ic Next of Kin

[Raveled]

GM

 

Samantha Vance knew what the inside of police stations looked like. The institutional wallpaper, the thin, colorless carpet, and the fluorescent lighting that seemed to flicker just at the edge of perception -- this was a police station waiting room straight out of the catalog. And Sam was sitting here because

because

because

because

some AEGIS agents had come to Claremont to collect her. She was used to dealing with authority figures, but this time she was off her game because they were so darned polite. They had politely collected her, and politely driven her downtown, and politely put her in this waiting room. Now they were reentering with a uniformed police officer and politely escorting her deeper into the building. The whole situation was creepy, like the moments in a slasher movie before the hillbilly family reveals that they're cannibals.

They came to an elevator and went down, below the lobby and into the basements and sub-basements. They came out in a chilly corridor and Sam was politely herded towards a pair of swinging metal doors. Through the door was more shining steel implements and tables, a man in surgical scrubs, and a shrouded form on a metal table. All of a sudden Sam realized she was standing in a morgue.

The doctor looked at the police officer, who nodded back. He folded back the sheet, revealing a face that Sam knew all too well. After all it was the woman who had shared her name with the thief and enrolled her in Claremont.

An AEGIS agent cleared his throat and spoke. "Ms. Vance," he said politely, "can you identify the deceased?"

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Blue Rose]

Cops. Cops are never a good sign, AEGIS cops even less so.

Still. Being legitimate entails going along. And she's been arrested before; this doesn't look like an arrest, but she can't quite put her finger on it. Though all the while, she cringes every time they they call her 'Ms. Vance.' She's not Ms. Vance, she's Samantha. There's only one Ms. Vance, and that's-

The cover is pulled back. "Ms. Vance...?" She steps back and covers her mouth, eyes starting to well up. After a moment, she begins to speak, hoping it will help her keep it together. It doesn't, and she ends up choking the words out. "H-h-her name is... Talia Vance," she answers with a stammer, eyes never leaving the body of her guardian.

[Raveled]

GM

 

An AEGIS agent put his hand on Sam's shoulder, squeezing gently. "There was a traffic accident," he said quietly. "If it helps, she didn't have time to feel any pain." After a moment she was led out of the morgue, back out to the waiting room. Everyone sat down and pulled their chairs into a circle, making Sam's world a little space of ugly, uncomfortable police station chairs. The AEGIS agents exchanged a glance before one spoke up. "Samantha, I'm sorry that you have to go through with all of this today. But Talia made sure that if something happened you would be taken care of. She and AEGIS had already agreed on another guardian for you. It's been decided that you two should meet as soon as possible." The agent paused for a moment. "Are you okay to meet him, Samantha?"

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Blue Rose]

Traffic accident? The explanation doesn't sit right. This is a woman who Sam has seen drive a motorcycle off a building as a jumping point to get into a helicopter to continue chasing the Phantom Fox and walk away utterly unscathed for the effort. For her to just drive along and get hit just doesn't make sense.

She follows along in silence, considering the point when she gets to the disgusting room, giving the agents a nod in turn, the entire proceeding growing increasingly odd. "Go ahead," she chokes, beginning to eye the AEGIS agents with suspicion.

[Raveled]

GM

 

The uniformed officer opened a door and an older gentleman walked through. He was dressed in a tailored suit, with dark hair slicked to one side and a dark goatee. Even in her shocked state, Sam was able to note important details; the suit's buttons looked to be solid gold, his nails were carefully manicured, and the way he moved seemed off to her, somehow. Too smooth and almost boneless.

He nodded to the police officer and same over to stand before Sam. "Hello, Samantha," he said. "I'm Louis."

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Blue Rose]

"Hello... Mister... Louis," Sam spits out slowly, the man striking her as every kind of wrong. Especially the beard. That is never, ever a good beard.

"I don't know you," she eventually declares. She was pretty sure Miss Vance didn't have any living family left, so the most likely candidates to take her in are her business associates, whom she knew the key players from, or someone from Claremont, and 'Claremont' would have been the first word out of their mouths. "Who are you?" she asks quite directly, too drained to mind her manners.

[Raveled]

GM

 

Louis glanced at the AEGIS agents, exchanged nods, and they filed out of the room. Once he was alone with Sam he pulled up a chair and sat opposite her. "I'm... something of a specialist in situations like yours. I'm sure that Talia tried her best but your case is rather beyond even her extensive expertise, don't you think? I can teach you wisdom and magic, Samantha, that you would never find somewhere else. And I will talk to you as an equal, not merely a student." He bared his teeth at Sam and steepled his fingers. "Doesn't that sound better?"

