In the Shadow of Sin (Gold) (IC)

[Raveled]

Blue Jay sniffed and looked around for other options. Maybe the sewer? It seemed unlikely that whoever was behind this had covered the doors and windows, that they have neglected the drains, but it was a possibility. Jay had done something like that before, in a very similar and very different city... Then a fireman tugged on her shirt, and pointed out that her acid arrow had done the trick, eating a fair-sized hole in the plate covering the door. It was an entrance, though, and it would be foolish for her not to use it.

After a moment's consideration, she wrapped up her quiver tight and folded her bow down, then climbed in carefully. The acid probably wasn't dangerous -- the instructions went on about molarity and oxidation at length -- but she wasn't about to risk burns when going into a dangerous situation. And she'd feel stupid about getting hurt by her own arrows, anyway.

[Thevshi]

Easily able to push aside some of the weakened metal grating to make the hole a bit bigger, Blue Jay managed to slip in through the front door.  Inside, she found herself in a dimly lit entry way to the building.  Along one wall were a set of old mail boxes for when the building had been apartments, though from the looks of things, that was some time ago.  There was smoke damage all through the room, but from what the teen could tell, it had been a mess even before that.  There was a small seating area, with a couple of moldy old sofas and chairs.

 

There was an elevator directly ahead of her, and to the left of that, the entrance to a stairwell that led up.  To either the left or the right were hallways leading off to other parts of the ground floor.  Blue Jay's infravision allowed her to spot a camera located up in the far right hand corner of the room.

 

She also caught the faint echo of a voice that sounded as if it was coming from somewhere up the stair well.  "Well Raven, it looks as if someone has come to help you.  Shall we see who they are?"

[Quinn]

"Just talk to the rock." He murmured, watching Blue Jay enter. The girl herself heard that voice in her head again as he brought his own stone up to his mouth, murmuring. "Booby traps throughout the building. Watch for power sources. Look like you're going for Raven. Raise hell. Blod goes for Raven while he/she isn't looking; full stealth. Blod, portal entrance in five seconds. I track back to puppet master. Open new portal. We jump him. Hard. This plan okay?"

 

Now, it was those last three words that might have brought the two up short, at least for a second - because when he said 'this plan okay', he didn't sound like Crow. Blod would have known that voice better - he sounded more like Morgan than his alter ego there; a split second of uncertainty masked by darkened bravado.

 

Oh, this shall be a grand show. Shut up.

 

He panned his mask over the building once again, following the indicators of those heat sources; the power sources, the small generators. They had to be connected to somewhere; either wired or wireless. But regardless, the distance couldn't be far...well, okay, it could, he sure as hell would have his control room several blocks if not districts away from his trap-filled funhouse, but thinking that right now wasn't productive. Assume the enemy is present at all times unless shown directly otherwise.

 

Blodeuwedd felt the slight breeze start to kick up beside Morgan again, the shimmering heat from that invisible crack in air and space coalescing. There was a slight smoking coming from his gloves now, and the scent of burning leather; though only slight. There was a subtle bit of motion as he patted the backplates.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Quinn

[Raveled]

Blue Jay didn't think she was supposed to hear the voice from high above. She could have made some bold declaration or called him out right there, but that sort of thing was more Heraldo's style. She was supposed to be sneaky, and maybe just a little bit scarey, let others draw attention while she lined up a shot.

Which made what she was doing right not very stupid indeed, but what do you do when everyone likes to sneak? At the very least, she could stop the bad guy from spying on her. She was lucky the camera was positioned in a corner; a couple of quick leaps from wall to wall and she grabbed the head of the camera. She hung on, then, and let her weight pull her down and the camera out of the wall. The archer let the piece of electronics fall to the ground as she considered her next move.

She stood at the threshold of the elevator car and looked it over. It was the most inviting and quickest option, which probably meant it was the most heavily trapped. Still, she was supposed to get and keep this guy's attention, and what better way to do it rather than step right into his trap and then slip out the other side?

