12808/The Crushing Weight of Betrayal

The Crushing Weight of Betrayal
Date of Scene:	16 September 2022
Location:	A New York apartment building
Synopsis:	Dr. Hall's dark deeds are uncovered by Talia al Ghul....who promptly decides to mess with him and leave him hanging in the end.
Cast of Characters:	Talia al Ghul, Franklin Hall

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Talia al Ghul has posed:
Men of ambition were always useful. A man who was willing to be treacherous in the name of ambition even moreso. A man willing to push others down to eliminate them to advance himself was all too common and beneath notice or care for most of the world.
    Admittedly, a man that had been willing to perhaps send severla others to their near deaths and disgrace to advance up in the ranks of the administration was somethign to take note of. Or rather, the position in his administration.
    It would have been simple. Some blackmail, some dropped names, and suddenly the League has access to everything they could ever want from New Horizon. But all of the effort they've put into this preparation is ruined when the man takes a 'fully accidental drop to kill himself'. Talia, having performed so many of these routines herself, knows how they work.        So some tracking down of phone calls, GPS transponders, a couple of useful internet searches along the dark web..
    And there she is, with a rather rough idea of just the game that is being played.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    The case itself seems, well, almost open and shut, if one is not aware of the lengths Talia's organization had taken to suborn the late Dr. Collins. A recent argument with his mentor after a lab accident, the mentor's resignation over said accident to the surprise of his peers who knew him, and Collins being promoted to lead investigator of his mentor's former project. The letter left on the dining room table in his apartment, printed on his own printer, expressing in terse, short sentences his inability to deal with the "betrayal" of his mentor, the theft of his project, the sham of his work drawing on his mentor's theories...it's all there. A shock to those who knew him, though many would note he was always somewhat self-absorbed.

    But its there, in black and white. And red, the body found at the stairs of his apartment building, having fallen from the roof. Surprisingly hard, given the cracks in the asphalt, but other than that, open and shut case.

    Or is it?

The victim's phone, or what was left of it, was found alongside the body, shattered on the pavement, apparently having fallen out of a pocket? Or held when he jumped. Another oddity. Ironically, the only phone call message that came apparently after the suicide was his employers confirming his elevation to project lead.

The accident at the lab in Canada, of course, has been featured on the front page of several papers, along with the efforts of a variety of heroes who were responsible for saving the survivors. Including one Dr. Franklin Hall, whose lab was the epicenter for the disaster, and his three assistants: Ada Ghesciu, Diego Sanchez, and Todd Collins.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Doctor Franklin Hall, entirely off the grid. Lab assistants whom likely would have mvoed up in the greater scheme of things instead gone all th way back up to Canada and never done anything since remotely in the industry. Spooked a bit much by something in Gotham City.
    Talia knew a very well done, very well covered routine over wiht things.
    A man didn't commit suicide the moment he was being promoted. Betrayal giving you your life's work and goals in the process is a bit of a mental waste after all. One does not spend decades in pursuit of somehting and then have the one above you fade out of the way without something coercive.
    So it's some backtracking along those numbers, those final calls, and some things over within the database.. And Talia has a few things to follow up on. Everything is too neat, too cut and dried. And she rather -hates- the wasting of an asset before she could get the move in of it.
    All tht work put in for nothing. And so blatatnly of someone else's 'disposal'. That's personally annoying. Had they no respect for the game?
    Time to keep tabs on the last of the assistants, keep an eye out fro this Franklin Hall if he still existed.. And as to who exactly had been teh last ones to make calls over and have access to the apartment.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    It's not impossible to find Hall, currently. He's moved to New York, in fact, within the last few months, given that he's no longer working at the facility in Canada anymore while it was being investigated, and then following his resignation. There have certainly been phone calls to various science grant organizations, likely concerning restarting his research, one to a personal lawyer, one to GIRL a few months back. Following his phone, he did visit the GIRL facility and has visited several other locations. According to the phone GPS, it never left his apartment the night of Dr. Collin's unfortunate misstep. No contact with Collins or the other assistants directly. Though it seems the assistants are still on the payroll for Dr. Hall's former and now leaderless project...no doubt one of them might take it over?

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Two assistants back in Canada. The time that the lab will take to be fixed means they're easily accessible. Everyhting needs to be done to some degree in person for corporate security. Doctor Hall isn't going anywhere and isn't taking over with his disgrace. So the obvious final player is the two surviving assistants. Taking things a bit too up the line and getting aggressive when there was an opening. Sloppy but effective. Taking advantage of a disjointed power structure. Talia doesn't pay it that much mind - corporate power games are standard. She pays enough attention to put a tap on the final assistant's cell phone and computer to listen to what they're up to, then gets quite distracted over the next few weeks as things simmer over and go into action. A tap is put on to see if they keep track of Hall and not much else while Talia deals with 'family time' in Gotham.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    Certainly Ada and Diego are informed of Collin's death within the week. Which they take pretty poorly, sounding surprised, upset and a bit off kilter. They certainly didn't expect it and they seem confused about what to do next. There's some back and forth communication with New Horizons managers about what this means for their employment and the project; the loss of both Hall and Collins seem to have left that particularly project up in the air whether it can be continued, or at least if the company, already paying to rebuild their expensive facility, want to risk a second accident.

