Investigations in Manhattan (Open)

[ggi]

Time: 12:30 pm
Date: Thursday, January 15
Place: New York City, Dylan Hotel (Sort of)
Status: Open to everyone--expecting: Alia, Kate, Leon, and Terry.

Kate flipped through the file marked 'Dylan Hotel' with idle interest as the police and bureau agents buzzed about, inspecting the hole that remained in place of the hotel. According to the reports in her hand, the hotel had been cited as the location of supernatural activity on several occasions. None of the claims had ever been substantiated, however, and the most recent had been over three years ago. The majority of the debris had been cleared from the site and the area had been sectioned off, but the N.Y.P.D. and the Fire Department were having one hell of a time identifying the cause of the destruction.

Kate snapped the folder closed with a low hum of irritation.

Today was off to a very banal start if this was the highest priority investigation. It was unlikely to be more than a burst gas line—at least no more supernatural than such—and her presence was token, at best. Nevertheless, the smattering of B.P.R.D. Agents on hand would gather up the usual dossier of information and she could analyze it later.

Kate stepped back from the gaping hole, took a few seconds to appreciate the surreality of the local sky-line, and flipped open the second file folder she had tucked under her arm. Apparently Thomas Manning felt it was fitting to assign cases based on locality as well as date. The second incident had happened the day of the explosion, several blocks south of Kate's current location. Three witnesses, one seriously injured and on a myriad of illegal substances, had reported a young man with supernatural powers. John Albertson, the sober of the two men, had described the incident as a man being hurled against a wall by a 'blonde, with freaky glowy eyes'. Unfortunately, he related as much to three separate news channels before the thrill wore off. His girlfriend, a rattled woman named Catherine Peters, had cried vampire and attested to seeing a feat of super-strength, glowing eyes, and a super-human leap. The woman had been hysterical when the police arrived, but neither the boyfriend nor the attacked man had contested her description. Not that the attacked man had been capable of more than a series of pained grunts and gurgles.

Kate eyed the police sketch of the suspect and flipped the witness reports over. Apparently she was to have special backup, in the event that this was a legitimate claim. It was unlikely that a vampire was really to blame, but Kate had no alternate reasoning to supply at the moment.

Thoughts of vampires and hysterical witnesses aside, she continued through the folders and onto the third and final file. There had been several reports of curious incidents south of the second location—apparently today was a good day for walking—in an apartment complex near the FDR. The laundry-list of complaints could have been copied out of a text book, they so blatantly pointed to non-living infestation. The likelihood of paranormal activity rekindled her enthusiasm and a reserved smile crept across her face.

Kate closed the folders and tucked them back under her arm, pulling her jacket more tightly across her shoulders. The investigation here was all but academic, but she couldn't move on without the field agents.

OOC: I hope this is alright! If it's not, I'll gladly change it up. I figured some ambiguity about Leon would give this a fun edge, but if no one else agrees I can rewrite it.

[loki2]

//OoC; No problems here, Kate ;D Ah lurve it ;3//

The 'beep, bip, boop,' of the old school Super Mario Bros. song rang out loudly from the nightstand. Right beside said nightstand was a tousled blonde head - with a pillow wedged firmly to his ear.
It was his day off! What the hell could Big Jim possibly want?
With a sigh that was mostly growl, Leon Tiberius (ne Arkady Scott Belmont) threw off the pillow and flipped open his cellphone. "What."
He could picture Big Jim pinching the bridge of his fat nose as he spoke; "Leon, you and I are really going to have to sit down and talk about etiquette one day..."
"If it's anything like your lecture on making deliveries on time I think I'll pass," Leon retorted. "Two of my ribs are still tender."
"Oh get over it, they went easy on you because of the circumstances."
The younger man somehow resisted a powerful urge to walk the few short steps to his bathroom, lower his cellphone to the toilet bowl and flush it. Instead, he remained silent.
"Look, can you just come over, Tiberius? Nothing is gonna happen to you, I promise, ok?"
Times like this Leon wished he could peek into the future whenever he wished.
"Sure, whatever," he replied dead pan. "Gimme about an hour, will ya?"
He snapped the phone shut before Big Jim could reply and shut it off.

