ic Tales From The FCPD: Dirty Money

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore nodded once to Evan.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Have a good day at work."

And with a swirl of cape and a whir of a grapnel line, he was gone from the roof and back next to the hunted Detective, the paper secure in his belt once again. He turned to her, his face grim.

"Well it took some doing but I've got my information. Apparently a gentleman named Ivan down at the Opera House is our money-handler. Between that, and this paper, which orders your...termination...I think we have enough to at least get some momentum on our side. I'll let Boss Lady know, but we should probably get moving toward the House."

Nevermore began moving down the alley, toward another darkened street, a goal clearly in mind.

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

The drive to Ivan's manor near the abandoned Opera house was a quiet one.  With the detective providing less than her share of conversation.  Nevermore took care to stick to the back roads and limit the possibility of either party being spotted.  The home itself was "gated".  But, like most buildings in the Fens it had been ravaged by both time and circumstances.  The rusted over gates having enough sparse openings for a person to just walk through.

 

Crossing the grounds, getting closer to the building itself there were three roving guards.  Each armed with a pump action shotgun.  They seemed to be fairly fit East European men with scowls that would scare most men.  However, the grass was covered with cars every which way.  Impairing the guards vision while at the same time blaring music from the house served to deafen them.

 

Occasionally sounds of celebration made it above the noise.  The house itself was notably nothing impressive.  A victorian triple decker townhouse whose bricks were a varied myriad of splotches of color.

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore hadn't really tried to start much conversation up, concentrating instead on getting there as quickly and efficiently as possible. Honestly the ride was a bit awkward; the Talon wasn't really designed for easily seating two, especially with how he rode on it, so it was not the most Kodak of moments. Still, they had both survived it, the bike was stashed, and they were scoping the place out. His eyes flitted between the guards, before turning to Detective Archer.

"I've got a comm set in that compartment. Connects to my headset. I think I can take these guys. Layout's sloppy. Watch my back."

He paused, giving a very slight grin and nod at the veteran policewoman.

"Please?"

Assuming she didn't notably object, Nevermore would begin the long and somewhat boring task of creeping across the dark ground to the cover provided by the nearest vehicle. From there, he would take time to observe the patterns (such as they might be) of the guard patrol. Watching and waiting. Looking for one of them to single himself out from the rest, isolated from their lines of sight. That would be the first one to take down. He had time, though. At least a little bit. Certainly enough to do this right.

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

"Just be careful.  I'm sure you're a professional.  But only one of us needs bullet holes as a fashion accessory."  Detective Archer casually replied.

 

Nevermore found himself positioned on the other end up a beat up looking charger.  The guard was currently taking a smoke break with his back to the car.  Positioned perfectly for the teen hero to take advantage off.  Furthermore in the distance he could make out a the boots of a second guard standing by a tree.  The full visual partially obscured by the van a short distance away.

 

If he were to push forward after taking out his careless target, Nevermore would be able to take advantage of that barrier in whatever managed he so chose.  In an open space of field stood the remaining armed guard.  He seemed to be the only one attentive to the circumstances around him.  Though the guard's line of sight wasn't currently focused on his would be allies.

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore just smirked, but had the good grace to nod at the Detective's warning before he slipped into the shadows.

He'd taken his time making his way across the lawn, stopping now and again to make himself another motionless lump of shadow on the grass. He stopped, crouched behind a poorly-maintained classic muscle car, something that itself made him a bit sad inside. Removing a bit of that sliver of guilt he had about what he was about to do....

It took him only moments to see that no one was looking for Smokey The Thug, who was suddenly in a choke hold, dragged over the car, and quickly pushed into lala land. His smoke was stamped out, and his unconscious self shoved under the car, hidden by its shadow.

Nevermore was on the clock, now. The third guard was doing his job, and so he'd notice his missing comrade eventually. Time for the second guy. The van provided good cover. Nevermore crouched just around the corner from it, waiting for the boots of the one by the tree to shift just a bit...

