Chapter 1 - Rookies

[Ikul]

Potomac seems fairly relaxed at first, until the explanation of Inferno having no rights comes up. The metamorph scowls slightly, crossing his arms and visibly withdrawing from the conversation. This time he looks at his teammate again, but trying to gauge their attitude.

[Butchern]

The first part of the interrogation went on for about thirty minutes. Inferno was an old pro at this apparently, and was not an easy nut to crack. He didn't seem to believe any of the threats that came from Rohm, but when Archon said them, he believed. Over time, Inferno recognized that he was out of options and spilled what he knew. His story went like this:

Inferno was contacted by parties unknown via an "untraceable burner" (his words) that showed up on his doorstep with a duffel bag. The offer was made to him by an electronically scrambled voice on the other end: $50,000 (which was in the bag) to wreak havoc on the bridge. The bigger the mess the better. When Inferno asked him who he was about to work for, the voice said, "The Animator." It was a name Inferno had heard whispers about back in New York. The Animator was a name that all the high-level criminals knew, but no one had met. Everyone believed that one of the organized crime gangs in New York were working for the Animator, though they didn't know it themselves. Inferno didn't know which gang. Inferno was supposed to have destroyed the phone that came with the money, but he kept it as insurance. It was in his apartment in Queens.

[matt_s]

Arthur whispered in the comms room. We know that there's something at Inferno's apartment, but the Animator also knows that Inferno is like as not to crack sooner or later, upon which we'd inevitably search the apartment and find the phone and whatever else useful. That means that whoever raids the apartment will be expected by someone nasty. Not good, even worse given that a showdown in Queens would be a cluster and a half.

Anyone see any gaps in the story, or other lines worth running down? Perhaps we could press them to see if he knows anything about our young friend - silent glance at Madison - but that would require some delicacy to keep secret.

 

 

[Draidden]

ARCHON

---

"Who was your accomplice? Who was animating the bridge and making it attack?"

He continues to glower down at Inferno. Part of him wants to threaten to start breaking parts of Inferno's body, non-important parts. But he refrains. Partly because he does not want to go down that road if he can avoid it and partly because he doesn't really want to touch that ooze stuff all over Inferno's body.

 

OOCIntimidation check

 

 

[Caystodd]

On 9/19/2023 at 7:37 AM, Draidden said:

"Who was your accomplice? Who was animating the bridge and making it attack?"

"My money is on the villain he just called 'the animator'," Palmer said into the comm. "We supers really like to be on the nose with the names."

Palmer never understood why superheroes, especially villains, would give themselves code names that gave away their powers. It was probably a silly thought. It wasn't like Inferno was keeping his powers hidden from anyone. The man was literally an inferno. No secret there. But Palmer had objected to getting a code name at all, even one as non-specific as "Breach." Code names in radio traffic were supposed to be "need to know" and "uncompromising" if discovered. When she worked with he DEA everyone on an opp was typically named after a one syllable color: Red, Blue, Black, etc. She was usually "Blue."

Palmer did have some questions, so she relayed them to Rohm: "Try to nail down exactly when he got the call. It will help us ID the phone. Did he leave the phone on or turn it off when he left the apartment? Did he only get the one call, or did he get more than one call on the burner with instructions? Did he ever take the phone out of the apartment to make or receive calls. Was he supposed to check in after the job was done? If so, when?"

Palmer had worked lots of cases that were cracked by tracking phone calls.

Palmer added generally, "If we know his address and we know when the calls were made and where the phone was, surely DSA has the tech to pick up a mobile signal in his building or sort through phone records to find any calls made from that building during the time window. Might give us a clue as to where the guy on the other end of the line was."

[Butchern]

The interview went on for another half-hour. Inferno appeared to be telling the truth. He confirmed that he did not know who was making the bridge come to life but suspected that it was the Animator. Other than the name, however, he had no specific information. "I was told to stay clear of the bridge" he said, "So I did."

Inferno also confirmed that he received two calls, one two weeks ago late in the evening when he found the bag of money and one last week early in the morning. The first call said wait for the second call. The second call gave the specifics. Inferno made no calls on the phone and never took the phone out of the house. After the second call and the deal was done, he took the battery out of the phone and stashed it behind a brick in his apartment. He was given no instructions to check in. In fact, he was told to destroy the phone.

