1.21 Gigawatts [IC]

[Cyroa]

Dark Star frowned, confused and a little put out by this. "This seems to get worse the more we dig. He's some kind of mystical doppelganger now? I don't suppose either of you know who, or perhaps what, this villain could be?" He twitched one shoulder, straighten from peering at the image. "I don't suppose it matters either way. He must be found immediately. I suppose I could spend a couple hours scouring the city and beyond unless you have a better way to find him?" He was used to Taylor being able to come up with all sorts of magical solutions to problems. Anything that would help find this creature sooner rather than later was welcome.

[Electra]

Stesha studied the face in the mirror doubtfully, looking from it to the angelic baby sleeping in Taylor's arms. "I guess there's a resemblance," she said doubtfully, "he does look sort of like a criminal, distorted, evil version of what the baby could grow up to look like." She shuddered. "That's just twisted. Who would do something like that, and why would he want to break into your house and steal your clothes? Even if he wanted to impersonate you for some reason, it's not like the parts of your old costume are hard to get hold of."

[alderwitch]

Taylor remained quiet as the others talked and raged, her dark gaze thoughtful and a puzzled frown on her face. She moved her fingertips, twisting the image to show different angles before she banished it with a gesture.

"That's no doppelganger," Taylor said with unshakeable certainty. "Nor is it an illusion."

She crossed back to the baby and cuddled him close with a troubled expression as she unwrapped him, subjecting him to the same light probe of magic. Finally she whispered,"How did you do this now... and why?"

JJ's only response was to grab at her finger and attempt to stuff it in his mouth.

"Its the baby, mystically. Physically, that part I don't know." No one liked to hear that Taylor was at a loss when it came to magical matters, "There's elements of some sort of temporal magic but so very faint that I couldn't tell you what effect would have been garnered from that. The bulk though is hermetic, and relatively juvinile."

[Avenger Assembled]

I have no idea what that meant.

"Wait, you're saying...this is the baby?" Avenger hazarded. "But how? Did someone clone him and grow him real fast in some kind of fast-time spell?" He had no idea if that was a real thing, but it seemed like it probably was. I knew I shouldn't have fired Nevermore. Dang it, why couldn't he stop eating those nuns? "In any event....we need to find him. And we need to find him now. Where is this?"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star just blinked at Taylor right along with Jack. She came up with all sorts of options alright. And Dark Star didn't understand a word of them. He went with Jack's explanation and assumption, figuring it worked well enough for the both of them, nodding in agreement with the dark hero. "Indeed. Can you track him or show us where he is now?"

[Electra]

"Could he have mimicked the baby's mystical energies somehow?" Stesha suggested, looking from Taylor to the baby to the figure in the scrying. "That could explain why he would come here when it was so dangerous, to check his work, and to see if the ghosts would make him as being an intruder. He confused them enough that they didn't set off the alarm right away, but then he got caught because Dark Star happened to be on the premises. Do you think he's trying to get someone's attention? Yours, maybe, or even Dracula's?"

[alderwitch]

"No, its no duplication. He's not my match in the mystic arts. I'd be able to tell." Taylor responded firmly, cradling the baby in her arms almost a little too tightly, "But, yes, I can show you where he is now."

Taylor was torn between staying with the baby and following the trail. She glanced to the mirror again, this time showing 'Avenger' and Jack of all Blades apparently talking on a rooftop. "There..."

[Avenger Assembled]

"He...he what?" Avenger studied the mirror, as ever catching not even a glimpse of his reflection there. "And with what's his name no less...." Unable to believe what he was thinking, as ever, he picked action. Stopping just long enough to pull his costume on, he barked, "Quick! We must go! Take everybody! And with that, Avenger and everyone else disappeared as Phantom hurled them through the Void to the West End, appearing in a whisper on a rooftop by Jack of all Blades and the man in the Avenger mask.

[angrydurf]

A short time later a bright white slash of light unfolded into a portal and JJ stepped out into the familiar and yet not surroundings of the living room. He stepped over tot he fireplace keeping himself as far as he reasonable could from his still dozing past self without being overly obvious of that fact.

