Summary:More large scarabs cause problems in the Subway. Bethany Taft of Rahm-Tek checks in. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Times Square is ordinarily a crowded place at most hours of the day but today, well, there'd been a little bit of a problem.
Scarab's specifically. There'd been a number of truck sized beetles that had just come out of the subway and started wreaking havoc. Not attacking people, which was good otherwise there would have been, serious casualties, but still running around like headless chickens, slamming into cars, scaring folks and generally being a menace. Getting them under control had been something of an undertaking which is why Koa is here now.
And why Times Square is blocked off by police cars.
At the moment Agent Turner is taking a drink (of water) near the edge of the yellow tape and eyeing the piles of sandy goop not far away.
"Sir. We found one of these broken in the subway." One of the nearby WAND agents says coming up to him and handing him a what looks like a small mechanical scarab. It is most defintiely broken.
Jerry was one of those touristy folks visiting Times Square when the mayhem began. He'd heard things were a little weird in New York City, but he hadn't really anticipated giant insects. Creepy crawlies were one thing when they were little and, well, creepy, but giant-sized somehow makes them less.. ick, and more 'something I can punch', which is right up Jerry's alley. It's good that they're seemingly not specifically out to attack people, but the chaos of it all is still a danger to the bystanders, and Jerry will immediately do what he can to keep people from getting hurt; launching himself in front of a wayward beetle to keep it from barreling over a family. He can probably take the hit, while they'd be squished like.. well, a bug.
Not far from where Koa is, there's a dark haired woman cursing over the mangled mess the front wheel of her pushbike has become. Judging by the looks she's throwing Koa, Keiko Kurita might be blaming him for all this.
At her feet, a glowing wolf - easily twice the size of a normal one - lays. In its jaws the remnants of one of those mechanical monstrosities. "Bella, take that to Agent Turner. I'm sure he can use it."
The wolf gets up and pads towards the Agent, sitting at his feet when she reaches him. Offering in jaw.
…truck sized beetles?
Well, that sounds horrible. That's also the kind of thing that really would get Eve to show up once the word hits. She has a feeling it has to be connected to the magical mumbo jumbo going on and that's more or less confirmed with Agent Koa ont he scene. Hey, she's behind the lines, but he's still /there/ at the edge of the yellow tape and he's sure to see the blue haired goth on her approach.
Seems like she's dressed for Halloween, as always. "Yo," she calls to him. ANd then to Keiko too, a little wave.
As Jerry takes the hit, the bettle 'crunches'. And explodes into wet sand. That would have been bad if it had hit civillians but as it stands the only damage is to the shopfront near Jerry which suffers a cracked window from the sand explosion.
Koa winces when he hears it and glares in the direction it happened. "Agent Sanders I thought we got the last of those. Sweep the subway again and make sure we did."
A team of WAND agents scurries back down into the subway and Koa huffs before he leans down to take the scarab from Bella's jaws. "Good girl." He says to the wolf before calling out.
"Did we put in a call to Rahm-tek?"
"Yes sir." One of the agents calls back.
Koa shakes his head and draws his eyes up when Eve calls out. "Company Keiko. Hello Eve. Come down to view all the weirdness?" He holds up one of the two scarabs in his hand. "It hasn't gotten any less weird. Were you in the area when it happened? Any of the beetles try to chew on you? They did a number on Keiko's bike."
Bella actually wags her tail at Koa which elicits a hiss from Keiko "Bella, you traitor…" The spirit wolf, for that's what it is, lays down at the Agents feet and puts her head on her paws - pointedly ignoring the woman she is bound to.
Keiko finally joins Koa at the tape, carrying her bike and resting it against the side of his truck. "Agent Turner are you corrupting my wolf?" she turns to look as Eve hails them "Hello Eve, are you unharmed? As Agent Turner says, my bike is a bit of a mess."
"What? Oh, no. I just heard about giant beetles and figured it was some magic wrongness. Seems like I wasn't wrong about that part, either." She looks down at the wolf.
"…who's a good giant wolf critter? If only I had a treat for you," she offers, baby-talking it.
Really.
"No you definitely weren't wrong." Koa tosses one of the mechanical beetles to Eve. These are smaller, only about the size of the palm of the hand. And they're not obviously magical. Not like the ones made of sand that were running around a few minutes ago.
