Fallen Friends [IC]

[alderwitch]

Alex was easy enough to find these days. Sitting at the Manor's giant databanks, she looked small and very young as she clicked through the screens of information, searching for anything that might help them understand what had happend to James. Except for the corona of ambient power surrounding her, she looked waifish as she sat with her legs folded up in her grandfather's leather chair in worn jeans and one of Mike's sweatshirts that swallowed her fragile frame. Her eyes were smudged with faint bruises and a half drank cup of coffee had long ago gone cold next to the large keyboard.

[Electra]

Erin sat nearby at another screen, theoretically helping with the research, though she hadn't pressed a button in more than ten minutes. She just stared at the screen blankly, the white glow reflecting blankly off the smudges of soot and blood still on her face. Eventually, she blinked and shook her head, pushing herself away from the computer. "What are we even looking for?" she demanded, frustrated less at Alex and more at the world. "We know what those things were, we know where he went. How is any of this going to help?"

[alderwitch]

"I don't know." Alex admitted, too tired to volunteer anything like a theory at this point, "I don't know anything about magic, or theology. At least, nothing concretely useful. I just keep thinking if we'd known more. If we could have planned better somehow."

She sat back in her chair, scrubbing one hand over her face and through her hair. Her shoulders slumped inwards. It was her job to be the 'smart one', and Alex was feeling woefully unprepared. "I don't even know where to begin."

[Electra]

"We can't just do nothing!" Erin snapped futilely, hitting the arm of her chair hard enough to bend the metal. She stood up then, abandoning anything she could hurt in her frustration, and started pacing instead. Her footsteps were loud in the quiet room. "He got down to hell. Maybe we could follow him there somehow. Maybe we could do something to protect ourselves there. I mean, in legends and stories and stuff, people do it all the time, go down to hell, make a deal with the devil, whatever. There has to be a way."

[alderwitch]

"We'd have to know which hell to even start with. There's any number of hells referenced in literature, even sticking to the Judeo Christian mythos. There's seven layers in Dante's inferno, the Catholic interpretation. I don't even know where to start calibrating the transporter to try to pierce the dimensional barrier." Alex sighed and looked at the cold congealed coffee, making a face. Without even a gesture, she sent the coffee whizzing back towards the pot and emptied it telekinetically. She continued her conversation with Erin without even hesitating, an ease of manipulating her surroundings that she'd never known before. Alex hadn't even begun to examine the surge of Terminus energies since the fight. There just hadn't been time, "I am sure there's a way. There are probably several but I haven't found any yet."

[Electra]

"We could ask someone. Some priest or something, someone who knows about demons. They know all this crap at Catholic churches, right?" Erin suggested, her pacing gradually increasing in speed until it was a little dizzying. "I mean, they practically invented all the particular things that live in hell, and the levels and stuff like that. Or we could call Phantom again, see if she knows anything. She didn't _say_ what we were supposed to do if we lost! We were the heroes, we weren't supposed to lose him!" There was despair under the anger in her voice, the belief deep down that they really had lost, and there wasn't anything to do about it.

[alderwitch]

"We only lose when we give up," Alex said soothingly as she held her hands out for the fresh cup of coffee. She hated the taste but at least it kept her functioning. Eventually Mike would show up to hussle her off to get some rest, but Alex was pretty sure she'd have another few hours before he decided to track her down. "And we're not going to do that. Phantom also said that he was too valuable to them to let him die. As long as James lives, we'll keep trying. And we'll succeed."

Cupping her hand around it to absorb the warmth from the mug, Alex floated up from her chair to watch Erin's pacing, "If there are any heroes still alive today that have travelled to hell, Mark will figure it out. Maybe he can find a way to talk to Eldritch. We've left a message for Phantom. I'm sure if she can help, she will."

[Electra]

Erin stopped pacing long enough to look up at Alex. "We can keep trying and lose anyway, we're on a timetable, and every hour we lose just makes it worse. They're going to break him, it's what they've been trying to do to him already, all this time. It's why he never sleeps, because they come after him then, and now they've got him full-time. They're going to torture him until he loses who he is and becomes what they want. Even if we keep trying, if we don't find a way soon, it doesn't mean a damn thing."

