I Was in Search of a Story, and for My Sins, They Gave Me One

After only four or five years and two versions, I finally got around to playing 5150: Urban Renewal.  The following is true in the sense that I fudged no dice rolls...

Lunchtime, New Hope City Pub & Rec district.

"Hey Jerry, do you suppose Mercury Jones is her real name?"

Jerry replied while staring at traffic out the front of the news van, "It doesn't make any difference, Pavel.  She's a hotshot lawyer with big-time connections; she can call herself the Queen of Sheba for all anybody cares.  All that matters is whether her information is real.  The bar should be up on the next corner."

"Relax Jerry, I've been there before", said Pavel as he parked the Galactic News Service mobile broadcast van in front of The Drunken Clam.  As he turned off the vehicle, a sleek, black sports car turned through the intersection and parked across the street.  As Jerry Rivers, the ace GNS investigative reporter, and Pavel Datsyuk, his broadcast engineer, walked toward the building entrance, a well-dressed woman and a large man emerged from the vehicle and began walking towards the same destination.

Jerry lead Pavel into the bar as two uniformed NHCPD officers, Reed and Malloy, were settling their bill with The Samurai.  Pavel greeted the warrior / bartender / chef / optometerist loudly, "Hey John!  How's it going?"

To Jerry, the Samurai's response sounded like a Razorback Growler gargling razor blades, but Pavel seemed to understand, or at least fake it well.  "John says today's special is Ameglion Major Cow, but it's frozen, not fresh", as he led Jerry to a table near the back.

 A moment later, the same woman and man Jerry had seen outside entered the restaurant.  After a quick scan of the dining area revealed only Jerry and Pavel, the large man's grim expression broke into a broad grin, "Johnny!  My man!  What it is!"

The Samurai's reply sounded something like a cheerfully drunken wombat happily fighting a garbage disposal as he set four Pilsner glasses of Golden Monkey on Jerry and Pavel's table, while the newcomers approached.  Jerry began to remark that nobody had ordered the drinks when both Pavel and the large man each raised a glass, turned to the Samurai, shouted, "Sun Wukong!" in unison and took deep drinks of the dark, amber beer

The woman smiled warmly to Jerry and said, "I'm Mercury Jones and this is my associate John Slade.  You look older in holo-cast", as she seated herself while the others followed suit.

Jerry took a drink and looked into Mercury's eye, "So, what's this story you want me to look into?"

"What do you know about Prosperity Corporation and Green?"

"Enough franchises have opened up here in NHC that they opened a processing facility.  So what?"

"Do you know the ingredients?"

"I don't cover business or science human interest stories, why don't you -

Mercury cut Jerry off mid-sentence, "That's what they want you to think.  Haven't you wondered why that new facility is so secretive about their raw materials and waste?  Has anybody at all noticed that the Black Jack abductions began right when Prosperity opened their facility?

"