---

---

Riley jumped slightly when she heard the door opening again, half of a cookie was in her mouth as she finally finished taking the bite out of it, and set the cookie back down onto her lap. "It's all good, don't worry about it you are just doing your job." Riley said as she went back to what she was doing, which was just eating her desert when Roy started to bring up the case. Riley looked over at Roy and Pyira as she started to fill his partner in on the details of the case already. It was information that she already knew, and remembered the night when Danica either was pushed off the roof Boston Heights or she fell off. Riley didn't really remember, but she did get injured that very night that she remembered, she had the scar where she had stitches to prove it.

Then Roy started to bring up all the Grimm details, which she started to get interested in. "Yeah Lawson was married to my friend Adelaide Grimaldi." Riley said, remembering the news that Marc had given her the day before that she was now happy with Kai, and having twins she really hoped that none of the evens in Justice going on would affect her soon to be family. Then Roy brought up information on Chris' sister, which she nodded.

"I do remember Melissa very well, didn't hang out with the girl that much though since we didn't have classes together and being a few years older." Riley said, she even remembering her back in her high school days, but like her brother Riley didn't really talk to Melissa much either. Then the news of the Cairo bombing happened, which she remembered she was on tour when the news happened, which was sad. But the bombshell that Roy had dropped made her jaw drop "So your saying that Melissa, now Regina Eilheart faked her death in the Cairo bombing or something, and is she apart of Juno as well?" Riley asked as she looked at the computer screen, did she also order the hit on her last night to, just to get back at her for killing her brother Chris back at the reuinion?

Mali picked up on Elizabeth eying Wentworth and made note of it in her head. She probably noticed that they had been watching her, but whatever the case didn't seem to follow up on that anymore than distancing herself and her cronies from them. Of course, she could always suggest to Wentworth that they should relocate, but she didn't want to make it too obvious that they were spying on them. That would just throw a wrench in all the plans she, Wentworth and Zoie/Relic/Tinder had for the night.

Besides, when you got right down to it, Mali didn't really care all that much about that specific batch of people. Yeah, she knew they were important and it would likely pay off if she could keep an ear on them all night, but that statement applied to half the people attending the party. And even if she was stuck socializing the whole time, she could spend it far more productively than following around people who clearly wanted to stick around among their own. It wasn't worth chasing the point as far as she could tell.

At Wentworth's word, Mali took a hard look at his face and tried to decipher was exactly he meant by that. A small part of her was telling her not to overreact and freak out. However, a far more significant portion of her reiterated that there were no such things as coincidences as far as Juno was concerned. Furthermore, his tone of voice indicated to her that it was indeed a warning disguised as a suggestion. This all called into question how much the guy really knew and how involved he was in this whole business. Altogether this just made for yet another reminder how much danger the was behind the facade of glitz and glitter.

"I heard Zoie mention your son earlier," Mali said in response to Wentworth's reminisces over his late son. She hoped her complete removal from business-related topics would signal to him that she was picking up what he was putting down. Regardless, even if he hadn't been trying to subtly keep her from doing anything stupid or life threatening, she didn't really have much better to do at the moment. She could just take a chance and approach someone at random, but the chance that they would be as influential or moreso than Wentworth was... decently high, but not extremely so from what she could gather. More than likely that she'd just keep running into groupies knowing her luck.

"Whatever happened to him to cause his," Mali paused, looking for the proper word to describe the situation correctly without unduly pissing off the businessman, "state of decline?" She could guess based on context clues that it was likely that due to being a rich kid set up to take over daddy's company, he ended up going out to too many parties, ended up getting himself addicted to something like cocaine and then spiraling ever downward through black connections, crime, addiction and alcoholism until he ended up being one of those murdered at that bar last week. But she wasn't here to try being a precog who has knowledge of everyone's private lives before they reveal anything. She was there to talk.

---

---

"No, she definitely is not dead. If she is, I want the number for her dermatologist."

Priya didn't often joke, but this was all so crazy, she had to be dreaming. The fact this case took the turn it did shouldn't have surprised her. She came here to Justice for that reason. She listened as Roy spoke and told the story, the story she was not aware of. How it involved Riley and her friends. She could understand now why Roy wanted Riley in on this, but why not tell her from the get-go then?

Priya listened intently, letting questions rest until the end, once everyone spoke, she put her two cents in, "Ok, so there is a lot more going on here than I originally thought. And now we have video proof that one of the highest powered women is somehow connected to all of this. The question is: what do we do with it?" Did they question her? Should they? Did they tell the FBI? She was not sure how to proceed, which was a first.

---

---

---

Iris hadn't had a chance to read the memo yet and she couldn't help but feel disappointed. Their work was already difficult and challenging in its own right - to help those who had lost their way find the path to happiness once more. But with the relatively tiny amount of aid they got from the state, they were battling not just mental illness but inadequacies - shortages, cameras in need of repairs, overworked orderlies, and so forth. It was something that Iris could not change, no matter how much positive thinking she practiced. The realities of her job could not be escaped.

