[IC] 🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

[FantasyChic]

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Priya Khurana

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Location: In the back of a Squad Car
Skills: N/A

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Priya looked out the window. She didn't mind rain, really. New York got its fair share of rain often. It was a good time to sit on the sofa and read a book with a nice cup of coffee. It even made cases more enjoyable. Gave it a sort of Noire feeling. Made people stupid when it came to driving though, and New York drivers didn't need any more incentive to drive like idiots.

Before she knew it, Tim pulled up to the funeral home and Riley got out and opened the door for her. Priya stepped out, sure that Roy was thankful to have more room in the car now. She waved at the both of them as they pulled away, turning to follow Riley inside. "No one should deal with this alone. I know from experience. I am here for support, but this is your thing."

As they stepped inside, Priya became all to aware of how much she disliked funeral homes. It was a necessary evil, of course, as death came for all of them, but it was a reminder of it that didn't need to be made known so often. Priya stood behind Riley, waiting for her to do her thing. She didn't want to step on toes during this as Riley needed to handle this on her own.

[Dragoknighte]

Mali Anson

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Location: Club Afterdark
Skills: Driving (Cars)

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"Oh I'm sorry,"[/color] Mali said in response to Relic's assertion that Zoie and her were 'fucked up.' "I should have taken your sensibilities into account when picking the radio station. Would you have preferred Industrial, Noise or No Wave?" While none of these genres were "her thing," she could bear listening to them if she had to, but she certainly wouldn't want to listen to that kind of experimental music while on a drive. It was the kind of thing you had to be in a certain mood for. And perhaps she was hedging her bets, but Mali had purposefully picked out genres she highly doubted would be found anywhere on a radio, even in California.

But her joking went out the window as soon as she saw the smoke and heard the command. Her expression harden, the steering wheel was firmly gripped with both hands (as best as a hand covered in plaster can grip) and the pedal got its figurative shit kicked in. She was just glad that since they were outside the city now they didn't have to worry about traffic getting in the way. She just hoped that they wouldn't get pulled over by a cop before she could get to the house. Oh, getting pulled over would be bad. Really bad. Knowing Zoie she might insist on not pulling over. That would lead to a high speed chase, and she had already had more than enough legal problems already.

[Morose]

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Cecily Ashworth

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Location: Laredo Colombia Solidarity Port of Entry
Skills: Driving (car)

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Cecily always had a slight habit of holding her breath whenever crossing a border and her items were being examined. Of course, this habit didn't factor in the reasoning that both her and Natasha benefited from a healthy amount of white privilege in the crossing. It had been originally a game that she and her brother played - if they could hold their breath when going into another country, they wouldn't get selected for a more thorough search. She returned to normal breathing once they had been swiped through, about to smile and ask Natasha for directions for where to head to next, when she turned to see Natasha beginning a huge bloody coughing fit.

"Got it," Cecily agreed, pulling the car over as soon as she saw a space on the shoulder to do so. She turned on their hazards, just in case. She doubted they'd be needed but she wanted to be careful, anyways. Putting the car into park, Cecily didn't turn it off, figuring that whatever climate control the car could provide, Natasha would be in need of it. At least they were back in the United States, so they could take Natasha to a hospital if she needed it. "How can I help?" she then asked softly. She wasn't sure if there was anything that she could do for her, but she saw Natasha as a friend and wanted to be able to help her recover from this coughing fit as quickly as possible.

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Iris Kingston

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Location: Secret Airstrip in Grimm
Skills: Photographic Memory

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Iris had never seriously considered the fact that she'd ever be on a crashing plane before. She knew that the odds were greater that she'd be in a car accident and yet, she took Ubers all the time and never had any fear, beyond that the drivers might turn out to be a descendant of Charles Mason. The descent struck her as being a bit harder than was normal and when they crashed into the ground, Iris realized in retrospection what the descent had really been - the start of a crash.

Her thoughts were jumbled and disorganized as she went through the motions, freeing herself from the effective seatbelt and stumbling to her feet. She could have had a gigantic piece of metal in her leg and she might not have noticed it. Her brain had gone into some sort of hyperactive almost zombie like survival mode, allowing her to focus on her one goal of importance - getting out of the cabin. She stumbled her way forward and got out, avoiding pieces of the private plane that were in her way. Perhaps even ten minutes later, if someone had asked her to describe her surroundings, she wasn't sure if she would have been able to do it - even with her photographic memory.

"Monsieur Ross?" Iris called out, slipping to her second mother tongue.

[Lady Absinthia]

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Date: Monday May 23rd, 2017 - (Remember Time Zones)

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Crash Site: Ross stumbled slightly, wiping the blood and sweat from his brow. He normally wouldn't be sweating but the heat from the flames was causing it to be much hotter than it should. "Here," he said in a gravelly voice as he made his way through the smoke and dust that had been kicked up. There was a flash of light and then the sound of thunder crackling. Looking up as he felt something damp on his cheek the weather started to turn. It was starting to rain. This could be a good thing, at least it would help douse the fire if it came down hard enough. Then again, if the winds kicked up too much it could cause the fire to spread rapidly. Grimm had been going through a drought.