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Blue Rose]

If Sam's time dealing with demons has taught her one things, it's that if a random stranger shows up and starts making glowing promises without much in the way of hard information, they are not your friend. She finds herself wishing the AEGIS agents were still here already; they may be jerks, but at least they're a known quantity.

And backhanding her guardian's name like that? No, that won't stand at all. "We may not have gotten along very well, but I learned more from Miss Vance than you'll ever know." Venom drips from her words. "And you still haven't told me who you are."

Edited April 23, 2013 by Blue Rose

[Raveled]

GM

 

"Yes, I'm sure Talia taught you much," Louis said, ignoring Sam's question. "She sent you away to be surrounded by people more powerful than you, including one or two trained and focused on killing people who traffic with demons... such as yourself. And then she... Well, did what exactly?" Louis tilted his head to one side, looking at Sam askance. "Did Talia ever train you in your powers? Try to help you contain them? Ever teach you about where your magic came from or what it meant? Did she, in fact, ever give a straight answer to any important question?"

Edited May 5, 2013 by Raveled

[Blue Rose]

This man is clueless. This man is entirely, one hundred percent clueless.

"I've known Miss Vance for literally most of my life. And my friends... my friends... why am I even having this conversation? You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know me, you don't know my life, and I've got my powers pretty much figured out, thank you very much. You say you want to talk to me like an equal but you still haven't told me who you are."

She gets up and goes to knock on the door, for the AEGIS agents to come back. "I'm not leaving with you. I'm getting a lawyer."

[Raveled]

GM

"I wouldn't walk away from an opportunity like this," Louis said, sitting back in his chair. "You have no idea what you can do, or what others will do to get your power." He didn't move as Sam opened the door -- only to reveal a blasted, firey wasteland beyond the room. It was still Freedom City, still the crowded city; but the skyscrapers were tumbled and broken, the streets were buckled and burning in places, and the horizon was an angry, blood-red. A cold wind blew against Sam's face for a moment, and she could smell ash and sulfur on it.

And then she blinked and it was the normal, dreary corridor of Freedom City's police department again. Louis cleared his throat. "Consider it a gift," he said. "A vision of a future where you continue down your hard-headed path."

[Blue Rose]

Sam recoils at the vision, trying to take it all in, but then it's gone.

A trick. One she knows well. So this is the power he hopes to teach her? The same imp magic she already knows? This man is useless, just a weak ploy to turn her into an AEGIS puppet, directly under their thumb. Not happening. What others would do for her power? How about what he'd do?

I am Samantha Vance, rightful successor to the Phantom Fox. I escaped Hell. I can escape this.

She almost turns around to face this 'Louis' again, but that's just what he wants. There's no point. Instead, she simply raises her fist over her shoulder, extends her communication finger, and leaves.

Time to get in touch with Miss Vance's lawyer.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Blue Rose

[Raveled]

Sam left the precinct building, making her way to a shadowy alley before stepping into the darkness and willing herself halfway across town, to the office building where the attorney Talia Vance kept on retainer kept a small office space. She stepped out of the shadows... and stopped. Wherever she was, it wasn't the bustling streets of Midtown that she had been expecting! There were creates piled around her, and bright lights hanging from a high ceiling -- it was a warehouse! This wasn't anywhere close to her destination!

Before she could wonder at who or what could redirect her shadow walk, she was distracted by a low growling, and a panting, hissing breath behind her. She spun and watched a pair of huge, vicious canines round opposite stacks of boxes. These weren't ordinary dogs, though; they each looked to weigh two or three times what Sam did, and their fur wasn't there. Heck, it looked like their flesh wasn't there. They gleamed wetly in the light, like their skin had been flayed off to expose the bloody muscle underneath. As they walked they panted, and the green-white drool smoked where it hit the concrete and began to eat into it.

The two hounds paused as they locked eyes with Sam, and crouched into stalking slinks. They growled as they approached, the sound full of terror and the promise of a bloody end.

[Blue Rose]

Sam confidently steps forward into the off...ice...

This is not an office.

*Gr...*

That is not a lawyer. Well, okay, maybe it is, but not her lawyer. Though its debating technique is difficult to counter.

She tries to collect her thoughts. Hell hounds, hell hounds... okay, she's dealt with these things before. How do you handle them?

Rule number one of dealing with hell hounds. Don't get noticed.

Well. That's useless. What's rule number two?

Rule number two of dealing with hell hounds. Don't break rule number one.

Shit.

