Participants:
| Scene Title | Keys to A Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Warren opens the vault doors to the Loco's hideout for Audrey and the rest of Homesec. |
| Date | November 6, 2010 |
Crumbling concrete tunnels beneath the streets of Manhattan eventually lead towards what may have at one time been a subterranean access point for a basement level of some midtown business. An entire section of concrete wall has been demolished to give way from the subway tunnel into a large and derelict circular chamber. A staircase here is filled with broken pieces of concrete and twisted steel girders, clearly whatever building resided above here has long since collapsed down onto itself, leaving this vault cut off from the rest of the city.
Opposite of the cut entrance in the concrete, a massive bank vault door rests in the wall, a pair of closed-circuit security cameras mounted on the concrete sweeping through the chamber, electricity still powering them from //somewhere. An analogue keypad has been installed next to the vault door, and the circular door itself looks to have been modified to be operated by the mechanical keypad rather than the combination lock it should be.//
For those able to bypass the security and enter the chamber within, reality seems to be completely held off on the other side of the door. What was once an expansive storage chamber in this building's basement has been converted into — of all things — some sort of //nightclub. Electricity powers neon lights and flashing strobes beneath glass flooring. Everything in here is clean, from the faux wood of the wrap-around bar to the stenciled curtains featuring silhouettes of faces, to the colored light in recessed sconces in the ceiling. Televisions completely fill one wall, connected to cable lines leading out from the bunker. This place is some implausibly constructed and well-maintained hideaway that clearly must have cost a great deal of time and money to construct.//
Early in the morning, Warren, two SWAT teams that combine to make ten men, as well as Audrey have tracked down into the strangely clean train tunnels that still smell vaguely of gunpowder and tear gas, not to mention the blood. He straightens the tie in between the unbuttoned black jacket of his suit, then extends a white gloved hand to start rapidly typing at the analog dial.
"Everyone be prepared, I have no idea what's behind this. But there's no bomb, I'd sense the ticking, or the activating trigger as I pressed the buttons." he explains, trying to both warn and reassure at the same time. Then, the large gears of the vault begin to turn, and the vault itself rotates and rolls into the wall, revealing the rather well-furnished hideout. It looks almost like a lounge, or a club, with televisions lining the walls, a large bar, upper platforms and even a stage for performing. There's a gate that looks as if it leads into some sort of garage to the far back, doors that appear to lead into a kitchen area, and one small heavily secured metallic door with at least a dozen locks.
"I don't see any traps." he says as silvery eyes scan the room, though of course doesn't expect them to take his word for it.
Everyone who's come down has been given bullet proof vests. Even Warren was strapped into one. Adurey's no strange to wearing one, it's emblazoned beneath her DHS jacket with Homeland across the front. Two teams spread out, the trek down in combat boots, jeans and sweaters under the DHS gear meant to protect and keep warm respectively. Of course they don't believe him. They're not trained to trust anything other than their senses and their superiors.
Audrey's in the middle of the pack, the rear guards keeping an eye out behind them for any Loco's who might straggle down for a peek at their former hideout. Her own weapon is out, pointed down and ready to be lifted in need be. Warren flanked by the more geared men with their more impressive weapons. "Open it" She orders Warren, a jerk of her head to the others to fan out and take up position. "Disable the door as well, if you can, so that we're not having the issue in case it gets closed again" God, please dont' let this be a massacre like last nights fracas was.
Once the vault has finished the process of opening into the wall, he stands in-between the vault and the tunnels, analyzing the structure with those eyes, then shakes his head. "It can only be closed from the inside now, I'm the only person who'd know how to close it remotely, and you have my remote." He enters the base completely now, and turns around to point to an analog control panel, complete with a speaker and a series of small screens with night vision feeds of the tunnels. "If you have someone watch that panel, no one will be able to close the door, but if you could find a metal pipe, or maybe a big rock, I think we can jam the gears until you're ready to close it again."
Someone's on that job, one of the rearguard, with a wave of another hand, one of the middlemen is assigned to the panel of screens and the camera's that they represent, watching the screens. His remote is somewhere in Homesec custody until this is over. The rest of the ground follows in with Warren, Audrey still remaining close to the center, and everyone's senses ready and waiting for any traps that may or may not be sprung, guns at the ready. "No one touch anything. You find anything, you call out. Take it one room at a time, you know the drill. Fan out. If it's mechanical, don't touch it. Mister Ray and I will come to you." And there's the flurry of hand signals, crouched steps, and guns out, methodical and cautious in their searching.
