Summary:Skye goes looking for information on a Winged Woman but finds a Wolf and a Cat instead. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Tracking down the street address for Paragon Investigations had been the easy part. Traffic cameras, a license plate off of a pickup truck, even a website but it would have been way too easy to start there! Skye's made a couple of passes around the area to get a feel for this part of town and the building in question, taking her time before making any forward moves.
The somewhat rusty light blue 80's van is left parked a healthy distance away, the remainder of the distance being covered on foot with both hands buried deep into the pockets of a brown parka. She'd rather not have to deal with the human element but apparently the people behind this place are metas and that makes it kinda exciting and cool.
If the door is unlocked then she'll lead herself in until it comes time to either knock, ring a bell at a desk, or however it might happen to be around here. Hopefully someone's around.
It's business hours albeit later in the day, so the door is unlocked. There isn't anyone in the 'reception area' but a bell rings when Skye comes in and a deep voice comes from an open door off to the side. "Hello. Be right with you. Isis, can you please?"
The place is laid out a bit like a residence which makes sense. This place was originally designed not as a business but as housing. That said it's clear that some walls have been knocked down and things re arranged a bit on the lower floor to make it more suitable for conducting business.
On the wall there's a picture of a number of quite young people in uniforms that look… heroic-y. One of them is a brown furred wolfman. That'd be a picture of the Paragons, at a guess.
That picture does not include the feline-like woman who pokes her head out from one of the offices. She's mostly human except for the ears on her head and the sharp, feline like features of her face.
"Hello. Welcome to Paragon Investigations. Can I help you?" She asks. She's dressed in hip hugging jeans and snug collared t-shirt with the company's logo on the left breast.
Huh. There's something you don't see every day… That wolfman picture holds the younger lady's attention while she's waiting. Considering the sound of the voice and what she's been able to gather about this place it helps to have a visual reference of what to expect.
And a werewolf is go.
As if magically summoned, another voice calls out and its owner looks nothing at all like the picture on the wall! "Wow, ah—sorry," she catches herself a little late with a flinch. "I'm Skye. Hoping you might help me find someone."
A courier bag slides around on a shoulder so she can extract a tablet and get the screen warmed up. Getting to the right picture is easy. Handing it over so Isis can take a look is ..slightly more complicated now that she's standing closer to the feline-themed lady.
Skye might be staring -just- a little but it isn't in fear or disgust. It's legitimate fascination.
Another mental pinch gets her moving again. In the picture there's a winged woman seemingly following a truck down the street. The very same truck which is registered to Nick Gleason, as it turns out.
"Do you know anything about her?"
Unmentioned in the files that Skye might have managed to dig up is the fact that the feline woman is an empath and thus that fascination - not entirely out of the ordinary for someone so unusual looking - will not go unnoticed.
A few seconds later an older, larger, fitter version of that brown wolfman in a similar looking polo shirt emerges.
"Hello Miss. I'm Nick Gleason, PI. Let me see what we have here."
The picture immediately gets a frown and Nick looks up. "Interesting picture. I might know something about her but it would depend greatly upon who is asking."
The look he shoots Isis is telling. He wants to know what she is picking up.
Isis is an Empath. Not that Skye would know that from her investigations. There's been so little of Isis in any public record. The slitted blue eyes, narrow a little further when the image comes out, the feline-like woman looking to Nick "This lady … I didn't get her name… wants to know about that picture."
At least Isis didn't lead with 'I didn't do it'.
Settling by Nicks side, the Empath watches Skye quite normally, but she is 'reading' the emotions in the room.
An empathic insight would reveal several layers to the question of the picture. Skye's hunting, but not in a malicious manner. She has questions. A lot of them. There's a driving force behind uncovering the truth of something greater. Something she believes this winged lady might be connected to.
Outside of the current investigation there's also another emotional spike upon seeing Nick in person. Similar fascination, now with a healthy layer of intimidation. Nick probably gets that all the time.
Didn't get her name? The hackerette quickly chimes up again, now for Nick's benefit. "My name's Skye. I just want to ask her a few questions. I'm doing an investigation of my own, there's ..a chance that she might be able to point me in the right direction."
It's mostly true. Skye's belief is less 'right direction' and more 'quite possibly connected to a serious crime.' Whatever it is it's got her a little spooked but way more cavalier about finding the facts. Like she's chasing after something quite significant.
"Mmmmmmmhmmmmm." Nick's tone is considering but skeptical. Something that Skye is probably used to. "Why don't you come on in then…" He says turning back toward what is clearly the kitchen.
