Participants:
| Scene Title | It Wasn't Gray |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | In the wake of the murder of Wendy Hunter, Audrey and Felix discover a very much alive Sylar, and that there's no way he could have done it. |
| Date | March 4, 2010 |
Run run fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man. Or the copycat killer, Sylar, Felix Ivanov and any other number of speedsters by grace of evolved abilities. There's yellow tape everywhere, people told to back to their respective homes and that people would be by to question them later. Beepers went off, dour faced cops waiting around, forensics and of course Homeland Security when the method of death had been passed along. Audrey had slapped on her suit from that day, pumps and had driven fast as she could, giving Ivanov the courtesy of a heads up and a terse "get down there. He struck again"
Half an hour later, she was crouched by the head of Wendy Hunter's body, staring at the empty cavity that once housed her mind with an even more pinched look on her face. She was not happy.
Fel is not exactly ecstatic, either. He's dour and tired-looking, as per usual - the past year has added five years to his apparent age. The new black-framed glasses and the goatee he's cultivating don't help; the beard's grizzled already. His previous anger's fizzled out, leaving him curiously flat in affect, as he comes in, drawing his gloves off and stuffing them into his pocket.
"You know, for being Speedy Gonzalez, you sure took your time" Audrey tosses out, moving back to stand up straight. The body of the heiress covered with a plain sheet out of respect. She looks over with pursed lips before around to the art studio they're in. Little tripod of plastic here and there with numbers laid out, someone taking pictures. Teams mill about to collect evidence so that a more complete picture of the scene can be done. "Victims name is Wendy Hunter. Aged 29. Daughter of Peter and Patricia Hunter. Hunter Communications." She gestures towards the corpse, inviting Felix to come on over while she starts flipping through canvas's.
"Neighbor called when she heard screaming and sounds not consistent with Hunters regular behavior" There's a gesture to the walls and ceiling, the former of which someone is photographing some blood spatter.
"I knew her," Felix says, flatly. "Humanis First took her, too. Not at the same time as me, but…." He looks to Audrey. "My power's not infinite in use. Not to mention it's fucking hard to use it in conditions like these. I slip on the ice and smack into a wall at a hundred miles an hour, they'll have to peel me off it with a spatula." But he follows her lead.
'Bet that'd be a sight to see. Guess you lost your sense of humor in the snow somewhere a couple miles back" She offers up dryly. "Then you'd know she's a registered evolved, Power discernment, detection, whatever you want to call it. Either way, her file says girl could pick out an evolved and with a touch, tell you what you could do." The canvases are stopped looking through and she returns back to the covered body.
"Same as our Jane Doe. Dealt with the same way as the copy cat, only someone must have interrupted him because she's still at the scene instead of somewhere else. But they say her brain, on first look, seems to have been cut out manually. Not like what our whale would do"
Felix nods. "What if he lost the ability to do it with telekinesis?" Fel suggests, quietly. "What if that's what this is about? He's lost some, and is trying to regain them?"
"The Sylar we know? He doesn't have the medical skill to cut out a brain Ivanov" Audrey points out, stepping around the body and with a crook of her finger, invites speedy to come with her. "Stuff like what he's been doing for years? You don't loose that. He's never cut people up with anything but one of his abilities. Nor does he have the medical skill and know how. The person who's doing this, no, they're using something and they know how to use it. I'm not convinced that this is him. I still think it's a copy cat. Sure, there's similarities but, he wouldn't deviate that much from his routine. Not with being as obsessed with it as he is"
Out the apartment and the stairs, Audrey's steps are quick, precise, lacking in any extra movement. She's not bothering with the elevator since it's out of order, but heads for the stairs. "They have security camera's in this place. You're going to love this. They caught a shapeshifter coming in. Really Ivanov, you're gonna love this"
"The shapeshifter - this is the perp?" Fel asks, some animation coming into his face, as he matches his stride to hers.
"I don't think so. You'll see" Down the stairs they go, step by step and making it to the ground floor and security. "The one cop who survived the concussive blast that the guy coming out of the apartment gave off, gave us one description. The guy who came in the building before the cops came, was a different description and the person who went out the window and survived, was a different description." She's got one hand in her pocket, chin jutted towards the door that reads security.
Felix narrows his eyes at her, as he pads along. "So, the perp changed shape? But you say no. Was it the vic? Is it Hunter?"
"Hunter wasn't a shape shifter. Hunter's a Power discerner Ivanov. Couldn't be the dead girl on the floor" She wants to reach out and flick a finger against his forehead. "Timings not right. The calls for the disturbance came in as our suspect was walking in the door. Hey Carlos, que up the tape again woulda? To when that guy walked in." Audrey looks over at Felix, both hands planted on her waist now. "You know a John Logan?"
"Oh, do I -ever-," Fel's voice is a purr, utterly unlike his usual dry, accentless voice. "Wanted in a human trafficking case, all sorts of other crimes."
