Shattered Masques IC

[Llyarden]

As Elizabeth suspected, the Hunters seem to know that Trifonov was taken in (they presumably heard an unfamiliar voice saying 'Now lay down your weapon and surrender, Overwatch,' so it's not like it's a great leap of logic), because none of them answer any of Eric's calls or texts.

***

The various petrol stations, motels and such visited by Trifonov provide you a little further information, but not much. No-one that you speak to seems to have seen her, which kinda makes sense because when you finally find her in some of the CCTV footage - you have her calendar for her day job, including locations, so you can get a rough estimation of when each of her visits were made by figuring out when she went to the other locations her car's GPS recorded, and from there it's just a matter of going through the footage - it becomes apparent that these mysterious trips of hers were made at the dead of night.

Her actions are pretty much the same in each case; she arrives (alone), parks in the road or on the pavement, gets out of her car, and walks off out of sight of the camera. About an hour passes before she returns (still alone, and not obviously carrying a rifle or anything that would suggest she was using her car to transport the stolen weapons), gets back into her car and drives off. So clearly the petrol stations/motels were just a convenient meeting point and she was subsequently travelling to her final destination through other means.

Considering that it was pretty cold at the times of some of the older trips - especially in the early hours of the morning she was making these weird trips - either her final destination must have been pretty close or she was getting further transport there. After some laborious pouring through grainy CCTV, you find one instance in which notice a patch of light, cast by an off-screen pair of headlights, peels off shortly after Trifonov leaves the shot, which suggests the latter option. Tracking the footage backwards shows that they arrive about ten minutes before she does, but figuring out where they were before that is going to be something of a more intensive task.

Oh, and one piece of CCTV footage managed to catch McWilliam's little old car puttering down along the highway about five minutes before Trifonov gets there. So there's that. (She doesn't stop in the petrol station in question though, though she is going in the same direction that Trifonov later walks.)

It isn't until she's on about the fifth or sixth place that Elizabeth realises something - all of these locations are pretty close to rest stops for truckers.

***

While Elizabeth is still going from petrol station to motel, Coemans returns with the information regarding the smartgun. "Okay, so it's not Bluetooth, but it's basically Bluetooth. 'Like Bluetooth but better' was how the guy described it. Security-wise, W.E. haven't ironed out all the bugs in the security system it's meant to come with so the security is basically gonna be whatever a tech-minded individual puts on there. So, probably, non-existent."

"Far as tracking it goes, the guy I spoke to said apparently they never considered that and he's going to ask someone about it."

***

Aina flinches slightly - not from the touch, but rather from Erin's words. You get the impression that maybe she hadn't quite intended to let that slip. "I just...I hope people can get better. Gooder."

~I have to.~

You're pretty sure she didn't mean to do that. In fact she doesn't even seem to notice she's done it at first, but you can definitely feel a kind of mental...presence, for want of a better word. Kind of the telepathic equivalent of looking across a room and seeing someone.

A moment later it becomes obvious that she can 'see' you just as you can 'see' her, because she snatches her hand back and the mental link snaps closed. And she's actually trembling, apparently terrified by whatever consequence her telepathic abilities might have caused.

***

Dalca ignores Erin's apology (but at least she doesn't keep pressing the point.) "You don't know if we have people watching it?" she repeats, incredulous. "We have a known triple murderer who's gonna kill again unless he's stopped and you think we might not be ----ing watching him?"

"Say we clear out. What then? You get your perps. Hooray, good for you. And while you're dealing with them and their 'high-powered weaponry' how do you stop Simeonov just flying away?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Well, that was something. Since Eric came up empty, she called him to join her. Random gas stations and motels were reasonable places for clandestine meetings. Truck stops...they weren't unreasonable, but they kinda had a different vibe. Less "out of the way place nobody will think twice about" more "waystations for a specific community". It wouldn't hurt to have backup in case some of the people there were sympathetic to the Hunters' cause.

Spoiler

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Second verse same as the first, but at the truck stops. Routine Investigation for 25. She'll also use Cold Reading to try and determine if the truckers recognize the pictures but are keeping quiet, Routined for 20.

And Elizabeth is not above using her Flirting specialty to supplement if that'll help. However, anyone who tries anything will have their Team Checked Routine Intimidation of 30 to answer to. (Anyone who persists in trying anything will have their Power Levels of 10 to answer to ).

--

Emily, meanwhile, started going over whatever specs the military did have on the smart gun, whatever she could look up on-line, and she asked Coemans if she could talk to the WE scientist when he called back, as she tried to piece together an idea for how she might hack'n'track the smart gun.

Spoiler

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Technology: (1d20+15)[20], probably supplemented by Research and/or Hacking.

--

Erin's immediate, first thought on recognizing the mental link? Aina's telepathic? Sweet! Less repeating ourselves verbally!

But when Aina yanked her hand back and started shaking, Erin quickly said in a warm, soothing voice, "Heyy. Hey hey hey. No, don't worry. It's okay. Look trust me I've got my siblings in my head half the time anyway I'm totally chill with telepathic contact," she said with a little laugh, though she did keep her voice quiet, since she was pretty sure Aina wouldn't want that going overheard.

"And Aina what are you even thinking, huh? 'You have to'? You're a total sweetheart!"

"Listen. I know you haven't had anything even resembling a normal life. I don't know how the Circle raised you, but from what I do understand and given what I know of them, I'm guessing secrecy was a pretty big part of it. But Aina...we're not them, okay? We're not scared of who you are. So, you don't have to, or anything. We'll never try to force you to do anything you're not comfortable with. But if you want to talk about it..."

Erin laid her hand back on the table, palm up and fingers open. She didn't know for sure if Aina's telepathy required physical contact, but given when it had happened and how she had pulled away, she had a strong suspicion. In that way, the opened hand was an offer of privacy.

"...I'd love to listen."

--

Erin gave Dalca a flat look. Of course, she assumed they had people watching him. That was why she had come here and asked her to pull them back in the first place. She just wanted to be clear that she wasn't trying to make assumptions. Maybe they hadn't put anyone else on him after her partner had been killed, for all she knew.

Again, though, she let it slide. If Elizabeth had been here, this conversation might have gone very differently. Both of these cases were already being complicated because people were giving Dalca the leeway to ignore possible assets. Yes, she had lost her partner and yes, that sucked big time. But it only went so far.

Or that would have been Elizabeth's view, anyway. Erin was a bit more sympathetic.

"By making it very clear to him that we have a plan, and his best shot at survival is going to be following that plan to the letter. We do actually have an advantage here, that you didn't call us in on your case. We can truthfully tell him that we're not involved in your investigation. As far as he'll know, we're on his side." The corollary, of course, was that if something happened to cast that fact into doubt - such as, say, an armed police team rolling in and shooting at him in the chaos - then he might decide to take the chance on escaping.

[Llyarden]

The quality of the CCTV at the rest areas is kinda variable. McWilliam shows up on a couple of the shots, and Trifonov shows up on one, riding on the back of a motorcycle driven by someone else. The driver's face is obscured by a helmet, but that does nothing to hide the number plate of the bike, and a brief call to the FBI office gets you a name - Varlam Rojas, a former Marine discharged for medical reasons after his squad was attacked and basically shredded by a hostile Supernal, shortly after the Unmasking.

Notably, Varlam is not in the list of McWilliam's patients.

Finding anyone that saw anything isn't easy, for the obvious reason that all the people who were there at the relevant nights no longer are. However you do eventually manage to find someone who was there at the time: a woman who introduces herself as Dewi Karl, who is currently on the return leg of the same journey that had led her to stop at the rest stop in question.

Dewi playfully flirts back at Elizabeth before eventually admitting that she got woken up by someone riding a motorbike - Varlam, you would assume - at what she describes as an ungodly hour of the morning. She went to investigate and found a group of five people (four women and one man) unloading something from a W.E. lorry, which she found suspicious (for obvious reasons, considering the time of night). When she confronted the group, they identified themselves as FBI - and one of the women showed her an FBI badge.

