|
Hunting for Birdshit
Maria
Maria starts this whole business off at her apartment tower near Rittenhouse Square. Maria already has the security footage pulled and the sole surviving copy placed onto a memory stick in her possession. Good enough. Armed with the time of when the whole enterprise would have taken place, she takes Bones down into the private garage below the residence tower. Her goons are about, but they're asked to wait inside for now while she and Bones work.
Maria actually has surgical gloves and a small DIY forensics kit. DIY only in that the very real tools she cobbled together she had to do so piecemeal. She puts little clean room booties on over her shoes and then a rebreather on her face, then mosies on over to the damage on the door, crouching down to examine the handiwork with her naked eyes for the moment.
"So. Right here. Right then. That'll be the where and then when. Dunno if the thing's just invisible to cameras or just invisible. You know? So maybe you can tell that. I'm hoping maybe we got a little bit of claw chitin in the metal, here. That'd be all we need to track 'em down, if Avery's telling it true about their magic. And yours, for that matter."
She pulls an eye piece out of her fannie pack and holds it up to her right eye, leaning in closer to the scratches to really, really get in there for a good look.
PatchR
"Right here... works nice, and the time? I'll start with thirty minutes before, and that way we'll have thirty minutes after.... I can help you see it as well, I think."
They simply didn't leave any hair or traces that could contaminate anything with magic.
They pulled out a pocket mirror, steel case, and the glass was so perfect that if Maria looked, she'd notice a reflection unlike any she'd previously seen. Bones spins around the elevator looking through it, before touching Maria's back.
Suddenly she could see and scrub through time, like she was watching her video camera, but in person.
PatchR
Maria, as she stands here, before she even gets her gear out, feels her own lust for power. Her need to take from others to gain that power. It's almost like the need for Vengeance, or Hatred. If you hated someone so much for something they did to you, you would wnat to torture them. Destroy their power and take it for yourself. It was with that mindset, she started to investigate.
Maria
Maria had been focused on her own tasks, trying to find a sample in the metal for Avery or Bones to use. So it's pretty danged disorienting to have postcoginition laid over the top of her senses. She falls back onto her butt from her crouch and pushes back away from the door rapidly, clawing at her eyes in brief alarm. She knows magic. And the magic she knows is rarely benevolent, it seems.
"Fuck, warn a girl." She rights herself again and starts forward again to resume her initial scene work.
PatchR
"Look, look at this Maria... I'm giving your more sight, I need to share something with you. I need to show you this." And then wove more magic into her pattern, and scrubbed through to when the claw marks were made.
First, Mage sight was thrust upon Maria. Then the mage sight was shared between her and Bones as bones showed her what he saw.
It was Avery. Or looked exactly like avery, except their hair was black as night. They wore the an exact duplicate of the outfit that Avery wore when they met Maria for the first time.
Maria
Maria finishes her inspection of the door and straightens up from her crouch again, pacing over closer to Bones to see what she wishes to show. Maria frowns at what she's seeing, but she's not terribly surprised by it. In a world with vampires that turn into bats, it's all possible, right?
"Alright. Can we follow this bitch? She had to come from somewhere. She had to be going somewhere."
PatchR
As she s tudied the claw marks, she noticed that the only metal that was present was that of the door. It looked like they had been cut in with supernaturally sharp talons. Not like Avery's knives, but literal talons. Though to the postcognition view, it looked like fingers doing it due to the mask.
"I don't have a connection to them..." replied Bones.
Maria however realizes that some of the powdered steel from the scratches might be on the fingers of the person who did it, and made a little trail at the bottom of the elevator carpet... maybe if they went to the garage.
Maria
"Don't need to. Dumb bitch probably still has three coats of exterior matte vinyl on their fingernails. Probably some steel, too. Check it out." Maria walks back over to the door and gently raps a knuckle against it, above the metal scarring.
"Whatever the bitch used, it was preternaturally sharp and strong. I didn't see nothing in there that looked like tissue or bone or chitin-- nothing. So you can track the bits of door right? You can't find her without her, but you can find door with door? Door's probably under her knuckles still. Either way, there's a trail. Check it out."