"Come on, we gotta get out of here," he said as he finally made his way over to Iris and held his hand out to help her walk if she needed it. "There should be a hanger with a car waiting for us about a mile from here. We can't stay," he added as he pulled out gun from his side holster. "Can you shoot?" he asked.

Funeral Home: Over in the Fisher & Sons Funeral home, things were quiet when Riley and Priya entered. The dark wood made the place seem much darker. A large round table with flowers sat in the center of the main room. To the left and to the right were room that looked to be set up for viewings if need be. There was hallway towards the back of the room that split off to a set up stairs that lead up. There was a sign by the bottom of the stairs marked private.

Coming down the stairs was a man dressed in a suit looking stressed. It seemed though that look was probably a permanent state. He forced a required smile. "Hello, I'm David Fisher. You must be here for Chloe Ridgeway. I am terribly sorry for your loss," he said as he came down the stairs and held his hand out to shake Rileys and then Priyas. David was older than the Ridgeway sisters, by a good ten years. He hadn't gone to school with them but his family had been the main funeral home in Grimm for over forty years, so they were known enough. At least enough because of the fact they took care of many of the funerals over the years.

Justice, California: Maria quirked a brow at the song but she didn't say anything, she was trying to refrain from smacking Caesar upside the back of the head for his little stunt but she kept her mouth shut for the most part. "Better choice in music than Alicia," was all she said as they made their way through the streets of Justice. Things were calm during the drive. It seemed that Lady Luck was being kind to them, maybe it was because they had a baby in the car, then again that had never stopped the dice from doing something horrific. Yet for now, things are good and the traffic isn't an issue.

At least not for them. Outside of Justice was another story. As Mali kept driving Zoie started feeling under her seat. "Damn it," she muttered. It seemed that Trisha hadn't left a gun stashed under there for them. The closer they got the more tense Zoie seemed to get. The black smoke was billowing up. She didn't say for Mali to drive faster. Part of her wanted to but part of her didn't want to know.

As they crested the hill it wasn't the house on fire, it was the barn. That was good, maybe a lamp had just been kicked over but right then Zoie would have rather it been the house. She didn't have animals in the house. She did in the barn but from the looks of things most were out in the pasture. Marks limo was in the front of the house but there was no sign of him. "Where the fuck is he?" she asked. The question was more to herself than to anyone there.

"The barn?" Relic asked as he closed his lap top. That was not a good thing is he was, the place was ablaze.

Texas/Mexico Border: Cecily was able to pull the car over without issue but Natashas coughing fit wasn't going away. If anything it was getting worse. As the car came to a halt, Natasha scrambled out of it, falling to her knees as she kept hacking up what felt like a lung. The pavement becoming splattered with blood with each cough and then a small pool of it as it drizzled like honey out from her lips and down her nose. This wasn't good.

It seemed like she was trying to talk, trying to get words out but she couldn't catch her breath. It sounded like she was drowning in her own fluids as her skin became clammy and she broke out into a cold sweat. Her body was shaking as her palms pressed into the ground, the gravel cutting into her skin as she pressed her weight on it. Each cough sent her back into a deep bend, arching like a cat who was hissing. It wasn't pretty. "Lied." It was the only word she was able to get out as she kept coughing.

[Nallore]

Riley Ridgeway

Location: Fisher & Sons Funeral Home, Grimm, Indiana
Skills: N/A

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Riley was gratful for the company, even though Pyria really didn't have to she didn't have any obligation, not to mention the case as well that Roy and Pyira had to do but to her but regardless she was glad to have someone with her. "Thank you again, it really does mean a lot.." Riley said softly as she stuffed her hands into her pockets as she looked around the funeral home. Her mind started to think about going to a bar in town at some point later on in the day. She could use a few beers after all of the paperwork and all of the arrangements for Chloe as well were done. Riley turned her head when she started to hear a loud clap of thunder and a bit of lightening as well, at least she was right about the storm now.

Then Riley turned her head towards the stairs as she heard someone coming down the stairs, she watched the man approaching the two of them noting the stress on his face. Riley couldn't blame him really, working in a funeral home was probably stressful and having to deal with grieving families as well. "Thank you, it's nice to meet you i'm Riley Chloe's sister.." Riley said, as she could feel a bought of tears form slightly it was the last thing that she wanted to do returning to Grimm. Riley then reached over and gave him a firm handshake, before stepping to the side so that Pyria could introduce herself.

