alderwitch

Taylor's going to get away from the crowd and dive into the ground so she can emerge as Phantom. That is my plan :D

Phantom had been surveying the human wreckage, straightening as she checked the steady pulse on one quite unconcious large fellow as Avenger appeared in the looming doorway. She'd had just enough of a moment to appreciate his physique in the new costume before they both heard the thready crying through the floorboards. "I hear it," she affirmed. In a move so smooth that it looked practiced, Phantom stepped in behind Avenger, sliding her hands in around his waist. It tied up both her hands for the following teleport but it meant that he'd have an unimpeded shot at any threat that was waiting below stairs. It was unlikely that anything in here would be that potent a threat but teleporting blind was always dangerous that way.

"You know that I always have ideas bouncing around. Anything more than what I said is all just speculation. Dimensional energy signatures and pattern fluctuation isn't anything I've made a real study of." Alex replied soberly as they headed into the well stocked kitchen. She automatically went to the fridge and began putting together a quick sandwich for both of them. Being telepathic did mean you never had to ask what your boyfriend wanted for lunch. Well, that and fifteen years of friendship give or take. Pushing the plate piled high towards him, Alex volunteered as he no doubt knew she would, "If I was going to speculate, I'd say it is possible that the plane is no longer in this dimension at all, considering the sheer size displaced. There just aren't that many devices capable of moving that much mass. But we should be able to tell when we get there."

Taylor laughed and tossed the snow she'd scraped off the tombstone at James for his good natured ribbing. Brushing the remains of the snow off her hands, she responded to Deadhead. "Its for business as well as if you'd like to stop by to visit. Jack's easier to get a hold of than I am generally. I have a bad habit of leaving my cell phone in a dimensional pocket." She admitted with a shrug of her shoulders, "At least it doesn't go off during class that way."

Alex had been quietly insistant that Zoe spend Christmas with their family. This was of course complicated by the fact that Zoe's erstwhile parents were both still minors themselves and lived with their parents, neither of whom were aware that they had a time dislocated grandchild before Alex informed her mother. Now, it was rare for Alex and her mother to butt heads on any matter, about as rare as Alex getting stubborn on any given issue but the conclusion was foregone the moment Alex dug her heels in and stubbornly thrust her chin up over the matter. In just under an hour, she brought her mother into enthusiastic favor of the idea, before she set to work on convincing Zoe to accept the invitation. Christmas at the Albright house was a festive occurance. It held echoes of the traditions Zoe herself had grown up with. After the odd Christmas Eve service that Mike and Alex had attended (with a real angel, no less), it was time to pile in to visit the folks over in Hanover. In Zoe's childhood, the manor had always been decorated with her father tempering Alex's love of festive decorations. The Albright household was much less whimsical in its holiday cheer but still cozy. The decoration of the tree on Christmas eve was filled with a good deal of laughter as Alex flew ornaments at Mike to catch as he took over the decoration of the top of the Albright tree. The Harris family went home late on Christmas Eve, promising to return early in the morning for the traditional exchange of presents, and Alex and Zoe were shuffled off to Alex's bedroom for the night. Here, there had been no restraint of Alex's love of all things colorful and the room was more than a bit eyejarring. The trundle had been pulled out for Zoe which made the small room feel a touch cramped. Sleepovers had stopped for Alex and Mike years ago and the bed hadn't really been used since then. Still, it was as comfortable as a trundle could be and made up with soft blankets. Before either girl knew, the weak wintery sunligh was breaking through the gauzy curtains. Alex hung her head over the side of the bed, cheerfully bubbling, "Merry Christmas, sleepyhead!"

"I'll come with you and eat before we go," Alex said pragmatically as she scooted her chair back and stood up. Slipping her hand into Mike's much larger one, she added, "And I should change too."

"I'm not the best of dancers, either. Usually, its Jack making me look like I have a bit more grace than usual. Especially since I'm not all that keen on heels." Taylor smiled ruefully and followed him out on the floor, "But I shall do my best not to stomp on your feet." She put her left hand on his arm and tucked her right hand into his much larger one, fingertips just curling over the top of his hand. Taylor looked petite when standing next to her tall husband, but next to Atlas, she looked like a child. She looked up at him, once she was certain that she wouldn't break her promise and trod on his feet. Really, she probably could have stood ontop of his shoes and he wouldn't even have noticed but it was hardly polite. "Its more than. When I was a little girl, I never really dreamed about my wedding. It was just one of those things that I figured would happen. Then when I... picked my career, I crossed it off my list. Mostly, I'm surprised to have survived the day without a catastrophe. Everything else is just icing on the cake."