"Let's face it Keiko, you just don't give Bella enough love." Koa smirks as he examines the beetle he still has.
"Ahem." That's a womans voice and it comes from behind Eve. She's dressed in a sharp pencil skirt and business attire. And she looks rather like Catherine Zeta Jones from Chicago. "Bethany Teft. Rahm-tek. You're people put in a call to us Agent Turner?" There's a short pause and she looks over first Eve and then Keiko. "My look at you two. I haven't seen that much concentrated darkness in a long time." Beat. "The blue hair totally sets it off though. The blue hair and the spirit wolf. Nice accessorizing for inner darkness, both of you."
Keiko scowls at Koa and then at the wolf. "Do you want me to send her looking for more?" Is all she says. The bonding between her and her spirit animals is … interesting … and no one present really knows the details of it.
Bella's tail wags as Eve talks to her but her head remains on her paws as she looks up at Koa.
The arrival of Velma, the character Zeta-Jones played, has Keiko looking and shrinking back at the observations made. "I … don't know what you mean."
"…"
Eve just sort of turns and peers quizically at her. She's not exactly fond of this sort of thing happening… and it happens ALL THE TIME.
"Why, hello there. Nice to meet you, person who obviously knows way more about me than I know about them. Also, I'm not at all dark. Just drawn that way. So to speak." She sghives a shrug of her shoulders. "CAn I boop the woolf?" she asks Keiko, innocentlky.
The woman smiles. Bethany Teft, mmm. Koa quirks a brow and holds up the scarab. "This has your company's mark on it."
The woman smiles. "So it does. I imagine you're all kinds of curious about that. I'm all kinds of cuious about these two fine young women you were talking to when I arrived. Perhaps we can satisfy our mutual curiosity? I'll go first…"
She moves up the sidewalk to get a better look at both Keiko and Eve. Her movements are fluid. Almost feline.
"Mmmmm. I can almost smell it. So tell me. What does a creation of the Elder Ones and a Servant of the Mindful one both have in common that they should both be here working with a sea child?"
Koa looks annoyed. That's not how this usually works but he can see - and the others may sense - that there is something not entirely normal about this rather well dressed woman. So rather than TELLING her that's not how this works he just lets her ask. If she's true to her word she'll answer questions next.
Bella stands up as Bethany approaches, putting herself firmly in front of Keiko, lips pulled back. She's silent though, this is the first warning. Stay away from my human - a rather telling act, actually.
Servant of the Mindful One. Keiko hisses again. She doesn't want to answer, not really but Koa needs the answers. "He has contracted as a 'local arcanist'." is all she says. It's a dodge.
"Sea child?" That's to Koa. Keiko's seen his astral form, but it hasn't quite clicked.
Eve gets a slight shake of her head. "Not yet. You might not get your hand back."
"Eh. I'm no one's 'child'," remarks Eve, casually.
"And I just heard 'beetles' and came running. What can I say? I like to help people, you know?" A shrug follows here, though she does look sad she can not boop the wolf. Who can blame her? Wolves were made for booping, right?
"Mmmmm, no. I didn't say child. I said spawn…"
"Alright my turn. Are these your devices." Koa sighs. He glances to Keiko but shakes his head. Later.
"No, we don't make anything like those for sale. Or, not for sale."
This is going to be a game of back and forth. Bethany doesn't get any closer to the wolf. But she does get somewhat closer to Eve. "It's interesting isn't it? They say like calls to like. Sort of a coincidnece then that you're standing on a symbol of darkness right now, isn't it?"
If anyone looks down… she is. There's something that's been carved into the concrete, very intricately. Easy to miss when you're paying attention to big beetles or glowing wolves. But it's about the size of a dinner plate and it's got iconography that looks very… well… Elder-God's ish. And all of that is surrounding a moon, eclipsing a sun.
Keiko frowns at the word that Bethany gives, there's something about the clarification that she gives. "Do you know who makes them then?" Licencing is a thing - not that the tattooed woman knows that's what it's called. "It has your marking on it, after all."
Not quite an accusation but damn, it's close.
"Like can just an often repel like, too." Keiko adds to the Zeta-Jones lookalikes comment before looking at Koa and Eve "I saw that on a science show on TV once."