She can't, unfortunately, remember precisely what any of them looked like, probably because it was very dark and she was kinda half-asleep at the time. But there's only one person in your list of McWilliam's patients who might have had any reason to have an FBI badge (albeit a very tenuous reason) - Maria Jiminez, a former agent who was fired from the Bureau after a persecution suit was brought against her and the Bureau by a vampire.

***

Spoiler: Emily

Show

Hacking the smartguns wouldn't be too difficult so long as you can get within range of the signal - though, even without any cybersecurity, the guns do have some systems in place to mitigate the danger of hacking, so if the hack was detected then they'd just be able to turn off the smartlink systems and reboot from a backup.

Unfortunately, you can't think off-hand of any easy way to track the system.

When the W.E. people finally call Coemans back, she has a short conversation with the person at the other end of the line before handing the phone over. "Apparently you're cleared to talk to them." She sounds a bit surprised.

When you take the phone, it becomes obvious that Coemans didn't realise who she was just talking to. "Agent Equinox," Winters says, sounding slightly amused. "Perhaps I should have just given you my phone number."

"As far as tracking the smartgun system is concerned, I can send you the frequency at which it operates. Even something as simple as a radio tuned to the correct frequency would detect the signal. But they only broadcast at a comparatively short range - and, of course, it only works when the system is turned on."

"Unfortunately, I designed these weapons so that criminals and hostile forces could not use them against our country. I did not consider that I might one day need to track them down myself," he adds, with a touch of irritation.

***

Aina hesitates for a moment or two, but then reaches back out and takes Erin's hand again. She's still shaking, though, and looking around frantically as if expecting to be attacked at any moment. ~I'm not.~

~You don't know the whole story. And if your grandmother, and the rest of the council, didn't want you to know, then it isn't my place to tell you. But...maybe this is safe. I...I think it is. But if it wasn't, then you, me, and probably everyone in this entire block would be in danger.~

For the most part, her mental 'voice' is very similar to her real one. But that last sentence is said without a trace of her usual hesitation or uncertainty.

~And...there's something else I was worried about, too,~ she continues, in a blatant attempt to change the subject. ~These Hunters have iron bullets. What if...what if one of you gets hurt?~

***

"Yeah? And what's your plan, exactly? According to your team, the guy can fly thirty miles in about ten seconds, so what kind of plan is gonna be better for him than noping the hell out of there? 'Cos our psych guys are pretty sure that if he thinks anyone knows what he really is, he's just gonna run."

[Quellian-dyrae]

When she learned who the motorcycle belonged to, Elizabeth grumbled a curse. She knew Rojas. Not super-well, but well enough. Well enough that a good enough lawyer might be able to spin it into a problem. She was confident she could deal with that - it was tough to argue that a friend-of-a-friend relationship had compromised your judgment when you arrested the guy. But it did create trouble. At the very least, it meant she was open to being called up as a character witness, which meant she'd have to say under oath that while she knew Varlam was troubled, he had seemed to be recovering and in general had struck her as a good guy. If she were asked if she had had any reason to believe he might have done something like this, her answer would have had to be no.

There was a difference between the evidentiary weight of an investigator presenting the hard evidence of a case and a character witness speaking to the defendant's personality. There was a difference between saying you had had no reason to suspect a person based on your past experiences, and that you currently have no reason to suspect them. But it wasn't the sort of distinction you could really trust a jury to make. If you had twelve random people hearing one of the lead investigators on a case say that she had had no reason to believe the defendant could have committed such a crime, that made a big impact.

It was something she could deal with, but she'd have to play it carefully.

It also probably meant Harris would be called as a witness. Which wasn't strictly problematic for the case, but still kinda sucked.

And she had to take every step to make sure there was not even the appearance of impropriety. So her very next call was to SAC Blair's office. Not to Cerny's cell - this had to go straight to her commanding officer and be an official call made on the record. She promptly informed him of Rojas, the evidence they had on him so far, what she knew of him, and how she knew him. She requested he have someone fax over whatever forms were necessary for her to fill out, and told him that while her relationship would not impact her ability to investigate the case, she would step aside or take a less active role if he so ordered.

--

Four women, one man. Trifonov, Appelo, and Jiminez for three of the women, Rojas for the man. Either McWilliam was the fourth woman or she's the driver of the lorry. That should be easy enough to pin down. "Can you remember if any of the women were wearing a leg brace? And were they moving the stuff from the lorry into another vehicle or...?"

--

Emily wasn't sure that this would be workable. Chances were the system was off right? She'd keep the option in her head, but she was getting the sense that this could be something that would take more time than they could afford to spend on something that had a high chance of not getting them anything.

But while she had him on the phone...

"Alright, thanks. We've also got evidence indicating that at least some of the munitions were taken during transport. We have a witness who we're pretty sure sighted the suspects unloading a Winters Enterprises lorry pre-dawn on {insert date here}. Would you have records on who was driving that delivery? And come to think of it, where would these munitions have shipped from? Is there a local WE office here? It sounds like we should check out the entire supply line, it looks like it's been compromised on both ends."

--

Erin gave Aina's hand a reassuring squeeze. ~Look...you've been living with us for a week now. Do we know everything about you? Of course not. But you've shown nothing less than a good heart the entire time. It's like...sure, the whole thing could have been an elaborate deception or something, but if it was then why would you have told me that? Frankly, you're a better liar than that." There was a bit of a teasing tone in her telepathic voice, though she clearly meant it as a compliment. Hey, nothing wrong with being a good liar. Erin was a good liar. It was a useful skill.

~So it's like...unless you're some sort of monstrous evil with some kind of supernatural restraining bolt that is forcing you to be good, or something, trust me, you have nothing to worry about, personal-virtue-wise.~ That she said flippantly. It was more a joke than anything.

Spoiler: OOC

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Which in no way changes the fact that I really kinda wish one of my Cold Readers were here right now.

Erin did show...some concern at her fears about putting the entire city block at risk. They had already been assuming she was being targeted by someone, and it made sense it would be someone powerful - otherwise, why wouldn't the Circle have just dealt with them by now. ~I understand,~ she told her.

Her attempt to change the subject was kinda obvious, but Erin didn't try to keep it on the previous one. She wasn't going to force Aina to talk about anything that she didn't want to. One day, it might be necessary to press her a bit harder. For now, she just wanted Aina to be comfortable around them and know she could trust them. ~Then they deserve a cookie,~ she replied with a grin. ~Look, don't get me wrong, iron sucks. And it hurts like the dickens! But Elizabeth and I are both powerful healers, Eric and Emily have some great defense magic, and come down to it, we're fast enough to dodge bullets. I'm not saying the risk is zero, but in a straight fight with these guys? Safe bet is on us, iron or no iron. So don't you stress about it, 'kay?"

--

"So, wait, he isn't aware that you guys are investigating him? See, this is why I wanted to talk with you. We haven't been fully briefed on your case. I was under the impression that he knew you knew, but he was basically acting normal because you didn't have enough to prove anything in court. Now, if he doesn't think he's a suspect or anything, and is likely to flee if he learns someone does, then yeah definitely, that will alter our approach."

"Now, what I'm thinking - and this is kinda off the top of my head, mind - is that we bring Simeonov into protective custody. Tell him we believe him to be under threat. If he's trying to hide that he's a wendigo, he'll probably respond as a normal citizen world, rather than being all, 'Oh I can deal with any threat there may be' or whatever. Then one of us can impersonate him, the Hunters attack expecting a wendigo, we bring them in. And then...well, I guess we release Simeonov and your investigation proceeds normally."