[matt_s]

Arthur runs through things aloud, for his benefit as much as anyone else's.

Inferno is loitering at home, gets the package with the phone and the dough, gets calls one and two, shows up on the bridge on behalf of "the Animator" and here we are....

Tight story, don't have a hard time believing it given what has been said about him being a mercenary for hire. We can send this info along to Rico and company, and then the suits could get a FISA warrant or suchlike for the goods. But unless I am mistaken, it will be a trip down to New York ourselves it seems like. Confound it, if we're to be in a fight, a city is not the place for one.

[Ikul]

Potomac frowns thoughtfully, then mentions, "Well, it depends. When he says 'untraceable burner', does that mean the calls can't be traced or the origin of the phone can't be traced? 'cause we really only need to do one of the two things, but you don't want to be doing the impossible one." He turns to Arthur. "I can see if I can't get anyone to expedite a search like that."

[Caystodd]

"So, the DSA have been searching for Inferno for years, trying to catch him, but 'The Animator' knows his secret identity and sends him a package? Interesting."

"Maybe they were friends on Snap," Madeleine said.

"I'm sure," Palmer said. Then, to the others, "With a little help, I could get us into the apartment instantaneously. Don't know how long it would take to find the phone, but if Inferno gives us the exact location, we could be in an out in just a few minutes. No battle in Queens required. Hopefully."

[Butchern]

Rohm and Archon took a break, and then they went back into the interrogation room and went through it all again with Inferno. He didn't give up anything new in the final hour of the interview, but he gave them his home address and told them where he had hidden the phone. The loose brick was behind the bookcase beside the radiator in the living room.

"We can get more details out of him about the attack," Rohm said when she walked back into the observation room. "But I don't think it will produce anything more actionable that what we have already. We'll keep him here until Main Justice decides how to proceed on him. With low-level troublemakers, they ship them off . . . wherever . . . to be de-powered . . . however they do that, then put them on probation. But with Inferno, they might not be so lenient. Regardless of what he said in there, Inferno is in much bigger trouble. Nothing he said today can be used against him. Nor can anything that results from anything he said . . . the phone, the conspiracy, all of it. But we have him on video attacking the boat and assaulting federal agents. That is enough to put him away for a long time. But that isn't up to me."

[matt_s]

Arthur nods in agreement. That all adds up for me as well. We got the address, we got Palmer, and we got ourselves a social media consultant - pointing dryly at Madison - and the way I reason things out, that seems the best place to go. If we get jumped there, I say we portal out somewhere nice and empty and see if they follow us there. A showdown in Queens would end poorly for the locals to put it lightly.

[Butchern]

The team wrapped up the interrogation, and Rohm walked them down to a larger (but still cramped) meeting room. Hound plopped herself into the nearest chair and tried not to look bored. Rohm walked inside the room but stood by the door.

"I'm sending you a transcript of the interview now, for your investigation. It is classified . . . obviously," Rohm said. "If he decides to share anything else, I'll let you know. This room is secure, you can use it to check in with your boss. I'll be around on this floor, so if you need anything, just yell."

Rohm left the team to discuss their plan. They knew where the phone was and they knew where Inferno lived. They got Max on the phone and walked him through what had transpired. He gave them the green light to get the phone.

"What's your plan?" Max asked?

[matt_s]

Well done, ladies and gentlemen, Simuggal said to Rohm and the other members of the team. Now it was like as not to come to a scrape, he feared. Absently Simuggal ran his fingers along the bandolier and across the ebbing and swelling warmth of the runes on the bronze armor.

When they had reached the phone, he said to Max, You got the gist of the interrogation. We're going to find that phone, see what it can tell us. I say we all just teleport in. If things are unwell there, we can split up quickly given - a vague gesture or reference to the supernatural abilities of the assembled with a wave of the hand - and fancy plans oft have simply more places to fail. But if anyone speaks in favor of a more sophisticated entrance, I will listen with open mind.