Wondering what the weather was like, Leon shoved back his blinds - and instantly regretted it. A powerful beam of sunlight caught him directly in the eyes. Leon recoiled with a cry, shutting his eyes tightly and forcing the blinds back in place; but even that little bit of exposure was enough to raise the pressure in his skull to an intolerable level.
Oh God, he had to do something!

But what could he...
And where...

Then suddenly every piece of furniture in his room was levitating.
The realization struck him like a slap in the face and with a loud, "OH SHIT!" everything dropping at once with an awful clatter and bang. Drawers, bottles and picture frames everywhere.
Leon sighed long and heavy. It was definitely a hat and sunglasses day.

[drjuliusmayfair]

His first mission with the Jersey unit. He was a little nervous, he had been out for so long. His pager hummed as he looked at the code. Hm. Suspected spiritual activity. That's why they called him. He collected what he needed for this mission and packed them into two large shoulder bags. He threw his coat on and shouldered the heavy bags.

It was a slightly chilly day, at least that was what Julius thought. He wore his boring brown wool coat over his tasteful yellow tweed three piece suit. His dress shirt was a crisp white with the bright purple silk vest. The fedora was at a jaunty angle as he dropped the bags of equipment next to Dr. Corrigon.

"Doctor Julius Mayfair reporting for duty, ma'am. So," He started in his slight Scottish burr. he looked at the gaping hole in the hotel. He kneeled down next to his bags and sorted through boxes until he picked out a pair of goggles. he carefully removed them from their protective case and slipped them over his head. The pushed a button and the goggles made a high whine and then grew warm against his skin as he walked to the wall, placing a hand against it.

"Is this animal, mineral, or vegetable?"

[fuzzy]

OoC: Sorry about the shortness of the post here, just wanted to put my two cents in, finals week for the lose...

Terry sighed. He really had no idea why he was even there whatsoever. His job was normally to just punch things in the face until they stop moving, an investigation was hardly Terry's style, and the big building with a hole in it didn't look like it was going to try to eat anyone anytime soon. Manning probably just wanted the werewolf out of his hair for a while. There were reports of a "vampire" attack, but frankly, Terry wasn't convinced, anyone could see "vampires" at night, in a bad section of NYC. Just then the posh-looking new investigator arrived. Terry didn't really dislike the man, he just...didn't like him all too much. The redhead always seemed a little too formal for his taste, a little too pretentious and stiff to get along with Terry.

Anyway, back to the business at hand. Dr. Corrigan was eying the evidence folders like a cat would eye a particularly delicious-looking mouse. Terry decided to walk over and see exactly what the good doctor found, it would be good for him to stretch his legs, not to mention the fact that it was near-freezing and all he had on were a pair of sneakers, rather ragged jeans, and a Manchester United sweatshirt over one of his customary half-sleeve ones. Besides, he might as well introduce himself to the investigation leader, as Terry didn't really associate with the more intellectually oriented people at the Beuaru.

Terry sauntered over to Kate, hands in his pockets and careful to not trip on any of the debris littering the area. He tried to catch her eye on the way over, as to not make his introduction come out of nowhere and get really awkward. He held out his hand to her. " Terry Jones, werewolf, it looks like I'm going to be your muscle for the day."

[ggi]

Kate hadn't met many of the special field agents—in fact, she'd met none of them—but she hadn't honestly expected the well dressed man in the tweed suit and long coat to step over the police line and stop at her side. He dropped two weighty looking bags, one of them made an expensive sounding 'clink', and Kate smiled politely. Before she had an opportunity to question his clearance, he introduced himself.

”Dr Julius Mayfair reporting for duty, ma'am. So...” He introduced himself casually, and knelt as he spoke. Kate didn't recognize half of the equipment in the bag, offhand, but the pair of goggles he withdrew caught her attention quickly. As he slipped them on, past his fedora, she had to stifle amusement that wasn't entirely professional. He activated the pair and moved to a remnant of the Dylan hotel's street-facing wall.“...Is this animal, mineral, or vegetable?”

“That,” Kate answered and motioned to the wall, “is mineral, I should imagine.”

She understood what he'd been asking, but she couldn't resist the opportunity. She'd been handed the files on several field agents last night, but she'd only casually perused them—she recalled that he had degrees in psychology and parapsychology, but little else beyond his name.

