Josh eyed the blocks in the wall carefully yet for some reason he could not make himself believe that he would be able to find anything...on or in the walls. Still...he went on examining yet stopped when he heard someone walk in. He looked back and smiled a bit when he saw Miss Branxton walk in and start to work immediately. Maybe she would find something. He was about to return what he was doing when she spoke.

Well...

''It feels unlikely, does not it?'' he said retuning to his work. He eyed the blocks carefully trying to see something, magical or not. ''If they managed to disappear right under our noses then there must be something everyone overlooks.'' he was not sure if he would be able to find it if everyone overlooked it, still that was what he was supposed to be doing now with the YATIs. He never thought or claimed that he could make a difference at tasks like this. He was more like a man of action so it could be much better if Emily asked him to break the man's face after they finally would manage to find that lawyer person.

He poked one spot on the wall with the tip of his wand and turned to see who else had walked in. ''Hey.'' he greeted Stonewall back then returned to what he was doing. The spot looked like just an ordinary...thing...on the wall. One of those things you could see on every wall. No hope, at all.

He sighed a bit and moved on to the other side of the wall just when Simon spoke up. ''No, not yet.'' he then stopped and turned to the people in the room. ''So...people, tell me your ideas about how we can inspect this room to see if there's any magical clue left behind?''

As usual, Aspen was just.... there. Maybe she'd been there the whole time, maybe she just arrived? She just showed up places, was there, and instead of observing this room, she was busy observing her peers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fira

Josh eyed the blocks in the wall carefully yet for some reason he could not make himself believe that he would be able to find anything...on or in the walls. Still...he went on examining yet stopped when he heard someone walk in. He looked back and smiled a bit when he saw Miss Branxton walk in and start to work immediately. Maybe she would find something. He was about to return what he was doing when she spoke.

Well...

''It feels unlikely, does not it?'' he said retuning to his work. He eyed the blocks carefully trying to see something, magical or not. ''If they managed to disappear right under our noses then there must be something everyone overlooks.'' he was not sure if he would be able to find it if everyone overlooked it, still that was what he was supposed to be doing now with the YATIs. He never thought or claimed that he could make a difference at tasks like this. He was more like a man of action so it could be much better if Emily asked him to break the man's face after they finally would manage to find that lawyer person.

He poked one spot on the wall with the tip of his wand and turned to see who else had walked in. ''Hey.'' he greeted Stonewall back then returned to what he was doing. The spot looked like just an ordinary...thing...on the wall. One of those things you could see on every wall. No hope, at all.

He sighed a bit and moved on to the other side of the wall just when Simon spoke up. ''No, not yet.'' he then stopped and turned to the people in the room. ''So...people, tell me your ideas about how we can inspect this room to see if there's any magical clue left behind?''

Aspen went to stand RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT beside Josh. Casually tried to lift his wallet while they waited.

"I'd steal a time-turner and come back to watch how she did it." Not stop her, no, but watch and learn absolutely.

Simon nodded as Josh answered him to the negative. That seemed to be the repetitive result every time. He was about to answer when Odessa spoke up, mulling over the comment. "Interesting idea. But first its borrow...not steal." Time turners were a bit of magic with hundreds of laws attached to them and not to be taken lightly. "You're MLE....gotta at least try not to break the laws we're supposed to be enforcing." And if there was anything Simon had picked up from Aspen in the year she had already been in the program, it was that she wasn't exactly the most rule-abidding. He wasn't even going to point out they weren't exactly meant for long term use such as the amount of time that had already passed or that he wasn't even sure there were any still in existence. Couldn't tell trainees people everything after all.

"The Revelio charm could work," the auror in turn supplied to the discussion. It would show any hidden objects and such that may have been lying around under notice and one of the handful of spells he had been using as he made his way through the departments. To demonstrate, he cast the spell wordlessly on a patch of space beside him with nothing resulting coming up.

"If the dear lawyer brought anything in. And there's still the matter of there having always been someone from MLE watching." That was one of the major conundrums in the equation...the fact that she shouldn't have been totally left alone at any time, even with her attorney, where anything would have been able to be passed.

