Follow the Money

"Experimenting on capes, huh?" Shade examines the newspaper. "Sounds pretty serious. Maybe that's related to the drop in crime? No one would go looking for the crooks if they started vanishing. Ideal targets really... Hey, speaking of crooks, I'm looking for any info you have on a few new players. I haven't run into them before, and they seemed to be working together? New team up possibly, maybe someone looking to put the Trio of Terror back together." Shade shudders a little. "Anyways, we ran into a heat and cold ray guy, an invisible brawler, and some kind of electric flavored speedster. Anything you remember hearing about?"

"We haven't had a chance to investigate how they got a hold of the tech or Hexatronics involvement but they don't appear to be a public facing organization. I'll have to dig into the records to see if they've reported any thefts or missing equipment." the detective replies scanning through his papers.

---

Looking at the paper Shade scans the article about Super crime being down as Daniel nods frenetically. "You get it you get it!" he says in response to Shades initial statement. He listens as Shade brings up the trio and describes them "Hmm... invisible brawler would have to be Fistpuncher from Boston he's from out of town but is just muscle for hire so no surprise he'd be working so far from home. Not sure on the other two do you have any other details? Hot cold guy could be a couple different people depending on what he looks like and a lot of electric guys are usually pretty fast."

Trevor takes a seat on the stairs just outside the ORACLE building and pulls a pencil from one pocket. He idly plays with it as he waits for Fear to finish his text. "So, any other leads you can think of? I know you weren't really around for most of the action last night, but I'm drawing a blank. I don't usually do a lot in the way of detective work."

Fear nods hid head from side to side, contemplating his options. "Well, we can see if there are any Internet records for these people. That could give us insight into more of what they do, who they are and such. WhIle we're waiting, we can go check on the computers here at ORACLE."

Fear will walk into the facility and head to the computer lab. Sitting down at one if the computers, Fear begins to surf the internet for articles, social media profiles, or anything else he can find on Fantom Fistpuncher, The Terror of Temperature and any of their associates.

{{Knowledge: Computers: d10: (4, 5) +4 interface = 9}}

Shade files away the 'disappearing capes' possibility for later and nods appreciatively.

"Fistpuncher sounds right. Mercenary then? Probably not too much of a lead from him.
The temperature guy had..." Shade sighs "a large thermometer on his head, and the other guy had a yellow suit with golden lightning bolts. He went down before he did too much so I don't have too much more on him.

Browsing the web Fear comes across a few news articles relating to Fantom Fistpuncher generally involving robbery, assault, and resisting arrest. References to him are primary limited to the east coast with a few mentions of him in other parts of North America without confirmation. No arrests and no one associates by all accounts he is a thug for hire. An incredibly strong and resilient one but a thug none the less. Noticeably there is a gap in activity starting around four months prior, until then he was encountered in low scale crimes fairly regularly but seemed to have dropped off the radar until now. Terror of temperature doesn't turn up any results and attempts to describe him or his powers come with too many results to reliably sift through with nothing to indicate it is the man from the vault. Similarly searching for the speedster doesn't produce any usable results.

---

"Word is some guy was building up to make his mark, used the name Thermometer Man. I've heard rumors about him making all kinds of claims about how he was going to change the city and what it meant to be a Super Criminal. He talked big for a while and then just kind of faded off a few months back without having actually done anything to my knowledge. Not sure on your third guy could be Tazer, Blink, Spectrum, Light Wave, Volt, The Bolt, White Bolt, probably not Black Bolt, Socket weird guy really I mean you'd probably have to be taking a name like Socket but really just an odd guy he likes to steal gumball machines I mean who even wants gumball machines he used to work with a guy called The Sturgeon...." Daniel begins to loose focus on the conversation and picks up his own tangent on various Supers.

Fear turns to Tremor, "Nothing on the Terror of Temperature, he must have a different name. No conclusive results relating to the speedster either, but Fantom Fistpuncher has a long string of articles referencing him. Apparently, he had a break in his activities starting about 4 months ago. To me, that might indicate this was planned long in advance, at least 4 months, maybe more, maybe less depending on when Fistpuncher was included in the ring. Hopefully the others are able to drag up something conclusive about the others."

"I see," Nadia says, watching the detective rifle through his documents. "One more thing and we'll leave you to your duties... My colleagues and I were considering that, since the teleport itself could not be teleported into the vault, that the device might have been left in a safety deposit box days or weeks earlier? There's no reason to assume one of the three in custody would have brought it, though, if that were the case. Um... I don't know, maybe that's not a good idea. Never mind. Constance, is there anything else?" Nadia tries to think of something else productive to say, hoping the detective will consider their visit a net positive.

Not sure why I didn't think to just google these guys... Oh well. This guy seems like he knows what he's doing, let's see what he turns up. Trevor sits at the next computer over checking his email while Fear does his work. Ooh, $100 for free on some auction site I've never heard of, THAT doesn't sound like a scam.

Hearing Fear's results, he responds, "Are there any good pictures of the Fistpuncher guy? We could take those to the ORACLE bots and see if they know who he works with."

"Good idea, let's check." Fear will scan the information and try to find a picture of Fantom Fistpuncher. Failing that, he goes to Google images

Constance has been deep in thought throughout the conversation. "I really can't think of much else. You really covered most of what occurred and what we have questions about. Unfortunately there are a lot of questions we need answered before we can come up with anything else significant."

"We'll take that into consideration, the bank is still cataloging what all is missing and what deposit boxes were opened and who they belong to." he replies to Nadia. He nods to Constance and thanks them both for volunteering the information they have. He escorts them back to front the desk and gives them each a card with his desk number asking that if they think of anything else to please contact him. With one last thank you he makes his way back into the station.