"But tell me something. How would you prefer it be handled? If there's going to be a throw-down tonight between our anti-Supernal spree killers and your wendigo serial killer, what would you see as the optimal strategy? You know him better than we do."

[Llyarden]

Blair listens quietly, and remains quiet for a few moments after you're finished talking. "We do not have the luxury of taking people off this case when we suspect these killers will strike again. Continue with your normal duties, but if it becomes apparent that Rojas is more connected to the case than it currently appears, then I expect you to recuse yourself and leave investigative duties to your fellow agents."

Which, y'know, was kinda typical Blair. It left you enough freedom to keep going with the investigation while simultaneously providing him with plausible deniability if anything went wrong. The mention of the expected attack that night was almost certainly for the benefit of the official record of the conversation rather than for you; it would paint him in a better light if he was desperately trying to stop a murder rather than merely trusting the word of an agent.

***

"Don't rightly remember," Dewi admits. "Woman with the badge sure didn't, and I backed off when I saw it. Didn't feel like getting involved with the Feds, no offence. Didn't see what they were taking out either, but there was a duffel bag by their feet."

***

You hear Winters sigh at the other end of the phone. "Wonderful. So my own company is party to this treason. I am beginning to feel as though the only competent people in this country are the four of you and myself," he complains. "We do have local offices and warehouses, but the anti-Supernal munitions are stored in the building you were in earlier, in a secure vault, until they are ready to be dispatched. Other than overnight halts, they do not stop between here and their destinations."

"Driving that particular lorry was one Albena Maly." Which is a name you've seen before in McWilliam's patient list.

***

~Okay,~ Aina replies, clearly having absolutely no intention of not stressing about the whole 'iron bullets' thing. Ignis's words about her forming attachments easily spring to mind. ~But honestly? I would prefer being some...restrained monster.~

***

"Oh, he knows we're investigating him - probably knows we like him for the murders, too. But he also knows that until we can prove he's a wendigo, we got no explanation for how he can be the killer. And he doesn't know that your Task Force is anywhere near here, and we've been damn careful to keep it that way."

"Taking him into protective custody - sure, it could work. Right up until he eats whoever you put to guard him while you're busy playing dress-up and rounding up your killers. Or until he asks you why he's being targeted specifically. How the hell do your killers know he's a Supernal anyway?"

"And frankly? I'd be inclined to let them at it, focus on protecting the people in the area who are actually innocent. And hell, you could round up your killers once they're done. Everyone wins. 'Cept for Simeonov," she reflects, "but ---- him."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Alright, thank you," Elizabeth said, handing her a business card. "If you remember anything else, please let us know."

--

Emily's lip twitched as she imagined Erin responding with, "Well just give us a few minutes!" or some other irreverent quip. She, however, replied, "Yeah, she's on our suspect list. Would anybody there know where she is at the moment? Or have a reliable means of getting in touch with her or tracking her down? GPS in the company car or something like that?" Hey, a girl could hope. "And if you could send us her personnel file that would probably help t-" Emily cut herself off with a little, awkward laugh. "Uh, sorry. There's probably some, like, middle-manager or something I should be asking for this stuff, huh?"

Spoiler

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And of course, Elizabeth will Well Informed Albena Maly: (1d20+15)[16]. Huh, finally one of them that Elizabeth hasn't heard about. I guess that makes sense considering she also botched her check on Winters Enterprises as an organization. Elizabeth clearly just doesn't pay much attention to that company.

--

Erin raised a brow at that comment, although she kinda had to wonder if Aina meant she'd have preferred to be a monster, or preferred to be restrained. Obviously, she had magic, and likely a good bit more of it than she'd displayed so far. Just as obviously, something about her magic scared her. Her reaction to the unexpected telepathic contact wasn't the first sign of that; Erin hadn't forgotten her rather visceral reaction to their training room. What she wasn't sure of was whether Aina was more concerned about what her powers could do, or what sort of attention they could attract.

Or both. To be fair, Erin was rather leaning towards both.

There wasn't too much Erin could say to ease her mind about the latter. But on the former...

~You know, when my siblings and I first got our powers unbound, we had some difficulty controlling them,~ Erin told her. ~Not using them, mind. That was the thing. Using our magic has always been super-easy. Too easy, back then. We'd get emotional and stuff would just...happen. It was scary. We were really worried we'd hurt someone. We were even considering asking our parents to bind them again. But our dad gave us some really good advice. You know what he said?~

~Magic is the weakest force in the universe.~

--

Erin had kinda expected that one, Pape had said it was a likely possibility, but she had still kinda hoped the answer would be different.

"Except like you said, he'd just fly away if he felt that threatened," she said. The real except was, except we're officers of the law and that's not what we do. But Erin didn't think that pointing that out would make progress towards her goals. "I'm not sure how they know, but if he's intent on keeping his true nature secret, that is to our advantage. He's not likely to eat his way out of protective custody if he knows it'll blow his cover, right? And if he asks why we believe he's being targeted...well, we'll lie," she said with a shrug. "I imagine you guys have been taking surveillance photos of his home and business, yeah?"

[Llyarden]

"At this point," Winter replies, "I suspect that I am both the most reliable and fastest method of getting you the information you require. And it is not as though I have anything more important to do than uncovering a traitor to our country."

"She doesn't have a company car, but she does have a company phone. I can send you the number and her personnel file."

***

~What made him say that?~ Aina asks, sceptically...but with just a touch of hope in her tone.

***

"He'd only fly away if he knows there's anything coming before it's too late. And if your killers are so bad at it that they wouldn't be able to ambush him with mil-spec weapons, then how the hell have you not caught them yet?" She scoffs slightly. "Yeah, we got photos of his place. But I thought you couldn't lie." And there's a certain wariness to her tone when she says that last bit.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"That would be great, thanks! And, well, how should we get back in touch with you if there's anything else?"

--

~Because magic is the only force, in the entire universe as best he could tell, that was capable of doing exactly nothing on its own.~

~It's like...there's a bunch of, you know, science stuff about I guess two nuclear forces or whatever, and something something bonds between atoms, and gravity. I don't remember it all. But they all do things. Gravity was supposed to be the weakest I think, and it's still like...making the entire universe go round and round. Heat and cold and air and water create weather with no one's involvement whatsoever. If every mortal, every supernal, every sentient being that exists vanished from the universe tomorrow, the sun would still rise and set, the world would keep spinning. Clouds would still form and rain would still fall. A single strike of lightning could start a fire that scours half a forest, leaving room for new growth in its wake. Energy would still equal mass times velocity, and-~

~Squared.~

~Ahem. Energy would still equal mass times velocity squared. And-"

~...Half.~

~AND light would still go zipping through space faster than anything. New life would still be created and play its role in the cycle, and end so that the next generation could take its place. Time would advance ever onward, and history would still happen, even if there was nobody around to record it. Even the machines of mortalkind would still be functional for as long as their structure held up and their power held out. Humanity as we know it could end in an eyeblink, and some roomba somewhere would keep puttering away cleaning its floor. And if perhaps some other intelligent race came along to take their place, they could possibly make those machines work again, learn how they were designed and reproduce them, and in time even improve upon them.~

~But magic does nothing on its own. Few spells outlive their casters, and those that do require their casters to have specifically structured them for the purpose. Every act of magic is first, foremost, and always an act of will. Even creatures composed purely of magic, whose bodies and spirits are one and the same and forged from the very essence of the Supernal, what sets them apart from mere spells is that they possess a living will of their own. Without will behind it, magic can never do anything. So you don't ever have to worry about controlling this big, powerful, scary force of magic. All you ever have to do is control yourself.
Do that, and the magic will always follow.~

Erin's telepathic voice had taken on a more...measured tone as she had spoken. Almost a cadence, as she repeated - more or less, anyway - the words her father had told them, those few years ago. But she kinda snapped back to her normal casual tone as she said, ~Which, granted, can itself be something of a trick sometimes. But let me tell you, when you're thinking you have to somehow keep an entire season under control and you have no idea how, self control feels like a million times more manageable by comparison! And I mean...I'll grant, I'm not sure if that was actual Deep Wizardly Wisdom into the Nature of the Universe or just a fatherly pep talk, but it worked for us. We can still have some issues when we're highly emotional, but for the most part, control's been pretty second nature since then.~

--

"Fey can't speak a literal untruth. That in no way means they can't lie. And we're only half-fey, so we technically can, it just...hurts." There was kinda a wince in her eyes as she said so. "But in this case, since you have those photos, I could tell him, 'In the course of our investigation, we discovered surveillance photos of your home and office.' And that would all be 100% accurate, even though it has nothing to do with why we believe him to be the target and we 'discovered' those photos in the hands of the police who are investigating him." She kinda rolled her eyes at the end of the explanation. Frankly, Erin considered the entire rule ludicrous.