    Hall still hasn't contacted them...but the tracking does indicate something unusual about his movements around New York. Mostly that they seem to be all over and very fast movement at times. Sometimes ending up at odd buildings and just loitering, in buildings that would be closed or that are apartment building, for example. Or places scheduled for demolitions, or a abandoned flooded quarry in New Jersey.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Now this is interesting. Talia's reviewing files some time later on after they've had a chance to go about. Teh two assistants would have been the prime members to take over the project. Instead they seem to be quite surprised and not advancing at all. The project seems on life support; if anything the company will likely end up writing it off on taxes and scrapping the bits left and personnel.
    So if it's not them, that leaves someone outside the organization.. But that's too nebluous a thing. Why target the minor people involved in it for purposes of revenge?
    So, with little else of possibility, Talia's narrow line of focus goes over to Franklin Hall. A tracer has been setup on his cell phone and a piggyback program to hopefully track his calls and his emails. She's not bothering to post anyone from the League to keep track of him - this si too small stakes to care. It's more of a 'loose ends' spectrum for her.
    Him moving rapidly from place to place does however register enough for her to ensure the tracker has regular GPS monitoring as well as pattern analysis for wherever he's going.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    A more precise tracker indicates something else of interest...in that his movements are not following the streets, despite going at vehicle speeds. They're as the crow flies, direct lines. And another researcher finds something else of interest...there are reports of metahuman vigilante intervention at several of the locations in question. Including a stolen car being stopped by a young man on a motorcycle attending Happy Harbor, but one who does not appear to have the power to have smashed the engine block of said car so hard that it flipped over.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Oh how lovely. Whatever it is has made him some sort of meta-human. Presuming he wasn't one all along. That has at least flight capabilities or superspeed.. And the strength to crush things. The files from the car accident are accessed, analysed.. And now Talia goes to the bother of having some cameras attuned around the area of Hall's apartment. On drones, difficult to detect.. And hoepfully to catch the man coming and going.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    There's a certain arrogance to Hall's movements, though also a fair amount of cunning and planning. He leaves his apartment normally and returns normally, but sometimes he has with him a duffel bag, and has a place nearby out of sight where he can change into a simplistic method of concealing his identity...mostly a hoodie, jeans, and a hockey mask. There's already rumors of another hockey masked vigilante in New York, after all, though that one fights with sports equipment. Drones can follow after, however, staying well back and hidden, and will observe that these movements are a combination of apparently training some sort of power....telekinetic, perhaps? Or intervening in small crimes here and there. Somewhat roughly at times.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Well, how fascinating. Hall's become some sort of vigilante. Powers likely triggered by the accident, or a willingness to use them. he's a bit old to be a mutant. He has a pattern, he has an MO.. And he's of all things a ripoff of someone that purportedly smashes around in much the same way and has been for years.
    They relaly should sue.
    So on an evening while sipping some tea and reading reports, Talia reviews files and goes to scan over a psychological report from a therapist about Hall. Now.. Now how to actually trigger things to her own advantage?
    He's arrogant, cocky, and experimenting. It doesn't take that much work over to get an idea as tow hat exactly makes him tick.

    The phone from the two assistants is tapped. An email is sent to Franklin with a picture o fhim in his hockey mask after hours. A casual voicemail sent of 'we know' and 'pay up or pay the piper' from them.
    He doesn't have much time to get to Toronto now, does he?

Franklin Hall has posed:
    Franklin receives the email and is....well, shocked. To say the least. How could they know?!? When did they find out?? And most importantly: what can he do now? What if they've left these pictures somewhere they could be found? Or have other evidence.

    That's followed by anger, and breaking things for a bit in his apartment, before he gets his temper under control. How DARE they try this again! The utter temerity, the brass plated ball-siness of pulling something like this not once, but twice! Do they KNOW what he did to Collins??!

    That at least calms him down slightly. No, if they knew that, they'd have led with that. They can't have connected it in a material way. Just that he has powers. That he's been trying to carefully raise his profile with intent of playing the hero. After all, with all the other glory hounds, certainly he can gain a bit of it. It appeals to his self-conceit.

