One of the words appears to be focused largely in the residential areas. Two of the other words appears to be in non-residential areas. The fourth common word shows up all over the place.

Hm. The homes of people replaced by shifters, some unknown category, the workplaces of shifter imposters, and... Bases, maybe? All from the invasion 20 years ago, he guesses, based on the information they collected last night. 

Is there a symbol corresponding to that factory they were at last night? That seems like the likeliest place to start looking. 

The warehouse they visited falls into one of two non-residental word categories. There are four like it around the city, it is the smallest category.

So the last one is probably something to do with supplies, considering the list of weird orders Robin found there. 

He offers his thoughts to the group, who all agree this seems reasonable. 

"So which one should we look at first?" Robin asks. 

"Are there any locations near the factory? We should start there, since that's where we lost track of Mr. Atten," Jamie suggests.

There a couple. One is the residential-area-related-word (it is located in the edge of the industrial zone) and the other is the word that shows up regardless of area.

"That one," Robin says, pointing at the latter marker. "If you're right, that should be a base. All the stuff about where the shifter copies were living and working probably isn't up to date, since this is from twenty years ago, but the bases might still be used by the ones around now." 

Caine nods, agreeing with the logic. He turns to Jamie, "You know anything about the area?" He asks.

Jamie frowns, "I, uh. Normally I'd say yeah, but... I didn't actually recognise that factory last night, so maybe not as well as I thought?" He takes a long look at the map, "The maybe-Base is on one of the side streets, so it's probably not a warehouse like the others around there. It'd be hard to get trucks in there." 

Robin stands, stretching a bit, and then gestures towards the office, "Should we take something from your dad's lair, you think?" He asks Caine. 

Caine hums, then glances at Erin, "Can your scanner tell us anything about the weapons?" He asks. 

She shakes her head, "I tried last night," she explains, "All it could say was that some of them contained dangerous substances, but that they were stored safely." 

"But it might be dangerous to go looking into shapeshifter bases. We should take some of the small ones at least," Robin argues. 

Caine snorts, "Would you even know how to use one?" He asks, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair to give the standing teen a Look. "No, they'd be more dangerous to us than anyone else." 

Robin huffs, but gives in. Mostly. "You know how to shoot though, right?" 

Caine shakes his head, exasperated, "Yeah, I can use some firearms safely, but I have no idea what those weapons even fire, let alone how to use them safely."

"Come onnn," Robin wheedles, "Just bring one, just in case. What if we run into a shifter with a blaster and we don't have one? Never bring a sword to a gunfight!" 

Caine frowns lightly, then sighs and heads into the office, nodding to Erin and then the scanner in a silent request that she follow. Jamie and Robin do as well. 

Is there anything on the weapons racks that looks small, easily concealed, and which Erin's scanner isn't worried about? 

There are a couple of ray guns and a thing that looks like a wand with a trigger. Some other objects also fit in the category, but it is harder to divine how to use them, they could explosives or ammunition.

Caine goes over the weapons Erin pointed out, and ends up picking up one of the ray guns. He's still not sure firing it is a good idea - he has no idea how it handles, if there's any recoil, if whatever it shoots is likely to go through walls... It's just a bad idea in general. But Robin's not entirely wrong that it could be useful, just in case. He tucks it into his jacket's inside pocket and checks to make sure there's no obvious bulge.

This done, he joins Jamie in looking over the various tools and kits. Is the purpose of any of them obvious? Caine has the watch in his pocket, and Jamie still has the lockpick, but there might be something else they could use. 

Some kits in Samuel's wall seen to contain the chemicals found in the supply list. They notice that the possible-residential-place is in route to the other non-residential place near the warehouse.

Also, some places in the map appears to be locations dedicated to produce or store the chemicals in the supply list.

"Hey, Erin, any idea what these chemicals could be for?" Jamie asks. 

Erin turns her scanner on them, pulling out of the map function and switching to the treatment function. 

Robin glances over thoughtfully from where he was poking at one of the larger ray guns, "Hey, that one home marker that was near the factory, that's on the way from here to the base, right?" He directs his question at Caine, since Jamie and Erin are busy bent over the scanner. 

Caine nods, "We could stop there on the way. It wouldn't cut into our time." 