[Sigil]

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Caesar & Keystone

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Location: Justice Airport -> Streets of Justice
Skills: N/A
Skills: Security Procedures

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Mentioning Alicia did wonders to kill the mood in the Ramcharger. Granted, the mood wasn't really all that bright and cheery to begin with, but discussion of the young lady, family, they had just interred made things very quiet for a few long moments. The sound of tires gripping blacktop remained the dominant noise inside of the vehicle for an uneasy amount of time until Keystone finally broke the tense silence, musing over the words, "Associate Director, eh?" Having been an Interim Director, this was a touch of a step down but had more of a feeling of permanence. Something to put on a resume (if he ever thought to seek employment elsewhere) and hopefully with a more clearly articulated set of duties for him to adhere to.

Caesar had initially planned on making him Assistant Director. The change of that first word was important, redefining the role he was to play within the company. One made him essentially the guy who handles the runoff responsibilities of the new Director and takes over in the absence of, the other narrowed the field in which he operated and allowed for higher scrutiny and autonomy. They paid about the same. Whichever job description was selected, Maria would still be able to give a direct order that could only be overruled by the Owner (in this instance). She was still the lady in charge of the Justice branch of MSS.

The venerable Mexican turned to Keystone and spoke in his usual gravelly voice, "Yes. Associate Director in charge of the same duties I hired you for in the first place. Personnel, training, managing staff and situations on the ground. You will continue to operate as the go-to Security Agent for Special Projects and private assignments. For affairs of site business, you answer to Maria. That is, Miss Santiago." The words out, Caesar fell silent again.

After a couple more minutes of blacktop and silence, Angelita's voice piped up from the back of the vehicle. "Hey Tio, do I get my own office like in Boston?" It was more of a formality than anything else, the lady telecommuted half of the time, and days that she had to come in she usually spent time wherever struck her fancy with her suite of personal electronics around company grounds. Caesar growled once, but responded, "We will work something out. Until we do, you are in the Hub with the rest of your team. Should be a day or so."

"Right, comin' up on familiar streets n' such, ain't gonna be long now. We pickin' up eats on the way?" Thalia leaned forward upon hearing this, intently curious as to how the discussion was going to play out. She was a bit peckish herself. Caesar answered, "On Site. Hub. Behind closed doors. Lots of different places deliver to the Diamond District." The sooner they got to business, the better.

[FantasyChic]

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Priya Khurana

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Location: In the back of a Squad Car
Skills: N/A

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As far as Priya was concerned, this was part of the case. There already seemed to be more to this than originally spoken of, and Riley seemed to be, if not at the center of it, then definitely branching off of it. Whether or not the girl was involved more than that, Priya did not know, but she did know that the girl lost her sister and that was something Priya knew all too well. If she could help, she would, but that did not mean she shut her detective's brain off.

As her thoughts raced, a man stepped down and greeted them. Riley shook his hand and Priya followed suit. "Priya Khurana. I'm a friend of Riley's." Priya did not feel she should share she was a detective, and she hoped Riley would not give it away. First, she was out of her jurisdiction so she had no real authority here anyway. Second, the man did not need to know. Call it suspicion, but anyone here could be involved. She knew all too well not to trust anyone initially.

[Dragoknighte]

Mali Anson

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Location: Club Afterdark
Skills: Driving (Cars), Athletics, Perception

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As she drove, Mali kept tabs on Zoie in her peripheral vision. She seemed really tense at the moment, but no fucking duh. Her house was probably on fire, only someone with deep seated personal issues towards their residence or some kind of insurance scam set-up would be happy to know that the place they sleep is likely in flames. It was kind of amazing how the size of the smoke cloud seemed to grow perpetually larger, as if it could reach the point where the entirety of the sky was consumed by the charcoal colored gas.

Of course that notion was dispelled when she managed to actually reach the farm and see that the barn was on fire rather than the house (thank goodness). But there were still a lot of unanswered questions and immediate concerns. Like what the fuck were they going to do about this fire. It had long since past the point of being able to be contained by just a couple of people with no firefighting experience, and although right now it was constrained just to the barn, gust of wind at the wrong time could lead to the situation growing even worse.

"You've got a house phone, right Zoie? Should probably use it to call 911." Mali roughly parked the car and undid her seatbelt, not bothering to turn off the car. "I'm going to see if I can find Tinder." Relic's first guess was the barn, and she really hoped that wasn't the case. But just in case, then it was pertinent to check there first. If he'd gotten trapped in a burning barn, he wouldn't be able to afford the time required to suss out the rest of the farm first. Cursing the fact that she had to go barefoot and had to make the dash in a dress, Mali ran as fast as she could to the barn.

"MARC," she yelled out between cupped hands. She desperately hoped for an answer of some kind. She also looked for a potential way into the barn that would be relatively safe if she actually had to take the plunge. As much as she didn't want the FBI agent to bite it, she wasn't overly keen on running headfirst into fire either.

