After some deliberation, as to who would be best suited to make the trip down, Danny found himself in the elevator.  There were more people than Vinny had suggested up at this hour, a few men in business suits were milling about the elevator lobbies on some of the floors, that the elevator stopped.  Some of the gentlemen had badges around their necks that indicated a conference that was being held.

"Good conference?" Danny asked politely of a man standing next to him.

Danny got off of the elevator on the sixth floor, and walked to the stair well, to take the final jaunt to the fifth floor.  The card to the hotel was required to gain entry via the stairwell, but opened without any problems.  As far as he could tell, so far, the only security cameras that the hotel had to offer were housed in the lobby and in the elevator.

In the stairwell, a change occurred. An Asian man of middle years entered on floor six, and an older woman, short and a bit plump in a hotel maids uniform exited. Upon entering, there were only three doors, on each side of the hall, before it ended at the western exterior wall, while there were ten or more that stretched out on both sides leading towards the eastern wall.

Heading towards the shortest part of the corridor, she started at the first door, and methodically began testing the key, muttering and tutting softly to herself as she did so. Her name tag read "Ophilia".  The three rooms on the stairwell side, each remained red, as did two across the way.  Just as the maid began mentally counting how many more doors she had to go on the longer side of the hall, the room directly across from the stair well, clicked softly and turned from red to green. 

The room number was 524 and as of yet, the entire length of the hall remained empty. 

Danny pushed open the door slowly, knocking gently. "Hullo dear," he called out softly in his best Mrs. Doubtfire voice. "Housekeeping... are you decent?" 

A large man blocked the doorway, a confused look on his sloped brow, knitting his eyes even closer together.  He wore a suit that was tailored to fit his frame, black on black.  He blinked.  In as much time, he grabbed the stout woman by her shoulder, yanked her into the room, shoved her into the closet and fired three shots from a silenced pistol which had been, until recently, concealed under his left side.

"Jesus fucking christ."  It wasn't this man, there was another.  The closet door obstructed the view of him.  The room was dark - shades drawn, lights out.  Two men.

"Few hours from now, it won't matter," said the shooter.

"Is she dead?"

"Yeah," replied the shooter.  "She's dead."

The accomplice entered the short hallway.  He was a shorter, thinner man, same tailor.  He might have been handsome.  A scar ran along his face and a tattoo snaked around his neck, peeking from his collar.  He peered into the closet, just to be sure.  The larger man was leaning out the door, swiveling up and down the hall.

"We clear?" said the skinny man.

"We're good," replied the shooter.

"Put this on the door and lets get lost."  He produced a Do Not Disturb card and they both left the room.

For a moment, the only sounds were the steady hum of the air conditioning, and the occasional plink of water from the bathroom fawcett. Then the closet door swung slowly open, a coat hanger falling onto the carpet, dislodged by the passage of the recently shot maid. She took a deep breath, glared around the room for a moment, then caught her reflection in the mirror. She shook her head, smoothed out the wrinkles in her uniform, straightened her name tag, then turned and faced the room proper, holding a hand out towards the closet, palm down in an  almost indifferent gesture.

A fine red mist rose up from the floor, the inside of the closet, the wall behind. Blood.

It coalesced in her palm, defying a number of physical laws of this universe, and possible a few others, and then sunk into her skin, vanishing. She took a few deep breaths, noting the contents of the room, then crossed primly to the phone. She picked it up, then dialed room 1500.

Several minutes later, in the heroes' suite the phone rang, shattering a tense silence and causing at least one of the men to twitch. Palmer was closest to the phone. He quickly crossed the room and picked up the receiver.

"Hello,"  he said neutrally.

The maid rolled her eyes. It would be him. "So," she said in Danny's voice. "It's room 524. They shot me three times and stuffed me in the closet, but I got better." 

"They shot you?" Palmer repeated for the benefit of the room. Of course he got better. DiSantiagos always got another chance. "Where are they now?"

"Holy fuck."  Vinny breathed out.  "I'm glad I didn't go."

Silently watching from behind the bar Sebastián agreed with his cousin.

Nemesis, half-dressed in his uniform, made a shushing motion with his hand. He watched Palmer intently.

"I'm not sure. I was kind of busy not dying when they left." Danny replied. "There were two - kind of a thuggy one, black suit, tailored ta fit. And another I didn't get a good look at, on account of the aforementioned being shot and dyin." Danny said. "I think the second one wasn't real happy with tha first one for shootin me." 

"Are you following them?"

Danny's shoulders slumped. "Yeah. I'm on their tails right now, holdin me liver in place and tryin not ta make a scene. I. Got. Shot." he repeated slowly,  "Three times." He added once more, in case the first couple of go rounds hadn't sunk in. I'm tryin ta heal," he said, examining a fingernail critically, one foot tapping impatiently on the carpeted floor, " and will probably have that done in a minute or two, but wanted ta call and tell someone what was goin on." 

