Summary:An Agent, a Sorceress, A Handiman and a Concerned Citizen meet in a park… Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Being a WAND agent is not generally speaking an office job. Not for some specialties anyway. To be sure, Agent Koa Turner does have an office and a rather nice one and he even uses it sometimes, but he also does a lot of travel.
Thankfully much of that travel is IN New York city. Today it was authenticating an artifact in a private collection down in the Financial District. Normally that isn't something WAND agents do, but it lets Koa keep the pulse of the artifcat trade, which is very useful to his work, so the agency lets him.
Now however it is lunchtime and Koa is sitting on a bench near a table in Battery Park, near the fountain and the East Coast memorial, picking at his lunch. His phone buzzes with a priority E-mail and he flicks it open to check it, then sighs.
NYPD has flagged two more abductions for his attention. One in M-Town and one in Salem. Both children are possible mutants. That brings the total of missing mutant kids up to nine.
"This is getting out of hand." He mutters to no one in particular.
There's a getting-to-be-far-too-familiar flare of light as a stepping disk opens near Koa, leaving a cold-eyed blonde in its wake. As the disk winks out, Illyana heads over towards Koa. "Oh good, it's lunch time." She says as she joins him at his table. And helps herself to his lunch.
The sorceress is dressed in her common black-on-black attire, lots of leather and silver accents that makes her look like a refugee from a heavy metal concert. Not too weird-looking for New York City. The blond reaches into a pocket and tosses him a vial that looks more middle-ages than mass-produced. "So since SHIELD showed up at the pier, I'm guessing you already have a report on that." She says without preamble.
The world is a bad place. And after having pretty much freaked out a little spider just the day before - and at the same time getting supplied some tons of information for free - a certain nameless person has become worried. Kids missing are worrysome. And so, Saint Roe has set up triggers onto some keyword combinations in E-mails, especially those leaving the NYPD server. And the mail Agent Turner had just recieved did lit up like a christmas tree. Very worrysome.
While the Jane Roe didn't magic herself there, she wasn't too far away from the park, changing her direction towards it. Information… She had some, maybe trading them might calm that nagging worry. Nobody was supposed to touch, let alone abduct kids…
It's got to be the pen, Koa thinks as the stepping disk opens but before it finishes depositing Illyana in front of him. He's had that pen for years. It'd have his resonance all over it. It's had his blood in it before. That would explain how she finds him so easily.
And of course the worst part about that is it was a really nice pen.
"The portals and the Mindless Ones you mean?" Koa catches the vial, leaving both lunch and phone easy prey to the blonde. It's cake noodle. The lunch is, not the vial.
The vial Koa shakes. "I've seen a couple reports on it, haven't dug into them quite yet myself. Higher up is in a bit of a tizzy. That was a pretty sizeable reality breach." He looks up. "This bits of Mindless?" He shakes that vial again.
The park isn't too full at this hour of the day. It's lunch time and some folks are taking lunch but most of those are in the restaurant a bit further down and the high powered types usually just get something delivered in their towers. So the approach won't be concealed when she gets there but being a public place in broad daylight and seeking out an 'official' type, it's unlikely anyone's gonna get real twitchy.
Either way, Koa Turner - and the blonde helping herself to his cake noodle - aren't hard to find.
Illyana Rasputina was also in Koa's apartment, which means there's tons of stuff she could find for a sympathetic link. Poor guy isn't likely to be escaping the blonde's notice any time soon.
"That's the one, yeah." Illyana confirms, nodding as to his question regarding the vial. "Someone showed up through the portal too. And they always seem to recognize me." She says with a tone that's part amused, part annoyed. "I'd guess one of Plokta's leuitenants, given the magical oomph he had. Not sure what their aim was there but they were flooding the area with minions."
While Illyana is clearly talking to Koa, her attention seems to be on the food.Because she's hungry, and buying her own food isn't usually easily done.
