ic You're a Wizard, Harry

[Tiffany Korta]

Penitents comments triggered off a memory in Lucy’s mind. She sipped her coffee, it was black and as strong as they could make it and it still barely tasted of anything.

“Long ago, when I was I was at the awkward age of being interested in boys but not knowing what to do with them, I fell hard for this Romanian boy. I don’t know what scared my parents more the fact that he was a boy or the fact that he was Romanian. After spending a while hanging outside his door his mom took pity on me and invited me inside. She would cook, her Papanași were to die for, and tell me story of the Old Country.†She took a sip of her coffee

“Once a year 10 students would enter Scholomance to learn sorcery from the devil himself. Nine would return with their gifts and the tenth would stay as the Devils aide-de-camp. At the time I thought there were just stories, I know better now…†she fixed her gaze on Harold with her cold black eyes “So I’m guessing that we just met the stay behind so the question must be where are the other eight students?"

[trollthumper]

"Giselle? No, she's one of the star pupils. It's... not exactly an honor, staying behind."

"Yeah, thought it seemed too good to be true. Usually is with Hell." Nick put down his coffee, and kept his eyes on Harold. "So, the other nine - they're the students who do really well with the art. And they're just let go because..."

"Because they've taken it into them. The art. Teacher - he never gave us his name, always demanded we call him 'Teacher' - said it was the language of the world, rendered up in broken tongues. But you could still make music with them. Everyone else seemed to take to it fast, but me --"

"You were playing Chopsticks."

"That's, uh, one way to put it. Teacher said that, if you couldn't learn to play..." He shuddered. "...you'd be an instrument yourself. Another conduit. A prop."

[Shofet]

The Penitent looked at Harold, nodding and finishing his reuben, then flashing a smile to the waitress who refilled his coffee and handed him the slice of pie he had ordered.

Taking a bite, he swallowed before beginning to speak.

"Well that's just lovely. Deals with the devil, being turned into a tool by Satan," he took a deep drink of his coffee "Trying to kill people. All part of being a teenager I guess."

He leaned forward. "Now, here's my question -- Giselle, the lovely young lady, said that he wanted to give me as a gift because I was... a prison as she said it. Now, I can understand the mistake and all, but the souls are willingly bound to m--" He shook his head as if shaking off some snow. "Sorry, missing my own point there. Why would she wanna give me as a gift to, er, uh, 'Teacher'?"

[Tiffany Korta]

“So the student who gets left behind isn’t decided until the end, and you figured you were on a losing streak so decided to leave whilst the goings good. And the star pupil was sent to get you back for teacher.†She took another sip of her coffee “Well you wouldn’t be the last lost soul that any of us saved.†she gave Harold a little reassuring smile

“We can help but you need to tell us everything, because I suspect we’re going to have a word with Teacher.â€

She returned to her coffee, poor Harold would probably need a moment to consider her options.

[trollthumper]

"Sorry, missing my own point there. Why would she wanna give me as a gift to, er, uh, 'Teacher'?"

"Because she's Giselle," Harold said. "The legends may be wrong about the person stuck behind being an aide-de-camp, but Giselle's always been willing to do anything to worm her way up to the top. Selling out others, sowing chaos topside... she wants to make sure she's Teacher's favorite. Hell, she might be aiming to take over."

"Yeah, you get a lot of that in Hell," Nick said. "Demons and people who think like them rarely come together out of altruism or the common good. Just over seeing who gets to the top of the inevitable pile of bodies." He took another sip of his coffee - it was like making love in a canoe, as his dad would say, so he decided to focus on Harold's story. "I'm guessing she won't be the last. With you out of the running..."

"...someone else has to come in last place. That's what you're thinking. But, it's not like that."

"Let me guess. You signed contracts."

"Someone shows up in your bedroom offering you all the secrets of the universe, would you stop and check the fine print?"

"Three times over. So I'm guessing truancy counts against your grades, which means as long as you're gone..."

Harold shook his head. "I thought if I just ran long enough... found the right place to hide..." He looked in the eyes of the gathered heroes.

"That's not going to happen, is it?"

[Shofet]

"Of course not. You can't outrun Hell, kid. But, if Doomguy has taught us anything, you can beat it savagely until it doesn't get up anymore."

The Penitent took another bite of his pie.

"I don't figure this'll be easy, but there's always a chance to make things right, as I reckon. Heck, not the first time I've dealt with the spooky."

