[color=gray][h3]???, Smoke Risers[/h3][/color][sub][b]Mentions:[/b] - [color=gray]||[/color] [b]Interactions:[/b] - (written in collaboration with [@Estylwen]) [/sub]
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As Swift exited through to the other side of the alley, her luck would indeed be capitalized on that day. Ahead of her was what appeared to be a very normal-looking warehouse. However, deep within the warehouse, there was an impossible space that bounced back at her. Almost like infinite space folding back in on itself. 

She was immediately intrigued. [i]You don't see that everyday...[/i] she thought. Truthfully one wouldn't normally see that [i]at all.[/i] She had never encountered anything like it before with her gyft at any rate.

However, when she went to investigate, she found the outside door was locked. If she wanted to figure out the source of this strange enigma, she would have to break in.

Swift brought a hand up to rub her opposite arm through her coat, chirping inaudibly to make sure no one else was in the immediate area. It was still early, but there were no sign of workers nearby. She couldn't rule out that the warehouse wasn't in use though. It was possible it was a storage facility of some kind, for someone that had a... strange gyft. Maybe a magic pocket, 'tear a hole in space' type of ability in which they could deposit any number of things? And they kept that dimensional door hidden for good reason.

Or maybe not. She'd have to investigate further regardless.

The woman fetched a small lock picking kit from the inside of her glove. After some finessing, and without anyone else in the area to be the wiser, the door was picked open. It swung back with ease, revealing an old, dusty warehouse. It wasn't really filled with much, just a few crates, and more closed doors. The windows were smeared with dust, dimming any light that came in. She stepped into the building and quietly closed the door behind her.

There was a master light control panel beside the front door. Then there were metal grate stairs that went upstairs to the offices. And, in the cement square that constituted as the warehouse laid out before her, at the end was a small hallway with a number of doors. One door had that trademark ‘folding space’ behind it, though initially it looked completely normal from a distance.

[i]What on Earth...?[/i] Swift thought to herself, pressing her hand gently to the door's surface. It felt like normal wood, cool to the touch.

She had noted the offices but bypassed them for the moment, wanting to confirm what it was that she was 'seeing' first. Then she would check for any records stored in the building. Her heart beat a little faster at the mysterious feeling behind the door. She was fairly sure it wasn't something like a black hole that would suck her in, or else it could hardly be stored inside of a building, but there was a little nervousness all the same. She gently tried the handle in order to peek in.

She would find the handle locked. And, curiously, there was a sliding panel and a small handle in the center of the door. Pulling it up revealed a hollow in the door that was deeper than what a door would normally be. And it was perfectly sized, with notches to accommodate. Anyone who knew the standard size of Nocturnian gold bars knew it was exactly ten (100 Wealth) of them that fit in this hidden compartment. There were more lines etched in the wood of the hollow, making circles to highlight where the gold would go. It was like a tribute.

Besides that, there wasn't an obvious other way to open the door. The handle had resistance, indicating it was locked, but there was no lock to pick.

She stared at the door's offering space, then took a step back and stared at the door itself. She'd never seen anything quite like it.

But it must have been what her boss was looking for.

Swift pursed her lips. She had no idea who would have built such a thing or why it required so much money to open (an uber-wealthy person, perhaps?), but she had an inkling of how she might find out. She slipped out of the hallway, keeping to the edges of the building as she made her way towards the stairs inside. She had left the lights off so as not to arouse suspicion, navigating with her gyft, and once she carefully climbed the metal she poked her head into the rooms on the upper floor. Was this place as abandoned as it looked, or were there desks, filing cabinets, or other things she could look through for anything that might shed some light on what exactly was being housed here?

Indeed, though the offices were sparse, many of them did indeed have desks and filing cabinets. The first office Swift ducked into was neat and tidy, even the garbage bin was empty. There was an off-powered computer, though it was fair to assume it was password protected. Though, there were no locks on the filing cabinet. Filing through it, in the P section, a property certificate came up, where the city authenticated that this warehouse was owned in the name of… an Ig Notus.

Swift stared at the file for a moment, frowning on the inside but perfectly calm on the outside. She flicked through a few more folders before quietly closing the drawer. This was more than enough. She departed as silently as she'd come, locking the warehouse back up as she left.

[hr][color=gray][h3]Two Blocks from Home Free, Smoke Risers[/h3][/color][sub][b]Mentions:[/b] - [color=gray]||[/color] [b]Interactions:[/b] Swift and Adam & Eve (in collaboration with [@LanaStorm])[/sub]
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Although Swift was careful not to rush, or more specifically not to appear as though she was rushing, she did make one mistake in her haste to leave Smoke Risers. It was a long way back to Silverside from Nocturnia’s northernmost area, so when the vague district line separating Smoke Risers from Grey Square was within sight she went for it.

There were people around but they were sparse. She hadn’t known they were police until she was close enough that they could see her. [i]Off duty… or undercover,[/i] she thought with a small grimace. Turning around would be suspicious though, so she continued on. Her expression smoothed out into one of calm as she intended to walk right by the officers.

Before she had a chance a meaty lunchbox sized hand grabbed her bicep from behind. “Going somewhere little lady?” Adam said, his pectoral build straining his once beautiful patrol officer uniform. Outflanking her was Eve, the two had secured the sector. Killed everyone but a little boy and defused a bomb, now what was this nosey little mouse up to? Eve had spied her little eye on her for a while.

“Don’t fight too much~” Purred Eve coming up along her other side grabbing her bicep. Decked out in tactical gear itching for a reason.

Swift kept still, not wanting the situation to go downhill. It was already less than ideal. She frowned though, looking between the man and woman as she tried to pull their names from anything she'd read about the Blue Bloods.

"I was planning to go home," she answered honestly. "Is there a problem, officers?"

