Participants:
| Scene Title | Epiphany |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Sometimes the "too good to be true" really are good, the Company finds out when confronting the Fellowship on its crimes. |
| Date | July 29, 2010 |
Brooklyn (r)Evo-Lutionaries Fellowship Building
A hunch. Intuition. A gut feeling. For Company agents, analysis and statistics and facts are important tools, weapons in their arsenal, but the abstract and nebulous feelings can be just as important. It is just a feeling that Corbin Ayers had, that there was more to the case than was readily apparent. A feeling that Wiley Drake was upfront and honest when Ayers spoke to him days ago, protected from Schnook's ability to Persuade. A feeling that the speaker on the platform at Monday night's meeting was not the same man that he met in the modest office. Follow the money, Hokuto had whispered.
Alas, despite the saying, money doesn't actually talk. The baskets of donations gathered at Monday's meeting may hint at scams and suggest that Schnook is a charlatan, but it can't actually tell the Company who is to blame. On paper, Wiley Schnook looks like the culprit. An ex-convict and Registered Evolved Persuader, found guilty of using his power in the first case of ability-induced sexual assault on the books back in California, now he's the beloved leader of hundreds so devoted that people are willing to hold up buses for him? It certainly appears that Schnook is guilty.
Corbin Ayers has been assigned as field lead for the interrogation and possible arrest. Two Company vehicles pull up at the curb of Scnook's apartment complex; two agents in a third cover the rear. The plan would seem simple: go in and arrest the Persuader, with a team of agents there in case any of Schnook or his followers attack with violence.
"Bishop, make sure you're set to stun, we don't want to fry anyone, okay?" Corbin says, giving her one order, and trying his best to actually sound in charge. Field isn't his expertise, but he's the one who followed the paper work, and interviewed the people affected— as well as the one affecting them. A moment later, he speaks into the microphone, "Delgado, make sure you're at a good vantage point in case the people I showed you try to run. The ones I want you to grab you should know— everyone else can flee if needed, just warn us if they're coming back with guns."
The ones who shouldn't run are simple. Wiley Schnook, the persuader, and a second man, his right-hand pal, Bruce Maddox. Everyone else is allowed to run, according to him. Why Maddox was included in the list, he didn't say…
"Keep an eye out, Lupinetti, and look for anything suspicious. I know you got the anti-Persuasion too, so if worst comes to worst, you can taze him, Dawson."
Giving orders, not Corbin's favorite thing, but he's trying. With those given out, he moves toward the front doors, to find those on his list. All he's carrying is a man-bag, though he'd insist it's practically a briefcase.
Tazing. Isabella can deal with tazing. The small woman fingers the device in question under her jacket, nodding shortly to Corbin's order. Her steps bring her after Corbin, cautiously.
"Aye aye, sir," Maria replies to the orders over comms. She trains her eyes on the location from her vantage point, ready to leap into the air on command and bowl people over on the fly. "I should've worn shoulderpads for this," the diminutive woman mutters to herself. Into the comms she ventures an opinion. "He could be telling the truth about not using his ability, or at least believe it's true. Is it possible to offer him a dose of negation drug and let him see for himself when or if the response isn't the same?"
Should people flee and return with guns, Maria's prepared for this too. Sniper rifle across one shoulder.
Unusually quiet and almost sulky today, the petite blonde is lurking in the back of the group, her arms crossed as orders are issued. She wears one of her favorite pantsuits today, this one grey pinstripe with the hint of a green shirt beneath. As Corbin instructs her to keep it on stun, Elle Bishop's only response is to briefly allow her electricity to crackle over her fingers, nodding slowly. With the crackle fading, Elle sets about following after Corbin, her eyes traveling over the gathered agents thoughtfully.
If there's any Agent in the Company who will travel to hell and back on someone's gut instinct, it's Dante Lupinetti. So when he'd heard that the case might be wrapping up, based purely on someone's hunch, he was on his feet and ready to go before any questions were asked.
When they arrive on the scene, Dante is giving his weapons one last check over. His service-issue handgun is checked, double-checked, de-safetied, and holstered. His tazer is given a more careful lookover, as any defects in electronics are hard to notice. Corbin's orders are met with a nod of assent as he tucks his tazer into an inside pocket of his gray suit jacket.
