17624/Appalachian Atrocities: Call to Arms

Appalachian Atrocities: Call to Arms
Date of Scene:	14 April 2024
Location:	1117 Brighton Beach
Synopsis:	Much to Bucky's surprise, everyone was quick to offer him help with the situation at Blackstone Hollow. Plans were made to recon the situation.
Cast of Characters:	James Barnes, Frank Noble, Sara Pezzini, Morrigan MacIntyre, Joshua Foley, Richard Stadler

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James Barnes has posed:
It's well known among anyone that's been privy to SHIELD briefings that Bucky Barnes /loathes/ them. He's always the one that shows up, stands in the back with his arms folded over his chest and scowls. He very seldom has anything to add. He just listens to find out the mission details and goes on his way.

So, whatever it is he has to talk about tonight must be important. He's also let everyone know that he's not sure this is something that SHIELD would throw their weight behind. This is a personal favor - yet another indication of how important it is to the man. He doesn't ask for favors.

Given that it's probably going to be off books, he invited everyone to his home. A home many probably doesn't even know he has - thinking about Bucky owning a home is a little odd.

On the front door is a sign that reads 'around back' with a big arrow pointing to the left of the small house.

... to where Bucky's sitting in the backyard - Lili the German Shepherd at his feet - and a cooler filled with ice and beer at one side of the chair he's in. He's dragged out enough seating for everyone in the form of old folding lawn chairs. A stack of file folders is waiting on the old round table that's speckled with rust.

Frank Noble has posed:
Mr. Right tries to hack in to SHIELD and Mr. Necessary warns him, "You seem to blow holes in some of the adding machines,"

"Computers."

"Yes, that, but this may be above you; increase his clearance."

Sigh.

The Mice managed to recommend Frank listen for quiet word being put out for certain kinds of request. Word comes back that Bucky is looking for certain things and Frank 'happens' to come up as a qualified consultant in many areas. Mr. Necessary warns Frank, "Don't put on the mask...no matter what..."

And so, to Frank's surprise he is at a safe house in the middle of nowhere, having never met the pricipals, and unsure about all of this, especially if he isnt supposed to use super heroic gear without which he is...what...a scientist? But...he waves.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
There have been occasions that Sara worked with Bucky in the past. If anyone asked her she'd be the first to tell them this was uncharacteristic of him. Normally he'd get the briefing, find out his part of the job and just go do it. All that could be done in seconds, limiting his access with everyone around him, but she had once actually worked along side him. That seemed like a lifetime ago.

Dressed in jeans and a tank top with her leather jacket over it to conceal her side arm, she also has on a necklace with the Avenger's logo medallion and of course Witchblade in his resting bracelet form on her right wrist. She arrives to the house on her motorcycle, finding a good place to park it, then waits for Joshua before finding her way to where Bucky has planted his butt... the back yard.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's still healing from the meat grinder that has been SHIELD attacks lately. And being possessed by ancient anger spirits. The bruises on her face have healed from the bright purple to yellowish and her hands are still bandaged, but she's here because she knows how much James hates asking for...anything. Dressed in jeans, boots and a black t-shirt with those signature glasses on to hide her weird eyes from folks. She takes up one of the file folders and then goes to find herself a place to stand that doesn't involve sunlight.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Riding in on his own bike next to Sara, Joshua parks his own ride before he slips off. Wearing a t-shirt, jeans and a jacket, he falls into step with the Witchblade bearer, though his own jacket carries the medical red cross with a smaller Avengers logo in it. Arriving at the sign, he shrugs, following after Sara around to the back.

He opens the gate for Sara to enter first before following her within, and gives a little wave to the group as he glances over at the woman in the shade. And he has to remind himself not to stare - or to offer to help. And it's clear the golden mutant wants to help.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     It was a nice car, all told; It had all those fancy new safety features; really came in handy when someone with more money than situational awareness decided to brake hard on I-278 on the way over. Fancy buttons and screens, too! Too bad it was just a rental.

