3165/Ice Palace: Sharing what we know

Ice Palace: Sharing what we know
Date of Scene:	30 August 2020
Location:	Angela and Sera's Brownstone
Synopsis:	The Infinity Watch and friends devise several plans to deal with the Sorcerer Vega.. and Loki who seems to be pulling strings behind the scenes.
Cast of Characters:	Sera, Lara Croft, Melinda May, Siobhan Smythe, Nessa Donovan, John Constantine, Thor

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Sera has posed:
Text messaging, word of mouth, letter by owl - however the word got around, Sera's tune on the whole Ice Palace thing had suddenly changed and she knew it was time to get more serious about the issue. It was all fun and games when giant ice skeletons with big axes were playing chasy chase, but something had changed her mind about the whole affair.

The Brownstone is unassuming from the outside and on the front door is a sign that says 'Heven on Earth'. There are magical wards in place across the entrance threshold but for today they have been set inert. The inside is fairly domestic too. Couches, kitchen with assorted snacks on the counter top. A drinks cabinet, a large tv that hasn't been plugged in yet.

Though subtle signs suggest this is anything but a regular Brownstone, such as an ornament of a chicken that appears to have been frozen in space and time mid flight, wings out, but nothing propping it up where it hovers. There's a black sickly looking plant quivering in the corner oozing necromantic magic. And the door to the basement is covered in even more magical protection.

Down in the basement is where the magic seems to be happening. It's a large space and on its cement floor are chalk circles and geometric designs with alien symbols drawn everywhere. There's magic here, glowing bright white above and below the center of the room. Waves pulse from both the top and bottom and meet at the middle where one of the Ice Hearts hovers, slowly rotating.

"Welcome!," Sera greets with forearm shakes for those who want them, "Welcome to my home. Come in, make yourself at home." She is still wearing an apron from her baking of little cup cakes, cookies, and the like. "We'll get started once everyone has arrived."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's jeep arrived outside, the woman exited and approached the brownstone with a messenger bag slung over her body. Wearing a grey tanktop and a green scarf around her neck, her sunglasses on her forehead, some simple dark gray pants and leahter boots, Lara approaches the home and when invited inside she offers a soft smile to Sera and a quiet, gentle, "Thank you. It's lovely." As she moves inside.

Once inside, the British explorer ... does just a bit of that, and idly looks about the home as she moves further in to let others in as well. Her eyes scan about, her hands clutching the strap of her messenger bag in front of her chest, as she settles in to this new place, even she can feel the magic in the air here...

Melinda May has posed:
Agent May can't see or sense any sort of arcane energy. It's just not her skillset. But, she can sure as hell spot weirdness when she sees it. Especially when it's as obvious as a chicken paused in mid-flight or a quivering black plant that, frankly, is just disgusting. And, she's a woman used to food that includes occasionally includes chickens feet and seaweed.

No one said she *enjoyed* chickens' feet and seaweed.

When she makes her way cautiously down into the basement, she's suprised by the domesticity of her hostess... in the midsts of more occult oddities. But, hey! At least, she can now tell SHIELD where the heart of the beast in the castle went.

She's dressed in a manner that, on the street, was meant to not attract attention -- a nice blouse and dark trousers, fashionable ankle boots with chunky heels, and a stylish jacket overtop. Maybe in the heat of summer the jacket makes her stand out, but she's got her badge and ICER under it, so... consider it a wardrobe necessity.

She greets Sera with a simple nod and an expression that conveys professional courtesy. "Good afternoon." Then, she glances around to find a seat fairly near the stairs out.

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
A text message was just fine by Siobhan. She doesn't really know much about magic, let alone known any magic. Sure, she is magical in nature and her other half would likely try to whisper something about it in her ear given the chance. Either way, she shows up at the Brownstone at the appointed time, looking around slowly at the place and smiling briefly at Lara and May as she casually places her hands behind her back.

"Well, dis place is certainly a bit on the strange side, eh?" Her Irish Brogue eating at her words and chewing up certain syllables and consonants as she looks at the various sights.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Really, Nessa was relieved that people were getting together. As she enters the Brownstone, forearm shakes with a carefully covered arm and hand, she moves to make herself comfortable. There's sort of an edge of anticipation and discomfort with her at the moment, probably enough so that it's visible. She doesn't bother to take off her jacket, preferring to leave on the layer over the long-sleeved shirt and gloves she wears. Fashion choice.

