About a minute after you trash the elevator, two massive men with turtlenecks and black suits follow you through the rooftop door and look around. At the same time, you hear a sound of wrenching metal from within and a few seconds later the man you have come to know as Daniel Thiel step onto the roof, his suit ruffled and stained with oil. He cocks his head, as if listening to something you cannot hear and turns about as he scans the area, though he gives no sign of noticing you.
"The veil conceals any sounds we make, as well as the sight of us. It appears Mr. Thiel survived, or at the very least, that's the new one. What do you think, is a confrontation in order, or should we just observe, for now?"
As she spoke, Kishan's hand reached into the inner pocket of her coat, gripping the hilt of her sword, hard enough to make her knuckles ache.
Fomor pieces of s#+*, walking around in plain sight, and placing themselves in the authorities good graces while they're at it.
O. John whispers
"Even if we take him out here we may not end his plot if we don't know his plan.
Lets wait a bit and see what he's doing.
Although we should expect that squid to tell him we were in there and which way we left and plan accordingly.
We can also expect him to check with security around the block.
Detective, did you use your real name to get by that security guard?"
"Yeah, we should leave. We can always come back when we know more."
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Jarrod squeezed his hands tightly, fingernails digging into his palms. 'Sonuvab#&!# ain't dead,' he thought to himself as he watched the Fomor looking around the roof. "Fortunately no," he answered John. "It always seems like nobody really cares, and I've only ever had two people check to see if my badge was real, both were involved in the justice system."
Thiel says a single word, "Come" and the two suits move to either side of him. He reaches up to put a hand on each of their shoulders and begins to intone something in a low voice.
The two men bend over as if in pain, their arms, legs, and faces thinning and lengthening, their clothes ripping and falling away. When their transformation is complete, they look like some strange combination of hairless cat and greyhound with the outsized teeth of an angler fish.
His hands still on their shoulders, Thiel flicks his wrists and says simply, "Hunt"
"Well that's interesting. My veil is not set up to block scent, or other less common magical sense, so whatever those are, it may not take them long to find us, given the proximity. I can maintain the veil, if all remain close enough to me, though I'll probably drop it if to focus the energy elsewhere if it seems they are finding another way trough it. If anyone needs time to prepare defences, I'd suggest you do so now, as they will likely be on us in moments, and I don't particularly feels like running..."
Kishan draws her sword fully from the pocket in her coat, stretching her arm and feeling the balance. As he charged both her coat and her sword with slivers of her own Will before heading up, she has no need to prepare further defences now.
"Unless those things can fly, let's just leave. We can muddy the trail, take a circuitous route on the way back, and they'll get confused and give up anyway."
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Placing a hand on the Warden's shoulder, Jarrod told her, "I think we should follow the better part of valor at the moment. We know where they have their headquarters, and since this Thiel person is such a big name right now, we can use that against him and keep an eye on his movements. If he changes locations, it will be easy to track."
"If we're going, let's go.
Once he figures out the stuff about the boy is missing, that kid is in danger."
looks around for something to animate to cause a distraction
"Well, however those things are equipped to track us, whether it is by smell, or magical residue, or who knows what else, we should either run now, or take up a defensive position. I'm inclined to wait and see what they do in the next few seconds, since if they force a confrontation, I think it'd be far preferable to do it up here, as opposed to in a building, on down on the street were bystanders become more likely..."
"I'm fine either way. As long as we decidec quick."
looks around for something to animate to cause a distraction
There are heating/cooling units, a ladder, some cable, vent caps. Nothing too exciting. I guess you could animate a sort of tar monster from the tar on the roof.
heads to heating/cooling units, focuses on the briefly, frees fan blades from units
"Arise, and fly, fly my pretties!", he whispers.
sends 2 fan blades to buzz the two beasts at high speed, cutting if necessary to get their attention, and keep their attention off his crew
"I think we're in agreement.
Time to go.
Whirligig and Spinner will keep the trackers busy, but Thiel is still nearby."
"Alright, lets get out of here. I don't want to go through the building; it would be too easy to get caught in there. I can jump down to the ground safely; Mr. Drachman, I imagine you can manage the fall easily enough as well, and John? I imagine you can climb? Mr. Jackson, that just leaves you. I suggest you either climb into that charming harness John suggested, or come and get a good grip on me. I can keep us all veiled till we get to the ground."
Once Jarrod is secured with whichever option he prefers, Kishan will move to the edge and jump from the building in time with the others. The enchantments on her coat allow her to drop relatively slowly and safely to the ground, with her package in tow, if needed.
