7249/Fungal Rot in the Thin Blue Line

Fungal Rot in the Thin Blue Line
Date of Scene:	05 August 2021
Location:	The rooftops of Brooklyn, in and around Bushwick
Synopsis:	Leonardo and Vorpal team up to find out information about why the police and emergency services response to the bombing of the Mutant Town Clinic was so poor.
Cast of Characters:	Leonardo, Terry O'Neil

---

Leonardo has posed:
Its the night of the clinic explosion in Bushwick. No shows were interrupted for the disturbance, Mutant Town isn't large enough news for such things to happen, so it wasn't until the 11pm news that Leonardo became aware of this. His brothers and he are still not always on partrols together and tonight's not an exception to this disturbing trend. He was honing his swords (hey, this is a PG franchise, mind out of the gutter) while watching the news and upon hearing about the problems he felt the desire to investigate but also didn't want to go solo. Naturally then his ShellPhone comes out and he presses the contact for his student: Terry O'Neil.

When the phone is answered the blue masked turtle doesn't do any small talk, instead he immediatly says, "Hey, if you aren't watching the news check out what's happened in Bushwick tonight. I'll be on a roof at the corner to west of the clinic. Meet me there," after Terry answers. He doesn't wait for a response, instead he puts the phone back into his belt and, sheathing his swords as he departs, he heads down to the sewers to trek in the direction of the terrorized neighborhood.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh, right, I got a-!" Terry glances at his phone, and puts it back in his pocket. He had just gotten a text from Lois about it not long before Leo called- it looked like a job for The Daily Planet!

It takes a few seconds of Google Earth-ing to find the corner, and that's all he needs for pinpoint-accurate Rabbit Holing. He could have done it without the research, but that would have made his portaling inaccurate... and he is very invested in impressing his Sensei.

It also explains why his colorful outit has been cast aside in favor for an underarmor combination of pants and top in black. His fur is colorful enough as it is, and he doesn't need to add to his visibility by adding red and white and blue on top of it.

As the Rabbit Hole opens and closes, he lands on the rooftop with a soft /thud/ and a crouch.

It's the kind of rooftop you'd want to have a hush hush meeting on- several ventilation shafts, cooling system tubing and even a few chimneys provide ample cover, and block enough of the streetlight to amplify the shadows therein.

Terry narrows his eyes and lets his feline eyes adjust to the darkness, night vision kicking in.

"Sensei...?" he whispers, scanning the area for any sign of Leonardo.

Leonardo has posed:
The sewer express, as the brothers sometimes call it, is not as fast as Vorpal's Rabbit Holing so no matter how soft a thud it was Terry doesn't need to worry about Leonardo's opinion of this. That said, there's something to be said for the oversized sewers that underly the New York metropolitian area: they're good for skateboarding!

Sure, Mikey's the "expert" but all of the brothers have shredded the board to one degree or another and Leo is not one to slack at a physical skill he sets his mind to.

As Terry arrives at the roof, Leo is climbing out of a manhole in the alley behind the building his student is on. After tucking his skateboard behind a dumpster he then jumps atop the metal monstrocity and from it to the lower level of a fire escape in order to avoid the noise of the stair hinges sreamming into the night.

As Terry's eyes are adjusting to the darkness he gets to take in the vista: the bombed clinic appears to have subsequently been flooded and there's a makeshift hospital of tents tents across the street from the building Terry is standing on where evacuated patients as well as victims of the explosion are being tended to.

With nary a whisper of noise, Leonardo reaches the rooftop as Terry whispers and steps up next to him saying, "I'm right here." With a frown he adds, "Looks bad but like the immediate issues here have been resolved," before he asks, "What do you see that isn't here?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry starts a little as Leo appears by his side. The seriousness of the event is the only thing that is keeping him from joking that /he/ is the Cheshire Cat and that Leo is infriging on his patented appearance and disappearance act.

He follows Leonardo's gaze and looks at the disaster site and hisses out a curse. He doesn't take pictures- he will do that soon enough. His yes travel across the landscape to take in everything. The tents and the injured being transported, the flooded remnants of the hospital.

He turns his head this way and that, and his frown deepens. "The Boys in Blue aren't here. And no news vans," he raises an eyebrow.

