ic And Countless Screaming Argonauts [IC]

[Gizmo]

There weren't any obvious falsehoods or omissions in Milonakis' story as far as Midnight noticed but the timing of it all still left him slightly on-guard. Considering his nearly constant state of heightened awareness that wasn't really a mark against Vanguard. "Artifacts, no..." he considered, eyes narrowing behind the ruby lenses of his mask as he wracked his memory. A possibility abruptly sprang to mind. "Documents. Recent acquisitions, writings by Lady Celtic. Mystic research." Any previously lost knowledge straight from the powerful practitioner of the Allies of Freedom would certainly pique the interest of a few parties. If the Crime League was involved, however, the list shark to one name. "Medea."

[Electra]

Wander tensed at the mention of that name, her entire body going still as her eyes flicked in Midnight's direction. "Do you think she's around here anywhere?" she asked cautiously. It had been some time since they'd faced off against Medea, and they'd come off victorious in the end last time, but it was still hard to forget what had nearly happened in that fight. The Crime League's crafty sorcerer had eschewed a direct attack on Young Freedom, in favor of clouding the mind of its most dangerous member. With her mind filled with images of Grue attack, Wander had turned on her friends, nearly putting Edge through an impervium wall before Hellion and Midnight had teamed up to incapacitate her and shove her into a pocket dimension where she couldn't hurt anyone. That was not an experience she ever wanted to repeat.

Turning back to Orion, she gave him a smack across the face, not hard enough to bruise, but enough to get his attention. "Hey you," she demanded. "Where's Medea? Is she with you tonight?"

[trollthumper]

Orion woke with the first strike, though it took him some time to rouse to full attention - or at least he pretended to take his time. "She's not here," the assassin said. "Hell, I kinda doubt she's in Freedom."

"Some band of friends you guys are. She tell you what she wanted Lady Celtic's stuff for?"

"She didn't say. She really isn't saying much these days. Or if she does, she's sending out little imps or air spirits or whatever to make sure we get it. Could be she's just decided to take a long vacation in Mykonos."

Vanguard, who'd taken the time to slip his mask back on before Wander roused Orion, closed the gap with him, lifting the prone assassin up by the lapels and pressing him against the display case. "Gee, why do I feel you're being less than cooperative?"

"Kid, I bet I've been doing this a lot longer than you have. You don't even have a knife out. You'd better be playing seriously or --"

Vanguard put enough pressure on Orion's shoulder that the statement broke off in a series of grunts. "Don't need a blade. You sure you've been doing this long?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Why don't you just tell her where she is, and you can go back into the system," suggested Edge, his voice grave, but not necessarily antagonistic. "You're already down, and between the four of us, not to mention the telepath we know, you're going to spill the beans sooner or later. I mean, for pity's sake, look at them," he said with a gesture at Cannonade, Midnight, Wander, and Vanguard, "All the scary bad guy stuff is just going to make them want to beat on you harder till you talk. Spare yourself a lot of pain and embarrassment and just talk now." This was hardly the first time Edge had been the velvet glove around someone's iron fist, and this was nothing new compared to stuff he'd seen Midnight and Wander do over the years.

[trollthumper]

Orion considered his options - pinned against a case, his major implements out of his hands, and several angry heroes staring him down. With all this in mind, he decided to go for the path of least resistance.

"We honestly don't know where she is," he said. "But we've got an idea. She likes to globe trot every so often - part of that whole 'dealing in the arcane depths' thing - but she usually likes to stick close to where the action is. Odds are she's somewhere in the tri-state area. Hell, she could be in Freedom for all we know."

"At least that narrows it down," said Cannonade. "Technically."

"Glad we could help. Now, you gonna get this over with or what?"

"I'll take them in," said Vanguard. "You four can get a start on hunting Medea while I get them over to Blackstone."

[Avenger Assembled]

LATER, AT THE MIDNIGHT MANOR

Mark put his phone down and hmmed, remembering in the nick of time not to put his feet up on the mahogany table down in the work room. "So it turns out that scroll from Lady Celtic was something she'd used for, whaddya call it, counter-necromancy? That really awful thing in eastern Belgium where the Nazis killed those POWs to bring their own men back to life, but they came back as zombies? That was the scroll she used to put them down again. I'm surprised that's not at the Ministry of Powers museum back in Britain, but I suppose it must have come with the Human Tank collection. Hey, do you suppose Medea might be in that creepy theater in the Fens? It's that old multiplex that closed down in '99. You know, the one that's been weirdly haunted or something. And they were showing a revival of the old Lars von Trier Medea..."

