Log:The Lady in White

The Lady in White 2020/09/11 Night Marshal|Carpenter Det. Celia Harris 9

Carpenter gets back to the car the pair is using to stake out the address in question. He sits back in the car with the bag of a couple of donuts and two coffees, giving one to Celia. "Here you go. Just like you asked for."

"Thanks," Celia says as she takes her coffee and the custard-filled chocolate bar she asked for. They're staking out a two story apartment complex in the lower income part of Newtown close to Harrisburg. She takes a bite of her donut and takes a sip of the black coffee, letting the donut sweeten the bitter brew in her mouth. She swallows and says, "No activity while you were out."

Carpenter nods. "This is the fun part. The waiting." He smiles and pulls out the blueberry donut he got for himself, and takes a bite.

Celia takes a deep breath and lets it out as she decides to get comfortable and lean back in the seat. "Yup. That's why I took this job. The fun," she chuckles. She put up with some jabs at work for being partnered up with Jack, and they doubled down when they heard of the stakeout. "You sure something's going to go down here?" she asks.

Carpenter nods, "Odds are good. This guy was let loose on a technicality like our last one. You remember the crime scene, right?"

"No, Carpenter, I forgot," Celia counters dryly, then smirks.

"I couldn't get that out of my head if I wanted to," she answers honestly this time. It was her first murder case with him.

Carpenter smiles, "Well, I think...our mystery murderer may make an appearance again."

Celia fixes Carpenter with a look when he smiles. "We're here on one of your hunches?" she asks and takes another sip of coffee.

Carpenter raises a brow and smiles. "Is that not good enough?"

Celia chuckles darkly. "Yeah. It just means we're definitely going to be in a shootout tonight," she says, then looks over to the building in question. The lights are on and the blinds semi-open, enough to see some of what's going on inside. So far their potential vic is watching TV tonight and eating something he pulled out of the fridge without reheating.

Carpenter furrows his brow. "Hopefully not, but it's possible?"

Celia nods thoughtfully. "Well, if you dragged me out here to sit for hours on end for one of your hunches, -something- is going down," she muses. For a show of faith, it's also damning.

Carpenter chuckles. "If you'd prefer, you could head home, and I could call in a meta to help. Or just a cape type. Like Night Marshal."

Celia raises a brow. She takes that as a challenge. "I can handle it," she retorts. "We're partners, right?" she adds as she looks to the building and takes a bite of her donut.

Carpenter nods, "If the murderer shows up, we should try to talk them down. That's the first goal. I hope it won't be a firefight, though."

The pair stick it out and watch. Occasionally there's quipping and commentary as they watch. The coffee's all drunk up and donuts eaten. Their "vic" gets a phone call during, but otherwise spends most of the night binge watching the shows he missed while in jail.

It's around three hours when Carpenter notices a strange movement through the window. Along the white walls of the interior, something is coming out and through the walls while also fading into existence behind the vic. White legs, and loose fabric like a cape and mantle with a hood, until floating like a specter behind Gino Savaglio is a lady in white.

Carpenter points out what he saw, "Something moved through the walls, I think. We need to get in there..."

Celia suddenly sits up and puts her coffee in the drink holder. "Let's go. So what do we got? Warrants? Probably cause?" she asks as she opens the car door.

Carpenter puts his coffee in the drink holder as well. "We have probable cause. But we'll start with a knock on the door."

Carpenter gets out of the car, and hustles toward the door.

Celia nods and checks both ways before crossing the street towards the apartment building. The front door is locked and has a call box next to it.

Carpenter locks the car after Celia is out, remotely. He knocks on the door heavily as well as hitting the call box button.

As Carpenter knocks on the door, Celia steps back and looks up towards the apartment, but the angle isn't great. There's no answer on the call box. It just keeps ringing.

Carpenter tries the oldest trick in the book. He buzzes every apartment. Someone will just hit the button and let them in.

Someone answers on the third try. "Who is it? I'm tryin' ta sleep!"

Carpenter says, "Detective Carpenter, CBPD. Please...buzz us in."

