13550/Paper Packages

Paper Packages
Date of Scene:	10 December 2022
Location:	Sheldon Park - Bleake Island
Synopsis:	When an office building is infested with a corrupt and infernal Holiday Spirit, the day is saved by Balm, Hellboy and... Talia al Ghul? Rated G for GLITTER EVERYWHERE
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Hellboy, Talia al Ghul

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Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    THere is a mail processing center in Sheldon Park that is having some problems. There was a breakdown in one of the machines here, the ink from the stamp and postage machine has t urned from its normal red to a truly seasonal sparkling green.

    All leading up to today, where there seemed to be a collection of kids running amok through the offices, people getting tangled in the garlands, and worst of all --

    All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey has been playing, on repeat, non-stop. There's not even speakers here!

    So the police had been called for the general mischeif, and with the rise in ambient magical energies, a couple others have been tapped.

    Phoebe has arrived in her 'Balm Tactical' -- consisiting of her domino, a black hoodie with arm guards, and tactical pants with pouches. THe optics glow blue ass she sits on a rooftop across from a building, looking mildly disturbed as someone who is tethered to their office chair by six strands of Christmas lights is being slung down the hallway by Christmasy gremlins.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy steps out of the taxi, stretching as he clears the door. The suspension whines a bit as the taxi rights itself. Left hand under his chin, the demon cracks his neck a couple times. "Okay," he finally says. Moving to the driver's window, he pulls a C-note from his pocket and tosses it in. "Keep the change," he says, gruffly. He turns and looks up at the processing center as the taxi nearly peels rubber getting away. Hellboy lets out a heavy sigh, shoulders slumping. "Alright," he says. "Let's get this over with." He walks to the door and pushes it open, only to find Phoebe in front of him. That brightens his expression. "Oh, hey!" His brow furrows, though. "You didn't do all this, did you? If so, I'm going to have to ask you to stop."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
This sort of thing is generally beneath Talia's notice and care. But, magic is something admittedly of a personal interest. And it's something that stands out enough in Gotham to get her attention. There are only a few locals in hte city who deal with magic, and this seems from what she can tell a low or mid level threat, which eliminates those that could deal with it instantly. So, there are a few that could possibly be here responding.. For Talia, it's a chance to observe and gather information, which is always useful. Things to spin to her advantage later are always good to have.
    She's staying in the shadows upon her approach, pausing to glanceup at the gaudy decorations even as she darts along, maneuvering with almost total silence and darting along the rooftops. Staying away from the gargoyles just due to their natural state of actracting the local brooding community.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe looked to Hellboy as she rapelled off the building and came to his side, looking up at him with a mildly surly expression. "IF it was me, it would definitely *not* be Mariah Carey." she counters. Since she dropped down from the rooftops, she misses Talia entirely.

    "Good to see you, Red. Let's go and see what's going on." she breathes out, cracking her own knuckles.

    "How're the cats?" she asks conversationally as she steps inside, her Light magic glowing at her palms as she tries to get a better sense of the energies here.

    It feels like artificial eggnog flavoring when they cross the threashold. All together way too sweet on the tongue and gives that chemical sense up in the nostrils!

    Talia encounters something. It looks like Santa! A very small santa, with a shrunken head's grimmace for a face.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Oh, how lovely. Somes ort of little freak. Talia goes to draw out a katana that she clearly hadn't been carrying nor was there a place that she could have had it on her with her outfit. "Come, little elf. Let us put you back on your shelf." Talia wasn't normally prone to such witticisms, but tis the season after all."
    She goes to advance on the thing, intent on slashing out with her blade aimed over at the center of it's torso. HEr maneuver clean and precise, her intent to try and bisect the thing if her strike landed cleanly. OF course, it might not, or this thing could be resistant if not immune to conventional attacks given it was a thing of magic.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy lets out a grunt of acknowledgement as he looks around at the ceiling. "Huh," he finally says. "I was gonna shoot out the speakers only...no speakers." He doesn't draw his pistol yet, but he does pull his coat back to put his left hand on it.
    Reaching out without looking directly at her, Hellboy puts the Right Hand of Doom on Talia's head, fingers just above her eyebrows. "Hang on, there," he says, holding her back. "Maybe this isn't a bad guy, huh?" He looks at the santa thing, drawing his pistol. Pointing it between the santa's eyes, he says, "You a bad guy?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The Santa lets out a 'kekekekekkeke!' sounding a bit like a dolphin on crack, and then leaps off, turning a hard right into the offices and crying out in a snuffily, nasal voice "WE GOT COOOMPAAAANY!"