They file out towards their target, with Dante murmuring quietly to the leader. "Do you expect anyone to be armed besides us?" he asks. His sharp eyes fall on the people they pass, looking for any signs that things are about to go ass-up.
"«Nothing out back and we have a clear view of all doors,»" comes over their com radios from one of the agents in the car to the rear. Maria will then be given the front door to cover. The red-brick building is innocent enough in appearance; the lobby leads to a hallway with offices on the ground floor, apartments on the upper four floors for the 200 or so people living in the Brooklyn residence. As they approach the door, a young latino man exiting holds it open for them: neither of the two targets, and thus no one that they need to worry about.
"Morning!" he says brightly, not seeming to notice that the agents are anything out of the ordinary. After all, all kinds of people are a part of the Fellowship. The meeting Monday was filled with a diverse range of people, young and old, rich and poor, all colors, all shapes, all sizes. Wiley Schnook really does seem to accept all kinds — but if he's after their money, why wouldn't he?
"Hi, how can I help you?" asks the same young freckle-faced receptionist that Corbin met the other day. "Oh hey, you're the reporter, right? Are you doing a bigger story on us?" she asks cheerfully.
"I certainly hope no one's armed besides us— but armed robbery is one of the cases that led us here…" So it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that Corbin's hunch could get someone shot. Hopefully not Bishop. Her father would give him a stern look, he's sure…
When he makes it to the freckled-faced receptionist, he smiles faintly with some surprise. So few times do Company Agents go in with cover stories like this— Corbin isn't going to waste it. If it avoids a panic until the stories eventually do hit the newspaper, then it would be perferable.
"Yes, I'm here for a follow-up interview with Mister Schnook and Mister Maddox. Are they both in today? Do you know where we could find them— these are my associates." The best lies are the true ones.
Isabella lifts a slight brow as Corbin is identified as a reporter, and she offers what she hopes is a friendly smile to the receptionist. Really, it looks more… tolerating than friendly. He lets her eyes roam around the room, thoughtfully, taking in a bit of detail as she waits for them to move on.
In the background, Elle quietly observes, offering what can only be described as a halfhearted smile. At least she isn't looming ominously at people. Her eyes, meanwhile, follow Isabella's example, trailing over the room and taking in the surroundings. She can't help but look a bit sulky, despite that ever-present smile.
As they pass the Latino man, Dante's sharp eyes turn on him, catching his eyes and frowning suspiciously for a moment before heads on through the door, not breaking his stride.
Once inside, Dante's another one to be looking around, eyes picking out the exits from the room, as well as counting the people in the room. Wiley's identification as a reporter gets a distracted smirk from Dante, his thumbs hooked in his pockets as he lingers back. Looking particularly interested in the doors leading further into the building.
"Oh, sure, let me call and tell him you're here," says the midwesterner, picking up the phone and pushing a button. "Mister Schnook? You and Mister Maddox have some visitors," she says cheerfully. "You betcha." She hangs up. "He'll be right out."
As the four agents wait, it obviously isn't curious at all to the receptionist that four reporters to talk to two men might be overkill. It might be overkill for what they are there to do, but it's a high-profile case, and with four, plus Maria flying around keeping an eye out above, there's less chance of unnecessary injury to the two suspects.
"«Yo, Delgado, why didn't you wear a skirt if you're gonna be flying around above us?»" asks one of the goons in the car at the back — there's a reason that Spillman and Dorfney aren't on the Investigative team, and a reason they're not going inside. They lack couth.
A moment later, a door to the side of the lobby opens, and it is the not-so-formidable Wiley Schnook. "Mister Ayers!" he says, seeming genuinely happy to see the man, though he gives the others a wide-eyed glance. "This is a lot of people for a freelance news story, isn't it?" He moves forward to offer his hand, first to the ladies and then to Dante. "Bruce is in his office, but we can meet in the conference room — it's the only room with more than three chairs. I'm afraid!" He grins broadly at them all, and gestures toward the door that leads into a hallway.
"Right in here's the conference room. Can I get anyone coffee? Let me go get Bruce for you, his office is down there…" he nods toward the end of the hallway.
Dante has partially disconnected.
