13796/Digging Up The Past - Finding The Baseline

Digging Up The Past - Finding The Baseline
Date of Scene:	08 September 2021
Location:	Battery Pointe Condominiums - Battery Park City - NYC
Synopsis:	Punisher looks through Clayton's home to uncover what secrets he can find
Cast of Characters:	Phantasm (Drago), Punisher
Tinyplot:	Digging Up The Past

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Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
There are a lot of things that should not be here.

It is an odd statement but when one considers how most of Battery Park City is comprised of man-made land, it is a fair statement. This area should not exist. But out of necessity in order to house the growing amount of persons in the Financial district, it is.

One such person who worked in the Financial District, at one of the DHS locations, is Robert Clayton. As for his chosen building of residence, it would be the red and white bricked building that goes by the name of Battery Pointe Condominiums. It is not a massive building. Only 9 floors total and a basement make up the structure.

On the fifth floor, situated towards the northernmost point of the building is Clayton's humble abode.

For a New York residence, the condo is reasonably sizable but still somewhat modest. The original studio blueprint has been divied up with walls, granting it a bedroom that takes up one of the windows, leaving the other to the main space of the condo. The other room that was added is a narrow thing. There are no windows in that one save for the frosted glass pane that allows secondhand light to seep in from the living area. A bathroom is situated beside that one which makes it the first thing seen when looking to the southend of the condo from the doorway while the kitchen to the northside gets to be what is seen the moment the door opens.

The owner of the condo is not home at the moment. But the light seeping out from the closed curtains indicate someone just might be.


https://tinyurl.com/DUTPClayton

Punisher has posed:
This one took a day of prep work. You don't break into a place like this without groundwork. Security is not top teir, but at the very least the cameras needed to be dealt with. Charges had to be set to allow for alternate forced exits, and the power lines had a charge on them to cut building power in case of electronically powered security or electronic locks inside the condo itself.

Right now, Frank was standing near the edge of a rooftop as close to the 5th floor condo's exterior as possible. Clad in a white skull infiltration suit this time, his normal armored bodysuit and trenchcoat for assaults has been left behind; mobility will be key, here... not being able to soak bullets.

As he stares at his watch, the Punisher waits for midnight. "20 seconds to operation start. See any last second changes to security, or are we good to go in camera looping?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Off in his area, Micro watches behind a few monitors. To one screen is the view of what should be Clayton's apartment window. But with the curtains drawn he's left to suss out by shadow. "Building security is about the same, but the condo has a visitor. Shadow showing one in the bedroom. Looks like they had a key to get in."

Punisher has posed:
"Only reason anyone is there in midnight is to check on Clayton... or to retrieve evidence. I'm not chancing that being the latter. I'm starting."

As Frank grabs the line launcher on the rooftop next to him, he aims it so the back and fronts align with walls... he waits for the green light signalling solid potential connection points, and activates it, sending reinforced alloy lines out from the reels, lines thin enough to escape notice by most... but strong enough to hold half a ton at least.

Then, he grabs the ultrasonic mapper on the other side; a device specifically designed to find hidden points in the structure of the rooms; safes, traps, tripwires etc... and he grabs it by his right hand. His left grabs the launcher grip, and Frank engages the small engine to head over, from the rooftop to the balcony.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Micro nods to Frank's assessment, tapping away at the keys. He pauses, watching the line feed scroll by before reaching another prompt. Assessing the final line of display, Micro speaks once more. "Looping is in effect."

The balcony, if it could be termed one, is small. Barely enough room to stand on, it's more railings to keep someone who wants to sit on the window ledge from falling to their doom. But one thing it has going for it is that the railing encompasses both sets of window. The shadow that was in the bedroom starts moving into the living room area.

Punisher has posed:
He puts the mapper down and takes out a tranq pistol, silently dashing to the balcony door from the bedroom and checking if he can open the door to get inside and hit the shadow from behind. Silent speed is key... but at this point, it's only one person.

