i_disappear Breaking and Entering (Challenge #1, Open - do-gooders?)
Darien's latest case was a murder. From the surface, it had looked like a grudge killing. Eddie DeCosta was found stabbed in the back behind a grocery store, the knife still sticking out of him. There were no prints on the handle, it was a common type of kitchen knife, and there were no footprints around the body thanks to the asphalt. The victim had an ex-wife that looked like the type that might kill, but Dairen wasn't convinced.
DeCosta also had some connections to a known drug dealer here in the City, and unless he missed his guess, that was probably a lot closer to the truth. George Kellner was a small-fry compared to the other dealers, but still big enough to do something like take out a hit. The problem was that Darien didn't have enough solid proof on his hands to get a warrant, and he wasn't friendly enough with anyone to pull some influence.
Lacking a warrant wasn't going to stop Darien. Not when he had the skills to get the evidence he needed himself.
After some snooping around, he heard a rumor that DeCosta had debts towards Kellner. Not the sort of thing you can work off with two part-time jobs. Kellner owned a house in an upper-class neighborhood, a house which he was only at every other night. Staking out the place had arguably been the most boring part, but also left him with a buzz of anticipation. It had been too long since he had done this. Even if it was just some two-bit dealer's house, he felt the same excitement that he did every time. This was why he had become a thief.
He picked a night when Kellner wasn't home and paid his house a visit. Darien was clad in black clothing, a black beanie over his head and a backpack of supplies along with him. He didn't have anything high-tech, but he doubted he'd need it.
Sure enough, the burglar alarm was an electric eye one, fairly common and all too easy for him to bypass. The back door had three trancievers all up and down the door frame, but the door itself also swung inward. Pulling his lockpicks from his pocket, he directed a flow of Quicksilver over his lower arms, waiting a half-second for it to fade from silver to invisibility. Darien picked the lock without a peep from the alarm system, pocketing the lockpicks again before going completely invisible. The door swung open, and he was in.
That had been way too easy.
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/03/2006 15:36:05
Daredevil was doing his nightly round. It wasn't your common stroll down the alley, but it he wasn't doing his usual rooftop thing. He paused when he heard the click of a lock. Standing stock still, he strained to get a location. Two houses down. It wasn't the click of a key in a lock - it was a pick in a lock. Moving through the shadows, he approached silently. The door shut. Someone was in and they were getting in as quietly as they could. This wasn't someone locked out of their house - it was a break-in.
He moved in on the house. A truck rumbling by sent back an echo, mapping out the back patio and porch roof. Vaulting over the fence, Daredevil landed on the roof with a soft thud. He moved up next to the siding and listened carefully, crouching just next to the window. There were definitely footsteps moving through the house and the house was empty. The footsteps, however, were still on the ground level. The lights were out too - there was no buzz of electricity coming from the rooms. Still listening, Daredevil waited, his hand creeping down to his billy club.
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/03/2006 16:06:53
The back door had led him into a kitchen, and he stopped there briefly, the Quicksilver flaking off of him as he pulled his Maglite out of his backpack. When he switched it on, he was fairly impressed by all the cooking gadgets there on the counters. It looked like even Kellner managed to live in style. Darien went on through the kitchen and down a hallway, briefly stopping to pick up and look at a vase on a side table.
He wasn't concerned about wasting time. The house was as silent as a tomb, and he knew Kellner wouldn't be back until morning. He had plenty of time to look for something incriminating. Darien set the vase back down, then headed towards the front of the house. First things first - he needed to get that alarm disabled. He didn't want to blunder into it and set it off.
Darien found the control box for the alarm hidden behind a painting in the living room. He stuck the Maglite in his mouth, taking the painting down before getting out a screwdriver and pliers, working on getting the faceplate off.
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/03/2006 17:03:14
Daredevil remained at his perch, listening to the movements and footsteps inside the house. He caught a whiff of bathroom cleaner. Edging along the siding, running his hand along the wall to feel for the window sill, he stopped. The bathroom window was cracked for ventilation.
Through the propped open window, he could hear all the way downstairs. Metal on metal. Sounded like someone was busy with a screwdriver.
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/03/2006 17:21:33
After getting the faceplate open, Darien snipped a few of the wires inside in a certain order. No alarms rang. There was always the possiblity that it was a silent alarm, and he wouldn't know it until the police got there. But, for now, he wasn't going to worry about it. Alarm or not, the electronic eyes were disabled now.
He screwed the faceplate back on and stashed his tools, placing the painting back on the wall. Time to get to business. Darien checked under the other paintings in the living room, even tapped on the wall with the Maglite a few times, but didn't find anything in the way of a safe.
Where else would you hide something precious? The bedroom seemed like a good bet. Darien headed for the stairs and climbed up them, softly whistling a tune as he went.
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/03/2006 17:47:36
Still listening, Daredevil heard the thumps of the heavy rod on the sheetrock wallboard. Had to be a flashlight. That was followed by footsteps up the stairs, accompanied by the whistling.
