[Guest]

Hello to all! This is Bellerephon, a friend of Cavenglok's. I have read his past mysteries and I have decided to start my own series. The main character is, as in Brian Dennis, YOU. However, in the story, her name is Bella Rephin. She is a detective who works in the chaotic town of Apex Valley, Arizona. This is the story of her first case...

Rules:

1. You may do anything you wish that is rational. As for the definition of rational... well, I hope that you have reason.

2. I will try to respond to all posts, but if two posts go in completely different directions, I will accept the one that was posted first. Therefore, try to expand and/or change parts of a previous post.

3. If there is severe indecision, I will call a poll in which each side explains their reasoning. I will then decide on the path that is more supported.

4. Any questions and/or comments are not unwelcome, but I would LOVE it if you guys had some helpful advice on my writing.

5. Riddles and clues, as in Brian Dennis, will be given in Italics.

Instructions

You are Bella Rephin, a private eye working in the hectic city of Apex valley, Arizona. The AVPD have enough on their hands as of the moment, so do not expect much help. You do, however, have a medical team.

You start with:

A cell phone

A pistol (I don't think I'll need to specify which kind, use your imagination)

A phonebook

A car (Again, use your imagination, but don't give it powers like a guided missile launcher)

A compass, a calculator, a web browser, and a map of Apex city that you can consult, all on your iPhone. (Android lovers, sorry)

****************************************

A hot summer's day, in downtown Apex Valley

You have just started your business as a private eye, but you have gained some fame after capturing several burglars and a smuggler (long story, and not the one we're at now). As you're taking a stroll through some of the busier areas of Congress Avenue, looking for a crime to solve, you hear a rather peculiar conversation.

"Would you care for some white powder, boy?" A red-haired, middle-aged man asks a young teenager next to him, while pretending to look at some souvenirs.

"I'm sorry?" the teenager replies. He is evidently alarmed, but not overly surprised. Even after living here all your life, you're still not quite used to high crime rate and the casual conversations. However, drug dealing is still quite a big issue. You start approaching them.

"You obviously do not have much experience in the matter of drugs," the man says, just loud enough for you to catch.

You pull out your handgun (not very rare in Apex Valley. Most people have either a licensed firearm or an unlicensed firearm) and you break up the two.

"Unfortunately for you, sir, I have much experience in this field." You break into the conversation, sounding much braver than you were.

"Are you another one of those annoying private investigators again?" The red-haired person replies as he reaches into his pocket.

"Put your weapons down, sir, or I'll be forced to shoot."

"Calm down, girl. I will..." He says slowly, just as a small explosion from the toy store distracts you.

The perfect diversion. You think, but too late. He breaks free of your momentarily loose grip and bolts for a corner.

Drat! Another chance missed. You think gloomily.

Several days have passed since the incident, and it has retreated to the back of your mind. You are having lunch with a junior police officer (who is quite nice-looking) named Dan when you are interrupted by the head of the police department.

"Bella, we have received news of an attempted murder near one of the old abandoned warehouses. The guy shot in the stomach but he's not dead yet. Can you go and check on him?"

Well… you've just struck up your first conversation with this guy, and he apparently has no girlfriend yet… but then, there's the case. What to do next…?

*******************

Well, that's about it. There's your first choice… Boy or Case? (Remember that you can argue with previous posts by presenting your case better than they do.)

EDIT: Here's the maps

Orange - Police Station

Red - Hospital

Blue - Shops

Grey - Residual Areas (apartments)

Purple - HOME

Lime - Commericial buildings

Maroon - Gas Stations

Peach - Supermarkets

Brown - Hotels

Black - High Criminal Activity (HCAs)

Green - Bank

Yellow - Other

White - unused

[Guest]

Alright then, sorry haven't posted for so long. I'm currently Out of Action because I'm on a 'vacation' (more like twenty hours of walking through the metropolitan and a hike through central park over and over again). I am unable to access the internet (I'm typing this on an iPad in Starbucks) and therefore cannot post often. I am still coming up with riddles and I'll probably be up again when school starts.

[Guest]

Thalia! That wasn't easy.

*

"The letter 'H'!" You answer confidently.

"Correct," the person at the other end says, "Come find us at the police station. The password is 'Bellerophon',"

The line goes dead and you grow excited. Finally you have a lead! After all this time, they were at the police station? You think to yourself. You are about to turn when you tense and every single muscle in your body says Run!

*

What to do now?

[Thalia]

Walk a little bit. Hopefully there is a window or something where you can see a reflection of something. Then, run like there's no tomorrow.

[MissKitten]

As the amazing detective you are, I would think your instincts are extremely well honed. So run. Run without thinking. And if you're as clever as I know you are, you'll have some type of awesome reflective surface hidden somewhere that you can easily access. So access it, figure out what's going on, then run.

[Guest]

Unfortunately, MissKitten, I do not have the INSTINCT thing cavenglok has (he had it, and look where his topics got now?). However, it seems like you both agree on RUN, and RUN is not a very hard thing to do.</p>

*

You pull out your iPhone and pretend to dial a number as you walk out of the safehouse. You keep your eyes on the reflections on your phone. Your legs are trembling, but you try to hide it. Much to your expectation, you see a man in the shadows, holding a pistol and raising it. You try to memorize his features as quickly as possible. Unkempt dark hair (but then, everything was dark in the shadow), what seems like a tailored suit, of average height but toward the thin end. As soon as you finished looking him through, you take off.

You hear two shots ring out behind you, but both hit where you should have been a mere moment ago. As you sprint through the dark alleys of Apex Valley, you pull out your phone and open the camera. As the footsteps sound closer and closer, you point the camera back and quickly snap a few photos in succession. Then all of a sudden, something extremely sharp pokes the back of your leg and you stumble. You have just enough time to swing into an open doorframe and smash your head onto the door before you crumple and everything goes black.

You wake up at the Climax City hospital, feeling like you've slept for ages. As soon as you feel your tongue, you try to stand up. However, your leg hanging in a cast hinders your movement. You ask the nurse what was going on.

"Miss Rephin, you have slept for fifteen hours. A senior person brought you in, saying he found you when his wife went to get the milk."

"Where is my iPhone?"

"Oh," she says, "it is on your bedside table, along with the get-well letter."

You turn and, to your surprise, find a get well letter along with a bouquet of flowers, from Dan himself! You start to blush just a little bit. Then, you notice the iPhone. In your photo gallery, there were five pictures. Wait, five? You think. You only took four! You see the first three, which were blurred pictures of nothing, then the fourth, a slightly clearer picture of somebody raising a gun. The fifth one was of somebody's back and him getting into a car, license plate IKD-3862. You wonder how in the world that picture could have been taken.

*

There it is, pretty open-ended. You can do whatever you want to now.</p>

Edited August 24, 2011 by Bellerophon

[Thalia]

Go to the police and see if they can give you any information from the plate number.

[MissKitten]

Ooh, Dan? How does Dan know you were hurt? Maybe he took the last picture to set you up or something? I dunno, this Dan character seems kind of fishy to me...

And I didn't mean to use the INSTINCT thing caven had, I meant that you, as Bella Rephin, could probably rely on that sixth sense that was telling you to run.

[Cavenglok]

Hey, watch it, Bella.

Remind me, do you have a way to contact Dan? If you do, ask him subtly as possible.

[MissKitten]

Like I asked in cav's topics, can we get a short recap on what's happened? Thanks!