The Same Thing We Do Every Night ... [IC]

[angrydurf]

When she opened the door Stesha saw not Mrs. Everly's wayward canine but rather a Slightly built man of mediterainian descent dressed in tight black jeans and a fine black silk shirt crouching across the hall in the shadows of a plant likely her eyes would have slid right past him had the slight wilt of the plant not drawn her attention back to it.

When it was clear he had been seen he nervously stood and asked "Is there a Taylor Chun staying here?"

[Electra]

"Taylor Chun?" Stesha asked, sounding confused, pitching her voice loudly enough for Taylor to hear. She tilted her head and looked at the man, then at the plant. "Are you hiding in my houseplants?," she asked him with some concern. "You should be careful, there are spiders in there."

[alderwitch]

Taylor cocked her head at that, then without a sound teleported from the room and down the hall like she was heading up from the stairs. She stopped at a door a few spaces down, one she knew was currently unoccupied, and then began patting her pockets as if she was searching for her keys. In the search, she managed to knock her cell phone out of her pocket with a clatter and knelt to scoop it up.

[angrydurf]

The man frowned slightly his eyes flashing red for the barest second at the rather obvious duplicity. Seeing Taylor down the hall however he looked confused for a moment, "Sorry I must have the wrong apartment." He said with a toothy smile before turning to hurry down the hall towards Taylor.

"Ms. Chun, I need to speak with you in private." He said, as he approached cloaser Taylor felt the brush of magic in him, barely noticeable but definately there and more focused when he last spoke.

[alderwitch]

Taylor's gaze slid back over to Stesha then to the young... man? The flash of red, the big smile. This was not a conversation to be had in Stesha's apartment clearly. She gave Stesha a barely noticible nod before she put a hand on the man's elbow and went to steer him out of the apartment and down to the streets below. Jack had better have a bloody good reason for sending another vampire to talk to her. Once she'd manuevered him into an alley, Taylor scowled at him. "Talk. Quickly."

[angrydurf]

The creature before her snarled slightly at the demanding tone but managed to calm himself before doing anything truely stupid.

When he spoke is was somewhat garbled by the fangs he was still unable to fully retract but he did manage to keep them form being visible. He answered her question with a question of his own, "When was the last tiem you saw Mr. Farratti?" Hurridly adding awkwardly, "I work for him."

[alderwitch]

Taylor's frown spoke volumes of concern. Jack standing her up was one thing but his loyalists would have to truely be running scared if they were reduced to this. Or truely stupid. Eyeing the vampire with the rather noticable lisp, she gave it even odds. Smoothing her expression out, she gave what she hoped was a casual shrug. "He's got business tonight, that's all I know. We had a date earlier, it was interrupted by some sort of emergency. Obviously not work or you'd know about it. I'll tell him you came looking for him, though. I'm sure he'll be back later tonight."

[angrydurf]

The vampire nodded confidently, "Of course, well I'll not bother you any further then." He said smoothly and vanished into the shadows of the ally, or rather would have as Taylor looked away but for his rather obvious swagger back out into the street.

He seemed to have believed her lie at the least or was very good at covering for not believing it which seemed unlikely given his utter incompetance displayed thus far.

[alderwitch]

Taylor watched him go then blinked up to Stesha's apartment, her brow wrinkling in concern, as she said, "I think something's happened to Jack."

She went over to her backpack to dig through looking for one of the more ancient texts that she thumped on Stesha's coffee table and cracked open. The language wasn't English, of course, but few of Taylor's books were. Sinking to the ground in front of it, Taylor curled her legs up into the full lotus absently as she quickly flipped through the delicate pages. "I might be able to scry for him, however."

[Electra]

Stesha shoved the container of chicken into the fridge and went back to the living room, sitting down on the sofa. "What do you think happened?" she asked worriedly. "Who was that weird guy? Do you think Jack and Derrick might be together somewhere, maybe doing something for the Knights?" For all she knew Taylor needed to concentrate, the questions just sort of tumbled out.

[alderwitch]

Taylor's eyes did that creepy fade to glowing white, but she seemed to manage to answer Stesha's questions. At the moment, all she was tossing was her vision anyways, so it wasn't terribly distracting to manage both, "He's someone who Jack knows through his work. Jack's pretty much always on call. I think Jack and Derrick might be together, but he would have called if he could have. They both would."

"This might take me an hour or so to do. Hopefully, it's not warded." That was the last thing Taylor said for a long time. She settled in, not moving and not even breathing. Only the flicker of her eyelids betrayed the rapid search she made of the city. After a very long sixty minutes, give or take, Taylor inhaled suddenly, "I've got Jack. I don't see Dark Star, however. There's a man locked in the same compound with him. Looks like some sort of high tech facility."