“Same, why you sniffin’ around radioactive city little girl?” Adam said, as Eve took out some cuffs clicking them in place on her wrists. “Got any weapons on you?” She moved her behind the patrol car that was parked, patting her down away from any cameras for the time being.

"Wha-?" Swift blinked in surprise as the metal closed around her wrists. She didn't struggle so much as dig her heels in slightly when the two of them guided her towards their squad car. "No, I- I don't have anything like that."

And it was true, she didn't carry any weapons on her. There wasn't so much as a box cutter to be found. The only things Eve found were a simple wallet, a phone, and a device that looked a little like the Life Alert from those old commercials.

It figured that since she'd found what she was looking for so easily that her luck would turn now. Swift let out a shallow sigh. Now came the tiring part. Her process was much like how her boss had taught. First was play dumb, play innocent.

"I'm not being charged with anything, am I?" she asked, forcing her voice to quaver as though frightened.

“Restricted area y’know?” Adam said. “You’re trespassing little girl, full of rads too. You steal any plutonium from the plants?” Eve snapped back turning out what she could shaking her down. 

“Who are you and what’re doing here, answer our questions ‘n maybe you don’t goto the Jeweled Bank tonight. They’d tear your ass up.” Adam says laughing thumbing through her wallet.

There was nothing interesting in it - an ID with a matching photo of the woman they were bullying which stated her alleged name as 'Madeline Thompson', fifty seven dollars in cash, a giftcard to a frozen yogurt shop chain.

More curious was the flicker of distaste that crossed her features. She knew the Blue Bloods were dirty cops, but she hadn't thought they would be quite so obvious about it. There were few things Swift hated more than a corrupt cop, and it showed in her eyes; only briefly, but it was there. And she decided that she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

Dropping her pretense all too quickly, Swift's voice returned to her calmer tone. "Every time a district changes hands, opportunists swarm in to find and sell information. I am one such opportunist. Unfortunately your squad is very... thorough at cleaning up after yourselves. If there was anything interesting to find, someone else already has."

“So you’re saying we’re so good there is no information to find because it got scrubbed lil girl?” Adam said thumbing through the wallet looking at those small noc noc bills and noc noc yogurt card before putting her things back on her person. “Yeah an opp-ortunist huh? Who you working for, that Vincent fuck? Del Nickel-arde, whatever it’s called?” Eve chirped back. Blue bloods had nothing to fear, literally - they were the police.

"...the Silver Canary."

“Ah bird brain, what’s that cheese ball want with the smoke risers pipsqueak?” Adam said holding onto the woman’s arm now.

"As I said, in the confusion of a takeover there are usually valuable pieces of information to find." Swift tensed at the grip on her arm, but she did nothing but fix Adam with a dark stare. "I'm here for business as usual, as it were."

She shifted, the metal clamped around her wrists uncomfortable. "Would you uncuff me, officers? If you have more questions for me, I won't run. I know I won't get far."

“Alright collaborator, we’ll uncuff you.” Eve said looking to Adam. “Collaborator that like a bird?” Adam said back, slowly uncuffing her but itching for a reason to throw the lady around like a rabid malinois.

“In Noc Noc City? I think so, that’s what they serve at Noc Noc Chow. Now little lady give it to us straight, you work for the Silver Dodo. You sniff around the sectors we take over, so tell us what you found in Battleford and Ragged Gavel!” Eve said with some effort to show she was still a cop, kinda.

Swift looked between the siblings, gently rubbing her skin once it was freed. They were quite the pair. She didn't know if they were trying to get a rise out of her or this was just how they were all the time, but regardless they wouldn't have much fun with a woman like Swift. She was not one to rise to bait, and her reactions were dull if she had any at all.

"I was not assigned those districts," she told them honestly. "But I believe we only found a lot of leftover blood."

One could say what they wanted about Clash's boys, but they did move quick.

Taking the chance to steer the situation to a better place, Swift changed the topic as she asked, "Officers, if it pleases you, you can take down our direct contact. Unfortunately I don't have any business cards on me, but I'm sure our, um, boss bird would be happy to discuss any misunderstandings... or inquiries... or bills... with your captain."

Another thought occurred to her, and she tried putting on a smile like that of a businesswoman. She didn't quite succeed.

"We don't have any issues working with the police. In fact if we had an official invitation to look around Detective Newport's territories, we'd be happy to share anything we found. Gang caches, hold outs plotting insurrection, and the like."

She didn’t mention there was usually a fee. And, of course, that she had found something in Smoke Risers. It wasn't inconceivable that the Blue Bloods had found it too, but just didn't know what they had stumbled upon.

Instead of taking her info, Eve offers a business card to the bird spawn. 

[b]DETECTIVE NEWPORT, GOLD RIM BUREAU[/b]

“Give her a call and sort this out, next time you sniff around without our permission tho? We’re gonna like cook you like an egg.” She says.

“Crack you like an egg and serve you sunny side up at Noc Noc Chow, got it lil bird?” Adam’s lunch box sized hands patted her on the shoulder to quite literally show he could crack eggs.

Swift accepted the card, holding it tight between her fingers. She began to feel relief but then Adam's hand came down on her, and she couldn't help but let out a small [i]eep.[/i]

She had no doubt that they would eat her alive, quite literally, if the encounter had gone poorly. She really was pretty lucky today, if she was able to escape this pair of blood thirsty siblings.

"Of course. Thank you so much for your generous hospitality," she said, shuffling out from under the man's grip and tipping her head slightly to try and be polite. And then she easily lied, "It was nice to meet you both."

As soon as they let her go Swift turned and power walked the last two blocks out of Smoke Risers. Once she broke their line of sight she sped up, just in case. The hard part was over - now it was back to Silverside.