Leonardo has posed:
Terry has no patent on the appearance/disappearance act, Batman's legal department has that totally locked down and Leo infringes on it regardless!

Leonardo nods. "I've been hearing that the police are slow to respond and hesitate to investigate long term," he says. After a moment he adds, "I'd like to find out why, how about you?"

There's some tension in the young turtle that Terry's not used to. Almost like a spring tightend and ready to snap into action, but with control, no impending explosion here.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry glances at Leonardo, noticing the tension. He recognizes potential ready to become action, and he can't help but to subconsciously imitate some of it in his own body language. His physique, although athletic, was nowhere near as impressive as the turtle's, who had years of training and discipline behind him, but he did have some natural gifts to compensate a little for his inexperience: the elgant fluidity of felines and good muscle tone. Even with that, he did not doubt for a second that if both sprung to action immediately, Leonardo would still make him look clumsy by comparison regardless.

"Do the O'Neils like to stick their noses in? Definitely," he glances at the ruins, and then he suddenly becomes the spitting image of John DeLancie in his role as 'Q', "Apres vous, Mon Capitan, I'll follow wherever you go." And then he reverts back. "There's something rotten at the core of this."

Leonardo has posed:
"I agree," Leonardo says as he steps away from the edge of the rooftop, toward the cover of the ventilation shafts quite obviously expecting to be followed.

"Actually, T-," he cuts himself off and uses his student's other name when he continues, "Vorpal, I was curious what you'd consider a good first step to be," in a way that sounds like this is a Speed-esque 'Pop Quiz' moment.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry follows Leonardo towards the ventilation shaft, moving quiestky and efficiently. "Well, my mother always says that an investigator enters the field with an open mind and knowledge of the situation. We know that the police is not here when it is pretty much their job to be here. This points to a few possibilities."

Counting on his finger, he says, "One: Institutional corruption. Someone behind this has someone up in the command chain in his or her pocket. Not unheard of and likely."

"Two: Something /else/ is going on. Someone with abilities might actually be creating some sort of bubble... I know of a school of magic that is capable of making an entire city ignore a single block as if it wasn't there at all. Some telepaths can do that as well if they are powerful enough, and there are some probability manipulators that can do similar effects as well." Terry O'Neil, fanboy extraordinaire, does have a rather encyclopedic knowledge of different power-sets. His year among the capes crowd has only made him more thorough in his note-taking.

"Either alternative does hint that if there is a centralized cause, then whomever is responsible might still be in this area, if only to watch over the scene and ensure that the police don't arrive... or arrive too late to be of any use." He glances at Leonardo and scratches his chin, "So as starters, maybe a recon of the surrounding area to see if anyone or anything suspicious jumps out? Even if it's only someone connected to the cause whose lips might loosen up while being dangled ten stories high?" He grins.

Leonardo has posed:
Seeming pleased with the analysis given by Terry, Leonardo again nods. "So, if its the second we may as well head home and let the power houses investigate," he says pragmatically, adding, "I'm not equipped to deal with magic or mental powers on that scale and I don't think that the pair of us are able to deal with those sorts of things any better."

He looks up at Terry and says, "So we should assume its the former and try to find a way to find out about it," only to then asks, "Do you know any police officers who live in the area? If not I know where a few live and maybe we should stop in and visit them?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Unfortunately, no," Terry shakes his head, "My contacts are mostly in Metropolis, I haven't had a chance to network out to this area yet. Mom might, but she's somewhere in Ohio working a case."

Men Of Mystery breaking into policemen's houses to talk to them is an established thing among certain circles. It's definitely the trade of the Bat Brigade- Nightwing has mentioned some of the things they would do to put the fear of Goth into crooked police... and The Bat showing up in the middle of their living room to ask Very Pointed Questions was his favorite.

"Even if they are not active participants in what's going on, it is very unlikely that they'd be completely blind to it. We should go and have a couple of questions answered."

Leonardo has posed:
Leo grins. Yeah, he has his serious side but he is a teenager and in this moment it shows. "The big question then is which of the two you think we should talk to," Leonardo observes. A slight tilt of his head to one side to indicate a direction is followed by him saying, "One of them is single, a detective from what I've been able to observe," after which he tips his iead in a different diretion, more towards the direction he's facing rather than to the side, as he explains, "The other's a patrolman, married with children."