Edited September 24, 2013 by Raveled

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd was ready as soon as Crow prepared an entrance into the heart of the building, and possibly the most dangerous spot at that.

“I know a little about Rune’s but no more that a layman’s knowledge. If you need to get information across without letting anyone in you’re better off with Gaelic, I don;t speak it but it close enough to Welsh that I can understand it meaning.â€

 

She carefully tucked the rock inside her glove so it wouldn’t become lost if it came to a struggle, and drew Dyrnwyn and tucked it under her cloak to hide it’s flaming blade.

“You’re our Ace in the Hole Crow. If it all goes pear shaped were counting on you to pull our fat out of the fire. I’d say good luck to everyone, but I know we're more than up for the task.â€

 

She activated her ring fading for sight before stepping cautiously into the portal and into the building opposite.

[Thevshi]

Stepping through the portal, Blodeuwedd found herself in an approximately ten-by-ten foot room with a ceiling that must be about twenty feet high.  The walls were unadorned and plain white.  There was a metal door along one wall, which was to Blod's left, and what looked like some sort of opening about ten feet up along the right hand wall.  A figure was suspended up in the air near that higher opening in the wall, wrapped up in what appear to be some sort of netting.  Several cables attached to the netting from higher on the walls.  The figure was struggling, but thus far seemed unable to free itself from the bindings.

 

Outside, Crow studied the interiors of the building more closely, looking for more details than he had previously been able to note.  Focusing a bit closer on some of the numerous heat sources, Crow realized that part of what he had been seeing was numerous cameras, spaced throughout the building, each with its own independent power source.  He also was able to spot a network of pressure plates scattered throughout the building, either triggers for various traps…or a system for detecting vibration or changes in weight on the floor.

 

In the dark control room, Warden was observing the monitors around him as an alarm began to flash and he glanced at the monitors showing the room where he currently had Raven trapped.  There appeared to be something else in the room with the heroine, but he could not tell exactly where it was.  The weight sensors certainly had detected the arrival of someone.

 

"Well, well."  He said over the microphone in front of him, his voice echoing throughout the building.  "It seems we have another teenager come to call (shouldn't you be in school?) and someone that does not wish to be seen."

 

His hands began to play across the controls in front of him as he fully activated the systems still hidden in place within the building.  "Let us see how they fare shall we?"  He stated, his voice again broadcast throughout the building.

 

Up where Blod and Raven were, a metal door slammed into place in front of the opening further up the wall and vents opened on the walls (located at the base and halfway up the walls) from which a yellowish gas began to hiss forth. 

 

Down in the entryway, Blue Jay spotted a pair of guns that dropped down from the ceilings, one in each of the hallways leading out away from the entryway.  Both opened fire on the bow wielding teen, firing multiple shots.

 

One failed to track Blue Jay's agile movements, the five small round shells fired from the gun flying wide and impacting along a wall with small sparks of electricity.  The other however adjusted more smoothly, all five of the stun shells sticking the teenager.  Blue Jay felt each of the impacts as her body jolted slightly from the electrical shocks of each of them…

[Tiffany Korta]

Holding her breath she quickly scanned her the room looking for the possible ways to free the captive from the webbing. For now she had to trust that they didn’t want to harm them so the web wouldn’t be trapped.

 

Working out the best route she began to have climb half ounce up the wall until she was in a position to use Dyrnwyn on one of the holding cable. Wedging herself as fairly as she could against the wall she made as rapid progress. She had a backup plan but she still knew there was still a time limit on freeing the captive.

Edited November 16, 2013 by TiffanyKorta

[Raveled]

Blue Jay examined the inside of the elevator, not wanting to be caught out by a trap or camera if she could avoid it. She cursed when the guns dropped out of the hallway behind her; she was already inside of a trap! Now she just had to be good enough to avoid.