"Unless..." Simon started to say, a thought occuring to him. "Wes had had to retrieve her himself. No one came at his patronus. What happened in that exchange?" Had someone supposed to have brought her? Had that person disappeared...never shown up?

Been compromised by spells?

Time Turner? Jory would have loved to try that out. It would be a pretty good place to start because at least they would be able to see exactly what took place. If there were time turners. But the Revelio charm wasn't a bad idea and it reminded Jory about something.

"We could try Verdimillious Duo,'' he told the others. "The red light is useful for revealing objects hidden by Dark Magic.'' They would be familiar with the spell so he didn't go into more details instead he just kept prodding the door with his hands and occasionally his wand.

And what was this event with Wes and a Patronus? Jory kept his ears out for more details.

The walls and doors do not reveal any trace of dark magic, or anything else for that matter.

But who knows what your search may uncover, if you know where to look...

So....
Josh looked around waiting for an answer and when a voice rose, answering his question, his dark brown eyes looked at the owner of it, to see Miss Odessa staying close. Oh...had she been there all the time? Well...Josh blinked at her answer a few times. Time turner....steal...watch how she did it. Merlin...smart girl was smart. It really sounded like a practical solution to the problem even though he thought it also had some problems, unless she had covers for those problems too.

Josh's dark brown gaze shifted to Simon when he started to speak. His words made a smile appear on Josh's lips. Borrow, not steal. This was Simon, who wanted to do a job properly with its proper way. ''Well...'' Josh began exchanging a look between Simon and Miss Odessa. ''If you would ask about my personal idea, i think stealing does not sound so bad at all. De Talone is not playing this game with any rules so why should we? To be honest, i am pretty sick of her freaky and cowardly actions.''


''Time Turner is indeed a great idea. But also we should not be seen by them back at that time and this is a small area with no useful spot to hide ourselves.'' he smiled at Miss Odessa and poked the wall with his wand again. Okay, there was nothing on the wall. ''Yeah, Revelio. That's one thing.'' And that lawyer person was mentioned again reminding Josh how much he wanted to punch the man. He wanted to find De Talone and that man as soon as possible and one reason for that was desire to punch the man. He trusted the team in this room to be able to find them even though things seemed hopeless for the time being. ''We can only search and find out.''

''Verdimillious. Yeah. Guys...let's try everything in mind. Do never think anything would be useless. We need to consider every possibility.''

Of course Josh would be interested in Odessa's idea.

Simon knew his best friend to be the one to challenge things in his group of friends. The troublemaking and detentions in school, and the scars and dangers he had faced outside of that was more than proof. He just wished the new YATIL wasn't so quick to let the YATI think she can get away with murder. No pun intended. But it wasn't like he could do much other than offer other suggestions.

"Although technically I believe its a mute point," he commented with a shrug. "Time turners I believe have a time limit to go back." And if he was indeed correct in his memory, having innocently looked them up to try and fix his senior year WITHOUT pirate influence, then he was sure too much time had likely passed. Naysaying or not, all possibilities had to eventually be weeded out to limit the eventual options anyway.

"Besides...as much as we might like to play fire with fire, or in the case of deTalone, time with time, we have to be conscious of the consequences. " And consequences there certainly were as he remembered at least one law professor of his that stressed the issue and it wasn't just magical law. "Use of illegal acquired search tools often leads to illegally acquired evidence. And that in turn would only have the criminal walk out of the courtroom on her own accord without the use of portkeys this time." It might sound like taking the safe way out but it was the Merlin's honest truth and Simon didn't want the time thief to get a second chance of gaining her freedom.

Especially because of something the MLE did.

Turning his full attention back to the search, Simon thought on what was already being done and other options. The team inside seemed to handle the walls and he had taken on the door and entranceway but nothing had yet shown up. Much like his level searches. The auror moved on to the ceiling, casting both his suggestion and Jory's at the area as well as anything else that came to mind. Perhaps something would prove fruitful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

Simon nodded as Josh answered him to the negative. That seemed to be the repetitive result every time. He was about to answer when Odessa spoke up, mulling over the comment. "Interesting idea. But first its borrow...not steal." Time turners were a bit of magic with hundreds of laws attached to them and not to be taken lightly. "You're MLE....gotta at least try not to break the laws we're supposed to be enforcing." And if there was anything Simon had picked up from Aspen in the year she had already been in the program, it was that she wasn't exactly the most rule-abidding. He wasn't even going to point out they weren't exactly meant for long term use such as the amount of time that had already passed or that he wasn't even sure there were any still in existence. Couldn't tell trainees people everything after all.