"Which do you think we should talk to?" Leo asks. The slightly loaded tone to his voice hints at opinions he's not yet expressing, another test perhaps?

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry returns the grin, and leans forward to get close to Leonardo. "Well, I think it's a better idea to go for the single policeman. It is so hard to meet eligible men nowadays!" clearly meant as a joke, he adds his actual reply: "Gangsters and mobsters would pick the married guy because then they can threaten the family as a means of complying. That's not how we operate. Furthermore, if the guy /is/ being coerced by having his family threatened, he wouldn't talk to us because he has to think of what repercussions would befall his family if he were to snitch."

"On the other hand, the single detective doesn't have a family to lose. If he is honest but frustrated by getting roadblocked, he may be more open to talk to us. And if he's complicit, there are ways to get a crooked bird to sing." He grins and leans in a little closer, and puts a hand on Leonardo's shoulder, "So I say we go for the single guy and work up a Good Cop/Bad Cop routine in case he happens to be in cahoots with whatever is going on."

Leonardo has posed:
"We can do that," Leo replies. "I'm letting you lead because I want to see what I have to work with," he explains with the grin fading into a less impish looking smile. "That said, would you like to hear my thoughts on why the patrolman may be the better choice?"

After Terry nods, Leo continues. "Power corrupts. Because of this the detective is more likely to be corrupt. Plus he's older," and no apology for withholding facts is given, asking questions is part of the routine. He continues by saying, "The patrolman is younger, less liekly to be corrupt unless he is under pressure but even then, he lives in Brooklyn which means his /children/ live here and are affected by what's happening. Family men... good family men at least and I'm not sure if he is one or not... they look out for their family. If we approach him right... well, that's my thoughts."

He pauses a moment for his words to process before asking, "So, where are we going?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Taking in this extra set of facts for consideration, Terry ponders for a moment or two. "You make a good case, I am convinced." He reaches out and a gavel appears on thin air, which he brings down on an non-existent bench before it vanishes again, "The verdict is clear- let us meet with the family guy, and hopefully he's a better father than Peter Griffin. Tell me where he is, and I can Rabbit Hole us to the outside and we can sneaky-sneak our way in." He glances at the sky, "Eleven p.m. He's likely to be in bed. But if he isn't, he's probably in his living room watching something to take his mind off things."

Leonardo has posed:
Leonardo nods and thinks for a moment as he looks off into the distance. "See that tall building a couple of blocks north and nearly half a dozen west of here?" he asks pointing off in the distance in a Disney-esque way with his whole hand. "Get us there and we'll be able to look down at the building he lives in," he explains before asking, "What is your actual range for this power, Vorpal?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Fixing the destination in his mind, the Cheshire Cat says casually, "I haven't found a limit as of yet. Knowing what the place looks like helps me get there with accuracy, but even if I haven't been there, I can usually end up somewhere in the surrounding area. In the middle of combat, though, I can't take the luxury of doing far-flung things, since that takes some concentration. Line-of-sight, you might say, is my limit when I'm in the middle of combat."

The Rabbit Hole opens up and he steps through, looking over his sholder at Leonardo with a smile, "And yes, that does mean that if you ever want to see anywhere in the world, all you have to do is ask. It's cheaper than flying!"

Leonardo has posed:
Leonardo steps though the Rabbit Hole and then looks back over his shoulder though the hole in the air to the rooftop the pair just vacated. Thinking stratigicly he asks, "How large and small can you make those? Also... how quickly can you close them?"

As he asks the questions he walks towrds one side of the roof. "Looks like he's still up," he observes as he nods towards a window with a flickering light as if from television images being the primary light in the room. "There on the third floor, at least the TV's on still for sure."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Ten feet diameter is the max I can do right now. I can also open them and close them at the speed of thought. However..." he extends an arm and puts it through the rabbit hole, then wills it to close.

The Rabbit Hole stops on his arm, but doesn't close it. There he stands, with half an arm seemingly missing, the missing section appearing to stop into nothingness. "It can't close around people. I can trap people in them, but it won't close all the way past that. It /will/ close around inanimate objects, though. I've sliced through cars like that before."

