Company on the drawing board: Locke & Keyes Secure Storage

[Marcus Impudite]

Company Name: Locke & Keyes Secure Storage

 

Business Model: Secure Storage Unit Rental

 

Company Founders: Jimmy Locke, Zachary Keyes

 

Year Founded: 1978

 

Location of Corporate Headquarters: Cleveland, Ohio

 

Company Slogan: "Because your belongings are safest when they're under Locke & Keyes."

 

History/General Description: Locke & Keyes first started establishing storage sites across the United States and Canada during the 1980s and got a lot of their business at the time from people storing their belongings while moving. By the 2010s, they had expanded operations into Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and even Japan. Tenants are issued a security keycard that gives them access to the building and their individual storage units. Unit sizes and yearly rental costs may vary.

 

In-Game Use: Quite a few heroes and villains use Locke & Keyes storage units as places to keep their caches of spare equipment and costumes. While the company's official policy is that tenants aren't supposed to store weapons and other dangerous/illegal items in their units, many site managers are willing to look the other way as long as you pay your rent on time and don't cause significant trouble for them. All bets are off if law enforcement personnel show up with search warrants, though... 

 

Company Secrets:

 

Secret #1: Zachery Keyes has been secretly funding renegade Dimensional Engineering experiments in Japan. The scientists have promised him that, if they're successful in creating a stable pocket dimension inside the Locke & Keyes storage site in Osaka, the facility will have infinitely more interior space than its already considerable exterior dimensions. The project has, however, had it's share of problems since the machines were first turned on. First, two scientists have disappeared without a trace and months of investigations haven't turned up any clues as to what became of them. Second, dangerous entities from other dimensions have been entering our world every time there's a power surge in the equipment. The Japanese government has been breathing down their necks, and may (understandably) demand that the project be shutdown if there are any further incidents.

 

Secret #2: Locke & Keyes is now offering a special "Premium Rental Agreement" for a very select group of potential tenants who want security beyond what you'd normally get from an ordinary self-storage rental company. It involves signing a very strict non-disclosure agreement and shelling out a HUGE sum of cash, but it's supposed to be well worth it for the confidentiality and advanced security it affords. Storage facilities for these "Premium Tenants" are hidden in various locations around the world and require very special credentials to get inside.

[Lord Liaden]

The company will probably want all heroes to sign a waiver that Locke and Keyes accept no responsibility for dangerous items stored in their facilities without their knowledge (wink, wink).

 

The actual locations for storage should be confidential to the company and clients, and be masked as some other type of business and building, or be in some relatively remote location. The company will need experts in technology, and probably magic, to conceal their clients' property from all the exotic means of detection and infiltration that supers have access to. While a key card is fine for the average client, supers will undoubtedly want more elaborate bars against unauthorized access.

 

You should also give consideration to what kind of background checks, if any, the company requires for new clients. Does it require clients to be publicly identified, or will they accept secret identities? Do they only take known heroes, or would villains also be able to use their services (and do they reject stolen merchandise)?

[Marcus Impudite]

Just now, Lord Liaden said:

The company will probably want all heroes to sign a waiver that Locke and Keyes accept no responsibility for dangerous items stored in their facilities without their knowledge (wink, wink).

 

The actual locations for storage should be confidential to the company and clients, and be masked as some other type of business and building, or be in some relatively remote location. The company will need experts in technology, and probably magic, to conceal their clients' property from all the exotic means of detection and infiltration that supers have access to. While a key card is fine for the average client, supers will undoubtedly want more elaborate bars against unauthorized access.

 

You should also give consideration to what kind of background checks, if any, the company requires for new clients. Does it require clients to be publicly identified, or will they accept secret identities? Do they only take known heroes, or would villains also be able to use their services (and do they reject stolen merchandise)?

Sounds like an idea worthy of inclusion in the "Company Secrets" section I'm getting ready to add.

[DShomshak]

In the CU, it would not be implausible for the dimensional experiments to open a Gate to Babylon. Likely to the facility of a self-storage company in Babylon! But hey, the two companies should be able to work out an agreement.

 

ADDENDUM: Speaking of storage facilities with, hm, unusual clients -- or contents? -- here's the story of Tacoma Elf Storage:

The 'Chilling' History of Tacoma’s “Elf” Storage Building - GRIT CITY MAGAZINE

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

Hmm... rather than Babylon, how about a pocket dimension? Someone invents or discovers a device or mystic artifact, or is born with an innate ability, which accesses or creates an empty extra-dimensional space in the Astral Plane or within some object? Said person decides they can make a lot of money renting this space out for high-security storage. Perhaps this person approaches James Locke and Zachary Keyes who already have a conventional storage business, with a partnership proposal. (Make this person's last name Barr, so the company can become Locke, Keyes, and Barr.)