"See, I thought he was a shapeshifter. I woulda placed my bets on it. Security says that a man named John Logan came in the front door. Regular here, shacked up with Hunter on more than one occasion. Has his own key to her place and everything. Right there Carlos" Audrey looks smugly at the screen as it starts to play, a man coming in the front doors. "The thing about Illusionists right? You can't trick technology most of the time. they function differently than the human eye. No organic brain to trick you and manipulate" Walking into the building isn't John Logan in his fancy suits and Italian leather shoes as the person downstairs swore.
It's Sylar.
He almost literally points like a spaniel confronted with a covey of quail. Thar she blows. "Right," he says, keenly, as he peers at the image, even leaning in as he takes off his glasses. "Son of a fucking bitch. He's supposed to be -dead-. That bastard."
"I interviews Ruskin" Audrey places a hand on top of the monitor, leaning against it and watching the serial killer walk in with nary a blink from anyone. As if he was part of the place. "She says she hasn't seen him since thanksgiving. She gave us the name of a man named Emile Danko, some Humanis First indivdual who's been on a few shit lists. Said she thinks it's him right? Says he has a hard on for our whale and that he's probably running around and copy catting to frame him"
Adurey's tone says bullshit though. "Gave me an address for him, thinking of running some suits up his ass and seeing what we get from it but I don't think he's doing it. Hunter wouldn't have let him into her condo and there's no record of him on the screen coming in or out." A few minutes later reveals the cops coming in with holsters unbuttons and guns out.
"Danko's no illusionist. Danko's HF. He hates the Evolved. I wouldn't trust a goddamn word Ruskin says. She's one of Gabriel Gray's little friends. Probably lying," is Fel's considered assessment. "But if you can get Danko, fucking do it. He's wanted in his own right. See if he's there, but don't spook him. Between you, me, and the paint on the wall….he's nearly as bad as Gray."
Can't hurt. Maybe he'll know something. If he's got a hard on that bad" A shoulder rises then falls. "Thing is, this was the copy catter Ivanov. Now whether he was going up there to join our little homage artist or whether someone beat him to the punch in getting to her and her ability. Don't know, but he wasn't present for the murder of Hunter. The call went into the cops about a domestic disturbance five minutes before he walked in. Cops weren't that far behind."
"Wait, what're you saying," Fel says, looking back to her. "The murder's going on as this guy is walking in?"
"Do the math Ivanov. Murder was going on before he even stepped foot in there. So your theory about it being our Whale but with altered tactics, doesn't fit. Can't fit. So either he's training someone like a little protégé or someone beat him to the punch. Either way, that Hunter girl was going to be dead ten ways from Sunday tonight. She never stood a chance." Audrey pushes away from the monitor, a nod to the guy running it and heads for the door to go back upstairs. "Least we know he's alive. He took Ruskins form while he was fleeing. John Logan's while he was coming in and apparently dropped it in the hallway before he killed the officer and injured the other"
"How'd he kill the one?" Fel wonders, looking bitterly thoughtful. "Who's on the tape, if you wind back further? If he's not the perp, then where's the perp? Something here doesn't jive. This is Gray's MO. Why would he show up after someone'd done a copycat? He's got a rival? He's got an apprentice?"
"There's no one else on the tape Ivanov. No one that shouldn't be here or that wasn't accounted for by the neighbours. No person slipping in the wake of a resident. No doors that were left open for roof access. He killed the first office with a concussive blast. injured the second in the same fashion before jumping out a window. Witness's outside said a female jumped through the window and then took off." Up the stairs again to the next floor up and towards the crime scene.
"He's got a rival, an apprentice or a worshipper. Someone who has similar methods, but differ. Every single new murder just brings more questions. I'm going to see about hitting up this John Logan, I'd say you take Ruskin but for some reason, she doesn't like you very much" Her lips purse forwards as she runs her tongue along the back of her teeth and smiles at him.
"Then the killer's learned physical invisibility. Or came in looking like someone who does live here, and is there yet," Fel says, simply. And then makes a face. "No wonder my old partner fucking hated Evo crimes. It -is- like cheating."
"We'll know more once forensics has gone over her place and we interview people. But yeah Ivanov, it is like cheating. It sucks, but we gotta do what we can. At least we know that Gray's alive, and that this wasn't him. Not directly. Not unless he knows how to be in two places at once now." First floor landing, the milling about of professional doing their jobs.
"Pity they killed her. She was a pretty girl." Audrey stops at the door. "Daughter of a fortune 500. They're going to be crawling up our asses to solve this. We need everything on lockdown, blackout. I don't want a drop of this getting out anywhere. Last we need is another person getting it in their head to try and do this to get attention. Why don't you head on up and see what neighbours saw and heard. It's going to be a long night"
Felix shakes his head. Still clearly unconvinced. "Yeah. This has got to be stopped," he says, grimly. "Will do."
She doesn't need him convinced. Not when she feels it. Audrey wheels away from him and back into the apartment, heading for a group of conferring forensic's.