"Is the coroner going to come to collect the body?" Iris couldn't help but ask. "As for what happened...I was treating a patient of mine - Jaina Sarbye - and she was speaking only in Russian. The UN sent in a translator - Risa Couri or something along those lines - who had a fairly athletic build, brown hair, blue eyes. She spoke with the patient, after which the patient attempted to attack me, but the situation was handled," Iris described. She then went onto describe the attack - how Risa had tied her up and her patient had killed the orderly, with the two escaping before Iris could do anything to stop them.

---

---

---

---

---

"Sometimes life just does that to people," Wentworth said to Mali as he stood there. It is funny how time changes and things happen. It is night now across the west coast. The sun has set and as per usual, when the night comes dark things come out to play. It doesn't matter if you are in Justice or in Mexico, shit is starting to hit the fan. Thing is, things are starting to come together as well. This is one of those moments in time when if there was a narrator reading this for you, you would hear the voice right now saying ~At this time several things occurred~.... What happened exactly? Shall we take a look?

In the files that Thalia was looking through she finally finds a picture from the night of the church shooting. It is a clipping from a newspaper article. In the picture is a woman about middle age, wrapping her arm around a minor female who looks to be in her teens, standing in front of the church with the fire department in the background. Caption... ~Valerie Pye comforting daughter of Entrepreneur Mogul Everett Queensguard, Elizabeth~

Over at the Development and Research Center in Justice, the party was going on despite the fact that security was having some massive issues. Zoie and her brother came out of the bathroom and glanced around. He was cleaned up now and they were both looking around for Mali. Elizabeth, Leann, and Regina are speaking to themselves as Risa and Lucas make the rounds before heading over to them. The Supreme court Justice Zatara Lyo is eying Regina as she taps her champagne glass before placing it on a tray as a waiter passes. She only takes a step or two before she starts choking, gasping for air and falling to her knees.

Wentworth glances over towards Zoie as she and her brother return. "That took long enough, have a sibling spat?" he asked and Zoie could only smirk slightly, not having taken notice that her boss was turning green and blue on the other side of the room. Granted the crowd was thick in there and the noise was loud.

As if that all wasn't enough, the Circus was indeed in town and it seemed there was a trio of crazies headed towards it instead of the Asylum where the forensic team had shown up but it was the B crew that was for sure and it was explained that their main coroner and such was out of town but not to worry, this seemed pretty cut and dry. Once the cops were finished Nurse Cratty said she had it from there as a text came in to the doctor - "Are you doing okay?", it was from Tinder, it seemed he was checking in on her as he sat in the limo.

"I am not sure, I wonder if we can connect her to Chris's first murder.... If we could do that we could shut her down. Sure, exposing her that she faked her death is one thing but considering it came out that her brother was a killer that would just get her sympathy. I'm thinking it's vacation time," Roy suggested. Was he really suggesting going to Grimm Indiana? It wasn't exactly the most calming place in the world.

---

---

Riley looked over towards Pyira when she asked what they should do next with the information that they had now, she wasn't sure if it was enough to make an arrest. Riley stood up and made her way over towards the table pouring herself another cup of soda when Roy suggested next almost made her choke slightly and started to cough several times. She gave him a slight look, she really, really did not want to set foot in Grimm anymore way to many bad memories that she had. But Riley wasn't sure if Chris' serial killings were even connected but if they wanted to look into it then they'd have to go.

Letting out a slight sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose and gave a slight nod. "If it's a lead then I guess we should follow it, I know the deputy sheriff pretty well, since him and I went to school together." Riley said looking at the two of them and then took another drink from the cup of soda. Then she started to remember Chloe's body was still most likely in the morgue or something, looking over at Roy.

"I can get us tickets on thefirst flight to Indiana if you'd like, also is it possible for me to claim my sister's body at all, since we are going to be heading to my hometown i'd at least give her a proper burial. Also we should maybe call Marc since he's also from Grimm, and keep him updated to?" Riley asked, it was something that he'd like to know since it is possibly connected to Lawson's murder.

---

---

The young lady at the computer blew a comma of dark hair out of her face. It was just starting to get a little longer than she liked it; just enough length to put it into her eyes, not enough to pull it back. And she wasn't generally a bandanna kind of girl unless heavy labor was involved. So yeah, it was time for a haircut. Any of the abuelitas would be more than happy to do a quick job, but Thalia knew full well that she would have to sit and suffer through a long lecture about "how pretty her hair was", and "why doesn't she grow it long, like a little princess?", a thing which she was anxious to avoid.

These were the thoughts of a person trying to avoid pain, naturally. The corpse of her favorite person in the world was laying in out to view a floor below, surrounded by people who were technically family, but just didn't know her as well as Thalia did. She was thinking of something comparatively trivial to keep her mind off of this, while simultaneously blanking most of her conscious thoughts so that her brain could just do what it did when she sat down in front of a computer, whatever that was. Her hands moved, stuff happened. Keystrokes later, she got what she needed or she ran into an obstacle that required more than she had right then. It was like swinging a machete sometimes, in that once you do it enough, become comfortable with it, it barely requires thought to bring the blade down.

