Snippet #2547643

Wednesdays were boring. Most of the time, Kat didn't think she was missing out on the whole school thing. When people talked about it, it was always about how much it sucks, which isn't exactly a ringing endorsement. Those garbage teen TV shows about high school also painted a less than ideal picture. On days like today however, Kat almost wished she went to one, just to have something to do. The shop was dead today, everyone, including Viv was out doing their own thing, and none of her data sets had finished crunching yet, so she couldn't even try her hand at some manual data analysis.

Kat had never dealt well with idle down time. She always needed to be doing something, whether that was actual work, video gaming, or even just run of the mill mildly obsessive Google searches on random topics. She'd already played through the last levels of her zombie game, and right now, she was reduced to playing the lowest form of online gaming; facebook apps. Candy Crush Saga was her current poison, steadfastly refusing to touch any of those ridiculous farm games. At least this was a kind of puzzle, and Kat was good at puzzles.

"God damn jelly, every fricking time!" Kat growled quietly from behind the desk in the shop, where she was currently minding the mostly empty store.

Tim came into the store, his face giving away how pissed off he was. "Where's Viv, Kat? We have a problem."

"Jesus." Kat said when she heard Tim's voice and spun around in her chair to get a look at his face. "Who took a dump in your cheerios?" She asked in confusion. Last she'd seen of Tim, he and Arey were making goo goo eyes at each other again on the way to finding a room.

"Last I heard she was in Oklahoma meeting some witch she knows who can track blood magic. Totally paranoid and lives off the grid. Couldn't tell you when she'll be back." Kat continued after a moment, seeing that Tim didn't look to be in a particularly humorous mood.

Tim hit the counter with his fist. "Fuck! She is just gone? No idea when she is back? We have an issue and she is the only one with any clue how to stop Mordred." He was angry and agitated. He wanted nothing more than to strangle the life out of the man that was tormenting Arey.

"Wow, fuck, calm down cojack. If you’re pissed don't take it out on my shop." Kat exclaimed after Tim exploded. "She left this morning after we checked the data sets again. Olivia Harris is one of the most respected witches on the continent, but she's also paranoid as shit and on that right wing anti-government conspiracy bandwagon. She's hard to find, and I can't track her without tech. Last word was Harris was camping out in some trailer in Oklahoma, so that's where Viv went. If she can get Harris' help, she thinks we'll be able to track Mordred directly through the link." Kat explained more calmly as she got out of her seat and carefully approached Tim.

"You wanna tell me what's got a bee in your bonnet all of a sudden?" Kat asked.

Tim ran his free hand through his hair. He looked around. "Gone...so no help there." He was mumbling.

"Here. See what the bastard sent Arey? Mailed it to her. Been watching her. Us." Tim tossed the photos on the counter. "We have to find him, have to do something."

Kat took the pictures, flipping through them. She saw Arey and Tim mostly, but there were some of Arey with Deirdre and Arin as well with her, and people Kat could only guess were Arey's school friends. "That little fucker..." Kat commented as she continued flipping through the pages before a rather predatory smile crept over her lips.

"Oh I gotcha now you little bitch." Kat almost cackled to herself, content to be saddled with another project as she practically bounced around the shop while closing up.

Tim looked at Kat, watching her as she closed up. He knew that smile. "Kat? What do you mean gotcha?" The anger eased a little. He had a small hope that her smile, the one that made him worried was because she had somehow come up with a way to find Mordred.

"What I mean, is that that little bastard finally fucked up." Kat explained as she flipped the sign to closed and locked up before racing back, grabbing the pictures in one hand and Tim's hand in the other as she started heading back toward the Bat cave and her Kat Corner, intent on having more data to crunch. "Polaroids, we've got him." Kat said intently, showing him the pictures again like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Tim let Kat drag him out and he looked at the pictures again but he didn't see whatever it was that she saw. He was however happy to hear that Mordred had screwed up. "He messed up but how? I don't see it Kat."

