Grant and Marcus yack about stuff.

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NYPD: 52nd Precinct: MERT Office(#969R)
The PID office is jammed under the stairs, but extends further
back than you might expect. There are no cubicle walls here, just
battered desks, though each does have it's own computer, unlike the
pit outside. A wall full of ancient, sagging grey vertical file
cabinets is at the back. The constant clatter and babble of phones and
voices is no less strident here than it is outside. A fax machine in
the corner whirrs relentlessly, a dot-matrix printer chatters loudly.
There are also outward signs of PID's reputation for
eccentricity. A waste paper basket is surrounded by complex-looking
paper airplanes. A radio plays softly on one desk, but seems to change
stations at random every two minutes or so. A picture of a UFO is up
on one wall, with darts stuck into it and point values written on
different pieces of it. There is also, ominously, a separate weapons
locker for PID, with no visible latch, handle, lock, or other means of
opening it.

Contents:
Marcus
Obvious exits:
Out <O>


Marcus walks quietly towards Grant's office area, carrying a small
package under one arm.

Grant is at his desk, munching on a sandwich and reading a file of
some kind.

Marcus stops in front of Grant's desk. "Got something for you. One of
the few firearms approved and certified as safe for use by the NYPD."
He places the small black plastic box on the table, snaps it up, and
turns it towards Grant. Inside is one of the bright red, solid plastic
guns used for training and retention exercises. This one, of course,
is a replica of a Glock 23.

Grant grins. "Hey, cool. Thanks." he says a bit uncertainly. "What is,
that, a Glock?" He rubs the side of his nose. He is always poking fun
at Marc's obsession with guns.

Marcus peers at it. "Yup. It's also certified Y2K-compliant. Hey, I
ran into someone named Illyana a few days back, and her friend Jenny
Stavros. What can you tell me about them?" He slides into a chair in
front of Grant's desk.

Grant shakes his head. "Did you see the file on them? Stavros runs
some of her pop's operations out here, and Illyana's a teleporter and
probably a sadist of some kind. I've had at least two third-hand
reports that when she teleports people, she takes time out halfway
through to torture them. The two of them are lovers, neither the
Stavroses or us know where Illyana came from or why she hooked up with
Jenny. Illyana's the one that dropped off York."

Grant licks mustard off his fingers.

Marcus sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Oh, wonderful.
Teleporting torturing lesbians lackadaisically loquacious. She turned
in York - any idea as to motivation? Another form of torture, maybe?
Inter-gang rivalry?"
Grant says seriously, "I can't gauge Illyana's motive. I can't even
hazard a guess. Searching, I think, like most teenagers. Stavros is
just along for the ride, she has no idea what Illyana does with her
time and Illyana doesn't volunteer it. Illyana also was the one that
teleported Monet St. Croix up to Westchester for us when she was
spikey and dangerous in Central Park, to see if we could get her some
treatment. I think she understands that we can make life really
grossly unpleasant for Jenny if we want. What brought it up?"

Marcus leans back in the chair, but doesn't put his feet on Grant's
desk. Yet. "The General's put together a bullet list of top concerns.
Teleporters come in just after telepaths on the threat gauge - we want
to know about them."

You say "Well, apparently there's some kinda place where they go in
between, like I say...and Stavros told me once that they'd gone as far
as the South Pacific at one shot. She's a bad source, but I didn't get
a feeling that she was lying. They're both rotten liars."

"It's usually easy to tell when a woman's lying," Marcus says. "Just
watch for her mouth to open." Does he sound a little bitter about
something? Anyway.. "I'll review their files and flag them..anything
they do that comes to PID attention, it needs to go to OMA
immediately. We're coming online - expect a more formal announcement
in a couple days."

Grant raises his eyebrows. "Hey, I'm the one with the ex-wife, and I
didn't even use the word 'loquacious'. Sure, if something comes up,
I'll let you know. I use Illyana for one of my sources, though, so
some of that doesn't get into the official files."

"The CIA used Noriega for a source, too," Marcus says. "Eventually,
sources like that need to get burned. Any of these torture victims
willing to testify?"

Grant shrugs. "None that I've talked to have even admitted it
happened. All third hand, and allegedly dreamlike, too." he says.
"Possibly it's mental, in which case best we could get her on was
misdemeanor assault or harassment."

Marcus smiles faintly. "If she's teleporting people elsewhere against
their will, Grant, that's kidnapping. Federal felony."

Grant tilts his head. "I don't get the impression it's against their
will, exactly, either. More like they didn't know what they were
getting into. Anyway, we can bulk something up against her if we have
to. I'm not exactly worried about torture that might or might not have
happened when we still have the MLF boss on the loose, York and Creed
still AWOL and the Roofer's gang gearing up."

Marcus nods. "I agree. We're helping out the state cops with the York
search. What's the Roofer crew up to?"

Grant shrugs. "The word is they're recruiting hard, trying to scrounge
up the type of idiots and scum the MLF missed or that were only casual
members. Plus they were the ones that hired Creed." he says. "I still
don't get motive. Why hire someone to whack people who are being
arrested for killing mutants? I'm thinking its an anti-mutant crime.
He saved that guy a /lot/ of hurt by putting him out of his misery
now." Is Grant /serious/? Hard to tell.

