infomodder | IC contact [Mask or Menace]

It's a drug case. There's a methamphetamine ring in Heropa and it's... probably imPort related.

Whoever it is, they're smart as hell.

[Oh.]

Count me in on this one, then. You've got enough to say whoever's in charge is smart, are there files you can send over? My night's free, I can do homework.

[Happily, even.]

There's a frustrating lack of anything much at all. Here's what we do know, just the cold hard facts:

The meth is blue, not white-- a by-product of the chemical process they use, not pollutants. In fact, when tested, it has a chemical purity of between 96 and 99 percent. I'm guessing you probably know your shit way better than me when it comes to chemistry, but in case you don't, my friendly bio-chemist tells me that's practically unheard of. They're also by-passing the need to buy pseudo off the shelves in pharmacies and substituting PCP instead. Which is what gives it that blue colour. So, whoever's cooking, we know that they have an incredibly high level knowledge of chemistry.

Based on the amount I've estimated is in circulation, they have to have a fairly large lab. Before you ask, I've tried tracking down reports of stolen lab equipment, large purchases of lab equipment, and reports of stolen barrels of PCP. Nothing.

I've also tried asking people on the street. They don't know anything either, or if they do, they're not telling me or I'm asking the wrong people.

Circulation started not long after imPorts started coming to town. Could be a coincidence. I thought so, until I spoke to Agent Hank Schrader.

Agent Hank Schrader is a DEA agent who's been tracking the blue stuff in his home world for a long time. Says he's never seen anything like it before, and yet this stuff is exactly the same. So the likelihood that the perpetrator is someone from his world is high.

Known imPorts also from Hank's world include Jesse Pinkman and Saul Goodman. There could also be any number of imPorts here from the same world though and we would never know. I asked Jesse about it, but if I can be frank... I don't think that Jesse has the kind of criminal mastermind brain-- not to mention the chemistry knowledge-- necessary to pull this kind of operation off.

And that's about all I have. Every lead I chase down runs into a dead end. I'm at the end of my rope, Will.

[Will's reply takes a good half hour. A good half hour to read, reread, and come up with something to say in return that isn't riddled with projection. Skye is not Peter Bernardone, he won't be able to insert his own issues in this and it go without being noticed or commented on. So.]

I know a bit about those sort of drugs, yes. Was it your friendly bio-chemist who came to the conclusion that whoever is doing this has an incredibly high level knowledge of chemistry or is that what the signs seem to point to in your own opinion? If the equipment was purchased for the sole goal of using it to make and distribute meth, you probably won't find records of it being bought. If it was stolen with that in mind, too, the lack of records would lead towards a more sinister air, but I wouldn't expect to find anything about that, either. Trust me, I know that there could be any number of imPorts from the same world as others and they wouldn't know without an in-depth discussion. And please trust me when I say that I'm not one to immediately point fingers in or away from any direction because it's an easy, lazy way out and I just want to be done with the job. I've never spoken to Agent Schrader, Jesse Pinkman has made no secret that he's got an eternal bone to pick with all law enforcement and I didn't make a great first impression, and I'm not sure where Saul Goodman stands as far as we're concerned. I'm not uncomfortable approaching Saul, I don't think it would do any good for me to abruptly approach Jesse, and if you've spoken to Agent Schrader, perhaps you could tell me if he'd be open to discussion with someone he doesn't know. If that is what you want.

[Tell the bloodhound what is expected of him, take him off the leash. Good boy. Sit, stay. Get in the crate. Much better when there's no bloody rags to wave around. (Yet.) Point me and I will go.]

Who else knows this going on? Who have you discussed it with?

[Because she totally wouldn't tell Jesse himself, right?

Pffthahahahaha yeah he can't scold on that end, he can in no way remark on how bad of an idea that is. The moment he did, it would somehow get back to Baltimore, somehow, and they'd all be able to bear witness to what a fucking hypocritical thing it was for him to say. So no getting on that high horse, nope.]

Splitting this up into numbers to keep better track.

1) Friend. I know jack-shit about chemistry except sometimes you can use it to make stuff go boom. Pretty much all chemistry-related assumptions in this case come from her.

2) True. Either way, whoever it is knows what they're doing.

3) Agent Schrader is without a doubt the world's crankiest middle aged redneck jackass. I don't think he's open to discussion with anyone quite frankly. I practically put this case in his lap and I didn't get so much as a thank you. Actually I just got condescended to a whole freaking lot. He and Jesse also have this eternal enmity thing going on because he tried to arrest Jesse for crimes he was innocent of, and then when they had to let him go, Schrader stalked him for days and then broke into his house without a warrant. Oh and then proceeded to beat him up. So. If you're wondering why Jesse has a bone to pick with law enforcement. Schrader's the sort of guy who make the good guys look bad. I'll work with him, but I don't have to like him.

4) Agent Schrader-- obviously. Lydia Martin-- she's providing me with the chemistry stuff. Kate Bishop-- she's the one who brought it to me initially. Loki, because the drug was found circulating in one of his clubs, so I thought it prudent to question him. And Jesse. I had to ask him about Schrader, and about the drug scene back home in his world, in case it turned up a lead. ... And that's all that I know of.