"I think I'd prefer the 'freaky super science stuff'." Taylor said with what sounded like resignation but she headed dutifully forward to have her vitals taken as she elaborated, "Both my parents are doctors." Unlike Jack, Taylor's body temperature remained in the range of human normal unless she was currently exposed to extreme climates. She'd never tried to take her temperature in sub artic conditions but she had no idea if she regulated there as well. Most likely the good doctor would be testing that too. Her blood pressure was low but not unhealthily so, while her heart rate was on the high end. "I have no idea - if I really am pregnant - how long its been. All four tests I took were positive but it could still be a curse. There are weird curses out there... Anyway, t can't have been that long, right?" Taylor frowned, her brow furrowing, "Chronologically in this dimension, I've been Phantom for over a year. About a year and a half, but I spent some length of time training in one of the transitive dimensions. No more than five years, no less than three by my guess. So... four and half to six and a half years as Phantom? I don't get sick, don't age, and can take a nap in deep space. My body actually fluctuates in and out of shift with prime subconciously and regenerates. I haven't had my period since then so I figured that was one of those things that was frozen like my age. Apparently I was vastly mistaken." Taylor shifted, trying not to gesture with her hands and instead turned to watch the monitor curiously, "I have been tired lately, but I started getting teleport enduced vertigo around Christmas."

As Jack took the front way in, Phantom decided that dropping down through the ceiling would be an elegant solution to visiting a little Christmas mayhem. Lithe legs encased in black leather were visable before the folds of her cloak caught up to her descent. Phantom landed on the table filled with ill gotten gains in the center of the room, her cloak dripping off the edges. Fully intangible, it was the same tactic she'd chosen at the mobsters party as any bullets fired at her would create a far more deadly crossfire to the criminals than any would prove to be of use on her ghostly body. "Its a ghost," one of the more hopped up addicts stuttered after his switchblade swished harmlessly through her lower body along with is hand. "Haven't you heard of the ghost of Christmas yet to be?" Phantom inquired with mocking curiosity, "I see a future spent in a cozy one room cell. How does three to five sound?"

Alex thumped his shoulder the same way James had often seen her whack Mike affectionately when he'd said something she considered rediculous. "Well, hopefully you've learned that lesson finally to get help solving your problems. That's what friends are for, silly," Alex beamed up at him before she streched up to press a sisterly kiss against his cheek, "Because if you ever try something like that again, I'll turn your brain into a pretzel and leave you with Eddie's fashion sense as a reminder."

Taylor flashed a quick smile over at the doctor but her attention had been drawn by the increasingly discomfited look on Samael's face. He was easy to see over the crowd and with determination, Taylor eased her way through the crowd to find out what was distressing the gentle giant. Her heels clicking on the floors gave both men ample time to be aware of her arrival. She stepped up to Samael's side, resting one slim hand on his mammoth arm in an absurdly protective gesture as she greeted both men. "Hello, John. I'm glad you could make it. Would you mind if I stole your drinking partner for a dance?"

"Super powered or super science," Alex agreed from the console at the manor's computer terminal. She brought up several fluctuating bars on the screens flanking the table and held up the readout to them, making that thoughtful noise again before scooting her chair back to the round conference table. "Odd in that its some sort of dimensional corridor fluctuation although I couldn't tell you from where. Its not dissimilar from the teleportor's tesser technology but there's literally an infinate number of possible sources for that. Something would have to target a dimensional flux of that magnitude and I doubt that anything on the plane could have been used for a targetting system..." Alex broke off, looking at the mixed expressions directed her way and blushed, before simplifying, "The plane was probably teleported. We should look for eye witnesses or any sort of tech around the site. We can probably narrow it down to something useful from there."

Phantom's breath whooshed out in a startled gasp as the bolt caught her full in the chest and knocked her back. She soldified before the force knocked her through the wall, instead smacking into it with a solid sounding thump. Pulling herself back to her feet, Phantom shook her cloak out with the air of a disgruntled and now outraged feline. "Fine. Now, my turn," Phantom growled, for the first time truely pissed in this altercation. Her hands curled into fists at her sides and charged with power. Phantom tossed the bolt of gathered energy at the head of the stunned monster. It sizzled white hot through the air and impacted with a sickening crack. "Now, who's next?"