    "COMPANY!"
        COMPANY!
    "Company?!" come a chorus of equally nasal voices, and then they begin to merge upon one another, little Christmas gremlins, trolls in mistletoe, ugly little somovbitches with long teeth and gross greasy hair and colored in festive red sand greens and gold.

    "We are Santa's Elves -- filling Santa's shelves -- making toys for good girls and boys, oh we are saaaanta's elves -- and I don't see a good girl or boy here! Hmmm nope. She's gotta sword. She's gotta sin. He's gotta big gun! And hand! How do you shoot with that big hand?!" one of them cries out.

    That's when one of them tries to lasso Talia with Christmas lights in happy colors, another attempts to launch pre-chewed saltwater taffy at Phoebe's face to mute her, and another launches chewed up pepper cookies at Hellboy's face to try and blind him!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Her attempted attack is stopped clean by Hellboy putting his hand over against her head as she would snarl over at him, "Think about what you're doing for a minute.." She doesn't elaborate over on the threat, even as the 'elves' go on the attack as she gives a quick look of 'I told you so' to Hellboy, evn as she goes to pull away in those moments while he's probbly going to be focused on whatever it is the elf is throwing at him.. But she's just a litlte too slow as the Christmas light lasso goes to loop over around her body making her shine out in sparkly lights!
    Arms at her side, bound head to toe with her unable to move she can only start screaming threats.. While lights would lfash around her and very peppy holiday music would play.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy lets go of Talia's head. "Yeah, go ahead. I'm already on the naughty list." And then Samaritan is leveled at the one playing cowboy. He holds up his right hand and says, "I shoot with my left." BOOM! That thing is louder than a shotgun going off. It's also overkill for the size of critters they're working with.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The elves let out more laughing sounds until the Samaritan goes off.

    And then all is quiet. THe office workers also left in similar states are blinking.

    And then, after the elf looks down at where the Samaritan had blown a hole clear through its body, it squeals, it explodes into glitter, and then the other 'elves' find this HILARIOUS and begin laughing in mixed hysterics, and then, Balm scrapes the pre-chewed taffy off her face and looks positively green to the gills.
    "IMPS. Bloody, fucking, IMPS." she breathes out, and she feels her hands glow as she unleashes her own power, whispering in latin as her left hand glows around its wrist.

    "Something demonic's leading them in. Talia. Hellboy. Hellboy. Talia." she states, and then she states, in Arabic for their understanding and to try and hide it from the office workers:

    <There is a dark presence feeding on the people here. Send enough Imps back to Hell and we'll get their attention!>

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Falling over, Talia goes to work a small knife out to use to rapidly cut herself free from the tight plastic glowy bindings that were strobing on her. "I'll make them -wish- for hell." She goes to rapidly take out her blade while going to speak in Arabic <Then let us see how resistant they are to being rended apart> She doesn't particularly care over about the office workers - this is a personal affront now and it's a matter of revenge.
    She's moving to advance with the other two at least - rather than charging into the fight on her own.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy looks down, a few on him. He grabs one off and barks, "Hey, not the coat! I just got the blood out!" before he squeezes its head, popping it like a glitter-filled zit. He then starts pulling at the not-elves, doing his best to keep them out of his coat pockets. "We got a plan more than squish 'em?" he calls out to whichever of the ladies might be listening.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I could try something but it would probably *really* suck for you, Hellboy." Phoebe winces out as one bites her shoulder -- and then also pops. It covers her arm in red and green glitter.