She seems to consider the baked goods briefly, but decides not to, finding a spot to go lean against a wall where she can get a good look at everyone.

John Constantine has posed:
A cab pulls up; John gets out. "No, I'll be a a tick mate," he says, leaning in the passenger side window. "Come round here in an hour? If I'm not here, I'll be--"

"At the nearest bar," Chaz concludes. "John, just get a cell phone already."

"Sure, because magic and cell phones work so well together." John straightens and thumps a fist atop the car and looks up at Sera's brownstone. He stops to light a cigarette with a battered old Zippo, the inch-long flame setting paper alight. Up he goes and in, hands in his pockets and with a disregard for any threshold of magic or courtesy that Sera's doorway might hold. "This where the bachelorette party is, then? I'm your stripper," he tells Sera with a straight face. The lanky Brit goes inside and looks around at the others, and gives them a collective up-nod of the head. "Proper party in here, eh?" he says, and picks up a curio to look it over with an impulsive sort of fiddliness.

Thor has posed:
    From without many arrive, heading to the basement to likely join the good lady Sera with her hospitality and fine baked goods. It is a gathering of worthies and though they are well on their way to gathering, it is perhaps a minute or two after the taxi makes its deposit of the Sorcerer from the Sceptered Isle that another presence is made known.
    With heavy footsteps clomping down the stairs from the upper floor, another arrives though laden with a bottle in one hand he is otherwise seemingly at his ease considering he wears white sneakers, blue jeans, and a black t-shirt that has the suitable Avengers 'A!' depicted nicely.
    He pauses in the doorway, eyebrows lifting and raises his voice. "Ah, are we beginning then?"

Sera has posed:
Sera takes off the apron and smiles at the interesting assortment that has collected at her home. Angela appears not to be here, otherwise there'd no doubt be more noise and banging going on. She's not the most subtle of people. She smirks at Thor, "Ayup." She's likewise dressed in black denim jeans and a white t-shirt that has a slogan across her chest saying: 'Touche'd by an Angel'. "Welcome welcome everyone and all," she says and shuts the door finally.

"As many of you are part of the Infinity Watch, you might recognise that the fun little Ice Palace thing has gotten a wee bit out of control. Less fun happy slide around play with skeletons time and more uh oh doom and gloom end of the world time. Those of you who know me know that I rarely lift a finger if I'm not getting paid, but since I've moved to Earth I've made an exception for the uh oh doom and gloom end of the world time. That work I do pro bono."

She says to Thor, May, and John, "Strange assembled a group of us to deal with the magical weirdness that crops up from time to time. Sadly, that appears to be now. Unfortunately, we may have already blown it. So I've asked you all here so we can share what we know, because I regret that we've all made some terrible mistakes."

She motions to the ice heart she has floating in the basement, protected and controlled and analysed. Sera has copious notes written in an alien language, Angelic, on a nearby desk. Thor can probably read it. "The first Ice Heart we removed from the Ice Palace itself is a lock. The other one we removed from the cemetery? probably also a lock. Question is, a lock for what, how many of them are there, how many have we removed and where is the door, and what's behind it?"

Lara Croft has posed:
A returned smile is offered to Siobhan, before Lara looks then to Melinda and seems to consider her presence for a moment before nodding to her SHIELD colleague and boss(?). Lara's attention then goes to the others enterting, some of them she recognizes, but as Sera starts to speak, Lara turns to her messenger bag and opens it up on her left hip, her hands moving within to pull out a leather bound book that she starts to open up, a journal of some kind? When she looks up again her eyes go to the voice of Thor and she does an actual double-take from him to Sera, then back to him. She's never seen HIM in person before, and it's a big deal for her... well, for her youthful self who use to read and study all about Norse mythology...

Focus, Lara!

She looks back to Sear and shifts her weight from one booted foot to the other, quietly clears her throat and opens her journal to look inside it as she reaches for a fancy pen on its spine.

Melinda May has posed:
May listens to Sera's assessment. Locks? She eyes that floating heart. It's a lock? Gre-eat. She really should have spent more time with Palamas on this whole magic thing. She's flying mostly blind, here, and that's not where she likes to be. Nevertheless, she knows that Croft has at least a modicum of expertise when it comes to this sort of thing.

Or so she's been told.

Thus, she returns the younger agent's nod and takes note of the others settling in the room. About the only person she doesn't recognize is Constantine.