As the anonymous, self proclaimed saint entered the park, she closed the eyes, just watching for what some might call cyberspace. Just the reperesentations of data going in and out of devices. Where was that person that had gotten the mail… A moment she seemed to ponder, then she sent a generic canned-meat mail to the mail adress the christmas tree had went to. Just to follow where it would bounce…
Opening her eyes again, she smiled as she moved into the direction of the phone she pinpointed… and the people that after a moment of evaluation really looked like official and trouble. And then she stepped up to them, clearing her throat. "Those kids… you know that JJJ's best frenemy is after them, and that he got the Chiroptera hominem involved, do you?"
Koa picks up his phone to send a text to someone who needs to know about this. It says 'Two more, both mutants. Am at Battery Park. Get me a pretzel. Will pay you back.' And Send. There. Hopefully she's nearby.
The Agent takes the vial and empties it and gets out a small pendulum on a chain. As the Self Proclaimed Saint is approaching she'll see him draw on the table with it. It leaves glowing marks. A circle, then a bunch of markings on the outside. Illyana will recognize it as the makings of ward.
When Roe talks Koa starts slightly and looks up. "JJJ… Spiderman. And… Batman. Chiroptera Hominem. No I hadn't realized that they were involved. And you are? I'm Agent Turner…"
He doesn't introduce Illyana because, well names have power in his world and it's not his place to give away hers.
"Hungry there?" That IS to Illyana. "You ARE after all a little fameous on your end of the block. Not every day someone dethrones a splinter Lord after all." Especially not someone like Belasco. "I don't suppose he was polite enough to give his name?"
Illyana Rasputina looks over at Roe, pausing in her chewing and just blinks at her words. A glance goes over to Koa as he seems to know what she's talking about. Someone doesn't read the news. Or social media. She swallows her food. Well, Koa's food. "There's a chiropractor involved?"
Perhaps predictably, the blonde doesn't introduce herself. As to the name of the guy that came out of the portal? "Well, it might be Dark. Or he might have just been announcing his attack like a good anime villain. 'Feel the power of Dark!'" Illyana says, imitating Darque's pompous manner, compete with gestures.
"And yes, I'm hungry. If you lived off of what you can find to eat in Limbo you'd be hungry too."
Koa must be confident that Keiko will be able to open the message and read it. Honestly, that's a 50/50 chance at the moment. He will also have noticed that any tracking he had installed on her phone had gone dead about twenty four hours ago or slightly more.
A pretzel. She's not UBEREATS, she's a handywoman!
Still, it's sometime after that text goes that a woman on a push bike shows up. "Agent Turner, here's the pretzel you ordered. I hope you tip well." Her tone is droll. "And Miss Rasputina is here as well. If you'd told me, I would have bought a dozen for you."
Jane gets a nod and slightly apologetic smile.
"Just call me a concearned citizen for the records. Or trustful contact. But if you need a name, how about we use something generic…" A little wince runs over the woman's face before she nods. "Let's take Jane. Ain't a Karen, so much's sure. Ain't CB either, so, yea, Jane. And no, there's no Chiropractor involved. A Chiroptera hominem, a Human bat."
She doesn't sit down as she sticks her hands into the pockets and then stretches her arms a little, then pulls them out with a shrug again. "Development limbo ain't better than production hell I guess. You know, getting passed on between teams."
When the delivery arrives, she nods a little to delivery girl in return, once more stretching the arms. "You know, SM said that they were organized in some sort and upping the ante."
Koa quirks his brow and takes the pretzel. He offers a bill to Keiko which is more than she would have spent. "Thanks. No, she's good. She's got chinese." His lunch to be specific but he doesn't quite say that.
The Agent gestures for Keiko to have a seat if she likes.
"Did you know that Batman and Spiderman have been tracking children?" He asks Keiko. She well might, but Koa hasn't quite been up on some of that.
"Well, hello Concerned Citizen. Jane then. Yes. They're a cult. Keiko has some experience with them. And this is apparently a big change for them from what she's told me."
Another couple of symbols and black… motes start coming out of those mindless shards. Koa frowns and watches them. Then reaches out and touches one to absorb it.
