Saving The World In Spite of Ourselves

[Freedom]

Lucas took one last glance at the 'Fishermen' and turned and ran over to where the ladder was and jumped down, finding the ladder to take to much time. He hit the ground in a roll and hoped back up onto his feet. "Come." He said as he grabbed Jacklyn's arm and began running around corners and through alleys and over some buildings, hoping to shake their chasers. "Try to keep up." He said as he continued to drag her.

 

[Falcon]

"Never mind the language," Trevean said soothingly as he took a look at the girl's arm. She was obviously more cautious then the rest of the group, and in his present circumstances Trevean found that quality rather admirable. He was just glad the assassin had made his point so Trevean didn't have too. There was no way he was going to let such "darkness" remain inside his home unchecked. "You can say whatever you bloody well want most of the time. But words have power, more than most people care to admit, and with my particular brand of abilities . . ." she was so focused on him and the conversation that she hadn't noticed that he had already slipped his liquefied fingers through the wound. True, she wasn't nearly so far gone as her friend had been, and required none of the pain numbing singing, which he found a relief, but he preferred the girl to remain distracted while he worked. "To put it simply an ill-placed or ill-timed word could have distracted me at a crucial moment, and the consequence of my being distracted could have proved disastrous. Imagine if you will, what might have happened if the intentions of the song had been reversed - "

Trevean trailed off making a rather disgusted face as his fingers finally found the end of the dark slime that seemed to be working its way through the girl's body. "I hate to tell you this," he murmured with a straight face, "but you really are far worse off than your friend. I find it amazing you're even still breathing. Had this been left alone you'd be dead by the end of the night whether you felt it or not. Worse even, it might have taken you over and used your body to kill your friends! What exactly bit you anyway?" Shifting his form so that his liquefied fingers closed around the "poison" separating it from the girl's bloodstream, Trevean slowly began to draw it out. "If I may ask, what are your names?" he asked as he worked. "Your companion was in such a hurry to get medical attention for you lot that she neglected to tell me." He flashed a smile to show that he understood the other woman's hurry. "I'm Trevean." he added. after all it was only polite to give a name when one had his fingers up a girl's arm.

As the girl, her name was Lilith, told him their names he listened to the two other girls, Piper and Nadia tinkering on the piano. Everything else he tuned out, but the music was soothing. "Got it all!" he exclaimed after a bit depositing the slime in the waste bin with the rest. "Somebody destroy that please, before it decides to take in a life of its own. With fire preferably." Trevean seriously hoped nobody asked him how he knew that. He had serious doubts he could give them a satisfactory answer while lying through his teeth.

It was then he realized the others were discussing a stranger outside his shop and when he heard the woman, Shola, give the order the let the man in . . . and he had thought these people were intelligent.

"Now hold on!" he objected, "Just because you're a flaming Guardian doesn't give you the right to come into a man's home, turn his life upside down, and then invite a perfect stranger in. Do you have any idea what part of the city this is? Or do you always wander around in such a haphazard fashion?"


But all his objections came too late. The door was already open.

 

[Midian]

"We've barely had time to mourn our lost comrades, let alone the loss of propriety and normalcy in our lives. I'm sorry, but I will explain everything--"

There was a loud buzzing amplified by the acoustics of the room and Shola jammed her fingers against her ear.
"Yes? Imal?"
"Shola, Lucas and another Purifier are coming your way in addition to that one. Sit tight until you're all together!"
"Imal, how can you reach us?"
"Not sure-- Semal did something. Don't think the conn--"

There was a loud pop as the door opened and Shola spun on her heel, quickly taking her hand down from her ear.
"Please close that behind you," she said as politely as she could manage to the man.

 

[Harper]

Jacklyn Lockwood

As Jacklyn neared the bottom of the ladder, she saw a shadow pass over her head, followed by a solid thump on the pavement beside her. She snapped her head to the side just in time to see Lucas roll to his feet. "Did you just jump!?" She exclaimed, pulling her cardigan back onto her shoulder from where it fell. "Are you crazy?" She asked, already knowing the answer. 'It's a miracle he didn't stab himself with that sword. Hell, it's a miracle he didn't break his fool neck,' she thought to herself, giving Lucas a critical look. She didn't have much time to ruminate on the lunatic's character however, as she was promptly grabbed by the arm and pulled along with a short command.

They took off in a run down the narrow alleyway, Jacklyn following closely behind with Lucas' hand still clamped on her arm. She didn't have much choice in the matter but to follow the soldier's lead as he twisted down streets and alleyways, shoving past hapless pedestrians. The streets were crowded at this time of the day and on most mornings, Jack would have found their presence claustrophobic and unwelcome. Now, it was a blessing she was grateful for. Not only would the bulk of the crowd make it harder for their pursuers to follow but the psychic resonance of the throng would make it difficult for even the most prominent of psychics to track their movements.

As they continued to run, Jack noticed that the buildings were growing less oppressive and more orderly. The flock of people was growing thinner and the streets were more clearly marked. They were heading out of the Lower City and straight into the Trade District. A solid weight dropped into her stomach as she realized that, through no fault of his own, Lucas was leading them straight into danger. Avalyr was much like a spider web, both physically and in function. The main roads all branched straight out from the city's center, each road connected by a maze of side streets and alleys that when viewed on a map, left one wondering where exactly the spider was hiding. It was perfectly designed to draw one to the heart of the city, wether one knew where they were going or not. The Lower City was safe, it was crowds and side streets and obstacles. The Trade District would be nearly empty, except for the Fishermen patrolling it. They would be sitting ducks.