When the metaphorical blade came down this time, Thalia barely registered it. Caesar, still looming over her in the room, cleared his throat when he noticed that her hands stopped moving and the screen became still. "Sobrina?"₁ he nudged, moving to her side. Her eyes were still moving back and forth as if speed reading, the idea supported by the faintest movement of her lips. "Yah, alright Boss." she responded flatly. The older man did notice that she had slipped from addressing him as family, and more like she was an employee. Caesar noted that this might not be going the route he wanted to take with his brother's child. Thalia piped back up in a distant voice, "Hey, found something on that kid... Wait. That lady you took a contract with in Justice, what was her name?"

"Queensguard." It was Caesar's turn to respond flatly.

"Elizabeth Queensguard?"

Time stopped for a second. Ceasar dropped to a knee to better see the monitor, even as Thalia swiveled her machine around to show him. It was a picture of a younger Valerie Pye, holding a young teenage girl in front of a church, as part of an archived newspaper. The caption identified the girl as daughter of Everett Queensguard, Elizabeth. "This..." started Caesar. He was unsure of the significance of this image, but he knew it was significant. "She was there. When Juno got massacred, she was there." Well, when this incarnation of Juno bit it, anyway. If the Wentworth file was to be believed, Juno had a very different lineup back in the 80's. How far back did it go? Roman Goddess codenames adopted by a differing series of prominent women, one of whom was (briefly) his Alicia. Caesar entered this new information into the company intranet and sent a copy to Keystone. In case anything happened, others should know.

...back in Justice...

Keystone and Vinters reached the nearest security checkpoint to the event. Before rounding the corner, he was already calling for a report and making plans to access the heavier arms therein. If those asshats were slacking at their posts instead of being directly on top of a very, very possible physical intrusion of the grounds, there would be Hell to pay. Or worse, there would be a pissed-off Cockney East End Londoner as big as a luxury sedan to pay, and he didn't take an I.O.U.

---

---

What started as a cold case involving the FBI turned into a secret driven years back and now she found herself being asked to go to Indiana to pursue it. It wasn't what she was expecting, but it was intense all the same. She didn't know what she was getting herself into, but she had a feeling this case was bigger than she anticipated. Did the Captain know that going in? Did he partner her up with Roy knowing this?

"This is happening very fast, you realize. I only just got into town a bit ago and now we're flying off to Indiana? There's more going on here, I realize, and I expect the full story. If we're going to go, we need to go soon. The longer we wait, the more likely we lose this lead and have to start over."

This was different than New York. Justice was proving to be an interesting town.

That wasn't the answer she'd been expecting from Wentworth, but then again, he was talking about his son. From the description she'd gotten from Zoie and Relic, and her own prejudices she'd been under the impression that he had hated Ronnie, but quite the opposite seemed to be the case. Now that she thought about it again, perhaps her question had been to personal for him, and he just picked an answer that was vague enough for her to not pursue that line of questions and further. They had only been talking a short while after all. Even so, she felt like she had a better grasp on who he was as a person than either of her fellow party guests. They seemed to only see the surface level asshole, but if what she was sensing was there, behind that was a far more interesting, complex person.

"Yeah, that took quite a while," Mali agreed, idly swirling her drink around the glass. "Did one of you trip and fall into a toilet or something?" Immediately as the words left her mouth, she realized how poorly they fit into the context of 'hanging out at a high class party,' but she kept going, not letting the potential faux pas slip her up. She figured that neither Relic nor Zoie would desire to stick around the guy for much longer, so she needed to wrap up the conversation quickly.

"Regardless, it was nice talking with you, Wentworth. Would there be any way for me to get in touch with you later down the line?" Knowing how Zoie and Relic seemed to think of the guy, Mali figured that particular statement would come right out of the left field for them, so she kept them in her peripheral vision. She wanted to see how exactly they'd react. She still had no clue what she would do with such information, but she doubted she'd get anything from him otherwise. Potential hidden character depth aside, the man didn't seem like he was the thoughtful, giving type. And even now, she was pretty sure he'd turn her down, but dwelling on the chances of failure was not how you progressed in anything.

---

---

---

Iris couldn't help but feel a bit skeptical. Sure, she knew everything that had happened - she'd witnessed it - but she also felt she'd watched enough CSI to imagine that other clues could be hidden somewhere. Sure, she knew CSI and forensics weren't actually the same thing - one was fictional and the other a field of science - but the B team forensics crew wasn't exactly inspiring confidence. And why had her cousin left town? She'd seen her just the evening before - and although they weren't close, she imagined Cecily would have mentioned going on vacation or something along those lines.