Daredevil smiled to himself. This guy wasn't in a hurry. That was fine. It gave him plenty of time to get in silently and knab the thief.
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/03/2006 18:50:43
He peeked into a few rooms along the upstairs hall before he found the bedroom. In contrast to the cleanliness of the kitchen, this room was kind of a mess. The bed wasn't made, there were clothes on the floor... yeah, Darien was really hoping he wouldn't get desperate enough to dig through clothes. There were some things he'd rather not see.
Darien gave the bedroom the same treatment as he did the living room. He looked under the paintings and wall hangings, then tapped the walls with his flashlight. This time, he was a little more successful. There was a mirror right above the dresser, and behind the mirror a spot on the wall that sounded solid. There was no handle, even though he could feel the seams in the wall through his gloves.
It had to be remote control, or opened by a lever... but there weren't any suspicious-looking bookcases in here. Darien trained his flashlight all around the dresser area, and when he didn't find anything, pushed the dresser away from the wall. A section of the basetrim there didn't quite match, and when he kneeled and pressed it down, the section of the wall above swung open.
"Bingo," he said with a grin, standing to examine the safe that was there behind the panel.
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/03/2006 19:51:52
Daredevil wedged the window open and slipped silently into the bathroom. Quietly, he followed the sound of the burglar's heartbeat. There was only one here. A one man job.
But, rather than bursting into the room to apprehend the guy, Daredevil lingered in the hall, his billy club drawn and held down at his side. He listened in on the burglar for more clues as to what he was after.
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/03/2006 20:09:09
Oblivious to the fact that he wasn't alone, Darien slipped behind the dresser to put his ear up next to the safe. He really needed to get his hands on some safecracking equipment. It took him a minute to listen to the dial and get the combination, but after that he got the safe open easy.
The door swung open to reveal papers, and a ledger, and a stack of cash. He eyed the cash for a moment, tempted, but grabbed the papers first, flipping through them. He wasn't going to read them all standing there, but some of it were dates and locations, and a few names. DeCosta's name was on one of the papers. That'd work.
Darien took everything out of the safe, setting it on the dresser before closing both the safe and the panel that had been hiding it. The way he saw it, a drug dealer didn't need any extra cash. He might as well take a little bonus for going to all this trouble.
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/03/2006 20:51:59
The shuffle of papers, the closing and click of the safe...Daredevil moved into the doorway, seeking out the echo surrounding the perpetrator. Over by the dresser.
In three swift strides he was behind the guy. Daredevil swung his billy club up to rest against the man's shoulder. The club was extended and connected together in the center by a titanium rod, making it into 18" long staff.
"You might want to think twice about taking that. Stealing is a criminal offense around here."
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/03/2006 21:26:52
Darien went still, his hands hovering for a moment over the papers before he slowly raised them. The fact that it wasn't a gun pointed at him somehow didn't make the situation any better.
"Is that right? With all the criminals running around this City, I was starting to wonder." Being sarcastic was tempting fate, but he had never been good at keeping his mouth shut.
Keeping his hands up, he started to slowly turn. He wanted to at least see this guy before making a run for it. Where the hell had he come from, anyway?
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/03/2006 22:10:02
Daredevil shrugged slightly. "Only a matter of time before someone brought a little justice around here. Thought I'd give it a try."
The top dresser drawer, slightly opened behind the man, had a whiff of something coming from it. Daredevil couldn't distinguish it because it smelled profusely of dirty socks. But he was picking up a residue of cocaine.
"What's your story?"
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/03/2006 22:23:18
Since he was allowed to turn, he managed to look at the man now. The Maglite he had left on the dresser wasn't giving off much illumination, but it was enough for him to make out the strange leather outfit.
A superhero. Wonderful.
Darien's first instinct was to run, but he knew that'd probably get him smacked. He had nothing against talking, though. Talking was good. It gave him more time to think of a way out.
"I'm a detective for the City Police." Did he expect the guy to believe him? Not really. It wasn't like he had brought his wallet along with him to provide proof.
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/04/2006 08:21:55
A detective. Working by himself, breaking into a house, looking for evidence. Daredevil knew this scheme all too well. He'd done this more than a few times for cases of his own. A detective should have a warrant, but probably didn't if he was there without backup. For Daredevil, asking for identification was unnecessary. This guy was telling the truth. His heartbeat had not skipped or changed pace. He was satisfied with the man's word.
"Your warrant?" Daredevil asked, nodding to the papers he'd heard the guy place on the dresser top. He lowered his club, yet didn't put it away. He certainly didn't put it in any position that he couldn't still use it.
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/04/2006 13:25:04
"No, that's my evidence," he said, slowly lowering his arms now that the club wasn't right on him. "I couldn't get a warrant. I didn't have anything solid to show them. But I do now."
Darien almost couldn't believe that the guy seemed to be buying it. Even if it was the truth, most people wouldn't take a thief at his word. Especially one claiming to be a cop.