[trollthumper]

"Could be worse bets," Cannonade said as he looked over the records. The pictures of when Lady Celtic had deployed the fruits of her research were telling, a mighty wind ripping through hordes of reanimated German soldiers and sending their bodies slamming back to the earth. Magic wasn't exactly his strong suit, but he had a fair guess that such research could be taken in... unorthodox directions. Especially by someone like Medea. "'Course, if it's Medea we're dealing with, we're probably gonna have to watch out for a whole bunch of magic traps. Or armies of beastmen, or whatever."

He turned to the rest of the Liberty League. "So, we got any charms of our own that might help when she lashes out? Don't exactly wanna walk out of there on hooves."

[Electra]

Erin had been quiet while the research went on, since it wasn't exactly her long suit. She looked very uncomfortable, almost afraid, ludicrous as that seemed given all the far more terrible villains they'd faced. "I'm not sure I'm up to engage Medea again," she admitted with some difficulty. "We already know how vulnerable I am to her powers. Mark, Trevor, you remember what happened last time we went up against her. I really hurt Mark, and if it hadn't been for Trevor and James stopping me, I could've done worse. If we have to go up against her face to face, it might be better if I stayed behind, unless we can take some precautions to avoid her mind control influence."

[Gizmo]

Trevor had been glowering ever since he'd deduced Medea's involvement, a typically reserved expression that was mainly differentiated from neutrality by a silence that was even stonier than usual. He really didn't care for magic, when it came down to it. For one thing, what rules there were to sorcery seemed entirely too fluid by the engineer's standards. For another, villainous practitioners had an understandable but equally frustrating habit of singling out Wander for mind control or entropic curses or any number of other deadly attacks. Combined with Medea's past insinuations about her history with his grandfather, the young man could feel the tension ratcheting up between his shoulder blades. "Stealth, then," he interjected finally. "Knock her out, signal you." His gaze took in the rest of the team; the Liberty League's measure of subtlety was not exactly evenly distributed.

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark nodded, understanding Trevor's words implicitly. He and Midnight had been friends and allies for many years, and he felt pretty good about being able to read his subtle hints so easily. That's what teamwork is all about. Cannonade's a good man, and I'm proud to fight by his side, but he's not exactly subtle. "We'll find a way to keep ourselves busy, I'm sure. You've got that anti-mind control device of yours still, right, Trevor? That'll probably come in handy." Once that issue was settled, he looked around the others. "Are we ready to go? I can put us down somewhere near the theater, far enough away that she probably won't notice our coming. There's a lot of magic in that area and she'd have to be looking pretty hard to know it was me." With his team's permission, Mark did just that, walking them right out of the Manor's lair and into a Fens alleyway near the river, the smell of urban poverty and despair sharp in their nostrils.

[trollthumper]

"Yeah, we can hold back," Cannonade said. While he'd been able to overwhelm the members of the Crime League before, he knew he'd officially thrown tactics out the window in doing so - and he didn't want to do that around someone who had a penchant for mind control and turning people into animals. "Let us know when we should kick the door down."

The alleyway was bedecked with graffiti, and sirens could be heard off in the distance - just another night in The Fens. The Pierrot Theater was in a state where calling it "half a wreck" would be charitable. Broken windows on the ticket booth, a ripped apart marquis, and one of the main doors was hanging off its hinges. On its own, it was a place only for the daring. But there was... something biting at the minds of the Liberty League. A subtle, low-level dread, the kind of thing that might convince your average pedestrian to get to the other side of the street as fast as they could.

"All right," Cannonade whispered. "Guess we should get the show on the road."

