Summary:Banshees and Ghosts and the sense of evil permeate a cemetery on Staten Island. It awakens a … gargoyle? Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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One of the more chilling revelations about the Nightfall in recent weeks is that they have very powerful agents capable of using extremely potent necromancy and in a city as old as New York that makes every cemetery in the five boroughs a potential liability. It is simply impossible to guard them all twenty four seven, so WAND had set up rotating sweeps to keep at least an occasionally regular eye on them.
One of those sweeps turned up some bad news in Staten Island.
It's the dead of night, which probably means that people have been woken up for this. Koa had been on duty when the report came in, so he'd sent a message to Keiko Kurita to meet him at the Resurrection Cemetary in Staten Island, grabbed or messaged anyone who was available and headed out.
When he arrives he can see why the report was flagged urgent. The air is thick with necromantic energy, enough that some of the weaker spirits are manifesting and probably scaring the locals which may attract other (cough, vigilante) attention. Nothing bad enough to hurt anyone. Yet. But something has clearly been festering here for a couple of days.
Except… for in one spot. One spot where Koa is standing now, in front of a statue of a kneeling woman near the center of the cemetary that appears, for some reason, to project a bubble of… sanctity from it. Seriously. The creepies won't get within a hundred yards of this thing.
"So… okay… huh." Koa mutters, checking his phone and waiting for others to arrive.
Keiko hadn't responded well to Koas request. She not only has a job that starts early tomorrow, she has to take the tube and then bike the rest of the way. At least she's not worrying about getting too lost.
When she arrives, she gives Koa the flattest of looks as she sets bike against the fence, adjusts her backpack and rubs her arms.
"There's a lot going on here." She finally says to the Agent, in that mixed up accent of hers.
In the weeks since she arrived in the city, Sarah Black has been touring around the metro area whenever she's had the time. There's a method to her seeming madness. (Hey, anyone apparently trying to ride every single subway line from end to end has to be a little crazy, right?) She can travel around via magical portals — but only to places she's already been. And so she's been picking out reasonably discreet arrival points all around the five boroughs and beyond.
Tonight, it's paid off again, as an oval bordered by glowing magical geometry irises open in a recess between buildings about a block away, and Sarah steps out of it. She takes a moment to orient herself, then heads toward the cemetery.
There is no agent as eager for a fight as Ian, that's for sure. Middle of the night? Awesome. He was already dressed in his armor, because he might actually be in love with it. The younger agent arrives on a motorcycle, black helmet, all that tactical gear, and armed with two handguns, a sniper rifle, a semi-automatic rifle, and two grenades. Assorted ammo is held in various pouches. Needless to say…he looks like he's ready for a war. He nods to Koa as he approaches, then reports "Agent Ian. Ayam up for deh keeling of the undead. Ayam preepeared, ya?" He griinnnns and pats the semi-automatic. The Russian accent is fairly thick.
There was no magical gifts nor arcane knowledge that had Dinah Lance heading anywhere. At least, nothing that she knew of! Simple the late hours of a gig and then the perfect hours to go on 'patrol'. It did mean she had to sleep throughout the day more often, but someone else out there could handle the 'broad daylight'.
No magical portals to her, only her motorcycle to get around! Startled civillians and 'bad vibes' had been enough for Dinah to head that way…but she still had no idea what the heck was going on.
So far, aside from giving off a distinct aura of sanctity, the statue isn't doing anything. It seems unaware of the people gathering and it just looks like a statue of a woman kneeling. At prayer perhaps. Her eyes are closed, her hands clasped together in her lap. The folds and curves of perhaps a linen shift can be made out dressing her. Aside from being exceptionally well carved there isn't anything unusual at all about it.
One might even think it's just coincedental that this pocket of peacefulness surrounds it. Still, nothing dark and undeadly has approached it. There are clear tracks that anything that did come close clearly skittered quickly away.
"Agent Ian. Agent Black, I presume? I'm Agent Turner" Agent Ian introduced himself but Koa has only heard of Sarah Black by reptuation. Still, that's probably her. He hasn't spotted the woman who calls herself Canary but then… he's not looking for her. Why would he?