His eyes go completely black for a moment.
"Woah… owwwwwwwww…"
Illyana Rasputina waves the fork at Keiko by way of hello and nods as Koa says she's good. "I like the thought though, but if you're going to give me offerings, I'm partial to ice cream."
'Jane' gets squinted at by Illyana as she chews slowly and as she's contemplating complaining that Jane can't just speak plainly, Koa absorbs the shard of mindless corpse and his eyes to dark. "You should have just stuck with the pretzel." She advises.
Keiko looks at the bill that Koa offers, considering whether she'll take it. Yeah, she will, it will give her food for a few nights if nothing else.
"I'm not making offerings, Miss Rasputina." Keiko says carefully, sliding into a chair as far as she can get from Illyana.
At the mention of Batman, the womans face goes flat "Yes. He got me a bad YELP review, yesterday."
"Don't do that …" her hand snakes out as Koa absorbs the essence, too late to stop him.
"Ain't a pro on magic, but I put my bets on Rasputina there. I mean if you have anything in common with your namesake. After all they had to slip the old guy cyanide laced cake, cyanide infused wine and shot into chest and forehead only to drown under the ice of the river he was tossed into. Anyway, that stuff ain't looking healthy and puts some creed behind the spandex clad kiddo. Magic is indeed involved."
Jane clears her throat a moment, then tucks her hands back into the pockets. "The two might even have have exchanged some item or two, not sure what exactly. But the thing is an information cloud getting clearer as time goes on. JJJ might be a lunatic, but at least in the Feeman case he seems to pinpoint to the right person, even if he sees the wrong pattern apparently."
Koa shakes himself and looks at Keiko apologetically. "Sorry. I should have figured that better. That's the magic you've got in you?" In her tattoos? That can't be good for her. He's pretty sure that it's sure as hell not good for him and he's got a massive headache.
He looks at Illyana. "There were lots of these things through portals? And a mage… commanding them I suppose."
Koa pitches forward and rests his head on his hands, palms rubbing his eyes. "Ow. Namesake? Oh Grigori Rasputin…"
He shakes himself and eyes Illyana before looking at Keiko. "Batman got you a bad yelp review?"
Illyana Rasputina gives a huff of amusement over at the Saint. "Oh, yes. Much magic." She agrees, but doesn't comment on Grigori. She's familiar with the Mad Monk, something she learned during her High School years at Xavier's, and she plays off the shared surname but she finds leaving it a mystery works better for her.
The blonde sorceress gives Koa a nod. "Lots of things coming out of the portals. Lumpy with a single eye. The big guy, he drug the humans in after him when they ran back through it. There were a couple of creatures too. An unnaturally large eagle and a hippogriff. Like, a really big one."
"In a way, yes." Keiko's accent is a mutts. Nothing distinguishable in there. "Grigori? Is that your brother?" That's to Illyana. "Wait, did you say … Darque?"
"Batman tracked me down to a job yesterday. He wanted answers. Turned the guys surveillance system off. He freaked out and tanked my ratings. But yeah, Batman is looking into the missing kids."
All Jane does is nodding for a moment, mainly to Keiko. But then she shrugs again. "Well, that's pretty much all I know for now, but I guess it couldn't hurt to ring up the Chiroptera and the Arachnae. While the latter one spilled info without needing to ask, they sure know more."
"It's not exactly like I have phone numbers for either one of them, you know." Koa says wryly. "Maybe Keiko has one since the Batman is getting her bad yelp reviews. Certainly if someone had gotten me one, I'd want a callback number."
Koa takes a deep breath and lets it out. Ah yes. That Rasputin. He remembers from… wikipedia.
"That DOES sound like what I've read of the mindless." He notes to Illyana. "They're tough but not terribly bright. More worrying is the fact that if they're around, it's pretty sure that a fairly nasty magos is around too…" She mentioned one. Dark. Or… wait. Keiko seems to know.
"You know who that might be?" Beat. "And what is it you'd like us to do with you, concerned citizen Jane?"
