Dec 06 03:33:24 107 PA - The plot thickens
From Chronicles
The current game time is: Wed Dec 06 03:33:24 107 PA.
The red brick duplex stands along several others exactly like it in this quiet little neighborhood. Metal security doors help to add a little security to the place. A small ill kept grass lawn is covered in snow, and there is a shared driveway with a small grey sedan parked out front.
Dressed against the elements, Sage makes her way to the duplex where she's heard may be a good starting place. She considers the place and the car as she comes up to it, but she doesn't expect any clues to jump out at her. She approaches the door to announce her presence.
With a healthy gait, Gabriel comes up the street toward the duplex that he seems to be vaguely familiar with. The early December temperature and blanket of the snow seem to bother him not in the slightest. His face is set and pleasant, but his eyes obviously searching the area as he returns to ask questions. As Sage is somewhat distant at the moment, a hand is raised and waved slightly, but no words are spoken.
The security door appears to be unlocked and slightly ajar. At the ring on the doorbell no one answers or at least for a few minutes after the doorbell was rung. Snow gently falls from the sky seeming to muffle sounds from around the city.
Sage frowns faintly at the signs she finds before her, before glancing around to see whether she should enter or not. With the potential for trouble being higher than she had originally thought, she is quietly thankful for her investment in concealable armor. Instead of waving to the man, she tries to wave him over.
Gabriel pads more quickly over to the woman's side. "Sage," is his only acknowledgement. His eyes take in the swinging door. "Well, this doesn't look quite right does it?" Without looking at the woman, he comments, "I've been here once before. Everything was quite secure. You, ah..." he taps his head with a closed fist "... I don't know, sense anything? Not quite sure how that works."
Sage greets the man with a nod, "No, it doesn't seem to be right at all." She agrees before looking to the unsecure door. Then she holds up a finger as she holds up a finger. "I will attempt to sense if there's anyone around... but it might be best to leave trying to sense anything else until we have something beyond an unsecure door. Shall we head in?" She asks, as she begins to move her gloved hand towards the door.
The older man slides his long-barreled sidearm silently from its holster. "Mmm..." Gabriel seems to eye the front area, then shakes his head slowly. He speaks even more softly, gripping his pistol in a combat hold. "No. Not yet. Let's look around back, check a window, see if anything else is out of place. If something has happened, then it's done already. No sense in charging in without trying to see what we might have to face." He nudges his head to indicate the rear of the duplex.
A small fence encloses the two small backyards of the duplex. Made of wood it is just high enough to stop passerbys from looking in on the backyard. Little caps of snow run along the top of the wooden posts of the fence. A gate that appears to be latched from the inside looks like it opens on to the alley.
Sage's hand stops just before touching the door and pulls back at the man's words. "So far I only sense you." She comments before nodding faintly to the man, "It may be best to see what we can see before entering. Might be able to figure out why its unsecure without entering." She comments before she shifts her attention to the fence that leads to the backyard. "Although, getting to the backyard may be a challenge..." She comments as she begins to walk towards the fence. "I could try lifting you over it, though." She looks for something that the man could stand on, "Unless you'd prefer me to go over the top."
The Kentuckian keeps pace alongside Sage as they move slightly toward the rear of the duplex, seeming to consider the fence the entire time. Still with a whisper, he asks two quick questions: "Do you have armor, and how fast can you get both of us over?"
"Yes, I have armor... probably not enough if we're planning on getting into an extended fire fight." Sage comments before she walks over to grab the trash can. "As for how quick, that depends on how much you weigh." She comments before orienting the trashcan in a way they both could stand on it. She may dump it out if there's anything heavy in it. "Stand on this."
Gabriel steps up, as ordered. Sure, plastic cans are a little flimsy, but it seems to hold his weight for now. The man offers a shrug and an agreement. "I'll tell you now, if I see someone firing energy at me, I'm probably going to run. I can't take much, either." He then looks up over the fence. "So, toss me, then, or are you coming with me?"
The backyard is layered in snow from the storm. There is one lone tree as well as a clothesline that is long enough to run from one side of the fence to the other. The back door also has a metal security door.