    That, and she's loathe to give Talia more about herself that the Assassin could use against her -- or her family!

    She grits her teeth, pulling out her long throwing knives and begins to hack her way through the offending little imps, their sharp teeth and beady little eyes coming at the trio.

    Several attempt to work together to try and loop Hellboy's legs in garland and lights to make him trip over himself. Several try to bite the Hand of Doom. It's not very effective.

    Talia isn't baring any better, though she's extremely skilled as a warrior (especially compared to 'hit stuff good' and 'avoid getting hit by stuff pretty good'), it's a target rich environment, adn by now the little imps are starting to come out of the vents and the place looks like a rave exploded in a very little area, glitter covering all things in their paths!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Attempting to slash them is proving somewhat futile as far as hitting them effectively. Talia goes to withdraw some to get some more distance, even as her hands go into the tight pockets of her outfit. Out come three small vials of liquid, each plugged with stoppers. Backpedaling when pursued, she goes to quickly mix two of the vials together using one hand, even as she twirls the third in her fingers, keeping the stoppers in them.
    She speaks flatly in Arabic <Close your eyes> As she moves to flip the third vial down, where it would shatter on the ground, hopefully in the midst of the largest group of imps swarming the group. If it does, there's a solar flare blast of light that for anyone whom had their retinas open or didn't have ocular protection, would have thier retinas seared and be blinded for a short time! A half second later, Talia goes to launch the mixture of the other two vials towards the imps, where they would hopefully hit to make an extremely hot, potent fire around them as she launches what can best be described as an alchemically enhanced greek fire..

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy takes a the blinding flash in stride, unloading his pistol into his hand as he grumbled. He reaches into his coat and pulls out an imp that got into one of his pockets. "Hey, hands off!" He then headbutts it with the vigor of a college frat bro crushing a can against his forehead. He growls in annoyance as his face is covered with glitter. However, one speed-loader later, and he's got a new quartet loaded on stage. He holds out his weapon and tries to train on one of the little bastards, finally opting for one nearer. Putting the gun into the mouth of one that's trying to chew on his Right Hand of Doom, he instructs it to, "Chew on this." BOOM! A blast of glitter and holy water goes flying.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe takes that as a 'go ahead Phoebe I'm a little busy at the moment' from Hellboy.

    And there's a lot of glitter, fire, and holy water flying. At least some of the office workers have wriggled out of their bindings and are getting away, and Phoebe, dressed in all her Balm gear, takes a green handled knife from her pack. She sets this to her palm, and pierces it, casing a little blood to kiss the steel of the knife.

    Lumen quod in me est repetens, id quod infernale est fulmine tolle.

    Centered from her, there is a brilliant crackle of what looks like lightning. Rose-gold and laced with electric blue, the magic races along the floor, biting and causing the imps to pop. Glitter goes everywhere! The sound of the popping is both cathartic and gross sounding, and there are dolphin-on-crack and screeches from the imps.

    Red might feel that one; it's low-power but is trying to eliminate INfernal influence. Just enough to get whatever is behind this to show itself.

    And then there's a rumbling.

    "Ho. Ho. HO. SOMEONE WANTS MY ATTENTION!"

    And crawling up from behind a cubicle an entirely black figure, with green eyes, a red mouth, and a santa hat perched over one twisting ram's horn appears.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Lovely, it's Krampus. There's a hiss from Talia over at the ancient one, "Where have you been? The ilk of the world have gotten far lazier and slovenly when it comes to proper behavior these last centuries and you have faded to but a memory and a shell." Of course, she's hardly one to get to judge anyone or anything.. But the thought (doesn't) count.
    Hand goes into a pocket to take out another vial which she goes to covertly flip over to Hellboy to catch. She moves to speak very calmly in Arabic <Throw that at the thing's face as hard as you can>
    Presuming that Hellboy cooperates and it does work.. What it would be was an extremely potent adhesive a couple of steps below Paste Pot Pete's. Over the head of the thing and hopefully it could never tear free..