"The conference room would be great," Corbin says with a smile, trying to play along with their expectations of this as a benifitial news experience. It will be good to get all of them alone in a room, with the agents on the available exits, and then… he can find out of instincts are right. "I don't think we need anything to drink, thank you for the offer. We really just need to ask a few final questions and we should be done here." And…
Hopefully they won't have to call in the pick up crew for the beloved culthead.
Or that's what he's hoping for.
Isabella follows along, and looks over the cult-head, before saying, "Coffee would be great, thank you." Never know when you might need to toss scalding hot beverage in someone's face. …Which is also a specialty of hers.
Outside and airborne, keeping her watch, Maria rolls her eyes at the question. "«Because you pendejos would just love to take upskirt pics with those cameras you carry and post them on the 'net.»" In which case she'd have to come shoot them while the sleep. Or worse.
Elle shakes her head quietly at the offer of a beverage, holding up a hand as if to further refuse the offer. Her eyes flick down the hallway toward the end of the hallway toward the subject in question's office, before she slips into the conference room along with everyone else.
Dante turns fully towards Wiley, offering a polite doesn't-reach-the-eyes smile to Wiley as he shakes the shorter man's hand firmly. "Just water, thank you." When Isabella makes her request, Dante gives her a surprised and pleased look. She's politely accepting beverages? Wow, the support group must be helping her learn how to mellow out!
Regardless, Dante picks up the rear, watching the girls' backs as they file into the conference room.
The goons snicker, high fiving one another in their car from the sound of it. "«Calmate, Delgato,»" Spillman says, in a completely gringo accent.
"Coffee, water, gotcha. Ethel?" Wiley steps toward the central hub of the office and finds the elderly woman who runs the office more or less. "Can you get a coffee and a water for our guests?" And with that he scurries down the hall like a rabbit toward Maddox's office, knocking on the door, then disappearing within for a moment. Corbin will remember there's no way out, unless either man jumps through the window, but the building is covered by the goons and the flying agent.
Ethel brings coffee and its accoutrements along with water, the beverages in styrofoam cups, smiling amiably at the agents. "He's such a nice young man, isn't he? They both are. Ooh, here they are!" And she heads out of the conference room to let Schnook, followed by Maddox, who is taller and older, though probably still in his 40s, his peppery-hued hair making him look a little older than his face would suggest.
"Hey, guys," Maddox says, though the smile doesn't reach his brown eyes; his brows knit together with a worry that Wiley's frank face doesn't show. "Four is a bit much for a news article. Shall I shut the door?" The former DHS agent likely recognizes that the interview isn't quite what it seems.
"Dawson, close the door," Corbin says instead, trusting her to get the door closed, and stop him if he tries anything. For a moment, he speaks to someone not actually in the room, and this time it's over an earpiece to someone outside, "Delgado, you want to watch the windows." Just in case anyone decides to jump out? "If you can slip inside, that'd be fine too." Everyone else can watch the other exits…
"I'm afraid we're not here for a news story, this time— though I'm sure it will make the papers in some form or another." Reaching into his man bag, he pulls out first a Homeland Security Badge, of all things. "I was undercover investigating your group. I'm afraid some of your members have been involved in illegal activities involving theft, lately, and it's not just the most recent one, with the Senator's Daughter— but before that, on your trip here."
This time he pulls out a folder, which he hands out to Schnook, with a map, following through route across the country and unsolved petty crimes on the path, the same dates they'd been in the area. "Dante, could you take the kit from my bag," he asks, holding it out. Inside is something omnious— an Evolved Test Kit.
Isabella takes the coffee with a curt nod and walks into the room with the rest of them. She closes the door as bidden and then leans against it. Short as she is, she doesn't really look intimidating, beyond the truly unpersonable look on her face. She just keeps her hand on the handle of her tazer, the other hand holding the coffee but resolutely not sipping at it. Just in case.
"«Aye aye,»" comes the feminine voiced reply in earpieces. It's a testament to her naval past and reserve present that Maria replies in that fashion when orders are given. Her position isn't altered much, given that being airborne allows her to observe and cover all possible egresses.
Close to Isabella, Elle stands, leaned against the wall. She seems distracted, almost like she is very carefully examining her manicured nails. But anyone who has seen Agent Bishop in action would know that this is her sign that she is ready and willing to shock and stun anyone who needs stunning, if the need should arise.