The vault is clearly semi-lived in. If on a first glance it appears to be a lounge, a second, closer glance shows that it's more like a private club house, with personal things left laying on tables such as someone's briefcase, a wallet on the bar. No one's worried about these things being stolen. The kitchen is, well, just that, a kitchen. It seems made for at least five chefs, and well stocked enough to live down in the vault for at least a few years without leaving.
That garage area would definitely be where a host of mechanical things are housed. There's no car in there. There's a four foot clockwork spider, a few other clockwork animals ranging from half-built to seemingly complete. The entire thing is unfurnished other than a long work bench built into the wall, and on that bench are even smaller animals, mostly mechanical mice, spiders, and even smaller insects. Many have already spread out and stand on the ceiling and walls, but the larger robots aren't moving at all, showing no signs of life.
"I think… this is my room." he says back to Audrey, pointing at the small secured door. "I made these locks, I can tell. They're meant for me to open… but someone's broken in."
"Make the robots stop. I want them shut down, turned off" Audrey's releasing one hand from her weapon, gesturing to the active ones that move around. "We'll deal with your room in a minute" Jesus, she'll need to get a team down here, Catalog all this. The wallet and briefcase are noted. One person down, at least. One win for Homeland tonight at the least. Not to mention Tech will be salivating all over the robots.
She takes a minute, listening to reports coming in from her team, so far down that talking to anyone above ground is pointless. No one alive down here, all clear, repeatedly spoken over the comm's. When Audrey is satisfied, then it's to the door to Warrens supposed room. "Open it" Just because it's been broken into doesn't mean it's not locked.
"I don't have my remote, I can't shut them off. But these aren't dangerous, they're just tracking devices, and a few cameras. They're pretty stupid, they won't go far. The big ones are already off, but I don't recommend touching those, they will kill someone if they get activated." Warren walks over to the door of his room, holding up his left hand as a strange golden tool pops up from his sleeve, like some sort of lock pick. The way he raises his arm gives her a brief glimpse of the clockwork device he uses for a limb, but he instead focuses on the door.
He undoes lock after lock, skipping the broken ones, but before actually opening the door, he presses his ear against it and knocks. "Alright, I'm sure it's not rigged." Tool slipped back under his sleeve, he very carefully opens the door, taking in the sight of the modestly sized bedroom. His bed is covered in blue sheets, dusty as if it hasn't been slept in for a few months. There's a few dozen empty shelves on the walls, an old computer on a small desk in the corner near the bed, something from the 90s, with a small work bench next to it. And behind the bed, embedded into the wall, are a bunch of safes that seem to have been blown open with explosives, left completely empty. "I remember this, this is my room. I'm supposed to have inventions in those safes, they're for dangerous ones. And there should be inventions on these shelves too, but they're all gone.
He moves deeper into the room, running a hand over the computer desk. "There's only one book here, others are missing." He holds up a brown leatherbound book that says Recruitment Log. "I don't remember what kind of books, but…" He opens it, slowly thumbing through with a furrowed brows. "This is… a log of everyone I've recruited, I think. It looks like I observed each member for six months to a year, multiple members at a time. There's names and dates in this thing."
Rules of evidence apply. No ones touching anything and Audrey's holstering her weapon so that she can take the book from him when he's done running through the pages, taking it and flipping through her pages, going for the latest newer filled pages, rattling off a few of them.
She looks away from the book, a glance to the room they're in, empty vaults and shelves. Forensics was going to have a heyday down here. "There any other places down here that we need to examine, anything at all that being down here might trigger?"
"Nothing I can remember, I think I only remember this room because I've spent so much time in it." Warren says with an apologetic shake of his head, sliding his hands into his pockets when she takes the book. "So what now? Is there anything else I can do? I just want to get these guys off the streets as soon as possible."
"You may have just enabled us to do that" Audrey murmurs, looking through the book. "You're staying here with us, after that, we're sending you back to the facility. I need to consult with my superiors. You may be our guest for the rest of the weekend" And maybe longer, depending on what is found down here.
This will be a long night for Audrey, between half the team going back to the surface and a variety of other less combat oriented teams coming down to start the process of gathering evidence and recording the hideout of the Loco's, looking for evidence that Sylar was indeed down here. They'll comb the book too and from it, who knows what might happen but Warren just might have indeed given Audrey the keys to the Loco Kingdom.