 

And then like lightning he rushed over, shoved a hand over the guard's mouth, and gave him a good one-two nerve strike. Out like a light. His gun caught before it hit the ground, his dead weight dragged out of sight and leaned against a wheel of the van. The gun was safed, magazine pulled, cartridge ejected, and pulled apart in moments. Now for the last guy...

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[KnightDisciple]

The final guard had been a bit trickier than the others. Nevermore had opted to spend precious seconds observing him, to determine what, if any patterns his observation and movements had. Finally, he felt he had everything he could without taking too much time.

He began creeping across the field directly behind the guard, stopping every few seconds so as to lessen the risk of detection. As the man moved about, Nevermore shifted his position, always staying behind him even as he drew closer. Finally, he was just behind the man. He fought the urge to grin.

Instead, Nevermore opted to stand up and put one hand over the man's mouth while the other reached down and grabbed his trigger hand such that he nailed a couple nerve points. The trigger hand went slack and practically numb. The guard's eyes widened, and he dropped the gun, which was thankfully on a strap, as he tried to free himself. For his troubles, he earned a punch to each kidney before another arm snaked across his throat and cut off the air and bloodflow just enough to leave him insensate and slack. With that, Nevermore released his mouth and squeezed a bit more, taking him the rest of the way to la-la-land even as his free arm aimed and fired a quiet grapnel to a point just to the side of one of the cars. It took him brief seconds to zip into place and drag the final guard to rest there. A quick application of zip-tie cuffs (like with the other two unconscious men), and he was ready to make his way into the house.

Or was he? Before making his way in, he decided scouting things out would be good...

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Nevermore stalked around the immediate area.  Searching for something.  Anything that would give him an advantage.  In the immediate area there was no means to affect the property largely.  He couldn't say turn off the power or cut the phone lines without maneuvering around more of the property to look for such items. 

 

What Nevermore could do was enter.  The front door was clear for the taking, left wide open by the constant stream of guests.  There was also a kitchen window visible to him from his position.  It was visibly unlocked, but not yet open.  In more inconspicuous means scaling to the second floor would provide access to a balcony.  While he couldn't confirm if the balcony was unlocked or not from the distance, there was nothing preventing him from finding out.  Lastly there seemed to be a ground cellar access near the front entrance way.  Likely used as a storage area of sorts.  But, the possibility that it could also enter the house was there.

 

Close enough to the doorway he could hear the club music playing inside clearly.  Drunken sounds of raucous laughter and cheering making themselves clear.  Ivan was throwing a party and the guests were enjoying themselves.  Without a close look it was hard to tell how many of those very same partygoers were trustworthy.

[KnightDisciple]

The front door was tempting, but ultimately not viable. He might be able to stay undetected and he certainly could move in without opening anything, but most likely he would be in less-than-ideal CQB territory and wouldn't really have a place to hide himself. And if some of the guests weren't criminals or thoroughly corrupt (a remote possibility in his mind considering the reputation of this man, but not impossible by any stretch), he'd rather not have to deal with them so quickly. Better to have this wrapped up before any cops arrived.

The kitchen window didn't have the trouble of loads of guests, but it was even more likely to be immediately inhabited than the front entryway. Even trying to "sneak a peak" had risk.

The upper balcony was extremely tempting, but it might also be a lookout point for guards; thankfully the men on the lawn were thoroughly hidden at this point, so that wouldn't cause a ruckus right away.

But the cellar door may well provide access to more than just canned goods. And it was less likely to be inhabited.

So with that decided, the young vigilante moved both swift and silent across the shadowed grass around the house until he came to the cellar doors. First, he tested them, gently, to see if there was a lock or some other mechanism barring entry, while hopefully making no noise. If the doors seemed free to open, he would carefully open one at a time, doing his best to mitigate any creaks or noise. In fact, if he could fit through with only one open, all the better. The whole time, his lenses glowed softly, the darkness around him bright as the noonday sun as far as he was concerned.