The symbol though has Keiko growling. Which sets Bella off as well. "Why would someone desecrate Lord Plokta's symbol to the Nightfall like that…"
"Right, sure, and I'm a…" Eve looks down. Slowly.
"OH COME ON," she says, loudly, before casually trying to st ep off the darn elder-goddish symbol in the first place and looking deeply flustered by that. Stupid rules of metaphysics that she really hates! "Stupid…" A hand goes to her face but she peeks down at it between her fingers.
"Why would it have to be a desecration? You know at the end of the Wars of Roses in England the king and queen finally combined the symbol of the white rose and that of the red rose into one symbol. The Tudor Rose. Why would it not be a symbol of alliance, rather than corruption?"
Koa quirks a brow and looks at that Symbol. Those are all very good questions. The iconography doesn't mean much to him. Not yet. He'll have to research. But Eve… well… it's going to look DAMN familiar. And it… resonates with a part of her.
"Do you know who is making these?" He finally repeats.
"Can't say that I do, Agent… Turner is it? It's certainly got our mark on it which suggests that WE made it. But if it wasn't authorized, and it isn't, that suggests… some manner of foul play. I might need you to come down to the office so we can clear that up. I'd certainly like to know if one of my employees is doing something they ought not."
'Velma' glances back to the two women. "Yes. Plokta. The Mindful One. But then you know him don't you. As you, Miss…" That's to Eve. "Know the other half of that puzzle."
Jerry has dusted himself off, and taken rather the long way around to figuring out who was to blame for his interrupted sight-seeing. "You made these things?" Comes his deep voice as he approaches the agents and Bethany. Yes, he understands it wasn't -her- specifically, but she's gonna get judged by the company she keeps. "Fought off a lot of assholes in my life, but none of them had six legs and pincers," he mutters. He'd been here before the clean-up crew arrived, doing his best to keep people safe amidst the chaos of the beetles' appearance, and damnit, it kind of ruined his weekend. "What does helping clean up your little mess here pay?" Hey, dude's gotta eat.
Keiko has a very interesting education. "They fought over a war over roses?" She asks as she looks. "You think that is a symbol of alliance?" Can Eve step out from it? She probably can.
"Agent Turner …" the tattooed woman hands her phone "Would you take a photo of that … I want to … study it." Can she work it out? Unlikely but she can try.
"That's the symbol for the Nightfall, Miss. Not Plokta directly." She corrects. But is it? Is it really?
"It's something, anyway," mutters Eve.
Yes, she looks perhaps a trifle paler than usual. "I don't know what it means but it's definitely tied to, you know, things that are like me in some ways." She definitely adds that for Koa's benefit. He read her file, after all. "I can't really say much else." Or at least won't. Here. In front of weird-lady. An eyeballing of Weird Lady, yes. That's not Keiko. Just so evberyone's clear. Or her, for that matter.
"We've got a citizens reward program for people who can give us a hand with thise things. I can definitely fork over a few thousand from it for your help." Koa extends his hand to Jerry. "Agent Koa Turner. I don't think I caught your name. Pardon the mumbo-jumbo talk here. Magic gets a bit weird sometimes."
Yes he did say that with a straight face.
Bethany also smiles at Jerry. "Made them? Well no, or at least not on purpose. It DOES appear like they were made with our parts though which raises the possibility that someone is doing something off books."
Keiko's question gets a nod and Koa retrieves his phone to take a couple pictures. He'll send them to Keiko… who hopefully knows how to look at them. Tech isn't her strong suit.
"You know I think I might be able to help untangle that mystery…" Weird lady walks two fingers over Eve's shoulder before flicking her hand and presto, business card. "If you want to stop by the office also. I do so love people who know how to accessorize darkness, and I adore a good mystery."
Koa sighs. This woman is incourageable. So rather than answer her he answers Keiko.
"Two noble houses with roses for symbols. Big long bloody thing back five hundred years ago or so. Whether THIS is a symbol of alliance though… well it might be. It doesn't look like any of the symbols are defaced. And if Eve says it's tied to her end of the block that's bad news."
Keiko looks at Jerry as he arrives, giving him a nod. Bella though, the glowing wolf that's standing in front of her - it's enormous - lets out a low growl and starts to turn into blue smoke. Smoke that finds it way to Keiko's arm and sinks in.
Wait. Had she dismissed it? She … hadn't.