He grinned.

"And if you wanna make amends, well, I come from a community of sin-eaters. Now, I figure if I send a reccomendation, I could have them get you a proper education does not have to do with Satan. Might be good fer getting your life in order, and it's in the backwoods so if you angered anyone mighty fierce you could have somewhere to lay low. Of course, if stickin' around ain't your thing, I suppose you could get do some of the jobs they have down there that requires travel."

[Tiffany Korta]

“The one thing I could never really stand was bullies, when I was younger I spent my time protection all the children from around the neighborhood from them.†She gave a smile “I guess things haven’t changed much except the bullies are bigger and I got a lot older.†She gave a little sigh.

She turned to Nick who she knew dealt with this kind of thing much more often than she ever did.

“Is there some place safe we could hide him until we sort this out? At least until we breakup this school of his.â€

[trollthumper]

"I know a few places," Nick said. "They should be occluded enough to keep anyone downstairs from tracking him down."

"You'd really...?" Harold almost looked choked up, but quickly swallowed it. "Er... thank you. That's, uh..."

"It's nothing. But, if we are going to break up this infernal diploma mill, we'll need to know where it is."

"It's, uh... well, to be honest, I think it's actually in Hell. Or somewhere very close to it. Teacher just whisked me away when I signed on to the contract, and it's not like we were allowed out on trips. But when I ran, well... I can show you where I found myself."

---

After dropping Harold off at the Parkhurst, Nick drove back to meet Revenant and the Penitent at the place he'd indicated as a gateway to the pit. Longfellow Elementary had been closed for six years, a relic of rolling cut backs in Freedom City's education budget. With students busing into Hartley over in Ashton, the place had been closed down and repurposed for real estate. When no one came to bite at the apple, the city had considered turning it into a community center - but then the recession hit, and Freedom had other concerns to deal with. The place was a skeleton now, a half-forgotten playground attached to a wholly forgotten building. Some of the windows were broken, and with his flashlight, Nick could see graffiti splattered across the walls of empty classrooms.

I can see why Hell might choose this as a relay point.

He looked to the others. "So, ready to go knock on the devil's door?"

[Shofet]

"I suppose as ready as we're gonna be."

The Penitent sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"Well, I suppose we better get a move-on." The Penitent approached the door, and the ghosts clinging to him looked positively terrified.

"Any plan of action we have beyond 'rush in and hurt them bad', before I forget?" asked the Penitent as he turned to face his comrades. "I'd hate to be underprepared when storming the Bad Place of all places."

[Tiffany Korta]

“Well I’ve meet enough of his employees I guess it’s time to meet the boss.†She gave a broad smile.

It still surprised her at time like theses just how unconcerned she was at times like these. She’d always been confident but now nothing seemed to faze her.

With little consideration she answered Penitents question “Well I find his sort tends to over plan these things, so I was just going to improvise. Though I’m no expert on the subject.†She turned to Nick “Any pearls of wisdom on what we could be facing?â€

[trollthumper]

"Infernal magic tends towards the old favorites," Nick said. "Gouts of flame, corruption physical and spiritual, toying with emotions and screwing with thoughts, summoning of other, lesser demons to do your bidding... but the Scholomance also had a reputation of spitting up sorcerers who could control the weather. And while Hell regularly spits out things like those burning beasts Giselle had at her call, a lot of the people is was built to contain supposedly had a hand in creating the universe. So... while I'd say prepare for the old favorites, be ready for anything."

The halls of the school were run through with decay - dented lockers on rusted hinges, broken glass and litter on the floors, and gaps in the tiles on the ceiling, exposing wiring long since dead and frayed. One thing stood out amongst the usual detritus, however. The smell of sulfur wafted through the halls - faint, like someone had cracked a rotten egg against the wind.

"Ah, Hell, bringing you the aroma of stale wind. Now, where's that coming from...?"

[Tiffany Korta]

She’d know that something was amiss, but it wasn’t until Nick had said something that she figured out what was wrong. It was a very faint smell, she almost couldn’t detect it, but there it was.

“There is a smell, but I can’t tell exactly where it’s coming from. I think it’s bellow us.†She looked more than a little guilty “Since I’ve come back my smell hasn’t been what it was, I can barely smell it I just know it’s there. Still being hell and all I think downwards would be a good choice.†She managed a faint smile.