Nevertheless, in the interest of sharing information, she offers, "SHIELD has been attempting to map the floes under the city with ground penetrating radar. We've also setup sensors at most of the obvious sites that have cropped up so far." A beat. "I don't know what help that sort of data may be to you."

Do these magic types even believe in science? And does that make a difference?

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
A blink at Constantine and Siobhan rolls her eyes before she then spots Thor and blinks again. She is apparently joining some truly big names here but then she is trying to focus on perhaps making a name for herself. All the same, she turns her attention back to Sera and hmms as she listens. She takes in what is being said and then lets out a sigh.

"Well, as far as knowledge goes, I'm not gonna be a lot of 'elp." She shakes her head, "If I'm bein' honest, I just sorta stumbled into dis mess and it really doesn't bring out the best in me."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"It's a /lock/?" The question that comes out of Nessa reads less of a question and more of an 'oh crap'. "Okay... well, uh, thank you for that. That would honestly explain a lot. I believe I can answer a lot of that." Her attention shifts to May, piecing together what she's saying. "Has anything changed down there since you started tracking? That could honestly fill in a few blanks as well." She certainly does believe in the science behind things--having an overall continued eye on the situation is not something she's been able to deal with in her investigations. She shifts her gaze to Siobhan. "Honestly? /I/ just stumbled into this mess. Or maybe it stumbled into me. That being said, just being willing to help is help in and of itself. I don't care who helps at this point, just that people /try/. Because this is a mess."

This, as it turns out, is not exactly what she had ever expected to be doing. "Okay, well, given all of the information I've been given, things are... a bit sticky. So I'm going to present the information this way. First, I'm going to give you facts that I know for certain that we can work with. Then I'll give you, from my personal experience with this, conclusions I'm drawing off of it. I certainly don't have it all figured out so input is appreciated."

There's no powerpoint, but she's certainly organized it in her head that way. "The soul inside the Ice Palace is a several centuries old sorcerer named Jianyu Vega. A necromancer to be specific, and he's stuck in there because the palace is a phylactery holding his soul. One that's starting to crumble. I can confirm that it's Vega because my friend Luci and I basically made the equivalent of a Ouiji board in the palace to try and ask the soul itself what was going on. However, that conversation solidifies something else: there's another player on the board. Someone who has been pretending to be Vega, gathering students, and setting this all up. The Vega I met initially is not the same Vega that's trapped in the palace."

John Constantine has posed:
John turns and looks as Thor clomps down the stairs; brows rise and he gives Thor a once over. "Nevermind, he'll be taking over for me," the magus quips, and wiggles a thumb in Thor's direction.

"Allow me to shed some more light on things for those of you uninitiated into the arcane," John offers, and steps up next to Sera. He's a slouching, lazy mess next to the proud woman, but there's a strange intensity behind his laconic demeanour. "There's likely three locks. Sera's got one." His head tilts at her. "I've got the other. These things come in threes, it's a rule of magic. I'd hazard a guess that our evil bloke Vega has a third one. I'd wager his soul's tied to the third one."

He drags heavily on his cigarette. "Now as Ness said, Vega's got the third or some element of it. And there's a phantom menace playing all sides against the middle. Someone with a vested interest in making sure somone-- us, or Vega-- gets all three of these hearts in one place. Someone tricky enough to think they can snatch 'em all at once."

John uplifts a chin at Thor. "The name Loki came up," he tells the Prince of Asgard. "Your brother's in on this, which makes me think it's something of the Asgardian he's after. Any cross-section of 'souls', ice, and powerful magic that come to mind?"

Thor has posed:
    Lips parting in a small 'ah' of understanding, Thor gives a nod back to Sera. "Infinity Watch, of course." As if he knew what that was. But he trusts that perhaps all will be explained in time. He steps to the side of that doorway and glances back up the small stairwell before he takes a place against the wall, arms folding over his broad chest as he smiles with a nod to John when the mage steps by.
    He'll have a moment to catch Lara's double take and lifts his bottle to her in greeting, his smile wide and his eyes crinkling. A nod is given as he settles in with his drink. Now that the meeting has begun in earnest he turns his attention on Sera as she offers her insight, so he couches his features into a look of attentive focus. Then sips his beer after he tips it in Siobhan's direction.
    Whatever is going on, Thor at the least seems in a good mood... until.
    The mention of his brother causes a subtle darkening to Thor's features as he makes a face and looks to the side, then back as he murmurs. "If it comes about to be shown that my brother is at least partially responsible for this, then I will not be surprised." A glance is given to Nessa, "Considering he is already at the least peripherally involved with some."

