ic Flames of Revenge (IC)

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Bedlam Harbor

2 am on a Cold Winter Night

 

GM Post

 

Beldam liked to keep it simple, and as long as you kept the right people happy things could go simply. With Bedlam that mean keeping the Mob happy something that the Vorovskoy Bratva, the Russian gangsters, didn’t always do their best to keep them content.

 

So when one of the Bratva’s warehouses burst into flames there seemed to be little interest by the authorities to stop the flames, they seemed more concerned by the nearby building which were obviously owned by people more aligned to the city ideals. Luckily the fire seemed contained to only a small area and very little damage was caused and this could be considered a potential warning, as long as no one had been harmed...

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Rosa wasn’t normally one to go out in the field, that was something Liam did, and she didn’t normally concern herself with mundane crime, there was plenty of vigilantes in this city who dealt with such things. But there was something about the fire that caught her attention, it localized effects suggested something beyond a simple act of arson.

 

She could have waited for the police report, but there was a chance that the paperwork wouldn’t go through and if the did bother to follow through it would have been difficult if not impossible for her to get hold of the report.

 

So at this ungodly hour she was traipsing through the warehouse, torch in hand making her way to the area where the fire had apparently broken out.

[Thunder King]

A simple fire wasn't normally worth his attention, but, John realized they made no effort to put it out, yet, it also didn't spread. He didn't expect anyone else to be in the area, so when he stepped into the warehouse, he wasn't bothering with stealth or subtlety too much. His eyes were unaffected by the darkness. Someone set this fire, someone made sure it was contained, and someone wanted it neat. That was worth looking into. If, for no other reason, to see who might be trying to play who.

 

He spotted the young woman who was also in this warehouse at an ungodly hour, but for some reason, didn't think that she was involved. Perhaps she too was curious about such an odd fire. Yet, he kept his distance.

[Heritage]

Since arriving in Bedlam, Izzy had begun to set up a basic intelligence network to monitor criminal activity, especially anything with a Russian accent; this involved making several subtle inquires, a few very non-subtle inquries, and the judicious applications of bribes. Blackmail was one of the best ways to get intel, especially if you showed your asset some sympathy and only squeezed them now and then; textbook spycraft right out of the SIS manual, really. And so inch by inch, the former MI6 agent began to put feelers out into this delightful pustule of a city, and every one in a while, she'd feel a little tug on one of the strings of her web.

 

Tonight that tug came in the form of text from an unknown number; it could have come from a cop with a drug problem or a low-level dealer hoping to escape the life; it read simply:

 

Quote

Suspicious fire, bedlam harbor, russian warehouse

 

Which was more than enough to pique Slither's interest, even at this late hour. She slid open the window of her downtown hotel room that looked out onto the fire escape, wearing her custom-made suit, and began to make her way towards the harbor across the rooftops, like a long-legged insect made of clear glass.

 

Izzy was afraid her nightvision goggles might present a bit of a challenge as she approached the blaze, as their light amplifying lenses would be quickly overloaded by the bright light; however it seemed the fire was out before she reached her destination.

 

Still, she decided to come around from the opposite side on general principle, her suit transforming her into a ripple in the air as she moved. Her eyes caught the flicker of an electric torch in the window, which told her someone else was here as well; that was enough to send Izzy inside to see who else was interested in this fire.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Heritage

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Without an obvious concern about being in this deserted warehouse at such an ungodly hour Rosa made her way through the main warehouse at a pace, she was more concerned with getting to where the fire actually happened. Anyone who got close enough could hear that she was apparently having a one sided conversation with herself.

 

Why are you hurrying, we have no way of knowing what’s lurking in this building.

 

“Yes I’m aware of how potentially dangerous this all could be,even now we could be stalked by god knows what. But I’m sure you’ll be able to protect us if trouble starts.”

 

I can’t protect us from everything,what if it’s supernatural?

 

“Then it’s all up to me!Now shush a minute.”

 

She clanged unconcerned up the metal stairs to the office where the fire had broken out.

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

 

The office showed the obvious signs of the fire with various pieces of office paraphernalia having been scorched though there was almost no sign of it by the door, which was intact and until a minute ago sealed with police tape. Such a fire with little property value and belonging to the wrong people wouldn’t cause much attention, these kind of things happened almost everyday on Bedlam.

Unfortunately there was something that could cause a lot more trouble for a certain proportion of the population.In one corner of the room was a traced outline of where apparently there had been a body, caught in the fire.This put a very different and dangerous spin on the whole thing.