"This is Keiko Kurita, my informant on all things Nightfall. Keiko does this look like anything the cult necromancers might have done?"
Just as he's asking that there's a HORRIFIC screech just outside that bubble. For one moment there is what looks to be a pair of large, emeciated women in tattered dresses floating, clawing at something that won't let them get close. They're real enough to be solid for a moment and then they're gone.
Koa takes a step back, surprised. "Okay, this is getting out of hand. Something has to be anchoring the necromancy to the area…" And it's reaching 'critical mass' too. If they don't find what it is soon they're going to have a small scale zombie apocalypse on their hands.
Around them the necromantic energies seem to intensify. Idly Koa wonders if Ian's bullets work on banshees. Looks like they're going to find out in a moment.
In contrast to Ian, Sarah is rather decidedly not dressed in tactical gear, or carrying visible weapons. She's wearing civilian clothes, a 3/4-sleeve black pullover and a pair of faded jeans, accessorized stylishly, though not at all ostentatiously. Black suede ankle boots with chunky two-inch heels and a waist-length black leather jacket complete the ensemble.
The London accent is unmistakable as she asks, "What's all this, then?" She pulls her ID out of her jacket pocket and flashes it to those she hasn't already met. "Agent Sarah Black," she offers — just before the screeching and the apparitions that go with it. "…Bloody hell!"
Keiko turns to survey the area, slowly rolling the sleeves to her shirt up. By the time Ian and Sarah arrive, they'll see the tattoos that cover her flesh. The incredibly life like creatures marked there, seem to look back at the viewers. "Keiko Kurita …" she says again, quietly, shaking hands as they're offered, finally shaking her head at Koa.
"It doesn't, no. Several mages would have to link to bring about this. It might feel a little familiar though …" As the Banshee screams, Keiko cringes. "We're looking for something that has been enchanted, yes?" That's to Koa.
With an unintelligible phrase, she touches the tarantula marked at her wrist, within minutes, a glowing enormous spider appears at her feet. "Arananet can go look…"
Ian looks up at the protective statue, then down at the skittery signs that there's something about the statue the bad things don't like. "Ahink da statue may be keeping it away though. I can geet a closer look around." Then Ian turns and climbs his way onto the statue's pedestal, and tries to find a higher vantage from there where he can look through his sniper rifle's scope to see further into the danger zone without actually being in danger.
Alright…that was a little weird. That unholy screech was loud, unsettling and…not from her. With the rumble of her bike, the others may well have noticed her roll up. But her reaction to spotting those creatures was thankfully hidden by her helmet until she pulls it from her head and sets it on the seat.
"What in the hell was that?"
Slinging her leg over her bike to stand, the heroine looked rather far from 'tactical' herself. Leather jacket, armored corset and practically bared legs? She was a far cry from military while her eyes sweep over the gathering of people. "And what the hell is going on here?"
In the end it wasn't the talking or the roar of motor cycles or even the cursing that woke her. It was the ungodly screaching of those that should be dead and gone. Here, in her place of rest where she is trying to finish the long healing sleep. A soft crackling, then crunching crumble sounds as everyone's attention is focused on the banshee-esque beings and then when they look back the lone statue is slowly, reaching for Ian to lift him up and look at him. "Little man. Move. Screeching undead wake Esme from her rest."
It has been long and long since she last woke it feels like. The damage her healing sleep had been working on seems gone but until the man is out of her way and she can test her wings, Esme isn't certain. She carefully sets Ian aside and then blinks around, noticing the others. "…" Perhaps she should not move so quickly just now. Standing may frighten them. Her last encounter with humanity did not go so well.
"Nice trick," Sarah comments, as Keiko brings her tattoo to seeming life. She starts to approach the statue, looking a bit… cautious of it? And then she winces slightly, frowning. "Naturally," she mutters to herself, as she changes direction to walk around it without getting any closer. She looks to Ian, who she's worked with before — her very first night on the job, actually — and is about to ask him something when the statue starts to move. She stares, taking a step back, hands coming up, ready to cast a defensive spell if it seems prudent.