He looked over his shoulder, "Arey! Kat's found something! She says he fucked up!" He yelled as loudly as he could.

Tim looked back at Kat. "Show me where this mistake is."

"The pictures themselves, they're Polaroids!" Kat said again like it was obvious. "Don't you ever watch cop shows? What's the most obvious and cliche way that stalkers and freaks who like bad pictures of little kids get caught? When they take film in to get developed or their digital prints to get printed off. There's always someone there who can see what they're of and might call the cops if they get suspicious. Digital photo accounts through phone or digital camera on a computer can be traced too, and this guy's obsessed with keeping himself untouchable. From the way he's been handling his victims though, he definitely has a trophy complex, so how's he been keeping pictures of them without leaving any digital evidence behind? Polaroids!" Kat finished, showing him the polaroid pictures Mordred had sent them again.

"No digital trace, no outside human contact needed to develop the pictures, just the camera and the right film." Kat explained. "But they're ancient now. Only grandmas who refuse to recognize the fact that its the 21st century, and hipsters who like the nostalgia factor even use them anymore. You can't just go to a convenience store and buy this kind of film, you have to order it online from Amazon or some random guy on Ebay who just happens to have some left over from the nineties. It might take a little while, but I can hack the sites I find selling that stuff for web orders to New York, and put that information in with my data sets. This will narrow down the sets by thousands!"

Tim nodded but it wasn't really making sense. It was a lot of information. "Ancient?" Slowly what Kat was telling him sunk in. "You can find his purchase records and from those we can find him."

His eyes went wide. "Oh my god Kat you can narrow it down to New York and you can find him!"

Tim scooped her up and bear hugged her. "I never even considered that. Kat you are brilliant!" He put her down and went back to the doorway, "Arey! Kat has a way to search for him! She can narrow it down and help us find him!"

"Well yeah, this is me we're talking about!" Kat swaggered with a bright grin as Tim pulled her into the hug, preening under the positive attention once more.

"This is fantastic Kat." Tim shook his head. "This asshole is messing with us, with Arey and this has to stop...now." He sighed, relaxing just a little. "When Arin and Deirdre get back we have to fill them in too."

"Fill us in on what? Arey texted that this was about Mordred." Deirdre piped up as she and Arin appeared in the doorway of Kat's office. "Where is Arey?" She was worried about the blonde.

"Right here." Arey called out as she dragged herself out of her room, looking tense but much more calm than she had before. No one needed to see just how shaken she was right now, and it was bad enough Tim had already seen her like that. With him though, at least there was an already growing sense of intimacy between them that made her more comfortable trusting him with that more vulnerable side of herself, but she couldn't bring herself to let Deirdre and Arin see it too.

"Apparently my stalker has upped his game." She informed them blankly.

Deirdre frowned. "Upped how?"

Tim's mouth pressed into a line. "Pictures. He has been following Arey and pretty closely too. But Kat has a plan to track him down." He smiled once more as he handed Deirdre the pictures.

She held them out so Arin could see them as well as she went through them. Her face paled. "My god...he...he was everywhere. School, dates you went on..." She looked up at Arey. "So what's this plan?"

"Find him. If he's feisty, stick him. Self defense is an easy to argue case when the dead guy is a serial killer. I'm thinking he'll be feisty." Arin growled.

Deirdre looked over at Kat, "Tim said you had a plan to find him. How?" She subtly stepped closer to Arin. The idea that this guy was following Arey, taking pictures of the people around her really bothered her. After seeing her friend's body, the fact that he was anywhere near ANY of them was unnerving.

"The bastard used polaroid film. It'll take me some time since I'm willing to bet he bought it through a back channel or fake name, but I can track the online purchases of that film into the city and narrow my data spectrums considerably. It'll cut my lists down from thousands to potentially a few dozen at most." Kat explained.