[Electra]

"I don't like this," Wander muttered, glaring around at the shadows as though she expected danger to come leaping out of them at any moment. Unconsciously she'd risen to the balls of her feet, walking with the silent deliberation of a predator. Her bat was already out, gleaming silver in the light of distant street lamps. This was not a good place to be, and not a smart thing they were doing, her instincts told her. "It smells like a trap, and I don't like the idea of you going in alone," she told Trevor in a whisper."Take Edge in with you, at least. Mental attacks seem to bounce right off him, and even if he blows cover, he'll distract her. Going in on your own is too risky."

[Gizmo]

Midnight gave Wander a look that no one else would have been able to read through his blank, abyssal mask. "Edge... Stealth...?" Erin could tell from a faint note in his filtered voice that he was giving her a minute smile. "Don't worry. Working with Eve; mental defenses stronger than ever," he assured her with more verbiage than he typically spared on anyone else while in uniform, tapping a finger to the side of his head. "If it's a trap, teleport in, break down the door. Know you have my back." His eyes narrowed behind the lenses of his mask. "Besides. Want first crack at her."

[Electra]

It was obvious that Erin still didn't like the idea, but she reluctantly gave him a half-smile back. "Stealth, distraction... it was a thought. Just keep an open comm line, all right? And be careful. I'm going to scout the exterior." With a silent leap, she was up on top of the marquee, landing on that precarious perch just long enough to bounce to the roof. It was unlikely there was much to find up there, not when the front doors were hanging open wide enough to drive a motorcycle through, but there was no way she was going to be able to just stand there and wait. It was always better to be doing something.

[Gizmo]

You too, Midnight thought as Wander leapt off. There wasn't any real need to vocalize the sentiment; these thing really went without saying. A moment later the clad clad hero was nowhere to be seen melting into the shadows without further ado. It wasn't just that his ink hued costume made it possible for him to blend into the darkness; his training had taught him to secret himself in the places where noone was looking, aided by acrobatic grace and peak physical conditioning. Before long he was slipping into the back of the theater undetected and his search had begun.

[trollthumper]

It had been a long time since anyone had seen the inside of this theater, and it showed. Rotted carpet, tattered curtains... even the graffiti seemed somewhat antique. Midnight was on the watch throughout, and easily noticed the countermeasures Medea had put in. A warning glyph the size of a Twister mat in the main lobby. A tripwire leading to a number of potentially nasty phials hanging on strings. A trap door leading down to something angry and gnashing in the basement. It was all that he expected... and all a bit obvious.

He entered the main stage to find most of the seats uprooted - and some turned to trees. In fact, the interior looked more suited to a performance of Shakespeare in the Park than a Saturday matinee. Grass was growing up from the carpet, and a few phantom motes of sunlight streamed in through an opaque ceiling. The stage remained intact, however, turned into something of a statue park replete with figures of myth.

"I was wondering when you might arrive."

Midnight paused as a woman walked out onto the main stage, clad in a purple toga and classical sandals. Medea looked as bedeviling as always - but also looked slightly bedeviled as if she hadn't been getting much sleep lately. "Do you wish to bring your compatriots in, so that we might discuss terms?"

[Gizmo]

Midnight seemed to slide from the shadows like a crocodile surfacing from beneath river water, choosing not to delay once it was clear Medea was aware of his presence. He wasn't sure what had given him away, but a closer analysis could wait for later. "Not yet," he rumbled in a a low, menacing voice, as much to force the sorceress to react as to avoid putting his teammates in harm's way until he had figured out the game being played. "Celtic's research. Counter-necromancy." The slight inflection he gave the qualifier made his meaning clear: the stolen papers hadn't been a route to greater power, Medea's usual sphere of interest, they were instructions for cleaning up a mess. "What have you done?"

[trollthumper]

Medea's laugh was like music from the end of a hall of mirrors. "What have I done?" she said, striding across the stage. "Child, I've been working magic since the days when gods - true gods - walked the earth. If I had made some error, then trust me - it would have been much more spectacular." She looked almost wistful. "Your fore-bearer made the same assumptions of me, and often. But no... this mistake was not mine to make. I am merely trying to take a pawn off the board before he makes it to the other side..."