"Care for a drink Miss?" He says as he gets out some store brand essence water for both himself and Isis. Once everyone has a drink who wants one, he comes to sit down at a small round table. The smallness of the table only makes the wolfman look larger.
"Alright then Skye. Why don't you tell me what's going on and I will see what I can do for you. That picture looks like it was taken from a traffic camera and since you didn't flash me and ID and I doubt that the Traffic Division down at City Hall would have just given that up willingly, I'm going to guess that this is a… citizen's investigation." Informal. Cough. Not strictly speaking going through all the channels. He's familiar, oh yes.
"That's an interesting photo to have." Isis murmurs as she moves to the side to let Skye follow Nick. "I'm Isis Marik." General…. catsbody, she supposes, not that she says that.
While Nick sits at the table, Isis perches on it. At least he seems to have broken her of the habit of knocking glasses off - or has he?
"Who do you work for, Skye?" It's the lack of response from Isis that will tell Nick that Skye's interested but not dangerous … yet.
A quick glance shifts from one investigator to the other. Isis would also get the feeling that 'Skye' here is feeling a tad outside of her league. Not strictly due to being in the presence of metas. She's out of her comfort zone, not used to doing this kind of legwork. Whatever's going on it's motivated her enough to take a step outside of the familiar.
"Yah, please," she quickly replies to the drink. It's not a stretch to say that she's not rolling in the cash, a free drink goes a long way. Although that tablet sure is a fancy modern piece of tech…
Sitting with the other two doesn't make the situation feel any less awkward, certainly not with Isis sitting -on- the table. Then it gets more awkward still when Nick pegs Skye as being an unofficial operator.
And Isis pins a most important question on her.
Skye's mouth opens then quickly closes again. Yeah, she knew these two would have questions going into this search. But being stared at by those feline eyes isn't..helping..at all…
Who does she work for? "A small but dedicated team who are interested in the truth," she declares with a return of some conviction.
Someone's getting a little nervous. It isn't a lie, at least not so much as how she feels about it. But she'd -really- rather not get into her own matters.
Nick's smile is a bit thin as he slides the drink and cup of ice toward Skye. "I've heard that story before. A small but dedicated team who would really rather not have their name brought up." Though curiously he doesn't actually press for the name. Rather he just gets down to business. If Isis had warned him off by this point he probably wouldn't but thus far her silence on the matter tells Nick that it's okay to ask the next question.
"So. What is it you wanted to know about your mystery woman so badly that you'd come to a PI office with evidence that you'd been stalking them a little." There's humor in that, not heat. He's not trying to pin anything on her, just pointing out the irony of the situation. She wants something bad enough that she's willing to put herself in a tricky situation. Well… it might pay off if she plays her cards right. Certainly neither Nick nor Isis has shut her down yet.
Isis' eyes are bright blue and slitted and the feline-like mutant doesn't seem to blink much. Skye might notice her own nervousness abating a little. It's ok, she's safe, it's comfortable here, noone will hurt her.
"Who's truth are you interested in telling?" is what she says though. With Nick asking some questions, Isis seems comfortable adding her own "What would you do if you found her?"
"Can you blame us?" Skye presses. "These are pretty crazy times, no one wants to get hauled off to some black site for trying to do the right thing."
Another emotional flare. This lady does NOT trust the system. The idea has her temper on the rise but it's quickly put aside. Quite quickly, in fact… Why'd she get mad, for that matter? This is ..okay…
Staring down a werewolf. One more experience for the list of bragging rights. It's strange how her confidence seems to have returned, like it had just stepped out for coffee rather than retreated into the cellar.
Skye takes a healthy drink then gently sets the glass aside. "Not my first choice, don't get me wrong. I didn't figure you'd give me something for nothing." Though it sure would have made this easier…
Who's truth does she want to tell?
A deep breath is claimed. Then she reaches over to the tablet and swipes once, revealing a pixelated image of more winged individuals. Inside of a building. Wearing golden armor and brandishing medieval looking weapons.
"I'd like to start with these guys. Word is they did something super shady. The public has a right to know."
"I don't think we agree that the public has a right to all that much." Nick laughs darkly. "These are, after all, the same people who put me through the hell of registration for six years for the crime of having fur." The PI might ultimately believe that people will get around to the right thing. And that the majority of them are decent. But he's a long way off from that kind of trust in 'the public.'
All the same, Nick leans forward to look at the picture, then glances up at Isis questioningly. "Can't say that I've seen that picture before. They do sort of resemble the one following me but I'm not familiar with that particular incident. Kind of look like the ones who tried to rob a pharmaceutical warehouse a couple days a go, though." An exact comparison is hard to draw though, due to the low resolution of the photo which makes it difficult to pick out the finer details.