[Morose]

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Cecily Ashworth

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Location: Laredo Colombia Solidarity Port of Entry
Skills: Deduction, Knowledge of Chemistry, Knowledge of Biology, Knowledge of Toxicology

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If there was any part of her psyche that appreciated irony at the moment, she hadn't anticipated to be faced with her own Kobayashi Maru earlier that day when she asked Natasha about it. She was able to use her training to come to the quick diagnosis that the woman was bleeding internally. If she didn't get her to a hospital, she'd die. And even if she tried to get her to one, there was no guarantee she'd live. Of course, if she tried to save Natasha's life, she might never know what she meant with that one simple word - lied.

Cecily didn't have the skills herself to save her. The seconds seemed to stretch into hours. Natasha was her friend and she cared about her - but she also had dedicated her life to uncovering the truth. And why would Natasha have lied? Cecily had read her as honest this entire time - perhaps she hadn't gotten the proper impression from her or there was something - or someone - Natasha was trying to protect? Her eyes flickered to Natasha's engagement ring and before she was fully conscious of what she was doing, Cecily pulled out her phone and had dialed 911.

"I need an ambulance," she began, giving their exact location. "She's a cancer patient, late 20's in age, seems to be suffering from internal bleeding," Cecily explained. She didn't know anything she could do to help Natasha and she didn't know if she made the right choice - but the heroes in her comics always chose human life. She'd have to find answers some other way.

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Iris Kingston

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Location: Secret Airstrip in Grimm
Skills: Photographic Memory

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Iris was trying her best not to be too in awe of the conveniently timed rain and lightning. It was as if they were living in some sort of film, with the weather matching the ambiance perfectly. She took Ross' hand, limping slightly as she became more and more aware of her surroundings, but she felt like she was in decent shape overall. "Merci beaucoup," she thanked him, trying to smile and stay positive but she was also worried. "Do you know what 'appened with the plane?" she then asked him softly.

She didn't know how to shoot a gun and she shook her head. She knew how to fence, how to play ice hockey, and she was a decent runner - but she'd never even handled a gun before. All she knew was there was something to do with pulling the trigger and aiming. Of course, she also knew how to ski but then again, it wasn't a skill that would see much use in this environment. She hoped that they weren't too far from where they needed to go - though she was worried that Barney's daughter or "niece" had been behind the plane crash.

[Sigil]

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Caesar & Keystone

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Location: Streets of Justice -> Queensguard R&D Complex
Skills: N/A
Skills: N/A

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Caesar looked around the cab of Keystone's restored and luxury fitted Dodge Ramcharger. The convenience of the armored means of conveyance aside, Caesar was really more interested in the people around him. They were his closest allies now, in the dark reality of Justice, California. More than that, they were family. Even Maria, who had the good sense to divorce him some time ago. Why she agreed to get back into business with him was beyond him, Alicia's death or no. In the end, what else would a mother do for her daughter if not at least help to avenge her?

There was Keystone himself, a large man birthed of a culture that varied differently from his own. Some things would always unite certain people from across the globe, and one of those things was poverty. Caesar knew the circumstances of this man's childhood, knew what kind of people came from that sort of environment. The fact that he was a good person seemed miraculous. Rough around the edges, crude at times, intimidating as all hell, but a decent guy with protective instincts solid enough to land a plane on.

Then his little niece. Baby niece. Protected, shy, introverted, and other blatant lies. The girl had such potential as a runaway freight train chock full of badassery, but seemed content to shelve her knowledge of shooting and stabbing in lieu of her own tech projects. But right at that moment, she was busy on her company cell phone, having punched in a number that she caught on the window of a Chinese restaurant that promised free delivery. "Lo Mein and fried rice, both. No no, in addition to the other. Thanks. Address? Umm, you guys know where Queensguard... Uh huh, I know 'Director Keystone'. Yeah! Same place. Ask for Angel. Awesome."

"Right, mealtimes aside," began Keystone in his Cockney brogue, curious as to how the young lady in the back of his ride got so damned comfortable with her position even before arriving on site, "I got bossman's trike back in the Motor Pool, likewise there's another addition that looks like it don't belong fully. Assumin' it belongs to the 'ungry ragamuffin in back, yeah? Might want to give it a once-over 'fore we get fully to it."

Caesar wasn't completely certain what a "ragamuffin" was, but was moderately sure it was a lesser form of insulting descriptor of some kind. He was highly fluent in the English language, though sometimes English English could still throw him a surprise. "Watch how you speak about my niece, Johnathon. She's part of your team now, too. And part of your family."

"My 'pologies. Nothin' by it, Boss." He nodded up the road a piece, "Right then, almost to it." And indeed they were, time had funny ways of speeding up and slowing down to human perception as the situation modified things, but sure enough, less than a minute later the boxy black security vehicle was pulling into the first checkpoint, allowing entry to the Queensguard Industries R&D Industrial Complex, and by extension, the Justice Offices of Machete Security Solutions.