She looks around, and spots a way up into the rafters. Those dogs'll probably have a Hell of a time jumping up after her there. Definitely a better place to be than down here. She steps back into the shadows she just stepped out of and falls up, hoping to get back in compliance with rule number one.

Edited July 4, 2013 by Blue Rose

[Raveled]

GM

Sam disappeared just as the first hound made a leap for her, and looked down in time to see it raise gouges in the concrete floor as it landed. The second beast approached the spot more cautiously, sniffing and nosing the spot where the young girl had stood. It raised its snout in the air and began to try and find her, but one of the advantages of a teleport was that it broke a scent trail more effectively than any river.

From her raised vantage point, however, Sam could see more of the warehouse floor -- and more hellhounds. It seemed like they were patrolling the entire exterior of the building. This wasn't some random incursion, these beasts were being directed by someone.

[Blue Rose]

Okay, what the Hell? Literally.

Up in the rafters, there is time, and the space to think. To plan, to study. Hell hounds don't act like this on their own. Too organized, and they're not exactly trainable. So, they're being controlled. How? Lot of ways to go about it, not a lot of clues.

So, time to get some clues.

With a deep breath, she looks down and reaches out to one of the dogs that attacked her, into its primitive mind, to one of the easiest emotions to manipulate. Rage. Raw, primal, aimed right at the other mutt in the pair that jumped her.

[Raveled]

GM

 

Sam reached out with her infernal powers, the brand on her back beginning to itch and warm as she drew on it. The anger she cast out settled on one of the hounds like a heavy blanket; it shook its head and sneezed a gob of corrosive saliva, then began growling at the other hellhound. It leapt, biting and clawing, and before long the two beasts were locked in snarling, rolling combat.

 

"Halt!" An imperious voice rolled out across the warehouse, and for a moment the hounds did pause in their slaughter -- but only for a moment. From her vantage point the thief saw a tall, broad-shouldered man stride out of an interior room. He was dressed in a floor-length black robe, and his hair was white -- not blonde, or platinum, or greying, but white, like he'd spent too much time under a too-hot sun.

 

"Hold! Stand fast!" He barked more orders at the hounds, that they ignored. With snarl of annoyance the man snapped his hand to the side, and a curving blade of blue-black flame leapt into existence. He brought it around in a broad arc that bisected the wrestling animals, then performed a backhanded slash that left them headless.

 

Their corrosive guts spilled onto the floor and began eating into the concrete as the man dismissed the firey sword and glared at the two eviscerated hellhounds. He whistled, and Sam could see at least a dozen more hellhounds melt out of the shadows, pairs of them coming from every direction. The man in the black robe looked at the pack, and the pack cringed backwards. He pointed at one beast and demanded, "What happened here."

 

The hellhound sniffed around the two corpses, then around where Sam had appeared. It barked and growled, and the man nodded his head as if he understood. "An intruder, someone who could slip past patrols. Very well then, find her. We only have an hour until the portal is open all the way, I won't have someone interrupting at this last hour."

Edited July 21, 2013 by Raveled

[Blue Rose]

Portal? Okay, portals from people with hellhounds are probably a bad thing. That needs to stop.

Of course, the question becomes how. An hour? That's time. Don't rush. Observe. Study. Be where they're not looking, see what they don't want you to see, and sever the chain when and where they least expect it.

She loosens her jacket and starts creeping along the beams, looking for vents that would let her peek outside, and keeping tabs on the dog-cutter. Show me your secrets, old man. She gets the feeling crazy demon cultists aren't the best on tight security. More likely, they figured enough hounds'll fix anything. Now, to find the gap.

[Raveled]

GM

Kit prowled the rafters, looking for her way in, and it didn't take her long. An air duct was prised away from the wooden crossbeam it was set in and she wriggled through the hole on her belly, and found herself in a smaller room. Dominating the space was what seemed like a hole in the world, an oval opening against one wall that was slightly wider than two of Sam's fingers together at the middle. She couldn't see much of the space beyond it, but the side rippled and shimmered like a heat mirage. Kit might not have been as knowledgeable about demons and hell as she should have been, but even she could recognize the hole as a gate to one of the Infernal Realms.

Near the gate, in fact tied to a support column with rope, was a blonde woman in a short skirt and belly shirt. Her head lolled loosely on her shoulders and she looked around the room glassy-eyed, like she was either drunk or high. The black robed man walked up to her, cupping her face and she merely giggled, swatting his hand away. "Mmmmm, Benny. You said we were going to a party. Where's the party, Benny?"

"Just a little while longer, Sophia," the man in the dark robe said. "Just a little while longer, and you can help me bring all my friends through for a great, big party."