you could assist in anyway PM me...we could descuss a payment of some sort?

[Hannah]

Pro's prefer not to work alone.

I thought you preferred it that way for years.

Hannah.

PS: Miss you, even if last time I was home you tried to kick my head off

[Grace]

Pro's prefer not to work alone.

I thought you preferred it that way for years.

Hannah.

PS: Miss you, even if last time I was home you tried to kick my head off

Don't be confuse necessity with preference. And while I often acted as the sole trigger, there were usually others involved in some capacity or another.

Someone to rig the explosives.
Someone to do the hacking.
Someone to launder the money.
And the list goes on like that.

One of the benefits of the last year is that I no longer work alone.

P.S.

I miss you too. When are you going to be home for a visit? Or maybe I should stop in to see you.

Match-Stick,

I don't usually deal with gangs. They're pretty low on the criminal foodchain. Bottom feeders, in fact.

Still, I may be able to assist. I'll send a PM your way tomorrow.

[Match-Stick]

thank you very much nemesis.

anything will help...hopefully i can learn from this and be more self-sufficent.

[Ethan Skinner]

Was this red scorpion on a red or white field?

[Match-Stick]

Ethan,

it is a red scorpion on a white field with a black ring around it.

have you encountered something like this before?

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Wait, I’m getting a little confused, Match-Stick. In this post, you mentioned poison and a feather, but in this one you don’t. Did you find the feather after you returned? Did you return? Did the police find it? What was that about arrows with red scorpions? Do you think maybe Biggie died from something in his coffee?

[Ethan Skinner]

Ethan,

it is a red scorpion on a white field with a black ring around it.

have you encountered something like this before?

I haven't personally, but I have some contacts who may have.

[Match-Stick]

Eilonwy,
you are correct,it must have slipped my mind.
the feather was found later, it was slipped into his inside jacket pocket.

i'm not sure if he already had it, or if it was placed there.
but i didn't examine this my self.

his personal effects where listed on the coroners laptop...that i...borrowed...

and Ethan,
it would be much appreciated if you checked with your contacts.


also,to everyone that has been helping me,when this is over,i owe you a great deal,whatever i cant pay in money,i will pay in service.

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Interesting . . . Match-Stick, do you think that Biggie might have been killed because he was getting too close to something? His problems in Georgia, for example?

[Grace]

As it turns out, there is a gang that calls itself the Red Scorpions although they are based in Vancouver. It would be awfully ambitious of them to want to expand to any place in the states, especially someplace as far away as Georgia.

Based on news articles, I'd say they were mostly low end drug runners with guns. They do however sport scorpion tattoos so it is remotely possible that there is a connection.

If I had to theorize, I would guess that this is a new gang with no relation to the Vancouver gang. It is possible that they are using poison as a means to kill for several reasons. First and most likely is the fear and intimidation it invokes. This is especially fitting with gang mentallity.

Some poisons may be harder to trace than others. Some are also naturally occuring and thus may be employed to throw off forensics.

I have in the past had dealings with poison experts. There are multiple ways it can be delivered to the target with a lower probability of getting caught. Problem is (as I see it), it's not discriminating unless adminstered directly.

Interestingly enough, there is a breed of scorpion referred to as the "Little Devil" that resides in Georgia.

This breed is also found in Georgia.

[Chalice]

Dunno if I'd trust the wiki pede on anything short of chaotic hearsay by a bunch of randoms. 'specially since this piece of scud I'm on can't even bring up the page you linked.

Most gang members make it a point of claiming the crime though, unless it's retaliation. Then it's a matter of evening whatever score they think is imbalanced. Did it look like he was in pain before he died?

[Grace]

Wikipedia is simply convienent. There are numerous news articles that also support the information found there in.

Also, if you look at how Wikipedia is set up, run, managed and edited, you see that it is not "chaotic hearsay by a bunch of randoms". It has issues and is occasionally abused by individuals but on the whole, it's a reasonably reliable source. Especially if you're intellectually astute enough to verify the links provided or to find other collaborating information.

As linkable sources of information on the internet go, it's one of the better ones.

Most gang members make it a point of claiming the crime though, unless it's retaliation. Then it's a matter of evening whatever score they think is imbalanced. Did it look like he was in pain before he died?

What? Where did you get this particular nugget? Terrorists generally claim responsibilty for their actions, criminals usually want to maintain a certain degree of plausible deniability if they can at all manage it.

[Chalice]

Not gonna argue the matter, since I can't verify the links on this. I'll be moving my pad over the weekend, so maybe we'll chat about it later.

I got that "nugget" from personal experience. I once saw a banger kick this older guy in the head and shout out "For the Jets!" before running off. The turf war in my backyard, in no uncertain terms, is between the Jets and the Grease Snakes. They make that known to anyone who looks where they walk.

You'd think they would go for plausible deniabaility, but gangs don't normally act like other criminals. Most gangbangers are all about pride and face. If they can't verify an act, that act didn't happen, and they lose a lot of face from it. They lose face, pride plummets, and then street cred becomes nil.

Generally.

[Match-Stick]

To chalice: when i saw his face,it didn't really look to be in pain,more likely it was shock. his eyes where wide and his jaw lax.

To nemesis: i've managed to abtain a sertain amount of the poison that was used in the murder from a friend i have in forensics, and when she tried a cross match it did indeed turn out to be the "little Devil". which gives me a hunch that the killer is located in or around its habitats for easy acses to the poison.

To Eilonwy Solstice: I looked over this post again recently and it gave me an idea... so i went back to his "office" and obtained some information about Biggies where abouts 4 months b4 the murder. turns out he was in vancouver on some assignment from a local "private investor" most of the papers i uncovered had large coffee stains on them and made a-lot of the information illedgible, but the words red scorpion showed up at the bottom, and two lines under that (coffee stains covering the filling lines) was a name underlined, circled, and highlighted in pink marker...."califrax".

but that is all i can find out at this moment, im also planning a flight to vancouver in the following weeks, to see if i can't pick up the trail on these red scorpions and what happened to cause all of this, and maybe look for this califrax person... maybe he would have some answers for me as well.

i want to thank everyone for there help,ideas, and personal exp...
it means alot that you guys (and Eilonwy) can help me bring these fools to the light.

[Eilonwy Solstice]

It’s nice to know I’m still capable of helping, if in small ways. If there is anything else, I’ll do what I can.

[Celeste Darken]

From what Biggie has told me, he certainly seemed capable of getting into a great deal of trouble.

[Chalice]

To chalice: when i saw his face,it didn't really look to be in pain,more likely it was shock. his eyes where wide and his jaw lax.

Fast then, but not fast enough not to register. Does that about cut it?

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Er . . . have you recently spoken to Biggie, Celeste?

[Celeste Darken]

His last message to me was dated October 07, 2010 8:57 am.

[Ron Caliburn]

Best ignore that one. She's been dead for years and doesn't know it.

[Grace]

There's being dead and then there's being dead.

Some things, you just gotta kill twice.

[Eilonwy Solstice]

There's being dead and then there's being dead.

Some things, you just gotta kill twice.

If only that were the case . . . anything new, Matchstick?