[Lady Absinthia]

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Date: Monday May 23rd, 2017 - (Remember Time Zones)

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Crash Site: Ross shook his head. "No but it can't be anything good." Planes just didn't go down like that, and pilots didn't just died like that. Shit like this didn't just happen. There was always a reason for it and it was never good. It was either A) someone fucked up a check, B) someone was trying to kill him, C) someone was trying to kill her, or D) something worse he hadn't thought of yet.

Moving towards the tree line he motioned for her to follow. "I'm sure you know how to duck, do it if you need to," he added quietly as they kept moving. Placing both hands on the gun he kept an eye out as they walked. He wasn't ducking down but it was surprising how quietly the man could move naturally but then again he had been at this type of work for decades. By this time of his life it would be harder to move like the rest of the world.

Funeral Home: "My pleasure, let us take a seat," David said as he motioned for them to follow him through the double doors to his right. There was a couch set up and a pair of upholstered chairs across from it with a low coffee table between them. On the tables were binders, flowers, and the ever present box of tissues. Boxes of tissues seemed to be placed on any table in the place, for good reason.

Unbuttoning his jacket he sat down and pulled a clip board from the side of the chair. "We are prepared to do as large of a service or as small of one as you want. We offer a wide range services." He seemed rather dry when he spoke, it was obvious he had been doing this for years. He was detached but that was too be expected. He couldn't afford to get emotional in this business, the toll would be too high.

"If you don't stop taking pictures of everything we do in this house I'm going to break that camera." The voice sounded angry as the front door opened and a man in running shorts come inside, followed by a younger girl with red hair carrying a camera.

"I'm making art," she said as she slammed the door.

"You're irritating everyone."

"Excuse me," David said as he stood up, giving an apologetic look before starting to scurry towards the two.

"I'm catching life as it unfolds, how you react is part of that Nate," the girl said trying to defend her actions.

"Oh that is bullshit Claire."

"Would you two hold it down, I am trying to do an intake," David said in a hushed voice as he motioned towards Priya and Riley. Claire just rolled her eyes as Nate downed half a bottle of water. He mouthed sorry before jogging up the stair case. Taking a deep breath David composed himself and turned back towards the woman. "I am very sorry for the interruption."

The Farm: Zoie hopped out of the car and ran towards the house. She had a main line and right then she didn't bars on her cell. That wasn't uncommon being out this far. Relic on the other hand crawled out of the car and was a bit slower. It was as if he couldn't decide to go towards the barn with Mali or towards the house with Zoie. In the end he picked the house. There was fear in his eyes when he looked at the flames coming from the barn.

It wasn't surprising, the barn was engulfed in flames and the sounds of the wood cracking were loud. As Mali called out there was no call back of someone answering, at least not from what one could hear right then. The sound of the fire was loud and roaring. The place was hot, really hot, but of course it was on fire. Smoke filled the place and it was nearly impossible to see anything.

"Yeah hurry," Zoie said before hanging up the phone and nearly running into her brother as she turned around.

Queensguard: Maria sat there paying with her grandson as she watched the family get to know each other, well more like it was her watching to make sure that Caesar didn't say something too horrible. Angel she wasn't worried about, the girl could take care of herself and she was more interested in food than anything else it seemed right then. "And he doesn't mean anything by it either Keystone. He's just gruff since Angel is so like Alicia was," Maria piped in as they pulled up to the complex and the gate opened for them.

Once the car was parked, Maria opened the door and stepped out, undocking the carseat before pulling it out and setting it on the ground with the boy still in it. She needed to grab the diaper bag as well as some other things. "Keystone, get your son. Caesar, the playpin. Angel, your gear," she said quickly as she grabbed her bag and the diaper bag for the baby. "I want a full run down of evens over the last 72 hours, personal interviews set up with current staff of our own and anyone else that has access to this building and..." she said as her heels clicked against the concrete. "A 1 on 1 with Elizabeth, time to have a talk with the Queen bee."

Texas/Mexico Border: The 911 call center said there were on their way but what that meant in terms of time was anyones guess. The US system of emergency rescue medicine wasn't always the best. If they were lucky the paramedics would be there in five to ten minutes, if not it could be an hour depending on how far out an ambulance was when the call came in, if they were already busy, traffic and so forth.

Natasha was getting worse, her lips were going blue under the blood that was covering them, her pale skin was going gray, her skin was cold and clammy as her body shook. She was still coughing up blood, trying to speak as she did. The word lied kept coming out. And in between that another word - it seemed to be the word two.

[Nallore]

Riley Ridgeway

Location: Fisher & Sons Funeral Home, Grimm, Indiana
Skills: N/A

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Riley looked at Pyira for a moment, and she could understand why she didn't use her detective title since it wasn't really her place, as far as Riley could tell the woman was good in her book so far. Riley sighed quietly to herself, it was still so surreal that she would have to be the one to bury her sister and get all the arrangements made as well. "Lead the way then please." Riley said quietly as she followed shortly behind David and looked at the room for a moment before pulling up a seat and looked at the various binders. Riley started to think how big she wanted it, Riley rubbed the back of her neck as she thought for a moment and grabbed a small handful of tissues.