"Nice. So, what, next week?" Arin grinned at Kat, knowing she'd be in her wheelhouse he couldn't resist adding a little challenge.

"A week? Ha! I'll have that nut job nailed down by the end of the weekend." Kat boasted back, raising to take the bait.

"That's more like it. That's Kat quality work." He looked over at Arey, "Kat'll make sure we don't have a lot of time to plan. You have something in mind?"

Deirdre looked at Arey, "Yes, once she finds him what are we going to do? I mean we go after him but we need a plan right?"

Arey was at a loss to answer that. They might know who Mordred was when they found him, but that didn't mean they'd be able to prove anything necessarily once they did. Somehow, a "I know he's a serial killer because he psychically taunts me in my sleep" reasoning was not going to do much to bolster and prosecution brought against him. And there was also no doubt in her mind that Mordred wouldn't stop killing unless somebody stopped him. So if they couldn't use the law to put away, that meant they'd have to find another way to do it. The warrior inside her supplied the solution easily and without hesitation, but the mere thought of it left her feeling cold. Could she bring herself to actually kill somebody, even if it was a homicidal maniac?

"Not pressuring you there. I think, the group of us versus one of him means we're in a superior position. Lets us go with the flow a bit more. However, we need to be aware that this guy will be nutso. And, apparently, has some funky powers beyond the regular dude. But, we have you, your sword and you've all been trained by the best." His smile reflected some of the cockiness that came when he talked about his own abilities.

Every mention of Mordred, his odd personality, his mental instability put Deirdre more on edge. If he could take and kill Heather the way he had what was going to stop him from getting to Arey, to Kat? All there was to stop him was the hope that they got to him before he targeted one of their own. She handed the photos back to Tim. She didn't want to look at them anymore.

As she held them out to him her phone rang and Deirdre dropped the pictures as she jumped, startled by the sound. Her hand reached into her coat pocket. She frowned at the number, unsure of who it was. Can he read minds? Is it him? Does he know how to get a hold of us? A slight nervous panic set in as she pressed the little phone symbol.

"H-Hello?" Deirdre answered apprehensively.

"Hello Miss Evering. This is detective Velazquez. We talked recently about your roommate?" David tried to make his tone as friendly as possible. It was hard to take out that authoritative tone.

The colour drained from Deirdre's face. She nodded, then remembered she was on the phone and he could not see her. "Yes...Hello Detective. H-how can I help you?" Her stomach clenched. Had someone else she knew been murdered? Her eyes moved between Arin and Arey.

Arin frowned slightly and put a supportive arm around Deirdre. He wanted her to know he was there but didn't want to distract too much.

Tim frowned and whispered. "Detective? What's going on?"

"Look, I know I'm asking a lot, but I would like to sit down with you and your friend Arey. I'm hoping that you two might have some more information for us. If you could spare some time?" David wasn't sure how much to tell her. He didn't want to scare them or imply the police were inept, but he needed something, anything to key off and start a new thread of investigation.

Deirdre leaned against Arin as she listened to the detective talk. She frowned deeper. He wanted to know if she had more information, if she and Arey could talk to him. Her teeth bit down on her lower lip as she tried to figure how best to both help but avoid telling him the things she knew.

Then...Deirdre remembered the feeling when he shook her hand. She suddenly stiffened. His voice, the feeling of familiarity as he shook her hand though she had passed it off at the time as nothing. He is one of us.

Her tone changed slightly. "Yes Detective Velazquez we have some time. Is it possible for you to come to us? We are together currently and have some time now if you are available."

"Oh? I didn't mean that you had to feel like it was an immediate request." He was a little thrown by her invitation. Not because it felt rushed or wrong, but rather because he realized part of him was expecting it. He tried to shake that feeling and resume his professionalism, "I don't want to impose on you now. I'm more than happy to set up a time if there is something more convenient for you."

"No, not imposing. Now works well. I think I might have something that could help you. Arey is here now so it is a good time." Deirdre gave him the address of the Round Tablet. "I will meet you in the storefront if you can meet me."