"Since you haven't kicked my ass yet, does this mean you're going to let me go?" There was a fair amount of disbelief in his tone.
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/04/2006 14:18:33
Daredevil took an olifactory inventory of the room. It was a mess for one. And some of the smells that were assaulting him - cocaine, for one - were signals that whomever lived here wasn't as clean-cut as the exterior suggested. There was the stench of stale urine in the corner that someone had attempted to clean up with ammonia, but there were multiple layers of it at this point. There was also the distinctive smell of money in large quanitites, scattered around the room. If anyone was that careless to leave large amounts of money (and cocaine) around, they had to be up to something.
"I wouldn't kick your ass unless you were lying about being a detective and you aren't." Daredevil pointed to the drawer just behind the detective. "The guy who lives here has enough evidence against him right there to throw him in jail for a good ten years." Besides, he thought to himself, It'd be hypocritical of me not to let you go. "So, yeah, I'm going to let you go so you can get your warrant."
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/04/2006 15:47:31
Darien wanted to ask how he knew he wasn't lying, but pushing it would've been stupid. He broke out into a grin, "Well, that's great. I'm glad we understand each other." Really, really glad.
"Now, if you'll excuse me.. I have some goods to collect." He saw the drawer the other man had pointed at, but didn't go for it right now. He'd have plenty of time to get a good look around the room. Turning back to the desk, Darien picked up those papers he had been looking at earlier, sliding them into his backpack.
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/04/2006 18:24:11
Daredevil wasn't about to leave just yet. He remained where he was, still holding the billy club. He wanted to stick around to make sure this guy only took what he needed for his evidence. Something about the guy's demeanor didn't make Daredevil trust him entirely.
"What is the case against him?" Daredevil asked casually. "Since you seem to have gone through all this trouble to get evidence..." He was trying to keep the guy talking so he could mentally maintain the man's location in the room. The shuffling and rifling was enough, but he just wanted to be sure.
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/04/2006 19:07:25
"This guy named DeCosta was murdered," Darien said, looking at the stack of cash he had left there on the dresser. He couldn't take it while the guy was standing right there, though. Just his luck. He kept talking as he moved around the dresser, to open that top drawer the rest of the way.
"I think it was way too clean to be an amateur job. They tried to make it look that way, but there wasn't much evidence at the scene." Giving the contents of the drawer a look of distaste, he started rifling through the socks and underwear inside. "So, I ask around, and I find out that DeCosta owed Kellner here some money. It seemed like a good reason to pay his hacienda a visit."
His fingers closed around something considerably harder than clothes. Darien took a sock out of the drawer and shook it out into his palm, blinking at the small baggie of white powder that tumbled out. He looked from the bag to the hero, bemusedly. What he was wondering was, how'd the guy know to check in the drawer?
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/04/2006 19:27:19
He hadn't been on the court circuit long enough yet to have heard about the latest cases coming through, but what the detective described sounded like one of those cases where the wrong person would be arrested and convicted.
Daredevil stiffened a little. "Definitely a good reason," he agreed.
That was why he did what he did. And sometimes the police didn't have all of the resources he had available - like a bloodhound nose or sonar. Such as the case with the cocaine the detective pulled out of the sock drawer.
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/05/2006 16:36:37
Darien held the baggie away from him as he dumped it into his backpack, zipping it up safely afterwards. He was just hoping there'd be some useable fingerprints on the bag. The idea of even keeping the cocaine around made him uneasy.
He shut the drawer, realizing that he had left the money he found right in plain sight. That wouldn't do. He shot another glance at the hero before sticking his foot behind the dresser again, hitting the switch to open the wall panel. Darien still remembered the combination, and turned the dial quickly, sticking the stack of cash in there once it was open. The safe and the panel door were shut as fast as they had been opened. Goodbye, temptation.
"Well, I think I'm done here," he said, taking another glance around the room before looking at the other man. "If this stuff doesn't help the case, nothing will."
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/05/2006 17:29:36
It's funny what the Devil will make you do. Daredevil smirked as he heard the man close the safe, stowing away the money.
"After you." Standing back so the guy could go through the doorway, he let him go ahead and followed. "I'll be keeping an ear out for this case. Good luck."
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 04/05/2006 20:52:55
"Thanks," Darien said as he took the stairs down to the first floor. It seemed sort of weird to be exchanging pleasantries, but hey, the guy was being real nice about the whole breaking-and-entering thing.
He glanced back over his shoulder at him, "Maybe we'll run into each other again." As long as it didn't involve any dark hallways. Or dark houses. Darien briefly raised his arm to the other man before going through the kitchen and strolling out the back door.
From: [info]i_object Date: 04/05/2006 21:57:55
Daredevil was just helping out someone he felt was doing the same job as he was. He made a mental note to check out this case - not as Daredevil (though he would if he had to), but as Matt Murdock.
"Maybe." He left the way he came, via the second floor bathroom window and over the rooftops. Daredevil disappeared into the darkness without leaving a trace behind him.