Looking only a touch worse for wear from his hurried journey to Belfast, the next man to enter is still notably well-dressed. His suit, charcoal grey and clearly carefully tailored despite not being of particularly fine material, is worn almost like armor. His strides were punctuated with the rhythmic tap of a cane. This was not some kind of affectation. Though he had clearly schooled himself to not be solely reliant on the walking stick, there was a distinct hitch in his stride from some old injury to his right leg.
Walking a ways past Agent L, he spares the strange man a pat on the shoulder with a gloved hand as he passed and regards the two strangers with strange grey eyes.
"Would it kill you to show some enthusiasm, lad? James Shrike," He said, moving to shake hands with his new associates.
Standing, with greying hair and a surgeon's demeanor, Tomasz returns the handshake though he doesn't smile. "Tomash Szymanski, of Biuro Szyfrów 5. You've come early; we've discovered little. There is a young, red-headed man keeping tabs on us around the barracks; though whether he works for the black market, the Irish Nationalists, or the Ahnenerbe-SS I cannot say."
"More disturbingly, a large group of the homeless and dispossessed vanished some time ago; I inspected their shelter and found a very ugly echo. Any ritual requiring so many will be violent indeed; it is imperative to discover where they have been taken. We recovered some discarded clothing from the homeless, if we wish we can attempt to have us ourselves taken but I personally find that a plan with a low percentage chance of success."
Agent Bronson walks up at this point "And I suppose you have a better plan?"
"Perhaps. Feeding and watering that many people is a logistical challenge, especially given wartime rationing. Do any of you have contacts in the black market?"
"I don't, but you might be onto something. I'm Bronson, Pierce Bronson. Long range specialist."
Mina shakes hands and introduces herself to the new team, seeming friendly enough, though she's clearly somewhat troubled that the others have been called away so suddenly.
"Your first night here vas guite different from mine," Mina replies to Tomasz with a smile. "Bozing as ein homeless berzon may pe peyond mein talents. Arh ! Put berhaps others in zee city vill haffe heard of zuch ein kathering. Zere vould haffe peen zome vo turned dovn zee offer, vadeffer it vas, ja?"
"Posing as a homeless person may be beyond my talents. But perhaps others in the city will have heard of such a gathering. There would have been some who turned down the offer, whatever it was, yes?"
Sam enters the room quietly, unable to quite escape the feeling of deja vu. "Dark magic and horrifying blood sacrifices? Well, that just sounds like a cheery ol' time. Acting as homeless sounds like a horrible plan, but asking around both in the underworld and among the other homeless populations in the city may be beneficial, although I think it's a stretch to assume that it was an 'offer', fraulein." She pauses. [b]"Right. Sam Korematsu, Black Chamber, I dunno what his issue is so don't ask," she adds, and nods towards Agent L.
"We could ask, but I doubt those that were taken were made any kind of offer. The Nazis are not in the habit of asking nicely when they can simply take."
"No, they ask, but they don't exactly leave you in a position to say no"
Agent L ends his bow and speaks up with a monotone voice, "It seems we know little comparatively. We cannot make sufficient tactical decisions. It is advisable that the two of you lead and update us on the way."
"Outside of Agent Brosnan, Ms. Korematsu is an accomplished psychic, Agent L is an excellent stealth and infiltration asset, and my own talents lean more towards direct confrontation and operational organization," Shrike explained for the benefit of Tomasz and Wilhelmina.
"We have enough manpower to take more than own investigative route here. Should we split the labor?"
"I am also quite capable at hiding myself, though my own psychic powers differ greatly from the lovely Ms Korematsu"
"'Splitting the labor' sounds advisable - myself, I am skilled with my hands and my mind and little else. I recommend that Ms. Korematsu and Mr. L see if they can reach out to the black market here, perhaps by interrogating our red-headed friend. Mina can go with you to point the way. The rest of us, we may be best served by visiting the local churches and charity groups. They would be the most likely to notice if other vagrants had vanished, and perhaps we can find a pattern - or an escapee. Objections, or other ideas?"
Ja też chciałbym zobaczyć zamek...
Saluting, L responds in his bland voice, "No sir." He then turns to face and stare at Mina.
Pierce nods "seems like a decent enough plan to me"
"Sounds like a solid plan. Let's meet back here at about nine for a debrief and to put our heads together again," Shrike says with a nod to Tomasz.