Iris nodded at Nurse Cratty, before heading back to her office. She wanted to see if she could find out anything else about her two missing patients - or the women who abducted them. As she headed back over there, she felt her phone vibrate and she took it out, seeing a message from Agent Tinder. She smiled slightly before shooting off a reply - Merci, doing well! The police just left. They think it's open and shut but...I'm not confident they found everything they could find. The coroner's out of town as well, which is strange, as she was here last night...

---

---

---

---

---

Roy looked over towards Riley, he had nearly forgotten that her sister had been killed in a drive by over in the Deadlight District. It wasn't something that was exactly easy to forget but he wasn't on the case, he didn't see it in person, and he had been taking care of other things. The main one was keeping Riley alive. That was still on the top of his list for whatever reason. He looked over to her and nodded a bit. "Yeah, but you can't pick it up. That would put you in direct firing range. People would know you were coming for her. I will have Rogue transfer the body," he said as he pulled his phone out and sent a text.

To Rogue: I need a favor, send through a transfer request for Wednesdays older sister back home - whoever the Lurch is there. Need to keep Negasonic Teenage Warhead out of the hands of Magneto and the rest of the hoard, gotta get her back to Xaviers. (Translation - Transfer Chloe to Grimms County Coroner, gotta take Riley home and get her out of Justice.)

Hitting the send button he tried to force a smile. He hoped to god his partner figured out just what the hell he was talking about right then because he couldn't exactly say it out right in case their phones got found later or something else went wrong.

Reaching into his jacket, Wentworth pulled out a business card and held it out for Mali to take. "Anytime," was all he said as he handed it over.

"Yeah, things were complicated. Hard to find soda without something already mixed in it back there," Zoie said and Relic pulled at his collar. "But we got everything handled." Hopefully she didn't need to say more than that.

"Someone help her!!!" a woman yelled as Zatara flopped around on the ground as foaming blood started to come out of her mouth. That got peoples attention right fast as the band stopped playing and the room went silent. Wentworth craned his neck and started to push through the crowd, stepping over and finally getting a look at the scene.

"Disappointing," he mumbled under his breath.

Glancing back over to Priya, Roy nodded. "Right, you'll get the full story, on the flight. Riley, make the call. Let's head out," he said as he got up and grabbed a bag. He was quick to start packing as many of the weapons as he could. Sure they might be leaving Justice but that didn't mean they would get out of the city alive and even if they did, only god knew what awaited them in Grimm.

Tinder looked down at his phone as the message came in and quirked a brow. Why would the coroner have left town? Hitting a button on the phone he pulled up another number and sent out another message.

To New York: Any reason why the newly appointed coroner is out of town?

Looking up Tinder perks a brow as he heard a shout from inside and made his way up the stairs. Zoie and the rest were inside, that better not have been Zoie. Risa spun around and looks over at the floor where Zatara is lying, now dead. Adams looked over to McCormick and Elizabeth. "Well that was unexpected," she said quietly. Elizabeth did not look happy at all.

"Bloody hell," the woman who was hosting the event said. Pulling out her phone she hit a button and let it ring, waiting for the pick up. "Care to explain how someone just got murdered right in front of me?" she would ask when Keystone picked up. If not it would be left on his voicemail.

As Angel is going through the files she finds a video file and is able to bring it up. It is Alicia again. "If you are seeing this, good work Cuz. This wasn't easy to get but I hope you can see this thing is deep and goes back decades. I am not sure how far back yet but a long way. I'm trying to get as much information as I can but from what I have gathered that isn't in the files is that Lawson had files on White, known as Mr. March in Juno. He was the 4th Mr. March. The first was Russell Avery. There were two others before him but I don't have names yet. There is a fifth now, he's a little grim and can start a fire but..." she said before the video went dead and a notice popped up on the screen - Corrupted. The screen went red and it was obvious that it was being hacked right then. The outline of a cat with an ankh necklace popped up on the screen just long enough to be seen before the computer over heated and the flash drive melted. It was gone.

In the common room in the Asylum it seemed that even more was going down. "This is Gretchen Wilds of Channel Five news, there is an alert out now for the city. A white tiger was seen running around the city. We have questioned the Russian Circus in town but they assure us all of their animals are accounted for. Be careful if you are near Justice Airport." The woman went silent and ducked quickly as a gun was fired off in the background and a man dropped dead. Crossing the screen quickly was a woman with a long blonde pony tail and a black hat on her head, followed by two that couldn't be made out. It was a blur. "We are experiencing technical difficulties, we will keep you appraised of the situation, back to One Life To Live," the anchor man broke in before the station cut the feed and it went back to the soap operas.

Zoie walked over and gasped slightly as she spotted Zatara laying on the ground.

---

---

Riley gave Roy a slight smile and nod. "Thank you Roy, I do mean it." She said softly, she understood why she couldn't go there herself at least right now she had a big target on her back right now. She looked over towards Pyira and nodded, towards her if she needed to get filled in on what happened in Grimm she could. "If you want info on the serial killer back at home I can fill you in of course." Riley said as she started to pull out her temporary phone again. "Tim probably isn't gonna be happy the case is being looked into again." Riley said to herself as she started to dial Timothy Grayson's number and then started to put it on speaker so that both Roy and Pyria could hear into the conversation as well letting the phone ring. Good thing she didn't really have anything that she needed to pack up she was just wearing the clothes on her back right now pretty much.