"Halloween has come early." Koa explains to both Sarah and Dinah at the same time, as both have asked roughly the same question.
The spirit spider scuttles off and it doesn't take her very long to find something rather suspicious in one of the bushes. A violet crystal carved into the likeness of serpent with what appear to be egyptian carvings on it. And the symbol on the forehead of the serpent of a moon eclipsing the sun. That's it. Trouble is, it's about fifty yards away from the little group of SHIELD agents. Closer to Dinah than anyone else - who will ahve seen a big glowing spider go in there.
Koa turns when the statue moves, but it 'waking up' seems to have a more immediate problematic effect. The 'aura' that it had been projecting falters and when the two eight foot floating banshees appear again, there's nothing to stop them.
One zooms at Koa, rakes claws up his back and knocks him face first into the grass. The other turns and SCREAMS at Black Canary. A sound to chill the hearts of mortal men. But, well, is it EVER wise to get into a screeching match with the Canary?
"Bukavac!" Ian exclaims and his smallish eyes widen to a normal size when he's picked up. He winces, unable to cover his ears, but stays really still while he's being held by a giant statue. WHen he's set down, he dives for the ground and tries to roll over by Agent Black. "Uh…what's the target now?"
The spirit spider glows blue, the other colours that are etched on Keiko's arm bled out. As it scurries off, Keiko wavers a bit … "Is that statue moving, Agents?" She asks vaguely. "Or is my connection with Arananet causing me to see things again."
Arananet's legs close around the crystal that she finds and she starts to tug, trying to move it. "In the bush …" the tattooed woman gestures, caught off guard by the banshee that rushes Koa. "Oh no you don't… " A few more words are spoken … Bella will appear…. ahem … in just a moment.
"Loud." Esme comments though she doesn't seem disturbed by the noise. However watching Koa be knocked to the grass by a "screeching harpy!" as the statue woman calls it does seem to bother her. Large dark wings snap open from her back as the last of the stone coating covering her crumbles and the strange woman stretches, auburn hair falls down her back in a cascade.
She steps more lightly over Koa than a winged seven and a half foot tall greyskinned woman should be able to, and reaches for the Banshee. Her plan seems to involve trying to grab it and flying upwards. What she might do after that may be hard to guess but judging by her sturdy appearance might be simply dropping nearby to smash the undead creature into the earth. "Gargoyle! Esme is a Gargoyle!" She manages to murmur while trying to grasp the banshee which seems surprisingly hard to get ahold of.
Generally, Dinah was getting used to seeing 'weird' in the city. But the walking statue? That's a new one. Halloween has come early indeed! She opens her mouth to say more, but the banshees and that…spider thing appear. Holy crap. That scream that comes her way has Dinah bracing her face for a moment, more startled then harmed or seemingly frightened.
She'd been restrained of late, trying not to use her 'cry' on humans for fear of overdoing it. This thing didn't look human and fair was fair, right?
A breath, a smirk, Dinah steps forward and opens her mouth to release a steel-shattering scream of her own so intense the very air itself in her path seemed to ripple. It was a good thing she could direct that force, but that didn't mean it wasn't loud as hell!
To Sarah's eyes, the statue appeared to be… rather gentle with Ian, actually. The banshees, on the other hand…
"Go for the banshees! The screamers," she replies to Ian. "I think the statue is on our side!" And with that, she makes a flurry of precise gestures, while speaking a few quick words in some strange tongue. As she finishes, several curving planes of force, aglow with filigrees of mystic geometry, flare into being, mobile but hovering around her body protectively.
Ian's question gets rather answered for him when two more Banshees appear above he and Sarah. One reaches right for him, seemingly meaning to claw his face off. Sarah gets similar treatment. The haggard but remarkably solid looking spirit reaches to her with talons that look sharp enough to rend metal.
They're angry. And they're strong. But they might not be very bright. The mystic defenses Sarah conjures around herself confound the spirit and leave it open to counterattack.
