Log:If It Weren't For You Meddling Metas

2020/07/01 	 Carpenter Grimm Rupert

1

Near the end of your shift, Detective Carpenter, you're approached by Dan Campanelli, a detective who works Bunco. He starts off with, "Carpenter, how's it going? Got a case I think I might need your expertise on."

Carpenter raises a brow. "My expertise? So...there's a meta involved, probably? What do you have?"

Aleksandr sighs. "Well, we've got reports that several ;alleged' fences have been hit by various people who come in with goods to sell. Usually gems, gold, jewelry, although one informant says it was once China White. In any case, the goods always check out fine, then several hours later? Poof, the buyers are left with rocks, leaves, sticks and other bits of junk." He smiles as he looks at you. "So, do you know anyone who might be able to help? Or who might be able to find out if other less, heh, 'honest' fences have been hit?"

"One curious note, all the 'alleged' fences that were hit? We've just not caught them at their games yet. They are bent but not convicted...yet."

Carpenter nods. "Undermoon. Sounds like a fae if ever I've heard of one."

Campanelli holds out a datacard to you. "You want in on it? The lieutenant doesn't mind and, honestly, you're good at dealing with the cape crowd."

Carpenter sighs quietly. The answer is honestly...no. But he takes the datacard. "Sure, I can look into it."

"Thanks, Carpenter! I'll owe you one if you can break it. It's making it harder to catch these guys when their nervous," says Campanelli.

Carpenter nods. "No promises, but I'll see what I can dig up. I still have a murder case on my plate, mind you."

Campanelli nods. "Understood. Murder always take priority." He waves as he walks off. "Good luck!"

Campanelli then stops and pulls a bag out of his pocket. "Sorry, forgot to give this to you. It's one of rocks that was a uncut gemstone, ruby the fence said." He holds the bag out to you.

Carpenter takes a look in the bag.

The stone is a roughly oval clear quartz crystal with lots of flaws in it. It's about the size of an average male pinky nail.

Carpenter waves to the other detective and starts on his way. He doesn't know a lot about magic, but he does know someone who does, so she gives Grimm a call as he heads toward his car.

Grimm notices her phone vibrating on her desk at home as she browses on her tablet. She reaches over, checks the caller ID. Based on the time, when she answers, she almost purrs, "Hello, Detective. What's up?" If it was after his work hours, she'd answer a bit differently. Just a bit.

Carpenter smiles. "Hey there. Had a question for you. I have a situation where some fence was sold what he thought were gems...only they changed into regular rocks. Quartz and the like. Sounded like Fae to me, but I don't for for sure. Any other ideas?"

"Hmmmm. Honestly there's a whole lot of magic that can achieve that. If you have any samples, I may be able to take a look to narrow it down," Gabrielle suggests as she sets her tablet aside.

Carpenter nods. "I figured it was an illusion in the first place. But we can meet up, and I can show you an example of the result."

"Yeah, sure. I'm free. Where do you want me to meet up?" Gabrielle asks.

Carpenter gets into the parking garage, "I'm good with whereever. Just got to my car in the garage."

Grimm gets up from her seat. "Well, I can get there pretty fast. Should take me a few jumps to get there."

Carpenter nods. "Okay. I'll wait by my car, then."

"See you in a few." Gabrielle hangs up and slides her phone into the thigh phone pocket of her black moto leggings. She vanishes from her home and reappears at Frankie's office. It's the closest place she can reliably get to near the precinct. A few more hops, and her shadow sight can lock onto Carpenter. She appears in a swirl of shadows two meters from him, wearing a dark red band tank top that's a bit loose, with one strap that hangs off her shoulder, with black bra straps showing from underneath. She's also wearing a black choker and her usual rocker accessories. "Hey. Hope I didn't keep you waiting," she smiles.

Carpenter smiles, "Not long at all." He leans against his car and shows the bag to Grimm, "This is what the 'Ruby' changed into."

Grimm steps up to him to get a closer look, trying to see if there's any trace of residual magic on it. "How long ago did this change back?" she asks.

Carpenter furrows hsi brow, "Not sure." He checks out the datacard he was given to see what details there are.

Grimm frowns a bit in concentration. "Well. Hmmm. It's more like thaumaturgy, which means most likely it's a human mage, or someone using an item made by a human mage. It's transformational magic, with a veneer of illusion. Maybe some inspiration from the Fae. Pretty impressive, but I don't think a very experienced mage was behind this."

"I'd probably recognize the item that did this if I saw it. I suspect it's easier to use items that resemble what they want to disguise it as," Grimm comments.

Carpenter raises a brow as he says, "You think it was done with an item?" He goes back to searching in the data that he has to look for times and places.