Riley would need them as she could feel it building up again, but she remained fairly quiet for now, that's when she heard the doors open. Riley eyed the redhead girl and the young man there as well, she could understand the girl following her art the man didn't seem to support it. Riley just looked at them, but remained fairly quiet for the most part before they both left, she looked at David and gave him a slight shrug.

"It's fine." Riley said sighing slightly as she looked back at David once more, before getting back to buisness. "I'd like it to be fairly small, close friends and family." Riley really wasn't sure what she was doing exactly at the moment, she didn't even want to be doing this but Riley was close to Chloe regardless and she wanted to make sure she was put to rest.

[FantasyChic]

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Priya Khurana

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Location: In the back of a Squad Car
Skills: N/A

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Priya allowed Riley to get things started as she followed the two into another room. Priya noticed Riley grab some tissues and she felt sorry for the girl having to do this. Priya sat down on the other chair, eyeing the man as he began to speak. He seemed to be without much emotion in his voice, but it was not surprising. He dealt with death on an almost daily basis. If she thought about it hard enough, she did as well. That was a rather grim thought...

As her thoughts went, she heard voices as two people entered. Priya jerked to the door, in case it was something wrong, but it was just a man and a woman, seemingly arguing. Priya relaxed again as the man stood up to handle things. Priya didn't know what they were talking about, but the woman had a camera with her. It was fairly easy to deduce the man was clearly upset at the woman for, what she assumed was, her "art". Protography most likely. What were they doing here in a funeral home then?

Priya looked back at Riley as she continued despite the interruption. She had to hand it to the girl, she was handling this better than Priya gave her credit for.

[Dragoknighte]

Mali Anson

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Location: Zoie's Farm
Skills: Athletics, Perception

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Alright, no answer from inside. Don't panic. Don't panic. There could be a million reasons why there wasn't an answer. He could be in the house, or somewhere else where he wouldn't be able to hear her shout. For all she knew, although the limo was here it could be entirely possible that he wasn't even on the estate. He could have gotten another ride and left the place, sent a text message to Zoie and she just didn't have the connection to see it. Then he'd show up later and get a slap in the face for worrying everyone. Don't panic. He could even be just on the other side of the building and simply couldn't hear her over the very loud fire.

But he could still be in that building. Mali was still not dressed to be rushing into a burning building, and fire was indeed scary, so she still wasn't going to charge headfirst into that building unless all the other sensible options were eliminated first. Don't panic. Mali ran around the building staying as close as she could to the building while remaining a safe distance away from the flames. She was looking for anything: Marc himself, perhaps an open window that let her see into the barn that wasn't entirely blocked by fire, something other than just a burning building.

[Morose]

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Cecily Ashworth

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Location: Laredo Colombia Solidarity Port of Entry
Skills: Deduction, Knowledge of Chemistry, Knowledge of Biology, Knowledge of Toxicology

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"Hold on, Nat, they're on their way," Cecily reassured the woman, kneeling down next to her. There wasn't much she could do beyond hope that they'd get there in time. She knew that internal bleeding would need a miracle and at this rate, she didn't even know if the ambulance would get there soon enough. Cecily also felt certain that if she tried to move Natasha, she'd only make things worse. She didn't know where the nearest hospital was and she needed a medical professional - aside from the one dying on the ground.

However, she was noting every word that Natasha said and taking it all serious - lied and two. "Nat, what do you mean? I don't understand you," Cecily admitted, taking the woman's hand and holding it. If Natasha was going to die, she wanted her to have at least some form of human contact before she went. It was the decent thing to do - right? "But you know what? Forget it. Just save your strength, okay? Forget about the cases and everything...What matters is you getting to walk down the aisle and get married to your fiancée."

It was the right thing to do - right?

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Iris Kingston

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Location: Secret Airstrip in Grimm
Skills: Photographic Memory

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Iris nodded, following Ross. Ducking was something she could do excellently. Or at least, she thought that she could. She wasn't too sure on being able to anticipate gunfire and explosions coming from out of nowhere - the type that might cause a plane to crash - but she'd try her best. Her mind kept envisioning different scenarios in which Cynthia's mother could somehow cause the plane crash - yet for any of them to be true, she'd have to be nearby correct? Or was Cynthia's mother somehow able to take such actions remotely?

Iris was equally worried about Cynthia - what if something had happened to her? She believed that Cynthia's mother loved her dearly, but that didn't mean she was fit to be a parent. "'Ow far away are we from our destination?" Iris then asked. She'd never been in this part of the U.S. before and she had no knowledge of how far away from Cynthia's adoptive parents they were. Of course, the fact that they were walking by foot and not by hired car or something similar would only slow them down. She just hoped they were there in time.