She looks at the business card that's handed to Eve and then back to Koa "I …don't like this… not at all. This is about more than just finding children …"
A few thousand? Jerry almost chokes, but takes Turner's hand, firmly grasping it for a moment. "Name's Jerry," he says, trying to sound as stoic as he can manage considering he's still having trouble swallowing the 'thousand' part of the answer to his question. Clearly not an amount of money he's had his hands on with any frequency. "If you're paying that kind of money, you can point me at whatever other bugs you need squashed," he offers to the agents, before giving Bethany a nod to acknowledge her answer. "Sounds like some freak-o kind of company you work for there, Ma'am," he says. "No offense."
So, Eve eyes Jerry a moment. Just eyes him. She's never seen him before, but hey, he seems like he can handle himself. She nods approvingly. Then she accepts the business car and tuckets it away in her pocket before making a face.
"Yeah, well. I got no idea. I'll need to dwell on things, I guess, that I don't normally like to dwell on." She eyes that symbol that she /was/ standing on a moment ago with textbook disdain written all over her features. No, seriously. If you were to look up the dictionary definition, Eve's expression would be the picture right there.
"Ugh," she announces.
Koa chuckles. "I mean you were risking life and limb doing it, so it's the least we can do." And hey he didn't smash up any property directly so he's a lot better than some locals Koa has worked with.
"IIf you want more work like that and you're willing to travel though…" Koa hrms. SHIELD uses outside 'assets' sometimes. In fact Eve had offered to be one in a strictly limited capacity, to help recover missing kids. And if Jerry is willing to under take some risk and sign some paperwork…
Koa produces his own business card and gives it to Jerry. "Give me a call later if you're interested. The work's kind of dangerous but WAND definitely likes to take care of folks willing to back us up when things go bump in the night. We're stretched pretty thin."
Bethany grins wider at Jerry's comment. It's an almost… feline grin. "Oh you have NO idea Mister. NO idea at all." She gives everone that finger wiggly wave. "If that's all, I'll look forward to hearing from some of you. Ciao."
And then she's headed back toward the subway, from whence she came.
Koa sighs and nods to Keiko. "Yeah this goes beyond missing kids now. I will bet you anything you care to bet that the symbol has some POWER running through it now. And that it won't just 'come out' of the concrete. I'd be surprised if we could even demolish the whole slab."
"You pay people?" Keiko's just catching on to this as she peers at Koa and Jerry. She hadn't considered that SHIELD might.
She peers back down at the symbol though, frowning. "Get someone to sample the ink, paint, whatever that was used to make it." She doesn't say more on that, at least not yet. "If you don't need me for anything more, Agent Turner, I need to get my bike to the shop to be fixed. Those scarabs were quite solid … " beat "Eve you're going to be ok, right?"
Jerry takes the card and nods again, turning it over a couple times to read it. "I'll take whatever work I can get," he says in reply. Is he really all that keen to be working for a big government agency? Not really, but then beggars can't be choosers. Money is money. And that means he'll have probably have to get a cell phone. His train of thought is interrupted at Bethany's remark, which just makes him more confused. Life was strange enough before the revelation of magic, big bugs, and a company that makes them. "So.. cash?" He looks between the agents, and at Eve, who he doesn't understand, but seems to be in the middle of things just as much as anyone.
"…oi, yeah. I'll be all right, I'm sure," says Eve, eyeing that symbol with a lot less than a happy look on her face. She shrugs her shoulders, then steps back again. Just wanting to put some extra distance there, right? Bethany is still being observed. She seems… uncomfortable with her.
Very.
She watches her retreat until she's gone entirely.
"So who exactly was that?" she asks.
"Bethany Teft of Rahm-tek, or that's who she claimed to be. Who she actually was…" Koa shakes his head but he seems equally suspicious. "I do not know. Keep both eyes open if you go to see her, though."
Koa takes a breath. "I can give you a lift. We'll cover your bike, Keiko. And yes. We pay. Why do you think I asked for your bank account when I was getting you registered?"
As for Jerry's question, there's a grin. "Company check, don't tend to carry that much cash. Not like any bank is going to reject a SHIELD check thoguh. Come on, we'll head to my truck and I'll get you set up." Koa waves to Eve and motions for the other two to follow. And with that… off he goes.