Taylor went on to give a rather accurate description of Dark Star's human form before adding, "It's not too far from here."

[Electra]

Stesha sat bolt upright at the description, clenching her hands together in her lap. "Derrick, that's Derrick," she said immediately. "In his human form. He must be in trouble, he'd never shrug off his powers in a situation like that if he had any choice. He hardly ever uses it at all." She jumped up from the couch and went to her front closet, rummaging around for the still-unopened garment bags from her shopping trip. "We have to help him. Do you think we can get in there without being seen?"

[alderwitch]

"I can teleport us in there without being seen, yes. There are locations in the facility that are unwatched. I can't, however, get us to them without being watched." Taylor said, reaching out to close the book. In between Stesha looking at her, Taylor switched into Phantom and continued, "If we teleport in, we'll either have to fight our way towards them or if we pop into the room, I'm not sure what it will do to them. I'm not sure what all the facility is for. There is some sort of hydroponic room with several exotic plants that you might be able to use, but the rest of it is all steel and titanium."

[Electra]

Stesha changed into her costume as she listened, fumbling a little with the unfamiliar pieces. Her costume wasn't very complicated, but covered a lot more than the basic Phantom ensemble, sans cloak. At base it was a simple green shirt and slacks, with a brown belt and boots. Over top of that was a brown half-jacket that covered her arms and chest, then dropped down her back like a cape to just below her knees. It had a deep hood attached that covered her hair and, when paired with a domino mask, actually did a decent job of concealing her identity.

"I'll take my plants with me," she told Taylor, "but we need some kind of plan. Whatever has them must be really powerful, or it never would've caught one of them, let alone both. Maybe I could go in and be a distraction. I'm not very powerful, but I could probably make a pretty good mess, starting somewhere unobserved. If I get them chasing me, maybe you'd have a better chance of getting in and freeing them?"

[alderwitch]

Rising from her seated position, Phantom floated through the couch and over to Stesha, "Even split up, there's a lot of men and defenses in there. I'd rather stay together. If everything goes poorly, one of us should be able to get help.."

Quicky, she laid out the basics of the subterranian base's layout. "There's a control room. Looks like something out of star trek but with maybe a dozen guys. If we cut the power, that should cause enough problems that we can make our way to the cells. If we're really lucky, it might just free them. My vote is to teleport in their midst and take them fast."

[Electra]

Stesha's eyes widened a little at that suggestion, but she picked up her knapsack anyway and started rummaging through it. "I don't know if I'll be very good at taking people out," she admitted, "but I'll do what I can to help. If there are some guards, I might be able to get them while you're looking for the real villains." She pulled handfuls of seeds out of her bag and began tucking them into her pockets and into the pouch at her belt. "I'd say we should call someone else, but we can't waste any more time." Little vines were already starting to creep out of her pockets as she reached for Taylor's hand, ready to go.

[alderwitch]

Phantom closed her gloved fingertips around Stesha's hand. "I think you're going to find yourself far more crucial to this than you're expecting."

The black of the void closed around them, and Phantom ported them into the room. She solidified and summoned her forcefield, floating up off the ground. Normally, she'd have remained intangible but she'd far rather they take any shots at her than target her companion. Her voice boomed into the room, hopefully turning every eye towards her, "You have picked the wrong targets for this plot!"

[angrydurf]

The engineers were busily at work maintaining the small reactor that served as the bases primary power source. There were armed guards stationed at each end of the room two to each of the two doors leading into the rest of the complex.

When Phantom and Fluer de Joie suddenly appeared in their midst they almost didn't notice until Phantoms voice boomed across the cramped room. The engineers immediatly ran for one exit or another while the guards began to raise thier weapons to fire at these interlopers.

[Avenger Assembled]

The cell was cold and dark, the light shining in through the window above burning into Jack's soul all the same. Taylor had filed for divorce that morning, a month after his confinement had begun. Can you blame her, Jack? The thought was a bitter, agonizing one. You're a monster. The doctor had died of her injuries before her servant could begin to help her, her throat torn out by the glass he'd thrown her through. He remembered the blood on his hands, so crimson red, the scent of it in his nostrils. She could never trust you, Jack. Not really. You'll never have a normal life again after what you've done.

He spent his days in his cell as a zombie, moving back and forth, a walking dead man. Today, though, for some reason, he overheard the guards as they walked in front of the rows of cells. The lead guard was a one-armed man with a hard look on his face, his counterpart a beefy blonde man who always seemed to have a malevolent smile on his face. "Listen up you maggots! We've got a special announcement for you today." The lead guard snarled as he walked up and down the block. "We've got a very special visitor to our little cell. The Avatar of the Holy Scarab herself is coming to OUR prison tonight to bless you miserable maggots! Who wants to volunteer for a little holy blessing?"