Dinah's scream has visible effect. It rips chunks off the banshee that dissipate into a clear goo that splats in globs behind it. When the blonde woman's scream is finished, the rather ragged thing doesn't look like it could take another. And yet despite that… it just rushes at Dinah. Flying close over the ground with talons outstretched.
Esme finds herself the subject of a wicked raking of claws. The scrabble and scratch off her stone skin as she flies upward. What is she going to do with her prize though?
"Ow…" Koa says as he rolls over and picks himself up. "Keiko, cover me…" The grass around him just… dies and green motes of light fly into him from it. Then he takes off toward the bush she had indicated. The spirit that had attacekd him flies after, but to do so it has to get past Keiko and Bella…
Ian notes that banshees are all tangled up with people, and… also… god dammit its loud. He's putting on his helmet to help block the sound, and good thing, since that's when he hears one coming down from above. He drops to the ground on his back, aiming with a sidearm upwards. POW POW POW, rapid succession from the now totally black-clad agent. In Russian he says… some cursing.
Under the bush, Arananet struggles with the crystal. She's much stronger than the average tarantula but still the crystal is large enough to cause problems. Someone might need to help her in a moment — or maybe not.
Bella appears, a blue glowing embodiment of a grey wolf — a grey wolf that's easily twice the size of a normal one. She growls at the Banshee, planting herself in front of the tattooed woman and Koa, hackles up.
When the banshee flies, Bella leaps, massive jaws snapping for the spirits throat. Keiko shrugs her pack off, withdraws a short metal rod and shakes it out. Into a full length quarterstaff. A staff that she whips around to connect with the banshee as well.
Well crap. That thing was clearly not so happy with Dinah for trying to rip it apart. Could she fistfight that thing? She wasn't really all that keen to try and find out but she didn't really have that much of an option. When it comes towards her with claws outstretched she attempts to drop backwards, planting her boots into the thing's chest to try and create some space and hoping she wasn't about to phase right through it.
A quick glance down as she makes her way up into the sky is enough to tell Esme that her foe is not immune to physical damage. It is also clearly not human and thus not accorded any of the protections ingrained within her. She travels a short distance away from the group and then tucks her wings tight to her back and hurtles like a missile towards the earth. At the last seconds her wings snap open and propel her forward over the ground. Well, all except her hands and the unfortunate banshee that she was grasping in them. Those are drug solidly through the earth for a distance of about a half a mile before Esme shakes her hands free and rises to fly back to the others.
"Uck. Oh no. Oh uck uck uck." She makes soft noises of disgust as she lands again and kneels to wipe her hands in the grass. "Nasty nasty nas—" The gunfire seems to frighten her and Esme ducks even lower, putting her hands up to cover her ears and trying to figure out what to do now. So much is happening here and much of it things she has no context for. Humans in danger is easy enough to grasp. The gun, the abnormal screaming, the glowing dog thing.. she just doesn't appear to know what to do about any of that. So she sits and watches and continues wiping her hands in the grass.
Sarah's defenses may be holding for now, but she's not planning on letting Screaming Mimi go on testing their limits. Another quick set of gestures, another few chanted words, and a bright core of yellow-white flame streaks away from her hands, forking into a pair of firebolts targeting her own playmate and Ian's…
These things are definitely solid which is good for the folks wielding guns and boots and staves and other physical weapons. On the other hand it means the concentrations of necromantic energy are higher than anyone should really be comfortable with.
Regardless Ian's bullets blast chunks out of his attacker and make it writhe and shriek in pain. And moments later Sarah lets loose with a blast of light that incinerates both into ash.
Which does rain down on the agents.
Dinah does manage to kick off her attacker and get some space. It goes another fifty feet past her before turning to try and get to her again. But hey, this means that people can take clear shots at it. Or it can be screamed at again. It didn't like it the last time. Another one will probably end it.
Bella — a great glowing wolf — drags the passing banshee to the floor and the staff strike actually cracks its midsection and sends out a puff of smoke as the ghost loses some of it's corpus. It claws at the ground, trying to get free, seeming to sense it's vulnerable position.
Esme… winds up covered in gunk. Her Banshee is gone. Discorporated. Dead, if you like though it was that already, but now she's all… slimy.