He withdraws his arm when the Rabbit Hole grows a little, and then closes.

Noticing the flickering television, he adds "Then let's take a survey of the sitch."

He leans in close to Leonardo, one hand around his shoulders and heads close together, and says "I call this the Periscope move. Gotta keep it small so it's not noticed, which is why we've got to be close." He lowers his voice, "Also gotta be quiet."

He holds up a hand, palm up, in front of them, and a small Rabbit Hole appears. It is no bigger than a Tennis Ball, and right across from them, it sister hole opens up facing the wall, just below the window.

The Cheshire winks and whispers, "Watch this..." and the sister hole begins moving up slowly, which allows them to see into the window, and be able to ascertain the situation... as well as give Terry a good glance at the interior, for Rabbit Holing purposes.

Leonardo has posed:
Leo whispers almost impreceptively, "Quiet I can do," as he leans in close and looks though along with his student.

Though the Rabbit Hole the pair see a man leaning back on his couch, beercan in hand dangerously close to being dropped as he is in a state of semi-awareness. On the TV Jimmy Fallon an be seen doing his over the top, mock-dramatic "Thank You" notes routine. The officer, still wearing his uniform slacks but unarmed and with just a T-shirt on his torso lifts his can in a salute when Fallon ironically thanks the city for saving gas and reducing emissions by cutting funding to the NYPD... obvioussly a sentiment close to the man's heart.

Leo looks away from the Hole in the direction of the other windows for the apartment and whispers, "Looks like all the other lights are out," and then asks, "Can you place the hole at that end right next to the window then pull it back rapidly so that when he looks at the window its less likely he'll see it and us?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Can do," Vorpal says quietly. "I can also open up a hole anywhere inside that apartment now that I've seen the layout, if you'd like us to have the element of surprise by appearing behind the couch. Whichever you think is best, I can do."

He glances around as much as he can. If the man has children, it's likely that his service piece is in a gun safe. Then again, there might be a gun hidden somewhere in case of home invasions- it's worth keeping in mind, he thinks to himself.

Leonardo has posed:
"Here I'm taking the lead a bit," Leo says. Pulling a stub of a grease pencil out of a pocket in his belt he says, "Move the hole next to the window," after which he reaches though and delicately rights roof on the window so that it can be read properly from the inside. "Pull it back in a moment," he whispters as he sticks a single finger though the Hole and taps the pane hissing, "Now," at the same moment, adding, "Now he has the lead. If he goes to the roof, that's our destination, if not... we'll go in as you suggested."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"You can write backwards- Ape can do that too!" Vorpal says quietly, moving the Rabbit Hole around like a remote drone/camera, adhering to Leo's instructions.

Once the message has been delivered, he retreats their 'periscope' to a spot where it can't be seen, and he glances over at the other rooftop.

"If he does go to the roof, I can use my illusions to mask the Rabbit Hole and just have us appear out of the shadows. You know, for ninja points," he grins.

Leonardo has posed:
"Who do you think taught me?" Leonardo snipes back playfully.

Inside the apartment the off-duty police officer starts on the couch and manages to slosh some beer on his pristine-other-than-sweat-stains t-shirt. Having read the one-word note on his window he goes to a back room (and if the Rabbit Hole "Periscope" follows him he's in a dimly lit bedroom, someone with motherly curves is asleep in the bed and the officer is opening a gunsafe in the corner of the room... if Terry doesn't move the distant end of the Hole to view this its unknown by Leonardo and his magically metahuman student) before coming back out to the liviing room, turning off the TV and proceeding out of the apartment.

"How about we beat him to the roof and you using an illusion of a billowing cloud of smoke like a smoke bomb instead of just having us appear out of the shadows? More ninja trick than magic right?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Beautiful idea, Leo," Vorpal nods and opens the Rabbit Hole, "Let's get to our places and prepare for our cues."

Vorpal didn't follow the man, but by the fact that he didn't go to the rooftop directly, it is probably safe to assume that he went to arm himself. No sane police officer, crooked or straight, would attend a rooftop summons without their regulation piece.