But it was better than taking whatever the MTA called public transit down from Manhattan, and he found parking rather close to where this house was, as well. About the same time as Morrigan, actually, giving her a silent nod as he saw the sign and went out to the backyard-

"Oh, what a cute doggie." He says, as anyone whose sane and well-adjusted should do when coming across a German Shepard in a back yard. He was professional enough to nod to Bucky as they walked in, as well as the friendly fellows from JL-Dark. A lot of overlap between organizations, it seemed.

The dark ring around his eyes still hadn't cleared; perhaps they hadn't gotten worse, but that wasn't saying much. Sleep was in intensely short supply after the tempo of operations they'd been doing, and it was a bit relaxing to have a briefing that wasn't a drive up to Westchester in the brisk spring air. "Don't suppose you had a barbecue planned with this briefing? I would have brought steaks."

James Barnes has posed:
What Bucky did not expect was for a complete stranger to show up waving at him. He's at home, his neighbors on either side know him - maybe not about the whole Winter Soldier mess, but they know he has a really sweet prosthetic arm. For once he's wearing short sleeves, showing off the sleek shiny black of the newest edition. The hand at the end of that arm very nearly crushes the arm of the chair he's sitting in before he releases his hold on it. "I don't think I know you," he says - the words coming out in a warning growl of a tone. Lili stands, sensing her human's unease. Her hackles raise, she lets out a bark or two.

Bucky's a paranoid thing, but he has reason to be - they are out to get him.

Sara makes her appearance with Josh, then Morrigan and Rick come wandering in. "You know him?" The question is directed at all of them. One of them better know him. Frank is currently on the receiving end of the dreaded 'Bucky Stare'. It's intense, it's uncomfortable and it's been known to make even the likes of Sam squirm.

He's certainly noticed Mo's condition, but that can be addressed once this potential threat is either proven non-threatening or... neutralized.

There is a grill present. It's smoking from the vents on the top while the charcoal settles into 'not hot enough to immediately burn anything put on the grill in seconds' levels.

But again, immediate threat. Grill can wait.

Frank Noble has posed:
Frank Noble was, frankly, expectig this reaction. He shows his ridiculously new SHIELD consultant badge, practically still warm from the press and says, "A friend said you might be able to use a consultant on this. My apologies for not mentioning my arrival but he said electronic communications are not secure."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The tension in Bucky is palpable, even if Sara didn't know him as well as she does it would be obvious. She has a built in warning system with Witchblade, if there was a threat she'd know before anyone else, but Bucky wasn't so lucky. Even without a warning from Witchblade however, she instinctively places herself between the man in question and Joshua, that is until he shows his badge.

"No warnings from Witchblade," she offers for Bucky, so he at least knows there's no threat. "And before you ask, this is Joshua, new member of the Avenger team and my boyfriend."

Since Bucky is in fact still in 'kill it before it can kill you' mode, she goes over to the grill to check on whatever it was he has on there. "Joshua, this is Sargent James Barnes, he's in as nearly organizations as I am, I'll let him tell you which ones he's claiming to be a part of this week."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"You need a vacation." Morrigan tells Richard as she looks through the folder. Then there is a look to Frank and she shakes her head, "I don't, but I'm not an Agent or anything, probably not up on who the new consultants are." she adds to that. Then she gives a look to Lili and there is a smile, "Hello girl." she whispers to her. "Sam's not around?" she asks. There is a hopeful note, but she's guessing since he's not fighting over who is going to grill that he is not.

Joshua Foley has posed:
As Sara slots him into place to protect him from a possible threat, Joshua doesn't fight her - he knows better. The healer pauses for a moment as he glances around Sara to peer at Frank for a moment and raises a brow. "...you know two mice, don't you?" he asks curiously, standing on his tip toes. "You asked my mother to play a game for your soul. I see you're safe."