“This particular...”Kate paused and motioned at the hole in the ground, “incident is several weeks cold, unfortunately. The site has been monitored fairly heavily since the explosion, and there's been no identifiable activity.” Kate sifted through the folders in her hands and held out the third, the one pertaining to the apartment complex on East 13th and 1st Street. “This location, however, is much more... lively, as it were.”

As Kate replaced the other two folders beneath her left arm, a man ducking under the police-tape caught her attention. He approached with a casually attentive expression and Kate prepared herself to shoo him back onto the sidewalk—apparently she seemed like the most friendly face on site and had been approached by more casual civilians, interested in the goings on, than she had been by agents. Kate adopted a mild and apologetic expression as the man approached, but was surprised when he introduced himself.

“Terry Jones, werewolf, it looks like I'm going to be your muscle for the day,” he said and extended his hand to her. Kate looked him over, confused and stunned, for a few seconds before her brain reconciled the information and politesse reasserted itself. She grinned and took his hand enthusiastically, shaking it a bit more vigorously than the situation called for.

“I'm sorry! I mistook you for a look-e-loo,” she admitted and released his hand, “Kate Corrigan, nice to meet you. I doubt we'll really be needing muscle, but better safe than sorry.” She remembered very little specific to Terry Jones's file and had ignored most of the personality notes Thomas Manning had scrawled into the file. He seemed amiable enough, and her knowledge of werewolves would be more than adequate if it came up.

Kate stuffed her free hand into the pocket of her coat, away from the cold. “Allegedly, there was a vampire attack just south of here. I, personally, doubt that,” Kate explained dryly. Her grin spread and she added, “But if one leaps out and tries to mug me, I do expect you to save my life—or my wallet, whichever the situation calls for.”

She turned slightly and addressed both Dr. Mayfair and Agent Jones in tandem, "We're waiting on a fourth, and then we'll move to investigate the other sites. I've done a pass over the area, but you're more than welcome to do so yourselves. Can't have too much information, after all."

[drjuliusmayfair]

Julius turned back towards Kate and smiled. He chuckled and lifted the goggles up and off his head, having removed his fedora first and replaced it back into his head. He moved back to the bag to pick up his 'Spook' camera. Nothing special about this site? He picked up the digital camera he had to have built especially for what he wanted to use it for. Spiritual pictures. But it had its own uses outside of ghosts. It seemed to pick up physic residue also. He doubted he would get anything here with so many people passing back and forth on this site, but it never hurt. He paused from his plans for pictures and took the file offered to him and glanced through it. He pursed his lips, then read over the material more carefully.

"I can see why I was called in, then. I was wondering. I mean, I hunt the spooks, not the bloodsuckers." He closed the file and handed it back to her.

As he handed it to her, he saw Terry crossing the line. He remembered Terry from the Christmas party but had not been involved with him since. He gave a friendly wave, Terry had been a good enough fellow even if he was wearing a Manchester United sweater. His hands went to his camera as he turned from Kate and Terry. He wanted a few pictures of the site. It was cold (the site and the weather), but that didn't matter.

He started snapping off pictures, the flash burning brightly and quick like lightening, the bulb bouncing out as he ejected it to break with a delicate sound.. The flash worked like the older cameras of the 40s and 50s. Flash bulbs. He loved it, he loved the feel of old school. He popped a new bulb into the lamp with quick and efficient movements, just to pass the time until the next agent came.

He chuckled seemingly at nothing and let the camera hang on it's strap as he went to his bags and kneeled to close them up, readying to leave as soon as Dr. Kate gave the go ahead.

Dr. Kate seems to be a very quick study and she seems to be a good leader, Julius thought. Not half bad looking either. He knew of her, working in the BPRD, but never read up on her specifically or met her. She was talking to Terry now as Julius turned towards the hotel, just looking at it. He admired it for a moment and raised his camera to snap a picture.

[fuzzy]

>>>“But if one leaps out and tries to mug me, I do expect you to save my life—or my wallet, whichever the situation calls for.”<<<

Terry chuckled, this woman was different from all the other stuck-up doctors at the BPRD, she wasn't as dry as the documents that she studied.

"Well, it depends on how full the wallet is...anyway, fake vampire attack or not, this area of NYC is dangerous enough without 'em." Terry looked around, he didn't really care what the reports said, there was no way a single vampire could cause this much destruction. He was about to speak up to that effect, although Kate was a doctor, and there was no stopping a doctor when business was involved.