"Works for me," Sam says, while looking at L out of the corner of her eye.
"We should head out then," Shrike notes, adjusting his lapels and turning for the door. "I trust we have a list of appropriate organizations to visit?"
"Our life should be that easy. There's a church on every streetcorner, we can start there."
There are, indeed, many churches around the city, from humble street parishes to the grand Saint Anne's Cathedral. Most of them are under the aegis of the Church of England, but you can find the odd Catholic place of worship, as the internal tensions have been shifting from a religious focus to a political one and pressure over worship has slightly lessened.
"Start with the biggest?" Shrike asks his companions. It seemed the smartest place to start an investigation. Even without direct help, the larger churches would likely at least be able to point them in the right direction.
"Good idea as any,"
"Lets go then." Tomasz says, as he makes to leave.
Agent L spends the next several minutes crafting a disguise to look like Tomasz while suggesting Agent Korematsu do the same. Afterward drinking a small vial as well.
The new Tomasz_ begins walking around searching for the aforementioned red-head.
Sure, let's both disguise ourselves as the same person. That's not suspicious.[/b] [b]"Better idea, I'll go incognito so I can get close to the little s%%@ without arousing his suspicion." She casts Disguise Self to aid in creating a disguise, appearing as a white woman in business attire.
She breaks off from L while keeping him in line of sight, and keeps an eye out for the red-headed boy.
"I'm going to be going as my usual appearance. Just a generic brown haired white guy"
More used to his comrades' antics than Tomasz and Mina likely would be, Shrike does not bat an eyelash.
"Do try not to strangle Agent L, Ms. Korematsu!" He called after them before they left the office. He caught up to his band easily enough. "We're a bit outside my usual stomping grounds, would you mind leading the way, Mr. Szymanski?" For what it was worth, he did an admirable job with the man's surname but had not studied much Polish, so his pronunciation was no doubt slightly imperfect.
Blinking twice at the new-him standing in front of him, Tomasz makes a point not to comment. He can perform similar feats himself, after all.
"'Shy-man-ski', and I know this city little better than you. Still, this should not be difficult."
With that, he leaves the room.
Your search takes some time, since Military Police (your official cover story for the Army) are not exactly loved, and soldiers are reluctant to give you information. Later in the afternoon, however, you manage to find a name: Private Thomas Doherty, a known hothead.
"Not a scrap of discipline, that one!" grumbles Lieutenant Cavendish when asked about him. "Got 'imself locked in the brig for getting in a scuffle with a Londoner. His bunk is that way."
As soon as you arrive to the location, you do see a red-headed, bruised fellow scribbling on a piece of paper. As soon as he spots "Tomasz" heading towards him, he pales and starts running in the opposite direction.
Saint Anne's Cathedral has been untouched by the bombs, and stands tall over Donegal Street. The doors are open, and it's a simple matter to get inside the sacristy, where a balding, aging priest is copying documents. As you enter, he stops scribbling, squints at you with cloudy eyes and speaks with a raspy voice. "Military, are you, fellows? Can I be of service? I'm Father Stallings, His Excellence Bishop Mageean won't be here until Sunday , if you're looking for him."
"we aren't looking for anyone in particular, we just have a few questions to ask of you"
Mina shakes her head at the Priest's mention of their military status, doing her best to look disheartened as she adds. "Everyone is military these days. Ve are not here for that."
Without waiting for a response, she launches into an emotional explanation of their presence. "Mein friend means ve are not looking to zpeak to anyone in particular, but ve are in fact looking for zomeone wery particular - Mein uncle has gone missing! He haz been homeless for years, but he meets me for coffee every Monday and he did not zhow last week." Mina's eyes well up with fake tears about her fake uncle. "I hoped you might have seen or heard of him. He's got a big grey beard and walks hunched over. His name is Karl. Please, have you heard? Mein poor mother is so worried."
"Tomasz" immediately begins pursuit and attempts to grapple whenever able.
"I'm so sorry for your uncle, child, but Belfast is quite a big city, it would be hard to track every vagrant on the streets. Perhaps you'd have better luck with his church? Although, now that you make me think about it..."
The aging priest rummages through his desk, grabbing a pile of sheets.