A small smile to Sara. See, he does things! Though when he mentions Nettie, there's a moment of sadness in his eyes as he is still figuring out the future of the shop. And that he needs to check in on Belinda.

When Sara is making introductions, he lifts his hand in a wave. "Hello again, Sergeant Barnes. You know my mother far better than me, so I'm not worried if you don't immediately recognize me." Even if a golden mutant is totally hard to forget. And then a glance to Morrigan. "Are you okay?" he asks. "My name's Joshua Foley. I'm called Elixir, though, and a healer. If... you want, I can help?" Which tells Sara he's being polite and not bioscanning people without permission.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Oh, well, at least there was some food in the offing after this discussion. "I can't say I remember seeing him around." Rick says, flicking out his own consultant's badge. "But I don't see any reason to suspect that it's fake, either. Besides, if he tries something, I know the /rest/ of the people here are well-adapted to clearing threats- And I mean no offense." He says to Frank. "Just we have the numbers."

He looks around for a moment, spying a chair, and pointing to it. "Do you mind if I take a seat? God fifty creeps up on you." He says, taking the chair if the offer is accepted, leaning forward to take one of the folders himself. "I just got a nice vacation to the Atlantic, Doctor; I happen to go to such interesting places." He says, flipping open the file folder to peruse through it. Joshua gets a bit of a look. He seems to want to ask about Nettie himself, but he can read the sadness well enough to leave that alone. "I can vouch for Mr. Foley, then. Didn't know if you went by Crowe, these days." Well, seems like he put a foot slightly in mouth anyway. "But he does good work."

James Barnes has posed:
There's nothing on the grill yet, but the coals are just about right for tossing some bloody meat on there. That must still be in the house.

Those intense blue eyes linger on Frank a little longer. Seriously, it's really like he's staring right into the absolute center of a person when he does that. Finally, he turns Frank loose from it. "Alright," he offers simply. He's still not a man of many words.

His attention shifts to Morrigan. Bucky's staring again, but it's not the same. This time it's concern and not 'fuck around and find out' behind the stare. It's a subtle difference indicated by the way his jaw stops that near tooth cracking tenseness. She's already been asked the question he had, so he doesn't ask it again.

Instead he gets on with what this is all about. Or at least he starts to. "There should be enough folders for everyone..." Before, "...anyone want to help me get stuff from the kitchen?"

He tosses back over his shoulder as he heads for the house, "I'm James. It's just James," for Josh's benefit. Bucky? Well that's reserved for people that have earned the right to it. Not that Joshua won't, he likely will, he just hasn't yet.

"Got fifty plus years on you, Stadler!" he calls out. "Get off your ass and help me get this food from the kitchen."

That'll teach him to play the age card, won't it? Never mind that Bucky's been dosed with the serum. He /still/ has seniority when it comes to age.

Frank Noble has posed:
Frank Noble is discomfortied more from his lack of fear at the stare than at anything else. He is shocked Elixer remember the mice and nods "Frank Noble." He nods to Elixer and says, "I do know...three mice actually, of ....well they are why I'm here. Its kind of insane really. Long story I'd rather not go into." He sist on the couch. It bothers him that Bucky's stare didnt bother him. His mind is broken and reconnected by surgery and three different kinds of magical power....its an odd feeling to say the least, especially sane.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Since there's nothing on the grill, Sara adjusts the coals a little then closes it to walk back to the chairs. A single beer is taken from the cooler, even if they weren't offered directly, and then one of the folders is picked up.

"Ms. MacIntyre," a nod is offered. "Mr. Stadler," another nod and then she sits herself in one of the lawn chairs that has an empty one beside it, in case Joshua wants to sit beside her.

"If you really need help in the kitchen James," not she doesn't call him Bucky in mixed company. "I can lend a hand, after all, you're all very old and I'm still very young." A smirking playful smile plays at her lips before she opens the folder and disappears behind it.