"Do you even know where you're going?!" Jack snapped, wrenching her arm out of Lucas' grasp. She spun on her heel and backtracked several paces to an alley opening they had just run past. She barreled down the alley, secretly hoping Lucas had not followed. She had already prevented him from throwing himself at the Fishermen and considered her good deed for the day finished. The last thing she needed was some maniac in armor following her like some puppy. The very best that could come of his presence was that his crazy outfit would draw all the wrong attention, worst case scenario was he snapped and sliced her head off. She glanced over her shoulder quickly and groaned, chagrined to find that Lucas was merrily trotting at her heels. 'Damn it! I'm an antique dealer, I am in no way equipped to handle this situation!' She thought to herself, turning quickly down another side street.

They ran like that for what felt like twenty minutes, running down alleys, ducking past residents, and watching their backs. Finally, Jacklyn reached her destination, throwing her shoulder into a warehouse door and tumbling into the cavernous space. This was one of the Goblin Market locations, the affectionate name the local black market used whenever they scheduled a more direct approach to selling. It was risky of course, setting up shop anywhere with such 'dangerous' contraband was enough to get all of them executed. But business was much better in market settings than just waiting around for customers to track down whatever little hidey-hole you called home. So precautions were needed, chief among them was a rotation of randomly selected, secluded spots where threat of detection was minimal. This warehouse was abandoned and hadn't hosted a Goblin Market for months. It was unlikely they would be found here and Jacklyn was grateful for the opportunity to catch her breath.


Huffing heavily, Jacklyn unbuttoned her cardigan, now drenched in sweat. She let it hang off her arm as she leaned heavily against the cool stone wall behind her. She gathered up her pendulum in her hand and pressed it against her heart. It was shockingly cold, as if it had been sitting in the freezer and not pressed up against her warming body as she had run. She found herself far too tired to ponder that mystery and instead closed her eyes, concentrating only on the pounding of her heart in her chest. Once her breathing had steadied somewhat and her heart was no longer threatening failure, she turned her dark caramel eyes on Lucas. Something he had said on the roof was bothering her and it had nagged at her their entire escape. "How did you know my name?" She asked, an accusatory husk to her voice. It was possible he was a psychic, it wasn't out of the question that the weight of his abilities had fractured his mind, it had happened many times before.

 

[Chemifox]

The topic of the day was the recent destruction of the hurricane judging from the conversations Giles overheard on his way to the tailor. Everyone discussed it as if it were a far away event, failing to acknowledge how close their perfect city came to being hit by it as well. Oh well. He certainly wouldn't let it ruin his day.

The accountant strolled briskly down the street with a spring in his step while his eyes scanned the crowds. Only one thing could ever make him journey into the bad part of town: a well-made suit. His favorite tailor was definitely worth the risk. As long as he kept his wits about him and walked quickly, it was fine.

Normally, the strategy was to avoid eye contact and conversations and to get through the stretch of road as quickly as possible to reduce any risk. Today, though, it went a bit differently. A bright light caught his peripheral vision. It seemed like a lantern had been directed towards him, but it was the middle of the day. He turned his head instinctively if only to get rid of the glare, but the light dimmed significantly. Giles fought to keep going and resist exploring the strange phenomenon, but the light caught the side of his vision again once he looked away. When he squinted and looked at it directly, he could sort of see it emanating from a closed shop - a music shop - but it wasn't clear.

Curiosity got the better of him. Giles veered to the side and approached the shop. It was closed, right? So, no one should be in. He would just peek in and - the curtain moved! The well-dressed man hesitated while the urges of curiosity and self-preservation once again fought in his mind.

That light! He had to know.

The door opened for him when he approached which was certainly suspicious. Inside, a group of people were resting amongst musical instruments of every kind. It was a rather surreal scene for this time of day.

"Please close that behind you."

He had no reason to trust these people, but some of them seemed to be the source of that mysterious light.

"Alright, miss," he said, obediently closing the door. He hung back, however, so that no one could lock it again without physically moving him. One of the men finished his rant and then silence. They were definitely hiding something in here.

Giles thought briefly that he would've dressed better if he knew he was meeting people today. As it stood, he was wearing an older pair of black dress shoes meant for travel, a black pair of casual slacks with a white, stiff-collar shirt, a gray vest with a red tie underneath, and a black, double-breasted Chesterfield coat over top with a straw boater hat adorned with a red ribbon on his head. Pretty casual relative to his normal dress.

Now that he was here, Giles was entirely at a loss. This wasn't a normal situation for him at all.

"Uhm..." he began. "Excuse me for the intrusion. I saw a light outside of your shop. Do you know anything about it?"

 

[Midian]

"Nope," Dante replied and Shola frowned, rolling her eyes.
"Shola, do you see this guy? What the fuck is he even supposed to do for us? 'Actually Water Dude' is bad enough, not to mention the now TWO kids we're stringing along. Can this party get any more like a circus?"
"You tell me," she hissed and shooed him towards the back of the room where he leaned an elbow on Nadia's head.
"I'm so sorry about that," Shola said. "As things stand we know a lot about... well, probably anything that's gone amiss here lately. Things are going amiss everywhere and we've been putting together a... A team of sorts to stop it. We all, and you, have been fundamentally changed. Given certain powers. That's why you saw the light of the others in here, but I'd like to be somewhere more private and secure before I start really getting into this."

There was a loud banging at the front door and a a gun cocking could be heard outside. Through a gap in the curtains Shola could see several large, thuggish men being joined by others at the shop's stoop.
"Blaze, burn that shit in the trash can. Dante, I want you, Blaze, and Lilith up front with me and you and the kids in the back," she said to Giles. "Trevean, does this place have a back exit? I'd like to avoid fighting them if we can; I have no idea if they're infected or not and I don't know what kind of shape Lucas and his Purifier will be in when they get here. I don't like surprises in a fight and they should be arriving soon."

The wood on the door splintered and nearly gave as one of the men rammed it again and Shola drew her sword, gripping it tightly with both hands.