Koa makes it to the bush where the spider is bringing forth that crystal statuette. He picks it up from the spider. "Thanks! AGENTS!"
Koa turns and hucks the thing back toward Sarah and Ian. Someone break that thing please.
An instant later another ghost appears behind him and slams him into a tree. Agent Turner collapses.
And then something bursts OUT of him. "I AM REALLY TIRED OF YOUR SHIT!" A large creature that looks like a cross between Agent Turner, a shark and a dog, yells as he grabs the ghost's head in both clawed hands and seems to… draw it's energy into himself.
Ian curls in the shrapnel position when there are explosions of banshees over himself and Agent Black. As feathery ghost-ash rains down, his helmeted head turns to see the crystal flying through the air, to pitterpat into the grass. A gloved hand strikes out, grabs it, then turns towards Agent Black, still on the ground. "Can you do that… whatever that was… again?"
Space made, Dinah's attention was entirely on the thing trying to rip her to pieces rather than the horror-show that bursts out for the agent. She saw the fireball from Sarah, but it only gets a moment to be glanced at before she squares up and takes a deep breath. As the creature rushes towards her? Another 'Canary Cry' rips through the air, tearing up dirt in the path between her and the Banshee as she cuts loose.
Sarah's shields are proof against reasonably potent magics. Also against most bullets and similar small-arms fire. A shower of fine ash? Not so much. "Ack! Try not to breathe any of this shite…," she quickly advises Ian, but then Koa is lobbing the crystal artifact in their direction. To her heavily-armed colleague, she exclaims, "Just shoot the damned thing!" A high-velocity round ought to shatter it rather effectively, she's thinking.
"Uuughhh." Esme moans disconsolately and futilely rolls around in the grass trying to get clean. Really she just adds sticks and grass and the odd pebble to the goo coating her shift and hair. She stops and sits up in time to see a guy get thrown into a tree and is on her feet and heading to help him when… something she has no explanation for happens. She can sense demons. That's not a demon. That's… it's… she has no idea. "Esme wants to go back to sleep now. Wake back up when people are people again and not.. not…" She gestures helplessly. "Scary." She probably didn't mean to whisper that aloud. "So scary. Scarier than Oldest Monk."
The Gargoyle hugs her knees to her chest and scoots back under a tree to watch warily. After a moment she picks up a bit of faux flower bouquet and shreds off tiny pieces to see what it tastes like. "Mm. Bland."
Arananet seems to wave at Koa as he takes the crystal from her then scurries into the bushes again, looking for more. She's not been given other instructions.
"Good girl…" Keiko pants to Bella, eyes narrowing as Koa goes astral. "Help Agent Turner." The wolf growls before leaping off, towards the shark-dog-turner and the ghost it's battling.
Keiko watches the crystal arc, caught by Ian and tumbles across the ground. "Drop it on the ground." She growls at Ian. When the crystals dropped, she brings her staff down hard.
That shouldn't do anything, right? That's just a metal staff she's wielding.
Ian puts the crystal down on the concrete path near to where the statue once was. Then he jumps up to his feet and starts running. Into his helmet comm he says, "Gonna need medeekal for Agent Turner…" Back to base, whoever is monitoring Ian at the time… and someone always is. He's headed for Koa, though he does slow when he approaches the sharkghost coming out of his body. Its all so weird!
Koa will PROBABLY need medical yes. Bella bolts off to help Koa-ghost though Koa-ghost seems to have things well in hand. Hands. He IS eating that thing. Not with his mouth but it's coming apart and all of it's energy is going into, well…
The sharkghost looks at Ian as he approaches and tosses what's left of the ghost to him. A single bullet will put it down for the count.
The second canary cry SHREDS the oncoming banshee and completely discorporates it. This is the good news. The bad news? The ectoplasm it used to be is still moving and Dinah gets slimed, just like Esme.
And then Keiko's staff gets the statue. It shatters and there's a huge moaning like a thousand ghosts all at once. A mass of dark purple energy from all over the cemetery lurches skyward and then disperses. Slowly the feelings return to normal. No more ghosts appear.