Frank can deal with one person.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Unlike at the cabin, the window is locked. The shadow behind the bedroom curtian vanishes as the figure moves into the other room. On the bright side, they do not appear to be alerted to the Punisher's presence on the 'balcony' area.

Punisher has posed:
Going in through the living room door is risky, so Frank takes out his latch opener and with a practiced hand, brings it up to the window and gently starts to bring the bit through the gap... and activates the programmed movement so the tension would wrap around to grab the latch and pull it open...

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Practice makes perfect. It takes a moment but eventually the latch swings open, allowing him the ability to open it.

There's the soft creak of a door in the other room but the bedroom doors remain in their open position.

The bedroom is still lit which allows Frank to have a good look of the room. The bed occupies the southwest corner of the room, allowing for a narrow gap between window and furniture. Over to the southeast corner of the room, a desk is situated diagonally, seat side to the corner allowing for a view of the entire room as well as the TV in the adjacent room should someone sit down. To the northeast corner of the room, two file cabinets rest. Along the wall there is an air vent on the high part of the wall nearest the bed and a lovely large framed picture of a German Shepherd. Based from the background, the picture appears old. Perhaps taken in the early 2000s.

Punisher has posed:
The condo itself can wait. Right now, Frank needs to deal with the variable that is the person. He goes to the door into the living room, places the opener in it's pouch... and pulls out a cornering periscope to look for signs of the person inside...

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Over towards the smaller room the frosted glass door is open. As far as what is in view it appears to be a pair of feet with the soles pointed upwards. Feminine. For some reason the woman is kneeling in the doorway reaching for something. A voice chimes up, rather sweetly, from the oddly positioned woman. "How did you get in here?"

Punisher has posed:
Silently, Frank brings the tranq pistol around the corner and aims for the neck of the woman... and fires.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The woman on the floor reaches over but doesn't meet her mark. Feeling something jab into her neck, the woman yelps. Bringing a hand up to her neck, she brushes her hand against the offending item. "Wh-"

Toppling forward she ends up face planting into one of the bottom boxes, causing for her to shove it forward. Unfortunately the boxes stacked on top don't go in that directiong and instead pitch forward, falling on her.

Despite the size of the boxes, it doesn't make much noise. But, it is sufficient to scare out who she was talking to. A black cat scoots out quickly, skidding across the floor as it tries to run under the sofa.

Punisher has posed:
It was a bad dream. At least, that's what Frank hopes the woman will say when she wakes up. Frank takes out his smartphone and takes a photo of the woman, sending it to Microchip, "Unknown likely just a visitor or a sitter, but here you go." Frank tells Microchip over the commlink, "She's out for about an hour."

Then, Frank starts to head back to the balcony to grab the mapper... brings it in, and activates it, starting to go through the apartment bedroom first.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Micro feeds the photo in and starts performing his magic by first running on the hunch given.

As Frank scans the bedroom first, he comes across two unseen variables. The ventwork leading to the vent, and a cavity behind the dog picture.

"Amanda Peterson." Micro provides, "Building resident. Same floor. Also has a profile on a petsitting site."

Punisher has posed:
"I'll just leave her to continue her work then. How does the website work?" Frank asks as he inspects the frame around the hanging dog picture for traps.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"For this one, similar to a search engine only the database you can search contains information on people who either petsit or dog walk and what is needed of the sitter. Photo's provided so you know what they look like. Resumes are provided and a listing of what services they provide." There's a pause, " For her, drop in visits only, no sleepovers, no dog walking, prefers cats."

Too much info? Probably. But he DID ask, "If you're registered, you can call them up through the site or their app. No personal numbers given."

There doesn't appear to be any wires attached to the frame or anything of that nature.

Punisher has posed:
"Is it a retainer period? I just don't want the cat to die from neglect. The guy is an asshole, the cat isn't at fault."