[Llyarden]

You hear a bit of a rummaging sound from the phone as Winters apparently looks through the drawers in his desk. "Ah, there it is," he mutters after a moment. "I'll give you my number." He pauses for a moment, presumably to wait for you to get your phone out to write the number down (or, y'know, be super old fashioned and use a pen and paper) and then recites a mobile phone number for you.

***

Aina listens quietly for a few moments (though she says ~Half mass times velocity squared,~ at pretty much exactly the same time as Emily corrects you, apparently without hearing Emily's telepathy.) When you're finished speaking, she...well, it's kinda hard to sigh in a conversation which doesn't use lungs, but she does the telepathic equivalent. ~I wish it was that easy,~ she says softly. ~But...it isn't.~

***

"Huh. So how much of this conversation have you been lying to me for?" asks Dalca. It's...kind of hard to tell whether or not she's joking. After a moment, she sighs. "I'll talk to my captain and the other guys on the case, 'cos this ain't the kind of decision I'm gonna make on my own. But don't expect much. Agent Pape can get in contact with you when we've decided."

And apparently with that she decides the conversation is over, because she turns away and (unless you have anything else to say to her) walks off.

~That went...well?~ Aina projects to you. So clearly she doesn't actually need to be touching you to talk telepathically.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Alright, got it. Thank you," Emily said. Unless there was anything else, she'd say goodbye and end the call.

--

~Gahhh math invasion noooo!~ Erin sent back to Emily as both she and Aina corrected her equation.

Her response to Aina, though, remained sober. ~Well, easy or not, we're gonna help you with it, okay?
However we can.~ Granted, that would be markedly easier if they actually knew what "it" was, but there would be time for that later! For now, she just gave Aina's hand one more reassuring squeeze and let go.

--

~Oh sweet you don't need to touch for this? Super-convenient. And, I mean, I guess we're not bffs yet, any conversation where they threaten to punch you in the face but don't actually do it, we file under "take the win".~

--

The siblings regrouped over pastries (to the sincere gratitude of a we're-actually-starving-but-Elizabeth-is-looking-at-us Eric and Emily) and discussed their findings, updated Perez, Coemans, and Cerny, and took a shot at making calls to Appelo, Jiminez, Rojas, and Maly. It was no surprise when they didn't pick up. Odds were they didn't even have their phones on them at this point.

Failing that, Elizabeth sent a group text from Trifonov's burner phone to all the numbers on there. She didn't really expect this would get any of them to make contact or turn themselves in - although it was always possible that they had a weak link - but if it agitated them and made them sloppy, that would work.

The text read simply:

Tahnee McWilliam
Abene Appelo
Maria Jiminez
Varlam Rojas
Albena Maly

You still have time to make this better. But not much.

Granted, it wasn't a certainty that they were all correct, or that they were the only members. Any missing or incorrect names would lessen the effectiveness of the ploy. But Elizabeth was sufficiently confident in their information to give it a try.

Spoiler

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I'm not sure what the modifier is for trying this over text message, but at least they have no way of knowing it's a Supernal sending the text. Intimidation: (1d20+15)[21].

That done, it was on to more practical efforts.

Emily...went back home, actually. They were pretty clear on who they were looking for. Now they just had to find them. She ran some labs on the blue threads and flecks they had found at Nicholson's house. It was something of a long shot, most likely just some scraps of cloth that got caught. But it was possible that the flecks were some kind of paint that might be traceable to some kind of vehicle.

Elizabeth went through Maly's personnel file, and made sure all the BOLOs were updated for all of the suspects.

Erin and Eric went back to the judge with the new information they had, to try to secure warrants for their new suspects.

Spoiler

Show

Gonna Routine any relevant checks there. Also, about how long do we have until sundown, once all this is done?

[Llyarden]

~Oh, yeah.~ Aina seems slightly embarrassed that she forgot to mention that part. ~Once I make contact, as long as you don't move too far away the bond should stay in place.~

***

The mass text doesn't seem to get a response.

The flecks of blue plastic are pretty easy to identify - they're strands from plasticy disposable gloves, just like people use to collect evidence without contaminating it. Which, y'know, considering you have one investigator and one ex-investigator amongst your suspects, isn't too much of a surprise.

Maly's file isn't very illuminating, but it is kinda interesting. Actually, you'd kinda all but discounted her from your investigation because of what her file from McWilliam's office had said; according to McWilliam, Maly hadn't been making great progress - in contrast to all your other suspects that had been her patients, who to hear McWilliam tell it had almost entirely recovered from their various Supernal-related troubles. Her issue with Supernals is simply that her father had lost his job as a clerk because hiring Supernals who could work at triple the speed of a human was a vastly cheaper way of doing things. From losing his job, he'd then lost his house (nothing directly to do with Supernals, just not being able to pay the bills) and had to move in with Maly.

The file on her from W.E. is similarly unenlightening. She joined them about a year ago, and has seemed content in her job as a lorry driver. About six months ago was when she started being allowed to transport 'sensitive' goods solo, and Winters has sent you the lists of all the equipment carried by all of the trucks she's driven since then, and a bit of laborious paperwork tells you that - conveniently - all the missing gear was taken to Fort Bliss by Maly. Also conveniently, all the crates that should've contained the missing gear (and a few other ones that were presumably a smokescreen) were opened on arrival as part of the 'random' checks by Phillipa Trifonov.

Eric and Erin are more or less done with getting warrants for the rest of your suspects when Agent Pape calls back. At this point, you have about two hours before it'll start to get dark. "Detective Dalca and the HPD have agreed to pull back and allow you to continue your own investigation, on two conditions. The first, as you might expect, is that we are kept informed of your plans and their outcomes. The second is that wherever you decide to take Simeonov, my team - and Detective Dalca herself - shadow him."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"That's fine, I'll let you know as soon as I know whether 'Showdown at Simeonov's' is the official plan or not."

Two hours until sundown. The Hunters had to be agitated, so they couldn't trust that they would have until deep night before they'd move. They might decide to act as soon as they could count on the cover of darkness and most people being at home. They had BOLOs out for all of them, so they might get lucky, but if they were flying some sort of stealth plane thing, that wouldn't help.

It was time to start considering abnormal options.

Elizabeth went to execute the latest batch of warrants on all the suspects homes, offices, data logs, vehicles...wherever she could get. She took a minute while she was at it to make a call to a certain local Marine Corps officer that Harris had introduced her to once, giving the quick rundown of the situation and Rojas' probable involvement and asking if the Marines might have had a vehicle that would fit the bill and might have been compromised.

Eric went over any documents that they found, looking for anything that might indicate a base, a transport, a vehicle they didn't have information on.

Emily first gave Winters another call to ask if his company might have had such a vehicle that Maly might have gained access to, or any other device that would allow them to travel that fast as a group. But once she was off that call, she didn't start going through computers. She stayed in her lab to work on the fallback option to the fallback option.