 

She almost was. The agile archer pushed off the side of the elevator, getting every last bit of speed she could. As the turrets fired she was already airborne, twisting and presenting the thinnest profile she could to the automated weapons. One volley of darts passed under her, but the other caught her square in the midsection, stitching a line up her ribs. She was prepared for the pain, but she wasn't prepared for the electrical surges through her body, causing her muscles to spasm randomly. She landed wrong, too heavily on one side because the opposite leg was curled up underneath her. She tried to correct, failed, and bounced her head off the floor.

 

The room went fuzzy, and her limbs felt like they were a world away. Nevertheless the young woman focused, trying to fight through the pain, aware that if she was too exposed, another attack could finish her.

[Thevshi]

Blodeuwedd easily was able to position herself high enough in one corner to use Dyrnwyn to slice some of the cables holding the captive suspended in the air.  Inside the netting the figure continued to twist and contort, trying to get free, but was still bound tightly.  Removing more of the cables might make getting free an easier proposition.

 

Down in the lobby area, Blue Jay did her best to get herself moving to keep from being an easy target.  Meanwhile the two automated guns began tracking the teen to fire another volley...

[Quinn]

The voice sounded in her head again - Blod, Jay under fire. Moving to assist - portal's still open.

 

Crow stepped up to the edge of the roof, perching on the corner and staring down at that open gap she'd charged into. He could see the flashes of fire from those autoguns - damn the bastard running this fun house, and damn him for sending Blue Jay in half-cocked like that. His plan, and another of his allies was harmed from it. His fault. Again.

 

Oh, this is precious. I think I might laugh - so what will you do, hm? Blast a hole in the building? Seek righteous vengeance? Find your foe and smite him? You have the power, boy.

 

Five knives, matte-black, razor-sharp, and perfectly balanced, snapped into being between his fingers.

 

Yes. I do. Blue Jay, get clear!

 

A whistling sound, and the ringing of cold iron on steel; five blades flicked from exceptionally capable fingers, spinning down to ricochet just right off of the hole blown in the grate. Two eyes behind black iron tracked the movement of the five, each bouncing exactly where he'd planned the angles; the girl inside feeling a whisper of wind by her ears, then the peal of that cold iron striking the elevator door.

 

Every single one landed in the area of those autoguns, impaling the ceiling or thudding into the small bars holding them on the ceiling - but it was two that really hit the mark; one, dead on in the barrel of the first autogun, and two, a savage impact into the camera of the second. All those expensive electronics, tsk tsk tsk. 

 

Oops. Hope you didn't need those. Jerk.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Quinn

[Thevshi]

The first of the black knives struck the autogun in the hallway to the left of the elevator, flying straight up the weapons barrel and cutting through the feeding mechanism into vital systems.  The weapon smoked slightly as it continued to try to fire, the result of which was it exploding due to the internal damage.

 

Another knife struck the autogun in the right hallway, sinking deep into a side and causing some damage, but otherwise leaving the weapon operational, if somewhat impaired.  The gun turned as it continued to track Blue Jay as the teenager attempted to present a difficult target.  Once again it fired a burst of the small round shells, three of which struck with jolting electrical shocks, while two shells just flew over her legs and impacted on the ground nearby.

 

In the control room, Warden scowled under his mask as he saw one of his autoguns go offline near the lobby and saw some of the cables holding the currently contained Raven in the air get cut.  Whomever had come to assist Raven was certainly causing trouble, but there were still plenty of other traps awaiting them beyond their current locations.  The master trap builder flipped various switches arrayed in front of him as he prepared for the heroes to move on to the next layer of his maze.

[Raveled]

Blue Jay felt the air above her whipped back and forth, as the black knives danced down the hall and the stun shells thundered in return. She managed to get her legs underneath herself and sprang to her feet, landing with her bowstring already at full draw. One, two, three arrows were loosed before she made a break for it, not too proud to duck behind cover. There was a flurry of sparks, and silence. Jay stuck her head out again and noticed the autogun hanging limply from its mount; after a moment, she noticed several severed strips of circuitry hanging loose, severed by her arrows.