He pulled off the mask and let it hang loosely from his fingers as he leaned on the mantle waiting for the rest to arrive with poorly feigned calm.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star hovered to one side of the room. He really had no idea what was going on now. No one seemed aggressive or ready to throw down, but he wasn't taking any chances. He stayed as Dark Star, watching vigilantly as the others all moved in to the room and got settled. He stayed silent for now. He was here as their friend, and making darn sure everything worked out ok.

[alderwitch]

Less than a minute later, Taylor and Jack popped into the living room with Taylor back in her civvies, having left the costume behind. As JJ's mother was generally a jeans and tank tops person, it was clear she and Jack had been out for the evening before being summoned back home as she was currently wearing both heels and makeup.

Taylor checked quickly on the baby and then turned her attention to the man in the Avenger costume, "I think you can take that off now."

[Electra]

"I'm still not sure I understand," Stesha said, pushing back her cowl and looking from Taylor to the intruder. "Do you know him? Why is he impersonating the baby? None of this makes any sense." She was sticking close to Dark Star for the moment, but she kept a careful eye on the stranger, ready in case he decided to try anything funny.

[Avenger Assembled]

Avenger circled around behind JJ and picked up the poker from the fireplace. Iron wouldn't hurt a vampire, but the metal at the end, once a Crusader's sword that Melinda had stolen back in the good old days, certainly would. "We need answers," he said with a slow, flat calm, peeling off his mask to reveal Jack Jr's father's face. This was the look he got when Mom usually chased the kid out of the room. "And we're going to get them."

[angrydurf]

Jack had already dismissed his force field upon his arrival so while the poker was a real threat, particularly given his fathers strength, it held no particular fear for him due to its holy nature. He impassively pulled off the leather gloves of the 'Avenger' costume and deposited them next to the mask on the coffee table nearby. Reaching down he ran one finger along the tip of the poker and held up his finger slightly smudged with soot from the fire but otherwise unharmed, "All of your strengths none of your weaknesses remember?" he said smoothly.

He glanced around the room, "I had hoped to avoid this until I had proper answers however you are all just as tenacious as ever." he replied, "I'll give you what answers I can without risking more dire repercussions but some things I can not answer." he said simply. He knew just being here he was walking the razors edge telling them too much could be disastrous. That said he held his hands loosely open at his sides, "So ask."

[alderwitch]

"Time travel? Or is it an existential extension of the fact that the Void is all times and places? An accident or are you a fragment of the baby's psyche made manifest? That last seems unlikely. There's no drain from one to the other." Taylor asked, her questions rapid fire after her long silence as she'd pondered the possibilities. She scooted around the poker that Jack was holding and went up to JJ, stretching up on her tiptoes. She smiled, a quick flash that dimpled both cheeks and reached up to cup his face between her hands, "Look at you, you've got Jack's eyes. And his height! You must be the tallest Chun ever."

Nevermind that he was a Faretti. Taylor beamed at him, her touch gentle before she said kindly, "Are you stuck?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"So are we actually saying he's the baby!?" Jack suddenly expostulated, waving the poker around in his anger before shoving it aside into the nightstand. "Because that..." He knew better than to dispute his wife's mystic prowess, but that didn't magically make it any easier to believe. "What did you do, hop in a DeLorean and come back to the past?" he asked half-sarcastically, falling back on the only time travel stories he knew, aware that his own ignorance was rapidly dangling out for all to see.

[angrydurf]

JJ pulled back at his mothers touch for a moment uncertain that there wouldn't be some kind of reaction but with out one patiently allowed her to paw him over with a somewhat petulant sigh, "Your suppositions are correct." he said quietly with a glance to Stesha, "Not exactly duplication." he explained with a small shrug then turned a smirk Jacks direction, "And no DeLorian." he added with a bemused expression.

He took a deep breath, "There was an event, I can't and won't discuss the details as when temporal matters are involved caution is best." he explained calmly, "I was able to evade the event by traveling to the void however something was out of sync and I couldn't return." he continued trying to be as general as possible without revealing too much of what had happened, "I was able to track an energy and found a way out. I don't know who or what left the trail but when I was able to work my way free I was here..." he made a small non-committal wave of his hand, "Or downtown at the library to be specific." he finished and glanced around to the others to see that he was understood. He put on a calm a facade as he could muster hiding behind the intellectual explanation to not think too much on what might have happened to those he knew in his time. "So stuck in a fashion." he said with a shrug.