For a second, the sorceress's face twisted with fury. "...and resolve a... deeply personal matter in the process." As her hands started to shake, Medea slowly clawed her way back towards calm. "You know of the scroll, then. I take it my colleagues didn't make it back from the encounter. Tell me - were you accompanied?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Outside, Edge stood up. "I've got a bad feeling about this, you guys," he said, shooting a glance at Cannonade behind his mask. "Midnight normally checks in by now, even when he's doing his super-sneaky thing. He can take Medea, but who knows what kind of crazy magic mojo she's got going on in there? Even if she hasn't seen him, he might be pinned down or dealing with something so big he hasn't had time to radio in. If he doesn't call in in two minutes, let's pop in and see if we can help," he suggested. Having trained alongside these people for years, Trevor in particular, Mark knew better than to simply have them disappear out of the alley where they were concealed and pop into the theater without checking first.

[Gizmo]

"Millennia of defeat and failure?" Midnight retorted flatly at Medea's dramatic protests, raising a hand to the side of his featureless mask to activate his comlink. "Truly, beyond doubt. She's here." The latter was directed at his teammates outside while he kept a close eye on the sorceress. It answered her question well enough but he wasn't about to let the interrogation turn around on him. "Talk." Whatever the situation was that she was trying to resolve, Medea clearly needed assistance. With any luck whatever proposal she had would still afford him a chance to pay her back for their last encounter. Either way he wasn't wasting any patience on the villain.

[Avenger Assembled]

"I think that's our cue," said Edge with a glance at Cannonade and a look up at Wander, who he knew had gotten the message as clearly as he had. "Everybody get close!" One everyone was together, Edge concentrated on Midnight's last message and what little they knew of his friend's last location. If stealth wasn't working anymore, it was time for the application for force: and that was one thing the Liberty League did with great skill. He closed his eyes, and opened them in the depths of Medea's lair alongside his friends, the Liberty League lined up just a few feet behind Midnight in the battle-ready pose they had honed so well through months of training and battle. "This is the part where normally I'd say something really badass," he said with a confident smirk in Medea's direction, "but when the Liberty League's around, it's the bad guys who do all the talking."

[Electra]

"I'm going to hang back," Wander told Edge, "try and come in from above. There's a roof access up here, and I don't want to be near any of you if she tries something. Remember to keep an eye on each other." With that, she made her way carefully across the roof towards the old rusted door, hoping it would open and not need to be taken off its hinges or taken apart entirely. She kept her communicator very quiet, but listened to it intently as she waited to hear how the situation would play out. The cowardice of staying behind left a bitter taste in her mouth, but part of being a hero was knowing when you couldn't or shouldn't be fighting.

[trollthumper]

"I'm with you," said Cannonade to Wander. He still remembered that encounter with Hastur; he'd hated being locked beyond his own eyes while the rest of him was taking a swing at an ally. And given Medea's supposed penchant for mind control, he didn't want to be anywhere near her if he could be turned into a weapon against the others. "I'll try to position myself right above her. Let me know if I need to drop down."

---

Medea turned to Edge as he appeared in the theater. "My instincts were correct," she said. "Well, you're all here. And I doubt you understand how much this burns me, but..."

The sorceress dropped to one knee in a gesture of supplication before the two heroes.

"...I invoke hiketeia. I seek your protection."

[Gizmo]

There was a beat of silence. "Sanctuary?" Midnight intoned, his voice no louder that one in idle conversation but reverberating in the tense space of the theater like the echo of a gunshot. "From gods." There was another palpable pause as the black clad mystery man looked to Edge for his reaction. "Why?" he asked finally, a weighty word of inquiry that questioned both why one or more deities was evidently seeking retribution and why the Liberty League should do anything to impede them.

[Avenger Assembled]

Edge thought for a moment to alert Wander that everything was all right, but after a moment dismissed that conclusion. She could hear what they were saying easily enough through their open commlinks, and there was no point in giving away her position if Medea was up to something. And if Mark Lucas knew anything about history, and he did, Medea was always up to something. "So what is it, the Dodekatheon again?" he asked Medea suspiciously, trying to read her intentions even as he tried to keep an eye out on the big room as a whole. "The Olympians never have liked you much, as I recall, but I haven't heard of Hades being active on this plane any time recently, and nobody short of demigod level before that for about thirty years. What happened?" Edge had wanted to ask What did you do? but despite what a very bad person he knew Medea to be actually accusing someone who certainly seemed to be pleading for her life was harder than Mark Lucas was willing to be.