"Why does the public have a right to know?" Isis asks right on the tail of Nicks dark statement. "Why does one group get to decide that?" She sighs and trails off. "If I understand what you're saying, you want to speak to this woman about something a group of people with wings did, so you can tell the public the 'truth'?"
It's not antagonistic, there's genuine interest there too.
"What do you think the public would do if they knew the 'truth'?"
"Might be, Nick. It's hard to tell. They all have wings and the armour might be similar but … I'd have to smell them to know for sure."
One of Skye's brows hooks upward. She's about to run through the 'you don't understand what I'm after' line when Nick speaks of registration and fur. She isn't trying to 'out the mutants' or anything. In fact, she's a serious Powers fangirl. Under other circumstances she might be giddy to be speaking directly to these two!
That eyebrow shoots upward a second time when Nick gives her something real to work with. Maybe he didn't see the picture before but he's familiar with the 'incident' at the warehouse.
Then again, maybe they're playing a fast one on her to see what she knows. But..it just doesn't SEEM like they're leading her into a trap…
No. She's got a pretty good feeling about this.
"Wouldn't you like to know if a secret chemical agent had been taken by force by a peculiar group of people who look like metahuman LARPers? Because I sure would. The last thing we need is another government doomsday weapon being hidden from us all. Or—or some kind of targeted virus, or..even a 'cure' or something," she firmly shakes her head.
Skye might be grasping at straws. She doesn't know exactly what was taken or what it does. But what she does know? "People do not do things like this unless there's a lot at stake." This is complete with a firm point toward the tablet. "And you're right. This picture came from a security camera inside the pharmaceutical warehouse. And they made off with something called 'bio-phage.' But I'm sure that wouldn't interest you any."
Confidence. Enough to level a challenge. There's a fire to this lady, one which is only tempered by fear. Fear which she no longer feels thanks to Isis.
"Ah. This I actually HAVE heard of." Nick says as he leans back from the picture. He drums his fingers on the table, or rather his clawtips on the table. Because they are claws. Claws the size of small knives.
"There is a programmable bio-weapon in circulation out there, I've heard from, well, let's just say sources in a non-governmental intelligence agency. It was created by a group called Advanced Idea Mechanics that appears to be selling it on the black market. I couldn't actually say a whole lot more than that, it's only tangential to my current case. That particular bio-weapon seems to share a critical component with someone's experiments on animal-like mutants." He gestures to himself and Isis.
"Now as for the warehouse, if you're speaking of the incident in Manhattan just a couple of days ago, there wasn't a bio phage involved. They were attempting to make off with an experimental stroke medication, though why they were doing that I am not sure. They were stopped in part by the woman whose picture you showed me at the beginning." And in part by Nick and Isis whom they almost ran over just outside the warehouse.
"Now if there was another warehouse targeted and raided, I hadn't heard about that. Would that be where this particular picture was from?" The pixilated one still on the table in front of him, he means.
"No, I wouldn't really." Isis answers Skye quite honestly. "And I wouldn't want others to know either. I'd want it handled. The problem if the 'public' learns about all this is they will panic and people like Nick and me tend to get targetted. Somehow it becomes our fault that it occured."
Isis isn't exactly wrong, her reasoning is a bit off though.
Fortunately Nick is there to direct the discussion back on track. "So they made off with some bio-chemical, yes? What are you going to do when you find this lady …" The feline-like mutants finger taps the original image. "Why do you think she can help you?"
Nicks mention of the other experiments - the ones on mutants like themselve - gets a sour look. "They need to be shut down that's for certain."
It's confidence which also hesitates for a moment as Nick slowly drums clawtips across the table. Skye had been all geared up for some big reveal, like she's about to wow her audience with some huge bombshell. But Nick? He's as cool as ever about it.
Skye quietly sits back into her chair. It's okay though. Really it is. Because Nick has some very interesting things about the substance to share.
"And now we're on the same page." Or..not! Experimental stroke medication?? -Really?- Another drink is taken as her brows furrow. "Did you get a good look at who was trying to lift this experimental med? Because that's something different."
When Isis speaks up again there's a sudden pang of emotion felt from Skye. While she hasn't had to experience such prejudice first-hand, as a sympathizer she at least tries to cross that bridge.
"Okay look. Regardless of whether this goes public we can all agree that it's bad…right?" she glances between the two. "And it does need to be shut down."