 

[Falcon]

"Light Burn you, woman, what have you just dragged me into?" Trevean growled, his voice a low rumble that only those nearest to him could hear. But he was already moving, leaping behind the counter ripping a panel from the wall and opening the safe hidden behind it to reveal a very, very large stack of local currency. This he hurriedly began shoving into a violin case which he then hung over his shoulder before pulling several instrument cases and a duffle bag from behind the counter, inspecting the contents, and answering Shola's question as he worked.

"Of course there's a back way out! No man of my profession would ever be caught without one." he managed an almost wolfish grin, "Through the back room and up the stairs," he shouted over his shoulder at the others. "Open the first window on the left and there'll be a fire escape. Hop the railing and you should be able to land on the roof of the adjacent building. From there cross the whole block and find the fire escape on the end." he paused but continued, "if you're quiet they should never know which way you've gone."

He then took a stand some feet behind Shola, various bags and cases handing from his arms. the violin (which belonged in the case he had stuffed full of money) held ready in one hand its bow in the other. "Just say the word, Chickadee. I'll follow your orders . . . this time."

 

[Freedom]

"I'll explain later. Now we need to go." Lucas said as he dragged Jacklyn out of the building. He thought he heard the footsteps coming their way. He took a quick look around and saw things that he could get onto the roof with. If he was up high on the rooftops, he would be able to see where the Portal was to get to Water World. "Hold on tight, and don't fight me if you don't want to get caught." He told Jacklyn as he swept her into his arms and began jumping on various outcroppings on the building walls and was soon on the rooftops.

He made a little circle, looking for the area of the Portal. When he caught sight of it, he began running towards it. He was moving pretty dang fast for someone who was carrying a fully grown person. He jumped across the gaps in between some of the buildings on his way closer to the Portal. Just a little farther, then we will be closer to being safe. Lucas thought to himself. He bobbed and weaved and leaped across the different rooftops and the obstacles they produced, slightly slowing his run for the Portal but not getting even close to stopping him. So close. He thought. Just a little more.

 

[Closer]

Blaze zoned in and out of concentration as he lent against the wall, he panned the room looking between the strange bunch doing their strange things. Despite being told all about the problems at hand and what he may or may not be, Blaze has had little or no communication with the members of the group. It is hard to trust people that you barely know even in the most normal of situations, which coincidentally is not anything like this current one. Blaze has spent his days teaching people similar to Piper back home, and despite being a little bit needy she was the only one he had actually had the chance to speak to, a strange feeling of solitude swept over him as he stood alone against the wall.

The few seconds between them seeing the stranger and the door opening seemed to slow down for Blaze, this was the first time he was able to stop and think properly in what seemed like an eternity. Having clarity over a situation can be a formidable weapon, the ability to think clearly even in the most dire of situations is an admirable feature, a necessity for leader figures. Unfortunately Blaze is not a leader, but the moment to stop and think was quietly appreciated. Since finding out the details tying all of us together, we jumped through a...... Blaze paused to himself already in disbelief at his own train of thought. We jumped through a portal, to a place called Water world, one of numerous worlds linked to my own. Now we are currently in the capital city of said world, in a musicians shop taking black ooze out of two of our party members, not to mention that I have not had a cigarette for ages and ages. Don't forget the Darkness, not a figure of speech, or a general term for bad things, actual Darkness taking forms and trying to kill us, so far four different kinds of this so called Darkness have attacked me, taking the forms of black beings, wisps, rabid dogs, and now even poisonous slime. Jesus I need a cigarette, why did I lose them. As Blaze thought to himself, his brain picked up keywords from the surrounding conversations causing him to snap back into real time.

"Blaze, burn that shit in the trash can. Dante, I want you, Blaze, and Lilith up front with me and you and the kids in the back,"

"God I need a cigarette" Blaze murmured as he transitioned between his monologue and what the group were discussing.

As he looked vacantly towards Shola, he noticed a new face, the man from outside standing among them, he overheard an abbreviated yet familiar speech which told him that they had stumbled into yet another Purifier. Considering how "hard" it was to round up the lot of us we seem to be stumbling into a fair few Purifiers, maybe he wasn't really needed here? He paced over towards the bin, picking up the sense of urgency as the door sounded a loud thud. With one outstretched arm he ignited the innards of the bin, ignoring the very potent question as to what the chances someone being able to burn this stuff would be part of their group were.

"Whats going on Shola?" He asked as he took a stance as requested between the people escaping towards the back and the ominous presence on the other side of the door. Mentally taking note, through the back room, up the stairs, out the fire escape onto the neighboring building and across reaching yet another fire escape. All this time one question remained on his mind, he turned to the silver tongued musician holding a violin now poised behind him, fashioning an inquisitive smile.

"Don't suppose you have any cigarettes on you or lying around do you ?"

 

[Chemifox]

Giles opened his mouth to respond to Dante's rude answer, but Shola intervened for him. The two had a quick exchange before the strange woman (seriously, what was with those ears?), clearly the socially dominant of the two, explained everything.

And by 'everything', I mean absolutely nothing whatsoever. Is this some sort of prank?

The explanation provided was woefully brief and didn't make a whole lot of sense. Things have been going amiss, but you could hardly put together a team to stop hurricanes and other weird weather patterns, nor could a bunch of random people go out and fix the stretches of train track in disrepair. You would need to be highly trained for that, so what was she talking about?

Giles once again opened his mouth to respond and was, once again, cut off - this time by a loud bang at the door. The sound and proximity caused him to physically jump. An almost physical lump formed in his throat as he fought to control the rush of adrenaline from the panic.

"Bloody criminals," Giles muttered. He swore under his breath. He never should have stopped here. It was against the rules that worked every other time. Even in such casual clothes, it was still apparent he had money.