Grimm nods. "I think so. Something enchanted to allow the user to do this. It doesn't exclude a magic user, but there's a possibility it's someone without magic skill per se. Kind of like DEMON's low level flunkies," she smirks.

Carpenter relates what he finds. "All incidents are after 4 PM. Four incidents total. Uncut gems 6 months ago. Jewelry 4 months ago. Fake China White 2 months ago. And some fake gold about a month ago. None of the targets that came forward have been hit more than once."

Carpenter says, "First and last were pawn shops. Second was a family owned jewelry store. And the fake drugs were someplace in Harrisburg."

Carpenter says, "Mostly reachable by mass transit."

Carpenter shakes his head and he checks to see if security footage was checked for at least the jewelry shop. They might be able to get a picture of the perp.

"After 4pm? So the person has a day job? No car?" Gabrielle asks as she furrows her brow and rubs her chin. "Out in daylight is bold."

Carpenter rubs his chin. "Maybe a kid? That would be after school."

Grimm looks a little surprised. "Could be that, too. If they got ahold of something and found out it could make things valuable, it's definitely not out of the question."

Carpenter furrows his brow, "So, the pawn shops claim to not have cameras." He shakes his head. "Unlikely. The jewelry shop...they had a glitch in the footage that started right after the perp opened a briefcase and didn't come back online until after the perp left.

Carpenter adds, "He's described as...a non descript man about 35, dressed in a nice but not great suit, brown hair/brown eyes. Seemed a bit nervous. The timestamp showed '5:46 PM' when the feed cuts."

"So...an adult. We think. Nervous, so they're new to this? I'd bet a round of drinks they found something to glitch the cameras," Gabrielle smiles.

Carpenter shows the still image that's available. "He's bland looking. Either he works as middle management someplace, or that's an illusion too."

Grimm looks over at the image. "Hmmm. When was the latest hit? I might be able to pick up a trail or sense some residual magic on the scene."

Carpenter checks. "32 days ago. That's at one of the pawn shops."

Grimm whistles. "Yeah, that's a bit long for me to be able to pick up a trail. But if they strike again and we can get a fresh trail, I may be able to help find them."

Grimm thinks of other things. "There may still be clues. Can you get me a list of the places and their addresses?" She has an idea, but it's not necessarily legal.

'Pierson and Sons, Fine Jewelry, Est. 1998' sits on the corner a quiet intersection in nicer part of the Artist's Quarter. It's nearly 5PM by the toime you get there and the shop is still open. It's a typical family owned jewelry store: narrow storefront to a building that longer than it is wide. Reinforced glass windows showing off very noce looking but probably not overly expensive jewelry and watches. And, unusually for this part of the AQ, a double door design where one walks into a glass booth before one is 'buzzed' into the shop.

No one save for a well dressed saleswoman seems to be inside at the moment. Security cameras are discreet but plentiful.

The phony China White sale, the most recent one, doesn't have an address listed for it. It was reported by an informant when he was picked up for a misdemeanor. He 'paid' his way out with info. Just said it was outside the Watch's turf.

Grimm is accompanying Carpenter as a magical consult for this case, so she lets him do his job and take lead. She tags alongside him with her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket.

Carpenter looks around. "Can you sense anything from out here? Or would it help to be inside?"

The saleswoman inside the shop notices the two of you outside and gives you a bright smile and friendly wave. She then turns back to her PDA but you get the feeling she's keeping any eye on you from the way she glances up every few secones.

Carpenter goes ahead and buzzes to be let in.

Carpenter smiles. "Might as well identify ourselves."

Grimm comments aside to Jack as she focuses, "This stuff seems strong enough to keep even small time metas from breaking in. But other than being solidly built?" She takes a breath to say something, then suddenly stops. She waits for something to pass, then whispers, "Someone was spying through a raven overhead. It's flown off, though."

Grimm smiles to Carpenter. "Sure, may as well. Anyway...no magic or weirdness I can sense inside," she says quietly.

Carpenter nods. "A raven, huh? Great. So that means the perp might know we're investigating. Unless it's someone else? Can you tell the magic use apart?"

"I can tell the type of magic, yeah. It'll help me match it up to the perp," Grimm says quietly to the detective. "They may have seen us, but they don't know you're a detective yet. We're just a couple of normal people interested in...rings or something," she grins.

Carpenter and Grimm are standing outside a jewelry store. The name on the sign reads: 'Pierson and Sons, Fine Jewelry, Est. 1998' This the nicer part of the Artist's Quarter. The club and red light district are further up/down the street.