Hours later, Jack wasn't sure why he'd volunteered. What impulse had led him to believe that he was worthy of meeting with the Lady herself? In the crowded prison auditorium, surrounded by his fellow convicts, he watched as the Scarab's own security took the stage, hard-faced men in blue and white uniforms, before the Scarab's herald took the stage to the applause of the prisoners. Jack didn't move, though, frozen stock-still as he watched the figure on the stage. No...no... The nearly faceless man up there had a Scottish accent Jack recognized only too well, the familiar voice of the Scarab's herald having often appeared on the radio and television. That's not him. That's not him.

"Gentlemen of Parousia! I give you...the Scarab!" She floated down from above the stage as the room went quiet, her gold and red armor glistening, cape fluttering behind her. She raised her hands to her face, then slowly, gently, removed her mask.

"My children!" Melinda Ainsley said warmly. "I greet you in the name of peace and love!"

[alderwitch]

Phantom fired off a blast of lightning at the first guard to raise his gun. Her attention was only half on the threat, much of her focus on the tech panels. They hadn't a prayer of taking this thing off line. Neither of them were scientists. Phantom never thought she'd find herself wishing for Archeville's presence but it certainly would have been handy right about now.

When all you have is a hammer... Her gaze slid to the power cells thoughtfully. They might blow up. They'd probably blow up. Why did these things always explode? It would probably be energy. She could handle energy and radiation. Probably. Having made herself the focus, she floated closer to the power cells in question, rapidly working through her options.

[angrydurf]

The crackly mystic bolt took the guard full in the chest slamming him up against the wall where he fell in a ruined heap a faint whisp of smoke coiling up form his unconcious form.

[Electra]

Stesha winced as Taylor drew the attention of everyone in the room. So much for any chance of being sneaky... not that they'd had much chance of that in the first place. She dove towards the side of the room where Taylor had shot the guard, seeking cover behind one of the unused consoles. It wasn't much, but it would hide her from the guards on the other side of the room. She pulled a seed from her pocket and flicked it at the second guard. As it flew, it sprouted into a large and viney plant, shooting out tendrils to wrap snugly around the guard's body.

[angrydurf]

The coiling tendrils quickly enveloped the man much to his horror. As he struggled witht he grasping vines the two engineers on that side of the room quickly ran out the door just before another managed to mash an alarm button somewhere. Red Klaxons flared to life and a digitized voice announced something in russian. Neither of the women knew what it said but it wasn't hard to guess.

The two guards opened fire on Phantom their energy blasts impacting harmlessly on her forcefield, while two more engineers fled through the door betwixt them. The final engineer was frantically working at one of the stations seemingly paying no mind to the Heroes, alarm, or gunfire.

[alderwitch]

Hopefully, this would work something like she'd planned. Phantom had skimmed over the theoretics of this before they'd left but she'd never had a chance to actually put this into practice. She phased through the initial casing of the core and put her hands against the glass containing the energy and strained. As Phantom, she was forever trapped between dimensions. Her insubstantial form was only partially here. The clothing, small odds and ends she pulled with her between without thought or effort. She'd never tried it on anything larger. She'd never dared.

What was the saying? Go big, or go home?

With a final shriek, the generator slipped to that same 'not quite here' space that she occupied. With out the machines to keep the reaction going, the device detonated - harmlessley out of synch with reality. For those at ground zero, it was like watching a hologram of a nuclear blast as the light streaked out and through them before dissapating harmlessly. For a moment, Phantom sagged in place in the air, the action mostly hidden by her cloak, I think I strained everything I have. Even my hair hurts.

[angrydurf]

The light of the detonating core was blinding and the sound like nothing anyone in the room had heard before.

As Phantom and Fluer de Joie began to recover thier senses a few things became readily aparent, firstly the room was rapidly filling with noxious vapors from some kind of reaction in the space formerly acupied by the reactor core. Secondly it was much darker in the room though red emergency lights still gave bare illumination to the area. Lastly thier enemies it seemed had all been rendered unconcious by the blinging lights and deafening sounds of hte explosion.

But where would they go now there was obviously at least some suplemental power available.

***

Back in the comand room Derrick continued to strain against the device trying to force the energies out of his body once more. The madman holding him captor had not yet descerned anything usefull from his study of Jacks bizzare dreams but he was getting dangerously close already having Identified Taylor as important to Avenger. He howled in rage and brought up a camera view of some strange reactor when the Alarm sounded, Derrick could clearly see the cause of the alarm as Fluer and Phantom dispatched the guards. When Phantom moved into the reactor chamber the entire room went dark for a moment before some kind of back up power kicked in but it seemed the crazed russian couldn't bring up his security grid on the limited power available.