[Thunder King]

John loomed, wordlessly, trying to figure out what exactly happened. He took the whole warehouse in, eyes scanning and searching. He wasn't alone, and at this kind of night, in this kind of place, there were only so many reasons people would be in a place like this.

 

"A body..." He said, breaking the silence. His voice was rough and low. "Could be a problem for the right people. I wonder, though, why." He didn't know this woman, or why she was talking to herself, but he knew he couldn't handle things entirely by himself. Eventually, he'd need allies. Plus, it was fairly low risk. If she did try to kill him, he could get away, and if needed, entirely vanish.

[Heritage]

Headset or nutter? The eternal question once again reared its head as Izzy crept up on the very loud young woman, who apparently wouldn't know what 'stealth' meant if it snuck up and bit her on the arse. The ex-agent didn't even have to try and be sneaky over all her clattering and raving.

 

Just then, a bloke in a very dodgy coat appeared out of thin air, which was interesting in all sorts of ways; perhaps it was time for Izzy to make an appearance as well.

 

"The really interesting bit here," said a very proper English voice that floated out of nowhere. "Is why three tossers all showed up at the same fire at 2 am, isn't it? No ordinary fire could do that." The air seemed to ripple, and the form of a slender young woman appeared; her black suit covered all of her except the lower part of her face, which bore a cheeky smile, and red lenses covered her eyes. "Hullo! I'm Slither. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

[Tiffany Korta]

“Yes, yes very pleased to meet you I’m Doctor Rosa Thorne, now if we’re not going to fight then I suggest we look for evidence about what happened here.” she was fairly dismissive and totally unconcerned by the whole situation

 

“I’m not an expert, at least not on this subject, but this seems to me that this was no normal fire. Just think we might be able to help avoid a pesky gang war.” her whole tone still remained fairly matter of fact.

As she spoke she began examining the floor for potential evidence.

[Heritage]

Slither shrugged, crossed her arms and leaned in the doorway, so as not to contaminate the crime scene as much as possible; instead, she extended her neck to several feet in length, and sent her head around the room, giving the body's outline a good once over before inspecting the floors and ceiling. In cases of fire, sometimes traces of things ended up coating surfaces that were normally out of reach, but not for the former agent!

 

She didn't speak during this process, since it was rather hard with her neck so stretched out, so she would have to wait until she found something before she could talk again.

[Tiffany Korta]

 

GM Post

 

It didn’t take much to see that the fire wasn’t natural in anyway, furniture in at the edge showed signed of burning but the fire hadn’t consumed them even papers on the desk were untouched. It was pretty obvious that the fire was a sphere of fire that filled the area but no further, it was almost impossible to be anything than a power of some sort.

 

The missing body was the crux of the problem and the fire had done what was probably it job of hiding any evidence. It was difficult to tell if there had been any struggle or any blood had been spilt what with the fire scorching any potential signs.

[Thunder King]

John glanced around. This was most peculiar. He had a basic understanding of how fires worked, how they spread, what kind of evidence you needed to prove accelerants, and even what kind could be acquired. This, was not natural. Fire did not spread naturally like this. He took a long, deep breath. He would have to do it, there wasn't much else he could do. To have any hope of finding answers, he'd have to do...that. He didn't like it, but he had to. He closed his eyes.

[Amelia]

The carbon stench from the fire remnants wrestled with the cool salt air of the harbor outside inside Mister Strix's nose as he crept through the warehouse.  Sounds like the lady with the trenchcoat has back-up somewhere.  They must be in radio contact.  It's not like she's talking to herself.  But I should be able to hear the other voice coming through the speaker at this range.  If she does have a radio in her ear, then it’s small, too small for my echolocation to make out.  Maybe she has some kind of subdermal implant.  Either way, that's fancy tech for...what, a private detective?

 

Neither one is a plainclothes, or a gangster.  Mister Strix didn't smell cordite on either of the people at the scene.  Neither carried a gun.  And neither one would be in here alone if they were.

 

“You’re not cops,” he growled.

 

The man in white stepped out of the shadows, his boots making as much noise as a gentle snowfall.  Even from across the room, he could feel the lingering heat.  He sniffed at the air a few times, and ran his fingers along various seemingly random surfaces.  “People set fires like this thinking they’ll destroy all traces.  But you can never get rid of every bread crumb in the trail between where you are and where you've been.  You always leave something behind.“

Edited February 15, 2017 by Grumblefloof

[Thunder King]

John nodded gravely. "In another life, I was a cop." He said in a matter of fact tone, trying to communicate that he knew what Mr. Strix knew, if not more. Competition was meaningless, though, he just wanted to save time.