She spun on her heel and went up to the wall, but pulled herself back at the last moment from pounding on it, resting her fists against the metal instead. "I should've seen it coming earlier. If we'd been just a little sooner, we could've helped him. Maybe if we'd had the whole team, or some actual adults. We could've done something," she muttered.

[alderwitch]

"Stop it!" Alex said, exhaustion making her voice sharp, "We will get him back, and if I have to, I will put his brain back together synapse by synapse. James could have told us more sooner. We could have done things differently. But we made our choices and we made the best choices we could have. We were outmatched and outmanueverd and if we'd gone for help, we might not have made it in time at all. Maybe if we trained more. Maybe if we were stronger. Maybe if James had us there from the start. Maybe, maybe, maybe. It doesn't matter right now. What matters are the choices we make from here."

[Electra]

"What choices do we have?" Erin snapped in return, still focusing on the wall She wasn't quite as tired as Alex, but the nasty mix of guilt, worry and fear in her stomach was eating away at her every bit as effectively as Alex's coffee. "If we can't get him back, hell is coming to this world. James made that pretty clear."

She twisted her body to look her roommate in the eye. "I can't watch another world die, Alex. I'd go down along with it first. I'll take as many with me as I can first, but I don't think it's going to help. It could be like the Grue again, but worse. We have to stop it, that's not a choice. But staring at computer screens for hours on end isn't helping!"

[alderwitch]

"What would you like me to do, Erin?" Alex set the coffee down before she burned her skin gesturing with it. "We need information. There's nothing too fight. I have searched the city. There's no more demons. There's nothing out there that we can pummel into telling us what to do."

She sighed and shoved the sleeves of her sweatshirt up again as she clicked a few buttons on the computer to freeze her current place. "We can go exercise for a bit if you'd rather. Run through the scenario, see if there's anything we didn't see the first time through."

[Electra]

"I don't know." Erin pressed her forehead against the wall. "I don't... all I know how to do is fight. If there was something to pummel, it would be better. But this is what you're good at. Do you really think we're going to find something if we keep looking through all these databases? It seems so hopeless, like looking for a needle in a field of haystacks."

[alderwitch]

There was a thump as she dropped to the ground so that Erin would hear her footsteps when she approached. Touching Erin when she was still in a temper was never a good idea, but now that she was more on the depressed end, Alex closed the distance and put one hand on her shoulder.

"Of course we're going to find something. We may already have found something useful." Alex let her voice infuse with the warmth and confidence she carried with her, "The reason I'm going through all these stacks is it might come in handy later, when we do go get James back. Look, worst case scenario, James will have to show up here to bring hell to earth and we'll be waiting for him. That's why I'm trying to absorb all of this information now, so we can stop him. Not just for the world, but because James deserves better than that. I know how the brain works, Erin. Even if they break him, they can't destroy him. James will still be in there somewhere, and I promise you, we'll be able to bring him back out."

[Electra]

Erin didn't so much as startle at being touched from behind, a considerable improvement. Alex could feel her trying to sort her thoughts and emotions back into enough order that she could do something productive with herself. It took a few moments. Finally she turned back towards Alex, pushing her hair out of her face with one hand. "All right," she said resignedly, "we'll keep working. But you need to get some sleep. I can keep at this for the rest of the night, but you look like you're about to fall into your cup."

[alderwitch]

"I am tired," Alex admitted, leaning her hip against the counter, "Which is a bit more dangerous than I'd like until I get a handle on what all I can do. My shields used to slip when I got too run down. Its just hard to sleep. Even this tired. I lie down and my mind spins."

[Electra]

"You could ask Mike to fly you home for the night," Erin suggested, pushing away from the wall and going back to her seat. "It's probably a lot calmer there, mentally and otherwise. Even if you do slip, you're less likely to drop in on someone's bad dreams. Or you could just go upstairs with your grandpa, give yourself a little distance. You're going to miss things if you work past exhaustion."

[alderwitch]

"Or accidentally telekinetically re-arrange the computer terminal into a cot. Now that would be less than helpful," Alex said with a ghost of her wry humor returning. She sent the coffee over to a potted plant to pour itself out with a wave of her hand, "There's just too much to do and we never know when a break might come. Of course, I'm making myself nuts and ignoring all that very excellent advice I gave to you."