Riley watched as Roy started to fill up the duffel bags with guns, she knew that they were still in Justice but they were certainly not going to be allowed to bring guns into the airport itself for obvious reasons. "You know once we are at the airport we cant bring those in right? I don't want to be put on some kind of terrorist watch list." Riley said half jokingly, but she was also being serious if anyone recognized her and seeing her coming out of a car with a bunch of guns in it wouldn't turn out well for anyone really.

---

---

The relief on Thalia's face was palpable, even as Caesar became more sullen and remote. Seeing and hearing his deceased daughter on the computer screen gave him more than an ounce of mixed emotions. Not the least of which was a sense of urgency - one which prompted him to use his training as an Investigator to try to commit as much of what she was saying down to memory. Caesar had taken down as much information as he could and filed it away on his sat phone as well as company intranet, not to mention the small updates he had been sending Keystone (a thing which gave the big man profound irritation, though Caesar did not know that). But that last bit, followed by the sudden destruction of the flash drive, had taken him completely unaware.

Struggling to maintain what he had retained in the labyrinth of blood and very businesslike chaos that was his mind, Caesar turned his attention to the various apps on his device that would prompt the speedy recording and distribution of information before it began to be altered by the maelstrom of compromised emotion that was he. What gave him the most concern and simultaneously the biggest head scratch was the image of a cat with an ankh just seconds before the system flared and burned out the flash drive. To the best of his knowledge, that was impossible. Thalia had clearly taken proper precautions when accessing the file, following getting the countermeasure under control, and whomever was hacking her machine directly would have to know that she was accessing that offline drive at that moment. The implications of that thought were damned grim indeed. Had his Familia been infiltrated? Compromised somehow?

Thalia herself was about to hit a level of batshit that she had previously not been able to reach without pharmaceutical assistance. She quickly disengaged the flash drive and disconnected her system from the secure (possibly "secure") network at the Hacienda and ran a quick diagnostic. If her machine was harboring an unwanted guest or more corrupted data, she needed to know immediately. Getting a whole new computer would be a pain. Luckily, she kept most of her important stuff on individual, external drives. Starting over would be full of suck, but the process could go quickly.

---

---

Keystone answered his phone immediately, figuring on it being Caesar finally cutting out the text messages and file uploads. It was an unfortunate circumstance that it was in fact not his boss, but their contract holder here in Justice. And boy, did she have a compelling question: "Care to explain how someone just got murdered right in front of me?"

That security checkpoint was ever two steps away from him, seemingly forever and a day since he had attempted to get himself and the Tech lady following him to it for a report. Now it seemed that, in addition to every single checkpoint refusing to answer him, he had gotten no word whatsoever about someone being killed on his watch, neither by means of security measures (panic button, med emergency alert, fire alarm, etc.), nor a communication by any personnel on scene. It was as if the only people present that were doing their jobs at MSS was himself, Ibanez, Vinters, Huang, and Whitmore. And he hadn't heard back from Whitmore comparatively in a while, either.

The MSS Justice Branch had problems. Damned big ones. Keystone would have given a lot right then to have Alicia alive and in charge, or Caesar back scaring the hell out of people with a glance. His people were useless, and they were supposed to be his eyes and ears in this place, especially now as the cameras were down. He might as well answer the lady. Keystone owed her that much. "No ma'am. Ain't capable of explainin' somethin' I wasn't witness to. We're goin lockdown. A detail will be with you on the immediate."

Keystone turned his attention to his comm unit, establishing the clearest, most forceful tone he could muster short of yelling. "Right. Complex is on total lockdown. I want the party sealed off - no one in an no one out for the duration without my personal okay, y'get me? Don't give a bloody twatfart who they says they are. HUB: Get the on-call list for tonight, an' ring up every bugger what's on it. Ibanez: I want cameras and satellites back right bloody now." The painful thought on this was that they would have to bring in the police now, a thing which he most assuredly did not want. The Justice cops had a reputation for corruption. But the legalities of the matter were clear; MSS had a right to detain people only so long as they are waiting for law enforcement to take over a scene, and then maintain a presence so long as it was private property and did not interfere with their investigation. Keystone was no investigator. Caesar was, but he wasn't there.

The possibility that the murder was a distraction from something else did not escape him. But someone was killed, someone else did it, and their contract holder was in the room with both of them. He turned around and returned to the door leading to the main room of the Gathering of the Social Elite. Keystone gave himself a couple of seconds to get in a deep breath ad blow it out, just enough time for an existing security detail to merge with his group of two on the scene. "Secure exits. One man on Queensguard at all times, that'll likely be m'self unless I say otherwise. No one goes nowhere, right?" Into his comm, "I want perimeter and checkpoint sweeps, and I mean right fongin' now or the lot of you'll be sacked before I dim your bloody bulbs. And make the call. Boys in blue need t'be notified." He nodded to Vinters, secure in the concept that she would hang on his last order, that being to stay with him. As soon as the ground security team acknowledged their places taken, Keystone opened the doors, assigned a sentry, and walked straight to Elizabeth.