[Lawnmower Boy]

The storage unit was a blast from the past. To her left, Abbie could see their old Candyland game, perched on the top of a crammed, opened packing box. Ahead against the metal wall, behind the old treadmill, was that big painting of Gramps and Gram that they were going to have in the living room when they had a real house again.

 

It was like a nostalgia blast, but that didn't change the fact that Abbie couldn't see the chemical toilet from their old camper that Dad positively swore he'd left from when he was living in the unit during the pandemic. That was Dad.

 

Abbie looked at Mom, who bit her lip. "Looks like we're going to have to go down to the Wendy's at the corner."

 

Connor picked right up at that. "Can I get a flurry?"

 

"Don't be dumb, Connor," Abbie said. 

 

"Abbie, Connor . . . We have a budget. We'll have breakfast at the apartment after we pick up the keys tomorrow morning." She paused. "Tell you what. I'll text Mr. Mueller and remind him he still owes us the deposit for the old place. If he puts the money in my account, we can all have something at Wendy's." 

 

Yeah, Abbie thought. That's not in the budget 'cuz, like, no-one thought Mr. Mueller was going to pay the deposit back. "Let's go," Abbie said. "I need to pee." Which she didn't, but Connor probably did, and they needed to get on with it. 

 

A minute later, they were staring at a blank wall where there was supposed to be a door out of the storage unit building at the bottom of the stairwell outside their unit. Weird. It's not like it was a complicated building, just a big old stack of a building laid out like a big "B," just like the Projects their cousin,  Bessie, lived in.

 

Connor, who had gone down the stairs two flights ahead of them and was already back on the floor with the unit, above them, "scouting," shouted down. "This is the wrong stairwell. There's another one right after it."

 

This doesn't make sense, Abbie thought to herself, as she walked down the second stairwell, right after the first. But whether or not it made sense, there was a street level door, and so they walked out of it. Into a night that was a lot colder than they remembered.

 

And different. Across the narrow parking lot, through a chain link fence and up a slight slope, traffic whizzed through the drizzly night on an eight lane Interstate that Abbie didn't remember from when they drove to the unit. There was no Interstate a block over from Terminal! Was there? Not the kind of thing you'd forget, and, more importantly, now she did need to pee, and there was no Wendy's in sight. 

 

"We must be turned around," Mom said, sounding very sure of herself the way grown-ups got when you just knew they were wrong. But that didn't change the fact that they needed to walk around the building so that they could see where they'd come in off Terminal Avenue and get to the Wendy's.

 

Except when they cleared the corner of the building, there was no exit onto Terminal, no Wendy's at the corner. What there was, was a bigger parking lot fronting a lot of other storage buildings that definitely hadn't been there when the Uber dropped them off. And beyond that there was a skiff of trees and a fence, and in front of them an elevated roadway above eight tracks of railroad that definitely hadn't been there before. 

 

Mom went into the front office to talk to the super-creepy security guard, but he made her buzz in alone, leaving Abbie and Connor to huddle against the cold.

 

"What's the Chronopolis and Erewhon Road?" Connor asked. It sounded like a railroad, and a train was just starting up below them. Squinting, Abbie read the words off the  livery on a container unit. The next one said "Piper & Norton," and that didn't ring a bell, either. 

 

Mom came out of the office. "The guard says that there's a 7-11 just across the bridge. And he says to make sure that we go back into the right unit when we get back, and block the storage unit door from the inside. And that maybe the stairwell will work in the morning."

 

Abbie looked back through the window into the security kiosk. The guard looked back at her. Did he have fangs? "Isn't he supposed to stop people from staying in the units? That's what Dad says."

 

"I don't want to stay here overnight," Connor yelled. 

 

Her Mom sighed. "Maybe the 7-11 will have the number for a shelter or something. There's got to be something in this city."

[Scott Ruggels]

I’ve had entirely too much experience with Storage units. And ending up in different environments after emptying them.  

[Lawnmower Boy]

The site operator suddenly looked very nervous as he stared at the phone being held out to him. Morning Glory could have that effect on people when she turned serious. "So the fisheye camera at the end of the hall picked up them up when they left the elevator. As you see, they walk down to their storage unit, key the door, and enter. I understand that you have no coverage of the unit itself, but we should see them leave, because they're not there now. Now, here. See this black line in the middle of the image?'