[alderwitch]

"Ah," Taylor said as if that all made a great deal of sense to her and continued to pat his cheeks, before moving onto his shoulders and frowning as if she was about to prod him to eat more. It was a chilling moment as Taylor realized that she really was turning into her mother. Instead she pointed out, "You're going to have to prove who you are to your father a bit more. He's, well..."

Paranoid. Suspicious. Not nearly as trained in the mystical arts as he plays off... Taylor settled on, "Let's just say that any additional peace of mind, really isn't a bad thing. Jack, you could ask him questions, I suppose. What would ease your mind?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Any question I'm likely to ask, a good telepath or good mystic could easily have already found the answers in a dozen different ways." Jack smacked the poker against his hand, resisting the urge to suggest to the other man that he wasn't too big to put over his knee. If I say _that_, I've given away that he seems more credible than he should... "All I'm hearing is a lot of half-answers and speculations from you anyway. I ever tell you the first thing I said when I changed my son's diaper?" he asked the other man challengingly.

[angrydurf]

JJ looked over at Jack aghast for a moment then cleared his throat with a small blush, "I realized the Lumins are close family friends and all, but none the less I am not discussing that." he said firmly with a small shake of his head, regardless if was likely to have changed them herself he wasn't about to discuss such things, he wasn't really even comfortable with discussing it with his parents themselves.

"If you require further proof I think I may have something that should suffice." he said pointedly eager to move the topic of conversation away from his days of soiling himself. He unzipped the collar of his stolen, or borrowed as you choose to see it, jacket and pulled out a delicate golden cross on a light chain. He dangled it from one clenched fist and it glowed softly with a golden light, flaring slightly with each swing towards Avenger. "A gift before I was born, to keep me safe from the more problematic members of your side of the family." It was a perfect match to the cross Ace had given them for the baby at the shower, simple gold with a small prayer of protection engraved and blessed by an honest to God angel. "So unless you think the holy hosts are in on this hoax." he said with a challenging half smile.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Gah!" Jack took a step back, holding a hand in front of his face as if the cross was a searchlight being aimed directly into his eyes. "So you prove your bona fides by waving a glowing cross at me?! That's...that's..." He blinked. "That's exactly what I would do. Son of a..." He shot a look at Taylor, then amended it to, "Son of a witch! You really are him." He stared at JJ, then suddenly grabbed him in his arms and hugged him to his chest. "My BOY! What in Perdition's name are you doing here?"

[alderwitch]

"He's stuck," Taylor explained again, patiently. She chuckled as Jack dropped his dark predator of the night aspect to scoop JJ up in what looked to be a bone crunching hug, "Honey, breathing might be unneccesary but he's still fond of those ribs."

Taylor said with amusement before glancing at the young man Jack was currently hugging, "As for you, didn't I ever tell you that the Blinovitch Limitation Effect is entirely a work of fiction? You're not going to wink out of existance that easily, sweetheart. Certainly not after the effort that went into your creation."

[Electra]

Stesha, who was not used to the same level of everyday mysticism as Taylor and Jack, still felt rather lost. "Wait," she broke in, "so what you're saying is that this man is the baby, and he's somehow come back in time as an adult?" She looked to JJ. "Why didn't you tell us?" she asked him. "Why did you break into the house and steal your father's clothes? Surely you know we would've helped you!?" She sounded a little hurt.

[angrydurf]

JJ swung the cross back up into his hand and let out a quiet, "Oof" at Avengers powerful embrace. He awkwardly patted Avengers back and adjusted the coat dropping the cross back inside his shirt after he was released.

He nodded to his mother and smiled with a small shrug for Stesha, "While that particular peril of time travel is fiction the impact of my presence here could have the future demanded, and still demands caution." he said with a conciliatory tone, "When I first arrived I was uncertain of exactly what had happened. I came here to try and find out." he further explained. "Not telling you was to try and keep my impact minimal. If I had known the circumstances better I would have avoided the house entirely."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Oh, but this is great!" exclaimed Jack warmly. "Now we know we don't need to worry about the baby at all! I mean he's right here, so obviously we do things right and he turns out okay. That leaves a load off my mind, I can tell you that." He looked around at the others, especially at Taylor. "Right? I mean, time travel does work that way, doesn't it? Because otherwise this is an even more obnoxious night than I thought."