Marcus holds up a hand. "Whoa. Rewind, start over. Explain this to
me?"

You say "Okay. Remember the kid we found strangled in that alleyway?
And how we traced it back to her classmate and her father, who had
gone in on it together? But when we went and picked 'em up for it,
Creed had his sniper action going. Killed the father, put the
classmate in a coma, killed two other cops and put one on permanent
disability. I think that's an anti-mutant crime. Think about it. Those
two perps were in for a media circus, a trial...two trials, one of
them was a juvenile, probably three sentencing hearings, two appeals
each, plus a third for the kid, then a habeas corpus trial...instead
they just get bullets. Obviously whoever hired Creed wanted it to go
light for the two killers."

You say "And that was one of the Roofer's guys."

Marcus nods. "Allright. Who're they trying to recruit?"

You say "I got no names. If I did, I'd be out kicking tires and
smoking and talking loud."

Marcus hmms. "How'd it come to your attention?"

Grant says amiably, "You know me. I've got sources all over the place.
It's very reliable even if it's vague."

Marcus chuckles. "Obviously there's a chain to follow, if you've heard
about it. I don't need to tell you how to run an investigation."

Grant grins. "Nope." he says. "So how /about/ the York thing? We've
got her hidey-holes staked out and we're kicking the bushes but she
really was a lone operator.."

"I'm not part of that working group," Marc says. "All I know is that
there was a third-party involved, and that we're looking for her."

Grant nods. "Well, /yeah/ there was a third party involved, and it
wasn't Creed, either. Did you get any good prints?"

Marcus shakes his head. "Nothing. Whoever did it at least had an ounce
of brains. But that's all he had."

Grant nods. "That's a shame. Well, something will turn up. He had a
face and a car and a bank account, so." He grins.

Marcus nods. "The nurse who let the guy in will be fired,
unfortunately for her."

Grant says amiably, "I'm sympathetic, but not too much, ya know? We do
those security seminars for a reason."

Marcus smiles. "Yup. So, any telepaths that you know of?"

Grant nods and pops a potato chip into his mouth. "I know of two for
sure and have a guess as to one other. One is Professor Charles
Xavier. The other one I know for sure is reeeeeally confidential so
don't bother asking. The guess is kinda stale - Elizabeth Braddock. An
illusion appeared while she was sleeping that tried to intimidate
someone who had tried to intimidate her while she was awake. I can't
think of any other connection, but like I say, it's a guess, and a
stale one. That happened months ago."



Marcus nods, making a mental note to check the PID files. "Xavier,
huh? That could get messy. Who's the guess?"

Marcus ohs, and backs up. "Braddock's the guess. Who's the
confidential one?"

You say "Oh, wait, no, I lie, there's a third 'for sure', that's
Daphnea Le'Vey. You remember her. She was in the hospital for it, when
it got too overwhelming. Xavier's the one who is helping her out."

Grant grins. "Didn't I tell you not to bother asking?"

Marcus smiles. "Yeah, you did. I have to ask anyway..and I really
recommend that you tell me, Grant, for the sake of keeping your job.
Hiding contact with telepaths is a not something that'll go over well.
You don't have to tell me, but I can have the chief ask you. I don't
want to put you in that position."

Grant says bluntly. "I won't tell the chief either. I really doubt
either you or him is willing to go to the mat with me over a fishing
expedition into the realm of confidential contacts. Do what you need
to do."

Marcus leans forward. "Look, Grant, I know where you're coming from.
Protecting confidents is important to you, and I respect that. Mind
control. /Forget/ mutants for a moment. We're coping with them. But
telepathy is a whole new ball game, and we /cannot/ take risks when it
comes to mind control. Come clean on this, 'cause I think you're a
good cop, and I don't want to see you eat that mat."

Grant laughs. "I'll eat it with ketchup." he says, taking a big slurp
of soda. "So forget it unless you've got a reason better than 'mind
control is scary' or 'it might mean your job'. 'Cause those are making
me yawn."

"Fine. How's this: said telepath may have comprimised your head, and
you don't even know it," Marc says. "That places you, your people, and
all your other sources at risk."

You say "That's 'mind control is scary' with bigger words. It hasn't
happened, and if it had, there'd be no way my telling you about it
would change it. Right? From your point of view it makes no
difference. Just forget about it. If you need to know it for a case or
something, ask me again."

Marcus chuckles. "Without knowing who it is, how can I determine
whether I need to know it for a case?"

Grant grins. "That's not /my/ problem. Show me a telepath might be
involved in something and I'll let you know what you need to. Until
then, forget it. It's not worth the sleepless nights."

Marcus smiles. "Sure, Grant. Forget that I asked."

You say "Okey dokey."

Marcus stands and stretches. "I need to get back to the new office
downtown. We'll keep you up to date on whatever we develop on York."

You say "Yeah, please do, there's a lotta guys down here that are
reeeal interested in what happens to her."