    But now...how to fix this. Well. No need for a plane ticket, but he'll need to dress warm and fly to Toronto and....deal with this. And ensure there is no evidence that survives. Or witnesses.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
At this point, given she's solved the mystery and figured it's less actions by a rival or someone attempting to upstage a carefully laid recruitment scheme and it's purely about old fashioned revenge and betrayal, Talia doesn't particularly care anymore. Franklin's too new to the 'game' to be a known quantity or a possible target for use.
    The fact he's primed to kill two seemingly innocent people on a few photographs is proof enough he's too arrogant to be particularly malleable. So it's at this point that it's purely self-entertainment mode.
    Hall's given something light, the two assistants are being kept watch on by all times with drones, Hall's phone and computer are all continuously traced.. Now it's just waiting for him to take the time to commit the full murder, perhaps if he's feeling particularly creative for him to realize the two sent nothing of the sort and someone /else/ knows. If he is as smart as he thinks.
    And then presuming it all goes to partial plan Talia has proof of him committing said murders, Hall realizes someone is out there and he's just killed two people.. Well, that might as well be what passes for -fun- for the Daughter of the Demon.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    A short flight to Toronto, a hotel room and he can prepare to get to the bottom of this. He can find out where Ada and Diego live, easily enough. Then he just needs to wait for them to leave, long enough that he can break in. A different mask this time, a Guy Fawkes mask. A search for hidden materials, trashing the place. The computers, taken, along with any other electronic storage he can find. Something he can look for the email, and any other pictures. Unless they're on their phones, but....that's a new thing. And he then takes them back, to break into the computer systems in his room, first and foremost. After all, they've got nothing but their word versus his without evidence...but there's nothing he can find. Not even the email having been sent. Perhaps they sent it from a internet cafe? More than a little paranoia is coloring his thoughts now as he waits to see what they do next.

    Which is mostly calling the police, after panic at finding their place having been broken into and apparently burgled.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Well now, even as Talia handles updating hereslf over on what exactly Hall's up to as she's finishing up a tele-conference for another matter. He's taking hte time to actually try and figure out what happened. This is just -fun-. The next thing that's sent by her to him along thier 'spoofed' phone numbers is then again something a little more attention getting.
    Namely something sent of him flying out of his apartment window. Just dropped by a short while their panic kicks in. Almost likely as a 'reinforcer' over on things. upping the ante.
    Scheme updated, Talia now goes back to other life duties. So many peopleto murder, so little time.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    The new photo does NOT improve Hall's mood. How the HELL did they..how COULD they...he was so careful. How would they even know to be in New York to take this picture? To be following???

    Sure, someone else could have taken it. Somehow. Maybe even another of those costumed freaks, but...why would they send it from their address if that was the case? It makes no sense!!

    Which leaves Hall pacing his room with manic energy, trying to figure out what to do now.

    Alright. Someone sent them. It makes no sense to send them unless they want something. What do they want? He's not part of the project anymore. He can't do anything for their careers. Money? Or just a sick sense of pleasure?

    He's killed before. But he made sure it was impossible to trace to him! No one knows. But...

    Finally he returns the message and replies, asking simply: "What do you want?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
It's a little later when Talia gets an update over that the spoofed email has gotten a reply. Oooh, this is the fun bit after all now. Hall's not going directly to the bait like she thought he had. There might be some hope for him after all. It's not often one of her little side projects surprises her after all. So the man gets a little bit of an icnrease in her evaluation of him.
    After a few moments of contemplation, a response is gotten back to him. It contains an address. A name. A person. A simple 'get rid of him and this all vanishes' bit.
    That man that has not the slightest connection over to the two or is the type of person they might ever run into. A relatively minor bureaucratic official in the Canadian branch of Interpol.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    That definitely throws Hall for a loop when he gets the new message as he leans back in his chair, staring at the glowing screen. So. Not...Ada or Diego after all. Good that he didn't kill them, but...what IS this? He scowls in thought, then replies again.

    "Don't take me for a fool. I don't know you, and I have no reason to trust you'd do that. As if a few embarrassing pictures should make me an unpaid assassin for you."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Roughly ten minutes later he gets an image that is of Dr. Collin's room and his hpone with a timestamp of roughtly twenty minutes before he went off the roof.. A few minutes before likely Hall himeslf did. There's a snarky comment of 'just paying it ahead'.
    Someone -was- messing with him here.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    That throws him even more. "..." Hall steeples his fingers, his heart racing, before he runs his fingers through his hair. Now it's moved from someone trying blackmail to someone proving they need to follow the treacherous Dr. Collins. He can't, he WON'T allow someone to hold this over him, or it'll never be done. "I don't know what that is, or who you are. I won't do anything for someone I haven't met in person, either way." he responds.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
There's another twenty seven minutes before another email bounces over to him. With 'We'll be in touch' dropped over to him. They've stopped any sort of pretense of being the other two assistants - though incredibly cavalier with still using thier email.