Carefully Sage steps onto the trash can as well, simply nodding to the man's words. "Then make sure you keep your balance." Sage comments before she begins to concentrate on the trash can itself. It doesn't take long before the can is lifting them off the ground and helping to overcome the fence.
Gabriel lifts his feet to make his way over the fence, then extends them, not knowing what kind of impact to expect. His weapon is at the ready, his eyes are looking, but he is otherwise completely silent.
The can moves easily up to the top of the fence allowing anyone to easily hop down to the snowy ground below.
Gabriel crouches slightly as the can rises. In times past, this may have sent him for a loop, but at this point, it's not horribly shocking. As he attempts to make himself as small a target as possible, his eyes scan the interior grounds, and he leaps down from the top of the fence. Or the top of the can, whichever someone observing may find more appropriate a terminology.
Sage's body crouches slightly as well as the sensation of being risen from the ground comes. Once it gets to the point where she can hop to the ground behind the fence, she'll take a look around before she'll move to enter the backyard if there's no apparent danger in that course of action.
The gate is latched and there is a bolt that slides into the fence so that the gate can't be easily opened from the outside. The metal security door in the back is closed. A small soccer goal is collapsed down and is set against the back of the fence.
The man from Kentucky takes the time to glance at the collapsed goal. "He's British?" Glancing up at the woman, Gabriel will suggest to Sage, "Watch my back for a minute, please. This is probably nothing, but just to make sure." He'll then advance toward the crumpled goal, looking out for things like tripwires and pressure plates as best he can.
The latch on the gate is considered by Sage to make sure its easy enough to get out from the backyard if they need to depart. She glances to the man with a raised brow. "Alright." She comments before slipping her hand into her jacket to find one of the weapons she has on her person. She lets her gaze drift around the backyard, including glancing at any window she can see.
The collapsible goal is just that a soccer goal that is able to collapse to take up less space. The net looks like it is old and it has a few holes in it. The windows to the backyard don't have the shades drawn and they look into a modest kitchen that like a lot of male bachelor's kitchen looks to be slightly underused and a tad dirty.
Gabriel gives the mess of crumpled goal a silent kick, then turns and shrugs rather bashfully at his accomplice, only mouthing the words, "Better safe than sorry." He then uses the muzzle of his weapon to indicate the doors and windows. "Anything more than I see? Looks like a bachelor pad to me."
"If a possible murder would go so far as to trap a toy that we have no reason to look at, I'll have to think they are a bit bored." Sage replies with faint amusement as she moves for a closer look through the windows. "Without knowing what might give me impressions, I can't say I would know anything more than you would."
With a nod, Gabriel moves toward the window, peers in, then moves to the rear door, reaching for the handle. "Apparently, I may have just wasted a lot of time. Let's hope nothing's rigged." If the irony of the last comment echoes across to the child's play toy, the irony must be very loud. He will do his best to silently the knob to see if it is still locked.
While the knob of the security door turns it looks like the bolt for the door is locked.
When the door seems to be secured, Sage shrugs faintly. "Well, it was a good idea... now can we just enter through the unlocked door?" She asks, before she begins to make her way back towards the gate. The latch should be easy enough to open up.
The gate creaks slightly as it opens up back on to the alley way.
The older man shakes his head in amusement, quietly saying, "It's better to be cautious than dead, as long as your objective doesn't get away. But yes, we should be along now that I've pseudo-wasted our time." Gabriel's face isn't blushed red at having kicked a goal and tried a locked door in a locked yard.. but neither is he obviously terribly pleased with himself.
For the time being Sage has decided upon her silver-coating vibro-knife that she keeps hidden away in her jacket pocket as she makes her way towards the front door again. She doesn't pay much mind to the creaking as it is likely a matter of missing lubrication than some obscure trap. She'll wait for Gabriel to catching up before she lightly pushes the door open.
Gabriel follows the woman at a combat crouch. As they come around near the front, he says, "Sage, since we haven't yet actually discussed this, if there really is a problem here, we may be dealing with a massive corporation and it's massive interests and its massive ability to keep those interests its own secret. Black was working with Titan Robotics." When the front door is once again clearly in sight, he adds, "I'll say again, this thing will kill an unarmored person, but that's it. I see energy start to fly, I'm gone, miss." There seems to be no cowardice in it, just reality of remaining alive in the face of a potentially unwinnable situation.