There are a few adjustments to the area that are Vorpal's doing- subtle touches, such as making the night a /little/ darker, and making whatever light is around a little higher contrast, but also more reduced in radius, so that any rooftop lights are glowing orbs of contained light around pronounced shadows. Because style is important, and ninjas and Noir make a good combination.

The next step is the billowing smoke cloud illusion, which deploys rather artistically in a way that no real smoke bomb does... but the illusion also carries the very real scent of cedarwood. It's definitely a more attractive scent than potassium nitrate.

It also is said to keep moths away, but that is not important here. The Cheshire Cat stands next to his Sensei, imitating his posture. By virtue of his illusions, shadows cling to them so that only very few details can be seen. It's the only way he can make his very, very colorful fur and patterns look mysterious or intimidating.

Leonardo has posed:
As they step though the Rabbit Hole Leo is showing caution, directing the pair so that they are close to a set of pipes and a ventaliation shaft, because he also doesn't need to see the office get the gun to assume that a competnt office would go to a surprise, anonymous, rooftop meetiing armed just like Vorpal does.

He wordlessly guides the creation of the illusionary cloud to occur as the officer steps out of the stairwell to the roof and its a testiment to both his training and purity that he is holding the gun ready but pointing down for the moment. Naturally he shows some surprise at the appearance of a humanoid turtle and a salmon-colored tabby cat-man. "Stay right where you are!" he says despite the fact that the pair are actually not moving.

"We're only here to talk, sir," Leo says respectfully to the officer. That said, his body language suggests to Terry that perhaps the more human appearing of the two of them should do most of the talking.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal keeps the shadows around him to show just enough of him, but his features are still pretty obscured. He doesn't need to give away all of the cards, after all, and he wants to keep the officer guessing a little. Vorpal of the Titans isn't exactly the most famous of the team (Troia being perhaps one of the most famous ones, followed by Nightwing. And Nightwing's butt third), but he is not exactlyy an unknown anymore.

"Indeed, we're here to talk," Terry speaks. When he is in feline form, he does have a very distinctive, mellifluous voice, a purry baritone full of rich resonances. "No doubt you have heard about what happened in Brunswick by now." He doesn't phrase it as a question, merely a presumed statement of fact.

Leonardo has posed:
"Yeah," is the initial reply from the cop. "Heard a call came in about it and everything," he states, still making a point to not point his gun at either of the mutants he apparently thinks are threatening him by the stance he's holding.

Slowly, so as to not appear any more threatening than he already might seem, Leo takes a half step away from Vorpal to spread the two of them out just a bit more. He does not make a motion toward his weapons however.

"I don't know anything more about the man than I can tell though the windows of his apartment. Never tailed him on patrol so I don't know where he works," Leo says quietly, his voice pitched so that his nearby student can hear him but so that his words don't carry to the cop who, seeing the turtle-man speaking, reacts in quite an expected way: "Hey, what're you to whispering about?!" he yells out at the two unknown men.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal gives a barely perceptible nod to Leonardo to indicate that he has heard him, and takes a step away from Leonardo, to widen the gap.

"That's interesting, officer." Vorpal answers in a measured voice that winds at his own pace, almost as if he is telling a story, "That there was a call name made. Because there are the charred ruins of the medical center and the flooded crater where it stood. There are tents for the treatment of the injured... but there is neither sight nor sound of the police. Not a blue uniforn nor a flashing light. No siren in the night to bring solace to those affected by loss and violence."

For the first time, the feline moves, but he does so slowy, almost hypnotically, and all he does is cross his arms over his chest. He is very visibly not armed, unlike Leo, und his outfit leaves very little place for a weapon to hide.

"This is troubling."

There are many ways in which an interrogation can be performed, Terry has learned. This is something the Titans haven't had much chance to teach him, but his mother /has/. A statement of fact can be very powerful, when simply allowed to lay there. How a person responds to it can tell you everything in the world about them.

Leonardo has posed:
True to his word, Leo follows Terry's lead. He doesn't move forward as much as his student but the steps he take show that he's read to have Terry's back.