[Shofet]

The Penitent sniffed the air, and looked about. He followed the smell, and stopped, turning to face his fellow heroes.

"I think I found it. I think it's beneath the boiler room."

He looked down, then up. "You know, I never figured Hell was, well, actually directly beneath us. You know, because of the core, the mantle, all that. You'd think the pressures would have them all smooshed like pancakes."

[trollthumper]

"It's not," Nick said. "Hell is... sideways, I guess you'd put it. But it's a metaphorically strong place." The stink got thicker in the halls, almost overpowering as the three made their way to the boiler room door. "A lot of traits we ascribe to the bowels of the earth - dark, cramped, fiery - could just as easily be used to describe Hell. Plus, we think of sin as representing the 'lowest' qualities of mankind, so it's fair to say that if its residents were to claw a way in --"

Nick reached for the doorknob, and paused his lecture as his hand was an inch from the knob. He pressed his ear to the door, careful not to exert too much pressure.

"...still out there... like this..."

"...reason to panic... if he's gone..."

"...no forfeit... he's ours..."

He turned back to Revenant and Penitent. "Someone's downstairs," he said. "Three downstairs. And I think they're also alumni of Hell's Hogwarts."

[Tiffany Korta]

Occasionally it got too much, 80 years was a lot of time to try and catch up on, today wasn’t one of those days. Whilst most of the conversation had gone over her head, and she made a mental note to look all these terms up, she could tell they had found what they were looking for.

“Is there some way we could fool them into thinking we are the triumphal party returning with their catch? I’m sure I can do a passable Theda Bara.†She gave a smile at her own personal joke. “I’m not sure what they learn but couldn’t they have learned illusions as part of their powers? And they don’t strike me as the sharing type…â€

[Shofet]

The Penitent nodded grimly, and readied himself to fight. He didn't relish the idea of fighting kids, regardless of how they screwed up, but he understood that once you started freely cohorting with, well, Satan, you might have just crossed a few boundaries and one of them might have been the border into "evil" territory. It wasn't a thought he relished, but some part of him felt forced to except it.

"I'm ready whenever you all are," he finally said. "But do you think there's any way we could help these kids? I mean... They're teenagers, right? I mean, I get the whole "they choose their own way" and I know they're past the point of being innocent, but it just seems..."

He sighed, and looked up. "Nevermind. I'm just being too sentimental. Ready when you are."

[trollthumper]

"Wouldn't be surprised if they know how to craft glamours," Nick said. "I mean, they traffic in the powers of Hell, and demons lie about as much as they breathe." He paused as he studied the door. "Now, as for freeing them... there might be a way to manage it. There's more than one way to have a contract collapse, after all, and if we can put 'undue pressure' on the guy they signed it to, chances are we can break it entirely. Mind you, that means finding this Teacher of theirs and raking his ass over the coals, so..."

He looked at the door. "We want to go for the path of deception, or the path of kicking in heads? Quite frankly, I could do either."

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy looked thoughtful for a few seconds. If there was a chance of saving these kids, whatever they had done, then they should try their best to do so. Though knowing these two, even for this brief time, she knew it didn’t need to be said.

“Well it would be best if we didn’t have to fight anyone. If you think we could fool these people then I’m in. Then again these idiots could probably use some sense beaten into them.†She gave a smile “That doesn’t change whatever era you come from. “ she gave Penitent a friendly look “Looks like you get the casting vote.â€

[Shofet]

The Penitent nodded to the two of them.

"Well, then. If I have to choose, then I'm going deception. I'd really prefer to beat up a few of these kids as physically possible, and well, if we have a way to do that, I'm going with it."

He looked down at the boiler room. "Which means we're gonna have to figure out just how to do that, huh? I mean, I look enough like a demon myself, but I don't know if I'll pass for true blue, if you know what I mean." He scratched his chin. "Any ideas from your end, guys?"

[trollthumper]

"Hmm..." Nick stroked his chin. "Been a while since I've done this..." He brought his hands together, and when he pulled them apart, phantom contrails ran through the air. A curtain of ectoplasm wove its way around him, and soon blossomed out to cover Revenant as well. Within a few seconds, the gauzy veil grew fuzzy and opaque, and soon formed into a resolute image. Where Nick had once been standing, there was now Harold, alone and scared. And Revenant had been replaced with the vibrant, likely berserk, Giselle.

