CLOSED ♔ guilty by association

[behindcloseddoors]

♬ i gave you all - mumford & sons

WHO || Buffy, Spike, Kat, Jaka.
WHAT || The Knights bust into the morgue to recover microchips that they saw on the bodies of the beings who attacked them backstage at the concert...
WHERE || Chicago, IL
WHEN || July 17th, backdated
HOW || Actionspam

[ the team's almost getting kind of good at this.

almost.

kat's finally got the police hq blueprints on lock and tapped into all the security protocols, so it should be a simple in and out tonight. of course, they are breaking into a police station of all places, but kat's confident they've got this shit on lock.



buuuut then there's that whole thing where she slams the trunk closed on all their weapons and gear, dressed head to toe in black like the other two, only to find Jaka standing on the opposite side of their car, one eyebrow raised behind the sunglasses he's sporting even at night. he smirks and says: ]

Isn't this a familiar sight.

Comments

[bigbad]

[Yeah Spike's doing fine despite his grumbling (listen 26). Must be all that vampire grace. He starts walking towards the police station.]

[slay]

[ with buffy's listen of 27, she's doing fine dodging everyone, and she begins to make her way toward the station. ]

[shootfirst]

[ Kat easily opens the side door with a knock spell, and they slip into the dimly lit station. It's not entirely abandoned: an officer is at a cubicle across the room, face lit by the screen he's absorbed in. One set of footsteps breaks silently to the right (move silently 32) And it will take an equivalent listen check to follow. Another set takes a few fumbling steps that seem to echo loudly (move silently 12) GUESS WHO IS WHO. ]

[bigbad]

[Spike wasted his good listen check outside so he follows the loud one (listen 15). Who is probably Kat. Jaka seems less worthy of the failboat team. At least he's pretty quiet himself (move silently 20).]

[slay]

[ with a move silently of 24, buffy's footsteps are all but dead silent as she follows the lead of the others. her listen of 17 means she has to be following kat, however. ]

[shootfirst]

[ the officer looks up at kat's clunky movements, craning his neck around.

"Someone there?" he asks, though with an only mildly concerned air, as if he expects it to be a co-worker before a troublemaker. kat freezes, the steps stopping entirely. a moment later, he turns around and goes back to his screen. kat's voice echoes in spike and buffy's ears, as if it's being whispered right to them: ] I'm gonna dataread the computers out here. You guys go find the evidence lockers. We've got probably three minutes before this wears off.

[bigbad]

[This is so weird.]

Right.

[Spike whispers back. He looks around (search 17) and starts walking off in a useful looking direction.]

[slay]

[ with a search of 18 buffy is doing just as well as spike at finding the evidence locker and slipping inside to dig through it. ]

[lawofsurvival]

[ it's easy enough to figure out where the evidence locker is: and apparent that jaka is here, as some file cabinet doors are opening themselves. each miniature locker has a key hanging out of it, all labeled in shorthand, but it's easy enough for buffy to figure out which one applies to rafael's case.

opening it reveals a number of items: on top of which, enclosed in a bag, are rafael's guns, a familiar sight to buffy. a colt m1911a1 with silencer lies below that, as well as a number of dvds in jewel cases, each labeled with numbers, although a few also denote that they are, in fact, various camera angles from the concert. a copy of rafael's contract from nova is enclosed in a folder. archer's flask is in here. bullets in separate bags. the torn bottom strip of buffy's dress. a suit folded neatly in a bag. archer's shotgun. ]

[bigbad]

[Spike goes over to the filing cabinets opening themselves (move silently 16) and peers through Jaka's shoulder.]

Find it yet?

[slay]

[ the way buffy sifts through the items, it's evident she's not really looking for clues so much as reflecting on the night. her hands hesitate on the torn strip of the dress rafael bought her, a pained look thankfully invisible on her face. she sets it aside at the sound of spike's voice and straightens, grabbing the dvds. ]

All of this came from the concert. There's no recording of any tip.

[lawofsurvival]

[ what he draws out is a sheet of paper, actually. it floats through the air towards where buffy stands ] A list of what each recording corresponds to, by filing number. Is 72A-80 amid those? [ and indeedy, it's in buffy's hands \o/ ]

[slay]

What's on it?