First to Isis, "The winged lady is a long shot but you have to admit there are some similarities between her and the five that made off with the bio-weapon. Maybe she really isn't involved? I don't know. But I thought it was worth finding out."
Honest answer. She might be guilty, or..she might be completely innocent.
Dipping her head toward the tablet with Nick's question, she offers "That came out of Montreal, three nights ago. Two people, both with connections to the Canadian military, died over this stuff. Over two hundred more were exposed. The CEO, Vincent Marchez, and his daughter Hannah Marchez didn't make it out."
"Two people died of it and two hundred more were exposed but didn't die?" Nick whistles. That's a nasty and incredibly targeted bug. And yes that probably needs to be shut down as much as anything else he's working on.
"Well yes, we are in agreement in that case."
Nick seems to consider for a couple more minutes. "Isis will you grab our copy of the statement we gave to NYPD after the attempted robbery?"
That's just in the next room, Nick would get it but Isis actually knows where the damn thing is. Once she's back he continues.
"So, the winged lady's name is Shayera Hol, she's from Akah Ma'at - I have no idea where or what that is - and she appears to have some kind of official standing with the NYPD. So if you're looking to get in touch with here that's where I would start because honestly, I'm not sure where she lives and I'm not clear if she has a phone or not." It had never come up when they had talked.
"If you're getting this deep into something this nasty you're going to need a trustworthy scientist as well. Go to the Tolliver Clinic and ask for Hank McCoy. Tell them Nick sent you, that should be enough to at least get a meeting."
To be honest this is not ENTIRELY altruistic. Nick trusts Hank quite a bit and if he funnels Skye's investigations to him, he knows that Hank will be able to put the kibosh on it if they go horribly wrong.
Or that's the theory anyway. Hank DID turn himself into a woman by accident recently or so he hears, so there's that also.
Isis' nose wrinkles at that news as she slides from the table and heads into the office. It's likely the only reason she knows where it is, is because she filed it. In her cat-brained filing system.
It takes a moment before she returns with a manilla folder in her hand and a copy of the report as well. "Here you go, that's a copy for you." The empath offers small smile that shows the sharp little fangs she has.
"Miss Hol seems very grumpy and has a mace. So becareful if you approach her." Isis is totally trying to help. "Hank is good people though. He looks after me."
Aha! Now it feels like some proper momentum is getting established. "That's what I've been able to gather," Skye says about the bodycount. 'Gather' in this case meaning 'what she was told by an informant.'
They can argue over what to do with the information later. For now she's onto something important and she is sooo not getting shut out. If it requires playing nice with others for a while then she can do that.
And now she has a folder with a copy of a police report. Skye automatically smiles back to Isis and, yet again, gets caught looking. This time at the fangs.
Is it wrong of her to think those are just -so cute?-
The information on the winged woman just about has Skye going cross-eyed. "The whatie-whatie?" she presses with wide eyes blinking. "Wait—she's with the NYPD?" That would be yet another official organization she doesn't trust… Great. Maybe she can get a number through that there internet thing and avoid having to do a face to face altogether.
Trustworthy scientist. "McCoy?" Another blink. At least now she knows how the Tolliver Clinic fits into everything. Progress! Skye quickly grabs for the tablet and spins it around, making with the hardcore note-taking. Suddenly this meeting is going WAY better than she had anticipated.
"Bird lady has big smashy and Hank likes cats—" she suddenly cuts herself off with an expression like she just stepped into the personal space of a rattlesnake. "Iiiii am so sorry," she says to Isis. "That was ..really insensitive… Stop talking, Skye."
The tablet is collected with the folder then she sits bolt upright in the chair, looking from one to the other. "So! Productive meeting. I have your numbers. Thank you both for your help."
"She's got some kind of in with them yes. Not quite sure what. She's definitely not an officer but she seems very comfortable working with them and they… well they're not COMFORTABLE would you say, Isis? But they're familiar with her on some level. Or at least some of the higher ups are…"
ick pauses and chuckles as the woman apologizes. "I appreciate it. And I've heard worse so don't worry."
In his time, Nick surely has heard worse. "Good luck with whatever you're working on Skye and… try not to get in too deep. You can find sometimes that it's hard to get back out."
What Isis hasn't said is that Shayera was cranky because Isis had pounced on her and Shayera seemed to be allergic to the scratches. Ahem.
Skyes response, emotionally, to Isis smile gets a feline cant of the womans head. "Hank does like cats…" and Isis still thinks of herself as a Kitten.
Handing Skye a card anyway, Isis waits for her to stand. "Be careful. The people we're dealing with, aren't nice."
Not the bird people. Their other case.