He turned just in time to see a man shoot fire from his hand towards a sludge in a trash can. Holy crap. Who were these people? What did he stumble upon? Perhaps he wasn't the target at all. Well, he couldn't exit through the front anymore. They were almost through the door. He had to leave through the back. Giles had absolutely no loyalty towards these people, so he just looked briefly between Shola (now sporting a sword) and Trevean and scampered towards the exit the latter described. Sure, he was curious about the light, curious about the fire and the other powers the pointy-eared woman mentioned, curious about the sludge, but he also had a basic survival instinct, and he didn't like the odds.

 

[Midian]

"Always time for a smoke," Dante muttered, craning his neck to get a really good look at Blaze. Shola had mentioned something back at the palace about this guy saving her life, but they hadn't had time to sit and discuss the situation what with Shola being half-dead for most of their stay. Aside from Lilith he'd spent the most time with her out of all these freaks and whether or not he was a soldier, Dante was still inclined to listen to her and make sure the others did too. This guy at least could do shit with fire, and for that matter Prince Charming seemed to be able to heal, a fairly useful skill he certainly didn't possess on his own. The kids, well... They were kids and that was all the consideration he gave them. He didn't know what to make of the newcomer except that the guy looked ready to bail and that probably wasn't what Shola'd planned for them.

"Long Ears, I'm gonna move this group out myself. Looks like they're getting nervous. Give me backup?"

Shola paused and quickly scanned her better fighters.

"We want our money, Trevean!" one man outside shouted and abruptly the tension went out of Shola's body. They weren't infected, they were just part of whatever shady dealings Trevean had been up to! Lilith could hear Shola physically grinding her teeth in aggravation and she resheathed her sword.
"I'll stay behind and deal with them, they're not infected. The rest of you go on and find somewhere to settle down, maybe an inn or something and we can debrief there. I promise I will explain everything there.
"You sure Sholes?"
"Of course. I would rather the party be protected at this point," she said as the door gave and the men forced their way in. Dante, nodding for Blaze to follow, moved to the head of the group and began leading them out the back while Lilith covered the retreat. Dante hopped the railing and pulled Nadia and Piper across, leaving Trevean to help Giles while he caught up with Blaze on the roof.
"Shola said you saved her ass back... wherever you're from. Thanks man."

He looked back at Giles, Trevean, and Lilith coming over the railing to join them.
"Hurry the slow parade up folks!" he called.

The morning sun was already bright and hot overhead, beating down on the little rooftop. From inside Trevean's shop vague crashing and shouting could be heard, but the voices were indistinct. Nadia sidled over to Dante and he looked over his shoulder at her.
"Is Ms. Shola gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, she can take care of herself. I'd be worried about the goons."

Nadia giggled and then smiled at Trevean too, smoothing out her skirt.
"I meant to say... Thank you for fixing me. You've all been so nice to me," she said warmly. "I didn't think people out here were kind."
"Funny thing, ain't it?" Dante replied absently.

"I think it's going to start raining soon," Piper said, pointing up to the iron grey clouds gathering overhead.
--------------------------------------------------------
In a single, bright flash the portal swallowed Lucas and Jack up. They hurtled through space almost at a standstill until suddenly they were falling and landed on a rooftop just as fat rain droplets began pelting them. Piper leaned over the two of them and grinned.
"I remember you. Hi Lucas!"
"We need to try to find somewhere to stay before we all get soaked," Dante said. "I think I see a motel over there."

The party made its way through the increasingly heavy rain until they'd all gathered in the foyer of a little motel whose color scheme seemed to be brown and brown with brown accents. The receptionist stared, bug-eyed, at the strange party as Dante approached and leaned on the desk.
"We need a room, please."
"L-Looks like you'll n-need more than one, sir."
"One for now, we'll sort shit out later."

Wordlessly she handed him the key for 101 and they crowded into the one-bed room. Once he'd shut the door tightly Dante leaned on the windowsill and seemed to be at a loss for words for a minute before speaking.
"So... For the people who haven't been clued in yet apparently there's some... black shit out there fucking things up. Kinda like the hurricane. And there are lots of places kinda like here, but... not at all like here. Worlds kinda, and it's fucking their shit up too. Back in this other world they did a... I dunno, a spell or something and now we're all Purifiers that can make the dark shit go away. We kinda have to, or the world's screwed. All of them. So if you were thinking about leaving, don't."

 

[Freedom]

Lucas had set Jack down on the couch in the room and stretched his back. "I think... I may have screwed my back to Hell." He said with a wince as his spine popped all the way down. "I really shouldn't do all of that running." He said. "How is everyone doing? Haven't seen you all in a while."

 

[Closer]

Blaze released an exasperated sigh at the lack of cigarettes being offered his way, it was a long shot but surely he was well overdue cashing in a little bit of luck? Blaze remained rooted like a sentry, the new face seemed to be trying to absorb the vast amount of information surrounding him. He was clearly nervous and confused and he didn't hide it very well, the way he keeps eyeing the back door would suggest he doesn't intend to stick around. His ears perked back towards the door as the now not so formidable opponents showed their true intentions. He looked back at Trevean judgmentally remembering the stick he gave us for getting him involved in "our mess". He diverted his eyes towards Dante upon hearing his smug remark.

"Always time for a smoke,"

"Always." Blaze replied.

Holding a slightly less composed stance due to the danger level seemingly dropping drastically, Blaze followed the group through the escape route, acknowledging Dante's nod and smirking to himself at Lilith's serious face preparing to cover our retreat. That is the second nod Dante has sent his way, maybe it is some kind of signal that he is unaware of, or maybe he just likes to nod. So far Lilith has been around but Blaze knows nothing of her, does she have a power like Piper? Maybe a female assassin like Dante, or she can fly or something... His mind trailed of as he watched the others clamber over onto the roof, he followed suit and began a slow pace towards the opposite side.

"Shola said you saved her ass back... wherever you're from. Thanks man."

