11880/All Roads Lead to Rome

All Roads Lead to Rome
Date of Scene:	04 July 2022
Location:	Pinnacle - Urban Park
Synopsis:	Jane delivers a warning and hope to the White Queen.
Cast of Characters:	Jane Foster, Emma Frost

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Jane Foster has posed:
Pinnacle is one of those places only people who live in SoHo seem to know about. Sure, everyone's heard of the High Line. Few know this corner. That makes it suitable for Jane's purposes as she needs to get away from the spots where uncomfortable questions might follow her. Too populated and the celebrity sitting still too long will stand out. Far away gives unwelcome opportunities to be question if she's found there.

This strikes the balance and so she has been apparently reading for the past half-hour or longer. Projecting a sense of being busy means having earbuds in that she isn't actually listening to, a bit of food curled up, and a spot out of the way instead of deep in the middle. Just to make sure she's left alone, she also has a sketchpad with an incomplete couple of strokes just in case.

---

On the other side, the Astral Realm remembers more of the older city than the new. Structures here are older for the most part. The woman stands among them, the shards of business and urgent acquisition of shelter, wealth, and food still very much important.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost is currently sitting htere over in the club. She has a bottle of wine to herself, a private room, and two bouncers on either end of it to ensure that she's not going to be disturbed. Emma has just sat back and is now moving to connect with her guest while she takes a sip within the club, nearly if not directly next to her while focused.

"All right, Doctor Foster. Do consider me curious. What can I do to be ofa id to yourself? Is this a SHIELD matter or something for the Asgardians?" Emma would inquite over while waiting to her what the woman that she had at most only peripherally met wished to discuss with her.

Jane Foster has posed:
The glimmering views up here are pretty, tucked under the open sky and above all the activity below. That's probably a blessing where it comes to Jane. Given how the distractions are sufficient enough to pull her away from where she walks, this could be inconvenient.

The Astral Realm stubbornly writes itself in the memories of people around them. She doesn't complain; this is a fact that one simply accepts. Jane swivels to another guest infinitely more distinct than everything else here. Telling, as it is. Her presence is solidified further when her attention turns to Emma; the other woman is far more tangible, in some ways, than the buildings, the spiritual expanse.

"SHIELD," she replies. "WAND, in particular. You are acquainted with a friend managing a unique health care setting. It so happens I have a contribution -- a possible procedure that you might consider, though I hope you'll be tolerant of my limitations on that." A brief pause follows. "In properly describing it."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would go to fold her fingers together, "Of course, Doctor Foster. I presume that you're speaking of something concerning the bodies that were left in SHIELD's care with Agent Sims?" She would go along, "And in turn I'll ask for you to keep my particular abilities over to yourself. They're not widely known, even wtihin your organization. I'm more than happy to lend my aid in any way I can, particularly with this issue.."

Shew ould gesture on while letting Jane continue on. "And I'll do what I can. I'll note tha tmuch of this is somewhat beyond my ability to describe so please do elaborate."

Jane Foster has posed:
The lucid glimmers of colour saturating the world almost seem to clash with the music, originating from the residents of SoHo. Sickly green for someone worrying over their crush liking someone else. A fight between business partners twenty meters west flashes red like a strobe light. Tangible implications overlaid in a place where anything can be what a telepath wants it to be, after all. Here, they are impervious unless somehow, some other talent comes along listening in that Emma doesn't notice. Still, precautions matter.

"Among others, yes. I was with him and Phoenix, you, and others -- Blindfold, I believe. Genuine young woman, quite gifted." That prompts a smile from the brunette, who is here appears exactly as she did before when they traced abandoned souls to the sanctuary, right down to the clothes, braided hair, hiking boots. It's not the most stylish, but it will no doubt serve its purpose. "I have tried to pursue what I can through unconventional angles, since the patients in our care do not respond to conventional medicine. Obviously that puts us in unusual terrain but not entirely unfamiliar. The antagonizing forces behind this, as we've learned from the mages who were at Skirball Cultural Centre in NYU, likewise are difficult to trace when they leave very little physical evidence. But there is /something/. A few somethings."

