Log:Mindjacked, Scene 2

Mindjacking 2019/08/22 	 Carpenter Lincoln

2

Day Shift at the CBPD Precinct

After an adventurous afternoon dealing with a crazed alien, Mindjack, and Mr. Daily, plus some time later, Carpenter's shift starts bright and early. The bullpen is half-occupied as detectives are about in and getting ready for the morning briefing.

Once it hits meeting time, all the detectives pile in to the briefing room with Sergeant Porelli opening the meeting. Captain Landry comes in to assign some high profile crime cases. She notably doesn't assign anything to Jack today from the big batch. "And last and least, we've got a kook case. That's your specialty, Carpenter," Captain Landry says. "A meta went crazy and caused a lot of property damage. She alleges a mentalist that was apprehended at the scene made her do it. Have fun with that one." The meeting goes on, and she departs, leaving the Sergeant to hand out case files as the detectives file out. Carpenter receives his case for the day--one he's already familiar with in secret.

Carpenter makes a show of rolling his eyes and wanting to seem like he's not happy about getting the case. After all, that's what is expected, right? But after hte briefing, he calls up Horizon to set up a time to ask Mindjack a few questions. "Hey, there. Umm....Mr. Horizon, right? This is Detective Carpenter with the CBPD. Night Marshal gave me your name and number. He mentioned you were a witness to something that happened with a mentalist recently. I was wondering if you'd like to come in to talk with me about it, and potentially ask our mentalist some questions as well."

Lincoln Locke isn't far away- in fact he's in the building. He's decided to check-in with the Captain a bit early, knowing that they wouldn't be ready for a spunky intern two weeks early he'd probably get handed off to shadow someone or stuck reviewing standard procedures.

He's finishing up the latter when his PDA rings with a friendly, chipper tone. He pulls it out and recognizes the prefex before the number that indicates the call is for Horizon.

He looks around to make sure he's alone and then he answers the phone in a voice not too disimilar to his own, just a bit deeper.

"Its just Horizon, Detective- nevertheless, I'd love to join you and help out in anyway I can. I can be there... well just about any time." Lincoln says, covering his mouth and mouthpeice.

Carpenter chuckles. "I gotcha. Just Horizon. Got it. Night Marshal had written 'Mr. Horizon'. So...no offense meant. How about in about a half hour? I need to get Mindjack into a room where we can question him safely."

Horizon chuckles a bit at the thought of Night MArshal referring to him as 'Mr. Horizon' before saying, "None taken."

"I can do that." He replies. "I'll see you then, Detective." Then he hangs out and does a little celebratory dance, just in time for the lead forensic investigator to come in & check his progress.

He's in the midst of quite an embarassing shuffle when he hears "Ah-hem." Lincoln winces and turns around slowly to ask, "How much of that did you see?"

The Investigator replies, "Enough."

Lincoln's shoulders droop.

Carpenter goes about checking the records for Mindjack, AKA Patrick Gillis. He makes a point of requesting that Mr. Gillis be brought into the interview room with a blindfold on, on the assumption that he'd need to see his target for his mental powers to work.

The request goes through, with the room getting reserved and Mindjack/Mr. Gillis getting set up to be interviewed. It takes a little longer out of precaution, but Patrick/Mindjack is lead into the room in handcuffs and a blindfold, his hands cuffeed to the table to try and make sure he doesn't remove the blindfold.

Mindjack's lawyer hasn't arrived, but this gives Carpenter time to strategize with Horizon when he arrives.

Horizon quite naturally shows up punctually. He didn't even have to go very far. Well, after he figured out where Carpenter's desk was. Then he just stood just adjacent to it and teleported between the floors after changing to his costume, electing to fall the last half meter. Its a pretty dramatic entrance- especially in a Police Station. One that may not be so wise in the long run.

Carpenter sees Horizon arrive while he's getting coffee for himself. Several of the other detectives jump at the hero's arrival. The detective at the next desk over calls, "Jack! I think this one's for you!" Carpenter shakes his head slowly and walks over. "Horizon, I'm guessing?" He offers his hand to shake, "Detective Jack Carpenter."