Sera has posed:
Sera listens with interest to Nessa's dire knowledge and then John's predictions. She lifts an eyebrow to Siobhan, "I wouldn't sell yourself short. There's a powerful aura about you." She hmms though, "Well, I can say for certain that the heart I took from the Ice Palace is geographically relevant. Probably too the one John took. They're meant to be where they were.. which means someone sent the skeletons out to fetch them.. presumably to bring them back to the Ice Palace for that reunion. The upside is we merely need to follow the skeletons if we want to know where the last lock is."

She raises an eyebrow and gives Thor a confused shrug, "Loki? You have a brother? Eh?" She's never heard of him, nor was she on Earth when he made his grand entrance with the battle of New York. May be she'd harbour ill will toward him too if she'd witnessed that invasion attempt.

"So I figure we have two options here. We could try and restore the locks to their original places and battle the skeletons again and somehow disrupt the outside influence making all this happen.. or we go with option two which is my personal favourite, we deliberately release the locks, battle the unknown horror that escapes from within, come to the inevitable conclusion that it must be locked away because it can't be killed and thus construct our own replacement locking mechanism while having a jolly good time battling the forces of evil.

    Then we sell the t-shirts commemorating the occasion. That last part works with either plan A or B. But, always good to have a plan C. Where are peoples thoughts on this? Clearly we have done half the job for the skeletons by removing the ice hearts. We can fight them off pretty decent. I intend to get some fire magic practice in if Nessa has some free time for me..."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's eyes rise and fall from her journal, to whomever speaks next, as she usees the fancy pen to scribble down notes of what is being said here. She glances toward May, when she speaks of SHIELD's involvement in all of this, then to the others as they add in more elements to it all. The locks, definitely fascinate her. She scribbles a few other things down before she looks up then to John, then to Thor. "It's possible that Loki is after these locks then, and that's potentially why he's... trapped the spirit of a powerful Necromancer within the ice?" She inquires. "Are you not able to find, and speak to, your brother then?" She asks directly of the Asgardian Prince, as she was all too familiar with the legends of Thor and Loki, even if she knew little to nothing about their reality as it stands today.

To Sera, Lara's stare goes then. She takes down a note or two before looking up again when the options are spoken of. "Option A sounds as though it would be the more prudent of the two. But also more complicated... I would imagine SHIELD would prefer option A." But she glances to May for confirmation or denial of that.

Melinda May has posed:
"Well, that explains the letters and numbers," May says dryly. Her brows crease. She glances to Nessa. "How's Tristan?" She's genuinely concerned for the lad. And she hasn't heard anything about him for some time.

She listens to what Constantine has to say, however, and her ears rise faintly with curiosity as her mind starts putting bits and pieces together, trying to extrapolate. But, she's more a science and computer type than a magic and mysticism type. Still, she can follow the idea of The Rule of Three.

"We saw Loki," she tells the slobbish sorcerer. She eyes Thor. "I think he helped us rescue him." A tilt of her head indicates the so-called thunder god. But all that adds up to is that, yes, Loki is somehow involved.

She sighs, however, as the angel spouts partial nonsense along with her plan. "No t-shirts," she says bluntly. She looks to the magic users in the room. "Will replacing the locks actually work, or should we just find a new solution entirely? It seems to me we don't particularly need some evil soul haunting the undercity of New York." A beat. "Or anywhere else, for that matter."

Nevertheless, she leans back in her chair and crosses her arms over her chest. "I took a consultant down into the Ice Palace. We traced out the lines of ice and slush there. At one point, they flowed between all the various sites that we've had trouble at so far. Now, they've retreated out of all but one course. I don't know much about magic, but when troop movements do that, it usually means they're prepping for a final assault."

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
A small smile is offered to Thor and then to Sera before she looks to Nessa more directly and shrugs, "I might have somet'in' I can try to offer but as far as info goes, I don't have much. I just know dat dese tings are at least tough." She looks to Sera and sucks in a breath before looking down with a sigh, "All I know is eitter way runs a rather big risk. At least if I'm along. I can try to be helpful without shifting over to...that form but I feel like you'll need all hands on deck, so to speak." She nods her head and looks briefly to John before looking ahead, "And I don't know where I'd be a better help."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa winces as she looks to Sera. "Not sure if releasing the locks are a great idea unless we want a powerful necromancer who doesn't currently have a body to float around and probably try to find one so he can continue to try and be immortal. If we just let him out, we've got to have a good plan on how to handle him. It's an option, but it may potentially be the most dangerous option if we aren't prepared to deal with that. I'd definitely put that on the table for consideration, though."