She braces her fingers in a delicate arch. "I have the awful suspicion we are being played until the clock runs out. Diversions to avoid our attention turning away."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would listen over to Jane with a considering expression on her face, "I can share some more information. The entity we're dealing with is likely called the Shadow King. It's a psychic parasite of extreme power, skill, and likely age. It seems to have it's origins or at least main persona from somewhere in the Middle East, though we can't pinpoint it further. It possessed a mutant that had the ability to disrupt souls from bodies and used it to tear them from their forms. We have at least some of the souls in.. Storage, I fear I can call it little else. But that is limited. It's currently holding the.. Architect over o fthe storage as a hostage."

Emma would go on, "It's an ancient thing as near as we can tell motivated by revenge, pettiness, and rage. It's inflicting pain purely because it can. It's been targeting mages, or at least it was to try and get them to perform some sort of ritual to break the astral plane, though we're not sure if it still is or not. It killed several."

Emma would continue, "We have a number of souls.. Corresponding to the bodies that SHIELD has in possession, if they're still alive. We're not quite sure how to go about returnin them, however."

Jane Foster has posed:
"The gentleman who brought us to the health care facility where he tends to the displaced." No need to name names. Not even here. Jane's nature is far more reticent when dealing with other people's secrets and their trusted information. Her mortal body sits still, listening, apparently reading in another plane. Her, she raises her hands gracefully. "When we encountered that confetti ball of battered souls, to use a rather vulgar description, it magnified the difficulty. We had pieces extracted from multiple victims. Their psyches pushed together, parts of memory or personality crammed to another's. This clearly served a purpose."

She sighs, looking to the blonde woman, holding the weight of that unhappy news about to be dropped like incendiaries on a barely prepared town. "Distraction, for one. The mind behind it had to assume that we would all respond to the emergent situations in NYU. Recovering people, spending plenty of attention there while that same mind -- your psychic parasite -- went about finalizing its plans. I am not certain on those, but it will be large, violent, and possibly a grab for power. Best guess, presently, something on the scale of destabilizing or destroying this realm. Or unlashing something in it that will risk many more lives. It seems to thrive on corrupting people, doesn't it?"

She won't call the Shadow King a he. Or she. Or its name, for that matter, as she laces her fingers once more and says, "The boy who shredded those souls can pull them all back. He doesn't know he possesses that potential, much less how to do it. But they all bear tethers to him, and if you could somehow show him? He could restore the souls to their bodies, if I'm not off the mark."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost has only referred to the Shadow King by the designation of 'It'. "That matches with what I fear. It's currently holding a hostage of one of the most powerful psychics on the planet. We're not sure as to it's exact.. reach. But it's toying with us and offering an exchange it has no remote interest to follow up in. It's a being out of whimsy and malice. It's shown tha tit can possess beings and use their abilities far more effecitvely than they can. We have a mutant in our custody that it used to disrupt a number of souls from bodies and is now comatose but in safety."

Emma gives a frown and a nod as Jane goes on. "And with power and skill comes the capability to scheme. It.. Has a history with the powerful psychic that defeated it once. It's acting out of a sense of revenge or realiation. Corruption.. Trying to make ag ood man fall and show him how weak he is. It's likely it's been doign this over an extended period."

Jane Foster has posed:
"The young man who disrupted them is the one who can bring them back," Jane quietly repeats. "As far as I can be sure, the statistical likelihood of him restoring the displaced individuals in your sanctuary to their bodies is extremely high. Whether individually or collectively depends on how his abilities function and I don't speculate upon that more than the absolute basics. His trauma will probably require support to overcome, but if he can do it, we may be able to resolve one matter in a fairly concrete fashion. Resources freed to deal with the mind that's caused this."

She scrunches up the hem of her shirt in her fist, though that won't possibly do any damage, and the process of smoothing the wrinkles out is purely an act to clear her thoughts. "But I thought you needed to know this so you can act on it. I haven't the faintest idea how you go about helping someone achieve that potential. In a wider point of consideration, I'm afraid we have a clock running and I'm unsure how many seconds we have left. But it feels that it's coming."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would frown, "That would make sense. Then it's a priority to try and repair his mind and get him functional. Or failing that to find a way to try and control him to utilize his powers in a way that doesn't mentally break him further. We have the.. Support facilities to try and help restructure his psyche. But those sorts of things take time and care. And we're on a very limited turnaround. My impression is that he had very little control or knowledge of his abilities.. At least until he was possessed."