...

Borrow. Aspen just smiled to herself. Whatever helped The Most Gryffindor MLE'er of all time sleep at night....

Oh she was supposed to be trying to not break laws? What? Said who? Aspen WAS the law now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fira

So....
Josh looked around waiting for an answer and when a voice rose, answering his question, his dark brown eyes looked at the owner of it, to see Miss Odessa staying close. Oh...had she been there all the time? Well...Josh blinked at her answer a few times. Time turner....steal...watch how she did it. Merlin...smart girl was smart. It really sounded like a practical solution to the problem even though he thought it also had some problems, unless she had covers for those problems too.

Josh's dark brown gaze shifted to Simon when he started to speak. His words made a smile appear on Josh's lips. Borrow, not steal. This was Simon, who wanted to do a job properly with its proper way. ''Well...'' Josh began exchanging a look between Simon and Miss Odessa. ''If you would ask about my personal idea, i think stealing does not sound so bad at all. De Talone is not playing this game with any rules so why should we? To be honest, i am pretty sick of her freaky and cowardly actions.''


''Time Turner is indeed a great idea. But also we should not be seen by them back at that time and this is a small area with no useful spot to hide ourselves.'' he smiled at Miss Odessa and poked the wall with his wand again. Okay, there was nothing on the wall. ''Yeah, Revelio. That's one thing.'' And that lawyer person was mentioned again reminding Josh how much he wanted to punch the man. He wanted to find De Talone and that man as soon as possible and one reason for that was desire to punch the man. He trusted the team in this room to be able to find them even though things seemed hopeless for the time being. ''We can only search and find out.''

''Verdimillious. Yeah. Guys...let's try everything in mind. Do never think anything would be useless. We need to consider every possibility.''

....

Men.

Why did he keep smiling at her? How was Aspen supposed to steal his wallet? ...BORROW his wallet. She kept smiling back, sticking close to Josh, even moving in CLOSER still as he suggested they "try everything in mind."

Okay.

Aspen got her wand out, aimed it, and turned everything that was in the room UPSIDE DOWN. It hung a few feet up, so now they could see the full floor.

Plus maybe it got Josh's attention elsewhere and she could take his wallet. Just to see what was in it. And to get money to buy lunch.

Jory tried to think of any other spells that could be useful but he was distracted after a bit as Simon began casting the spells. He was really hoping they find even the tiniest bit of clue because he knew it could be the smallest thing that could crack a case wide open. So, he kept his eyes wide open for a sign of anything.

And then Aspen got all the stuff in the room to hover in the air.At least now they could see the room better. Would the spells reveal anything?

Josh blinked as Simon spoke. Simon Bennett...was still the Simon Bennett he knew. Auror or not he had not changed at all. He still regarded rules important and actually, he had his point. Josh could see nothing to disagree this time. ''Okay. No time turners.'' He doubted they would probably be able to steal one anyway. He had no idea where they could find a time turner. Possibly Evelyn could tell him if there was any in the Department of Mysteries yet who could steal anything from that level anyway? Too much effort.

"Illegally Acquired Evidence". Josh could not help letting out a snort. The truth of that annoyed him. They could very well walk out of court if they came before them with the so called "Illegally Acquired Evidence". The lawyer person whose face yelled "Punch Me" no doubt would make a good use of that. "So...it's my point anyway. Enforcing laws and doing the right thing is not always the same thing. Laws can help criminals escape too. Obviously.''

Before he could point out more about his annoyance at the way laws and people at Wizengamot worked....something happened so the YATIL fell silent. His dark eyes followed the objects as they flew up in the room. Then those eyes went to Miss Odessa briefly. Really? "Well casted. I hope it works otherwise you are going to clean the mess, Miss Odessa.'' The mess that might be in the room once the objects were dropped down.