With that threat neutered, Jay approached the elevator again. She fished the stone out of her pocket and held it up her mouth, speaking into it. "Crow. Thanks for the save, but a warning is better."

[Tiffany Korta]

Shifting her weight around a little to get to the rest of the restraints Blodeuwedd continued to try and free Raven from the bounds holding her. She wished she could tell the other woman that she was here to help, but if she also fell to the gases influence they might both be lost to who ever was running this whole show.

She was also aware that by now they must know something was going on, both here and with her allies effort, and if he had any other trick she didn’t have too long before he, or she, deployed them. So keeping an eye out for potential trouble she continue at the task at hand.

[Thevshi]

Blod had to hop down from her current perch and bound up into another corner of the room to get at more of the cables holding up the bound form of Raven.  Her enchanted blade easily sliced through several more of the cables.  The result was a loosening of the net wrapped around Raven. 

 

With the slack that Blod had created, the dark clad heroine was finally able to twist and slip out of her bonds.  Raven began to fall once free, but easily flipped over to land lightly on her feet in a low crouch.  One dark gloved hand reached down to one of the pouches at her belt and pulled out a rebreather that placed in her mouth as she scanned the room,

[Quinn]

That sight would have brought on a sigh of relief - and it very nearly did; though a hand over a mouth covered it. The calm voice sounded in both Blue Jay and Blod's heads - Crow having brought the rock up to his mouth, looking over to the small crack in the air what sounded like a rushing wind; or at the very least a tiny localised dust devil.

 

"Package is secure. Repeat, package is secure. B, put R in contact with the rock. J, blind spot in the lower levels; go down as far as you can. Prepping for secondary insertion; maintenance tunnels running underneath the basement, I'll be going in through there. Odds our control room's in that space."

 

Several moments of consideration - and waiting for Raven to connect into the headspace; he was doing his level best not to geek out over her presence, moreso that she'd adapted to the gas so damn quickly. That flip was awesome! Totally old-school escape sty-easy, Crow, discipline, reserve, cold calm was the name of the game. Once the legacy cowl was networked in, she felt a small ruffling in the back of her head, and an exceptionally calm voice speak directly to her.

 

"This is Crow. Summing up situation - we've got Jay downstairs keeping the funhouse busy; and our backup elements haven't been detected yet. We have an exfil route right near you both - are you injured?"

 

More than once he'd blamed John for his new lexicon when on the job. Wasn't entirely sure if it was a good thing or not.

 

He also marveled a bit that he hadn't asked for her autograph right away. Yay.

[Thevshi]

Focusing his attention for a few moments on the underground sewer systems around the "blank" area under the first floor of the apartment building, Crow was able to see the various tunnels that twisted their way through the neighborhood.  However, he found he was unable to make out much in the way of details.  Hot water pipes and the various fiberoptic and electrical systems that ran through those tunnels all blazed vividly to his infravision, but made it difficult to see anything else that might be down there.

 

In his control room, Warden bit back a curse as another of the autoguns down in the lobby were taken out by the girl with the bow.  His anger only increased as he saw Raven freed from the trap that had captured her, and was not unlikely to succumb to the knockout gas filling the room she was in.

 

His hands began typing across the keyboard in front of him as he once again spoke into the microphone that broadcast into the trapped building above him.

 

"So you are free again Raven, at least for the moment.  How can you stand to support the corrupt system that allows so many criminals, especially the superpowered ones, to just circulate in and out of Blackstone or any of prisons?  Are you not tired of so many of your enemies escaping from Providence with such easy?"

 

"You and all the so-called other heroes are just supporting a corrupt system that is failing to accomplish what it is supposed to be doing, and preventing me from doing what needs to be done to correct that."

 

"But let us try a little game here.  You are so concerned with where those other three teens are, you will need to hurry up.  In one minute, my computer system will start deleting all the information relating to my contract to capture them.  Get down here before then, and you can probably stop that from happening.  I guess we will have to see won't we?"