Grimm comments to Jack, "I know Harlequin 'hires' the birds to keep an eye on things for himself. There are some witches who can do similar things. Hijacking animal senses to spy on people."

The saleswoman comes rushing back out from the back, drying her hands on a towel. "Sorry! Be right there!" she calls out in a pure CB drawl.

Almost as soon as she reaches the counter, the inner door buzzes to let Carpenter and Grimm into the shop. "Again, apologies. And welcome to Pierson and Sons! I'm Rebekah, how may I be of service to you this evening?"

Carpenter smiles and shows his badge. "Hi, I'm Detective Carpenter, CBPD. This is Gabrielle Grimm. My assistant. I'm following up on a report that you made about something you purchased that...wasn't what you thought it was after all?"

Grimm steps in just a little behind Carpenter as they go through the door, then makes a few longer steps to come up alongside Carpenter. She purses her lips to restrain a grin from being called his assistant. She certainly doesn't look like she belongs at the precinct with her rocker look. She gives a polite nod as she's introduced.

Rebekah blinks at Carpenter's question then says, "Um, when was this? I just started working here a few months ago." She adds after a moment. "Is when old Mr Pierson got conned? I think I remember Ricky, I mean, Richard Pierson III, the manager mentioning it."

And indeed, in the report, it was a Richard Pierson, Sr. who reported the incident.

Carpenter nods. "It was Richard Pierson Sr. who reported it. I believe it was some fake jewelry?"

"I think so, yes," says Rebekah after a moment to think. "Like I said, it was before I started working here. We get people coming in to sell jewelry from time to time. Usually stuff they've been left by relatives. Old Mr Pierson is the one in charge of evaluations and sales like that." She brigthens. "Did you catch the crooks?"

Carpenter shakes his head, "Not as of yet. I'm afraid not. I was asked to look into it by Detective Campanelli, due to my expertise in dealing with meta-related crimes. I was thinking this might be one, based on what we know. But I was wondering if there was anything more you can tell us."

Rebekah's eyes widen. "REally? Meta crime?" She then grins. "That is /so/ arid!" She then blushes slightly. "I mean, not arid that it's a crime, but the meta part. And no, I don't really know more than that. Wold you like Mr Pierson or Ricky, um, the manager's number?"

Rebekah then smiles. "Hey, I know a meta. Well, I /assume/ he's a meta. Should I ask him for you when he gets here? Should be soon."

Grimm blinks at the mention of a meta and looks to Jack to follow his lead.

Carpenter nods, "Please. If you could give us both of their phone numbers, I'd appreciate it." He pauses, "Who is the meta that you're expecting to stop by?"

There was a bit of a quiet whirring that could be heard from outside, the rumble of a small vehicle nearing, rising and dying outside near the stoop. Calling it a bike would be wrong, and moterbike give the wrong impression. Instead, as Rupert hopped off his electric scooter, a short glance would be shot up, confirming the shop location, before the bag on the back lifted and draped over his shoulder. Knocking on the door, he'd simply lift the bag, a local sandwich shop proudly emblazoned on the side of it.

"OH, there he is now!" She buzzes in the shortish, long tail sporting young delivery man.

Carpenter nods. "Does he often stop by about this time?"

Grimm has yet to notice anything truly bizarre, so she hasn't brought anything new up to Carpenter yet. She glances towards the door as Rebekah mentions the new arrival.

"Heya Rupert!" calls out Rebekah before she replies to Carpener. "And yeah, at least when I'm on. I always order from his shop."

Only a momentary pause would be given before being buzzed through, a deep nod and smile shot back Rebekah's way. "Your Lunch ma'am! I hope-" He'd catch himself, glancing back at the other two and pausing. "-this is not a bad time?" A hat that wasn't there tipped to the two, a light and somewhat nervous grin shot their way. But, a glance back to Rebekah all the same. That lengthy tail curled over, the bag and sandwich within offered. "Just as you ask. Cold Cut, light may, extra hot mustard. And some of those chips I think you mentioned last time. It was... Vinegar, yes?"

"Salt and vinegar, yeah, Rupert!" says Rebekah as she takes the offered bag, not bothered by the tail holding it. "Rupert? This is Detective Carpener with the CBPS. And his assistant, um, Ms Grimm. They're here about that thing that happened before I got hired here. The con job thing."

Carpenter shows his badge to Ruper, "Hi. Detective Carpenter, CBPD. We were just checking up on a case. The owner here was conned by someone who we think was a meta. Sold jewelry that turned out to be...fake. Do you know anything about what happened?" He knows Rupert doesn't match the description at least, so there's that.