Well, there's still one. Shark-Dog-Koa who has grabbed his own leg — er — his Body's leg and is dragging himself back toward Ian and the others.
|ROLL| Ian +rolls 1d20 for: 3
Ian says something else in Russian, plants his feet sideways, and fires at the ghost that has been tossed in his direction. Its an interesting and messy effect as… because of the planting, the 'putting down' shot is rather close to him. He's also going to be… super slimed. Throw these boots away and just get new ones. There's going to be a certain smell about his armor for a while.
Gross. Super Gross. Ewww. Dinah had managed to destroy the ghost, but it was certainly something she almost regretted entirely as she's splattered with slime. It was in her hair, on her skin, on her outfit… at least she'd had to close her mouth to stop the scream! Shuddering, the blonde woman's elbows rest against her side and she clenches her fists, trying to take a breath and fight back the urge to vomit.
"Again… what the hell?"
Esme leans over and offers Dinah a fake flower, several shreds of the things still sticking out of her mouth. Now that she's calmed down some, the grime or rather slime, doesn't seem to be bothering her much. In fact, she yawns hugely and lays back in the grass. "So many lights… pretty." The living gargoyle's wings wrap around the front of her and kicks her bare feet contentedly as she studies the buildings in the distance. Buildings so much bigger than she's ever imagined they could be.
Sarah pauses for a moment, making certain that the nastiness seems to have lifted for good, and hasn't simply paused for a moment. She considers shifting her vision, but quickly decides that peering around this place with The Sight might be a spectacularly bad idea. Once she's satisfied that the main crisis has passed, she drops her shields and hurries toward spirit-Koa and meat-Koa. "Um… you might not want to be moving, er, yourself like that," she suggests. Then to the assembled, she asks, "Anyone here a healer?"
Not waiting for an answer, she pulls out her phone and calls it in on the secure line. "Medical, this is Sarah Black, codeword Equinox. We have an agent down, I'll be providing transport, please ready a team for evac. Acknowledge when ready."
Bella prowls around Koa - both parts of him - growling at Ian and Sarah as they grow near. She's a sight, goop hanging from her spectral figure. "Bella, down… " Keiko calls. The wolf actually sniffs at the woman and ignores her, maintain her defensive position with Agent Turner.
"Stubbon animal…" Keiko mutters, dashing goop from her face. "Arananet it's time to sleep…" with a gesture and some words, the spider turns into mist that settles on the mark on the woman's arm. "It's going to take days to get the smell out …" she mutters as she joins the group.
"He'll be fine Agent Black. Well. He'll be in a bad mood for a bit, but that's not unusual."
Bella growls again and sniffs in the direction of Esme. "Who … are you." Keiko asks the woman gifting … fake flowers.
"Necromancy!" Ghost-Koa calls out to Canary. His voice is rough and low a bit like perhaps a certain bat themed vigilante she knows. Of course said vigilante has never been caught climbing back into his own body which is what Koa is now doing because Sarah is right. He probably shouldn't be dragging himself.
Agent Turner's eyes open and he rolls over onto his back. "Ow. Hey Bella." Scritch scritch.
Fortunately ectoplasm evaporates very quickly, so folks won't be goopy for long. UNFORTUNATELY that smell isn't going away any time soon. It literally smells like death.
Roger that, Agent Equinox. Standby. We are currently experiencing dimensional eddies. Will send for extraction in T-4 minutes. Comes back WAND control. Ian will hear that too. SHIELD has the interoperability stuff down pat.
"Nice work agents. Keiko. And also you two. Though… who are you again?" That's to both Esme and Dinah. The former, Koa can see even on his back thirty feet away is quite magical. Which means that if she isn't brought back with them now he's gonna have to hunt her down later. At least she's on their side though?
"Keiko, who can make things like that? And are they still around?" Because if they are, Agent Ian and Agent Black can go pay them a visit… possibly with some assistance. If not, well… they'll find the jerk. If they can figure out who it is.