Blaze looked at Dante with a puzzled expression, stopping at the ledge peering over before pulling back, two floors up might not be considered high but it certainly feels it when you look down to the ground. Dante certainly seems to be less secretive than when I first saw him, maybe he is quite a nice guy somewhere in that tough exterior, after a half smile Blaze retorted.

"I don't remember saving Shola? Are you sure she Didn't mean Lucas? They ended up in my house together after all, that is how I was dragged into this mess."

Blaze looked away from Dante killing the conversation and along with it any further prying of the matter, the group only had to get down this fire escape and they would once again blend in with the undertow known as the city's populace. A few thoughts had been crossing his mind regarding the darkness, either they are being kept out of the loop, or Shola and the others don't actually know much about it. So far it has been able to take many forms, it has been able to shift the weather, it is just speculation, but based on these facts it wouldn't be too far fetched to suggest the darkness could take the form of people in order to try and get too us. For example some local thugs looking for some money in a dodgy part of town.....

"Say, this darkness stuff, has it ever used humans or corrupted humans? It seems to be able to use dogs, what about humans ?" Blaze said as he turned once more to Dante.

He was intently awaiting a response, when Lucas and yet another stranger bundled onto the roof in a familiar fashion, these portals really are an interesting form of travel. Blaze raised his index and his thumb either side of the bridge of his nose and let his head drop, just to top all of this chaos off, heavy drops of cold rain began to strike him more frequently every second. "Fucking rain.." He murmered.

 

[Midian]

Dante shrugged.
"From what I can tell it can do most anything, be most anything. I'm guessing since Shola thought they were… darkness or whatever that it can. It seems like it's pretty pervasive. And I dunno what she meant about saving her life, guessing you must've helped her or something. She's always like that though, all chivalry and manners. It's so weird."

He stifled a yawn in his elbow and looked out the tiny window. Outside in the sunny-again streets people were going about their business totally unaware of what was going on in that tiny room. He doubted many of them even knew that the sky had been dark a few minutes ago when the portal came through. In his home it would've been sent to a hundred phones by now. He also could've texted Shola by now (assuming he'd taught her to use a phone, somehow) and see what was holding her up. Cracking his neck he turned and leaned against the windowpane, crossing his arms.
"So the two of you, what's your story anyway?" he asked, looking between Giles and Jacklyn.

 

[Falcon]

"We want our money, Trevean!" Someone shouted, and in that moment Trevean knew something was wrong. He was the "boss" of this little section of town. He had worked hard for that position, but that was his position now. More than that, he kept his men well paid. Generously well paid, they would have no reason to come for him.

But Shola was telling them to go, saying she would handle it and he had said he would follow her lead, so while she held the door he followed the others, having the presence of mind to grab a long black raincoat from the hook in the back room to cover the violin and it's bow with, all the while his mind racing searching for the answer on who it was who had just broken down his front door. Truth be told, he had never heard that voice before in his life.

He helped the man, Giles, with the railing. Light how had he ended up with Giles? He knew the man by face and reputation if not personally. A man in Trevean's position made a point of knowing the names, faces, and reputations of any big money family in the area. He smiled when Nadia thanked him, and when Piper pointed out the rain he absentmindedly stated, "Yes, a big storm is coming." All the while his brain was racing, his thoughts back in his shop with that woman who was . . .

Balancing his bags he followed the others onward to where two new faces abruptly joined them, and eventually they ended up in a rinky-dink little motel he would have paid good money to avoid staying in.

Once inside the room he took over the single bed and began reorganizing all his gear into the one duffle bag. Trevean had always had a bag of gear on hand in case he had to run. It contained all the necessities he might need, clothing, toiletries, emergency rations, more money, and even . . .

"Here, I never use these." He stated tossing an unopened, still packaged, several months old, package of smokes across the room to Blaze, "never know when a friend might need one though." He finished beginning to transfer money from the violin case to the bag so he could put the violin away properly.

He listened to Dante's explanation managing to fit it to the informative little bit he'd gotten out of the others before leaving his shop behind. He was annoyed about abandoning the shop, but he'd been prepared for that possibility too. Once a certain individual realized the front door had been broken down and nobody had seen Trevean anywhere around a contingency plan would go into play. He'd have six months to report back or the person in question would have every right to claim the shop as their own.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Trevean closed the duffle bag, tied the instrument cases to it, slipped the rain coat on, and leaving the bag on the bed as a clear indication he intended to come back, slipped out of the room just as Dante asked after the two new faces and their story as well as Giles's

He had a very strong feeling just now that he needed to find Shola, just has he had a very strong feeling that despite the sun outside it was still about to rain. He never ignored those feelings, and just now, something told him the woman was taking far too long.

 

[Chemifox]

Giles had no idea who any of these people were, but he had no choice but to keep his head down and follow them to relative safety. There wasn't much time to stop and think, even when two people fell from a sudden rain cloud. Yes, seriously. That happened. The rain persisted throughout the escape, muddying his shoes and staining his white slacks. All the while, he had to keep his eyes on the people in front of him because the annoying flash in his peripheral vision appeared any time he looked away as if to make sure he never forgot how interesting these people were.

There was a moment of indecision when Giles jumped down from somewhat rusted fire escape. He could take off and forget this whole incident. It would probably be the safer choice, all things considered, but he could never leave such an interesting situation behind.

The crowd gathered into a small one-bedroom hotel room. Giles attempted to brush the water off of his jacket, totally ignorant of whomever the water fell on instead, and listened to Dante speak. This explanation was even less helpful than the one before.

"What?" was about all he could muster. Someone else - the guy who literally shot fire out of his hands - asked a follow-up question which was then responded to in a similarly confusing manner.

"Alright, hang on. I'm not going to tell you people who I am until I get some answers," he said, but he was too intrigued to actually muster up any intimidating tone. "So, things are going wrong. Weird things like that storm just now, but that seemed to be caused by you folks, so I'm going to need a more in-depth explanation. I need something better to go on than 'darkness'. And what do I have to do with all of this?

