Iron Station Savage Masks IC IV

[mmdeforrest]

November 1st
John
"The files are incomplete, but I will send what we have to your iPad, John," the AI says.

“Thank you, Mimi,” he said distractedly but sincerely. “I don’t know what we would do without you.”

Mimi lists the dates to John noting that the jewelry store thefts started before the demon inhabiting Matteo was summoned.

If Vibrato was working with whoever summoned this demon—provisionally identified as the would-be heir to Keith’s family Empire— and that this greater demon predates the arrival of the one inhabiting Matteo Bordreaux, it would suggest that they are two parties of interest rather than a single one. Vibrato’s crime spree began before the summoning of the demon inhabiting Matteo. Harbinger identified the demon inhabiting Matteo as the one seeking the Stone of Vashuuna beneath the Volta Memorial.

As much as he wanted to bounce those ideas of Harbinger immediately, John recognized the inherent danger in offering him preconceptions. They would cloud his assessment of the blot in a way his visions would not be affected.

He wished Emi or Montcrieff were here. It was always easier to think these things through when you had a partner to bounce ideas off of.

He wasn’t sure if he would need access to the sample from Burnly or not. He had no reason to believe his Nova came from anyone but Zylas—especially if the production had been stopped temporarily. It would not hurt to confirm that, however.

Perhaps tomorrow.

There's a quiet knock on John's lab door before Harbinger opens it. "Hey John," he says with a nod. He looks over the alchemical equipment with interest. "You needed something?"

“Several things,” John observed, glancing at the puzzle box he had not yet returned to his room, “which seems to be a theme these days.”

He straightened and handed the three sheets of blotting paper to Harbinger. “Business first. I’ve tested samples taken directly from Zylas and Laura—the vampiress Raphael arrived with last night, as well as a sample taken from Nova. The Nova and Zylas samples match. They are the sheets labeled, somewhat predictably, N and Z. The one labeled L, however, is darker and the pattern is not a match. I was hoping to get a second opinion on the significance of the differences and receive approval for getting the opinions of Dr. Riviera and Zylas.

“I thought that sounded like the kind of thing that a Director would get to decide rather than a consultant,” he observed with a wry smile, leaning back against his workbench and folding his arms.”

His back touched the puzzle box. It was unlike him to have left it behind.

Of course, he had started to think of Emi and planning his casual,‘inconspicuous’ picnic with her. Strangely, that make it very like him to have left it behind.

“After that, I have an item that….” John paused as he glanced at the model of the solar system, slowly turning on the far side of the room. “That I would appreciate your observations on, should you be willing to give them. It’s of a more personal nature, though, so it is something that can be delayed or declined, as your time permits.”