Aaron, meanwhile, jumps from building to building, bouncing his way down to the ground.
You can all make it safely to the ground as the "dogs" leap across to the roof that you were on and begin sniffing the spot you just departed.
Carry on.
looks around for Thiel's car
No sign of the car from last night, though considering what happened and running over the suits it probably needed some cleaning. You do see two more suits standing outside the door of his building.
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Opting for the less embarrassing way down, Jarrod held onto the Kishan's back for dear life as she jumped down the building. I'm gonna die today,' he kept thinking over and over before his feet touched the ground. "Um, thanks for the lift," he said nervously. "Now, we should really consider heading back to the store or something. Anywhere other than here, actually."
"Good idea. I can make some tea and we can talk about our next move."
"Maybe we should do a drive by on the boy's location.
If he has goons watching him, Thiel might do a preemptive grab when he realizes the file is gone."
"Did we actually TAKE the file? That's unfortunate. Yeah, let's do that."
heads up stairs towards roof after grabbing the pictures of Julian Avivi.
"Yep."
St. Michael Academy is a co-ed Jesuit school of about 2000 students nestled in a historic town with a small town feel only 17 miles from downtown Boston. You can get to the high school by about 11:40, so you would guess the kid is at school.
Piling into your vehicles (not sure if one or two), you head out Washington street.
As you drive by the sprawling campus, a two story school, athletic complex. This is a school with money and support, nicely groomed grounds, an aura of Faith and Love. A school is not as strong a place as a church, but there is power here, the power of a community.
You see three police cruisers at the school, two blocking exits from the parking lot, one parked at the main entrance to the school. There are officers in the cars blocking the exits, but no one in the one at the entrance.
"Let's find a good place to sit and watch. No point in breaking into the school."
looks at Jarrod, points at radio
"Can you get police band on this?
After a moment fiddling with the radio, you hear a crackle,
BE ADVISED, THIS IS UNIT 312, SUSPECT IS IN CUSTODY.
ROGER 312
And other voice says, BE CAREFUL 312, WE HAVE A K-9 HIT ON THE CAR. LOOKS LIKE IT COULD BE EXPLOSIVES.
ROGER THAT, WE HAVE BOMB DISPOSAL EN ROUTE
"Well that could be about anyone."
"They could need our help."
A few minutes later a pair of uniformed officers come out of the front entrance of the school, pushing a kid in cuffs. The kid has a man body, he is built like more like a college quarterback than a high school kid. He is wearing a uniform Oxford and khakis, and has a look of confusion on his face.
The officers lead him toward the car, and, barring intervention, put him in the back seat.
Yeah, sorry. Should have made that clear.
"Any ideas? If those are real police, we don't just want to go smashing heads. But if they aren't...this could get sticky."
"How about we follow them and see if the Fomor try to ambush them, or the cops head somewhere other than the police station?"
"It could be a set up. Put explosives in his car, tip off the cops, then use your illegal influence to both grab the kid and get him to work for you, using his 'crime' as leverage."
"Might be best if we take care of the 'explosives' in the car to head all that off."
turns to the Warden
"Once we find the car, a veil from you should let me check out the car and either get rid of the planted explosives or, if they're really his, make them safe for the cops to deal with."
"Not a problem. But the kid is headed for a police car now; if we do not intervene, they will likely take him away soon, though in most cases I've seen, a suspect will often be left in the car at length until the questioning at the scene is complete."
"We know from Jarrod's source that Theil is in tight with the chief of police; he might have constables within the department more loyal to him than to the law."
"From the look on the child's face, I'd agree that this is likely a setup. He does not look guilty or forlorn; he looks bewildered. He has no idea what this is about."
"If we take the 'explosives' out of the picture, they may not have much to hold him on. Let's get to his car.
She keeps an eye on the police car holding the boy, just in case it should start to leave.
Moving out of your own vehicles, you move around the side of the school into the student parking lot, barely able to see the front entrance and the car with the boy in it. The back door is open, and the officers haven't gotten into the car yet.
Among the assortment of $50,000 sedans and $800 rust buckets, you see a car with the trunk raised and cordoned off by police tape. Four officers stand back from the car, looking nervous and anxious, probably waiting for backup or an explosives team.
whispers to Kishan after they move in
"What do you think; turn them into plastic toys and candles or just make them disappear?"
also
"And please don't blow up any more tech.
If we need to take it out of commission and have time, just let me talk to it.
A bunch of people worked hard to design that car and keep it going."