She flashes her black light over the carpet twice to cause the glitter-gleam of the metal shavings to shine up. A wink is tossed, and she's heading in that direction.
PatchR
As Maria moves the light back and forth, she notices something out of place in a garage this expensive. A piece of label sticker, coated with some of the dust and debris of life, but including the metal shavings.
STopping to pick it up, it showed a name, "Aubrey F...." torn.
"11580 Roos....." torn.
"Large anch..." torn.
Maria
"No fucking way," Maria says with a sudden bark of laughter, "are you fucking kidding me right now? Check this out." Maria steps over to pluck up the item by the corner, dropping it into a sample baggie and shaking it with a quiet cackle for Bones to peruse.
"How much you wanna bet this is a pizza order for the Motel 6 on Roosevelt? Not saying Aubrey's our girl, for sure. Could be neighbor's pizza she took a note on. What I do know is I'm not longer so interested in finding birdshit. What about you?"
PatchR
"Definitely possible, with the label there... that is the location, no doubt. Could be stuck to their shoe or something equally lucky."
Maria recalls from some drug fogged memory of talking to a club goer once about how their name Aubrey means 'Rule with Elf-Wisdom' or some shit like that. Avery means the same thing.
Maria
"Right. But we know they passed through there, right? And we know this sticker's gonna have another half. And we can figure out a time when this sticker was torn which is probably when it would up on her foot. I mean. I'm just gonna keep digging up possible ways we can get you nearer this person at the right time somewhere else."
"Either way, we should go check the place out. I can get us access to the security cameras and shit there. I doubt they're still hiding there. If indeed they ever were. But we gotta eliminate the address, right?" Maria waggles the baggie again, then resumes following the primrose path of metal flecks on the ground.
"Aubrey is a dumb fucking name. Did you know that? Fucking dumb. W-- oh. Oh! Oh, this probably is the dumb fucker's-- Oh, holy fuck, are all criminals this stupid?! Aubrey and Avery are just the same fucking dumb name. Rule with Elf Wisdom or some shit. Elf wisdom. Like you need a fucking saving throw. I can't believe we're gonna catch this guy cos he's too fucking method. HA HA HA."
Maria, it may have dawned on Bones of a sudden, isn't entirely right in the head at the moment.
PatchR
Bones keeps guard on Maria, more focused on her safety, mental and physically now, than the investigation part.
"WHere you go, I go. To FDR lMotel?"
Maria
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just gotta call a cop first." Maria holds up a finger and then makes a phone call, heading for her Bugatti rather than another point of the investigation.
"Hey there. Hi. Yes. It's Maria Angelica with the-- yes. Listen, we're trying to discreetly track down a cousin that's gotten into trouble. We'd rather bring her home without cuffs on her-- right. If you could help us get to the hotel records over at the Motel 6 on Roosevelt? Yep. Yep, that's the one. Just to see who's been staying in the room. Maybe confirm she's there with security tape. Mhm. Yep. I don't need an arrest made, or anything. Just need to get in there and look around a bit. Mhm! Thanks so much."
Maria hangs up the phone and buckles herself into her 3.5m dollar car like she didn't just put the corruption rampant in this town on display. "We'll have an officer meeting us there to help us out. Have a fake phone number handy, because he's probably gonna ask for it." Maria starts the car, waiting for Bones to get buckled in and such.
PatchR
"Maria Angelica with the what?" Bones asked afterwards, curious as to what she was going to say. Then they get intot the car with her and at teh thought of a fake number, they sighed.
"I'll just invoke."
Maria
"The FOP. Oh, I give big to the FOP, to the union. Fuck, my family basically owned one of the captains outright. Lock stock and both fucking barrels, right? So, yeah. They get to have their parties at the country club, and I get to have an officer show up to help with my boo-hoo family troubles. Quid pro fuckin' quo here in Philadelphia."