"Ma'am, this might be a good time to get you to your office and put on a kettle, if you take my meaning. Need statements, an' there's a killer still in this room."

...meanwhile, at the front gate...

"What d'ya mean, lockdown? No, we're expected, y'see!" An accent very much like Keystone's emanated from the backseat of a Yellow Cab, prompting a small argument and a couple of light punches from the persons squished into the vehicle's seating. As it turned out, the event plus the mishaps that had plagued the evening had made Keystone completely forget about his friends from London, and the fact that he was supposed to pick them up at the airport. Oh, but his face would be red when he remembered this one, but for the meantime, they had to dig out and show off their official MSS employee IDs. Then submit to a scan. Then show a picture of themselves in a bunny suit. Or something equally as mortifying.

---

---

Priya picked up what was being said. They would be going to Indiana to deal with this issue as well as whatever was going on with Riley. If they wanted to tell her on the plane, then fine. Especially when mentioning a serial killer. That struck Priya a little too close to home. Hopefully, her questions would be answered later then, because at this point she didn't understand much of anything anymore.

Priya followed Roy as he began filling a bag with guns. It seemed a little overkill to her at that point, but she was flying blind. "Are we going to need that much firepower? Seems a bit much." She hoped Roy knew what he was doing. And if they did need this many guns, just what the hell was this story going to unfold into?

Mali took Wentworth's card; however, lacking her normal pockets or some sort of purse to stash her things in, had to find some place to stick the thing. She could only think of one that would be more or less secure, but she really didn't want to do that surrounded by so many people. However, the distressed yell was enough to draw everyone else's attention away from her. Given this brief window of opportunity, Mali slipped the card into her bra under the dress, making sure it wouldn't easily slip out just moving about.

Hands now free she quickly triangulated from where the disturbance came from. The more paranoid part of her brain told her to stay away, that was where all the danger was. But she was curious. She wanted to see what the hubbub was all about. She needed to see. It was like Danica all over again. So Mali muscled her way through the crowd, allowing Zoie and Relic behind her much easier access if they followed her to find the body of Zatara lying on the ground, blood pooled in her mouth, spilled onto the floor to either side of her.

Mali grimaced in shock and disgust. Oh god, it really was like Danica. Now that she thought about it, she'd been to two parties while living in Justice and both of them had been interrupted by murder, at this rate, she'd never be able to go to another social event again, lest a trail of bodies litter the dance floor.

Cursed social life aside, she tried to figure out what exactly this was supposed to mean, and more importantly, what she was supposed to do in this situation. This was murder, no if ands or buts about it. Likely poison. Note to self: do not drink or eat anything else here. Chances were that she wasn't even close to being a blip on the map of these people, but she wasn't going to chance that.

But whoever did this was likely targeting her specifically, and planned it to happen precisely at this time and place. Zatara's killer was doing this to send a message. A message to whom? Juno? Zoie? Her? Mali had no clue. Perhaps if she were some sort of train professional who could perform an autopsy on the former Justice right now, she'd be able to figure more out, but alas. She was just a girl who had to rely on speculation to make her way through these situations.

"Should we be making our exit," Mali whispered to Zoie, "Or do you want for us to wait for the police to show up?" Last time the cops and media had been a giant hassle to deal with, and personally, she wasn't looking forward to doing it again. Relic's presence also probably made hanging around law enforcement something of a risk. But trying to leave now could also cause issues she couldn't think through at the moment. So she'd ask her more experienced partner for advice. If for whatever reason Zoie didn't seem capable or willing to take charge, then she'd step in for better or worse.

---

---

---

---

---

Roy looked over towards Riley and chuckled a bit. "I can take them, I just can't take them as carry on. I will check my bags and give my ID," he explained. Traveling with weapons actually wasn't an uncommon thing, most flights had some sort of load of guns in the baggage area. That was in an area of the plane that people wouldn't access during the flight. Now carrying a gun onto the plane, that was another story but even then his side arms and Priyas wouldn't be an issue. They had their badges, so they would be able to travel with their service weapon.

Luckily for Roy things were going smoother than down in Mexico because Angels computer was shot. Whatever had just happened had melted the flash drive but in the process fried the mother board. That wasn't exactly something Alicia would have done to destroy evidence. She would have just nuked the information and cleaned the drive by some line of code buried deep. This was an outside source. It was a source that effected several items connected to the internet during this time. They weren't fried as well but there was obvious that some glitch had created a ripple effect at this point.