He walked to Jory and put a hand on his shoulder. ''Stonewall. Can you help me check under that table?'' he looked up at it

As the décor is raised and up-turned from the ground, a crumpled receipt for a compact purchased at a convenience store only a few blocks away lies abandoned in the middle of the room. It appears as though somebody might have dropped it in passing.

The spell however, didn't prove to be successful in revealing all the clues. It might require a more hands on approach...

"Sure,'' Jory said to Joshua. The spells did not seem to be revealing anything. Which was a bummer because he had really high hopes in them finding something. He inched closer to the table but stopped midway as his eyes caught something.

It laid in the middle of the room, probably from when the furniture and so on were upturned. "Did anyone see when this fell?'' he asked as he carefully picked it up and smoothed it out as best as he could. "Hey, guys, it's a receipt.'' Over the paper's crumpled state, Jory continued. "For a compact from a store not far from here!'' Their first clue!

Aspen laughed out loud. It was a tiny bit out of place, but... Josh was just funny sometimes. When he got excited and went into the room, she tried again to get his wallet out of his pocket quietly.

Ahem.

Oh good, a clue. Or just a receipt. Shrug.

With a loud BANG, Aspen dropped all the furniture back into place. Maybe no one got squished...? Meanwhile, with the prisoner's bed back in place, Aspen went and laid on it, wallowed in the blanket, perused the pillow case.

"Do you guys even know what a compact is?"

A receipt? Oh well...

Josh approached to Jory and eyed the piece of paper in his hand. A receipt for a compact that had been bought from a store. "Well...this is not bad. We can go to that store and find out who bought that. The information about when it was bought must be on the receipt. But first we need to find out more.'' Yeah, he was determined to search under that table. ''Keep searching. Look everywhere.''

Just when Josh took a step closer to the table in air, everything suddenly loudly fell back on the floor and he had to jump out of under the table and punch a chair falling down away from his head. Seriously? Did that girl ever give out any warnings before doing such things?

''Aspen Odessa!'' Josh exclaimed with disbelief. And when his dark brown eyes found her, his eyebrows raised far on his forehead when he saw her lying in the prisoner bed. Did she happened to find anything there? Well...he did not care now. There seemed to be a discipline problem with this young woman.

He walked towards the bed, grabbed the blanked and pulled it off from the young woman. "Odessa, i would like to see if your muscles can work well enough as your mouth and wand work can. On the floor....now...'' he pointed at the dusty floor and gave her "The Look". ''You shall do one hundred push ups and illuminate us about compacts that you know a lot about at the same time.''

Understood?

"Start now."

Tucked away between the sheet and mattress, is an evenly spread wad of what feels like papers. However, if you uncover them, you'll notice that they're in fact glossy brochures for boarding schools in a few different countries.

...

............ There was flawed logic here. It had been Aspen who found the clue, and Aspen who was trying to enlighten "the boys" about what they'd found. What had these knuckleheads achieved other than talk?

But fine. A push up. Aspen lithely rolled out of the bed and onto the floor, where she did ONE push up. There, she started now. She'd finish them later though.

"It's makeup. Maybe she was vain, or maybe it was for disguise."

So with that done, she rolled onto her back and looked under the bed, yawned, kicked her boots up on the bed. She kicked the glossy papers loose, then idly, if not full on bored, picked up one.

"Mmm. Boarding school. Furthering education is important, even when locked up. Good for her."

Simon raised a slight eyebrow as Aspen cast a spell, setting everything in the room other than humans, afloat. Interesting tactic, but at least not a troublesome one. And when Jory picked up something that had apparently gotten loose in the process...a receipt...it proved to be a helpful gesture. Until the furniture was dumped back into place narrowly hitting several of the occupants of the room in the process.

Uncontrolled magic much?

But then Josh took the initiative and set Odessa into a task that hopefully kept her under control...for a little while. SImon himself went about looking for anything that might have been jostled free like the receipt.

"Vain yes....and ...and she was using one...before disappearing."