[Sigil]

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Caesar & Keystone

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Location: Queensguard R&D Complex
Skills: N/A
Skills: Leadership

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The direct and commanding words of Miss Maria Santiago were nothing new to Caesar. She always did have a talent for taking over a situation, warranted or not. It was an excellent trait in business and survival situations, which living in Justice seemed to be an example of both, but was sometimes tedious. Nevertheless, the older man shrugged and did as was "requested" of him, stepping to the back of the vehicle and taking up little Liam's collapsed playpen. "Before anything else, Keystone, take Miss Santiago to her new office and have her sign the paperwork. If she does anything official before she's the Director in the system, we could have a legal issue."

"Yeah, Boss." affirmed Keystone, hoisting up his little baby boy. There was an element of wonder, looking at the tiny life he had a hand in creating. Well, maybe not a hand, but that was his boy regardless. "Soon as, I need Miss Santiago's 'X' on the dotted 'bout my Associate Director gig. Same reason, yeah?" He gave a second to look into his child's eyes, his own eyes looking back at him, and nodded gravely. Considering what was going down in Justice, he suddenly didn't want his son here. And he surely didn't want him out in the open.

Until the papers were filed, either his dismissal or Maria's appointment, Keystone was still the Director of the MSS Offices in this city, and as such saw to his last acts thereof. He reactivated his earpiece comm and addressed the personnel in the Hub, "Keystone 'ere. Team to receiving, on the now. VIP, quiet movement. Also need porter service." Short and sweet. The announcement of the rollover from his unquestioned lead to Maria's would likely be made at the start of the next workday, but there was no reason not to get the ball rolling now.

But speaking of rolling, Keystone slipped one hand off of Liam, carefully going into a jacket pocket without disturbing the baby as best he could. He pulled out a set of motorcycle keys with the Honda logo emblazoned across the fob and looked to Thalia, who was had just pulled on her backpack and slipped her satphone into a belt carrier. "Oi there, Cousin." he said in a mildly sarcastic tone, "Merry Christmas." He tossed her the keys, informing her, "Yours free and clear, yeah? You'll find it in the motor pool whenever you get a hair 'cross your arse to check on it. They got the papers down there."

Thalia snatched the keys out of the air and gave them a quick lookover. The make and model were listed on the back of the key fob, clearly identifying it as a style of NM4. Honda had come a long way in being a competitor in the racing and street bike scene, and while it wasn't the heavybodied and frightening Valkyrie series, the Honda NM4 was damn near the real-life analog of the Batcycle. Thalia said in a matter-of-factly tone, "We're going to get along fine, English." followed by the obligatory nod to business getting underway, "I'm taking over the Tech team from Seattle, right? So I need someone to show me to my office and make introductions before we get started."

Caesar set the playpen down for a moment, responding to Thalia, "Security Hub. We're headed that way now, just follow me. Staff will get the rest of our things." The younger lady gave a sly, anticipatory smile and fell into step behind her uncle. "Everyone meet in the Hub when the papers are signed. I'll get something set up with our client." Just before they disappeared into the building proper, Thalia called out, Yeah! And make sure someone buzzes in my delivery!" Lest anyone forget her Chinese food.

[Lady Absinthia]

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Date: Monday May 23rd, 2017 - (Remember Time Zones)

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Crash Site: "Shouldn't be far" Ross said as the continued on their way. It was a good thing they had started to move because it wasn't too long after they stepped off the main air strip and into the woods that the fuel from the crash had found the fire and things started blowing up. I am talking big badda boom, Leeloo Dallas Multipass big badda boom style. Pieces hitting the trees and the ground, raining down around them.

"Look out!" Ross yelled as he pulled her down and ducked himself, a piece of the plane flying right over their heads. This situation had been bad enough to start with but it was getting worse quickly. If they didn't move soon they could end up either getting hit by flying debris or the fire could spread and surround them. Both scenarios could easily mean death but burning to death was the least favorable of the ways to go that he could think of right then.

Funeral Home: David nodded as he took notes on the pad, there was a moment of pause before he looked up at Riley and had to ask a question he really didn't want to. "Do you have power of attorney to make these choices or is there someone else we need to contact? I hate to have to ask you this and we could keep going but we wouldn't be able to do anything until we know for sure. Was she married? Or does she have a will that gives you power of attorney? Parents?"

It sucked he had to ask these questions but it was part of the job. If she was married her spouse would have control over this, if she wasn't it would go to a parent or a child. If she had neither of those then it would go to next of kin, most likely the sister if there wasn't someone closer in age. "I know you were the one to arrange the transfer of her body from Justice but nothing besides her ID and death certificate came with her. I was hoping you could give some light into this. We haven't been contacted by anyone else."

That meant the parents hadn't been notified either at this point, at least not by the funeral home and that meant most likely that the people in Justice hadn't either. Which really shouldn't be a surprise considering how things had gone down and the fact that Riley was rooming with the interim coroner for the county. This could end up being a lot more complicated than just picking out flowers and a box.