Edited 2014-12-29 10:57 (UTC)

[Yes, keeping track of things by numbers, his inner teacher is almost giddy. Point 1 concerns him until she reaches point 4, but he's not going to start tearing anyone apart.

Point 3 gets a lot of focus in the way Skye probably didn't intend for it to. Middle aged cranky redneck jackass who gets frustrated like the rest of the world at large and doesn't thank people for bothering him or appreciate being bothered? He sounds amazing. That's a cold hard fact.]

Got it. [Maybe he's writing this down. Maybe he's just stowing it away in his head, but it seems like the least offensive thing to say.] So what do you think I can help you with, going from here? Is there something in specific you'd like for me to do?

[Other than see if Agent Schrader wants to go fishing.

That is happening.]

I don't know, exactly. You're a profiler, right? Can you work with this much...?

Apparently the guy goes by the street name "Heisenberg" in Schrader's world, but it hasn't come up here. I don't know if that's significant or not.

["No," he wants to say. "No, I can't. You got any slain bodies to go with it? It's easier then."

Too bad that's 1) bullshit and 2) not what he wants out of life.]

There are several starting points here, I might be able to work with it. I would call that significant, yes. If the name he's gone by is Heisenberg and that name hasn't been mentioned here, it leads into a few directions. He might have chosen a different name or no name, for one. But it also might be that it's not the same person at the helm and whoever it is knows better than to take on that name for whatever reason (fear, common sense, politeness, cowardice, respect, etc).

That makes it sound like... like there's two of them.

Like a partnership. Only one isn't here.

Edited 2014-12-30 09:40 (UTC)

[UNCOMFORTABLE ASSOCIATIONS]

It's a ring, isn't it? Carried over from a previous ring, from the sounds of it? That would require some sort of group. It could be someone of moderate involvement in the original ring paving their own path here as much as it could be an outlier as much as it could be anything approaching a partnership. But you said the name before was Heisenberg, the name that hasn't come up. You didn't say if any name had come up to replace that. Has there been a name given out in any of this?

[She shakes her head.]

No code name that I've heard of.

You know, it would make sense, actually. Your partner theory, that is.

Schrader showed me this notebook he found in one of his investigations back home. Belonged to a guy they found murdered. A guy named Gale Boetticher. It had all sorts of stuff in it-- poetry. Vegan recipes. And notes on how to cook the blue crystal. But the stuff kept circulating long after he died, so he couldn't have been Heisenberg. Maybe... he was the first assistant. But he was replaced.

[Vegan recipes.]

Did Agent Schrader say they'd ruled it out that he was Heisenberg? Interesting find but ultimately a dead end?

[If whatever government had come to that conclusion already, that was easier to swim along with. Of course, it's totally possible that the government was involved in some way and this is going to never go anywhere other than confusing circles, but. Gotta take a chance sometimes.]

Sounds like a missed frame job.

[Sounds like somebody has a Goddamn ego the size of Mars tbh.]

I don't remember his exact words now. I'll need to go over the recording again. But it seemed like that at the time.

You think someone was trying to frame this Gale guy for being Heisenberg?

That doesn't make any sense, though. If that's true, why continue production afterwards? Surely the idea behind that would be to successfully frame him and then get the hell out of dodge.

I'm just shooting in the dark here, Skye. It rings as a possibility, but we're somewhat forced to take Agent Schrader's word on what their world made of it when it happened. You could shoot me that recording, if you want.

[Possibility, potential projection, same thing. Same thing!]

Do you want whoever's running this ring to know they're being investigated?

[She's named more than he would have let in on it without any of them, from what he knows, being in an actual group. If it's imPort related, then there's one source of shady back alley news that should get a sniff of this. Even if it's just a short mention, and Will has a direct line to God on that one.

He's not going to say that much without prompting, of course, and it's not a serial killer...yet.]

Hang on. Coming your way.

[A couple minutes later, an attachment pops up on Will's comm. It's a digitized sound recording of this whole encounter with Hank.]

And I'd like to avoid that, if possible. Though, if they were alerted, how they react might be telling, one way or another.

[Homework!!! Awesome. April probably won't think so, but too bad.]

Thank you. I'm going to hole myself up with this for the evening and see what there is to make of it. [That he's holing up with some booze as well goes unsaid.] I'll get back to you about it once I do. And just as a suggestion, if you're at the end of your rope? Take a break. Find something relaxing and spend time with it. Don't want to burn out.

... I don't know what else to do, Will.

[There it is again. Will, not Mr. G. She really is stressed.]

Take the dog for a walk. Give the dog a bath. Go on a walk on your own. Take whatever bath you prefer. Have a night with your favorite comfort food. Find a local theater and see a show. I personally drink whiskey and make flies. I'm sure you'll find something. If you can keep your hands busy, I've always found it helps with keeping the mind a little clearer. If you can't turn the focus off, try diverting it to something else.

... Yeah, you're right. ... Thanks.

Anytime.

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