Sipping at his water, Dante's head tilts downwards slightly, catching Maddox and eyeing him, like Maddox were a prey animal just starting to realize it's been cornered. When Corbin holds out the bag, the athletically built agent takes it one handed, setting it and his water on the table. Carefully, he pulls the test kit out and sets it down in clear view on the desk, close enough for Corbin to get to. Looking up, his eyes flick between the two men, searching for their reaction. Fear? Guilt? It's so easy to give away what you're thinking when caught by surprise.
The door shut behind him, Maddox's eyebrows raise, lips stretch, eyes tense and widen a little — a microexpression for fear that Dante will notice, and then he gives a shake of his head, turning to stare at Schnook as the other man looks through the file that Corbin sets before him. His face is the epitome of surprise and anxiety, brows contorting as he shakes his head. No. No.
"I knew about Josie DeVries-Perry," Schnook begins, his voice quavering and breaking a touch, as if he might actually cry. "I had to wonder if it had something to do with me, though I certainly didn't ask her to do that. You have to believe me." He looks up, first to Corbin, then to each in turn. "I didn't tell her to do it," he says, leaning forward, then repeating himself. Maddox stares at him. "I didn't ask her to do it. I didn't know about any of these other people, either… I heard about some of these cases, after we were out of town, but I didn't know. I didn't know," Schnook says, then his hand rake through his hair, and he rests his head in his hands. "I didn't do it."
Those with the hypnosis protection may feel the tickle as the Persuasion tries to force them to believe, but Richards' protection holds.
Maddox breaks his eye contact with Schnook and glances at the agents. "He didn't do it. We know he's Evolved — that test kit is just going to say what we already know. He's Evolved. But he doesn't use it. I'd know if he was using it! It's just a coincidence," he says with a shake of his head. "Surely you believe us."
"Oh, actually I do," Corbin says, motioning Dante in the direction of Maddox. "The test is for you," he announces, catching the detail that he'd missed the first time, but a certain hovering ghost didn't. The money may not talk, but the money man can sure stare. "Mister Schnook, I believe you— I don't think you've intentionally used your ability on anyone, just as you said you didn't. But unfortunately I don't think it's that… simple."
Blue eyes focus on Maddox again and asks, "What do you have? A kind of possession?" It reminds him of the case with Akato Ichihara, taking over the bodies of a couple Evolved and sending them to do his murders for him. Only this one's a little less… horrible. "Dawson, can you make sure he takes the test." Blood is, hypothetically, her think.
Isabella arches a brow at Corbin. Her? "Yeah, sure. I don't have a good handle on it though, so I'm just as likely to have blood pouring out your eyes as your fingers. So you ought to take it yourself." She delivers this information flatly, but with a flat stare at Maddox. Yeah, this could go badly if you don't cooperate.
As if to assert her presence (and willingness to zap someone), Elle Bishop's hand suddenly crackles forth with electricity, her big blue eyes peering quietly at the man. Otherwise, the blonde woman doesn't make a sound. She'd rather loom ominously right now.
When Schnook says those words, Dante's shoulder flinches a little and he gives a brief glare to the man before shaking his head slightly, like there were water in his ear. Silently, with a small smile for Maddox, Dante takes the test syringe and holds it out to the man, his eyes fixing on Maddox's. Take it, it's not going to explode on you. The world might afterwards, though…
Maddox, suddenly nervous, looks from Ayers to Isabella, his eyes widening a touch, but then Elle's crackling fingers draw his attention. His gaze snaps to her, just as the crackling stops, then turns to glare at Corbin.
"Bruce?" Schnook's querulous voice warbles, and the small man lifts his head, confusion painted on his thin, long face. He glances at Corbin, and gives a shake of his head, a lock of dark blond hair falling into his eyes. "I don't… I don't understand, Mr. Ayers…" His gray eyes move back to Maddox, his best friend, his confidante, his partner, and they begin to fill with tears. "He's not Evolved."
"This won't prove anything," Maddox says, crossing his arms for a moment. "If it's positive, it doesn't mean I can do anything that would make people rob buses on our behalf. I don't have a power. Never have. If I do? I sure as hell don't know about it, and I'm not using it." He glances back at Elle for a moment, then glances at Schnook. "You believe that, right? I mean, I'd have told you if I were Evolved. It's not like it's something to be ashamed of. We're open here. Nothing to hide. You're my best friend, Wiley. I wouldn't hide that from you!"