The door opens up easily at the touch. The metal security door opens up and the unlocked wooden door easily opens as well. It leads into the living room of the duplex. Inside is a regular scene out of any number of apartments. A living room with a couch right in front of a vid screen. To the side of the couch is a recliner. On the recliner is what looks like was once Brian. However Brian has a large line cut into his skull. In his hand is a small laser pistol. The room is filled with the smell of charred flesh.
As the doors give way to her touches, Sage enters the place with some cautious. Her gaze considers the area to look for possible threats and evidence of what may have happened. It is the smell that gets to her first, "Ew..." She comments softly as she wrinkles her nose. She eases the vibroknife out of her pocket but keeps the blade off for the time being. "Suicide?" She asks, unsure of how to consider the scene. "Might be good to call this in."
With his weapon still in his hands, but the muzzle pointed to the ceiling, Gabriel moves into the room behind his companion, looking into the knicks and crannies that every apartment, even the standard-layout apartments, always have. Obviously, however, the dead man is the most interesting subject. He shakes his head. "You never know." The man with twenty years of experience in certain things that others might find not-so-honorable admits, "I'm good at faking suicides. Someone equally good, or better, could have faked this one." The Kentuckian then sighs. "See if anyone left something obvious. You know, bloody glove and outline of expensive shoes." He steps over to inspect the small kitchen area, probably very unnecessarily.
The kitchen seems to be in proper order. It looks as if Brian was in the midst of preparing a meal. Cereal and a carton of milk are sitting on the table. The living room seems to be in the general disarray of everyday living with a few digital discs sitting on the coffee table. The vid screen is turned off. Music is playing very softly over a stereo system.
Sage purses her lips as she considers the options for looking around. She glances towards the man as he makes her way towards the kitchen. She considers the state of the room where the dead man resides. "I imagine the best clues might be in the living room... but it might be better to get someone that knows how to investigate more properly. Do you see a phone around somewhere?" If she can spot something without having to trek through evidence, she'll do so.
With a shake of his head, Gabriel says, "No, no phone. But I don't think this was a suicide." He finally relaxes his grip on the weapon he holds and points it back toward the kitchen as he walks carefully into the living room. "When people kill themselves, they don't generally do it on a whim. They don't decide in the middle of pouring breakfast that blowing a hole in their head is a good idea. My opinion, this is a setup, and the same people who killed Black killed his assistant." He then inclines his head toward the discs on the table, asks, "Can you do anything with those?" then will go to flip on the vid screen. "Men don't turn off their televisions after they've died."
There is a cellular phone lying on the coffee table. The vid screen blinks to life when Gabriel turns it on. On the screen a Juicer deadball game is being played. It looks like the Kingsdale team is up by a few points.
"I didn't think it was too likely given that the door is open." Sage comments, "I figure it'd be closed unless he just ran in and just had to end it." She gives a faint sigh as she spots the phone and walks over to the coffee table. "At any rate, I'd rather not be considered the murderer..." She adds as she reaches for the phone.
"Oh, yeah, there's a phone. Keep forgetting that the damn things are mobile." Gabriel indicates it with the muzzle of his weapon. The digital discs are then very lightly tapped. The man looks around the room, and in a thick drawl asks, "Sage, Brian was Black's right hand man. In charge of just about all of his day-to-day activities. Digital discs on the table... but the right hand man of a powerful businessman has no computer?" He'll then start to search the apartment for said computer. "But yeah, we should call it in - on our own phones. Don't suppose you can get anything off his his? Like a phone number or something?" He then continues to look for a computer.
There doesn't seem to be any type of computer around the duplex. A small printer is found under a few clothes that seem to have been dropped on top of the printer. A few files are underneath the printer and look to be buisness records if anyone flips through them. The records are about a year old it looks like.
Sage's hand falls short of the phone, before nodding. "Alright." She comments before moving back towards the entrance. "I'm not overly good with technology myself, but I imagine those discs could be videos or something. Maybe there was something someone didn't want to see." She says before she pulls out her phone to call up the police and report what they've found. She worries a little bit about how they've - mostly Gabriel really - have trampled their way through this place.