And Erin reprised her role as Agent Weis, to have one more talk with Trifonov.

"He" walked into the interrogation room and the first thing he did after sitting down was lay a sheet of paper on the table and push it over to her. "Read that."

He'd give her a chance to do so. It was the warrant approving the use of emotion-manipulating magic for purposes of interrogation if needed to stop tonight's likely murders.

Once she was done, he held up her burner phone. Not handing it to her, but holding it close enough that she could make out the screen with the text Elizabeth had sent. "Now read that."

"Our task force has been on this case for less than twenty-four hours. We've caught you. We've identified your co-conspirators. It is over. You're all going to jail. But here's the thing. I don't believe this is a mutual partnership."

"I believe that McWilliam manipulated you. All of you. I believe she abused her authority as your therapist, and instead of helping you, she inflamed your anger and twisted your pain. Maybe you think she told you the truth. I'm not going to debate your viewpoint. Because whether she's right or wrong is irrelevant. Her job was to help you get through the terrible trauma you suffered. Instead, she got you to commit murder and now she's getting you sent to prison."

"I believe that Appelo, Jiminez, Rojas, and Maly were likewise manipulated. I believe that if it wasn't for McWilliam, none of you would have ever done this."

"Right now, you have a chance to help yourself, and to help them. Tell us where they are. Help us stop these murders.
I will help you. I will help them. I will make sure you all get the help you need so that you can come through this.
Your lives do not have to be over!"

"If you refuse, the Equinoxes are going to play with your feelings until you tell them what they want to know. You won't be able to stop them. You won't be able to stop yourself. And when it's over, you won't be able to forget what you did. And then it will be too late. They'll have what they want and you won't have any leverage left. We won't need to secure a deal, for you or for the rest of your team. You'll be done. My God, Trifonov, you guys committed multiple homicides with stolen military weapons as part of a hate crime in freakin' Texas! For the love of God, help me save your lives!" Weis actually sounded desperate there, and the truth was? That was desperation coming straight from Erin. As much as anti-Supernal bigots might infuriate her, she did not want to see these people put to death for their crimes. And she absolutely believed they would be if it went that far, and especially if they committed another murder tonight.

Spoiler

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Elizabeth Investigation, supplemented by Crime Scene Investigation: (1d20+15)[27].

Eric Expertise (Law Enforcement), supplemented by Document Analysis and Forensic Accounting: (1d20+15)[17].

Emily is going to begin work on an invention. I'm...not actually sure what it will be yet, but it'll be 15 points and she'll Routine it so it'll be ready in about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Although a lot of what she said is definitely scary (well maybe not since Fearless but whatever), Erin's not trying to threaten Trifonov. She's trying to get her to realize that Weis is willing to help both her and her associates, and is offering what is probably her last chance at such help, if she will just help him stop the others before they kill anyone else. Persuasion, supplemented by Negotiation: (1d20+20)[40], -5 if Attractive doesn't apply.
I wanted it to happen! AND! THEN! IT! DID!

[Llyarden]

All four of the new potential suspects are nowhere to be seen. For the most part their vehicles are at their houses too - but Varlam Rojas has a car as well as a bike, and when you go to execute the warrant on his house, though the bike is there, the car is not parked in his garage.

But you do find something else in Varlam's house. A picture - recently framed, judging from its pristine condition - that sits on his bedside. It's not much more than a selfie, showing Varlam with his arm around a woman who's chosen to kiss him pretty much just as the picture was being taken. In other situations it'd be kinda sweet. But the woman in the photo is Tahnee McWilliam.

Elizabeth's contact gets back to her within a few minutes, and tells her that all of the Marines' vehicles are accounted for (and also that they don't have any kind of 'stealth plane' anyway.)

Winters gives much the same response to Emily - though he gets a bit distracted and starts musing on how such a vehicle could be constructed before catching himself and apologising for wasting her time.

Trifonov, though...

It's been a few hours since you last spoke to her, and when 'Agent Weis' returns, it's immediately obvious that she's a lot more nervous than she was before. She glances at the burner phone with nothing more than a slight smirk, but the warrant for the emotion-manipulating magic elicits something of a shudder. "And you work with them. They play with people's minds like they're toys, and you raise them up on pedestals and applaud them for it. That -" she nods at the warrant "- isn't worth the paper it's written on. Just an act for the camera."

"You don't get it. She helped. She helped, when no-one would - CID, FBI, Marines, government. None of them helped. Not just us. You all just rolled over and let them sink their teeth and claws into our country."

"And now you're gonna let them save the life of that monster at the cost of ours. You think his life is worth more just 'cos you haven't caught him legally."

"You want to save us? To help? Then you promise me - in writing, signed and witnessed - that you won't use magic -" she quite literally spits the word "- to interrogate my friends. And then I'll tell you what I know, which ain't much. Or you can try your luck with that magic. But I bet you that I can hold your faeries up long enough for my friends to take down that wendigo and get away. Not like you can wait for me to recover from the trauma, after all," she adds, with a grin.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Weis had already decided he was not going to try to correct her twisted view of the world. He didn't have time for debates that would go nowhere.

That request worked for him; once they had the Hunters in custody, there would be no further need of mind-altering magic. "I'll get it written up," he said, stepping out of the room.

Erin typed up a deal (telepathically conferring with Elizabeth for proper legalese wording) and sending it to SAC Blair for review by him and the Task Force's attorney with a note to do so urgently. The deal stipulated that the FBI and the Supernatural Task Force agreed not to use any magic upon any members of the Hunter team (they listed the names but also included that any members who were not currently identified would also be protected under the deal's terms) for purposes of interrogation or any other court-related matter, though it did make clear that it did not preclude the use of magic for purposes of apprehending them or keeping them in custody if they attempted to resist arrest or escape. It also declared that the FBI would encourage prosecutors not to seek the death penalty in the case. These were, however, conditional on the following:

-That Trifonov fully and truthfully tell them what she knew about her team, their location, their plans, etc.
-That the information leads to both their arrests and the recovery of the stolen munitions.
-That the Hunter team, including any members not currently identified, not kill anyone else from the moment the deal was signed.

If any of those terms were broken, the deal would be void, so it would be in Trifonov's best interest to make sure they got the information they needed.

If Blair approved and signed the deal (he'd have to sign for the Task Force, because he's the SAC and also Agent Weis doesn't exist so signing his name to a legal document would constitute perjury), she'd return to Weis form, call in Perez to serve as witness, and present the deal to Trifonov.

[Llyarden]

When you get the deal back from the Task Force's main office (after a couple of back-and-forths on legalese, but nothing that changed the body of the contract as a whole) and print it out for Trifonov to sign, she looks at the deal for a few moments, reading it carefully. She frowns once or twice, but nothing seems to bother her overmuch - until she gets to the third clause in the contract, which she pauses to reread a couple of times. After a few moments, she sets it back down and looks up to 'Weis' and Perez. "So I tell you what I know. What's to stop you - or them - from just letting Simeonov die and then going 'oh, what a pity, the deal got broken, guess we can turn all your friends into mindless puppets now'? Beyond their 'good character' or whatever -------- excuse you're about to come up with, 'cos I may not know enough about you to be sure, but I can be damn certain that your faerie friends haven't got any."

"You get rid of that line -" she pokes at the offending clause with the offered pen "- and I'll sign it."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"And without that line, what's to stop you from giving us enough information to arrest them, but maybe not quite enough to do it until they've killed Simeonov, or somebody else?" Weis returned immediately. "This deal is protecting you and your friends. I won't try to convince you how wrong you are about the Equinoxes. I can tell it would be a waste of time. But look at it pragmatically. If keeping Simeonov alive was not a priority, why would we be bothering with this deal at all? We know they're going after him tonight. We'd just lay ambush, catch them red-handed, and take them in. The trial would take twenty minutes. On the flip side, maybe you can't know for sure that they won't exploit some technicality to use magic on you if you sign - but you do know for sure they absolutely will if you don't."