"That's right." Horizon says with a smile. "Its a pleasure to meet you Detective Carpenter." He adds, reaching out to take the other man's hand. He shakes it but does not squeeze for fear of injuring his new associate.

Carpenter grabs a folder and opens it, taking a look at the contents. "I have your statement here from the scene. Is there anything you'd like to add to it? I see you were helping to contain this woman...Artemis, while Night Marshal took down Mr. Gillis."

"That was about all I could do- but Night Marshal did most of the heavy lifting. He figured out this... Mr. Gillis was the psy-capable meta present behind Artemis' ... well her illusioned state." Horizon answers, trying to be as succinct and fact-focused as he can be. Also he figures professionalism counts here. "She was under the impression that she was fending off an impending attack from an extraterrestrial threat she called the 'Du-od Da-lux'. That's the proper pronounciation as near as I can get it. So she was- in a way doing the best she could by the people of Earth." He adds with a nod.

Carpenter nods. "I see. Thank you. So, my goal here is...to get this to stand up in court. We have witnesses, which will likely help that, but it's mostly circumstantial. Mental powers are notoriously difficult to prove as existing. It will matter how smart he is. If we can get his buttons pushed a bit, so to speak, then he might lash out. From what I can tell, he has a...strong personality, with strong opinions. I'm hoping that will count for something. I might try a carrot, too. The 'put in a word with the D.A.' kind of thing. Ideally, I want to prove that what we think happened...happened. And to see if there's anyone else tied to the scheme." He leads Horizon toward the interview room. "I made sure he was kept blindfolded and cuffed. Just in case. It wouldn't do to have him control our minds in the middle of questioning."

Through the one way mirror by the interview room, Mindjack is still in the plain clothes Horizon remembers from the other day. He's trying to look around nervously at any sound he hears. His right foot taps the floor with nervous energy.

Carpenter says to Horizon. "We really need to wait until his lawyer arrives. I want to make sure all of the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed. Any mistakes in procedure can mean the guy walks."

Horizon nods as he tries to temper his excitement. He's living the dream- achieving the goal he set out for himself. All that pride is distracting- that and the feeling of his entrails knitting temselves back together after that magnificent entrance of his.

He follows along- catching up to Carpenter easily. "I think I can handle all that. THanks for giving me the heads up. I appreciate it." He adds earnestly.

When he gets to the interview room he watches Mindjack carefully, narrowing his eyes at the specist meta.

Carpenter raises a brow. "Now that I think about it, allowing him the use of his powers in the questioning room might work to our advantage. Everything is recorded. If I act weirdly and let him go or something, there's proof he affected me."

A man in a nicely tailored suit arrives. His dark hair is slicked back, and there's a bit of salt in his black beard. Mindjack's lawyer arrives with a briefcase and a surly look.

Horizon's eyebrows rise in surprise. "Oh! That sounds risky- but... I like the way you think. Get him all worked up then yank the mask off of him so its unexpected? Maybe make him think we made a mistake..." He pulls out his HSL device and takes a quick note.

Carpenter offers his hand to newly arrived lawyer, "You're Mr. Gillis's lawyer? I'm Detective Carpenter."

"Eric Harbin. I trust you haven't spoken to my client yet?" Mr. Harbin asks shrewdly.

Carpenter nods. "That's correct, Mr. Harbin. We were waiting on you, sir." He heads to the door and opens it for the lawyer to head in first. Once everyone is inside, he closes the door. "Hello, Mr. Gillis. I'm Detective Carpenter. Your lawyers, Mr. Harbin is here...as is the metahuman hero known as Horizon. I just want to ask you a few questions. I apologize for hte blindfold and handcuffs, but we're playing it safe, given the allegations that you have mental powers."

Horizon is all to happy to play the quiet observer so Carpenter can start this off right. He nods to the laawyer and Mr. Gillis but otherwise is silent as he watches everything.

"H-how do I know my lawyer's really here?" Mindjack asks.

"I'm to your right, Mr. Gillis," his lawyer reassures.

Mindjack frowns a little. "Wait, you sound...familiar..."

Carpenter raises a brow, "That seems doubful, Mr. Gillis. I certainly have never dealt with any of your cases, and I suspect we haven't run into each other outside of a professional capacity. Unless you're a CBSU football fan."