She looks towards May, offering a half smile. "Tristan's alright. He's a brave kid, though he's taking it a bit hard to find out that the little animals he was making were draining his life. This isn't going to be easy for him. I'm not sure how I'm going to tell him how many lies are wrapped up in this."

Nessa's gaze drifts to Thor. "I don't think your brother's just partially responsible. From what I've got, I'm reasonably certain that the second player in this /is/ Loki. When I met 'Vega' for the first time, he claimed to be the second most powerful ice mage in the world. He told me I should find out who the first was. When I asked Tristan, one of the students studying under this 'Vega' who the most powerful ice mage in the world was, he told me that 'Vega' said it was Loki. On its own, that might not seem like much, but when you add it to the rest of everything, it drives the point home a bit."

She frowns. "Several times, Loki has decided to tell me information regarding what was going on with the ice palace. Some of it has been correct. Without him, I wouldn't have known that students, including myself, were being drained of their lives to feed whatever was going on with the palace. While he could have just been bored and used his knowledge of magic to inform me of things, he very much could have easily just been putting the information out there to make us all do what he'd already planned. I'm leaning towards that option because he put me onto researching phylacteries."

She continues. "Loki told me that the best way to handle Vega was to use a phylactery to contain his soul. Upon getting a second opinion from a friend, I found out that he's already /in/ a phylactery. The ice palace is serving as one. I assume, the locks are holding it. What Loki suggested was that he be popped into a new one... which I believe is him asking for a gift-wrapped package of one necromancer soul. So, while this /would/ be an option to do, the necromancer would be in Loki's hands and that's not a great long term solution if you ask me."

Nessa lets out a deep breath. "So the way I see it, we have two problems: Vega and Loki. We have to do something with Vega as it stands. I don't know if he can break all the locks himself or if he's gaining enough strength to break through on his own. What I do know is that we're short on time so we either need to capture him safely or destroy him in some way, and somehow deal with whatever Loki wants in the middle of all of that."

Thor has posed:
    The sour expression remains in place as Thor remains against the wall, arms folded tightly over his chest with the beer held light between two fingers across his forearm. A grimace is seen then he murmurs, "It is possible to find and speak with my brother, but it is rare that good comes of it."
    When May brings up the presence of Loki at the battle they were both present at, the Thunderer gives a nod and flares his hand slightly, gesturing with the bottle as if it was very likely that indeed Loki could be the cause of such ill. Yet again.
    "Loki and I are working on another matter, that has to do with another magical situation. It is possible I can bring him to speak with us if needs be. But he likely will have planned for such a situation. And will be expecting it."

Sera has posed:
Sera paces for a moment as she listens to the suggestions and information. She goes over to her fridge and gets a beer for herself, pops the top and takes a sip. Thor had the right idea all along. A cup cake is eaten too. She tilts her head when May demands no t-shirts.

"So narratively, Loki wants a necromancer soul, is thus helping a necromancer escape confinement, convincing Nessa to do all the heavy lifting to capture said necromancer. Big climactic battle with necromancer and skeletons and ice and Frozen references later, he absconds with the new phylactery and we're all left tending our wounded."

"Or.. we put up a real fight, stop the skeletons, give Loki a firm kick in the butt, restore the locks. Well, that's not as exciting I grant you that. But what if we get got a bit of our own back here hm? Trick Loki with a fake phylactery? let him think he's won - put on a big fake show, a fake released necromancer, a fake battle, a fake capturing. Once he's left - then we restore the locks to where they were. With enough preparation, it could all seem very real."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara holds her journal down against her stomach with her right hand up underneath it and holding its spine in her palm while her other hand rests within it, holding the pen. She keeps her eyes on Thor as he replies to her, then she nods once to him. "You should try." She tells him. "Communication with Loki, is an optimal route to take rather than simply trying to set a trap for him. If such a communication is even /remotely/ possible." She glances to the others then.

