Latet anguis in herba (IC)

[Aoiroo]

She flipped through for a bit, a little frustrated at the lengh of time it was taking and went to the shelf for more books. Examining closely she skimmed titles and her eyes passed something that made her stop. Backtracking to that spot she found a large bible that had very faint traces. Pulling it out, she put it on the table and began to flip through the pages. Pushed between the pages of exodus was a very old piece of paper that faintly glowed of old but strong magic. She grabbed it and unfolded at the top it had the number listed 22:17, skimming through the pages she was on, she saw the words on the paper and said alloud,

"Thou shall not suffer a witch to live."

The paper glowed with magic, the current words faded and names began to run down the list. She did not know what the names were, but at the very top, she saw listed in dark red, Etain Mahor. She looked at Quentin,

""

[Supercape]

Quentin walked over to Etain, and peered over her shoulder. The script he recognised, but he couldn't really understand the context. Load of mumbo jumbo as far as he could tell - if he had come across it, his eyes would have glazed over and he wouldn't have seen a thing.

"What is it?" he asked Etain "Witchcraft? Etain Mahor? I presume that refers to you - or am I jumping to conclusions?"

Was Etain a Witch?

[Aoiroo]

She let out a sigh, before turning towards him,

""

She looked at the paper again, it was hard to see, but the magic here was not made with good intent. For it to have lasted so long some very powerful feelings would of had to be drawn.

[Supercape]

"

He scratched his head.

"" he remember the shadow in the corner of the church, and how Rozello had clammed up.

[Aoiroo]

""

Passing her companion down the corridor she did not stop to hear objections, just to see if he was keeping up. Hopefully they would catch Rozello soon.

[Supercape]

Moving down the crypt, and, if he was honest himself, rather perturbed about what he had read, and what Etain might or might not be, Quentin caught sight of Father Rozello. He was in a heated debate with two hooded monks.

Quentin recognised the language. Italian. But he could barely speak half a dozen words of the language.

Whispering to Etain, he asked "

[Aoiroo]

""

Etain reached the group first walking around them unnoticed but picking up the general vibe of the conversation. The monks were clearly trying to get something, but Rozello looked like he was talking his way out of it. It seemed like he needed back up.

[Supercape]

Slightly nervous, Quentin edged towards the three clergymen. It struck him that he was already breaking and entering. Not good.

"I say, Father, are you all right? these chaps not giving you any bother are they?"

Rozello turned to Quentin sharply "what are you doing down here? this is off limits to the public, professor. You best leave... now..."

The two hooded monks turned too, and one of them intoned "leave us" in a voice like falling tombstones.

[Aoiroo]

""

Letting out a breath, she glanced at the hooded guys,

""

With that she let out a sigh and very noisily start to run down the cooridor like she was escaping something. The hoods heard the direction this was going deeper into the crypts and quickly chased off the sound swearing something in Italian. Etain only went down a few yards before stopping, but the echoing of the footsteps continued down the cooridors for the two hoods who continued after it.

[Supercape]

"Father, what's going on? I don't like the look of this at all..."

The priest and scholar was sweating and looked deeply troubled "timely as your arrival was, my friend, you cannot place your life in peril by remaining. Those men are driven. So driven, they loose their way with God"

He took Quentin by the elbow and lead him, not unkindly, back out of the Crypt. "They are, to be honest, dangerous. Blinded by faith, they have lost faith. "

Quentin turned to face Rozello "I am not afraid of them, Father. I have faced worse than priests. And something deeply disturbing is going on, I can tell that much. You are in trouble. You need a friend. You need help. "

In Latin he continued "".

Father Rozello sighed. "Perhaps you are right, Professor. Perhaps. But I will not have your death on my conscience. Those men are self styled inquisitors. Many centuries ago, the Inquisition had an ignoble history of witch hunting here, and these tomes" he waved his arms over the bookcases "are testament to those horrible times. Now, they seek to uncover some of the....methods hidden in these histories. "

[Aoiroo]

""

Etain didn't just appear out of nowhere she actually took the time to walk down the cooridor remove the spell then walk back. The paper still clasped in her hands,

""

Walking quietly, she folded the paper and slid it into her sleeve,

""

[Supercape]

Father Rozello recognised Etain from the Church above "

Quentin pressed the matter further "Father, how do we get to the root of this? What are the inquisition up to?"

Rozello sighed, defeated by circumstance, resigned - albeit gratefully - to his new accomplices. "Somewhere here, or nearby, will be the pact documents and rituals. The Inquisition clearly wish to complete them in order to gain more power. "

Quentin turned to Etain. "Secret passageway?" he queried.

[Aoiroo]

""

She was cut off by the sounds of footsteps,

""

The spell was already in action again, this time excluding the father as well as Quentin from the effectees.

[Supercape]

Father Rozello looked surprised and incredulous. "Father, its OK. She is able to do these things. This is Freedom City, after all, remember?" said Quentin with a wink. Rozello nodded, and gulped.

"" whispered Quentin to Etain, and then, after a moment of reflection added "

The Monks started questioning Rozello again, who was clearly quite nervous. After some heated debate in Italian, Rozello took them to an old dusty tome, and showed them some pictures. A few more words were spoken.

The two monks looked at each other. One nodded, and then before Quentin knew what was happening, a knife appeared from the sleeves of the monks robe, and proceeded to flash into Rozello's abdomen!

[Aoiroo]

""

She stopped short when she saw the knife, her eyes followed the event but she could not find two seconds to comprehend or understand. As they let the father drop there where he was, she moved quickly and caught him, not carrying to remove the invisible and laid him quietly on the ground. She looked up at the two of them and appeared with a cutlass and sliced him in the side leaving a gapping wound. She held it at her front glaring at the two cultists,

"Blind followers of hate, what is that you seek?"

