[Action] What does Targets and Locations roll represent?

[Gnomasz]

I can't wrap my head around how does each attempt described on p. 7 of Action 2 look like, aside from complementary skills use. What do the characters do that is not a particular skill roll?
Maybe it's just me not playing modern action but fantasy (it's still a great supplement!), but I can't imagine why it's not an (e.g.) Area Knowledge -4 roll with supplementary Streetwise etc.

[Ulzgoroth]

In theory, any of those skills used for the complementary rolls could find the answer, or a piece of the answer, directly.

The point of the 8-based roll is to imitate a cinematic montage of investigation. Both in involving each character helping out in accordance with their way of doing things, and in glossing over the details of what is going on.

You could make that stage into a full adventure instead, but it wouldn't be very Action-y. (And might involve a lot of splitting the party.)

[Kromm]

The target number is a flat 8 modified downward for BAD (meaning it might actually range from 8 down to -2) because at Action power levels, skills can be arbitrarily high, and no penalty would be large enough to ensure that a few failures occur and the PCs feel time pressure. Starting here ensures a dramatic buildup as the group's time margin gets carved away. In less meta-game terms, the world is a big place, the sorts of people who keep secrets don't advertise, and no one piece of knowledge (i.e., skill) should suffice. If the PCs lack complementary skills (hard but not impossible), then they're basically just applying brute force: checking out all the banks in town, wandering around bad neighborhoods asking unwise questions, calling every John Smith in the phonebook, etc.