>>>"We're waiting on a fourth, and then we'll move to investigate the other sites. I've done a pass over the area, but you're more than welcome to do so yourselves. Can't have too much information, after all."<<<

If the good doctor hadn't found anything, Terry sure as hell wasn't going to, he just wasn't really cut out to investigate. He was actually a lot happier when something he could punch was in front of him. Even though Terry realized this, he decided to take a look around as to not offend the doctor, it was the least he could do after she put in the amount of work she did.

"I don't know if I'll find anything, but I can take a look." He stuck his hands in his pockets to ward off the ever-present New York cold and wandered around the perimeter. Hell, he had no idea what he was even looking for, all he could see was destroyed rock. Not very scientific. Terry decided to go over and talk to the guy who seemed to know what he was doing, the new flatfoot, Jules?

"Find anything? I'm feelin' a little outta place here, all I can tell from this is that there used to be a hotel here, and now there's not." Well, not really, Terry wasn't that adverse to investigating, he just liked to make himself out that way.

[drjuliusmayfair]

Jules turned to Terry and held up his camera a little, “Just taking some photographs. There’s nothing here we need to worry about. It was probably some bad structures within the building. I like to collect photographs at every site I’m at to see what I can pick up.”
He looked at the pocket watch that hung from his vest, “Whoever this agent that is suppose to join us is late. “ he gave a little sigh and removed his hat to remove the camera from around his neck. He packed it away then stood, his fedora slightly angled over his eyes, “So what’s your specialty, Terry? Besides being the muscle? “

[loki2]

It was in the shower that an odd feeling gripped Leon's stomach; not bad, just... strange. He couldn't pinpoint what it would mean to him. Not that it mattered, as he knew he'd find out soon enough. Still, the last time he'd gotten a 'funny' feeling the Dylan Hotel had evaporated and Leon had barely saved the life of a young woman along with his own.
But, either way, it didn't matter. It wasn't like he could stop whatever his gut was trying to warn him about.

Twenty minutes later he was on the street with a broad-brimmed swede hat and a pair aviator sunglasses. Beneath the thick camel leather of his jacket the young man wore a blue t-shirt asking if you wanted a 'nice, hot cup of SHUT THE HELL UP!' and his black denim pants were cinched with a belt depicting an intricately-embroidered vine motif. Ok, the hat made him look a bit out of place, but so what? It was New York. Besides, it made the perfect compliment to his leather boots and the final, hidden piece of his ensemble: A military-issue Beretta 92F tucked into the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back. Invisible.
Hey, it was a tough neighbourhood.

The shortest route to Big Jim's flat would take Leon right by the remains of the Dylan. Leon had been purposefully avoiding the area when making his runs, but today was supposed to be his day off and he just wanted to get this over with. The sooner the better. Right now, he just didn't have the patience to donate the further ten minutes of his time it would take to go around. So... screw it.
However, the large crowd gathered around the demolished front of the Dylan gave Leon pause. He could have swore he'd read somewhere that the fire chief had called off the investigation a week ago, deeming the evidence too badly damaged to garner enough clues to assume a cause to the explosion. Had something been uncovered to prompt a re-opening of the investigation?
Curious, and feeling more than a little smug, Leon paused a bit longer.
"It was a gas leak, dumbasses," the young man muttered under his breath. "And that old boiler that's been violating the fire safety code for years..."
From the general flow of thought he was picking up on, the investigators were considering everything from a vampire attack to a... werewolf?

That couldn't be right...

What kind of people were they that vampires and werewolves were their most prevalent thoughts during a fire investigation?
Leon had to know more.
Before he could stop himself, the younger man stepped into a shaft of sunlight spearing the sidewalk between two buildings and removed his hat. As the ray of light prickled his scalp, Leon felt his awareness blossom.

...South of here, a vampire attack...
...Terry, muscle, werewolf...
...Repeated paranormal activity...
...Specializing in spirits...

It took a minute for all the pieces to fall into place, but when they did Leon felt like someone had dropped a brick square on top of his head.
That group of investigators... they were here to investigate him!
Technically, anyway.
Still, it was what it was, and he was certain whatever they found would point to him in some way or another. And that was bad. Really bad!
Panic siezed him, and in a total disregard for the logic and common sense he prided himself on, Leon listened to his most primal instinct and ran.