Marc had barely made it into the building when it went on lock down, yet they weren't letting him into the main room as of yet. That was where Elizabeth was, along with all of her high target guests. Zoie didn't register she was being spoken to for a minute but finally looked over and shook her head. Even if the building wasn't on lock down it would look bad if they were to leave now. Yet she couldn't exactly say that. She couldn't even kneel down to the woman who lay with red foam trickling out of her mouth right then, that would look like too much.

Ms. Queensguard nodded towards Keystone. "The Admiral as well," she instructed. Regina looked none too happy to be left out as Elizabeth and Leann walked off and towards the hallway. Relic wasn't liking this either but Wentworth seemed not to give a good damn as he pulled out a high standing chair at the bar and sat down, ordering another drink. Zoie on the other hand did manage to whisper to Mali that cops most likely wouldn't be called, even if the chief of police was here, at least not yet. Queenie preferred things to be handled internally.

It was something that Roy knew about, handling things internally that was. Looking over towards Priya as he zipped up the bag. "There is never too much. We are leaving one town with a lot of murder and going to the home town of a serial killer. I'd pack more if I thought I could carry it," he said as he shouldered it. "I would ask if you want to pack anything Riley but like hell we are going back to your place," he added before turning back to Priya. "Now, do you need to grab anything from your place?" he asked. He wanted to get on the road. They sooner they were out of Justice the better. If he had known what was going on near the airport right then he would have opted to drive to San Fran and take a flight out of there instead.

---

---

Riley nodded slightly, it was probably a good thing to have protection though she wasn't an officer or government worker so she wouldn't be able to actually carry a gun on hand like Pyira and Roy could. "I'll just cling to you two like glue then." Riley said with a slight smile, as she leaned herself up against the front door looking over at Pyira then Roy. As much as she wanted to go back and get some of her things like her laptop and maybe a change of clothes she was still wearing the clothes she wore the day before. "I'll just get a change of clothes at the airport if it comes to it and maybe something to entertain myself with while on the flight." She then took out her phone deciding to text both Cecily and Marc, just to tell them where she was going, and to make sure that they didn't go to her apartment just for safety.

To CeCe:
"Hey, Cicely wherever you are if you headed back to Justice make sure to stay away from the apartment for now. Heading back to my hometown for a bit wish me luck."

To Marc:
"Hey Marc, heading back to Grimm with Roy and his new partner for a bit following some kind of lead there. Just wanted to let you know where i'll be."

Riley hit send on both of them and looked at the two of them. "I'll wait out by the car." Riley said as she watched Roy packing up the last of the guns into the bag and started to open the door and making her way towards Roy's car making sure that she looked around and tried to make sure that no one saw her face. They were in a really shady part of the city, and a music celebrity would probably be a good person to jump, Riley just made sure that her face was hidden and facing the safe house.

---

---

Caesar expected his niece to do something irrational. And by "irrational", he meant loud, messy, and damaging to properties both private and public. Perhaps the computer would find its way outside by means of a balcony window. Maybe said window would be closed at the time, offering someone an opportunity to be showered with bits of broken glass. The young lady had certainly taken on the appearance of someone who was about to lose their calm in a manner that promised anything from medical attention or a cleanup on aisle four. But she did not. Thalia carefully disconnected her machine, closed the monitor down onto the keyboard, and turned it to one side. The flash drive was trash. The computer was trash. Maybe she could get a new one on the quick; these potentially violent persons with whom she surrounded herself were a resourceful bunch. Besides, they were family. It wouldn't be the same, though. Hers was a fairly personalized machine, and they would have to get one off-the-rack. ...unless...

"I had half a mind, sobrina, to get you to take a look at Alicia's computer. It's the best money can buy. When we're done here, I'll make sure that it gets to you. Come on now, there's nothing else we can do here. Let's get back to the viewing."

The angry little Angel's voice registered as businesslike, even hard, but not quite angry. She turned on the television in her room and found a music channel, then cranked the volume to discourage anyone listening from outside of the room or electronically. "You can hand it to me in person, Caesar. I'm coming with you." The look of confusion on the older man's face must have been evident. He had briefly considered asking her to lend her expertise, seeing as she was the only other one in his close family with computer skills like Alicia, but he had said nothing out loud about it. She continued, providing an explanation in the same tone of voice of a lady tending to a contractual issue. "I don't think you understand what just happened, Tio. The Hacienda's secure communications platform was breached, and whoever did it was able to dump countermeasure onto me that had enough feedback to cause an immediate physical meltdown of my machine. They can probably tell which part of the complex we're in right now based on signal strength. We are being watched. I'm part of this now, if I want to be or not. And I want full salary. Perks. Just like Boston, but with immediate hazard pay, retroactively to account for today. And a fucking bike - you know what I like."

Caesar fell silent for a moment. This was not part of the deal. La Hacienda was a goddamned fortress. They were safe here. This was the place where they went to fall back and regroup, then put the hurt on whatever needed it. Now his family was at risk. This would not do at all. Finally, he spoke. "Deal. But you're staying out if it as much as possible. You do your work at the office, you stay somewhere secure, you go out with escort. Understood?"