The older man grunts, crouched down for the moment. "Shipping records. I'm not going to disturb them, but when I saw Brian, he mentioned that a man named Theo, who was in charge of Black's shipping industry, had been hired by Titan Robotics. He actually said, 'thankfully.'" Gabriel shrugs. "Could be nothing. But this isn't the time to go pawing and leaving fingerprints. I'm sure that I've left enough boot-prints in the carpet for the cops to be pissed about. We can talk about it later." He walks up near the woman and *very* securely fastens his weapon at his side. No need to piss off twitchy law enforcement officers.
Since no one seems to jump out at her while she calls in the police, Sage tucks away her own weapon. The conversation is kept brief as she figures there isn't much that needs to be said. Once the conversation is over. "Alright, rather than trying to read everything... let me see what I can pick up from that weapon." She comments, deciding that somethings can't be helped. She crouches down near the dead man and tries to touch the weapon in a way that wont cause it to be dropped.
Gabriel halts his speech as his companion goes about her business of doing whatever it was that she was doing. After he decides that she seems to be somewhat able to listen, he adds, "Black was apparently pivotal in bringing Titan into Kingsdale. When Black was murdered, Brian said that he was in Merctown, picking up some finalized contracts for Titan shipping. I think that we should find this 'Theo' fellow and buy him lunch." That information dispensed, he'll just wait.
As Sage touches the laser pistol a swirl of impressions and images enter her mind. First the impression of an evil, very cold, and very calculating mind fill her head. The impression soon turns into images. Sage sees Brian opening up the door to let someone in. Then it flashes forward to Brian being shot through the head with the laser. A quick glance at a mirror gives the image of a man in his mid twenties, athletic build, and taller then normal. The facial features are blurred though in the mirror.
"Eh?" Gabriel asks, watching his companion do her thing.
"No time to explain yet." Sage comments once she carefully removes her hand from the weapon. She considers the room before walking over towards the discs themselves. She lets her hand rest on the discs to see if she can pick up anything. Information does seem to be so very important when it comes to city life.
The power of the first impressions and images seem to disrupt Sage's ability to read the digital discs.
The living room is getting colder as it looks like the heat has been turned off. Soon the police will arrive to take over the scene, but there is some time left until they arrive.
The older man watches Sage go about her work we only a mildly perplexed expression on his face. Trying his best to be light on his feet, he grabs two paper napkins out of the kitchen, then fits them over his fingers as a poor excuse for gloves. "Let's see if Brian has an interesting incoming or outgoing call. Before the cops get here." Gabriel will then lift the cell phone from its place - carefully noting where it is - and attempt to flip it open touching it only with his napkin-fingers.
The history from the cellular phone looks like it has been recently erased and there are no outgoing or incoming calls on the phone.
Sage's hand lifts from the discs with a sigh and a mild frown. It could be that they don't have any relevance to what they're looking to find. "Well, at least I have an idea of what happened... but I'm not sure if these discs have anything to do with anything." She shrugs as she looks around before she begins to walk over towards the papers. "Might as well try this once more and then we might as well just let the cops take this over." She comments before reaching out to touch the shipping records.
Impressions of the owner swirl through Sage's mind. First comes the impression of a good owner who was confused and slightly angry. The objects purpose is of course allready apparent.
The older man grunts and sets the phone carefully back where it was on the table. Then Gabriel, once more showing perhaps an over-abundance of caution, takes the two napkins and tucks them carefully into his pants. People don't always look too kindly on disturbing a crime scene, even if all it was were napkins. When Sage appears to be done doing her psychic thing, he asks in a drawl, his words coming quickly, "Well, anything helpful?"
"I sensed he seemed to be confused and a little angry about something involving these papers." Sage comments, "He also let the person who killed him into this place... have a sense of the person, but didn't get a good look at the face." She glances over to the other man, "So, do you want to take anything or should we just leave everything here?"