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy catches it, wincing still from the lightning. He pops his jaw and shakes his head. He looks at what he's caught briefly, but as he's winding up his Right Fastball of Doom, he returns, <If I can understand you, he probably can, too.> Then a growl of a pitch grunt and the phial was flung pretty much as hard as a demon who can chuck cars can chuck a thing at another demon's face. Then, almost as if an afterthought, he brings up Samaritan to follow up with the final trio of the quartet, its own fastballs. Unfortunately, in all cases, the not-Santa is considered 'hit by pitch', and is elligible to proceed to first base.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm needs a breather; that was a lot of control she burned off to keep it low level, though her hands are still glowing out of the back ends of her gloves.

    <Yeah. AllSpeak is a pain.> she mutters dazedly.

    The low-level demon gives a laugh, and was about to give a smart-ass answer when Hellboy slings that vial at the vile, following by a three-spot of Samaritan-kisses.

    Yeah, he's not going to survive that one. There's a squeal as the vial breaks and catches everything on fire, sticking to the demon's face and shoulders, and the bullets go directly into its laughing, blackened head, and then, as suddenly as it happened, the office is back to rights.

    Chairs replaced neatly at desks. Christmas decorations strung up appropriately.

    Someone's playing Little Drummer Boy quietly at a radio at a desk. All is calm. All is right.

    Except for the trio. They're all still very much covered by Imp Glitter.
%

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would not bother trying to play this dignified, glancing over at Balm, "Do you require assistance getting somewhere?" Likely to one of the local Bat-holes or wherever is nearest to clean up and try and present some level of public dignity for the remainder of her patrol.
    Glancing at Hellboy, "Your combat skills were impressive." Her moving to straighten her outfit, and then sheathe her katana where it would somehow by a veyr good sleight of hand or something -else- vanish somewhere.
    "Those feral things won't be returning in the short term?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Glitter falls like snow off Talia as she straightens her outfit. It adds to the pile of infernal crafting materials on the floor.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy takes a deep breath, then coughs out in annoyance with a grossed-out face. "Ugh," he protests. "I'm going to be breathing that shit for weeks." He looks down at himself. He calls out to the processing persons. "Hey! You guys have an emergency eye-wash station or something?" He fruitlessly tries brushing it off of himself. He doesn't appear to be getting any less glittery, but the glitter is being spread by his efforts.
    To Talia, he grunts. Finally remembering his manners, he says, "Thanks." He stands tall and looks down at her. "Hey, can I get in on that ride? I doubt the taxi company's going to want to pick me up wearing all this."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Glitter also falls of Hellboy. It gets into the pockets of his jacket. Behind his ears. In his hair. It is the Worst, and it ITCHES.

    "I'm fine." Balm states, and with a practiced little phrase, she makes a wiping motion -- and she is completely free of glitter.

    ... it covers Talia and Hellboy still.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
There would be more swears from Talia now, going to full on streaks of obscenities in three languages. Phoebe can probably pick up some like 'burn myself' and 'Lazarus Pit' and 'most efficient'. Probably..
    Best not to ask more, even as Talia looks more like Princess Sparkletits now.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy looks at Phoebe. "Yeah, can I get in on that, too?" he asks, gesturing at her body, probably about being cleaned rather than anything else.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm gives a wry smile, and she repeats the phrase, slightly altered, and moves her hands as if wiping the two clean.

    All the infernal glitter is gone now. It tingles slightly instead of itches.

    "We should probably make ourselves scarce before Batman comes." she states. "Unless there's more glitter?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would look about the area, "You should cleanse here just in case there are more of those things present that haven't been accounted for." With fire, of course. Just to be sure. And also to make sure there is no more glitter.
    "Yes, let us depart." Even Damian would laugh at her for this.