[Supercape]

The two monks looked at each other. One hissed "witch! your time is soon at an end!" and spat at her. However, their courage of action was not equal to their courage of words. Both turned heel and ran towards the stairway.

Quentin furrowed his brow, and within a few seconds, the entrance was covered in the white-blue crystalline substance he had termed quantum matter. Whilst it did not, in a mathematical sense, fully exist, it certainly did for the monks. The substance was as hard as steel, if not harder, and showed not the slightest deformity to their blows and cuts.

Turning around, the first monk spat "the contract will be completed! all witchcraft will die, and justice will be served!" however, despite his resistance, they clearly knew they had no chance in fighting the sabre wielding heroine.

[Aoiroo]

Etain looked at them then the wall that had blocked there path. She didn't really take the time to question it,

""

She walked down the coorider. Her steps quiet with the saber at her side. She did not swing it a second time instead there was a rumble as the floor contorted and two large hands of stones reached up to grab the monks. Holding them she looked at them,

"No justice is in this contract. Only pain, for all involved. Latet anguis in herba, the snake in the grass will eat you alive."

[Supercape]

Quentin rushed over to the fallen priest, who was bleeding profusely out of his abdomen. He was no doctor, of course, but at least it looked like they hadn't hit the abdominal aorta. If they had, the blood would be reaching the other side of the crypt.

As it was, there was a puddle of blood on the floor, and Rozello was cold, clammy, and barely conscious. Without immediate medical attention, things were looking grim.

"Stop... the snake..." he croaked, as Quentin cradled him, and then he passed out cold.

Protective as he was about his identity, Etain was hardly the investigative reporter type, or someone who would sell the information to the press - and a man's life was in the balance. Presumably the monks could not see him.

He looked up at Etain, and said in a calm voice "Back in a jiffy!".

The quantum hole formed in his mind, a direct link to the ER of Freedom's hospital. After a few seconds of fuzzy, wobbly fluctuation, the hole collapsed, and in an instant Quentin and Rozello shrunk down to nothing, folded in on themselves, and disappeared.

[Aoiroo]

There was a little surprise in the sudden disappearance of Rozello and Quentin, though only Etain saw Quentin go as he was not visible in the first place. She smirked, it explained the wall, this world had several people who didn't use magic but were amazing just the same. It wasn't surprising and it saved a man's life today. Still it wasn't something she could linger over so cutlass in hand, she stepped forward she held it at his throat level,

"You seem to see it fit not to speak,"

She raised it a bit to his mouth level,

"How much will you miss that skill if you were to lose your tongue?"

[Supercape]

GM

The two monks looked at each other. The first, who presumably was at least a token leader, spat at Etain, although the spittle only dripped off the quantum matter that separated them.

"Witch!" he cried. ""

He trembled at the sight of Etain's cutlass. "Soon, we will complete the Contract of the Snake! then, all witchcrafte will be purged from Earth! Three totems remain! Once these are broken, then judgement awaits you!"

[Supercape]

Supercape dropped of the bleeding Rozello outside the ER, his tweed Jacket changing to a non-descript jogging suit and hood. Best keep incognito he thought.

With another small fluctuation, he formed another quantum hole back to the Crypt, and unfolded space time to reappear where he had left Etain and the Monks. In the same shimmering act, his costume reformed back into his classic tweed jacket and bow tie.

"" he said to Etain "

He looked at the two monks with the contempt deserved of murderers. In the name of God. Despicable.

"

[Aoiroo]

Etain listened quietly never lowering the cutlass until the arrival of Quentin. She didn't turn to face him since he was still concealed, and even as she spoke her mouth did not move to her captives and instead was replaced with an eerie silence accompanying her glare.

""

Lowering her cutlass to the now talkative and helpful man she glanced at the one who sought to spit on the wall.

"I no longer see men, as I see demons of a cause who have been blinded to who is innocent and who is wicked because of their hate. So I will give you the pain you gave someone whom you intended to harm even in cooperation, and hope you will stay in pain until your death."

Her pretty face glared with disgust as she took her cutlass and in a single movement stabbed him in the chest much like the priest had been stabbed between the fingers of the stone hands. Blood flowed freely from the wound and the stone hand dropped the man to watch him writh in pain. When the man blacked out from the pain, the illusion faded from her and Quentin's eyes. There was no stone hand that released him, no blood nor wound, not even a cut on his robes. There was just a man, curled into a ball on the stone floor. She didn't turn around because as the magic worked, the illusion still looked real to the other captive,

""

[Supercape]

Quentin was slightly shocked at Etain's passionate stabbing, but just as furious. With a moments concentration, the quantum matter wall vanished.

"" he commented, stopping to the fallen book. It was in an obscure and badly written Latin, with much of the writing obliterated. Nevertheless, the drawing seemed intact. Three small statuettes, placed in the sewers under Freedom City. Acting as ward's of some kind perhaps?

"" he ventured.

[Aoiroo]

She walked over and looked at the book, reading through it carefully,

"

She was curious just a little bit beyond the bounds of what needed to be done. He wasn't using magic, that she was certain, but it seemed to be something rather powerful.

[Supercape]

"Etain" he mumbled uncertainly "I value my identity very passionately. I can do some extraordinary things. Normally, I wouldn't have done it as Professor Quill, but a man's life was in danger. "

He paused, uncertain. "It looks like danger is still perusing us. And I will do what I can for the city, and to help you. But please understand I do not wish Professor Quill to be known as a man capable of such feats."

He looked at her carefully. "Swear to me you will keep this secret?"