Bull. Baloney. Cat poop. Dung.

Channel-flipping had led to channel-stopping. News channels usually reported things with a basis in fact. This was, as previously noted, a load of something else. He set down his fork, and dubiously eyed his beer. He'd need a couple more tonight, probably. Especially if all there was to eat was the rabbit food tv dinners his redhead had got him. Er, partner.

The fork wobbled on the edge of the plastic microwavable tray, lost that balance, and hit the hardwood floor with a sound. He paid it no mind. His eyes had slid to his partner, to her reaction. He started them off on the topic for the news broadcast they'd just witnessed, that she'd so graciously channel-flipped them to with that there remote in her palm. "Well." He said. "That's one newscaster of which I'm no longer a fan."

A colorful curse lit his inner monologue. He'd liked her, too.

(( OOC: Responding to April 6, 2013: Live From New York; part of the Riot Plot. ))

She'd changed the channel, but she hadn't changed it quickly enough...

It had been her job to watch, hadn't it? Watch while that...that...woman started something that she wasn't going to have to be responsible to clean up. That was what had just happened, wasn't it?
The redhead on the screen had obviously been roughed up...and it had been done by cops? Quin shook her head and sat down her beer as something inane played on the TV. The cops knew better these days...most of the biggots had been weeded out. Sure, there were legends about surly mutant-haters, but that was all in the past.

It was a fact. The department had set up MRC. People like her and Ashton...and even that weird X-dweeb were prominent members of the department.

It couldn't be true.

Ashton spoke, and Quin turned her head slowly to the side, so she was looking at him. What had he said? Something about disliking the reporter.

"Do you think it's true?" was the only thing she could say.

The answer came out as quickly as he'd heard the question. "No." He took a second to hammer that 'no' out into a more formidable and appeasing reply. "I mean, no. I don't think it went down exactly like how she said. There must be extenuating circumstances... and even if it did, and it was a handful of bad cops," He finished, he thought, a bit weakly. "They certainly wouldn't be speaking or acting for the entire force. The lady is crazy to insinuate that." Crazy.

There would be another investigation, just like the last one. They'd dig up the reasons, the truth. Christ. Internal Affairs would be all over this. The police chief would have to make a statement. Maybe even the mayor. Maybe even statements. This whole thing was unneeded. Made them look bad. Another few coarse words for 'really bad stuff' whistled cheerfully between his ears, skipping all the way.

"Ughhhhhh." Quin said, dropping her forehead into her hands for a moment. Why did it sound like Ashton was trying to convince himself of the things he was saying?

This was a PR nightmare. Similar things had happened in the past in Chicago, and Detroit, and LA. In those cases, the anger had been justified, the police had been wrong...but the consequences had been absolutely deadly. Deadly and destructive, and it had taken years for the forces involved to gain back the trust of the people in their city. In some cases, they never had.

Quin turned again and looked at Ashton. He'd said there had to be extenuating circumstances...Quin shook her head. "That was real...I might hate the cow...but there was no act." The words made her sick, even as they left her lips. The city had already been building up like a pressure cooker on a hot burner.

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" she said.

Chicago, Detroit. Other places. Things had happened, similar to this. The detective wasn't stupid. He knew if this weren't disproved, it'd damage their reputation. The reputation of the department. Potentially every police department in New York. "That's why we need to disprove it," he finished a thought out loud. The situation was upsetting. He hated to be in it, hated it, but he wasn't going to let that interfere with his ability to respond to it. "Or, at least put IA on the right trail." He added.

If they weren't assigned to it, anything they did would be unofficial. On their own. Practically vigilante work. Other cops would likely be thinking the same. He knew his department, MRC, wasn't going to let something like this alter their perception of the NYPD, as a whole. And if they did, they were idiots. Him and Quin would figure something out.

"We'll get through this," He informed her. And he was sure they would.

Quin nodded when Ashton said that things would be okay, that they'd get through this. There was something in his voice that triggered a thought in Quin's head, and she looked at her partner speculatively.

He'd said something about IA. Just the mention of that department made Quin wrinkle her nose. IA was where careers went to die, where people went when they couldn't be trusted by their fellow officers. It was a place where over time, people got every bit as bitter as their reputation made them out to be. Internal Affairs. I'd rather have the X-Men. Quin let the thought float through her mind for a moment before squashing it. That wasn't true at all. Not one iota. Still...IA. Yuck.

Maybe that was what had actually put the thought in her head. Quin frowned for a second.

"You think that two enterprising detectives could shed some light on the situation if they knew where to look?"

"Why, Quin," Ashton feigned shock. "Are you suggesting something vigilante in behavior?" Perish the thought. "Because I was thinking something similar." He finished conspiratorially.

This was the sort of situation where one would have to keep their heads low and look for clues. It wasn't a certainty that these men had done this of their own volition, and if they were certain of that, and could prove it... hell, he was paranoid enough to think there was more to the situation than met his eye.

The redhead couldn't help the small'ish smile that turned up the corners of her mouth at Ashton's tone of voice.

"I don't know if vigilante is the right word for what I was thinking..." she said, expression turning pensive as she thought about what he had said.

"But someone needs to be doing something with the Department's best interests at heart...and I'll be damned if I put IA in that category."

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, "So yeah...I guess I am suggesting that we go a little rogue."

"Agreed," Ashton said.

Now, all that left was the 'going rogue' and 'finding information bit.' Also, finishing his TV dinner and having a beer. Hey, people needed energy to do stuff. It was only right.