"Mister Schnook, I know this is a shock, but those people— they were persuaded. At your event. And if you weren't doing it intentionally, which I believe you weren't— then something else has to be going on here," Corbin says, focusing on the rabbity man he interviewed and that a fortune teller believed in so fully that he had to rethink everything again… He trusts the ladies and Dante to control the man that had been the real target of his trip over. Or so he hoped.
"He is right, though, a test won't prove the truth— but you can. Remember when you told me that you didn't think you could use your ability for good? Well, you can. Right now. You can persuade him to tell us the truth."
Isabella looks between them, eyes flicking between Wiley and Maddox. "Just take the damn test," she huffs, eyes narrowing at Maddox.
As her display of voltage stops, Elle gives her hand a peculiar look, shaking it a bit as the two men talk to each other. Suddenly, as Maddox glances back to her, a ball of electricity just a little bit larger than she intended forms, before shrinking down to a more managable size. She stares at her hand for a long moment…then, her big blue eyes turn up to Maddox, narrowing dangerously.
"He is an Evolved…" She's looking almost murderous right about now. Jerk turned off her power. "At least I'm pretty sure…when he looked at me, I couldn't use electricity. When he looked at me again, I could." So the director's daughter does talk!
Dante takes a step forward, that syringe still held out to Maddox. Should the man not take the syringe, Dante will come up beside him, flanking him with Isabella, and grab for his wrist. "If this is true, then the test will just be a harmless blood draw," he says flatly, "We'll give you a lollipop after."
When Elle snaps a bigger ball of lightning into existence, Dante jumps and shoots a quelling glare her way. This is before she remarks on Maddox's power, that is. "Well, good then that I don't rely on a power to function. Sir?" One last offer of the syringe.
Maddox hadn't meant to alert them so easily to what his power is, his face clearly says, shock and then contempt in his expression. He glances at Elle to turn her power off again, then turns to look at Isabella to do the same, his eyes wide as he takes steps back, back, toward the back wall of the conference room which also happens to be vertical blinds covering a sliding glass door opening to the side of the building, cigarette butts designating it as the "smoking section" of the complex. Suddenly he grabs the door, yanking the slider open and hurtles himself out into the alley.
Schnook is up out of his seat, backing up as he stares at Maddox's retreating form, his face pale. "No, no, I can't… I said I… BRUCE!" His voice cracks like that of a pubescent boy's as he bumps into Elle at the door to the hallway.
Well, not possession. But Corbin looks at Bishop when she announces what the ability is and how it might work. The ex-reporter turned Company Agent knew it would take more than a few words to get Schnook to agree, to break his vow, but he had to try— maybe now he won't need anymore evidence. Only the guilty run— and they have the word of one of the most trained Agents in the Company to side with him.
"Delgado, he's running! Stop him!"
She doesn't need to be told, soon as the opening door and emerging figure is sighted Maria's moving. "«Showtime, pendejos,»" she directs through the comm system for the benefit of those persons seeking upskirt pics of a flying woman. From above and behind the man she comes, hands pulling the sniper rifle from her back. It isn't moved into firing position, however; she doesn't need to trigger off a round.
The airborne agent instead reaches out with the stock to tap him on the backs of his knees as she flies by.
As Maddox makes a break for it, Isa's running after him, tazer unsheathed, and as she tries to tap into her power, she finds it isn't there. Not that that's a surprise anyways—because she hasn't really figured out how to tap into it at will anyways. She gives it up as a lost cause, and keeps the tazer leveled, so that when Maria bumps him, should he fall, there will be several thousand watts of electricity to meet him.
As Schnook bumps into her, Elle steps off to the side and gently takes Schnook's arm, allowing the others to tend to Maddox; they seem to have him fairly well covered. Putting on a pleasant smile, she pats Schnook's arm and tries to generally be comforting. And keep him there next to her. Besides, she can't just haul off and zap Maddox. Stupid powers that make other Evolved lose their powers.
A moment before Schnook leaps for the door, Dante's eyes widen and his muscles tense. Then the businessman is darting out into the hallways, with Dante charging right after him. He doesn't pull out his taser, but instead just keeps on Maddox's heels, waiting for him to get into an open area where it will be easier to take him down. And hey, maybe Maria will manage to take him down so he doesn't have to get his suit dirty.