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

It was with good fortune that Nevermore found the cellar unlocked.  The door swung open without issue.  Revealing the pitch black room inside.  Not that the darkness was of concerned for the teen investigator.  Inside the cellar were racks of wine bottles of varying vintages.  The room held to a low enough temperature to maintain their quality.  Furthermore there were three locked crates within the room.  Their contents protected by padlocks.  Various shelves lined the area maintaining survival equipment and food.  The room acted not only as wine storage but a makeshift survival shelter.

 

At the far end of the cellar was a staircase leading upstairs into the house.  The cellar did not contain access to a fuse box either.  But, it did have access to the intercom system.  It also provided singular access to video relay that showed the living room and Ivan's bedroom.  Ivan was not in his bedroom, but there seem to be a young girl in her teens.  Staring at television from the man's bed with bored exasperation.

 

The living room was a livelier feed.  With Ivan sitting on a couch with a glass of wine.  Two beautiful women at his side.  The man was a muscular behemoth of man.  He wasn't notably large in height.  But his width and muscle mass were clearly imposing sight.  Even from the cellar Nevermore could hear the music blaring loudly at a distance.  There were party goers of varying state of soberness dancing all about.  The lights turned off so a strobe light could flash all about.  Most notably were the four armed men in suits making their rounds throughout the living room.

 

There were still more security guards.

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore really just wanted to, like, punch a fuse box at this point. It would relieve anger, and give him the cover of darkness that he needed. Still, knowledge was power, and having live feeds of where the enemy was moving about was even better. He drew out his palmtop computer from his belt and began to make notes, trying to determine what, if any, pattern the roving guards followed. Plus, maybe he could get a better idea of how they were all armed, and where, in general, all of them were.

Then there was the task of determining if there was a utility closet or basement section or some such that would let him get at electrical subsystems. Or if nothing else, getting a better idea of what rooms were where and how they connected to each other. Knowing the lay of the land was just as valuable as knowing patrol patterns; the latter weren't much use without a picture of where to go to avoid them. He doubted this place was riddled with convenient man-sized ventilation ducts.

The girl in the bedroom confused him a bit. Was she a prisoner? Mistress? Daughter? He glanced at that feed a few times, trying to spot any signs one way or another.

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

The cameras rotated on a forty five degree angle every thirty seconds.  Allowing Nevermore an opportunity to scan both rooms to a limited degree.  The living room feed gave him the slightest view into the kitchen which currently had two people facing away from the living room.  It also showed a door that he could inquire was the cellar exit.

 

In the bedroom feed, Nevermore noticed the teenage girl had two remotes in hand while watching tv.  The first was a standard television remote.  Able to flip through channels and control the volume.  Amazingly uninteresting.  The second, a security remote. Granting the user complete access to the lighting in the house as well as various devices throughout the home.  If she were a captive, she was one that could leave at any time.  Her apparent age would make being a mistress a squicky possibility.  But, Ivan wasn't exactly a man on the up and up.

 

As there were only two feeds it was easy to inquire that the  screens could give him access to more views in the house.  But, to switch feed he would need to either have to know the command prompt to do so.  Or take the time to hack the system.  As it stood no one was around that would spot him so that option wasn't off of the table.  

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore efficiently hooked his palmtop to the foreign system, and began inputting some basic commands. He had a couple of simple pre-made scripts he used sometimes for such situations, but he was confident he didn't even need those. He started working at the "back end" of the system....and somehow managed to trip a silent alarm on the system.

"Tsk. Sloppy."

His remark was whispered to himself as he shook his head. He quickly unhooked from the monitor system and moved to the only light bulb in the room. With practiced ease he reached up and twisted the bulb so that it was far enough out that a flip of the light switch wouldn't activate the bulb, but still just in enough it wouldn't fall. Then, with the gloomy shadows of the room still showing as bright as day, he slipped over to one of the crates, hiding behind it and watching the inner entryway with practiced care and patience.

