Xaviers!

Will, in his X-Team uniform, stood over a table in the situation room in The Point. He was peering over some paper maps of downtown Maldon, which he had marked with a series of Xs in green felt tip marker. Frowning, he compared some of his marks, before standing back and scratching his head.

((open))

"Found that dastardly Waldo yet?" Tosh joked as he peered in.

"Shijin," Will nodded, as Tosh entered.

"No Waldo, as far as I can tell, but someone's been busy."

Curiosity piqued more than he was taken off guard by the use of his codename, he came over for a look at the map.

"What are we talking? Robberies? Assault? Hopefully not murders."

"Puzzlements," Will said.

"These green Xs are places where burglar arms have been tripped over the past few months. False alarms, apparently -- nothing stolen, nothing on security tapes. The Maldon Police think it's some sort of prank, and perhaps they're right.

But each store that has had their alarm go off has had it go off twice, a couple days apart. It's the damndest thing."

Tosh used his big brain to look for any patterns to the locations that Will might have missed.

"What about the time between locations?"

"A bit varied -- but there's no overlap between 'em. A store will have it's alarm go off twice, and only then will the next one go."

While doing some mental geometry, he asked, "Anything else about this triggering your inner detective? Gotta say this is pretty thin."

"It's very thin," Will agreed. "The police don't consider it a priority. And it's not an X-Man-level problem.

But it's too specific to be random. And too random to have a clear purpose. I don't understand the impetus. If it's rowdy kids, why hit the same thing twice?"

"Any signs of entry other than the alarms? Rowdy kids make a mess."

"Nothing in the police reports. You'd expect some vandalism, too, if that were it, but no."

"Do you know if they use the same alarm system? It could just be a glitch."

Will nodded. "The systems go under different brand names," he said, bringing up the specs on monitors around the room. "But they're all the same design from the same company, just with some different bells and whistles for different sized stores.

You're the tech guy -- what could cause this sort of glitch?"

"A bad software update. A hacker could compromise that, though I can't imagine why one would want random alarms unless for a cheap... well, unless it's to hide an actual crime. A boy who cried wolf situation."

"Can I see a list of the affected stores?"

"Retail, exclusively," Will said, pulling up a list of the stores. "No private businesses; no public services. A weird anti-capitalism take?

The Boy who Cried Wolf theory is interesting -- I was considering it as a test. You know, see how long it took the police to respond, see what they responded WITH, and so on. But this would be an...excessive amount of testing for anyone without a sharp degree of OCD."

"Some new viral trend or adolescent dare perhaps?" Ashlie says, catching the tail-end of the conversation as she walks into the room, glancing at the data.

"If it were a viral trend, we'd presumably be seeing things on social media -- nothing I've been able to find, at the very least. And if it's a dare, then it's the most popular dare I've ever seen -- at once both incredibly frequent and intricately scheduled so there are no overlaps.

Some sort of initiation ritual, perhaps?"

"Gang activity? I suppose it's possible..."

"But with no supporting evidence. I don't believe most people join a gang for the great dental plan.

You can see why the Maldon PD haven't spent much time on this -- victimless crimes, if they're even crimes at all and not some strange technical bug."

"Of course, the lack of overlap is an argument against a simple bu. Hell, it's almost just as likely someone is using stores as a motel for a few days and tripping the alarm again on the way out. Which, I admit, is a crazy idea."

"It's not totally crazy; you hear stories about people hiding out in ceilings and whatnot. Odd that they wouldn't just pick one place over and over, though."

"Perhaps trying to avoid suspicion by frequenting the same place too much."

"Wouldn't a squatter leave traces? Then again the police wouldn't be looking for them."

"We could certainly go in and look for traces, though you're right; I would expect something to be left behind if some dude was crashing there."

"I'm up for some puzzle solving and possible shopping."

"Right. Now we just have to figure out where to go...I suppose the last place that the alarm triggered would make sense, but we'd just be behind whatever pattern is happening here."

"Well, for starters we could identify stores in the area using the same system that haven't been hit yet. Then maybe we can find a commonality to find a likely target."

Will pulled up another list.

"Sticking to retail makes the most sense," Will nodded. "As that's the only commonality I've found. If it were just one kind of retail, that might be even easier, but no; there's a variety.

Maybe just a stakeout at the mall, or downtown."

"Not even a pattern to the order they were triggered? Like, for example, draw a line between them and see if it looks like anything."

Will shook his head. "No geographical pattern I can determine," he said, the screens in the danger room flashing lines between the various points on the map.

"There might be a slight trend towards more downscale and budget places? Like, look, the first couple stores included a jewelers, a boutique fashion store, a rare book seller. The big chains came later."

"It's certainly curious that it happened to the higher-end shops first. So we can start with a chain store that hasn't been triggered yet, or two if we split up."

Will nodded. "Sounds like a workable plan to me.

Get some rest; it could be a long night."

"You're just lucky your resident superscientist boy adventurer has a slow day tomorrow."