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Sorry." Joshua immediately course corrects, fixing his introduction and matter of address to James as he offers to immediately help with getting the food to bring it out. Why? Because it will totally keep him from continuing to want to heal Morrigan. Stare. STARE.

Ahem, snapped out of it, he notices Richard. "Hi, Mister Stadler." he offers quietly, before glancing to Sara. "You can stay out here and gossip." A smirk at her as he goes to help gather the food.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"I'm fine." Morrigan states to Joshua. "It is nice to meet you, Mister Foley. I'm Doctor Morrigan MacIntyre. I'm a consultant for SHIELD and I work over in Happy Harbor. I met your girlfriend a long time ago." she adds. There is a dip of her head to Sara, "Detective." she greets.

Then she gives a look to Richard, "I mean, I'm only ten years behind you." she muses. "And vacations involve violence, got it." she nods to him.

She was about to move to help Bucky with the food, but he tells Richard to get off his ass. So she stands in the shade. "So anyone doing anything fun this Summer?" she asks.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     "Oh, they don't always involve violence. Just they have lately. Though admittedly I think you have me beat, given where you headed after Cairo. Wasn't fun on our end, and I know it wasn't fun on yours." He says, before shaking his head. "It seems like everyone I meet has ways of ignoring the passage of time when it counts-"He says, before Bucky calls out from the house and begs seniority.

He gives a baeful look at the door, then to Morrigan, communicating the umbrage of someone who Just. Sat. Down. But then there's a breath and a lift of himself out of the chair, as he nods to Sara and Joshua. "Good to see you both here and active." He says, simply, before charging up the steps toward the kitchen. The file folder is still neatly tucked under his arm; he wasn't about to lose the habit of leaving controlled information out of his direct possession.

"I'm sure you could cart it all down yourself." He grouses toward Bucky, gathering the food that's at the kitchen itself, a sleeve of hamburgers, some condiments; juggling with said folder. He did take a quick look around. "Always something charming about these shotgun shacks. Though I imagine you've got this one all paid off."

James Barnes has posed:
There really isn't all that much to be brought out, but too much for one man to balance in one trip. A few bags of chips, a bowl of potato salad (store bought, Buck does nothing that involves slicing, dicing and mixing himself), a plate filled with hamburgers and hot dogs and the appropriate buns and condiments and paper plates (he's also not doing all the dishes). So the two of them make short work of it. Soft drinks and beer is in the cooler where he was sitting.

He doesn't point out the very untruthfullness of Morrigan claiming to be fine. He hates it when someone calls him out on the same. Before he enters the house, he flips Sara the bird with his left hand, all that black shiny to emphasize the point.

He probably didn't mean that seriously, likely didn't...

The folders all contain the same things. It's not much really. There are four pictures - one of an old man, one of an old woman, one of a middle aged man and one of a man probably in his late twenties. Along with each photo, there's a sketch, painstakingly and lovingly drawn, of each of them as they might have looked a long time ago - the younger man being nothing but a tiny baby.

There's also a map of a tiny nothing of a little town called Blackstone Hollow located at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia along with a map of what appears to be a labyrinth of tunnels into the side of the mountain - a coal mine. The map is dated 1986 - been awhile since it was updated.

If nothing else, Bucky is eternally grateful to Rick for not mentioning the 'bedroom'. "I'm sure you needed the exercise, yeah? Man your age has to start watching out for that spare tire around the middle. It's paid off. It's mine."

For any other person that would just be a statement without meaning. But for Bucky? Someone that's never had a place of his own to call home in over a hundred years? It means something.

Frank Noble has posed:
Frank Noble has memory of shame or feeling socially awkward; hell he was a science nerd; he feels none of it, and knwos he should. Right now he is playing both ends of a Laurel and Hardy duo, is an awkward 9th wheel on a unicycle...and he feels just fine here. He is supposed to be here, even if it is not apparent, and he realizes, likely for the first time, hust how wrong the situation is. Until now, when fate put him somewhere it was apparent, or he was mad. He is totally sane now and totally....not feeling what he knows he should be. Its absolutely not there. So he smiles as normally as he can, and listens

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Each detail of the items inside the folder are studied and memorized. Sara already has an idea of what this might all be about, the folder was to well put together not to be evidence. The detective in her is already awake and moving through possibile scenarios.