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Light from the living room shone into the cellar.  It wasn't enough to give more than a dimly lit view of a limited cone in front of the entrance.  The stairs creaked as two men made their way inside.  "Joe, can you believe this guy?  Sending us to check if his precious wine collection had been damaged?  Ain't no thieves looking to get shot for a drink.  'Sides someone would've checked in from outside"

 

"Frank, it's easy money.  They're probably boozing instead of doing their job."  Joe headed towards the monitoring console.  Seeing as he wasn't a computer expert by any means, the man quickly judged there to be no signs of tampering.   "Must be rats, do something about light.  They probably chewed that up too.".

 

Joe grumbled as he walked towards the light bulb.  The bodyguard reached up only to find the lightbulb was loosely placed inside.  "Lazy guy didn't eve-"

[KnightDisciple]

As soon as Joe was reaching for the light bulb, Nevermore moved. The young hero was a shadow, a wraith in the night. Or in this case, the poorly-lit basement. As the syllables were leaving Joe's mouth, Nevermore snaked one arm up and around his neck, choking his airflow, making it difficult to breath or speak. His other armor whipped under and in front of one of Joe's arms, making it difficult to move the arm at all, and the hand of that arm slapped over the hire-a-thug's mouth, muting any further protests. An armored greave struck each of the larger man's knees in turn, collapsing his legs and cutting resistance even as his muffled struggles continued.

Without even getting another word out, Joe was dragged away from the light and behind a large crate, deep in the shadows.

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Nevermore's hold was locked in tight.  It took only a matter of seconds for Joe to lose consciousness.  His efforts at escape muffled by the youth's iron grip.  However, Joe wasn't alone.  And as son he was cut off mid conversation.  Frank's frantic running was met with a reprisal of the silent cowl sweeping his legs out from under him and proceeding to give him the same treatment as his partner.

 

Leaving Nevermore once again alone in the dark.  One of the bodyguard's personal hand radios buzzed.  "Come in.  What did you find downstairs?  Local punks trying to steal the boss' wine again?"  A quick glance towards the computer terminal confirmed one of the bodyguards near Ivan was radioing in.

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore decided that now was not the time to re-attempt hacking the computers. And staying down here to try and ambush guards would eventually backfire; there were enough of them that the limited room and limited entrances meant he wouldn't have enough options if it came down to a full-bore fight. So instead, it was time to reposition.

Within moments, he was heading up the stairs he had entered the cellar by, quickly ascending them and opening the door with a bit more speed, albeit still using a fair bit of care. He closed it after himself and kept low to the ground, his eyes peeled for any trouble spots.

Assuming there weren't suddenly legions of guards all over the lawn, he would move to where he had a clear grapnel shot at the balcony he'd seen earlier. It wasn't ideal, but he knew the kitchen had people, and he knew there were multiple gun-toting guards in the area close to the front door. But the upper stories seemed less occupied.

So it was that he lined up his arm with the balcony and fired out a grapnel line, before using the rapid-ascent motor in his gauntlet to zip through the air and grab hold of said ledge, pulling himself up onto it with both speed and stealth.

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Nevermore's aerial entrance gained him access to an upstairs entertainment room.  The window was unlocked and made not a peep.  The entertainment suite ha a large screen tv with accompanying surround sound accoutrements.  Ivan had various movie posters throughout the room.  A mix of old 70s action flicks.  Including a highly panned film staring a look a like of the original Raven reimagined as a man with the ability to see in the dark.  In the corner Ivan had an old record player housing instead of a record a manilla folder filled to the brim and an old revolver.

 

The heavy bass beat from the downstairs music concealed Nevermore's efforts to move around.  Directly to the left of the entertainment room was the staircase leading back down.  Across the hall were three rooms each with their door closed.  But only the one directly across from the entertainment room currently had indication that there were any lights turned on inside.

 

The room directly t the right of the entertainment room seemed to have two locks on the door. it was also precariously easily viewable from the staircase if someone were to walk by.