She shrugged and the coffee cup flew over to the sink to rinse itself out and put itself neatly away.

[Electra]

Erin watched the cup make its way across the room, then looked back at Alex, who was glowing at least as much as the computer terminals. "Do you know if that power is going to stick around?" she asked, curious despite all the other things she had to worry about. "I mean with the glowing and being able to fix things? Do you think it was just something to do with the fight?" She herself had felt strange energy when she'd handled that whip, but it had gone away with no aftereffects, that she could feel, anyway.

[alderwitch]

Alex glanced down at her sparkling hands and shrugged, "Without tests, it's hard to say for certain but probably. I'm well aware that there was Terminus energy that we produce that wasn't used. When Mike and I lost our tempers, we accessed some of that. There's no real way to put it back, now. I've kinda re-wired my brain to handle it. But, like I said, without tests that's only my best guess. It isn't anything from the demons, no. Although the dimensional flux might have had something to do with it happening right then. The government was pretty complete in their research and this was not an unheard of possibility from puberty."

[Electra]

"That's some growth spurt," Erin said with a bit of admiration. "And I guess it's one more tool we'll have to use if we do get another chance at this. James won't be able to tell them more than he knows, so maybe they'll underestimate both of you. It might give us a little advantage." She sighed at how small the advantage seemed right now. "Anyway, like you said, anything could help." She wasn't very good at giving encouragement, especially when she felt pretty hopeless herself, but it was a game try. "Maybe your mind will come up with something while you sleep."

[alderwitch]

"I wish" Alex said ruefully, looking down at the glow around her palms. She wiggled her fingertips, causing the sparkles to dance, "As far as I can tell my brain's regulating my forcefield like it does my breathing or my pulse, so I guess a streak of inspiration mid sleep isn't that unlikely. Mike's got similar power growth going on but he got eyebeams. S'kinda weird."

[Electra]

"Real superpowers are weird," Erin agreed. "When you get shot up with something like I did, it's messed up to start, but at least you know you're not getting anything new after that. When it comes from inside your body, I guess anything can happen. Seems like these were mostly good changes though. That's lucky."

She walked back over to her chair and sat down again, though she didn't quite focus on the screen yet. "I was wondering. If someone dies fighting demons, do you think God, if there is a God, might just give them a pass on their sins and let them into heaven? I mean, they were basically fighting directly on his side at the end, right? It seems like it should be worth something."

[alderwitch]

"I think that a heaven must exist just like hell seems to but so do the other realms of other faiths. I don't think that makes any of them right," Alex said softly, still looking at her glowing fingertips.

"I think that we believe because they already exist and that makes divinity easier to digest. I think the real divine force is so much more than angels with fluffy wings and trumpets, or a pantheon of petty bickering concepts wearing flesh. I think we are loved, though, and that we are forgiven for our failures. I don't think it takes anything more than trying. The same way people love babies. Not because they did anything. They simply are, and are loved. I think its probably more like that."

Alex waved her hands and glanced up from them, her smile a little abashed as she knew she'd gotten into a rambling response.

[Electra]

Erin shrugged, the look on her face the one she got when most of what Alex had just said had flown right past her. "I asked James once if there was more than one heaven or hell, if there was one for every different dimension, but he didn't know. Maybe there are, or you'd be there with infinite copies of yourself and that would be strange, but it would suck to get sent to the wrong one. Doesn't matter, I guess," she finished with a shrug. "We know there's at least one hell, and we've got to get James out. That's enough to worry about for now." She punched a button on the keyboard, bringing up a new screen of data.

[alderwitch]

As Erin turned back to the console, a look of deep sorrow flickered across Alex's face as she watched Erin. She knew Erin still struggled with her survivor guilt, and with her own self loathing. Even before, Alex could have removed that burden. Now it would take no more effort than a thought or two. But then she wouldn't be Erin anymore.

"I think if God exists, It suffers with all of Its creations," Alex said very quietly. She tucked her hands into her back pockets and her expression smoothed back into her usual serenity, "I'm going to go for a midnight flight before resting. Wanna come?"