"I'll add that something also concerns me. That being as to why the ice prison was constructed in such a public place. It seems like quite a spectacle to put on for the people of this area, just to 'get something' from the person's soul that he's captured within its icy walls."

"But..." She glances down at her notes. "Maybe that's just part of his joy in all of this." She adds, those last words a bit softer.

Melinda May has posed:
May pinches the bridge of her nose as more and more info is revealed. She still doesn't know much about this magic stuff. But she can sum up the gist of it fairly well. Still, if you ask her? Dealing with international terrorists and rogue governments is a helluva lot easier.

"Croft is right. And I don't like the idea of either of these particular... individuals being left around to cause more trouble -- locked away or no. And I'm not convinced 'faking out' a master of deception like Loki is as easy as you make it sound." Not that she expects reason to work any better. Bitter agency experience there.

She regards the rest of the people in the room. "Is there any way we could get this necromancer to 'cross over', or whatever it is you want to call it? Help me understand this. We're talking about a soul, right? You said his soul is locked in this Ice Palace. That implies his body is elsewhere. Or is it in the ice palace too?" Because that could complicate matters -- if he's still alive. She's not actually advocating murder, here.

"I mean, I don't know much about magic, but it seems to me that if a soul isn't in a body, it's effectively a ghost, yes? And if it's a ghost, doesn't that mean it's dead? And if it's dead... shouldn't it be somewhere in the afterlife and not freezing random places in New York? Besides, if we just lock him away where he was, what's to stop him finding another opportunity to freeze the city again? If he's already dead, why can't we just dispatch him to whatever afterlife is awaiting him?"

She looks then to Thor. "And if Loki *is* behind this... you do understand that we need him brought into custody, right? I understand your father may have forgiven him for the Battle of New York, but the US government hasn't. And if he's now behind all the destruction to this city, that only adds to his charges. Perhaps we can look at an extradition agreement. You take him back to Asgard and sequester him there, or we find some way to build a cell strong enough to hold him."

Fury has Stark on speeddial, so that's totally doable, right?

Ok. Maybe not. Still...

She grimaces, brows furrowing at Thor's words. "Wait. What other magical crisis?"

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
For her part, Siobhan sighs as she feels like she has nothing to add. She finds a spot to sit and takes a bit of food to chew on. She looks at the others and only speaks up to say, "I don't know." She shrugs, "It feels like if ya lock tings up again, you're only kickin' the problem down da road to someone or sometin' else."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa's gaze fixes on Thor. "I do not want any more of Loki's lies," she says, her tone abruptly /very/ serious. "I can deal with me being used if I have to, that's one matter, but it's an entirely different story when you consider the fact that he's using children like they're /disposable batteries/. I do not think this is something that can just be discussed in this case. If you are interested in using your influence as your brother to help in this, if we can manage to keep Loki as far away from this as possible while we handle Vega, I think we'll all be better off." Brotherly camping weekend?!

She does nod at Sera's suggestions. "Option one means the immediate danger is over but sets us up to potentially be screwed in the end." She nods towards May. "Agent May is right, we need to make sure Vega will no longer be a problem and that we're not giving Loki everything he wants. I don't know if we /can/ put a lock back, but if the information is correct, the ice flows indicate that there's one area left. If there's a lock there, which I suspect there is, we can try and guard it at its current location. I'm not even sure the ice palace is made to be a permanent prison in the first place. Even if we put them back, how long would Vega stay in there?"

Her attention turns to May. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a body. I think he's lived as long as he has because he's using people to continue his own immortality. He's a ghost in a bottle that's breaking. You have a good point, though. When my friend Luci told me we didn't need a phylactery, he mentioned this sort of thing felt like more of something you cleansed. Some kind of cleansing ritual to banish him back to wherever his soul's supposed to move on to?" While Agent May's no pro on magic, the ice mage certainly seems to like this plan.

"So I'm getting that we need to, at the very least, see if we can restore a lock and protect whatever's left from being accessed or moved at all. On top of that, maybe researching how to cleanse a soul or tell it to get the hell out."