Agreed, they moved to join the other two around the scanner. 

After poking a bit on the scanner the chemicals appears to be... shapeshifter food. Or rather, they are the basic elements that compose the shapeshifter bodies and thus required for their growth.

The side of Erin's mind that knows Sudden Bizarre Alien Medicine feels that makes complete sense, but the other half has sufficient knowledge about chemistry to be completely surprised that even half of those elements are meant to go into a living being without killing it afterwards. Even shapeshifting alien goo.

Once the sugar is identified, Jamie licks a finger and sticks it into one of the bags, pulling it out and sucking it off. Erin makes a face; Caine sighs heavily.

"Yep," Jamie announces, going back for another, "Definitely sugar." 

Robin shakes his head, grinning, then glances down as Erin pokes back to the map. He frowns, "Hang on," he says, leaning in to get a better look. He swipes the map over to one of the markers, pointing it out to Caine, "Isn't that..." he trails off, uncertain. 

Caine stares at it for a long moment. Then he nods, "Mom worked there," he murmurs.  

After a long moment of tense silence, Jamie clears his throat. "Come on, guys, let's get going," he motions towards the door, "We should try to get to the industrial district before school starts, or we'll have to deal with people asking what we're doing out." 

Jackets are grabbed, to combat the early morning chill, and waterbottles and granola bars are packed for later. Before they leave, Erin kneels down in front of Sam. 

"Are you coming with us again?" She asks, "I'll pack you some food if you tell me what you want."

<I will come. I might not be around all the time.> He transmits what he wants for food.

Jamie packs it up for him, and then they all head out of the apartment. 

 As discussed, they make their way to the spot on the edge of the residential district near the warehouse first. They slow to a stop half a block away on the other side of the street, trying to get a good look at the place. Erin brings her scanner to bear, as has become her habit, searching for anything unusual in the area. Robin tries to pay attention to the minds around them. 

It is pretty easy to identify the place. It appears to be a half-ruined candy shop, what makes it really strange is the fact that it appears to be covered and sheets of some kind of white substance. Or at least it was at some point, then weathering and defacement peeled away some of it, leaving a weird ruin.

Looking at it, Jamie finds himself thinking about the attack on the artist... but also about candy, the vivid taste of glucose mixed with artificial flavorings.

Coming upon the scene, Jamie is almost instantly overwhelmed by the scent, and taste, of sugar. He's always had a sweet tooth, enjoyed maybe a bit more candy and other sweets than was healthy. He's never felt so surrounded by it as he does now, though, despite the fact that the deterioration obvious here should mean there would be less sugar than in any of the candy shops he'd visited before. There's just something about this place...

He blinks.

 The sign reads Gem's Bakery and Confectionary. They beam up at it proudly, taking in the streams of eager customers and the busy hive of employees. Slipping through the crowd, they beam at the boy manning the confectionary counter, coming to a stop before--

--A shadowy figure tips their face up, taking in their features with a keen eye. "Acceptable," the figure says after a long moment, releasing them with a thin, pleased smile, "The target will find you quite pleasing, I am sure." They feel a rush of pleasure and nervous anticipation and--

 --Terror, as the stream of molten plastic chases them through the alley, herding them towards a dead end. They try to dodge away from the trap, screaming as a few drops strike them and they feel--

--Large, soft hands on their face, fingers in their hair, on their back, trailing down--

--Curling up on an old couch, shivering beneath the blankets, the lights on full blast to keep the figures in the shadows from reaching them, knowing--

--I won't be what they want me to be.

And his eyes open.

He gasps for breath, staggering back from the dilapidated building. Behind him Robin's hand flies up to stem his suddenly gushing nose as he half-lunges towards Jamie.

"Robin?" Erin exclaims in concern, tugging out her medtech as she prepares to make another vial. Caine reaches for Jamie, drawing back with quickly-hidden hurt when the other boy lurches away from him, falling to his knees, his hands cradling his skull. 

Squinting, Jamie cranes his head up at the building, searching for something. He has no idea what that was, but while the- the vision, or whatever it was, is fading, he remembers a sign, and the weapons - the plastic guns, he remembers those. 

The building stands there, oddly ominous for a building covered half in white plastic in the light of the day. Looking closer, the plastic does not quite look like glued on strips, but something tighter fitting and unnatural. Easy to miss, if you don't know what to look for.