Maria waits for the garage to open and speeds on out, heading for the Kelly Drive to get onto Roosevelt from the easy side of the strip. Loop in from the south bound lanes, like you're not a tourist.
She does not, of course, park the Bugatti near the Motel 6. She parks it a few blocks up and starts to walk so she can time their arrival to be with that of the officer(s) who should turn up.
PatchR
Just to help, because why not, the car was protected by 'don't fuck with me' energy as tehy walked to the Motel.
There's a marked squad infront of the door.
Maria
Maria keeps on walking right up to the officer's door, offering them a wave and checking to see if it's a single officer or two. "Hi there. Thank you so much for coming to help us out, I really, really appreciate it. I'm Maria Angelica. This is my friend Bea." It's not a lie, Bones, okay?? "You gotta name?"
PatchR
The Uniformed Officer, maybe a year out of the academy, leaned against the desk. No clerk was currently in sight.
"I'm Officer Hutchinson. The clerk is currently on the phone in the office."
Maria
"Calling corporate to blah blah blah search warrant?" Maria asks with a tilt of the head and one of those 'I wish they wouldn't do that' voices.
PatchR
"Nah. Sounds like a plumber is needed in room six... so what cousin are we looking for this time?"
Bones stayed out front, looking back and forth, keeping watch.
Maria
"Aubrey." Maria holds up the baggie. Look, it has the name and everything. Feel free to infer false facts from true clues, there, officer. "Literally had to have someone sift through garbage to find the clue. So if this becomes a big hassle, I'm going to be grumpy." Maria tried to get line of sight into the office, so she can get a read on the person she'll be dealing with.
PatchR
The officer sighed, "Aubrey, huh? I don't know an Aubrey Angelina..."
Maria
"Partly cos my name's Angelica. And partly cos that's my middle name." Maria just rolls her eyes at the question, as though she finds it both intrusive and annoying. Hopefully that will be enough to keep him from sniffing there again too quickly.
She unlocks her phone and starts to scroll through her pictures to find some of her and Avery. No. Not those pictures. That will help sell the matter, no doubt. Armed with something like a plan, she settles in to wait. To touch the desk bell would be to invite a dismal end to this enterprise. And so she waits out the patience of a man with a dead soul. Fun.
PatchR
The guy from the back hung up, and ran both hands over the balding pate, a groan.
Then they turn around and head to see what's going on out front.
The cop shook their head and sighed, "Fucking Mob MOney..." under their breath.
To the desk jockey, "We need to know if there's an Aubrey here. Might be using an alias."
The guy looked down at the list, up at the cop, "You know, I think I saw some tar in the bathroom. Maybe someone dropped it. You sohuld fetch that..."
The cop's eyes rolled but he went to check.
To Maria, a hand, palm up, was extended, "Hundred."
Maria
When the 'do you think I keep that kind of money on me' you want to shout is about small bills. It's a first. And also a desperate statement about the absolute condition of this man's life. "Oh, honey," she says with a sigh. "That bad, huh?" She glances back over her shoulder at where the cop disappeared, then fishes in her wallet. "Mob money," she mimics snidely as she counts out two hundred in twenties for the guy.
"Aubrey. Likes anchovies on their pizza for some fucking reason. Ringing any bells?" Not wanting to flash the phone if she doesn't need to at present.
PatchR
"Oh, That fucking cutie? She's got like five people in and out of her room at all hours. She's paid for... shit there's no end date?" looking through the book, "What the fuck? Just... a mention from the boss that they're not to be kicked out, that they've been funded."
Maria
Maria very nearly laughs that sick-headed laugh of hers that she lets fly at only the most inappropriate of times. Like when you discover you're just done the hall from a possible motley of slavers. And that they've got deep pockets. Like then. She just covers her mouth with both hands and tries to mask it as a gasp.
"When's the room next scheduled for service? Is it getting service? And do you guys have cameras on the entrances at all? Hell, a master room key wouldn't go amiss, either. So we could go and take a look, you know? Maybe she's still in there." Not necessarily why she'd want that key, but he doesn't know that.