The rifle to the back of his knees sends Maddox tumbling, and his face turns to find the source of the hit as Maria flies past him. How do you solve a problem like Maria? Maddox just has to glance, and Maria is no longer as "flighty as a feather" but powerless and finds herself falling.
But Isabella is there with a taser his power won't be able to turn off, and Dante right on their heels. He sits back, his pant legs bloody from where his knees hit the asphalt, and he raises his hands. "Okay! Okay!" he shouts, hands bouncing a little in the 'just calm down' gesture.
Schnook glances at Elle, and nods toward the door, slowly walking that way with a big gray-eyed glance at her, to make sure he doesn't get electrocuted for moving in the direction of the window. He peers out, then glances at Corbin. His brows knit with concentration. It's been almost three years since he'd used his power, and it takes effort.
"Tell the truth, Bruce. Tell the truth for once. Is what they say true?"
Maddox turns to the door and snorts, a roll of his eyes to the sky. "Of course it is. You really think anyone would follow you without your power?"
"Good job, Bishop," Corbin says, approaching the two and looking out the door, but not making any move to run, though he does follow Schnook out, and looks at the flier, "You okay, Delgado?" he asks in person, rather than over the radio, before he looks back at Schnook. The words that the man says surprise him, a little, the fact it didn't take much more for him to do it, but— the answer makes him grimace. "Your ideals were sound, Wiley, they were, and there are people who need such things. Maybe they wouldn't have given as much as they did, but I think you still would have gotten followers."
It may not be enough, but he looks at Dante, "You want to handle arresting him? I'm going to call the pick-up." And— unfortunately that could mean a certain kind of van. That doesn't belong to the Company.
The air is alive with the sound of "Mierda!"
One or two seconds later there's a sound of someone impacting a collection of garbage bags and bursting one open. At the top of the contents are the remains of someone's chicken cacciatore meal on discarded paper plates. The fallen flier gets up a bit slowly, answering Corbin's question with a groan, and an interrogative of her own. "Where the hell's the negator out here?"
Her face and clothing are smeared with discarded food, and the sniper rifle she picks up has a contaminated barrel too.
Isabella looks…disappointed. Tazing would have been more fun. Maybe she'll still get a chance though, and she approaches Maddox, keeping the tazer leveled in case he decides to get cute while Dante arrests him. A glance is spared for Maria, but only that. She's got a target.
Elle happily walks alongside Schnook to allow him to confront Maddox, a scowl on her face as she stares the man down. A small smile is offered to Corbin as praise is offered, and she nods slowly. She should've just shocked the jerk when he turned her power back on. As Corbin mentions 'pick-up', Elle Bishop's eyebrows raise, the girl leaning quietly against a nearby wall. Back to being silent, it seems.
Dante isn't terribly gentle with Maddox after he goes down, grabbing the man by his upper arms and pulling him to his feet. He's not terribly pissed to have to have chased down a perp, nor glad to have caught him. It's just business as usual. And Dante's ungentle grip on Maddox's arms says, You're not going anywhere, punk. "Now now, now isn't the time to be making enemies," he mutters, pulling him closer to the group and just holding him with one hand, digging into his pockets for the cable ties he brought along, just in case they needed to call a party van. When Maria comes up, Dante smirks at her, "Got him right here, Delgado. Good to see you didn't break anything on that landing."
Maddox jerks his arm to stand up on as much of his own power as he is able. He gives another contemptuous snort, then turns his head, ignoring the watery gray gaze of Wiley Schnook, who stands staring at the man he'd thought was his best friend for the past three years. "He helped me get out of prison," Wiley's warbling voice tells the blonde electrokinetic.
"He spoke on my behalf, he… oh my God, he used my power against the parole board, didn't he? He can turn it on… he wrote my speeches for the meetings! He knew… he knew when to make my power turn on! That's why they always gave the money… that's why they … oh, my God, that's why Josie DeVries robbed that bus! People were shot! People could have been killed!" The revelations begin to hit, one after another, and as his voice rises in pitch, his shoulders slump until Corbin Ayers leads him back inside, to try to help restore some of that optimism and faith that helped make Corbin believe in him in the first place.
For some tasks, the Company is almost indomitable.
Restoring shattered faith is not one of them.