Illyana Rasputina has mostly finished Koa's lunch, setting the fork aside and pushing the container away from her enough that she can cross her arms on the table top. "Don't you people have the internet or something so you can coordinate information?" The blonde looks between the three of them, since technology does not love her. "You make with the button pushing and everyone knows each other and whatnot?"
Keiko looks at Jane in a confused sort of manner "Ring … who?" A spider? Perhaps. Maybe it's just the language barrier.
No, she doesn't have the numbers and she's no idea who's being spoken of.
"The Mindless are Plokta's personal minions. Only the best of our … the Nightfalls … mages can command them. If Darque was here, then things are definitely not good."
"What did Darque try?" That's to Illyana. The tattooed woman rubs her forehead. Koas asked a good question of Jane.
"Lady, I *am* the internet." Jane claimed towards Illyana, smiling widely. "But you got to type mails or set up a wiki to share information. Know what? I might make you a mailing list. Just needs a witty name…"
She rolls her eyes a little. "Chiroptera as in winged, blind mammal. I just hope that you don't mean the greek metal band. I mean, their music isn't my type really, but would be a shame."
"Well no we don't have buttons that just say mail all the important people…" Koa starts and then Jane starts talking. "Well okay, unless she's here apparently."
Some kind of internet spirit? Koa briefly entertains that but then dismisses it. Everyone knows the internet doesn't have a spirit. Or a soul.
Koa takes a deep breath and let it go, shaking his head. There's still a little black around the pupils but that's fading away.
Koa does focus his attention on Illyana though when Keiko asks her that question. What did Darque do? No he doesn't hear the spelling, all he hears is 'Dark'. He'll probably have to get help with that later when he goes into his files.
"You think we should contact them though if we find a way."
He glances at Keiko. They need to talk after this.
"It was a bit odd." Illyana observes, thinking back to the encounter at the pier. "It wasn't an offensive spell like I'd expect. It was like he was trying to suck the life right out of me and another sorcerer that was on the scene. Sticking around would have undoubtedly been bad."
When Saint says she's the internet, Illyana gestures to the other woman. "Then make it happen, technomancer. Sounds like others have pieces that Mr. Agent might find useful." Illyana herself certainly doesn't want to have to talk to these people!
"Darque isn't stupid…" Keiko mutters, peering at Jane in utter confusion. She's the Internet? Then Illyana gives the woman that label. Something Keiko has heard of, but never seen.
"Why would we want to call a winged, blind mammal?" So much of what the woman says is over Keiko's head.
"… Darque. If he came through, he wasn't expecting the resistance he received. He doesn't fight unless the ground is stacked in his favour." She shakes her head "He knows who you are though, Miss Rasputina. Be assured Plokta will too. I doubt they'll attack you directly but they'll find a way."
"It ain't that easy Rasputina. I can't share info I don't have, so I listen and I do share what I know. So Darque, huh? If SM calls I can get him in touch with you possibly. He knows the Captains America and Marvel, if you want those on board… I got their numbers. I doubt you want to call a certified madman though."
JAne chuckles a little as Illyanna terms her a technomancer. "That might be an equal good term, but I'd prefer the name of Shirow Masamune's most famous work, if you want. It's not magic."
"Girl, you need to brush up your biology. Bats are blind winged mammals. But this darque sounds like he's more a trickster or mastermind than a brute from what you told."
"Sure. You can give him my office number. Which is just, you know, the SHIELD line." It'll get through to him. How it gets through to him is something best not examined too closely.
"Keiko didn't have a traditional education…" Koa mutters. He's not sure what kind of education she DID have but it wasn't traditional that's for damn sure.
"Tried to suck the life out of you?" Koa frowns. "That's… like, the only thing I can even think of to do that with is a really NASTY form of necromancy. You shut him down I take it?" He's seen Illyana's staff in operation. He imagines it's handy when someone tries to pull something like that.
"Sounds like you and me are going to the stacks, Keiko. We'll have to see what we have on this Darque and you can add to it what we're missing. And I'm sure we're missign things."