[fuzzy]

>>>“So what’s your specialty, Terry? Besides being the muscle? “<<<

"I can pick up on sounds and scents, two things normal people don't have much of."

At saying this, Terry realized what he should be doing. The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, as they say, so he should be listening in to conversations on the outside of the barrier. It was mostly a waste, mostly. Almost all of the conversations consisted of "What the hell happened here?" or "This hotel was here, perfectly fine, a few weeks ago...", but there was one voice that caught his attention. One voice that spoke, >>>"It was a gas leak, dumbasses."<<<

Gotcha, we needed a witness, Terry turned around and motioned at Julius and the doctor to tell them that he'd found something, his keen eyes picking out the source of the voice. A young man with a suede hat, his face hidden behind a pair of aviators, and dirty-ish blonde hair, but that could've been just from the lighting.

"I think we've got our witness, want me to find out what he knows?" No sooner had Terry mentioned this than the young man's face contorted into a grimace of pure shock and he started running. Not waiting for the doc or Julius' confirmation, they didn't look like the type who'd be good at catching fugitives anyway, Terry took off. He was rather confident that he could catch the man, he didn't look like anything special, but, from working at the BPRD especially, Terry learned to never judge on appearances alone and decided to keep his guard up if...when, he came into contact with mystery-aviator-guy.

[ggi]

The day was getting on, and Kate watching the crowd had long ago lost Kate's interest. She glanced at her plastic N.Y.U. wristwatch and moved to address the officers present. The group grunted appropriate responses to her questions and dismissed themselves quickly after providing her answers. She glanced up at the sky and then at the traffic that slowly trickled by. The officer directing traffic gave her a look that contained all his distaste for this particular situation. Idly, she wondered where the final agent was, and lost herself in thought.

Kate had been balefully staring at her watch when Terry came barreling past her. He leaped over the tape with all the grace of a trained hurtle-jumper and broke through the moderately diverted traffic before she could get out a clear “What in the world?” She spun, nearly dropping the folders, and craned her neck to better see the crowd. It wasn't hard to see the young man sprinting through the crowd, but his hat and bulky coat made it difficult to get any sense of him. Kate stared on in abject confusion for a beat before she turned and eyed the nearby Dr. Mayfair.

Kate resisted her initial reaction—to simply demand that he 'explain'--and spoke quickly as she turned away from the doctor. “Did he find something?”

All thoughts about the remaining agent were forgotten as Kate tried to spot the pair through the crowd across the street. Briefly, she considered chasing after them. She abandoned this thought as she gaged the speed at which they tore through the crowd.

[drjuliusmayfair]

***"I can pick up on sounds and scents, two things normal people don't have much of."***

Julius nodded, "Well that will come in handy! I wish i had such a talent. All I can see is dead people, and maybe mix up a brew to keep your lover interested." he chuckled, not wanting to mention his other specialties. It would be like bragging.

***"I think we've got our witness, want me to find out what he knows?" No sooner had Terry mentioned this than the young man's face contorted into a grimace of pure shock and he started running.***

Jules was about to say something when Terry suddenly bolted. Shocked, he watched the werewolf and then the target. He was dressed strangely, bulky. he had something to hide. Like Jules was going to go after the man, he didn't have the proper shoes on. He was not prepared for a heavy investigation today. Which he suddenly felt like an idiot. Had he been out of practice for so long? Ghost hunting made him soft.

***"Did he find something?"***

Ah, Kate. Jules shouldered his loads, "I do believe he did." He said, coming up next to Dr. Corrigan. "I have all confidence that Terry will catch the prat. We might get ourselves an explanation why this hotel is so much ruble. Speaking of explanation, I hope our fellow agent has a good one for being so late."

[loki2]

...Terry, werewolf, muscle...

That's who was chasing him. An unending litany of curses directed at himself ran through Leon's head as he sprinted through the crowds. Stupid stupid STUPID! There weren't enough profanities in enough languages to properly define the kind of idiot he was right now! Taking off at a dead run in front of a bunch of cops? Yeah, that wouldn't look suspicious in the least.
But... this Terry chasing him... he couldn't possibly truly be a werewolf, could he? They didn't exist! It had been difficult enough for Leon to accept his psionic powers in his teens, but werewolves? There was no way. Just... no way. A part of his mind simply refused to accept it.
It... it just couldn't be!