[Raveled]

Blue Jay moved forward, wary of any further traps as she retrieved her arrows. She inspected the heads, reseated them in her quiver, and approached the elevator for a second time. Thankfully, this time there weren't electric trip-wires or land-mines in the floorboards or rats with flamethrowers on their backs. In fact, she managed to get into the elevator car unscathed, and from there it was simplicity to get on top of the elevator car.

She teetered on the edge of the car, looking up and down the gloomy shaft for a moment before taking the rock out of her pocket and talking to it. "Where is the Raven," she said to Crow. "And why are you so worried about shopping?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd dropped down to the shadows beside Raven, allowing her to see her but to still try and hide herself for any camera’s in the room. Not wanting to waste any time she opened her hand with Crow’s magic stone now in it and clasped Raven’s open hand over the stone.

Are you okay? If you need to leave Crow has a portal set up in the corner.

She gestured in the appropriate direction of the portal she came through.

All us can hear each other through this stone so this might be a good time to tell us what happened. And please keep it breath I don’t have much oxygen left.

 

Her tone was slightly mocking and she managed a tight lipped smile.

[Thevshi]

Raven spotted Blodeuwedd quickly when the teenager hopped down and allowed the Freedom Leaguer to see her.  She seemed a little surprised when Blod took her hand, until she was connected to the magical communication link that Crow had established.

 

So I take it Duncan sent you.  It was a statement, not a question.

 

Let's get through the portal first.  She then added before she moved towards the shimmering heat of the portal that Blod had indicated.  Soon the two women were through the portal and back on the rooftop across the street from the building.

 

I arrived a short while ago and began taking a look through the building to learn what I could.  It was clear rather quickly that this was a trap set up for Tsunami, El Heraldo, Net Fly and Warp.  That was when Warden, the one behind the trap, reactivated everything to catch me, as he was anticipating me coming to investigate.

 

From what he has revealed thus far in his taunting, it sounds as if he was hired by someone else to capture Tsunami, El Heraldo and Net Fly.  As you heard, we are on a clock to try and get everything we can about that contract.

[Quinn]

Indeed.

 

Crow's mental voice was remarkably calm despite the fact that he was now face to face with one of his idols - one of the individuals he'd held up as an example to follow since he was sitting on his dad's knee listening to stories of Freedom City and the heroes therein.

 

Of course, behind the placid outer shell, his subconscious thoughts were more...well...

 

...

 

 

 

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

 

...ahem.

 

Mental discipline and fortitude. Mental fortitude and discipline. Raven saw a simple nod from the cowled and masked youth, and a slight twitch of the fingers - the sweet smell of the knockout gas was abruptly cut as the wind dissipated, blowing away into a dozen tiny breezes. He let out a rush of breath then, the mouth under the mask twitching ever so gently.

 

Welcome. Blue Jay is already inside, working her way down the elevator shaft. While she keeps Warden distracted, I'm about to open up a secondary entrance. He indicated a spot on the ground, below the front of the building. Of course they couldn't see through stone, but his next words likely got the message across. The lower levels are blocked from true sight - at least up here. Going to take a closer look, see if I can find a spot to infiltrate and support Jay. Can't take people with me, but there's a fast route to the spot I'd be teleporting to through that grate and down two tunnels. Now, this'll leave a space open for you two to...

 

He hesitated on the next bit - seriously unwilling to try and give Raven orders, or even a request. Really, he was stopped pretty cold at that point - and Blodeuwedd had the unique experience of seeing that frosty cold terror of the underworld that Crow frequently portrayed actually shuffle his feet somewhat awkwardly.

 

"..." ...er...

Edited December 11, 2013 by Quinn

[Thevshi]

Sitting in front of the array of monitors, Warden frowned under his mask as Raven vanished from the room she had been in, apparently along with whomever it was that had triggered the tremor sensors.  On one of the monitors, a timer was slowly counting down, just reaching 54 seconds left.  He focused on what he had for the one remaining superteen still in the building.