"Some of you have this weird light around you. And you," he said, pointing at Blaze, "I saw create fire from nothing. And what was that sludge everyone seemed so worried about at the music shop?"

He knew it was bold, but he wanted everything clear up front if he was going to be involved with these people.

 

[Harper]

Jacklyn Lockwood

"What? No, no! Not later, we're talking about this now! How did you kno--" Jacklyn began, only to be cut short as Lucas' hand clamped down on her wrist again. He gave her a sharp yank before she resist and she was dragged from the warehouse. "Listen, I don't know who you think you are or why you're running around dressed like that but I am not some toy you can manhandle like this!" She said, trying to tug her arm away again with little luck. She was just starting to contemplate the idea of beating him with her bag till he let go when his next words threw her off. "Wait, hold on to what?" She asked, getting her answer as her legs were swept out from underneath her.

Jacklyn let out a strangled yelp as Lucas made a short run to a low hanging bar, swinging himself up onto a windowsill. "Stop! You're going to get us killed!" She yelled, too afraid to struggle lest she cause the imminent fall to their deaths. Shockingly, her abductor was as agile as he seemed to think he was and they were on the roof of the warehouse before Jacklyn knew it. If she thought that would be the end of it, she was sorely mistaken as Lucas started running in the direction of a nearby roof. "No! Stop! You put me down this instant!" She commanded, pounding her fists into Lucas' chest and kicking her legs. She was raising her hand to slap Lucas across the face when her gaze drifted over her shoulder. Climbing onto the roof behind them were a group of Fishermen, already giving chase. "Fishermen!" She shrieked, desperately looking around for an escape route. There were none to be found, they were completely out in the open on the roof and any moment they would be gunned down.

'What is this buffoon thinking?' She asked herself, as she looked in the direction he was running. His path made no sense, there were at least outcroppings and vents on some of the other roofs nearby but he seemed set on one roof in particular. At first she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but as she stared ahead longer, she noticed that there was something ahead. Some strange distortion in the air that she couldn't quite comprehend but reminded her of the sudden appearance of the Fishermen back at her Loft. "What is that?" She asked Lucas before glancing back over her shoulder, cursing loudly. "They're gaining on us!" She said, her face going pale as each of their pursuers drew their firearms. She winced at the first shot of gunfire, hearing the bullet strike the building somewhere ahead of them. "They're shooting!" She said, cluing Lucas in on what he likely already knew. Still, he kept running, focused completely on the strange distortion ahead.

The Fishermen continued to fire away at the duo, their shots hitting closer and closer with each pull of the trigger. Finally, one of the Fishermen had the good sense to drop down on one knee and aim his gun, capturing Jacklyn in his sight. For one terrifying moment, Jacklyn could see straight down the barrel of the gun as a bright flash of light exploded from chamber. She tried to yell but found her fear was beyond even that, only allowing her to dig her fingernails into Lucas' shoulder. Her heart fell into her stomach as they suddenly lurched forward, Lucas springing into the air and falling straight into the shimmering portal.

The city had disappeared, leaving only Jacklyn and Lucas drifting in the void. At first she thought she had died, the Fisherman's bullet had found its mark and now she was waiting for Judgement. She would have continued to believe that too, had her pendulum not become so cold she thought her chest was burning. She glanced down, shocked to see her necklace glowing a pale green. Before she had time to examine it further, the world lurched back into motion. She was suddenly falling, landing heavily on Lucas on a roof that looked nothing like the one they had just been on. She held up her pendulum, curious to find it was no longer cold and looked the same as it had for the past twenty-six years. She let it drop from her hand, conscious that she was no longer alone with Lucas. Many of them were dressed just as strangely as her abductor and almost all of them were obviously familiar with him as his sudden appearance did not phase them.

'Are these his allies?' Jack thought to herself as fat drops of rain fell onto her bare skin. 'Of course they are, look how they're dressed. Obviously they're the ones behind the portal, psychics can bend the rules of reality however it suits them. Who knows what a pack of psychic lunatics could achieve with a common goal.' She eyed each of them suspiciously as she shrugged her cardigan back on, buttoning up the front and lifting her hood up. 'I don't know who these people are, but I'd better not do anything to make them suspicious...I'll sneak away when they're not looking.' She thought to herself, glancing around at the surrounding city, shocked to find that she didn't see any landmarks she recognized. 'Just what part of the city is this? Is this one of the surrounding towns? Just how far did they pull us?'

Jacklyn followed the group silently, not keen on being trapped in a motel with them but not really wanting to be stuck out in the rain either. She filed into the room and sat down on the couch when Lucas motioned that she should. She pulled her hood back down and carefully examined everyone's face as she listened to their chatter. They were all talking crazy, like Grandma Lockwood crazy. Different worlds and spells and darkness, it was as if they had all been raised on the same stories she had. Was that why they had chosen her? Did they think she believed her Grandmother's stories and that she would be sympathetic to their cause? Is that how Lucas knew her name? She shook her head slowly, pressing her fingers into her temples to massage away a budding headache.

By the time anyone decided to actually talk to her, Jacklyn was a bundle of raw nerves. She locked her gaze on Dante and glared daggers at him. She knew it was better to placate the crazies but she had been pushed too far. She stewed in her anger as the man beside her had a meltdown of his own, and Jacklyn felt an immediate kinship to him. She listened as Giles rattled off a list of questions that made no sense to her, but his indignation fed the raging storm inside her mind. She got to her feet quickly, addressing the room at large as she tried to speak while hiding the quiver in her voice. "My story?" She asked quietly, her hands starting to shake as the stress of the situation flooded through her veins. "My story is that I was sitting on the damn roof minding my own business when Sir Manpaws here abducts me!" She said, her voice steadily rising in volume. "Just what the hell is going on here? Who do you people think you are that you can just take people away like that! Do you have any idea what its like for someone to grab you against your will and then get carried as some asshole jumps around on the roof!?" She asked, gesturing wide at Lucas and suddenly very pissed off at him. She glanced down at the coffee table and grabbed the book that lay there. She held the book up high and got ready to throw it at him when a sickening realization struck home.