"There," he said. The voice that trickled out was a perfect match for Harold. "You captured me, with a little help from your summoned buddy --" He gestured to Penitent. "--and now you've come back to claim the reward. We may have to hope none of them want it for themselves, though - or if they do, that they take each other out before they go after us."

Nodding to the others, he pushed the door open, giving Revenant a quick gesture - follow me. He threw himself down the stairs, and found himself looking up at three figures in the dark.

"Well, well... what do we have here...?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy tried to mimic the manic smile she recalled Giselle using.

“I managed to capture this worm who was trying to escape.†She put a foot on Nick back a pushed gently, she knew he was going to play right along. Luckily for him she almost always wore flats. In the heel Giselle was wearing, well she’d doubt he’d survive.

“Then again was there every any doubt?â€

She gentle helped Nick up, making it look like she’d just yanked him up, and pushed him forwards. Making to simply walk past the three, as if to her they simply didn’t matter to her.

[Shofet]

The Penitent made sure not to look at anyone directly, and try to seem more like something you'd pull out of Hell, all aggression and malice. He sincerely hoped that there was a portion of Hell where creatures really did dress like he did at the moment, because otherwise this would all go South very, very quickly. He had to bite back the urge to help Nick up, and then chastised himself.

Dangit, you don't know if they can read yer th-- Oh, crud. Uhhh... Raaarrr. Malice. Demonic hate. Dang that God guy. Totally hate him. Not thinking anything suspicious at all. Definitely not...

Hopefully, they couldn't read his mind, as he was definitely hoping to help these kids over hospitalising. Still, something nagged in his mind. What made all these kids do this? Why would they give up all their immortal soul, their decency, and their ability to live safely for just a little power? Was it really that common for people to just sell-out everything they were? He had thought better of humanity.

[trollthumper]

The three infernalists stepped for the shadows to inspect "Giselle's" "quarry." From his position on the floor, Nick couldn't get a good look at two of them, but Revenant and Penitent could - a Moroccan girl wearing a business suit and carrying an obsidian dagger in her hands, and a Norse-looking man in fatigues who was juggling solid shadows between his hands. From the floor, Nick got a look at their classmate - or at least a good sniff. The man looked like a werewolf, clad in fur and wearing nothing but tattered jeans.

"Looks a whole lot like him," said the wolf man, in a strange mix between a bestial growl and a Bronx accent. "Smells like..." The wolf man took a good sniff, and Nick had to hope the illusion would hold. "Smells like... death."

"Death?" The Moroccan girl looked Nick up and down, and let out a curt laugh. "Harold, did you actually end up killing someone? Thought you didn't like doing that kind of work..."

Nick fought back the sigh of relief that the dog-man hadn't decided to dig deeper, and adopted the best meek voice he could. "I... I didn't mean to..." he said. "You have to understand --"

"That is Harold, isn't it?" said the Norse man, looking to Revenant. "Can't even stand up for his own dirty business."

[Tiffany Korta]

She wasn’t totally surprised by their statements; Giselle had shown a similar ability to detect her Undead status. She had hoped that they wouldn’t pick up on it but now they did she calming improvised an excuse.

“This snivelling idiot he doesn’t have the balls to kill anyone. No some of this cities heroes tried to stop me reclaiming our dear Harold. And I of cause dealt with them. Still at least it gave this creature.†She gestured toward Penitent “Something to eat, I think he’s taken quite a shine to me.†She gave her best evil chuckle.

[trollthumper]

The Norse man studied Penitent up and down. "I thought you liked them more bestial, Giselle," he said. "And flaming. But I suppose everyone needs a little variety in their life." He waved his hands, and a choke chain formed around Nick's neck. He grasped at it in a phantom show of distress, hoping that the illusion was going to hold. He was led towards the shadows in the far corner of the basement, where the darkness was almost suffocating. Nick kept waiting to hit a wall or stop, but the three infernalists - and their guests - plunged right through the shadows into... somewhere else. The darkness was slowly abating, but in favor of the thin, red glow one might see around the edge of a closed furnace. The heat was rising, and with it, the stench of brimstone.

Yeah, this seems familiar. Goddamnit, I hate getting anywhere near Hell. Especially when that means getting into Hell.

The shadowy passage eventually gave way to a door covered in unreadable sigils. The Moroccan woman turned to Revenant. "Mind doing the honors, Giselle?" she asked.