"Hang on," Palmer said impatiently. Why the hell had the man grabbed the key and run off if he couldn't handle things? "We got two shooters leaving the hotel now," he announced. "One in a black tailored suit, no ID on the other." He lowered his voice and asked Danny, "What room?"

As he listened to Palmer's impatience with the situation, a line from a piece of music he'd once heard flashed across his mind. It made him instantly feel better. "When I am King, you will be first against the wall.." With a bright and cheery smile, Danny replied "Five. Twenty. Four. And I'm fine, thanks for askin." 

"He's in room 524," Palmer repeated loudly. "Just needs a couple minutes to get himself together." He lowered his voice and matched Danny for ironic sweetness. "I know you'll be fine," he said. Well, that was more of an educated guess, but whatever. "I also know some other people who got shot earlier, and they're not so fine.  So we need to act fast."

As Ophilia replaced the phone, black smoke poured out of the maid's skin, obscuring her shape totally, save for two burning crimson points of light where her eyes had been. A moment later, the smoke, and the maid, were gone. An enormous black dog stood in her place, its pale eyes gleaming in the dimness of the room. Slowly it began to pad around, letting its nose register every scent it could find, careful to dislodge nothing, despite its bulk.

Cleaners, both pine and lemon scented, were strong in this room.  But not as strong as the smell of blood.  There was the stench of the men, as well, one just slightly less offensive than the other.  One of them was a smoker, but not recently.  The canine swept from one corner to the next, attentive and thorough. 

The men had spent much of their time around the bed - not on it, just nearby.  Nothing seemed out of place, however.  They worked there intently for some time,then drifted to the oversized chest of drawers across the room, upon which a moderately sized plasma screen TV rested.  The dresser was wide, with three drawers down the center flanked by a cabinet on either side.  A small fridge containing the minibar was next to it on one side and an empty desk with a lamp and chair on the other.  The handle of one of the cabinet doors reeked of the slender accomplice.

The dog closed it's eyes and focused, breathing in and out, immersing itself in the smell of the two who'd been here. There was a burst of black smoke, and then the dog was gone, replaced by a middle-aged asian man in a slightly rumpled pair of slacks and a white dress shirt. Danny nodded. Time was now on a different track, and this was... terrifying and exhilarating, all at once. They were changing reality, at it's core,

Amazing.

He flipped open his cell phone and dialed the room above.

Vinny was on his way out the door with Edison when the phone rang.  "I'll be right behind you." 

"I can track them," he told the person who picked up the phone. "But it would mean leavin tha room. What's the boss say?" 

"Uh, hey.  You okay?" Vinny said after placing Danny's accent.  "Boss and Cuz are on their way down now, should be there soon.  They were worried you were hurt."

Danny smiled. "I'm fine, thanks for askin. I'll wait here for em then." 

"Yeah.  They're double timing it.  I'm gonna go now.  Boss has me and Palmer with Stone." The name of the team's brick was said with more than a bit of disdain.  "We're going to try to catch them in the lobby.  Later." 

Danny nodded, flipped the phone closed, then left the room, leaning against the wall in the hall opposite it as he waited for the others to arrive. He made a minor modification to his sense of smell as well, increasing the sensitivity to the point hat he could follow the two men's scent should the need arise. To an observer, it looked as if he'd just exhaled the smoke from a particularly odd cigarette, black smoke curling up and about his nostrils before fading.

The hallway remained empty and Danny was able to see the stairwell plainly from his position.  The elevators were beyond his field of vision, but with his keen hearing he was confident that he would know if anyone was going to approach from that direction.  As he waited he could smell the faint traces of cigarette smoke that followed in the wake of one of his assailants, and the sharp scent of musk that the larger of the two men had been wearing.

The hallway was quiet and empty as Sebastián cautiously opened the stairwell door.  He'd mentioned that it might garner less unwanted attention if they took the stairs instead of the elevator, and it had probably been faster than waiting for an elevator.  Catching sight of Danny down the hallway, Sebastián sighed in relief. He was ok, that was a bit of weight off his shoulders.

Nemesis had traversed the floors down with steady grace, his thoughts his own as he continually worked out scenario after scenario. Once they'd reached the right floor he again let Sebastian take the lead, this time out into the hallway. The room they wanted was fairly close and just across the hall. Danny--in his disguised countenance--stood patiently awaiting them. He seemed fit. There was more to that young man than any of them had realized.

Stepping quickly out of the stairwell, Sebastán kept himself alert, watching and listening for one of the other doors to open, or the soft ding of the elevator announcing it's arrival. 

"I'm glad you're ok, I was worried. Stone seemed to think you were completely fine, I guess he was right." Sebastán said with a small smile.