But whether or not this Terry was a werewolf made no difference at the moment; Leon still didn't want to get caught by him either way. And much to his dismay, Terry was gaining on him. Even with all his martial arts training and track running highschool, God help him Terry the werewolf was getting closer. Worst of all, he realized there was nothing he could do with his powers to make himself run faster.
Well, this sucked.
Now what?

Deciding to fall back on tried and true methods, Leon turned sharply into an alley (nearly breaking his ankle in the process) and sprinted for the back where a short fence seperated the alley from the grounds of a small apartment building. He was fully aware it wouldn't hold back his pursuer long, but unless Terry was as agile or psionically gifted as Leon it would pose a significant obstacle to the larger man, buying Leon valuable time to put some distance between them.
Leon leaped and put out on hand to brace himself on top of the fence as he lifted and pushed himself over with his telekinesis. He didn't know what his little stunt would look like from behind, but right now he didn't particularly care. He just wanted to get away! He'd deal with any consequences later.

[fuzzy]

Terry ran through the crowd, bowling people over without any difficulty, due to his enhanced strength. He smiled. It looked like he was gaining on aviators-man, it would only be a matter of time now. The other man turned sharply into an alley and Terry followed, coming face-to-face...well, really face-to-grate with a fence. A fence that aviators-man jumped over with an extra boost from...what? It looked like the guy had psionics on his side, or at least some kind of air control. So, the guy thought a flimsy grated fence would stop him? Please. Terry concentrated for a second or two, and three-inch claws burst from his fingertips, spattering blood all over the walls of the alley, there was a price to pay for this "half-shifting", as he called it. That price was that his human body couldn't handle his werewolf parts for long, and not without extreme pain. With one or two swipes, the razor-sharp claws made quick work of the metal grating, leaving him a hole to climb through. He retracted his claws, leaving ten bloody holes in his fingers, albeit ten small holes that were near-healed already.

He took out his phone and dialed the doc's number, which he recieved at the start of the investigation in case something like this happened. It rang, and rang again, and then someone picked up. "Hey, doc? Yeah. This is Terry, it looks like that guy I'm chasing after has some kind of mental propulsion power or something, backup might be necessary depending on how strong he can get. I'm chasing him in an alley off of Washington St." Brief, but necessary, as Manning would have his head if he chased after someone without a proper explanation. Sprinting forward, certain he would catch aviators-man, Terry shouted at him.

"Hey! Stop running! We both know that I'm gonna catch ya' sooner or later, so don't make this hard on yourself!"

[ggi]

Kate's piqued attention spiked as the pair disappeared around a corner three and a half blocks down from the site. She hesitated and broke into a jog in the general direction the pair had gone, but it was a futile effort that ended as quickly as it had begun. Her cell-phone banged out a cheerful rendition of Mambo Swing, and she halted a few feet into her pursuit. Her hand shot into her jacket and pulled the device out just as the song reached the first major lift. Without bothering to check the number, she flipped it open.

“Hey doc?”

“Terry—what did--?”

“Yeah.” Terry said atop her question—he was breathing unevenly, but he still sounded very casual for a fellow sprinting through New York. “This is Terry, it looks like that guy I'm chasing after has some kind of mental propulsion power or something,” he elaborated and ignored Kate's prompt for more information (“What do you mean?”), “backup might be necessary depending on how strong he can get.”

“Understood,” Kate answered quickly and shot a sidelong glance at Dr Mayfair.

“I'm chasing him in an alley off of Washington St.”

Kate clicked the phone shut as soon as he'd finished the sentence and motioned Julius after her. They'd never catch up to them on foot--not with any equipment--so they needed transportation. With little warning, Kate grabbed the nearest agent and demanded his vehicle—to her credit, she managed to use the word 'please'. The man handed her a pair of keys and pointed to the black sedan parked between a pair of police interceptors.

“Come on, they're headed south,” Kate detailed and jogged toward the car as she flipped her phone open and hit the speed dial for the B.P.R.D. switchboard. The voice had barely answered her when she quickly demanded that backup be held at the ready and detailed the probably location. The agent on the other end answered something akin to 'yes' before she hung up on him and slid into the car.