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

[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.

[slay]

We were his family. And he turns his back on us. [ because that's not mafia-esquea at all. she shakes her head, looking away from the screen and to jaka. ] Will it help or not?

1/2

[lawofsurvival]

Well, there's certainly a case to be made to put your teammate in as an accessory. I don't think it takes any of the heat off from Giovanni, however. They could have been collaborators, in the eyes of the law.

2/2

[shootfirst]

[ meanwhile, kat's back on what spike said. ] Dumped who? [ wait a minute. he sure sounds bitter... ] You and Mark?

[bigbad]

[Oh my god Kat just because you're in lesbians with Gar doesn't mean everyone else is having secret gay romances.]

Not me and Mark. Mark and someone else, and does it really matter right now?

[slay]

No, it doesn't. Can we focus, please?

[shootfirst]

You're right. We need to take this to him, show him we know and find out what the hell he was thinking.

[bigbad]

If he happens to get punched a few times in the process, no one'll complain. [Spike, you get headaches when you hit humans, THIS PLAN IS NOT A GOOD ONE.

It's worse because Spike kind of gets where Mark was coming from. He talked to him enough to know that Mark does feel really bad about this and did stress over it. Doesn't make Jade any less dead though or Mark any less a traitor. Just makes Spike want to punch things all the more.]

[slay]

Eager though I may be to hear his cheap excuse, that has to wait until we hear what we came here for. [ she turns to jaka. ] The tip.

[lawofsurvival]

Is in your hand. [ he gestures to the disc he indicated. kat swipes it and slams it into the laptop, and another video pops up. this one seems to be taken off a camera phone, and is recorded across an outdoor cafe. on the far side is a table sheltered by an umbrella where roger james sits speaking to a familiar curly headed figure. rafael glances around, and removes an envelope from his jacket, sliding it across the table. james glances at the contents, nodding a few times, clearly listening to instructions. finally, rafael stands, slipping on some shades, and clears out, leaving james there. ]

[slay]

[ she watches, eyes growing darker as pain fills them. this doesn't make sense. nothing makes sense anymore, it hasn't since the concert. she knows rafael, he wouldn't hurt jade, he couldn't possibly. but she feels dizzy and overwhelmed and confused all the same. she has to keep her words clipped and business-like in order to keep her emotional response from becoming too apparent. ]

Can you save these to your computer? We need to go over them further, and if it goes missing, they'll know someone was tampering.

[ she steps away, getting space, and turns to glance toward the door. ]

We need to get out of here.

[bigbad]

Seems wise. [Spike's watching Buffy almost as much as he's watching the video. It sure looks like Rafael. It can't possibly be him, and they know a pretty easy way the bad guys could have made it look like him, but even so. It's pretty damn convincing.

He looks over at Kat.] Can you find out whose phone it came from? Use the... url number or something?

[Spike is not a computer whiz. (int 12)]

[shootfirst]

"URL" number? Really? [ she rolls her eyes and lowers the lid ] I've already got them on this computer, I didn't take any-- [ she stops suddenly, eyes going wide. a listen check of 14+ is enough to hear the footsteps moving around out there. ] Shit.

[slay]

[ listen 15 aww yeah barely. buffy catches a brief sound from outside, and whips her head toward the door. ]

Later. How's about another round of that inviso-magic?

[shootfirst]

I ... can't. [ she shifts the laptop closed quietly, glancing uncomfortably at the door ] A break-in requires lots of spells, I had to prep for getting in, disabling the cameras, reading the computers...



I only had one.

[slay]

Is now an inappropriate time to point out Wynn's sent a dozen knights after us for help and not a single one who can remind us to plan a way out?