Danny shrugged. "It hurt a bit, but..." He gestured at the door with the key card. "Not a lot in the room. There's a couple of drawers and such that smelled like they'd been well-used, but I left them for someone more adept at sneaky than myself to look at. Didn't want to muck them up." 

"Well, I'm happy you recovered, however you did."  Sebastián leaned close and spoke softly  "If we can get inside, I'm sure Nemesis can handle the physical investigations. What I can do is find out what happened and what was discussed in the room. "

Danny nodded, something flickering in his eyes that Sebastian couldn't quite place. He inserted the keycard and opened the door, bowing the other two men in. "After you." 

Once inside Nemesis stepped to the side, both to allow Danny to follow him in and close the door and also to get a clear view of the room. He made note of the desk, the small refridgerator and the dresser, and the made bed. The men might have sat on the edges but the bed had not been slept in.

With a mental nod he reached into his utility belt and went to work.

Sebastián followed Nemesis into the room, but hung back out of the way for a moment, letting the Hero decide what to examine first.  Once Nemesis began, Sebastián moved himself into a spot that would give him sight lines on as much of the room as possible, but not impede of the investigation.   Once he found his place, he began his search.

Taking one last look around , he noted how clean and neat the room looked, it was unlikely that these men had spent the night, so he decided that 2 hours in the past would be a good starting point. Focusing his ability, his perception of reality rewound, as he scanned back through the events of the room. As he approached his target time, he stopped rewinding the events and started watching things going forward.  The two men were in the room, the large on at the desk and the smaller one staring out the window.  After a few moments it was apparently they were waiting on something.  Impatience and irritation filled Sebastián, in a perfect world he would watch the entire two hours to see every detail but he did not have that luxury today.  Skipping forward in little jumps, about twenty minutes into the viewing, the little one's cell phone rang, and he answered.  Hoping to hear some of their plans, at least one half of the conversation, Sebastián was greatly disappointed when all the little one did was give monosyllabic acknowledgments, and eventually he hung the phone up.  He went to the door and retrieved a small suitcase.   As Sebastián continued forward in the viewing, his visage betrayed the concern and fear he was feeling.

It soon became readily apparent that Nemesis was not having much luck. The relatively short amount of time he spent in any one area coupled with the occasional exasperated sigh was evidence enough he wasn't finding much. He was thorough, however, working around Sebastian but manager to check under the bed, the drawers fo the dresser and so on. He even gave the bathroom a look-see, but someone had already cleaned the place.

After only a few minutes of searching he stood near the front door, hands on his hips.

"Well," he said petulantly. "That just sucks." He paused a moment, the stepped back over to the dresser, opening the right-hand cabinet. The room safe was bolted down to the solid wood shelf. He stared at it a moment, then shrugged. "Might as well," he muttered.

Turning to Danny, Nemesis gestured at the safe. "You got a trick to opening these or should I do it the old fashioned way?"

Danny eyed the safe speculatively. "I'm pretty sure I could break it open, But other than that, no..." Danny had been watching Sebastian intently, following where the mans eyes went, noting the little shifts of position as the DiSantiago watched what he alone could see. "You want me ta have a go, or wait till he's done doin... whatever it is that he's doin?" 

"No, that's okay," Nemesis said. "I'll take a look at it and if I can't open it we'll go from there."

With that Nemesis removed a small kit from his belt and snapped it open, revealing a series of small metallic tools. He again studied the safe's lock, eyeing the keyhole critically. Something about the vaguely star-shaped nature of it seemed familiar, but he also knew it'd be a bitch to open.

Didn't mean he wasn't going to try, though. With a slow, deep breath he went to work.

As Nemesis worked at the lock it occurred to him that he might be getting rusty, but with the help of his high end tools, he was able to break in.  As he peered inside he saw a briefcase and after pulling it out to inspect it, he found that it had an electronic code entry pad.

As Nemesis began checking the briefcase and the interior of the safe for prints, Sebastián's focus came back to the current time, and he tried to compose himself quickly. Running his fingers through his hair, he looked at the two men in the room with him.

"These guys are professionals, they aren't some mooks off the street. It is my opinion they've done jobs similar to this before." He paused briefly before going on.

Nemesis grunted in acknowledgment, too caught up in the careful handling of the safe's contents to respond properly. Still, he allowed Sebastian's voice to filter in through his conversation as he examined the case.

"Roughly 2 hours ago they received their orders via the little one's cellphone, and received a small suitcase, which was left outside the hotel room door. The small suitcase currently resides in the safe and the safe can be opened with a short round knobby key."

Again Nemesis grunted, but this time in annoyance. The mental image of the keys Stone had pulled from the shooter flickered in his memory. They probably would've been useful at this juncture. He repressed a sigh and continued his examination as Sebastian went on.