Grimm's eyes drift to Rupert's tail, and then back up. It's not like she hasn't seen weirder stuff. Her very presence is usually indicative of a bad time, but today, there's no magical weirdness she can sense to make that the case.

Rebekah watches with wide eyes as the 'questioning' begins. She absently opens the bag and takes out the chips to munch on while she watches.

"Ah, Detectives!" Rupert would let the nerves in his smile fade away, a warmth in that grin. "Well then, Mister Carpenter, Miss Grimm. I do hope you catch the crook! Mister Pierson was fiery about that! He hardly even huffed the next time I was in, the scowl on his face..." He'll shudder, shaking himself. "You sometimes learn who you just need to offer their food and get out. Mister Pierson hardly wanted even that afterward!"

Twisting that tail of his back behind him at Grimm's gaze, he will nod back and try to think... before offering a small nod to Carpenter. "Eh, it was later in the day. Just near the end of my shift. Some... Five? Six o'clock? Somewhere around there. There was someone in the shop. Sorta... My height, or a bit taller. Nothing super special bou't em. Just sorta there, you know? Thought he was buying something, so didn't try to bother 'em."

Carpenter nods. "There was...apparently something about a briefcase the person had with him. As soon as it opened, it knocked out the security footage. I'm assuming it was some kind of power. Or device. Do you remember anything in particular about the case?"

Grimm lifts a hand, but only as high as her shoulder out of laziness. "I'm not a detective. I'm just his faithful assistant." She turns her head to flash a sweet, innocent smile to Carpenter. Somehow, she manages to keep from laughing at her own rouse. "Isn't that right?"

Carpenter smiles. "Umm...that's right. She's just assisting. Not an official detective. I get to do all the paperwork."

Rebekah quietly murmurs, "Arid. I want a job like that."

"Well, I'm afraid that slot is filled. But it -is- a sweet gig," Gabrielle smiles, some cheekiness in her tone.

Thinking back for a few moments, Rupert would scratch his chin. Thoughts would be interupted though as he would give a brief pause at Grimm's words, glancing between the two and lightly chuckling. "Ah, ever the faithful assistant hmm? Well then~" A small shake of his head, the lad thinking back. "Well then indeed. But... Something strange from the case? N-no. Nothing about a case. But..." He will furrow his brow, glancing back to the two. "The air here was.... humming a bit though. Not like... a sound. But more like a twist. I thought it was afterward that it happened, you know, an upgrade of the security system since the con, as you'd do. But, I think it was there that day too now that you mention. "

Carpenter raises a brow. "A...twist? I'm not sure I understand."

"You know, a twist! When the whole... space of it seems to sorta flex a bit." Waving a hand upward, the lad will gesture to the air above and to the camera's. "The electricity in it felt... twisted. Warped and Distorted. It's been there since the con, so I thought it was just a backup running through."

Grimm blinks a few times. "It's still there?" she tries to follow. Tech isn't her thing.

Carpenter shakes his head, "I'm still not following."

Pausing a moment to pinch the bridge of his nose, Rupert will mutter something in spanish before furrowing his brow. "Pardon. People not feeling that still is weird. Just..." A gesture up to the camera's, trying to find the words. "It's like... How you might interlock your fingers. It is patterned and layered yes? That is what it's supposed to be. Instead, it's... twisted and bulbed. Just..." A glance back to Rebeckah. "Would it be alright if they can check the security feed? That's the best way to convey this to them. The outside feed may be best. It's most... wrong there."

Rebekah looks to Detetive Carpetner then says, "Well, just don't break anything. Let me get the key to it." She heads into the back room and returns in less than a minute with a set of keys. She ponts out the right one to Carpetner and Grimm. "Its in the alleyway"

Focusing for a few moments, Rupert will try to avail some more info to them. "Let's see... There was the sorta... twist there that day, the normal security feed, I was runnign a bit low on my bike, and there was a few kids playing some computer game outside." Another pause, and he'd lean back against the counter, shaking his head. "No.... That was later. That was Miss Abernathy's playing some ARG. There was just one kid here. Lots of stuff running, so I thought it was a few... but only got a glimpse. Massive drain on his PDA, whatever he was running. Figured it was probably just some VR hookup, what with all the other stuff they had."

Nodding back to Rebekha as they bring back the keys, He'll give a small nod. "That's on you two. If I get too close to systems, they start to get all sorts of mixed up. I'm not allowed in most hospitals 'cause of it. "

Carpenter nods. "I see. Well...let's take a look, I guess." He takes the key and goes to take a look at the feed. "We'll be sure to not break anything."

Grimm follows along. "If anything, it sounds like a metahuman was involved. Unless...ah...normal hacking looks twisted to you, too?" she asks, looking to Rupert.