The Farm: There wasn't a sound coming from the barn other than the sound of the fire and the wood cracking as it became weaker and weaker. Zoie grabbed a hold of her brother by the shoulders and tried to get him to move out of the way but he kept side stepping her and getting in her path. "Move it!"

"No," he said as he grabbed her shoulders in turn. Zoie looked like she was in shock as the sounds of sirens moving down the street on the other side of the hill could be heard off in the distance.

"What do you mean no? Move it!" she said about to body check him out of the way.

"Running into that building won't solve anything."

She looked dumb founded. "I was no..." she started to say but was cut off mid sentence.

"Bullshit, you don't think you just do."

Queensguard: Maria nodded. She knew the drill. Waiting for Keystone to show the way she followed and made sure that all the papers were taken care of. The sooner they got this taken care of the better in her mind. She did what was needed without issue. Taking a quick look at the papers. She wasn't worried about them. It wasn't that she trusted anyone there, it was because she wrote them initially, had them memorized and knew where to quick check them to make sure things had not been changed or were out of place.

It wasn't long before everything was in the clear. She was now in charge, Keystone had a new position, everything was in order and she was active in the system for this area now. There was a bit of a tug at the corner of her lips as the last paper was signed before she righted herself and held out the pen to give back to Keystone. "Very good, get me," she started to say before stopping and sniffing the air slightly. "Nevermind. First things first. Change your son." Her eyes darted to the babies bottom and then the smell hit like a ton of bricks. Had they been feeding the baby chili?

Texas/Mexico Border: How Natasha was able to still be holding on right then was anyones guess. Apparently being as stubborn as she was, was paying off. Granted from the amount of blood and the pain in her eyes it seemed like death would be a better option. "Two...killers..." she got out after more and more coughing. The words didn't come together. They were apart and there seemed to be words in between them that she tried to get out but couldn't manage to.

There was a sound of sirens but they were still off. Her bag spilled out next to her, her phone ringing. On it was a picture of Natasha cuddled up with a man and the name under it was Roberts. There was a list of calls between the two over the last two days. Had this been the fiance she had been talking to over the course of the trip so far?

[FantasyChic]

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Priya Khurana

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Location: Funeral Home
Skills: N/A

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Priya sat there, listening to the director ask Riley the hard questions and it never occurred to her that Riley would have to deal with something like that. She expected this to be an easy visit, thinking Riley knew the ins and outs already and it would be a simple matter of making the final preparations. If there was more to it, then this visit would be longer and may require more work.

Not that she minded. She did offer to stay with Riley through this, though the girl was alone. She wanted to speak up, but felt it was not her place to do so. This was Riley's battle and Riley's battle alone. If she needed her, she would ask. Instead, Priya glanced around the room, wondering what that couple was up to. She had to admit she was curious.

[Nallore]

Riley Ridgeway

Location: Fisher & Sons Funeral Home, Grimm, Indiana
Skills: N/A

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Riley bit her bottom lip as she started to think of the questions that he asked her and shook her head slightly, she honestly thought it would be a whole hell of a lot easier than this. Riley really did not want to call her parents for anything she hadn't even talked to them in years. Riley didn't even make contact with them when she was in Grimm last time when they were at the reunion, letting out a slight sigh before answering. "No Chloe was never married or had any kids as far as I know." Riley answered as she rubbed the back of her neck and leaned back in the seat.

"We haven't talked to our parents in years either." Riley said, but if she did need to call them for the first time in years to get the rest of this stuff finished with then then she would have to call them. Riley looked over towards Pyira for a moment as she looked around the room that they were in. Riley started to wish that none of this ever happened she really just wanted to have things go back to normal and wake up from this horrible dream. "I can call them if you want me to.." Riley offered.

[Dragoknighte]

Mali Anson

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Location: Zoie's Farm
Skills: Athletics, Perception

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Mali ran back around to the front of the barn where Relic and Zoie were. Perhaps if she was braver, more foolhardy or less conscionable she might have just run into that barn right then. But even after all that, she didn't want to run into a burning building barefoot and in a very expensive, likely highly flammable dress. Even if it could potentially save a life. But the thing was that she didn't know if it was. She didn't even know for sure if Marc was in there. There was just too many unknowns in this whole situation. By the time she had actually reached them, she had worked up a bit of a sweat and a shortage of breath. In part due to the exertion, but also the weather and the flames nearby.

"I couldn't see Tinder anywhere around the barn, and I couldn't spot him if he was in the barn. Didn't hear anything other than the fire. I don'y know where he is." Mali paused, looking around for something that would give her some idea of what to do from here. Something that would be able to help locate Tinder. Or would get the fire department here sooner. "Hey, you talked to him on the phone earlier, right Zoie? Did he happen to say what he was going to be doing today?" A long shot, but maybe that phone call held the clue that would let them piece together what had happened to the FBI agent.