He looks at the blonde and the Concerned Citizen. "Don't suppose either of you two want to come add your prodigious knowledge to our files?"
Illyana Rasputina hitches her shoulder in a bit of a shrug as Keiko observes that Darque knows who she is. "Plokta's unlikely to try to take me in Limbo. Here? Yeah. But not there. Just like I wouldn't try to go toe-to-toe with him on his own turf."
Jane's preference of moniker just has Illyana squinting at her a bit. While Illyana crammed a lot of learning into her 4 years on Earth for High School, apparently Shirow Masamune didn't come up in it. She leans over to Keiko and stage-whispers. "I don't get half of what she's talking about either. I'm just gonna let Mr. Agent figure it out and fill me in later.
As to Darque's attack, Illyana shakes her head. "I need a spell to disrupt and this… was something else. I just ducked out though. It can't follow me to Limbo. When I disrupted the portal, he quit with the life-sucking and ran." She pointedly doesn't answer joining in on the research party.
"Why would we want to call a ba——" The realisation dawns on Keiko's face as she *finally* puts two and two together. "Oh. The goddamn Batman." She'd heard him called that at some point, clearly. "He found me once, maybe … " no, she won't act as bait "… Conner could find him…" If they didn't want to call him.
There's a perverse pleasure in that thought. Pay him back for the bad YELP review.
"You want to be called Shirow Masamunes Masterwork? That's a mouthful." beat "the only biology that was considered important, were the weak points on a human to bring them down."
Illyana's unexpected show of solidarity has Keiko off balance for a moment. "He won't come for you directly, Miss Rasputina. I … don't know what he'll do." She has to think on it.
"Agent Turner, please don't ingest anymore essence from Plokta's minions. You won't like the effects they can have."
"Stop talking about traditional education when you are around people not normal at all. But I got to decline the payroll offer. Not my style. I am in this because kids are involved. Tomorrow I could dig through your employer's database and tear them a new one for spying on Mutanttown." Jane answered with a chuckle.
A moment Jane eyes Keiko and Illyana, then sighs. "Shirow Masamune? The guy who drew Appleseed and then expanded upon it in 1989 by starting the Kokaku Kidotai franchise, or as it is better known, Ghost in the Shell?"
"Well, just for the record, what would be the averse effects of ingestion or prolonged contact with that stuff? Just so he can't say he wasn't warned."
Koa looks between them as anime is invoked. He doesn't get it. But then Anime was never really his thing so he just shakes his head and stands.
"Mostly I was offering to let you volunteer to help me update my files." The Agent grins. "It's not a great gig but you know there's a sandwich in it sometimes." He waves his hand.
"Not that I expected to be taken up on it. Still. I figured I'd ask."
Illyana he didn't think would come there either. And honestly that's probably a good thing because once she'd been inside the WAND offices he's not honestly sure anything could stop her from getting back in. And to be perfectly frank… he's not sure anything stops her from getting in NOW.
"We'll this is all interesting and horrifying…" The horrifying is in the form of what he's scooping back into that vial.
"Ingestion of what now? If you meant the magic it tastes awful and it's giving me a splitting headache and I'm fairly sure it's gonna go to my thighs." Well, not his thighs. His soul possibly if he ate enough of it.
"Miss Rasputina I need to see you later too. About more kids. Ones you might be particularly interested in."
"Thank you for the heads up Miss Jane. I'll look forward to hearing from you again possibly? Shall we Keiko?"
Illyana Rasputina just shrugs over to Keiko when Jane explains it. She's certainly clueless, and in this she doesn't mind admitting to the fact.
When Koa says he needs to see her later, Illyana's eyes glint with a dark sort of mischief as her lips curl into a smirk. "Well then. I'll make sure to drop in on you."
With that, a stepping disk appears beneath her and just like that, the blonde sorceress is gone.
"I'll keep you updated." Jane says with a smirk, closing the eyes a short moment to swipe the cellphone numbers of those still around. Just to keep them in touch while they leave.
.~{:--------------:}~.