"I love you too James," she calls back to the finger, then finally lays the folder down in her lap to open the beer.

Taking moment to look Mo over, one brow raises. Now she understood why Witchblade was screaming in her head. "You aren't fine," she states plainly once, then let's it go and looks to Frank.

"Detective Sara Pezzini, wielder of the Witchblade, Agent of SHEILD, member of the Avengers team and, just one more, current acting leader of the Justice League Dark." Her right hand is extended toward the man, in that moment the red stone on the bracelet swirls like red smoke caught in a red room then goes still again.

Joshua Foley has posed:
After helping to carry out the food, Joshua fidgets with putting it all in a place that makes sense and allows people to gather items without being on top of each other - yeah, Nettie's influence all over as him as he finally gets things 'just so', and makes his way back over to Sara.

Coming up behind her, he gives her shoulders a squeeze with his hands as he offers to her.

"Mister Noble here was one of Nettie's last cases." he says quietly as he settles back in. There's a glance to the beer. "How many lifetimes did it take you to get used to drinking that?" he asks with a smirk. "I figured out that alcohol gets... neutralized pretty quickly within me. Takes all the fun out of it."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan laughs at Richard, "You know, I definitely don't want you to die. Even if you can come back. It is..." she trails off. "And anyways there are two very happy boys in Louisiana with a Challenger when they get old enough to drive." she looks thoroughly amused at that. "Sam's face. Priceless." she grins. "I'm perfectly aware that I'm not fine. That is not why we are here though." she states. "I don't have any broken bones or anything. Just a lot of damage from when Hydra attacked the starport. It'll heal." she adds.

She looks at the maps in the file, "Ah, good ol' Appalachia. Where we go to find the eldritch and cryptids." she states to that.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Like Stadler could complain about any of it; it wasn't as if he gave his kitchen a lot of use as well... though there was some differences from living in Brooklyn to being within walking distance of Central Park. Who cooked when the world's greatest cafes were within walking distance? He at least moves to take the food and head outside, placing it by the grill, and nodding. "Glad to hear it. The last thing anyone needs is to be struggling with a mortgage in this economy, and not everyone has the right situation with their finances. As for exercise, oh, you get the steps where you can. Though luckily I still get a good amount of running in. I lead a very active lifestyle; certainly helps keeps me alive... In a lot of different ways."

He looks to Morrigan, and gives her a small smile. "Oh, don't worry. I don't want to either; that's not to say I haven't planned for it. Certainly making peace is the best way to handle the great unknown."

He moves to sit back down once the food's delivered, flipping open the file again, and scanning over the pictures, the map, the location. Frowning a bit. "West Virgina? I can't say I've actually been up there; precious little to do in my previous occupation, though I had a few people I was serving with from there, if memory serves. Don't like it, though; Doctor MacIntyre knows more about things that go bump in the night-" He says, before looking up. "Well, come to think of it, we do have some resources to call on if that's the case, don't we? I assume we aren't seeing Wendingos out there."

James Barnes has posed:
Once back outside, Bucky throws the meat on the grill. He definitely looks like he's at least done this bit before. It's probably odd that he starts talking while everyone else is still talking. It might be odd though that he starts talking about what's going on /while/ he's grilling?

Or maybe not so odd to those that know him. If he's manning the grill, it's something he can focus on that's not everyone listening to him speak. "That's the Forester family. Isaiah, his wife Rose, their son Trip - Isiah the Third and his son Robert James, RJ." His voice is steady, even - but too much so. He's forcing that steadiness. "In 1967, I got away from HYDRA. I thought I could run into the mountains and hide. I didn't know who I was running from exactly, not immediately, but I knew I was running." He clears his throat before continuing.