PatchR
"They say no one is allowed... but uh... you know what? When I was... doing ... a walkthrough," he wasn't doing a walkthrough, "It was weird as fuck. It looked like there was a path to a renfaire or somethingLike they had a curtain or painting hanging there... I wanted to go in an dsee, instead I had to get back to work."
Maria
"Yeah, stay out of there, man," Maria says, setting down another small stack of bills. Literally paying him money to stay out of the room. She's not actually evil. Entirely. "Please. That's. Weird shit for sure." Maria gives Bones such a look. Then back to the clerk again, "Listen. The cameras? Can we take a look? You don't gotta sit with us the entire time unless you wanna. I can order you in dinner-- you here alone tonight? Is there, like, a night crew? Treat the bunch of you. You're being great."
PatchR
"Just me, all night," as the cop comes out, "Oh Dude. Sorry to waste your time. No Aubrey here."
The cop just dead fish eye stares at the clerk, before moving that gaze to Maria.
Bones is swearing outside as they hear what happened about the clerk.
Maria
Maria rolls her eyes right back at the cop and motions for him to go back outside. "Go wait in the car, if we need you again we'll call you." If he's going to bitch about mob money, she's going to rub his boot nose in what it can do. She does tack on a, "Thanks," as she's turning back to the clerk with a stare that implies there will be further assistance forthcoming or a series of escalating events will start to occur.
PatchR
"Yeah. No Warrant, no Records!" The clerk adds on after Maria's stare.
The cop stomped out to the car. Likely they were one of the few good cops when they started, and that hope is being broken by time in the city's corruption.
Maria
"Last time they send me this chucklefuck, I tell you what," Maria says once the rookie's back out the door. And then Maria tilts her head to the side with a smile that looks more patient than it probably is at this point. "The cameras. The key."
PatchR
"Cameras?" hooked a finger to the back, "Key..." he rumaged around in some of the maid's supplies and found the key, "Here. SHe loses shit all the time."
Maria
Another bill finds the counter, "Don't fucking dock her pay or write her up for it. Thanks." She steps into the back room, sliding the master key into her back pocket along the way. She knows the times of attacks. It's a place to start. First order of business is seeing how they store their footage. Digital or tape.
PatchR
It's digital, but it's a 24 hour system. Only holds Midnight to Midnight.
PatchR
As she investigated the system, she managed to get an inititally scratchy, but then a week's worth of material, crystal clear. There was a backdoor admin login that she remembered from... let's not talk about where she learned that skill.
Maria
Maria takes her thumb drive which presently contains only the originals of the claw engraving footage and drags on over these files in addition. Reviewing them later will be far safer when not on site.
"Hey, you mind if I borrow a housekeeping outfit for a minute? I don't want you getting in trouble for me having this key, you know?"
PatchR
The money that was on the counter isn't there now when she looks up.
"Sure knock your sweet ass out. Your boyfriend out there too goody goody for us?"
Maria
Maria bobs her head appreciatively and does go ahead and snag one of the uniforms that should fit. But after some consulting via text, she shakes her head and says to herself, "I am being very, very, very dumb." And then she pulls out her thumb drive from the computer, stuffs the uniform into her purse, and keeps the keycard in her pocket.
"I'll be back. Do me a favor, and stay-- just. Don't mess with those people, okay? That she's with? They're dangerous people, and you're the kind of person they prey on. Right? Whatever they offer you, it's too good to be true. And my cash spends. Right? So I was never here and just keep an eye on what they're up to and if you see something, say something. Feel me? I'll be checking back." Maria salutes him with a hundred dollar bill and spins it down onto the counter to join the pile. "That's for that dinner I promised you, I'm gonna skip it, though. I didn't expect her to have friends."
She then heads back out the door, having just realized the stakes she's possibly walked herself into. "Let's get out of here," she says as she's zooming past Bones.
PatchR
Bones would have escorted Maria forwards and back to the Bugatti.
"Anywhere else, or do you feel that you've gotten enough for your assassin theyfriend?"
|