That's a crit on a the construct Atlas is wrasslin. (31) So standardly that's a DC26 Tou save, so DC31.

1d20+12=21 Although if I get to use my eiditic memory bonus which seems appropriate as I think I know what this is and Psyche has seen that energy before, that would be a 26.

Phantom Once Upon a Midnight Wish You Were Here Abra Kadabra Night Moves Invasion: Riverside Gothic Christmas White Wedding Darkness Rising Growing Up Vampire Friday Outing Beyond the Veil Con Games Coo Coo's Nest And Blackjack Seventh Circle Pruning and Tending Invasion: Danger Manor Pressing Concerns Psyche Fallen Friends Time After Time Money for Nothing Velvet Glove Invasion: Riverside (Gate)

"Thanks," Taylor said with a smile in her voice. "I don't think I'd be very good company right now. I'll order some chinese or something and be fine. I'm just going to try and bury myself in work until we leave tonight. I'll let you know how it goes."

"It's going," Taylor said, her voice subdued. The thick leather chair behind the desk creaked under her weight as she dropped into it, elbows coming down on some truely ancient tomes. "Jack swears he didn't think I cheated on him but I'm not sure I believe him. He's moved on to being horrified at the possible existance of a dhampir instead. Archevielle's made time for us tonight so I'm just killing time until then researching necromancy."

"No, they were both underground. My mom was active during the heyday of the Moore act and my grandad was more of a street hero. Neither of them had powers, just training. I'm the first one to have powers in the family thanks to the Terminus," Alex said with a shrug. She tucked her hands into her pockets to warm them up as they came to a meandering stop in front of the dorm rooms where she paused and looked up at the building as she annouced in a bit of a bizarre change of topic, "I'm glad we didn't have to really hurt you. It wasn't a call Mark could have made, and I really didn't want to. I would have, though, you know. If we had to really stop you, it would have been me and Erin."

"Race you," Phantom challenged him with a sharp grin below the shadow of her hood. She floated up, her cloak spreading out like giant dark wings, casting a shadow over the white snow. "I'll even make it sporting and not teleport." But not that sporting as she took flight almost as soon as she threw down the gauntlet, ghosting up high in the night sky like some fell spirit.

After getting back to the apartment with several long hours of fidgiting to go before seeing the doctor, Taylor had retreated to her library. Although there were several tomes spread across the heavy cherry wood desk, Taylor wasn't actually looking at any of them. She doubted that Jack was getting any more work done in his office than she was in hers but by mutual silent agreement, they had both retreated with the hope of finding some successful distraction. Sitting back in her chair, Taylor pulled her phone out of her pocket and quickly dialed Stesha's number. Updating her friend would be something at least she could do.

'I don't think so.' Alex opinioned thoughtfully, but she released his hand and floated up to make certain that she had line of sight on their classmate and his angel companion. 'Its probably mostly psychological, you know. Make certain he repents and all that but if he attacks, I'll shield our classmate while you keep the angel busy. Once he's safe, I'll call in the team' Alex pinned the angel with a piercing look.

Well, my first roll was a 1 so I will spend my las hp: a 9, +10 for the reroll makes it 19.

It would be easy to assume that Alex wasn't listening as her head was bent over the belt buckle she'd set on the table as she poked at it in a few places. Snapping it shut, she looked up finally and tucked the pencil she'd been using as an impromptu tool back behind one ear. "Yeah, no problem. I can get us there with the teleporter." She reached out for the map and glanced over the readouts as well as the map, committing both to memory as she continued to speak, "Once we teleport in, I should be able to scan the surrounding area for visual and audio. Its certainly worth a shot, at least. I actually disagree with Geckoman on how much equipment we should take with us. If we really need anything above and beyond what's easy to carry, we can send Phalanx for it. With his speed and strength, he can bring anything we need in short order and it sounds like speed really is of the essence in this situation." Alex frowned down at the energy readout and kicked her chair over to the computer console to begin depressing buttons on the keyboard, "This energy read out is strange, though..."

"As its only been a few days, so far so good," Taylor said with amusement, "I have no classes and was celebrating with a mid afternoon nap."