"Bad dog. No flower." The gargoyle frowns. Then smiles bashfully at Keiko as she sits up. "I, Esme." She doesn't offer any other information. Just watches the others as she happily munches her fake flowers. After a few moments she does comment that they taste worse than she remembers. She might not have realized they are fake. After the last colored petal disappears she drops the bouquet and sighs. The stone coloring of her skin and the wings fade away leaving a caucasian female with red hair and green eyes. Now she looks more like hte others. Those green eyes shift to Koa… some of the others anyway.
Ian turns himself as the goo evaporates from his already ash-covered self… he's really looking very monstrous. He aims his sidearm at Esme and then calls through the headset with a neutral question, "This is Agent Ian. I have another potential threat in my sites. Do I take it down or not?" A light tap of his finger to his helmet engages a video feed.
With an 'out of my hands' shrug to Keiko as the other woman moves on, Sarah is about to call back to see what the holdup is when control gets back to her. "Acknowledged," she replies. "Send someone to collect forensics also. We had some… interesting specimens here."
Bella stands over Koas body as he … gets back in it. By the time he's opening his eyes, she's licking his face. "Traitor." Keiko hisses. The wolfs tail wags like she finds that hilarious.
"The Gargoyle?" Keiko clarifies of Koa before realizing he means the crystal — that she recognizes Esme as a Gargoyle, is probably thanks to Saturday morning TV again. "Oh! The crystal. I'm not sure. Maybe the Nightfall mages could but I've not seen anything like it. "But there must be more than one here. I can stay and search …"
She Sarah call that in and SHIELD is the last place she wants to be.
"Hello Esme. Are you going to be ok?"
She might not recognize a gun but Esme does recognize danger. Her stone skin immediately comes back and her wings snap back and then flap around to cover herself protectively. She frowns at Ian in a very very disappointed manner. "Esme is going to go sleep somewhere without screechy dead ladies and little men with pointy things." She rises and starts backing away slowly. Still, this went better than the last time she remembers being awake. Right now what she wants to do is find a good spot to look around from and try to figure out just where exactly she is. Where and… when. If she accidentally steps on Ian's bike a little when she walks past it well, they can get that dent out, surely. At least she isn't trying to eat it?
A fake flower… that might be sweet if Dinah wasn't completely covered in ectoplasm or whatever this banshee gunk was. She didn't really even want to ride back on her bike like this, but it seems her question wasn't going to be answered by the living statue or the weird bunch about. Freaking Staten Island…
Frowning as she turns around and realizes what Ian is doing, Sarah says to him, "Stand down. If this is the wrong call, it's on me. But she appears to be a friendly, or at the very least a non-hostile. Let's not make her change her mind about that, shall we?"
Its easier when they can't see his face. Ian lowers the gun and slides it away. He doesn't seem at all embarrassed by it. Its his job to shoot people and things no one else wants to shoot.
Koa slowly pulls himself up into a sitting position. He's not going to try standing at the moment. "Someone is targeting graveyards and trying to use them to gather… soldiers, I think. Well, ghosts that they can use to fight and create distractions. If it's happened here it might also happen elsewhere." That's to Dinah. There are a couple of good sized graveyards in Staten Island. "There will probably be crystal idols hidden on the graveyard if so. Smash 'em, that'll keep things safe. Even better, catch the idiots doing this and stop them from making more of those damn idols."
She seems like she might be a local, the woman in black with the scream to rival the Banshee's own. "Keiko, if you're going to stay maybe you could fill her in?" That's assuming Dinah does not nope right the hell out of here. And who could blame her for doing that. Then again… if it might happen again in her stomping grounds…
Analyzing. Control says to Ian. Agent Black is correct, Agent Ian. Attempt to contain voluntarily if possible. Agent Black, we are go for extraction.
That's their cue. The WAND agents will head on back. Who knows what Esme will do. And Keiko can explain things in more detail to Dinah if Dinah sticks around.
Esme had paused her disappearing into the darkness act to listen to Koa's explanation which she seems to take as instruction. Her survey of surroundings can wait. For now she will seek out the cemeteries and try to catch who is waking the dead from their rest. Also smash those crystals. Or maybe see what they taste like… it's hard to say.