The sound of sirens appears, faint at first, but rapidly growing louder. Gabriel's head twitches and perks as soon as the sirens are audible. "I think it's time to go stand outside and look surprised, Miss Sage. Everything back where it was?" After inspecting, and assuming that everything does indeed appear to be where it was, he heads for the door, doing his best to play "average Kingsdale citizen who stumbled upon a horrible crime scene."
Without having a sense of the killer touching the discs or the shipping information, Sage isn't sure if anything is useful. There's also the matter of being found with things from the crime scene. She nods faintly to the man before she begins to head for the open front door. "Alright."
Soon enough a hovercar pulls up outside of the duplex. The car parks and settles down to the ground. The two doors open and out from the car come two police officers. They are dressed in Northern Gun Peacekeeper body armor. They look up at Gabriel and Sage through their helmets. "Alright one of you called us about a dead body?" One asks in a feminine voice while the other officer takes out a small hand held computer and starts taking notes.
From their position streetside, Gabriel points backward toward Brian's corpse. "Uh-huh, officer. In there." Once case of little information being the best amount of information.
Sage nods her head in agreement before glancing towards the house with a concerned look that she doesn't have to feign. Then she looks back forward. One of the officers looks into the duplex and spots the body easily. Raising the handheld computer up the police officer starts taking pictures of the duplex and Brian's body. The other officer continues to talk to Sage and Gabriel. "And how did you come upon the body?"
"We were walking and talking. First date, you know how it is." Gabriel chuckles a worried chuckle of a man who just saw a dead body, and adds, "I, well, I guess it's going well because I'm not even sure how we managed to wander over here. Then we saw the door there and the lights 'n stuff..." he waves a finger and allows the thought to trail off. "You want me to walk you home now? 'guess the date's probably over," he asks, looking to Sage. Age difference? Bah, it's all good.
It seems her glance towards the house costs Sage the chance to get her cover story in. When the man paints it as a first date scenario, "Not exactly my idea of a first date." She comments, with a faint frown before she looks over to the officer. "Its a little disturbing."
The officer questioning Sage and Gabriel looks between the two with his expressionless helmet. "I will need your names and where you live. You will also have to be held and fingerprinted. Did either of you go inside the building?" She asks as she takes out a hand held computer and starts to take notes.
Gabriel is as immediately forthcoming as a surprised citizen would be. "Uh, yeah, my name's Gabriel, Gabriel Blaze. But I don't live in the city, I live outside the walls, so I don't have an address. Or really even a phone. But I work in the Merchant's Plaza every day," he offers the additional information as, once again, a surprised citizen probably would. However, when it comes time to answer the question of home invasion, he defers to his partner by holding a staying hand up to the officer and devolving into a fit of coughs, pointing at his throat occasionally and eeking out, "Sorry, swallowed... spit... *cough cough*..."
Sage glances between the two people before looking to the cop, "I'm Sage. I didn't know my true family and the community I lived before wasn't big on paperwork." She comments simply, "I live along River Walk myself. Sage Alternatives if you've seen the advertisement." She offers before nodding, "I went in when I sensed there might be trouble... and Gabriel came in after me when I found the body." She leans lightly against the man, "He may be a bit old, but he's a gentleman..." She gives a troubled look back to the place before slipping an arm around the man to hug herself closer.
The officer notes down each of Gabriel's and Sage's names. He gestures for them to sit down on the snow covered sidewalk. "Alright well this will take a while, so if you would have a seat. There will be the coroner coming. We will need to take your fingerprints to match to any within the home. It looks like he has been dead for about 8 hours give or take because of the cold. Suicide almost for sure. You will just have to fill out a few forms as well." The female police officer mentions as another patrol hovercar pulls up. Curious citizens of Kingsdale stop to look at what is happening.
Gabriel simply rolls with Law Enforcement punches, following all instructions without hesitation, and at the moment, no reason even for deception.
"Sure, officer." Sage replies before she moves to sit down, deciding against showing any further affection for Gabriel. She isn't sure whether either investigating officer is a psychic or able to sense someone using it. She will follow the instructions.
A few hours pass as the KPD go over the duplex and take the statements and fingerprints of Sage and Gabriel. It turns into a long and boring afternoon, but eventually the police force seems satisfied with everything and lets the two citizens leave the crime scene.