She would think, "The memories should still be there in his subconscious. We can possibly use them to help him control them.. Or if need be to recreate things."

Jane Foster has posed:
"I fear he's probably been conditioned in a fashion to accept the mistreatment inflicted on him, and might not be able to resist if he wanted to." Jane shakes her head slightly and watches the sparkles of emotion and premises swirl through the Astral where sleeping and living minds have their impressions for but a moment. "He probably has no idea he can reverse what he did. I doubt there are memories to find of him doing it. But if he can be shown or someone else guides him through it, then he can protect the souls he has moved away from their bodies. That could buy you time. It does nothing for the one who abused him, but it's something."

She goes quiet, grinding through her specific thoughts and ideas. Discarding what doesn't work, answering what does. "As for what this grand finale show will be, I'm at a loss. Something terrible, yes. It's probably already occurred and awaits a trigger and an audience. Forgive me to be blunt but it seeks to hurt you all deeply, this is more than simple malice. The where is eluding me but I do not know this being so well as you. Where would it hide something terrible? Maybe the boy remembers that."

Emma Frost has posed:
There would a murmur of the blonde, "Likely. And we'll have to bypass all of the booby traps in his mind that have been left. Possible wiht what we have at our disposal.. Necesary i fhe's going to have any sort of conscious functioning left. We can possibly pupet him but I'd rahter not unless there's no other choice in the matter." Emma is Emma. Is not going to leave things at 'not at all'. Because ultimately if more people can be helped.. She will bend as need be.

"That makes a great deal of sense. And is why it's bothering to toy with us and have a hostage rather than directly attacking us or going on the offensive to neutralize us when it had the chance. It's petulant. It wants us to suffer."

Jane Foster has posed:
Jane nods, once more drawn into that aspect of audience rather than anything else. "I wish there was better news I can offer you but that's what I have. He went trhoguh a lot and... Oh."

Her lips press together, bleached white as her pale alabaster skin is. Through ruthlessly dark eyes, her thoughts turn at a rapid clip to something more determined. "His thoughts are trapped on a loop. Reliving horrors, to feel shame and guilt that could be exploited. I felt that -- in an uneven way -- but nonetheless it grinds him down. Something else was present, a kind of shadow-saturated overlay that could be the corruption you were talking about. It could be something to help. Is there anything else I might be overlooking or that you would like to know?"

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would frown over thoughtfully, "not at the moment. It means that he has enough consciousness to feel regret, pain, and terror. So he might be salvagable. Forgive me for using that tone. But we have to hurry and that means we can't take care. I'll be in touch if we have more concerns to bring pas tyou or information to share." She would sigh.

"Thank you for reaching out to us, Doctor Foster. It's appreciated. We have to stop this -thing-."

Jane Foster has posed:
"I believe he is. For all the damage, he is enough in there to feel. I hope he can be spared, recovered in some fashion, for he did not deserve this." She runs her hands over her braid, as though to sweep it back and only finds that the plait woven from chestnut and darker auburn has already been gathered for her. Oh well, convenient. Jane pauses for a moment, stroking her thumb across her brow. "I hope you can find this entity, though it may be ancient beyond words, fed on our collective failures. Made from our collective sins, even. I'm not sure such a thing can be utterly killed, but I believe it must be weakened. Somehow. If there is anything else, ring across..." A handwave. "This."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would fold her hands together, "Then we can hopefully repair him. And se what we can do." She would frown as Jane would go on, "It's an anceitn abomination, likely of pure evil. That we'e fought before to some degree.. Or at least have fluency with. That means we can figure out a way to stop it. I don't want to get too far ahea dof ourselves to presume we an destroy or contain it.. But we can hopefully drive it away."

Jane Foster has posed:
Jane nods again. "I would not like to make presumptions on the best way to handle something you have more familiarity with. Only making sure to assist where we can in SHIELD. The troubles are written in the pain of this thing's victims, and we want to come up with a solution that will protect anyone." She brushes her hands lightly across her jeans and then stands. "Thank you for letting me borrow your time. Don't let me keep you any longer."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would close her eyes, "We'll do what we can. I fear that it's not enough and we're too late. But we can never deal with things in life the way we wish to. Thank you for your time Doctor Foster. We'll be in touch."