 

"Mr. Strix." He said. "I've heard of you. You disrupt the right people." John regarded him with a nod. The truth was, he hoped to make even more vigilante contacts. Having access to people, allies, even in a tangential way was critical. More privately, and something he was loathe to admit, he was lonely.

 

"I am going to try something in a moment." He said, very unhelpfully and very vaguely. 

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

 

The scene even beyond was clean even beyond the area of the fire there was no really traces of anyone but a single person, the obvious victim, had been in the room in the last few hours. If was if whoever had committed the act had teleported out of thin air, not impossible but rare in a city like Bedlam. The only possible evidence now was that on the body, but that was the only thing the almost incompetent police had done anything with

Meanwhile with concentration John was flooded with images of what had transpired here, but not a strict linear progression of events. So much violence emotions and death clouded thing making them fragmented and disjointed. The first thing John saw was blood some much blood that swept back to reveal a man, roughly standing where the body had fallen. And he was afraid, so afraid, or something old and full of revenge of a figure that John despite his gifts could only see as a shadowy figure. Then a small flame, that to the world looked like a small bird, flared into existence and his view was filled again this time with that of fire.

[Amelia]

Quote

"Mr. Strix. I've heard of you. You disrupt the right people."

 

"Not a popular assessment."

 

Good.  The name is spreading.  It's starting.

 

The man in white didn't look directly at either person when he talked.  He spoke "at them" rather than "to them," over his shoulder.  His head occasionally cocked to the side at an angle, like a dog listening to its owner.

 

"The killer didn't leave a trail," he whispered, to seemingly no one in particular.  "They didn't walk in here, like you did.  They didn't walk out.  They just appeared, right where they needed to be, created an impossible fire, and disappeared.  They didn't touch anything.  Either they had intimate knowledge of this building, or they were able to trace their target's exact location.  Or both.  The killer isn't just a pyrokinetic, but a teleporter as well.  May also possess extra-sensory abilities.  Almost unheard of for someone in that weight class to bother with Bedlam."

[Thunder King]

John staggered back, and shook his head. "Blood." He said, shaking his head. "I don't think the victim was just killed by fire." He took a moment to parse his thoughts. "I can tap into areas associated with death and draw on the lingering memories of an area. I saw blood, and fear, and revenge. I wish I could be more helpful, but, the memories are never pleasant ones."

[Amelia]

Mister Strix took an abrupt sniff of the air and tilted his head slightly in John's direction.

 

No fluctuation in heartbeat.  No extra sweat.  Hormones, pheromones, all stable.  He's telling the truth, or at least, the truth as he sees it.

 

"If it's personal, not business, then the fire may not have been about destroying evidence.  It might have just been overkill.  You stab a stranger once.  You stab a friend fifty times.  Still leaves an untraceable killer and an unidentifiable victim.  The first of many.  Anyone who hates this much has more than one person on their hit list.  No one gets this kind of power and stops using it."

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Rosa had been examine the scene with all the skills at her disposal, natural and preternatural, and didn’t seem to recognize the arrival of the new comer or the sudden departure of Slither. The words must have registered as she stood up and looked at Mister Stix with a momentary confusion.

 

“Weren’t you shorter, and female and British?” it was only a moment's pause in her matter of fact manner “Not my place to judge I’m Doctor Rosa Thorne. You analysis sound correct and nicely summarized to the core details.”  she had the mannerism of a scholar and talked to Stix like he was her student.

 

“One option you missed was something tasked with a singular job, either magical or technological in nature. This could be as much to hide its presence as to destroy evidence.” she paused and thought for a second before adding “I guess the missing evidence may provide the necessary clues we seek” she gestured to the outline of the missing body.

[Thunder King]

"So, do we have the means to hunt down the body?" John asked, curious. "If they were smart, they probably already disposed of it somewhere. Bodies in Bedlam seldom linger." There was something about the way he said that that suggested he had some experience with it.

 

"In the absence of a body, what other evidence do we have." He glanced around, considering. "Records, perhaps?" He seemed to take a moment to consider the possibility. "If the conflict was over something, maybe there's some kind of record of what that conflict was over. A paper trail."