She nodded resolutely, locking hazel eyes with hazel eyes, an interesting family trait. She may have had mixed blood and her last name was Carmichael, but when push came to stab she was all Gonzalez. "Understood, Boss." Thalia made sure to emphasize that last word, indicating a more professional relationship. Of course, things on scene tended to change the nature of their agreement out of necessity. It always did.

"Good. One more thing: You're telling your father."

---

---

"Right away then, Ma'am." intoned Keystone, sticking close to Elizabeth. His hands looked poised to go for a firearm as readily as they were to pummel someone to death with ham-sized fists. Vinters followed closely behind and to the left, taking on a classic escort position to allow for unobstructed lines of sight. When the Admiral joined them, she moved slightly to account for the increased presence and allowed Keystone to have continued access to the man contract holder.

It was with some surprise that his phone started to silently go off in his pocket again. He gave a quick check to make sure it wasn't just Caesar with another piece of information, and was thusly surprised to be getting video. Two fairly brawny individuals sporting cockney accents were calling from the gate to request entry from the Man In Charge himself. "Sorry, you lot. Lit'le incident 'ere at the shop, kept my attention rapt and 'bout it. Point me at the bloke at the gate... Oi! They're in order, perfect order. Give'em their cards back, point'em to the Hub, right? No one else in!"

Mali wasn't sure what exactly to think, looking at Zoie's initial lack of reaction to what she'd asked. Was she actually not in a stater of mind to answer? Maybe she just didn't hear her. The room was pretty crowded and she had been whispering. Should she repeat the question but speak up? Would it be safe to do so? Luckily, she didn't have to worry about all that for very long.

It looking suspicious to leave now was certainly a reason to not leave, and she could accept it. Of course, everything being handled internally could cause even more trouble for them than the simple police investigation. But sound reasoning aside, it didn't seem like Zoie was put together enough to keep control of the whole situation and well, Relic wasn't really the leader type in an IRL context. So she resolved to take charge of this whole clusterfuck until somebody told her to stop.

First, they needed to get away from Zatara's body, and by proxy all these people. They wouldn't be able to talk about anything here. Even putting aside security issues, the air was starting to take on that musty, muggy quality when a lot of people were too close to each other in an enclosed space for too long. Gently she grabbed Zoie's hand (without even thinking consciously about the contact at that) and Relic's shoulder and pulled them away from the crime scene proper.

"C'mon, let's get some privacy." At this point she had more or less discarded the whole "blend in with the upper crust" plan she had been thinking about this entire day. Fuck it, she was going to proceed acting as she normally would now. Anyone whou didn't like it could shove their judgements up their own ass as far as she cared. With a bit of direction from Zoie, and a set of functioning eyeballs, she was able to get them to a relatively secluded area by a stairwell.

"Alright. There's been a giant wrench thrown into our plans, but I think we might be in a more fortunate position than we could imagine. From what I can tell, the higher ups are in just as bad a situation as we are. Lots of things are going wrong, and Elizabeth doesn't seem to be a strong enough leader to keep her shit together. This could be a rare chance where Juno is in disarray and we can take advantage of this and learn or do all sorts of things we'd not be able to do otherwise."

"But first, I'm tired of being left in the dark about seemingly everything important. Why are we here? What's your goals for the night? Where the hell did you disappear to for so long? And if you know anything else about this place, I'd really like to know." Mali recognized she really didn't have much legitimate justification for demanding all this information, but again, at this point she kind of stopped giving a damn. Being a continual passive agent only seemed to get her injuries and front row tickets to murders. Anytime in Justice she went out and actually did things she had no business doing, they paid off. She wasn't going to sit around with her thumb in her ass and wait for the security agents to clean up the bodies tonight, and if being an actively player meant acting entitled to things she hadn't earned, so be it.

---

---

---

Iris paused in the common area of the asylum as she headed back to her office, the news report catching her eye. The soap opera itself wasn't interesting, but the mention of the Russian Circus, followed by a blonde with a ponytail...She wasn't a huge believer in coincidence, yet Iris was certain the two figures she couldn't make out on the screen were her missing patients. The Russian Circus seemed to be involved somehow as well, and on reflection, it made sense. Jaina had been a member prior to the accident, according to her files.

"Nurse Cratty? If anyone needs me, I'm going out - doing some research for a patient," Iris said, stopping by the nurse's station as she headed out. Once she was outside of the asylum, Iris thought as to whether or not she should let Tinder know what she was doing - but he seemed to be rather busy. She pulled out her phone, doing a quick search as to where she could find the Russian Circus. Hopefully they'd have some information for her - and if they did, then she could forward that onto the agent. She didn't want to waste his time when he was in a life and death situation.

Meanwhile, Iris' third cousin, coroner extraordinaire, shot off the following replies -

To: Old Man Logan
Driving. Got Dr. Strange replying for me. Putting in the request now.

To: Gambit
Stay safe!