Part of her wanted him to come now, to rush over so that she could show him the pictures and get him on their side. She'd get Viv and everyone to show him who he was and they would add one more to their team. One more to find and track down Mordred and this one was with the police. The other part of her wanted to keep others out of their business in case they had to kill Mordred...

When she gave the name of the shop a twinge of recognition flashed through him. He knew to trust these instincts and all vestiges of polite refusal disappeared, "Good. If you have something for me then it would be best to deal with it as soon as possible. I can be there in fifteen minutes."

"See you soon." Deirdre hung up. "The detective...Velazquez is coming here. We are going to show him the pictures."

Tim shook his head, "Oh no, no police. Not yet at least. They won't be able to stop him. Why would you tell him to come here?" He frowned at Deirdre.

"He is one of us." She answered simply. She looked at Arin. "Do you trust me on this?"

Arin shrugged, "Do you really need to ask that question?"

"Arey?" She looked at the woman. "Tim?"

Tim nodded, something about her demeanor made his concerns about the situation die down. "Yes. I trust you."

Arey had been watching Deirdre navigate the conversation in silent concern throughout the exchange. She wasn't really comfortable with the idea of bringing in an outsider on this, on having to show weakness to yet another person, but Arey did trust Deirdre, even if that knowledge put her on edge. "Yes, but what makes you think he's one of us?" Arey asked in tired curiosity. "Could you just tell through the phone?"

Deirdre smiled slightly. "No..well yes....sort of. His voice is familiar but the first glimmer of it was when he shook my hand at the morgue. I knew but forgot to mention it. I was a little..." She looked down. "Then things sort of went on and I didn't think of it again until I heard his voice on the phone. I don't know who he is but he is one of us." She looked up once more. "I just know and I think it is sort of part of what I can do to help..you know, bring us..I mean your knights back together."

And just like that her confidence waivered. Was she making the right call? Was she overstepping her bounds? Was she misreading her role in all of this? Deirdre inhaled and fidgeted a little. Her voice lowered, "I guess I maybe should have let you make that call though..."

"I think the idea of making it all on one person isn't ideal. No one wants to be the dictator. You were on the phone. You had to make the call. We're behind you. Just like we're behind Arey. We support each other or we don't work." Arin replied first.

Deirdre smiled slightly. "I just..." She stopped herself. "Okay..."

"It's alright." Arey assured quietly after Arin. "Now though we need to figure out how we're going to break the news to this guy. I think we're all pretty aware that acceptance is far from the first step in this process, and this man is a police officer. We're already connected to a murder case he's working on, even if its just as potential witnesses, but there's no telling how he's going to react to that connection once we drop the crazy bomb on him."

Arin nodded, "I'd think he'd have a certain ability to accept evidence and reasoning. However, it will certainly not be easy. Having a cop on our side would work real nice in constructing a scenario where Mordred is out of the picture and none of us are in jail though."

"Sure, but that doesn't mean his first instinct is going to be accepting that the world if full of magic and monsters, or that he's somehow the reincarnation of a medieval knight." Arey argued back. "We have to figure out how we're going to approach this so he doesn't run away or try to throw us in the looney bin."

"Well we break it to him gently, let him come to his own conclusion? I mean he is a detective so I imagine he will start to notice certain things. I guess it also depends on who he is." Deirdre offered.

"Right. Both of you. No one thinks this is the greatest thing ever when they first hear it. No one wants to believe it. However, letting a detective put together the pieces himself is probably going to work in our favour. Who he is may or may not have an impact. I suppose there are enough scenarios to be concerned." Arin shrugged, "I suspect the looney bin isn't our biggest worry though. Being blamed for the killings because we are a convenient, crazy, explanation might fit more than the looney bin."

Deirdre nodded. "I am sure we can make this right without him thinking we are crazy..." She turned and headed for the store.