[ she lifts up the specific case, holding it out towards where she sees the paper floating for him to take as her answer. 'yes' isn't necessary, questioning the importance is. ]

[lawofsurvival]

The tip. [ said with a clear implication of 'really, people, keep up.'

in fact, she gets to see his bitchy face, because in that moment, they all become visible once again.

better hope kat succeeded in shorting those cameras. ]

[bigbad]

[Whatever, Spike was already invisible to cameras B)]

Oh good, the lawyer was useful.

[slay]

So, not all camera shots of the concert, after all. [ she looks up, realizing their sudden visibility. ] Let's just hope Kat pulled her weight, too. [ less aside, she looks to jaka. ] Anything here that'll play it?

[shootfirst]

[ a voice speaks up from the doorway, tense and with a quiet simmering rage beneath that seems more threatening somehow than her usual explosive anger: ] Yeah. But I have something you're all gonna wanna see first. [ kat stands there, her expression contorted as if she's about to be sick. or murder something. she draws out her laptop and steps inside, pulling the door shut. ]

[bigbad]

[Well, that can't be good. Spike frowns and walks over to her.] What is it?

[slay]

[ buffy sets down the rest of what she was holding and moves over to kat's side to get a look at her laptop screen, because presumably that's what is important here. ]

[shootfirst]

[ ♬ disappointed - nine inch nails

kat shakes her head, apparently too angry to talk, as jaka casually moves behind them so that he can also see. she touches the screen and it hums to life, yanking up a duplicate of an officer's e-mail, and an attached video file. it's labeled 'surveillance 108270__faa' at the top and is in slightly grainy black and white, but the figures and location are recognizable: it's the back alley behind the concert hall. the date of the concert is stamped across the lower left, and mark is visible, talking to violet. there's no sound, but the two of them seem engaged in some kind of intense conversation. mark looks anxious, continuously looking over his shoulder, and as violet listens, she begins to look worried as well. she moves forward, placing a hand on his arm tenderly and he looks slightly relieved. his relief seems to grow when she withdraws and moves back to the stage door, stopping with her hand on the bar to turn back and make one last comment. mark turns his face away, and vi gives him one last lingering worried glance before disappearing inside.

kat tenses beside them as if preparing herself again for this next part. mark collapses to sitting on the steps, and buries his face in his hands, shoulders shuddering slightly, but abruptly he looks up as if he heard a noise. there's no recognition in his expression, but definite apprehensive understanding, and when roger james steps into view of the camera, mark gets to his feet. he looks back at the door hesitating visibly, as james steps closer to him, demanding something. mark mutters a response and then james jams a finger into his chest and gestures at the door. terror overtakes mark's expression again, but then he nods, resigned again and goes to peek inside.

he looks back out moments later, and nods gingerly, waving james in. the assassin pushes past him and marches inside, and leaves mark staring at the door as it swings closed.

the feed cuts out instantly there. ]

[slay]

He played us.

[ buffy's voice is distant, distracted, like she hasn't fully rooted herself out of her thoughts and can't believe what's just played out before her. she doesn't need the details, the video's all too clear. mark was responsible for letting roger james into the concert - and by the looks of it, knew exactly what he was there to do.

mark was the reason rafael was going to prison, that jade was dead. ]

He played all of us. [ she snaps her jaw shut, blinking hard and moving past shock and into a plan. a decision. ] Des and Rafael can't see this. We'll deal with Mark ourselves. [ she turns her eyes on jaka. ] Or you can. Screw the insanity plea; you've got the guy responsible right there, what jury is gonna need to see more than that?

[bigbad]

"Family business" my arse. That bastard. [Yeah, Spike realizes none of the others got to be a part of his conversation with Mark and have no idea what he's talking about but he doesn't care rn he is busy wanting to bite Mark. He hasn't ruled out the plan actually....

He looks up at the others.] He gave me some sob story about his family, about needing to prove something to them. Suppose betraying your friends is one way to accomplish that.

1/2

[lawofsurvival]

I'm impressed by your willingness to sacrifice your ... 'friend'. [ jaka's silken voice sounds entirely pleased by the turn of events. ] I didn't expect you lot to be so ruthless when it would count. [ it's clear that to him, 'ruthless' is a positive adjective. ]

[shootfirst]

He doesn't deserve to go sit in some cushy jail cell. I'll kill him. He was one of my best friends.

[bigbad]

[Spike's still staring at the screen and scowling, thinking things through (wis 19).] Probably been in the works for months, if not longer. It explains why he'd dump..... someone.