There's a pause before there's a buzz. Celia hurries back to Carpenter after having stepped out in the street. "Something's going on in there, but I couldn't get eyes on it."

Carpenter nods and opens the door, holding it for Celia, and then bounds up the stairs toward Gino's place.

Celia starts running up the steps. She's trained and still fit, making good time up the stairs with Carpenter.

Carpenter draws his weapon before getting to the door. He makes sure it's the correct apartment, and tries the knob, assuming it'll be locked, but there's no guarantee.

The door is indeed locked. Celia steps alongside the door with her back to the wall as she draws her gun and checks the safety. She gives Carpenter a nod to let him know she's ready to go in and cover him.

Carpenter goes ahead and tries to pick the lock.

Carpenter quickly picks the lock, draws his weapon again...and opens the door, pushing it open. "CBPD!"

Celia steps in right after Carpenter, gun ready to cover the room after Carpenter enters.

Gino is sitting in his chair staring in mute dread at the ghostly Lady in White. She floats with her feet a few inches off the ground, her cloak floating and drifting about her. The hood is drawn up, and a white scarf covers her nose and mouth. Her eyes are icy blue and fierce upon Gino, before her head snaps towards the two officers barging in.

Carpenter points his gun at the Lady in White. "Freeze!" Okay, he should probably shoot, but he HAS to give her a chance to surrender.

Celia trains her gun on the ghostly apparition. She's breathing quicker from the adrenaline, as this is first showdown with a vigilante and a meta. The last time during Syphon's appearance, they had metahuman backup. But she shows surprising control in not shooting.

The White Specter answers in a voice hollow and distant. "You had your chance. Leave him to me."

Carpenter shakes his head, "You know we can't do that, ma'am." He knows they might not be able to stop her, given that she can apparently walk through walls, but she's likely go thave to be solid to hurt Gino. He moves a bit to the side, trying to keep a bead on her, but make sure that Celia and he are not in the same line of fire.

Celia moves to the opposite side to keep the White Specter covered, but remains out of Carpenter's firing line. She knows the drill.

The White Specter is currently solid looking. And Gino's eyes are haunted and his face guilt-ridden. "I-I gotta pay for what I done!" he insists desperately. He gets up from his couch and makes to run for the window.

Carpenter shouts to Celia, "Keep her covered!" He goes to try to tackle Gino to keep him from jumping.

Celia nods and covers the White Specter. "Don't try anything, lady," she warns.

Gino doesn't make it far as Carpenter springs into action.

Carpenter grabs Gino before he can make it out the window, putting him in a decent hold. But he can't use his gun effectively while he's maintaining the hold.

Gino fights with all his might against Carpenter. "Let me go! I have to pay!" he rants like a loon.

The White Specter's eyes harden. As her cape flows, it reveals the white body hugging pants and white corset beneath, and pale skin. "The punishment will fit the crime, and his crimes are dark and many," she warns in a chilled voice. She begins to drift back from the cops.

"I said freeze!" Celia warns.

Carpenter tries to keep Gino held with one arm to get his gun hand free to aim at the woman in white. "Who are you?"

The woman in white merely laughs an echoing laugh and begins to turn transparent as she drifts up and away. But Celia has her gun trained on her and takes a shot at the White Specter's shoulder, aiming to wound, not kill.

The cloaks wraps up to block the bullet, but only manages to deflect it partly. The Lady in White hisses in pain and clutches her shoulder as she finishes turning into a ghostly form and flies through the ceiling rapidly. Her feet vanish before they make it through the ceiling as the woman fades from sight completely.

Carpenter isn't quite able to get his gun trained on her again quickly enough. But at least the...mobster is safe. Yay.

Carpenter keeps Gino held until the guy relaxes. "You still goign to throw yourself out the window?"

Celia draws her gun up and looks around cautiously above them. When the Lady in White doesn't reappear, she clicks on the safety and holsters her weapon cautiously.

Gino doesn't relax, though he is wearing himself out. "It's what I deserve for killing all those people," he confesses, choked up over his crimes.