Shrugging, Rupert will offer a small shake of his head. "Probably not. I just follow electricity, not code. So, normal hacks should be just fine to me."

When you all get out into the alleyway, you easily find the security feed and antenna. Looks like it was installed way back in the '10s or '20s given how beat up it is.

As Carpenter starts to unlokc the box, he notes that someone has picked the lock in the past. The marks look several months old.

Carpenter furrows his brow. "Hmm. This is interesting. Someone picked it. Likely when the person came in."

Carpenter goes ahead and opens it up carefully to take a look inside.

The interior of the box looks completely normal to a casual look. A bit cleaner than one might expect really.

To a trained criminologist like Carpenter, it seems fairly obvious that someone used a spray to clean up the electronics in the box. Why is a bit more problematic. The detective even spots faint traces of the 'air solvent' used for the cleaning.

As for Rupert, he can tell the 'source' of the electrical disturbance in located in the motheboard area of the electronics. Not sure why but something is caused a very small short in that area. Distance, sadly, makes any physical details hard to make out.

And if one is Grimm, you can 'feel' a tiny piece of ceramic that doesn't belong stuck in the motherboard area. It's wedged into the edge of one of the chips.

Carpenter furrows his brow, "Too clean inside. Recently messed with, for sure."

Grimm squints a bit. "There's something inside, by the edge of one of the chips. Tiny and stuck there," she comments, trying to get a feel for where it is to point out its location.

Carpenter takes a closer look with the small flashlight he carries. "Something to mess with the circuits?"

Sitting back in the shop, Rupert will slowly lean a few times, trying to get a bit of a closer read on what on earth is messing with that flow of electricity. But, without getting closer, he'll simply rock for a few moments. Hard to get close without causing other incidental issues.

Damnit. She got here too late. Forsaken crouches on the rooftop of the building. She arrived just in time to see the Detective go inside. So she decided to be patient. It would be a bad idea to spook anyone. But if anyone -else- is watching the place, she might be able to figure that out at least.

So after a long day of helping the kids of Harrisburg on the clock... The Forsaken, Scourge of Crime, hides out up there waiting for now.

"It feels...weird. A different material than the rest of the stuff in there," Grimm tries to explain as she stands behind Carpenter. She peeks over his shoulder, and with a wiggle of her fingers, conjures a little red dot to highlight that she's sensing inside.

Carpenter takes a picture. He then tries to remove the extra bit that's been added.

Ah, there it is. A bit of hard looking ceramic? In any case, Detective Carpenter is able to pluck it out and pop it into an evidence bag.

And to Rupert's senses, the electrical disturbance fades out. Whatever that is was causing a short it seems. Nice not to have that background buzz any more.

Carpenter takes a closer look at it. "I'll need a tech to look at this. Not sure exaclty what it does, but I might be able to figure it out." He takes a photo again of the location where it was to make sure the junctions are known.

It looks like it's part of something larger. One end has a japped break on it.

Carpenter furrows his brow. "It was something larger. They removed it after they were done."

Letting his shoulders drop Rupert will give a soft sigh, looking back towards the wall, gazing past it to the edge of the power box. "Well... That's far better. Thought it might be detertant. But now? Just nice again. I think they helped out with something, huh Rebekah?"

Rebekah, the saleswoman, says from the alleyway door. "Cool! I better get back to the front though. Old Mr Pierson'd pissed if I missed a customer." She closes the alleyside door.

Carpenter goes ahead and dusts for some fingerprints on the box as well. Though he suspects that's unlikely to turn up much.

Grimm steps back as Carpenter works, taking a look around the alley with her special senses, though so far, she's picked up nothing she can track. It's just been too long.

And indeed, the box is clean. Very very clean of fingerprints.

Carpenter nods. "They were careful. Or they didn't have prints." He locks it back up. "I should return the key."

Grimm looks over to Carpenter and says softly, "We're being watched by someone. Rooftop, west side."

Carpenter stops and looks up in that direction. "A meta, probably? It's a rooftop in this town, after all."

Hearing that, Forsaken narrows her eyes. She sighs and shakes her head. So much for surveillance. She shifted her weight and heard the rooftop timbers creek beneath her feet. That done, she rolls her eyes as she draws her grapple gun and aims off across the street... firing and leaping away into the night.

Carpenter looks to Grimm, "Think the person up there was involved? Or just rubbernecking?"

"Yeah, based on the outfit, not just some civilian," Gabrielle whispers. She turns her head in Forsaken's direction as she flees. "Not our cowboy friend, though. They've fled, too. Weird."

Carpenter nods and goes ahead to return the key.