Simon, like most of the people who had been sitting in the courtroom had been playing apt attention to what was going on. And the auror in him had kept close watch on the time thief herself...most of the time. Her sneaky actions had no doubt occured the moments he had looked elsewhere. But the compact he had scene...RIGHT before she had vanished and the connections were becoming clear. Even moreso when Aspen had proceeded to check something else loose in her casual attempt to get out of Josh's ordered task of push-ups.

"And boarding schools would apply to schools similar but OTHER than Hogwarts! Other targets. " The lightbulb was completely on and over SImon's head and he picked up the pamplets that were now present on the floor.

"I think we may have just found clues as to where Miss deTalone has headed."

Jory thought Aspen had a bit of an attitude problem. But he just watched in amusement as Josh told her off added she needed to do one hundred push ups. He already knew what a compact was so he returned his attention to the piece of paper. Some one would need to check that store out.

He looked up, however, at the sound of paper falling to the floor. Jory looked around and was greeted with what looked like brochures. Brochures for various boarding schools in various countries upon examining three.

More clues! Progress! They would have to check out all the schools on the brochures but hey. At least they got some clues.

It was one of those days, lots to do and not much time in which to do it. But Emily did make time to check in with the Auror and YATI group. It so happened that she had rounded the corner to the holding cells just as Bennett proclaimed they'd figured out de Talone's next move. "And pray tell, what have you found?" she asked, observing the group. Look sharp.

Simon turned around to face Emily as the department head joined the group, the woman obviously heard what he had said. He might as well explain the thoughts currently in his head on the matter. "Well not a definite lead in one direction but something." Something more than they had a half hour ago. "We have at least where she was considering going, narrowing our scope. Though thinking about it, her final choice could either be here or on her person," the auror said, handing them over for the former Ravenclaw's perusal.

"But the receipt might hold other evidence," he added, motioning to what Jory held. In truth, it was probably a good thing he had picked it up and not anyone who had been here at the time of her escape like everyone else on the case. His fingerprints could be cleared and anyone else's from the department present would be suspecious. "Its for a compact. A compact I distinctly remember her having in her hand before she disappeared and could prove to be the portkey. " observation did help.

"Analyzing it for prints, other than Stonewall's, would likely show who exactly touched it and therefore who was the one who bought it and could have brought it into the premises." Getting it past everyone. There was still the chance that it was just the lawyer who slipped it in somehow unnoticed, but as mentioned in the Level 9 chat it could have been someone else, either on their own free will...or controlled.

It seemed to Josh that apparently he was the only one who did not know what a compact was. Make up? He frowned. Well...that explained a lot. The young man did not have a single idea about make up and the stuff used for that. Vain? Ha...that did not really fit to the profile of someone being kept in a cell in his mind. But still, there could be this possibility that he would be wrong. Maybe women like her wanted to look good everywhere. Even in a cell. She stole younger people's time to be...younger anyway, right? That could mean that she cared about her looks.

His thoughts about the compact and make up were disturbed when apparently Aspen found out something else. Well...he had to admit, despite very little attitude problems, the girl did her job well. He approached her and eyed the papers she had found completely forgetting about push-ups for the time being. he silently stared at the list of the boarding schools. Up for more stealing from young people obviously.

Anger started to build in him. What this woman was doing pathetic. Stealing from young people to...have eternal life? Keep herself young forever? And he was curious about what good Mr 'Punch Me In The Face' Lawyer had from that helping her. Money, maybe a lot of money. Or maybe he was offered some youth too.

So pathetic.

Standing there, he tried to take his anger under control. Joshua Carter was dangerous when he was angry and he was aware of his temperament problems. Once loose, it was going to be disaster. His glaring eyes turned towards Simon and Emily. He walked to them and snorted.

''Seriously? A woman, who is a criminal, and her...'' he tried not to add a very rude word at that point ''...lawyer slips in a supposed portkey and a large list of boarding schools not only into the ministry but into this cell?! And what was everyone else doing? They both must have been searched and i doubt they would even be allowed to bring extra underwear in here.''

So? ''Someone from inside helped them, i guess. We need to know who got that compact. Analysing the finger prints might help but it might take time to find a match. I think we can go to this shop and interrogate.''