Jamie knows what to look for. 

That... person, he saw, they weren't hurting anyone. They were afraid, hiding from someone, or maybe everyone. Those people with the plastic weapons... the gear they were wearing looked an awful lot like what Caine's dad was wearing when he left. 

Jamie doesn't know what to make of that 'vision,' but he does know how to spot the stuff those weapons left behind. 

He staggers to his feet and reaches out to Caine, who offers him a shoulder to get his balace on, the stiffness in the other boy's shoulders relaxing when Jamie leans against him. Jamie knows he won't be able to play off his brief rejection as anything but what it was. He can only hope Caine knows it wasn't about him. He probably does. Caine's good at noticing things, though social queues, particularly ones about him, sometimes fly over his head.

Erin holds out another vial of nosebleed-begone  out to Robin, whose nose is in fact still gushing. He necks it and hands the vial back, then turns to Jamie, nostrils pinched between two fingers.

"What was that about?" He asks, nasally, gesturing at the dilapidated building. 

 Having regained his balance, Jamie steps closer to the ruin, reaching up one hand to hover over a long ropy strand of plastic, twisted together from the decades it spent wasting away in the ice and sun. He doesn't touch it; if he'd noticed he might wonder why, but it's an instinctive wariness, so he doesn't. 

"I think I saw the person who owned this place?" Jamie half-asks, half-answers. He pauses for a long moment, then continues, "I think the organisation your dad belongs to killed them," he adds, glancing at Caine. 

As a continuation on her theme of late - Erin turns her scanner on the plastic. 

The scanner helpfully informs what kind of plastic that is and how it's harmless to most creatures.

But with the notorious exemption of being harmful to the shapeshifters, particularly ones in their transitive liquid state.

Erin frowns down at the scanner, lifting it to show it to the others before remembering that they can't read it.

"So Jamie's psychic too, now?" Robin asks rhetorically. 

 "Psychometric," Caine corrects absently, "Like Quinlan Vos."

Robin noticeably stills, turning to stare at Caine, taken aback by the sudden show of nerdiness. He has enough control not to make anything of it right now, but any other time...

Erin steps forward, gesturing at the bearest strand of plastic with the scanner, "It's some kind of plastic compound. It's harmless to just about everyone, except..."

"Shapeshifters," Jamie finishes for her. He steps back from the plastic, glancing around at the others. At their looks, he shrugs, "Some of the things I saw... I think they were some kind of... Seduction specialist or something? Except. Not a specialist. Just told to go seduce someone. Then... I don't know what happened, but I think they were just... minding their own business, living a normal life, when those agents came for them..." 

He frowns up at the faded sign, dangling from one corner. 

Robin coughs, awkward, "That... really sucks," he offers. "At least we know what those guns Mr Atten took were, now?" 

Jamie shrugs, "Guess so," he mutters. Robin pokes at a strip of plastic as they all pause in silence for a long moment.

Giving Jamie's shoulder a gentle squeeze, Caine takes a step back from the building, and then turns away. "Come on," he urges the others, "We have somewhere to be." 

At their own pace, the other three turn away and follow. 

They find themselves approaching another dilapidated factory space, though this one is a solid block of building with a few chimneys rising from the top. It covers half of the city block and bears the faded logo and words "Mercury Synthesis" that they saw in the factory last night.

Eyes sharp as ever, Caine takes in the factory, looking for any sign of movement. He glances over at Erin; scanner out, she pans over the factory, from one side to the other. She stares at the results for a long moment, and then looks up at him.

"Well, there's definitely shifters around. It can't tell anything else, but the scanner can tell me that much." 

Arms crossed, Jamie leans against the wall of the building they've taken shelter behind, across the street from the factory and protected by the thick shadow produced in the early morning light. He hums, "So," he starts, "How are we gonna do this?" 

Robin frowns, glancing back at Erin, "We need better information on what we're walking into," he says. He waves at Erin's scanner, "Do you think you could get better readings somehow? Is there a setting you missed, or maybe if we get closer?" 

Erin looks down at the scanner, taking a closer look at the home screen. 

There are indeed some setting she can fiddle with, though they take a few moments to readjust or require rebooting the system.