"This deal is the only protection you and your friends get, and it is contingent on nobody else dying. Please, take it."

Spoiler

Show

Persuasion using Influential to improve her attitude towards the deal: (1d20+20)[40], -5 if Attractive doesn't apply. Oh Erin, I love you so much.

[Llyarden]

"I suggested this deal," Trifonov snaps. "What would be the point of hiding anything? I just want them safe."

But she takes the pen and scribbles her signature, eyes shining with tears. After a few moments, she looks back up to you.

"I don't know what you know and what you don't. So...I guess the beginning is a pretty good place to start."

"After Yulian died, I...I was pretty messed up. I didn't know what to do. I mean, the CID-provided counsellors were ----, so I just stopped going to our meetings. They couldn't force me to. My old CO tried to encourage me to keep going, but that just...pushed me away. He didn't understand. I was pretty close to resigning my commission."

"Harbinger - McWilliam, I mean - didn't find us. We found her." She gives a wry chuckle. "I was getting drunk in some ----y bar and I heard someone talking about this...support network, run by a professional psychiatrist for free. I mean, I figured, no reason not to try."

"There were probably...about two dozen there the first time I went. And I just...belonged. You've never heard her speak. You'll understand when you do. She just...makes everything seem alright. Like she knows what you're thinking, but not in a creepy way. And she understands."

It takes her a moment or two before she rouses herself from her reverie. "I went to...maybe three or four sessions before she spoke to me directly. Suggested I should book an appointment with her. That was free too. She said we wanted to see if she thought she could help me cope. And I went, and she said she did."

"I guess even back then she had her eye on me. But at first, it was just...normal. She was like the CID shrink, but better. I guess we had...a dozen sessions or something before she suggested we try something that wasn't strictly accepted psychiatric practice. Took me down to this old gym that was closed for the day, but she had a key. She knew the guy that owned it or something. Let me beat up on some old punching bags. And...you know, it felt good. Like I was actually doing something."

"Couple of sessions later, she moved us again. Off to this old warehouse. Gave me a crowbar and let me go wild smashing ----. It sounds stupid," she mutters, shaking her head slightly. "But it worked."

"And then one day she told me to meet her back in her office, where it was private. And she looked at me and said that...ah, what was it. Something like 'some things you can't just throw away, but you can learn to control them.'"

"She had this little group. At the time it was just her and Maria - and then me. Like that support group, but more...focused. We'd all been hurt by Supernals, and we were all angry. Her too. And we could just...you know, be around people that understood us. Not judge us. And it helped, it really did. She suggested I apply for a transfer out of my old squad - get a fresh start away from painful memories, she said. Knew all the right things to put in the application and everything. And she was right. I felt like I belonged again, without everyone looking at me. And...I dunno, about a month or so passed, and then..."

"You know, it started off as a game. We had Abene with us by that point, and the four of us...we were hardly even a support group any more. I mean, what had happened to all of us was still there, but a lot of the time, we could just...ignore it. Go out on the town like four normal women. And then one day, we were all real drunk, and there was this ------- of a werewolf boasting about how he'd robbed a corner store and no-one knew it 'cos they weren't considering the perp running faster than most cars. The cops had even interviewed him, he said, and they hadn't the faintest damn idea it was him And it made us mad. Not mad enough to try anything, 'specially when the guy was wolfed out and everything, but we started...just joking. About how we could shut him up."

"The day after...we were all ashamed. You know, about what we'd been saying the night before. But Tahnee wasn't. I think...that was when she got the idea. Or maybe she just chose that time to say it. She suggested we should all plan how we could hurt the Supernals that hurt us, 'cos the law hadn't. Just another game." She shakes her head again. "And...we went with it. We trusted her. But honestly, I don't think we'd have done anything. It was like...how you always imagine you might one day go on a date with a celebrity or something. We never thought it would be reality."

"Tahnee did. The way she put it, the law wasn't managing to protect humanity from Supernals, so someone had to. And the way she put it, it just made our actual jobs, catching dumb little criminals or whatever, seem so...pointless."

"Maly and Varlam were different to us. I mean, she recruited Maly same way she did us, and she never said anything, but we all knew that she was different. For one thing, she was into the whole idea. Not cautious, or careful, like the rest of us. She just wanted to hurt Supernals - didn't matter who to her. And the same day she recruited her, McWilliam came up with her plan of robbing the new gear that was being shipped from W.E. And then Varlam..."

She sighs. "He went to one of her counselling sessions too, and I guess she figured we needed a driver, because she just targeted him. I said she helped us, and I stand by it. Abene, Maria, me - hell, even Maly, maybe. But I wish there'd been another way than get him, 'cos he was getting better on his own. He didn't need her - our - help. But we needed him."

"She's smart, McWilliam. Not...like, books and stuff. She understands things - people, mostly. She figures out what people are going to do and how to make them do what she wants. I think it only took her two weeks or something, and then she had him wrapped around her little finger and he didn't even realise."

"She planned it all. Maybe she'd been planning it the whole time. W.E. are pretty smart - the lorries have GPS and their intended routes programmed in, and they send an alert if there's much of a deviation that their computers can't explain. But with Maly on the inside, she could tell us where she was supposed to stop for the night. And we could head up, look through the manifest, get what we wanted. The crates have this anti-tamper tape, but when the lorry got to Fort Bliss I could just pick the right crates to look at and use that to explain why they were opened before they got to the armoury. I don't know how Abene managed to slip it past her partner. McWilliam - or Harbinger, by this point - wanted us to keep things secret from each other in case...well, this happened." She gestures to her surroundings. "But we loaded the gear into Varlam's car and drove it down to this old warehouse. That was our base, but...we had a plan for this. Ever since we started yesterday, we've had someone listening to the comms. If we were outed, didn't matter what else we did so long as we got a warning off. Whoever was on comms would call the others, let them know we were compromised. Basically, drop everything and get to the warehouse, and then we'd move. I don't know where."

She pauses, and glances at the deal she's signed. "Okay, er...the team, as far as I know, was the six of us. You know me and Harbinger. Maria is Aegis. Abene is Blitz. Maly is Boomer - she insisted on the damn name, and on having the rocket launcher when we stole it. And Harbinger said we needed her, and that was that." She seems distinctly discomforted by that particular proposition. "Varlam is Turbo.

"The plan for Simeonov was for me to snipe the ---- from a rooftop at about 8:30. One incendiary bullet to the skull. But when they know I've been taken, Harbinger'll have gone to another plan. She always has plans. But after that, there'll be other targets. That was one thing we agreed on."

"We don't stop until we are stopped."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Agent Weis listened, with a gentle, sympathetically encouraging look on his face. Behind the mask, there was a sheen in Erin's eyes as she listened to the story.

Of course she helped you! Erin wanted to scream. Of course she understood you! Of course she made you feel like part of something! It was straight out of the playbook of every hate group and cult the world had ever seen. Tell you what you want to hear. Give you a place you feel like you belong. But she could hardly blame Trifonov or any of them for falling for it. It was part of every playbook because it worked. It was stupidly effective.

It did not take fey magic to warp a person's feelings, and make them like it.

But you could hear it in her voice. The glimmer of realization. The first step towards questioning. Oh, she wasn't there yet. Not even close. But she had let her concern for her friends outweigh her hatred. She had admitted uncertainty regarding McWilliam's motives. She had explained why she had done what she had done, and that wasn't something you do when you are certain you are right.

It was a long road she'd have to walk and she wasn't anywhere near the end. But she had taken the first step. That was more than Erin had expected to accomplish when she had come in here.