Emily took the pamphlety-brochures that Bennett held out to her. Seriously, what in the blazes had security been doing? And yes, that included the Auror and YATI detail on the woman. It seemed as though Carter was thinking along the same lines... only, to different extremes. "I don't think we need to get the pitchforks out just yet," she mused, casually flipping through the brochures. "In case you hadn't noticed, security has been an issue." Has been, meaning, it no longer would be. Obviously. Emily pursed her lips in thought. Germany, The Nederlands, Switzerland...

Merlin.

"Mmmm..." Emily grunted as she held on to them for the moment, giving them more thought.

As for the receipt, Emily nodded, her eyes fixing Stonewall for the moment, and the receipt in his hand. That blasted portkey. "Good, get the receipt written up and to the lab, pronto," did she really need to tell them what to do? She hoped not, but she did regardless. "Carter, this is perhaps a good opportunity to familiarise Stonewall and Odessa with protocol," because one was new and the other needed to pull her charming head in. Heh. "The same with these," she added, holding the brochures out for Bennett. "Take Branxton to the shop, ask around, but no need for interrogation," she added, noting Carter's enthusiasm. With any luck, the endeavor would only confirm her suspicions, that Edgeworth had been the one sneaking around. He was slimy enough for it. "Then I need a pair of you," she didn't care who, first in first serve, "to notify IMC of de Talone's possible whereabouts, check in with the appropriate channels and update the BOLO - APW's out on her.... it's safe to assume she has left the country."

As much as she'd have loved to stand around playing Head Auror, she had other things to do too, and now that they had directives, they'd be able to manage without her. "Keep me posted yeah?" she added, eyeing them all before turning on her heal and striding out.

Simon didn't need the glare from his friend to tell Josh was angry. He was quite upset at it all as well, even if he managed a much calmer outward display of the feelings. It was a very disturbing situation that should never have gotten as bad as it had. Inside job was also a shared thought, the search for who was still at a stand still results-wise however. And yes, security was being fixed. That was, after all, part of his job in the new assignment. And if he had had any desire to brag, SImon would have spoken up to that effect but instead he remained quiet.

Listening to Emily, the auror took note of all the tasks that the department head laid out for the group as a whole, well aware that while his name wasn't mentioned, Simon was to be ever much apart of it. He just had a little more freedom to take on what he felt to be the best use of his time out of the lot. Taking the brochures back from Emily, he flipped through the collection as he paused in thought for a few moments before making his move.

"I can speak with IMC," he said, taking up the inner-ministry task. "Level 5 is still on my investigations list." Two birds with one stone sort of speak. Simon glanced at the woman for wordless sense of approval but Emily had already moved on and out, living it up to them. Or rather the senior aurors of which he was one. So instead he continued his thoughts and having a good grasp on the places and schools subject, he handed them off to Jory so they could be added to the lab task.

"Branxton can come with me for the time being, while you guys head to the lab I figure" he added, claiming the second person that Emily had required in her instructions from the mix. Leaving Jory and Aspen with his best friend. This time his attention switched from Genevieve and then to Josh since he was the YATI training officer and technically in charge of the young woman.

Security had been an issue.

To Josh, there was actually no security at all. What kind of security officers would let a portkey in without realizing it anyway? If the compact was indeed a portkey. Portkey or not, Josh thought the woman should not have been allowed anything anyway. She did not need to look pretty in a cell. No one cared about her pathetic face.

For this to happen, there were two possibilities; either someone from the security helped Lawyer 'Please Break My Face' Edgeworth or the security was all a total failure. He could not decide which one was worse. Maybe one man or woman being a traitor was better than the whole security being incapable. Anyway...thinking of the problem never led to anything good. What he needed to focus on was the solution to it. Get some progress with the case. The YATIL silently nodded at Emily's words. It was time to move his massive muscles. Before doing so, he turned to Simon and considered his offer.

Hmm...

''Yeah. That's fine.'' he could go with Branxton ''And then we need to visit that shop''

Then the turned to Stonewall and Odessa.

''Stonewall, Odessa. Let's move. And...'' he eyed the receipt Stonewall had ''Bring that and do not let anyone else touch it. Now, to the laboratory. ''

And with that he left the holding cell.