"We received a report from a parish down to Ormeau. Apparently, many people from its soup kitchen just stopped showing up, and Reverend... uh, can't make out his name. Mosley? Molesley? Mosby? Anyway, I assumed they just moved out of town, perhaps conscripted and perhaps hired as farmhands, but he was worried 'cause they didn't even drop a message. He may have heard something about your uncle. And of course, I'll pray for you and him. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Reflexively, Tomasz genuflects when he steps into the church. He's silent while the others speak (not being very good with words even in his native tongue), only piping up at the end. "Father, I don't think so, thank you. You've been an enormous help already."
Too many people to cast--time for the old-fashioned way. Sam shouts, "Private Doherty, halt! Military police, somebody stop that man!"
Shrike gives the old priest his thanks as well and leads the others outside. "That was well done, Ms. Wagner. Here I was all set to try to feed him a line about relief efforts in the area. Let's head for Ormeau and see what we can dig up."
Pierce nods in agreement "quite the silver tongue"
That phrase means "Ireland forever", and is used to declare one's allegiance to the Irish nation. "Tan" is an Irish derogatory term for the British.
Sam moves quickly over to them, nodding to the soldier who grabbed Doherty. "Deftly done, thank you, sir." She gestures to L. "Come, let us speak with Mr. Doherty in private; it would be in his best interest to not attempt to run." She turns her hypnotic gaze on Doherty, just in case.
Mina gives the old priest a hug, thanking him for his time, and leaves the church looking hopeful, that she may yet find her fake-uncle. As the others congratulate her, she smiles. Mein thanks." She replies. "I am only wishing mein accent waz not zo strong. It iz scary with work we do." She walks towards Ormeau with the others.
Flashing your Military Police badges easily allows you to get Doherty to an interrogation room. Crossing his arms, the man looks defiantly at the agents, contempt showing all over his face.
"Ye can beat me up all ye want, won't get nothin' out of me. Can't hurt me any more than your kind already did. Send me to the firin' squad, you'll only give Éire the blood of another patriot."
Stallings' directions lead you to a small church in Ormeau, where a rather large number of people is working to clean a soup kitchen. As you head inside, a young priest with black hair and wire glasses storms outside, almost crashing into Shrike. "Sorry, Sir, I'm in a-"
He stops, looking at your uniforms. "Oh, Military Police, is it? I'm sorry to ask, but... I could use your help, if you have the time. I'm Reverend Martin Mosley, and I'm afraid that a serial killer might be targeting the homeless. I know it's not really your jurisdiction, but the City Police won't listen to me."
Pierce asks the man "if I might ask, what do the city police say when you do tell them?"
Agent L, still disguised as Tomaz, turns to Sam with a mixed look of boredom and disgust, "MP, why do we need this one? He is just an useless irish. There is no way they'd be involved in any significant plot or plan." He pauses for a moment, "My apologies MP, I just realized my statement was redundant. He is just an irish."
Hey, good cop bad cop and I didn't even have to prompt him, lovely. Sam moves around Doherty, sets a hand on his shoulder, and casts a spell.
"Now Private Doherty--Thomas, was it? This doesn't need to be difficult. Help me help you; who are you working for, and why were you following my companion here? Tell me what you know, and everything will be fine," she says calmly and soothingly.
Mina takes the priest's hands in her own. "Calm down, father. Of course ve vill try to help. Vhat makez you think et ez a serial killer?"
As Mina starts talking, however, Mosley freezes and pulls out his hand, eyes widening in shock. "I don't know what you're looking for, what you may want from me, but you won't have anything from me. I'll die before I betray Britain."
"Have some decorum, for God's sake man. Not every person sporting a germanic accent is a Nazi spy. There are plenty of souls from the Continent who don't have much truck with Adolf and his goose-stepping lackeys. Some, like my young friend here, even want to help in the war effort any way they can," Shrike said, a touch of disdain in his voice in the face of such an accusation. While Mina and Tomasz might sport frightening foreign accents, his carried reassuring notes of Welsh.
"I thought a man of faith would be more thoughtful. How naive of me. Shall we try the Catholics? They may be more willing to do something about the murders," It was a harsh castigation over an easy mistake to make but it was clear the priest had struck a nerve with him by implying he willingly associated with Nazis.
Pierce's upper class British accent is full of derision "might be for the best, the Catholic may be a bit full of it for my tastes, but at least they don't judge you based on your origins, maybe we can find some proper Christian goodwill there"
Agent L's tone and mannerisms cease as he addresses Sam once more, "Base of operations? How many in the cell? Are they working with Nazis or any Germanic people? Those seem like productive questions as well."