"Thank you," Weis told her gently. "And, for what it's worth, I am sorry. We'll make sure they're brought in with as little harm as possible. And I want you to know, we're going to make sure Simeonov goes down too. He absolutely does not deserve to get away with what he's done, and we are for darn sure not going to let him hurt anyone else either."

...

"Alright let's see here. I'm going to need the address of the warehouse. Even if they're not there it gives us a starting point. And any security measures you guys have set up, since I assume they'll be the same at the new base. Actually, if you can remember where the gym was, that might be worth checking too. Was the warehouse where you smashed stuff different than the one you used as a base? Also, which phone number belongs to Rojas?" He might be the weak link, especially since Elizabeth knew him.

"Do you know how they'd move? Is Varlam's car big enough that they'd use it, or would they need to rent a truck?"

"And is Simeonov the only target you planned to hit tonight? ...Actually, by the way, just because it's been nagging at us, you guys split into two teams last night, right? You don't actually have some sort of stealthy flying vehicle or something?" Look with all the other high-tech gear they had stolen it hadn't been a completely unreasonable possibility, and it hadn't looked like any of the people in the videos needed a leg brace. But at this point...Occam's Razor, you know?

[Llyarden]

"The address is...uh, 81 Adams Road. I'm not sure on the gym. I think it was called...like, Bull Boxing or something?"

"We don't have security measures. I mean, the door's locked, but other than that. Tah - Harbinger thought anything more would attract attention, since the place is meant to be abandoned. There are no cameras around there or anything, which was more important. And yeah, it was the same place. We stopped smashing it up when we started hanging out there."

"I don't have Varlam's number. She never gave it to us, said since he wasn't one of her patients officially she didn't want anything that might tie him to the rest of us. His car is big enough for four of us. Five if we squeeze. But if we didn't think we needed to move quickly, we just bought rentals - or, well, Harbinger did - or used her car. That was what we did last night. Varlam, me and Harbinger went to the gargoyle, because we knew we'd be making noise and need to make a quick getaway, and the other three used a rental."

"Moving everything...I don't know. I don't think everything would fit in his car, and it'd be pretty obvious if we were driving down the highway with a rocket launcher sticking out of the boot. I don't know what vehicles of ours you guys have found, but between Varlam's car, his bike and Harbinger's car, they could probably manage most of the important stuff. But she probably has a truck somewhere just in case. Or they might have just left most of the ammo behind."

"Tonight...far as I know, Simeonov was the only one. It had to be early in the evening - I don't know why, that's just what Harbinger said - and a gunshot was gonna cause a stir, so she figured lying low would be best."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Okay. I need to report this to the rest of my team. We might have more questions for you, but that's enough to start. Thank you. You're doing to the right thing," Weis said sincerely, before heading out.

Once he was out of the room and the door closed, Weis turned back into Erin. They were close. A showdown at Simeonov's was a perfectly acceptable fallback option if it came to it, but did create some additional risk. If they could get them before they moved, all the better.

Time was of the essence, but there was one little thing Erin did have to do first.

She walked over to Aina, who I'mma go ahead and assume/declare was watching the whole thing from the other side of the one-way mirror. Aina had a good head on her shoulders, and seemed to have a keen sense of people. Erin felt pretty sure she would be able to understand the meaning in Trifonov's confession.

She was totally convinced of Aina's goodness. If for no better reason (and she had better reasons) than as a general rule, only people with good hearts actually stress out that much over whether or not they are actually good people. But what she believed did not matter nearly as much as what Aina believed. She might not be able to outright convince Aina that she was good. Not yet. But...

"Anybody can always change for the better," she said, gazing into her eyes. Her voice was quiet, but there was a ringing intensity to it, a certainty that had nothing to do with mere confidence. "You just need to make sure they get the opportunity to do it!"

She reached out, setting her right hand on Aina's left shoulder, and added pointedly, "Welcome to the Task Force."

[Llyarden]

Aina had indeed been watching the entire thing from the other side of the window - when the alternatives were pouring through documents, poking around in people's houses or watching Emily invent...something...she'd clearly decided that the resumed interrogation of Trifonov was the most interesting/informative option.

And...well, Ignis had told you she formed attachments easily. But it might nonetheless have been slightly surprising to see that there were a couple of tears in her eyes (which she hastily wiped away when you emerged.)

And she clearly catches your meaning, because another couple of tears shimmer at the corner of her eyes. ~Thank you,~ she says - both telepathically and verbally.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Erin looked at her with a gentle smile and a tiny hint of a nod, before shifting around so she was standing beside her rather than in front of her, her arm sliding around her shoulders. Like flicking a switch, she went from warmly sincere to her usual excitable cheeriness. "Now come on! We've got a fallback base to find, and I've got siblings to brag to!" she said, tugging Aina towards the door.

Emily was still in her lab and Elizabeth out going over evidence from crime scenes, but Eric was in one of the CID offices poring over a pile of frustratingly-useless documents. Erin scampered up behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and planting a cheery kiss on his cheek. "~She spilled!~" she said, both verbally and telepathically.

"Wait what?"

~Seriously!?~

~Who spilled now?~

"Trifonov spilled! She spilled like a three-year-old Emily with a juice cup and a packet of apple sauce! Good news is, I've got it confirmed that Simeonov was their only planned target for the night, they are still gonna be going after him, and where they were lairing! Bad news is they would have moved by now. But! I figure we can check the CCTVs around that location from since Eric apprehending Trifonov until now. They probably can't have dodged all the cameras. And then we can track them! And then we can arrest them! And I am so good at this!"

~Alright, alright. Props.~

"How in the world did you-?"

"Eric, let me just stop you right there. I am your twin sister after all. We have literally known each other for our entire lives and also it was not two weeks ago that you watched me charm a djinn. And do not get me wrong, Trifonov may be a murderous anti-Supernal grumpyhead, but she is no djinn!"

~Em, forget about whatever toy you're playing with and get back. Eric, Erin, get those feeds up.
We've got less than two hours before it gets dark, and I want them in custody before it does!~

"Woo!" Erin agreed.

They filled in Perez, Coemans, and Cerny as they got things set up, and Erin called up Pape to update him as well, although she did say to keep people on Simeonov for now and let them know if something happened earlier than they expected.

But assuming they could get CCTV data for the streets around the warehouse, they'd get it going at full speed and start going through the footage looking for any of the suspects or Varlan's car, until they either found something, ran out of footage, or were down to only half an hour before dark.

Elizabeth would also put in a call to get some people researching a Bull Boxing or similar gym.

Spoiler

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Elizabeth Contacts to try to track down that gym: (1d20+15)[31].

Assuming I can get the CCTV data, Quickness it up and:

Elizabeth will roll Investigation to search the feeds for them: (1d20+15)[22].

Erin will roll Perception to try to spot them: (1d20+10)[17].

Eric and Emily will Team Check Routine Perception for 25 to try to spot them.

Emily's Electronic Surveillance specialty may also apply here.

If we find them, let me know if I need to roll anything to track them over the CCTVs (for as far as the network can go, anyway).

[Llyarden]

Spoiler: OOC

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I'll use those same rolls for tracking the car across the CCTV network as finding it, because it's basically the same thing anyway.

Finding Varlam's car leaving the warehouse isn't too difficult. Because of the lack of cameras in the area, you can't actually see it leaving or anything, but a highway camera catches it probably an hour or so after you brought in Trifonov, and from there you can follow it down the highway. Varlam and McWilliam are in the front seat, and you're pretty sure that there's at least one person in the back seats, but you aren't sure who (or how many). Varlam seems somewhat stressed, if his semi-reckless driving, almost verging on aggressive, is anything to go by, but McWilliam seems perfectly relaxed, occasionally putting her hand on Varlam's arm in an apparent attempt to calm him down.