The officer responds by raising his gun slightly (but he's still not pointing it at the two heroes. "I don't know you two so don't come any closer," he says before asking, "Do you know how much paperwork I have to fill out if I end up pulling this trigger?" in an ironic tone which is made more clear whe he adds, "Especially while off duty."

"Where do you patrol?" Leonardo asks the officer which is answered with a terse, "Ninth Precinct," which to those in the know includes the East Village and features Tompkins Square Park. Decidely not Brooklyn, let alone Bushwick.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Officer, let's talk about tonight. Or, rather, every night." Vorpal cants his head, his green eyes are almost luminous, despite there being no direct light to illuminate them, "Although it's not your precinct, people talk. People whisper. Surely you must have heard about something /strange/ regarding that particular precinct."

And then, he says a little quieter: "An entire department has failed a lot of defenseless people, and nobody seems to be asking why. Are you?"

Leonardo has posed:
Leo simply nods supportingly, backing up Terry's words with the gesture.

"There can be dirty cops in any precinct," the officer says and then, almost with a pained expresson on his face, he adds, "But there's a reason I tell my kids to be ultra polite to the officers in the local one." He chooses to not go any further than that however and asks, "You two aren't trying to subtily treaten my family yourselves are you?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"No, sir. If anything, we're trying to protect it." Vorpal says, his arms uncoupling to let his hands fall to his hips. "One crooked cop can do plenty of harm. A bunch of them? Could bring down an entire city. Or a small section of it."

This is a moment of truth, he senses, and what he does next will decide whether they have a potential contact and information, or not.

Some negotiatiations involve signs of trust. That is why the shadows recede a little more from Vorpal, though they keep Leo obscured. "I want to make it easier for the good cops to do their job. But sometimes they can't, because something is fishy and they know they can't ask too many questions without putting the people they love in danger from the people who /should/ be protecting them. So..." he shrugs, "That's where we come in. Our jobs are pretty much that- we poke our noses where others cannot. All we need is to be pointed in the right direction, and no-one needs to know which hand pointed us."

Leonardo has posed:
"You both mutants like the rest of the... people in Mutant Town?" the cop asks.

Leo chuckles grimly at the unvoiced 'freaks' that his mind fills in (correct or not) and so chooses to ignore the officer's question. Instead he asks his student, "Can you offer him a way to contact you though your... mythically tall friends, Vorpal?" referencing the Titans obliquely but not /that/ subtly.

No slouch and not a totally uneducated jock, the officer obviously gets the fairly open clue... plus the use of the name. He responds, "Wait, you're Vorpal of the Titans?" The two handed grip on the pistol is released and there's a click as he triggers the safety on. "Way to bury the lead there, reporter," he says before asking, "Who's your new pal there?" of Terry indicating Leonardo with a nod of his head in the ninja turtle's direction.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The Cheshire cat grins, "Guity as charged. Well... you know what I mean. Troia /is/ freakishly tall, but that's common for an Amazon."

He advances toards the officer, offering his hand to shake, "Sorry for beating around the bush, but with a topic as sensitive as this, I needed to see how you would react before putting any cards on the table. My friend is a little on the shy side, but I trust him as dearly as any of my Titan teammates" He glances over Leo, adding, "In fact, if he ever were interested in joining, I'd vouch for him. But the tower /is/ a little bit on the noticeable and garish side for some."

That's an understatement. A giant T-shaped tower on an island could be said to stand for 'Target.'

"I know I'm asking a lot. But..." he produces a card, "This is my private number at the tower. No recordings, no monitoring. Can you think on what I've said and reach out to me if you feel like helping us unravel this mystery?"

Leonardo has posed:
Leo chuckles openly and says, "Shy... sure," and then says, "Good job Vorpal, I'll contact you later," and then out comes an eggshell bomb and poof there's a cloud and he's gone.

The office takes the card, glances at it and puts it in a pocket of his slacks. "So... yeah, you've weird friends," the officer says and then nods as he says, "If I find anthing actionable or reportable I'll talk to you off the record. But... we have to take them down on the record and I don't know how many there are. I'm tired of the people in this city looking at me like I could be one of them so I have to step up. Thanks, Vorpal."

Unseen as he hangs off the roof on his climbing claws Leonardo smiles before descending to the street and below it via one of the ubiquitous manhole covers.