chicago ♔ can't deny the enemy's taken over

[lawofsurvival]

WHO || Des, Buffy, Spike, Myri, Finnick, Archer, Dawn, Vi, Elena, Jaka [closed]
WHAT || Bonding time with Rafael's lawyer by breaking into Chad Beckworth's office
WHERE || NOVA Records HQ, Chicago, IL
WHEN || July 11th, 2013 [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam, single thread

Never a dull moment.

The night of the funeral was certainly eventful: as expected, some of Chad's goons appeared at the cemetery, apparently in search of the buried necklace, and the Knights barely managed to escape with their lives thanks to the appearance of a giant dune-winder worm at the beck and call of a necromancer. Yep. The other team had their own share of adventure at the hotel, and though they couldn't get Nadia to leave with them, they did establish contact, and swiped Decker Greenwall's mysterious hourglass artifact from his room at Dumage's prompting. They also ran afoul of a doppelganger in the employ of the other side, who prompted Elena to begin questioning exactly who or what she might be...

And of course, they finally met with Rafael's lawyer, a last minute replacement for Burt's usual guy, who had met with an unfortunate skiing accident or... something. Jeggred 'Jaka' Teken'Duis, and his brother Nym, garnered a great deal of suspicion from the team from the start, although Jaka seems entirely confident that he can get Rafael off on a temporary insanity plea. Either way, he's agreed to help them look for clues to try to illustrate Chad's role in events at the upcoming trial, and suggested, to that end, breaking into his Chicago office, one of many not-quite-legal suggestions he hinted at during their pow-wow.

All those Knights who are looking to assist him are meeting up with Jaka in a parking garage a few blocks away from the NOVA building, at his invitation.  In fact, he's already there, leaning against his car, when they arrive.

Comments

[65]

[thanks to finnick being thebomb.com, they make it to chad's office in relatively little time ... only to discover that the door is locked after finnick makes an attempt to open it.]

[nothingsodivine]

Did you really think it was gonna be that easy? Here. Let me. [And Des goes right into lockpicking, but... apparently Chad has a very difficult door so he struggles with it. (disable device 10)]

[65]

I just thought I'd try first. [he shrugs, then gently pushes des away like "stand aside, peasant." before taking his pin or whatever the fuck and trying it himself. does he actually unlock the door? idk. but he seems to be having an easier time at it than des. (disable device 19) maybe he's intimately familiar with the doors in this building, too ... ]

[bigbad]

Would have been faster if I'd just kicked it.

[HE'S JUST SAYING. He looks over Finnick's shoulder as the door opens.]

Not very evil looking, is it? I'd expect more cobwebs.

[nothingsodivine]

And ominous music too? [He's so done with Finnick being a show off right now. He shoves past them both to get in there so he can do the thing he is actually good at AND MAN IS HE GOOD AT IT (search 29). I guess he was... super sick of being showed up...]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ hey

hey guess what, des

this one file cabinet you're rifling through has a FALSE BOTTOM. within which, there's a strongbox with a lock on it. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[BINGO. The detective can do his job. He produces said strongbox.] Got something. You two wanna fight over who gets to break this lock?

[65]

[WELL EXCUSE HIM PRINCESS. he stands back and lets des throw his productive temper tantrum, then!! which is good, because it all paid off in the end. yeaaaaah. when he pulls out the strongbox, finnick comes closer to get a better look.] I can give it a shot. Unless ... [he looks over at spike. HE DOESN'T TRY TO BE A SHOW OFF, OK. he's just ... naturally better at everything. :'| ]

[bigbad]

[Spike rolls his eyes and pushes past Finnick.] I'll get it done. [And apparently he's... pretty good at it (open lock 19).]

[nothingsodivine]

[WHAT'S IN THE BOX???

Apparently, it's a bunch of photographs, surveillance photos printed out that look like they were taken from the bushes, security cam screencaps, wedding photos, family photos, newspaper clippings, unmarked DVDs, etc.