Slowly, Jacklyn lowered the book back down and stared at it as the tension in her body suddenly left her. "What...what is this?" She asked quietly, her eyes boring holes into the leather bound volume. It was heavy with embossed lettering on the front, it appeared to be a law book of some kind but she wasn't able to focus her attention long enough to read the title. How was there a book here? Books were outlawed decades ago and no motel would ever allow something like that to just sit around in one of their rooms waiting to be discovered. "I'm not...We're not in Avalyr anymore are we?" She asked, collapsing back onto the couch as she ran her fingers over the cover.

 

[Kura]

"No, we're not," Lilith said sternly, breaking the silence that she had held since she watched Trevean clean up her wounds, "I hate to tell you, but you're a long way from home now. All of us are." She quickly glanced around at the variety of individuals inhabiting the room then back to Jack to make her point. She stared at the girl for a moment before allowing her gaze to soften. Normally she didn't like to be so short with people, but in the light of all the commotion she had forgotten that a full moon would be rising soon. Also, by soon, she meant tonight. Her reasoning behind the serious look on her face as she brought up the rear of the group earlier had nothing to do with concentration, but with the sudden panic she felt knowing that she really had not thought about a place to hide. She glanced at the clock.

It's midday now.. I only have a few more hours to get away.

She looked over at Dante, who was scowling out the window. It was pretty obvious that he was waiting for Shola to show up. What is it with those two anyway? Dante had been so cold to everyone they had met since the first time she had seen him, but when it came to Shola his attitude changed. He was more.. what's the word? Human-like? Normal? Yeah, normal. With all this time spent around the assassin, Lilith figured that she should probably know a little more about him by now, but in reality she knew hardly any more about him today than she did the day he walked up to her with that goofy fake smile in the tavern. Y'know, he would be a lot easier to be around if that stupid, fake, adorable smile was real.

Lilith shook her head and quickly perished the thought, sighing as she looked back to Jack. "Look. We're not the bad guys here. Trust me. We just have odd ways of asking for help. And honestly, would you have just up and come along to help save worlds you didn't know existed from a dark force that no one really understands?" Lilith smiled a bit, looking to Giles, "Let's just try to stay calm until Shola returns. She's a bit better at explaining things than Dante. He's a little socially stupid. Deep under the straps and skin tight clothes, he means well."

With nothing more to say, Lilith stood and began walking towards the door. "And with that, I'm going to go peek outside and make sure that none of those thugs followed us here." She knew that Dante was naturally suspicious, and therefore usually quick to catch a liar, but she hoped that this one had worked. She had no real intention to scout for thugs, but needed to find a secluded place to spend the night. She whispered to Dante as she passed by him and reached for the doorknob.

"Don't follow me."

Lilith quickly slipped out the door and shut it gently, then without hesitation sprinted off down the street.

 

[Midian]

Dante watched Lilith and Trevean leave the hotel room and felt a headache of his very own blooming between his temples. It wasn't like he'd just corralled them into there for their own safety or anything. And then between them and the two very disgruntled newcomers and the kids mostly passed out from exhaustion in the corner Dante was pretty sure the whole thing HAD turned into a circus. That left Lucas and Blaze as the only others who could be counted on to do anything if the need should arise and he wasn't too keen on Lilith and Trevean wandering around without supervision. Especially not Lilith since no one had relieved him of his primary task: to make sure she lived. He didn't know if those were standing orders or not.

It looked like the sky was going to cloud up as suddenly as it had been light and cobalt grey clouds, thick and heavy, had begun to eat away at the edges of the clear blue sky. A knot twisted in his stomach at the thought of maybe another hurricane coming through. Too much fucking water everywhere, that was the problem. But it wasn't his biggest problem at the moment; if the two newcomers decided to bail they'd be in for a hell of a time if Shola ended up needing them. The woman sounded tough as nails and would probably pose the bigger threat than the dude in a staw hat. Dante weighed his options and potential opponents before turning to Blaze.
"Look, I'm not so thrilled at all these people being missing. Can you tail Lilith for a bit, maybe keep an eye out for Treven and/or Shola? I don't know how to radio you... But just... I dunno, send me a smoke signal or something if shit goes down. She'll be looking for me to follow her."

Dante watched him leave and then turned to the others in the room, straightening up a bit and cracking his back.
"I get that you're both upset and have no fucking clue what's going on. Trust me, I do. But until Shola, the lady with the big ears gets back, we're all going to sit tight and relax. Believe it or not you're safer here with us than where you were. As best as I can tell we've been picking up people who are in danger of getting snuffed out by the darkness. And yes, Hat Guy, it's called darkness. The name is pretty self-explanatory if you saw the sludge. That was darkness. The hurricane was probably the same thing. Hell if I know, we didn't have all this where I came from. But it IS real. I've met with it a few times myself," he said, undoing his cracked arm guard to reveal heavy bruising and slight acid-esque burns.

"So Lucas here, and myself, we're looking out for you. There's very real shit out there and it WILL kill you if it gets the chance. I highly encourage everyone left to stay in, shut up, and get some sleep while you can. Sir Manpaws, see if you can't help me pile the rugrats on the bed."
--------------------------------------

In the shop Shola pried the last man's hand from her wrist and let his body slump on the now-dusty floor. There were holes in the walls and instruments from the shotgun blasts and her chestplate was badly dented from the same. Underneath it her chest ached as badly as the time she'd taken horse kick directly to the heart and been also saved by excellent Moran craftsmanship. Not to mention her ears were ringing so badly from the point-blank shot that she couldn't hear anything going on around her or see straight through the banging headache.