[KnightDisciple]

Nevermore couldn't help but quirk his head a bit (in a gesture that some might find ironically bird-like) at the poster for the horribly cheesy Raven move. He couldn't help but use the small camera on his high-powered hand device to snap a few shots, including a couple of that very poster.

'Boss Lady and Boss Man should get a kick out of this.'

Or scold him, but either way the photos would be worth it.

He considered his options for rooms. The locked room was tempting, but he needed to change the game up a bit more, or find a way to divert and distract the guards. He kept his eyes open for any video cameras as he eyed the rooms across the hall. The locked room probably had "important files". The darkened rooms were likely bedrooms...as was the lit room.

Risky, but considering the occupant wasn't entirely happy, and was in possession of a remote that gave him lots of interesting possibilities, was probably better than wasting time rooting around in dark rooms.

With a few quick steps he was across the hall, and at the door. He pondered things for a moment before placing himself where he could gently open the door enough to slip inside without being seen until already having entered. Then, he oh-so-gently tried the knob. If it wasn't locked...

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[KnightDisciple]

It hadn't been locked.

In a fluid motion, Nevermore had opened the door, slipped inside, and closed it again, the door hinges making a few whispers lost in the pounding bass from below, his own feet making even less noise. He whirled then, his cape flaring without him even really trying, the lenses of his mask still holding a faint glow even as the night vision apparatus quickly faded out in favor of normal vision. Those blank, soulless eyes stared at the teenaged girl on the bed. Some part of his hind-brain that he ruthlessly crushed in the ticks between seconds noted that she was fairly good-looking.

Before she had a chance to scream, he was across the room in a flutter of memory cloth and a rustle of armor plates and ballistic fabric. One arm smoothly grabbed the hand closer to the security remote, firmly guiding it to settle at her side, but not with enough force to hurt her. His other hand landed firmly over her mouth. He brought his face within a few inches of her own face and spoke calmly and slowly, as if ordering a pizza on a late study night.

"I am not here to bring you harm. But I cannot allow you to raise the alarm. So here is what we are going to do. I am going to begin to let you go. If you stay calm and simply sit back and do not attempt to raise any alarm, I will leave you be. I am not here for you. If you attempt to fight, or raise an alarm, I will render you unconscious with all due haste but no permanent harm, then put restraints on you before placing you someplace quiet and out of the way.

I would rather you just sit quietly with your hands free and your head clear. Would you not prefer the same?

I am about to release your mouth. If you speak quietly, that will remain the case. If you try to scream, I will muffle it, and render you unconscious. Again, if you cooperate, I will cease bodily contact with you and leave you be in this rom."

He waited a moment, then began inching his hand around her mouth away. At any moment, he was ready to snap it back across her mouth. But so long as she either stayed quiet or spoke at a normal or softer volume (which shouldn't be heard amidst the noise downstairs), he would leave her be. Well, and so long as she didn't go for panic buttons or phones or the like.

Edited April 20, 2015 by KnightDisciple

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

The girl looked up at Nevermore as he spoke.  Her eyes widening with fear as every word sunk in.  As soon as he released his hold over her mouth, she instinctively tried to reel back.  But, there was still the iron grip on her side.  Preventing her from creating any distance between the pair.  Surrendering, she gave a hesitant nod of understanding.

 

Her compliance wouldn't be entirely hushed.  Wasting little time in opening her mouth to warn Nevermore.  "Haven't you heard of knocking?  I never saw the last boy to sneak into my room again.  Not after my tatko (dad) found out.  You really shouldn't have broken in here."

 

Her brave front did nothing to hid the shaking in her hands.  She was scared.  Her eyes darting around the room, could have been looking for an escape.  It would have been easy to mistake the lack of eye contact as her being too afraid to lock eyes with the silent cowl.  But, Nevermore was quick enough to figure out she was trying to piece together some sort of escape plan.

 

The girl's mind at odds with her body.  Even if she could free herself, she wouldn't make any headway.  The girl was too frozen with fear.  "...if you're not here for me.  Why are you here?"