"Inside the briefcase are photos of their targets: Pops, Kate Sutherland, Nemesis, as well as printed schematics of the explosive device and the Justice Building. Also there were two brand new cell phones and an unassembled firearm in the false bottom of the suitcase."

Irritation crept into his voice as Sebastián continued  "Also inside the suitcase is a mini-laptop which had a 2 minute video. Sadly they did something to render the computer useless, but they did each get a copy of the video on miniSD cards, which they put into the two brand new cell phones, each of them taking one.  I would very much like to watch that video again, it went by very fast."

Turning towards Nemesis, "I'm guessing your search of the room was futile, as once they were done watching the video they spent an hour wiping down every surface in this room. I'll wager it was cleaner than when they checked in."

"Yep," Nemesis replied simply. "Cleaner than usual, anyway."

"I happened to catch a good view of the case as the code was entered, so this will save you the trouble of having to break into the suitcase."  At any other time Sebastián would have loved to test him, he'd truly been impressed he'd opened the safe without the special key, but time was short today.

Sebastán took a breath before continuing, "I'd like to go outside, and use my ability to try and see who left the suitcase, maybe get an ID on another player in the game."

Nemesis nodded. "Works for me." He nodded at the case. "I'll have this open in a minute. Might not be anything left inside but it doesn't hurt to look."

After keying in the code provided by his teammate, the briefcase popped open without incident.  The holdings were pretty much as they expected.  A small laptop took up much of the space, and after careful inspection, Luke found the secret padded compartment.  Within it were the disassembled parts to what appeared to be a firearm, a small white envelope, printed versions of the explosive schematic and the Justice Building layout.  The white envelope looked familiar and upon opening it Nemesis found a few pictures containing Nemesis, Pop's Bar, Kate Hudson, the Justice Building, Toddberry Assylum and a half sheet of paper with a twelve digit code on it. 

"Anythin different from what you've already got from the shooter?" Danny asked.

A quick shake of the head. "The gun's still here, but everything else we have already." He slid everything back into the case and closed the compartment.

Sebastian didn't waste any time and stepped outside of the room to use his abilities while Nemesis was busy with the case.  It took several moments but he had a solid perception of the time that he needed to go back to, and it didn't take nearly as much time as before.  Unfortunately, to his disappointment, it was a bellhop that had delivered the case.

Returning to the room, Sebastián moved to join his companions, and examine the contents of the case with his own eyes finally.  "It was a bellhop who brought the suitcase.  We could go down and try to find him, and ask him about who wanted it delivered, but that might draw more attention to us than we want currently."

"At some point we're going to have to be more proactive," Nemesis said flatly. "If that means calling attention to ourselves then so be it." He paused, taking a slow breath. "Okay, not yet, granted, but at some point. We'll hold off on that angle for now."

By the time their teammate rejoined them, a few things had become clear.  The first was that the laptop was toast, there might have been a residual imprint available of the crashed data, but it would take someone with Ophilia's level of skill to retrieve anything. It was easy to discern that retrieving one of the SD cards from the phones would be easier than tracking down someone to restore the laptop.  The more troublesome conclusion that Nemesis came to was the fact that his suspicions about there being two bombs was verified.  The Justice Building and Toddberry Assylum were both going to need their attention before this could be resolved, and any chance of catching the Syndicate on the scene, would mean that they would need to act fast.

"I was right about the two bombs," he said to the others. "The Justice Building and the Toddberry Asylum." He pursed his lips. "Why the Asylum?" he muttered to himself. He had no connection to the place that he could think of, but that didn't mean anything at this juncture. As much of a target as he was, he doubted the Syndicate would limit themselves to just him if it came down to it. Possibly the Asylum was tied in another way; possibly it was simply a target of opportunity.

"We need to get with the others. We need to go get those bombs."

?

----ooc: move down as needed---

After making sure that they had found and secured everything that they wanted from the room, the heroes made their way back up to Vinny's suite.  Stone had let them know via the Conquistador communicator that they had managed to intercept the two men that had attacked Danny, and everyone was eager to be there for the questioning.

Nemesis led the way back up the stairwell that they'd come down, it had easy access to the rooms and the convenience of no surveillance cameras.  It was a ten floor hike but they were all in the best shape of their lives and didn't feel any burn.  As they approached the thirteenth floor there was an unexpected sound of someone else in the stair well.  Continuing on, they saw a security guard that had recently entered the stair well to go up another floor.

Upon seeing them, the guard paused politely and asked them if they had seen anything strange.  He didn't press the situation when they replied in the negative and went on his way, instructing them to call security if they heard or saw anything out of the ordinary.  It was clear to all three of the heroes that something was up and quite likely had to do with their presence at the hotel.

ooc:  Feel free to beef this section up with any dialogue that you'd like to add.  And then feel free to make your entrance in part 7.