And the one commonality they all have is they are all of Chad.]

That's... somewhat disappointing. [Des rifles through the box a bit and comes up with some adoption records on the bottom- one for Burt and and one for Chad- and shoves the box at Spike.] Did either of you guys know the Becksworths were adopted?

[65]

I'm afraid Burt failed to mention it. [finnick takes the box and looks through the contents for himself. sry spike wait your turn.] How unsettling.

[bigbad]

[Whatever Finnick can have it. Spike's gonna poke around the office a bit on his own (search 14).]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des follows him, tossing the birth certificates back into the box as he goes, because he's got a theory AND IT AIN'T BUNNIES.] Kinda weird for a guy to keep his entire life in a false bottom drawer in his office, right?

[(wis 18) Spike, are you picking up what he's throwing down. Are you. Are you.]

[bigbad]

[Wis 22 says HELL YES.]

Would be weird, yeah. If he's really the guy.

[nothingsodivine]

[He raises his voice so Finnick can hear too.] And they've got a doppelganger working for 'em. Sounds like more than a coincidence to me. [He snaps his fingers.] Finnick, didn't Burt say that Chad started acting different after he started falling in with the Mind Master? Or something like that?

[It's been a year, man. He can barely remember what he had for lunch yesterday aside from ALL THE FOOD.]

[65]

[finnick's shitty wis roll says he was a little slow on the uptake for this. but yesterday(?) was a very alcoholic night for him so it makes sense ok.]

He did. [he nods, setting the box aside on the desk for the moment.] Do you think something might have happened to the real Chad?

[behindcloseddoors]

[ also as an interlude, spike's 14 search doesn't find... anything of real note. he might notice, however, that the office seems underused, in terms of actual... music managing paperwork. ]

[bigbad]

[This is why Spike does the punching things part usually.]

Probably off shagging Mental Case or something. Could put more effort into looking like he actually uses the place, though. Shouldn't there be more... [He waves a hand vaguely.] Music stuff?

[nothingsodivine]

I think someone is gettin' screwed here, but it ain't Chad. Too much of this doesn't smell right. [he walks back to Finnick and picks up a photo of Burt and Chad.] Maybe it's about time we got to know our enemy a little better.

[and if he's right... man he's gonna need a new person to direct his rage at. he votes blade.]

[65]

[OH RIGHT. he didn't tell anyone his plan bc they were too busy being dumb ass bitches. that's what happens when you're failboat.]

I was thinking that it might be worthwhile if we contacted Chad's ex-wife. You know, to learn a bit more about him. She could offer some insight regarding his behavior.

[bigbad]

Someone married that blighter? [Spike shakes his head.] Suppose she may have some insight. Worth a try, anyway.

[nothingsodivine]

Maybe shed some light on whether we're dealing with the real Chad or if the Mind Master and the Brotherhood needed to keep their hands on the entertainment industry's pulse and pulled a switch.

[But none of that really helps the case any and Des winces.] Either way, it's not exactly gonna give us anything that'll let Rafael walk. Keep looking.

[But he's pretty sure that's all there is in the office. Still, he's desperate enough to put up a good fight trying to search. (search 22)]

[65]

I'm in the process of arranging it. [meaning .... burt is in the process of arranging it. w/e. with a shrug, finnick tries to help search but has worn out his usefulness apparently (search 8).]

[bigbad]

You do realize you're not actually in charge, right? [AKA HOW ABOUT ASKING NICELY INSTEAD OF BARKING ORDERS. But he was going to keep looking anyway, so he glances around for anything that might stand out as unusual (spot 25) as he rummages about pretty uselessly (search.... 3).]

[nothingsodivine]

Yeah, you call me when you start doing this for a living, all right, big guy? [even though spike... kinda does do it for a living, since the knights are all about breaking and entering and searching for shit. shhhh. HE'S A PROFESSIONAL. and all you other slim shadys are just imitating.]