 

"The system can be a bit tricky to use." the manager started. "I've never seen anything like that, though." On the one hand, Sapper thought, he might be lying. On the other, he'd better not. Mundane people did not get away with lying to Morning Glory.

 

"Oh, I completely understand. I'm so grateful that you took the time to download this record and send it to us. But if you'll look at the timestamp, it changes on either side of the line. That's an edit of--" Morning Glory paused, brought the phone to her face to theatrically peer at it for a moment-- "Twenty minutes. And that's it. A single mother and two kids. Missing, according to our information. I'm sure that Locke and Keyes corporate is eager to resolve this." 

 

The site manager blanched, and didn't say anything.

 

"If you know who might have tampered with this recording while extracting it," Morning Glory prompted, "This would be a good time to clear the air." But no air was going to be cleared, it seemed.

 

His boss, Sapper thought to himself. It was his boss that faked the tape.

 

Tag, meanwhile, continued to rifle through the typical household furnishings and assorted random boxes that filled the storage unit less than a quarter of the way. It was a bit sad, thought Sapper. Hey, Candyland. I used to play that with my niece! "Toilet," Tag announced. 

 

"I'm sorry, Tagline?" Morning Glory was one hundred percent doing her team leader  thing, now.

 

"My . . . informants said that there was supposed to be a toilet in here. Looks like it was removed for some reason, and someone forgot to put it back. They went looking for a washroom."

 

Sapper was in charge of the team's big dumb muscle, not deep thought and twelve-dimensional chess, but he wasn't so dumb that he hadn't noticed Tag referring to his ex and two kids, or how tight money was for them in this rental market. Informants, right. He could also hear the guilt in Tag's voice. This probably explained why there'd been a portable toilet in the garden shed back at base for the last year. And if Sapper hadn't taken charge of landscaping, Tag might have noticed by now. Guilt for everybody!

 

"Nothing in the building," Groundstar announced. "My drones see a Wendy's just down the street on Terminal, closest public facility. But I'm accessing payment records and cams, no sign of the party from last night. If they left the building, they didn't make it to the restaurant." 

 

"They didn't have a key!" the manager blurted.

 

"I'm sorry," Morning Glory said. "I don't understand."

 

"With just an access card, visitors can't stop the elevator at ground level. They  have to go in and out via the parkade. It's for security. But if you wanted to go to the Wendy's it would be easier to exit the building on the ground level, which is down the stairs, which are right over here." As he spoke, the manager backed out of the storage room and walked a few paces down the hall towards the big, brightly lit sign that said "Stairs," edging noticeably aside as he went past the door marked "Premium Unit." 

 

Only Sapper's Horse Sense(tm) was screaming at him that something was very, very wrong with that door. Sapper wasn't born yesterday. (In fact, Sapper was born on February 29th, 1992. It was a thing.) So he formed a billhook out of his Shaping Force and got ready to drag the manager out of the way of whatever tentacle or tendril (after hanging around with Morning Glory for three years, Sapper was always up for a tendril) was about to jump out of the "Premium" storage area. Speaking of things Sapper had learned through his colleagues, Groundstar loved jump scares.

 

It wasn't a tentacle, though, but rather a . . . towel? A long, flowing, slightly raggy piece of cloth, anyway. Sapper was not, however, quite fast enough to do the rescuing, as Morning Glory  blazed past him and dragged the manager out of the way. Great. She'd be hell coming down in the morning. Sapper reshaped his billhook into a halberd, his favourite solution to all of life's difficulties, and also opportunities, and moved towards the door, slashing the towel as he did so. A stinking, dirty, smelly, cloud of dust filled the hallway as he came even with the door, which had stopped being a door, and was suddenly a blank slab of darkness in which an ancient castle, lit by stars and a gibbous moon, loomed across a lifeless, dark landscape. And an army of animated skeletons, flashes of ivory bone showing through the tears and tatters of what had once been richly embroidered robes, heavy with dust that sat strangely on the rags, which, come to think of it, sat strangely on the skeletal frames of their wearers. Was there even air on the other side of the door? And, if there wasn't, what was keeping the vacuum from pulling them in? And, more to the point, what kind of things would anyone want to store in a "Premium Unit" like that?

 

As if in telepathic response to Sapper's thoughts, the head of an honest-to-gosh dragon poked above the parapets of the castle. "Ghostbusters, Sapper muttered."

 

"What?" asked Geostar.

 

"Staypuft," Tag answered, obviously following Sapper's chain of thought a bit more closely. "Don't think about the Staypuft Man. Distract yourself by doing something. Like beating up a dragon until it gives my ..the kids back."