Unfortunately, while you can follow the car down the highway for a short time, the fallback base is clearly situated just as cleverly as the warehouse, because they seem to vanish from the footage as suddenly as they'd appeared. You've certainly narrowed down the area quite extensively, but you don't have a definitive location.

The location certainly isn't the Bull Boxing Gym (which actually is called that; it had the sponsorship of a pro boxer whose nickname was 'Bull' and kinda faded from popularity when he did), though - that's on the other side of the city.

[Quellian-dyrae]

That was fine. They knew a general area, and they knew they were in Varlam's car. For most investigators, given the time crunch, that wouldn't have been enough.

But they weren't most investigators.

"Em?"

"I can do it."

"Alright. Aina, we're going to track these guys down. We need you to stay here for this though. If they spot us and it turns into a fight...it's not safe for you. Okay?"

"I mean, realistically, it's turning into a fight either way. The only question is whether or not we have a full FBI and CID strike team at the scene when it does."

"Fair. But even so, they should secure the perimeter only. These guys are too dangerous, and if the teams engage they'll shoot to kill. I want to bring them in alive."

"Works for me. I want to give McWilliam a good punch in the face anyway," Elizabeth said, remembering the picture she had found.

[Llyarden]

"Wait, what?" Aina protests. "I'd probably be safer there than you!" And...for a moment or two it kinda looks like she wants to say something else, but she hesitates before she does.

"I just want to help," she eventually settles on.

[Quellian-dyrae]

There were a few raised brows at that particular claim. Definitely more evidence of the whole "actually an uber-powerful Supernal" theory.

"We know you do, sweetie. But it's our job to keep you safe, okay? And that means not exposing you to danger, even if you don't think it's enough danger to present a meaningful threat to you."

"And the thing is, Aina, we're not sure what you can do. How strong you are. How good your control would be in a combat situation. Maybe once this case is over you can fill us in on all that and we can revisit. But for now, it's too risky, for you, for them, and for us."

"But, if you want to help, there is something we need someone doing here," Emily said. "It's not, um, exciting, or anything, but it's not busywork either. It does need doing." Emily pulled up the current camera feed for the last camera they saw Rojas' car on. "Always have a contingency plan. If they try to slip by us - or even if they just happen to have already left by the time we get there, or something - they might have to pass this camera again. So watch it like a hawk. If you see Rojas' car again, call us immediately. Can you do that?"

[Llyarden]

"No I don't want to fight," Aina hastily says, almost all in a single word. "That...that wouldn't go well. But..." She holds up her hand, where the enchanted ring Ignis had mentioned rests. "People ignore me. Especially when there are bigger threats like you guys there. And..."

"You know I grew up with the Circle. Mostly in Circle safehouses, and there were always people coming in and out. I saw a lot of people go on missions for the Circle, and...sometimes they came back hurt. Sometimes..." She pauses for a moment, and continues in a very quiet voice. "Sometimes they didn't come back at all."

"I know I can't help you fight. I just...I just don't want to be sitting here looking at a television screen while you guys are fighting people who're armed with iron!"

She goes quiet for another few moments. "Can you at least let me be in the...perimeter thing?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

"And if a couple of them got past us and tried to shoot their way through the perimeter? If the officers were were standing with came under fire? Could you save them?" You could hear in her voice what Elizabeth wasn't being purely rhetorical here. It was a legitimate question, and the answer could potentially sway her. "Or if not...what would come next? Can you say with certainty that you would be disciplined enough not to unleash power upon the attackers, if you just watched them kill people in front of you? Can you say with certainty that if you saw one of us take an iron bullet and go down, you would have the discipline to keep from trying to fight then? And even if you could, how would you feel afterwards? I know it's hard to wait safe back at home while people go into danger. But you need to ask yourself if your presence would actually contribute to the cause, or if you would just be exposing yourself to more potential pain."

"Bombs and bullets aren't the only things we're trying to protect you from," Erin added gently.

"So. We don't have time for a big discussion. So I'm going to extend you a lot of trust, Aina," Elizabeth's voice was more serious than Aina would have ever heard it, over the week she'd been with them. "I'm going to trust you to really consider the situation, and answer me not based on what you want, but on what you know is true. If you can tell me, with certainty, that if it came down to it your presence could save lives and would risk none, and that you are both willing to expose yourself to that potential danger and those possible experiences and strong enough to bear them, I'll tell Coemans you're authorized to join the perimeter if we are able to call them in. Otherwise, I want you to stay here."

[Llyarden]

"Could you save them?" Aina is quiet for a moment or two after she asks that, clearly choosing her words carefully.

"I'm not...trying to avoid the question, or anything. What I mean is...I know first aid. Maybe not official FBI medical protocols, if those...exist...but I've probably seen worse wounds than some of your agents - and I've helped to treat them. To save people. I don't know, with absolute certainty, that I could save them," she admits. "I don't know that anyone could say that - even you. But I could help. Even if it was just...helping carry someone on a stretcher or something, or putting out a fire."

"If I wanted to just be safe, to be protected from everything -" she glances to Erin briefly "- I would have stayed with the Circle. They didn't...kick me out, or force me to come here, or anything like that. And whatever I might have wanted," she adds, "if they thought that there was a risk to me being here they wouldn't have ever let me go."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean, could you guarantee their survival. I meant, could you say with certainty that there was something you could do that could potentially save them. As opposed to just standing there and feeling guilty because you're present and still unable to do anything. First aid does count."

"As it happens, though, Ignis did specifically warn us against this situation. It was his advice that if we were going into a potentially dangerous battle, we should try to keep you away from it. So you should consider that before you jump in. That said, I'll let Coemans know you're allowed to join the perimeter, if we have the time to call it up. I will expect you to follow any orders she or the officers she assigns you to give you."

"Now, let's go!"

The siblings would get people informed that they had a trick that might let them track these guys down, and told Cerny to get a team ready to secure a perimeter, and Coemans that CID was welcome to get involved as well at her discretion (and that they needed maximum speed so they were leaving Aina here for now, but if the CID could bring her along she could be useful as an extra pair of eyes on the perimeter). They'd tell them the general area they were heading to, so they could gear up and get moving, and that they would give a more precise location if they successfully found them. They'd also get someone to keep an eye on the camera feed, because that was actually something that needed to be done.

Assuming no hitches there, they'd fly for the area where the last camera had sighted them, Erin and Emily taking the lead (Elizabeth and Eric were still a bit drained from their exertions earlier in the day and hadn't exactly had a chance to rest, so they were flying a bit slower). Once they got there, up in the sky, Emily would begin a rhythmic chant, her hands going through a series of precise, flowing gestures.

All of them knew their basic sorcerous magic. And, you know, they were fairly flexible with it. Could pull off some cool tricks every now and again. But even discounting their sorcery, they were fey. Magic was in their blood, and with effort, they could shape it to their will.

And Emily, with her practical knowledge of the field, was by far the best at it.

"Locate Object: Varlam Rojas' Car!" she intoned at the end. Because whether Dungeons and Dragons was accurate in the general sense was irrelevant; Emily played it and she took inspiration where she found it, that was why!

Spoiler

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Power Stunt off of Fey Blood: Flight 10 (Wings), Senses 16 (Ranged Radius Acute Direction Sense Distance Sense Extended 3 Rapid 3 Penetrates Concealment Mental Detect [A chosen object which the caster is able to clearly visualize and identify]; Concentration), Feature 1 (May change the object detected as a move action); Senses 1 (Extended Hearing).

(Really the Locate Object is the Senses 16 and the Feature, she just keeps the wings and Extended hearing because she's still in fey form, but most of the mental effort that would be processing all the other auditory stuff is going to processing the Locate Object data).

The sense isn't Accurate, but it has Direction and Distance sense so she'll gets a general sense of where its at in relation to her as long as the stunt's on.

And Routine 20 Perception, which should let her detect it assuming a base DC of 0 within like 37 miles.