---

Scanning back through the search results Fear doesn't have much luck with any photos at first. Must be hard to get a good shot of an invisible guy he thinks to himself. Just as he is about to give up he comes across a small forum dedicated to Cape discussion and monitoring their activity where someone posted a photo someone took with a smart phone showing a hulking figure in a black ski mask with a skull painted on it. The background is some kind of street or alley at night and the figure is lit by a street light. Not the best quality but it's clearly Fantom Fistpuncher. Printing off the picture Fear and Tremor take it back to the front desk and ask for any information on the individual. The robotic attendant takes a moment to scan the picture.
"Identity confirmed Alexander Petrovich aka Fantom Fistpuncher. Former MMA competitor turned criminal. No known associates. Source of abilities are a military grade stealth and camouflage belt and unknown genetic modifications. Wanted in multiple states as well as Canada and Mexico, no arrests."

That went about as well as expected, I suppose. Nadia turns to Constance and shrugs. "Back to ORACLE headquarters, then? See you there in five." She switches to flight mode and jets off into the sky.

Shade nods, jotting down as many of the names as he can catch, just on the off chance they end up being helpful. "Thanks for the scoop, Spotlight. I'll ask around about the missing capes, too. See if anyone else has heard anything." Checking his phone he shoots off a quick text to Fear.
A few names, not a ton of leads. Meet you back at ORACLE building. He hops on the bike, relays his plans to Archangel over the earbud, and makes his way back through the city.

Having reached out to each other the group gathers once again outside the ORACLE facility. Nadia and Constance quickly make their way back and make idle conversation with Fear and Tremor while waiting for Shade and Archangel to arrive. Once together they all recap what they have found and start discussing where to go from there.

Archangel pointedly ignores fear and keeps her distance from him letting Shade do any talking.

---

Logan slips between officers going about their business and moves to the public facing officer at the main desk. The older woman turns to grab some papers and when she turns back she finds an envelope. Peering around she is unable to locate the source. She calls out to others nearby to see if they saw anyone but no one noticed anything or knew where the envelope came from.
[Notice d8(2) + 2, Broad daylight + 2, multiple people = 6, failed]

The officer retrieves some latex gloves from a drawer before handling the envelope. She looks through the pictures before replacing them and putting the whole thing in a plastic evidence bag. She flags down a younger looking officer and tells him to bring the envelope to the lab for prints and DNA analyzing then to notify Detective Kadir.

Logan looks down at the little patterns on her fingertips. She thinks of the foster system, and crinkles up her nose. She doesn't remember being fingerprinted, but that was a long time ago. At least she doesn't lick her envelopes. Logan hurries out of the police station and on to her next destination.

As Logan approaches the ORACLE building, she notices the Capes standing outside. Her shoulders and the corners of her eyes tense up apprehensively. She had been hoping to drop her second set of pictures and escape again, but decides it might be easier just to approach them. She notices Constance among them and tries to catch her attention as she walks quietly toward the group.

Constance smiles at Logan. "How are you Logan? Get involved in any of that crazy news from the bank?"

Logan waves, acknowledging Constance's words. She pats her camera bag meaningfully. Subtlely she eyes the other Capes, now that they're so close, sizing them up. She puts on her best friendly and unassuming face.

"So we tried the bank, the police, and ORACLE. We have maybe a few names, no confessions, and no real line on further evidence. Signs point to at least one of them being hired muscle. Presumably there's a bigger fish up the line that's keeping them from talking, but since they aren't talking we don't know who that would be or where to find them. And the only reason we all knew about this in the first place was a blue spectre who visited us and offered the barest sliver of a tip off. Does that sum up our position?" Shade turns to see who Constance is addressing.

"I think you've addressed the situation most eloquently. Perhaps the next step is to see if this figure addresses us a second time? If anyone is a talented enough artist to sketch the spectral figure accurately, we could see if ORACLE has any information on him." Fear looks around the group, as Logan approaches, he waits to see what she says.

Nadia shifts awkwardly from one foot to the other while the others stare at each other. "So... Who's your ostensible photographer friend there?" She looks expectantly at Constance. "Logan, was it?"

Great, more random weird people in on the case. I could've stayed home today, I could be sitting around reading PNAS right now...

Logan feels more genuinely relaxed, realizing that this group of Capes may just be bigger awkward people. She reaches into her camera bag and pulls out a card in a plastic sheath with a clip on one end. It says: PRESS, Logan Brynmor, Photographer, the name of a national journalism association, and a member number. It also has a picture.

Logan also pulls a photo out of her potential-submissions portfolio. It's a picture of Nadia hanging off the edge of a roof. She smiles amicably and hands both items to Nadia to examine.

Watching the proceedings Archangel catches a glimpse of the photo and visibly tenses. She slowly moves around to loom behind Logan. She stands with her arms at her sides and waits to see what happens next.

Logan unhooks a pen from the strap of her bag and slips out another picture. She is rather glad she left the film at home. Archangel bothers her, but not in the way she might expect. Logan slips another photo out of her portfolio (they're small, 5x7s, and the folder isn't much bigger) and writes on the back: Did you win? The photo she holds up behind her back, without turning around, is the one of Archangel with glowing eyes.

"Aww, what the f--" Nadia wrinkles her nose at the picture Logan proffered. "Couldn't you have captured me doing something badass, or like expounding upon a brilliant piece of deductive reasoning?"

Okay, next time we get into a fight I have to be more photogenic, apparently, since we're already attracting paparazzi.