Is Frank checking if they need to pay the sitter themselves? It seems like it. To be fair, the situation /is/ his fault, and the cat is innocent.

He pulls the frame off and looks behind it, then.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Another pause as Micro's checking for the particular requst. "Shadow is paid up through the month." Micro responds, "Switching it over to reoccurring payments and extending service period. Annnnd done."

In Amanda's pocket a phone chimes.

"Probably will need to get the cat rehomed. If things turn out the way we think it might."

Behind the picture frame is a digital wall safe of steel construction.

Punisher has posed:
"Goddamnit." Frank growls. Then, he takes a picture with the smartphone, sending it over. "New design I don't recognize. I don't think cutting the power is gonna get into this one. Am I cutting it out?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"Hmm." Micro considers the image, "I don't think so. Moment."

There's another pause as the analyst starts looking around. "Yeah. Ok. Union Electronic Digital safe. Dual entry. Open by keypad combination and using a key. Between the dial and the keypad there's a raised patch, that covers the keyhole."

Punisher has posed:
"We knew this was a possibility, but the key is new. I only have the keypad mapper. If I can't find keys in here, what's the best bet here?" Frank asks. His expertise is mainly field electrical and structural engineering for explosives work. "I really hope he didn't leave it in that fucking cabin. I didn't have time to do a proper search, so it couldn't be helped."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"If something's important in there that needs to be grabbed quick the key would be kept close." Micro replies, "Common places to hide things that don't typically get searched are out of sight areas like electrical sockets, air vents, light fixtures. Disguisting places like inside toilets. Can probably rule out the litter box and anything cat related if he's having someone else tend to that, emptied out marker casings, plants..."

Punisher has posed:
"Right. I was more referring to if I can't find anything at all in here, going to start the search now." Frank informs Microchip... and sets about doing just that. The safe is first, followed by the furniture itself for files and other potentially interesting items around the room.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The look around the bedroom is reasonably short. With the small area there's not much in terms of clutter. Ther is a pen cup on the desk but the pens appear intact. No hollow spaces to them. The electrical outlets don't appear to be loose or indicate any means of easily getting them off without using screwdriver. So that eliminats the eas of access. But something's a bit off about the air vent for strung up inside of it is a key.

Punisher has posed:
Grabbing the key, Frank moves to compare it to the safe while the mapper analyzes the fingerprint residue of the keypad. "Got a key, going to test it shortly."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The key does look like it will work with the safe.

"Mrowr" Shadow states from under the sofa.

Thank you Shadow. That was very helpful.

Key mapper having completed its work and the two puzzle pieces in place, the safe door WILL open to reveal the grand prize of-

Another key.

Clayton, you jerk.

Punisher has posed:
"I fucking hate this guy." Frank notes, flatly. Then, he starts checking the inside of the safe for false bottoms and walls as he pockets the key.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"There's probably a line for that." Micro comments back, also blandly.

Sadly there are no false bottoms and walls to the safe. The key is all there is in that safe.

Punisher has posed:
Once that's dealt with, Frank continues his search of the bedroom... and then starts searching through the entire rest of the condo. He takes anything useful. Weapons, ammo, files, wallets. This is an intel run, but he has no qualms at all with making this an 'aquisitions' run as well.

Once he's done with that, he puts the woman on the couch and pulls out the dart, putting a band-aid on her neck to help with the blood. Then, he heads for the balcony. "I think that's all of it."

Frank brings up the key and takes a picture of it on both ends. "I have no fuckin' clue where this goes." Frank notes, before he puts it in a pouch, takes up the mapper in his right hand... and activates the line launcher to go back across. "Gonna need to get my charges back, then I'll be headin' back."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Micro takes a look to the picture sent over. "Looks like a safety deposit key." The idea of Frank going into a bit of a sigh. "I'll get looking."

While it may not be the end all of discoveries, it is a discovery. And hopefuly the one that'll pay off.