Plus she had been forced to kill four human men. The other two had fled, but four of them had been willing to try their luck with her, even blocking her escape through the back. She'd tried to reason with them, but even seeing their fellows die had not been enough. It made her shudder to think what infected humans there might be like if these men were normal. During the fight she'd lost track of time, but she knew the party must have been waiting awhile by now and began to wade through the bodies of the men and the broken musical instruments to get to the back door. Everything was strangely sharp around the edges and she rubbed her eyes. On top of everything else she also had not slept in what seemed like an eternity. The train ride's doze had been too light and too brief.

When she got to the back door she stopped. Which way had he told them to go again? Down the fire escape? Over the roof? Over the ringing of her ears she heard a thunderclap and groaned. Nothing had gone right since they got to that world and every situation felt out of her hands.

That was no excuse to wallow though, she reminded herself and slowly, painfully slowly made her way down the fire escape and into the street. She didn't even care about the shabby men and women eyeing her anymore as she limped down the street and in the direction of the only source of magic she could sense on the whole island. That had to be them.

As she wound down the narrow streets an odd fragment of music flitted through her head, one she hadn't thought of in ten years easily. Why it had occurred to her just then she wasn't sure, but with it came the rush of the scent of freshly-cut grass and the smoky, earthy sounds of a cooking fire popping. Shola crossed her arms over her chest and shivered, trying to block out the memory, but the music persisted. Absently she tried to hum a few bars under her breath to get it out of her system, but she couldn't get it quite right and it came out sounding shaky and tuneless. Annoyed and suddenly very tired she sat on a little bench and covered her face in her hands. At least the bench was rather out of the way and no one she knew would see her having a moment of selfish weakness. That was the last thing she wanted.

 

[Falcon]

Knowing exactly where he was, this was his city after all, Trevean easily made his way back to the roofs of the town and begin searching from there. When one knew which roofs to observe from it was relatively easy to see entire neighborhoods from a single vantage point. It was due to this knowledge that he was able to spy on events at his shop from a perch safely situated away from the action. And he was not pleased with what he saw. Both of the shop's windows had been blown out, glass littered the sidewalk as well as the broken pieces of what had once been a cello and a very beat up French horn, and Police were swarming the place. As Trevean observed he noted several bodies being carried away on stretchers. He'd known to expect the death and chaos, but expecting something and seeing the reality were two very different things. He very quickly stamped down the cold furry that began welling up in him at the sight.

He should have known better. The lady in violet had warned him he would die otherwise but still, he should have known better than to take in a group of strangers in the night, he should have known better than to allow that darkness into his home, he should have known better to let them stay in one place long enough to be tracked, he should have known better than to trust that woman to deal with things diplomatically, and he should have known better then to ever expect a straight answer out of any of them as to what exactly was going on. And now . . . now he was stuck with a group of misfits who had no better idea of what they were doing than he did, now he was running for his life from goddess knows who, now his home was destroyed, now his livelihood was gone, now men had unnecessarily been killed, and now he was probably going to be charged with their murders.

No, saying he was furious was an understatement. He was livid!

Taking a deep breath he tried to calm himself. Loosing his temper now would gain him nothing. He focused it into a tiny ball and shoved to the back of him mind. He needed to react calmly and rationally, and he needed to focus on the problem at hand. Where was she, where was that woman! Scanning the area he very quickly found the tell tale flash of golden armor some blocks from his now decimated shop, and working his way back across the roofs and down to the street below he found her.

She had her back to him and was making her way slowly towards an out of the way bench off to the side of a small park that was used for little more then drug deals and black market trading. He could just barely make out that she was attempting to hum, and though badly off key, Trevean was easily able to recognize the song. It was one of the first he had ever learned after all. He watched as she sat on the bench and dropped her face to her hands and for a moment Trevean hesitated in approaching her. But the angry, annoyed buzzing in the back of his mind would not let him let her be still, and not particularly caring if she needed time alone he moved forward.

Had he been a romantic type of man he might have approached slowly and wrapped his raincoat around her shoulders. Had he been softhearted he might have stayed back until she pulled herself together pretending he hadn't seen a thing. Had he not been angry he might have coughed politely to let her know of his approach, but he was none of those things. Oh those thoughts did cross his mind, but he didn't pay them much attention. Instead he simply strolled forward and around the bench until he was standing directly in front of her, looked down at the top of her head, and stated, "So, it seems that even Royal Guards need a break once and a while." His face was calm, his posture relaxed, and his voice smooth, but had anyone bothered to look in his eyes they might have seen the icy-cold anger burning in their blue depths.

Not bothering to wait for a response and noticing that her attire was receiving several odd looks from the rare passerby, he shrugged out of the raincoat and practically tossed it in her lap before dropping onto the bench beside her. "Here, Chickadee. Put that on, your armor is drawing too much attention."

There was a brief moment of silence before he spoke again not even bothering to hide his displeasure. "I saw you destroyed my shop, killed the men, and left me to take the blame. We'll start seeing wanted posters with my face and the crime of murder plastered up before this day is through. I'll never be able to show my face in this city again, and it'll take a fortune to rebuild and start over elsewhere. You really do know how to turn a man's life upside down," he sighed. "The way I see it you now owe me a rather large debt, Chickadee, and I always collect what people owe me." He gave an unfriendly smile and leaned back on the bench resting his neck in his hands and stretching his feet out before him, humming lightheartedly, almost mockingly.

There was no magic in it, but it was the very same tune he's heard Shola try and fail to get right a few minutes earlier. Not that he was humming to be helpful either. Truth be told, Trevean hoped it'd get on her nerves. As much trouble as she had caused him, he figured his pushing a few buttons was the least she deserved. Besides, it soothed his temper.


"Just let me know when you're ready," he smirked at her, "and I'll take you back to others. If you ask nicely, I might even be willing to carry you."