Horizon tries not to enjoy seeing Mindjack so thoroughly out of his element and floundering. A simple smirk slides across his face as he props himself up in the corner.

Carpenter sets his folder down and opens it. "I have the statements from several witnesses to the altercation in question. A couple of them mention that you gave a verbal order to this alien...'Artemis' to attack some local heroes, specifically a guy who fashions himself as a modern-day cowboy, 'Night Marshal', at which point, she declared the hero was some kind of alien warlord 'Du-od Deluxe' and tried to kill him." He pauses a moment, just watching Mindjack's reactions. "I have two questions for you. The first is...when did you develop mental powers? And the second is...who put you up to this?"

Mr. Gillis still looks confused, but not certain that he's familiar with Carpenter's voice. But there's suspicion there. When the questioning begins, he gets nervous. "I-I--"

"Detective, there's no proof my contact has mental powers," the Lawyer tries stonewalling Carpenter.

"Except I saw it with my own eyes." Horizon says, standing upright suddenly. "She seemed like she was confused once or twice, like she was coming around. Then your client shouted at her and the fog was back. She was back to 'fighting Duod Dalux'." His tone is quite matter-of-factly.

"In fact, is this blindfold really necessary?" the lawyer complains. He looks to Horizon. "From what I understand, this 'Artemis' has been known to attack allies and cause some destruction. There was that incident with that group of thieving villains where she was attacking one of the younger heroes before," he opens his briefcase and checks. "Yes, Victory was reported to have intervened."

Carpenter nods, "As I said, there was more than one witness who have attested to his power and capability. That's all a jury will likely need to convict for assault and property damage. It's just that instead of construction equipment doing hte destroying, he used an alien whom he thought was easy to control." He taps his fingertips on the desk. "Somethign about this feels wrong, though. I know you hate aliens, Mr. Gillis. That's based on your online persona, as well as a statement that claimed you called one of the heroes an 'alien lover'. So, your point of view isn't in question here. Your motive is."

Carpenter looks in his folder, "I did take a look at Artemis's history. Supposely she was hit by mental powers that time, too. Based on the official report from Victory himself."

Mr. Gillis' hand curls at the mention of knowing his anti-alien sentiments. "There ain't no law about talking. Freedom of speech, man," he says.

That comment causes the Lawyer to clear his throat in warning at Gillis.

"A convenient excuse, isn't it?" Mr. Harbin tries to shift the blame. "Did you have solid proof, then, too? Or was it just the testimonial of heroes covering for their own?"

Horizon simply sneers at Mr. Gillis' admittance of being an online-hatemonger.

He's absolutely aghast at the accusation of heroes covering up for each other. His eyes narrow.

Carpenter nods. "That's true. There's no crime against talking. There can still be consequences from such. But not from the government." He pauses a moment, "I can put a good word in for you with the D.A. if you can give me some details about why you did what you did, Mr. Gillis. You know that D.A. Chamberlain has a bit of a soft spot for those who are turning over a new leaf."

Mr. Harbin keeps his client from talking, just as Mr. Gillis looks about to speech. "So what exactly -are- you attempting to charge my client with?"

Carpenter shrugs, "That's up to the D.A., of course. But I suspect it will be at the very least assault and destruction of property, as well as opening Mr. Gillis up to civil suits from insurance companies that have to pay out for fixing cars."

"Oh yeah. That van was totalled. It oculd have been way worse if Artemis hadn't moved the van into the center of the intersection once she shook off your mindslam." Horizon remarks.

"Alleged ...mindslam," Mr. Harbin fixes his eyes on Horizon a moment, then looks back at Carpenter. "I need some time to speak with my client. Alone."

Carpenter nods, "Of course. Please do." He closes up his folder, and gets up, heading to the door, letting both himself and Horizon out.

Horizon follows quietly, considering how best to unnerve Mindjack best.

Carpenter seems pretty calm about it. Once outside the room, he says to Horizon, "There's more than one way to further the investigation. This is just one avenue."

Horizon nods, turning back to look towards the room. He wishes he were better trained, but this is why he's here- to learn the ropes. So he nods at the senior detective again. "Ok- I can be patient." He says, sounding like he's almost reminding himself of this capability.