"I ran into Isiah and he insisted I come home with him for a meal. They were dirt poor, but they made sure there was enough for a stranger at their table. That meal turned into three months of me working beside Isiah in those mines."

Another pause to just gather himself and flip some burgers. And then... "I didn't even remember them until a few years back. I've been keeping an eye on them from a distance since."

He stops talking. He has to. Bucky has to really gather himself together to get to the next part. It might take a minute of him pretending that the hamburgers might get up and crawl away if he doesn't stare at them.

Finally, "Isiah passed away a few weeks ago. Word is that his heart gave out when he found out that his grandson was one of the missing. It was just two weeks before that when Trip vanished. In the past two months, sixteen men - nearly a third of the able bodied male population of Blackstone has vanished in the mines. I need to find out why. I need to find Trip and RJ if they're still alive."

... gaze still on the grill, he pauses.

Frank Noble has posed:
Frank Noble doesnt want to interupt Bucky but after he pauses, he finally nods to Sarah, "I suppose I'm not, but its an honor to meet you." If he starts talking about the Helm, there is a random chance that something might trigger Grenademan, and he as explicitely told NOT to do that. He takes her hand, looking at the enchanted device, abstractly aware of a likely hyper rare alchemical treatment that helps part of it shine or potentially do it. As it is, he shakes her hand; its firm, like stone but warm and not crushing her hand. There is a disturbing lack of doubt there.
5rHe looks at Bucky and is even less sure why he is supposed to be here; this is hardly a chemical analysis, but he IS supposed to be here, so he says, without hesitation, "I had a great grandfather in the mines in Kentucky. Its a rough life."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara's shake is professional. Not to hard, not too soft, the very sort that a police Detective has given a million times to people she comes across. What information Witchblade shares about the man calling himself Frank Noble, she keeps to herself, and she's well away that Witchblade is likely keeping some of it to himself as well.

"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Noble," she offers with a soft smile, her tone also professional.

Joshua gets one of those grins from her, a mixture of smile from his touch mingled into a grin at his comment. "As far as I can tell, they've all liked alcohol," she offers in response. "One a little too much."

She rarely talked about the past lives of Witchblade's wielders, the ones that she relived each night in dreams or tid bits that he shared in the waking hours. There was a long line of women dating back so far that she wasn't entirely certain she'd heard about them all, but in the nearly four years with Witchblade, she had learned about a lot of them.

"I'll contact the local police or sheriff office, see what information I can obtain from their missing person files," she offers immediately, the very second James pauses. Pulling out her phone, she starts typing into it even as she continues speaking.

"Usually with this sort of thing, they're more than willing to share with fellow law enforcement, the more eyes the better in a case like this." The phone gets set down on top of the file folder. "That means I'll be heading there tonight, but James, you already know I'll help in any way that I can. I don't care if this is 'off the books', whether its SHIELD or Avenger or anything else. You can count on me."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Among my abilities is the fact that I can detect life." Joshua offers, as he looks aside to Sara and then over to James. "If they're lost in the mines or something, I may be able to feel them out. At least within around 100 meters. I'm still working on it. And if they're hurt, they'll need immediate medical attention."

"So I guess Sara won't be travelling alone on this one?" he offers, a little shrug of his shoulders.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan gives a look to Richard and there is a frown, "I think I made myself sad. The students would be lost without you." she admits to him. Morrigan looks over the documents and listens to the story of what happened. "This is eerily similar to Milner's Pond. Except not a whole town." she comments. There is a dip of her head to Richard when he states she knows about those things that go bump in the night. "It's usually me, getting ice cream at three am." she grins.

"So when do we leave?" she asks.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Stadler knows that sort of tone. Lord knows he had practiced enough of it himself while the wounds properly scarred over, and some things started to bleed again with just the slightest amount of picking. So he sits, and listens to the whole tale, through the sizzling of meat that added a paradoxically delicious scent to such a morose topic.