 

Blue Jay felt her hair starting to stand on in just in time leap up off the top of the elevator car as powerful electrical current began to play across the metallic surfaces.  The teenage archer managed to push up off the wall and stretch out to grab onto the bottom edge of the elevator doorway the floor above her.  Glancing down, she saw there was not enough space along the sides of the elevator for her to get by, at least not without touching it. 

 

Then the elevators started to move upward...

[Raveled]

Jay hung from a ledge by her fingertips, watching the elevator car inch up towards her. There wasn't enough room to squeeze past it, not with the electricity arcing to the walls. She could drop through the hatch into the interior of the car... but that would likely be even worse than getting fried on top of the elevator car.

Which left dropping the entire thing. The archer slung her bow over her shoulder, carrying it awkwardly for a moment. A leap took her across the shaft, and along the way she slashed the cable with a broadhead arrow. Her feet dug into the sheer concrete of the opposite side and she pushed off, ending up hanging a floor higher than she just was.

[Thevshi]

The broadhead arrow flashed in the dim light of the elevator shaft, slashing across the steel cable holding up the elevator car as the counter weight attached to the other end continued to descend downward.  Blue Jay's slash cut through some of the steel fiber of the cable, but at least half of it remained intact as the agile archer rebounded off the opposite wall back towards the wall in which the doorways were located to grab ahold of another edge of a doorway.  For a brief moment it seemed as if the cable might hold, but then Blue Jay could see it beginning ot fray, more and more of the fibers snapping under the weight and tension of the old elevator car.

 

Then the cable snapped altogether, the elevator car plummeting down into the dark shaft.  With the sudden release of the car, the counterweight that had been slowly descending went into a complete freefall, causing the cable to whip around the elevator shaft.

 

Blue Jay was just able to twist to one side as the flailing cable slapped cross the wall where she had just been with enough force to have likely caused significant injury, before it twisted away again and was pulled up above her.  There was a loud CRASH as the elevator car smashed into the bottom of the shaft, the electrical current arcing around it flickering a few times before going out completely.

 

The counter weight came hurtling down along the back wall as well before smashing down onto the damaged wreck of the elevator car, the cut cable following along after a few moments later.  The wreckage seemed to be about five or six floors below where Blue Jay was currently dangling, or about two or three floors below the ground floor where she had boarded the elevator...

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd was all focus and business about now, so had the focus to draw things back to the task in hand.

How close can you get us to where the your magic is blocked? We’re running short on time to figure this all out.

She looked over at Rave with a concerned eye whilst the woman was a full blown hero, with much more experience than all of them put together, she must have had a long and trying day. but she respected the woman to much to just come out and say that she wasn’t fit to help out.

 

We could use the help if you feel you’ve recovered from the trap Raven.

Edited December 15, 2013 by TiffanyKorta

[Thevshi]

"I am fine."  Raven replied as she took the rebreather out of her mouth and slipped it back into one of the pouches on her utility belt.  She glanced down at the area Crow indicated for a brief moment before looking back towards the entrance to the building that Blue Jay had used. 

 

"Warden will be wondering where I am, knowing that someone other than Blue Jay is here, if we all go down into the sewers, the greater the chance he will realize where we are."  She stated.  "Besides, no one should be in Warden's territory without back up.  That is what happened to the others, they each entered into different parts of the building thinking they would be rescuing people, and thus were isolated and easier to subdue."

 

Taking a grappling gun from her belt, she glanced back at Crow and Blodeuwedd.  "You two take the sewer rout, I will back up Blue Jay."

With that, she jumped off the rooftop, the grappling gun firing to attach to a nearby building as she swung down to the entrance to the building.  She landed lightly in front of the entrance, her sudden appearance startling the firefighters who were still gathered around there.  A moment later she had disappeared into the building.