But he couldn't argue with a found family... especially one that certainly showed what age Buck had on Rick; that this had happened before he was born. "It's... that's rough, certainly. Father's don't... it's tough to outlive a child."

Speak of the level voice there.

"In any case, I can help, but I can't say I'm looking forward to it. We can see what we can do to get one of the NROL-111s if they're going to make a pass that way, try to map the surface layer with GPR, but that's only going to go so far. It means going into a dark place with limited information on paths in an area that's generally unstable. There's a reason I don't exactly go caving, you know." He says. Grousing certainly can help get img heady, though.

To Morrigan, he tchs. "They'd certainly be all right. A little less well educated about the endocrine system and cellular mitosis and what hemmorgeic fever does to a person, but they're bright people. Though, that does explain the local stories of a vampire prowling about the local 7-11."

James Barnes has posed:
For some reason Bucky was expecting resistance. When he gets nothing but support, he's momentarily caught off guard. He's still not used to having /people/ and not just /person/ - Steve - having his back.

"There really isn't much in the way of local law enforcement and the bigger towns don't care," Bucky points out quietly. "Sheriff's got about fifteen years on Stadler there and spends most of his time sucking moonshine that's brought down from the mountains. Cell services is next to nothing out there." Place sounds like it's lost in time, a little like Bucky himself. Those intense blues of his come to rest on Rick, "I'm glad my parents passed and never knew..." What he became? It's the likely ending to that sentence. "Hopefully you find something," he says to Josh. Hopefully though, it's /someone/ and not /something/. "I need someone, that isn't me," - for obvious reasons - ,"to go talk to the locals. I'll go along, but I can't really be seen by anyone that might have known me then."

He flips the burgers one last time. They'll be ready for eating in just a few, at least as far as he's concerned. He's not a 'well-done' kinda guy. Hot dogs though? They need to be burned.

"I guess that's that then? First step is gathering information. The only thing I know is that some of the men are talking about shadows coming out of the dark, weird high pitched noises from the tunnels..."

Might have mentioned that bit before everyone so eagerly offered to help.

"I really need someone to talk to Rose too. She's eighty-three years old and just lost her entire immediate family." Well, an old lady that's lost everything? That's a good point to land on after creepy shadows and screeching voices?

"Foods about ready. We can leave for Blackstone as soon as everyone's ready. Recon only first though."

Frank Noble has posed:
Frank Noble considers,"Well on theone hand, I'ma scienitst, not exactly a marketing person or in sales, but on the other hand, I'm publicly only very minorly well known and I know enough about Chemical Engineering that I could justify being there to ask about the mine and the condition arond the area to reactivate it or find new sources....it would be minor cover but some cover..." he doesnt think this is why he is here, but he does admit he likes the idea of being useful as Frank, rather than Grenademan.

Not everything can be solved by blowing it up.

Yes it can.

Shut up you.

.....what was THAT?He gets a burger and...eats.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Rick certainly doesn't look happy about old sheriffs and a lack of cell service, though that's put to the side when Bucky mentions his parents. RIck's tactful not to say anything, but his look clearly says it for him. "No, you're not." Parents... no one liked losing those, either. "I can bring along some SATCOM gear." Rick says instead, moving to a different subject, standing up from his chair to peer at the burgers; trust but verify, after all. Medium rare turned to medium in a blink of a eye if you weren't careful.

And he sighs. "It's... I can deal with the shadows coming out of the dark. Certainly. Horrors beyond comprehension. But Lord, I was hoping to have just a few days where I wouldn't be strapped into a jump seat." He says, looking all the more tired for it. "Doctor MacIntyre, you're talking to my TA this time. Just need everyone with a Consultant's card to chip in and see if we can get a quinjet, because as much as I don't want to fly, I sure as /hell/ don't want to drive."