Thor has posed:
    "I do not disagree with you," Thor offers to Nessa, clearly not entirely pleased with his brother. But then he's uncurling a hand in May's direction, Thor answers her with a look that has a tinge of exasperation to it. "That... is another issue entire, extradition or imprisonment." The Thunderer looks to the side, one hand pushing through his hair thoughtfully as he frowns and says, "Tis why we have Captain Rogers as ambassador to the Asgardian court. Yet Odin views Midgard as..."
    A deep breath is taken, "As a protectorate of sorts. So there is not an easy give and take between the two sides. Extradition? Unlikely. If you can capture and hold Loki, then that would go a ways to resolving the issue. But also might raise others."
    That said he then nods once, "Though the other task is some old artifacts recovered that need to be made safe, unrelated to this I believe."
    A beat, then he adds. "I have been known to be wrong, however. Now and again."

Sera has posed:
Sera takes the time to enjoy some still warm cookies and nods to Siobhan's choice of snacking. "Interesting. So after all this, we may have to let Vega out any way, just so we can deal with him properly. I bet John might be able to figure out a way to send this necromancer to hell. I can certainly spend some time trying to remember how one ..ahem.. 'cleanses', as you put it. I think the term used here on Midgard is 'holy fire' or some such? That way we have at least two ways of dealing with him. Keep in mind, he's apparently a master of necromancy and thus cheating death."

She sips her beer and frowns thoughtfully. "Evaporation of an expired soul is.. well, it's certainly doable. I am going to have to think about this." Her eyes glance over to the beautiful lute sitting on a stand next to the wall, "And play some music to job my memory. But, we have several options. Hell, Oblivion, New Phylactery, Current Phylactery. The only real hiccup here is if Loki, who I am now understanding is a master of illusion, tries to get in the way and claim his prize."

"We know where this confrontation will happen, just not when. We also have a good idea what kind of opposition the skeletons will put up, but not necessarily what kind of opposition Loki might put up. I do like that idea of taking Loki on a wild goose chase to keep him away from the confrontation with Vega. It would simply a lot of variables."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara has remained standing since they settled in for this meeting, she's holding her notebook in front of her and looks up again in time to add in. "In my research, most Necromancers-- who have remained her after death -- have done so by attaching their spirit to an item still associated to this mortal world. Generally something like... a statue, or even something as small as a ring. It may be that, in order to cleanse this spirit of our realm, we simply need to locate that item... and destroy it. The Necromancer's spell would there-in be broken along with it."

"Is that the case for this particular... Vega? I wouldn't know. I plan to look him up once I get back to my desk, however, if there's any information to be found on him, it could give clues as to what such items might be."

Melinda May has posed:
May hears Thor's words and a wry grimace touches her lips. She hates diplomacy. Seriously, just sit her behind the stick of a flying machine and let her be. Then, you might actually see her smile.

As it is, she listens to the plans made out. "Look, I'm no magic user. So, consider me the voice of the people of New York. At the end of the day, whatever plan you mystical folks think is best, I'll help support, but I have three priorities I want satisfied: No one else, no civilians in this city get hurt by this; this necromancer is dealt with decisively so he's no longer a threat to anyone here on Earth; and Loki is corralled in whatever way may be best so that I'm not having to explain to Director Fury why the heavens are opening and monsters are spewing out *again*. Grant me those three things and SHIELD will have your back. We'll keep the rest of the city from getting caught in the crossfire."

It's the best she can offer.

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
Sitting up a little and letting out a sigh, Siobhan shakes her head and looks over at May briefly before pointing at her, "What she said." She nods her head, "I might be magic but I'm not a magic user." She nods her head, "I just happen to have a little extra baggage." She then shrugs, "I just want this dealt wit' and leave no one gettin' hurt anymore. If I cna help wit dat, I will." She nods her head and shrugs.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa nods towards Sera. "Okay, if you can try and poke around with anything that you can find about cleansing, we can get John to do similar." She seems thoughtful. "We've got options on the table, but I think we need to poke around a little more, if we've got time. We'll need to be quick, though. I don't know how long he's gonna stay in there." Her gaze moves to Lara, who she also nods at.

"The information I have on Vega is very limited. I know he's a necromancer, and I know that he's around a century old. If you happen to have resources to find out more about who he is or if there's some object perhaps mentioned in relation to him, we could try to find and destroy that. I wouldn't know where to start there." Her gaze shifts back to May. "I agree with all of that. That's my ideal plan, honestly. And SHIELD's continued help would be very beneficial." She offers Siobhan a smile last. "Trust me, you'll be a help, I'm sure. Don't let yourself doubt that."

She looks around. "Okay, I don't normally do these things so I guess that's it? Just do some research and let me know what you find. I'll try and coordinate, since I'm stuck right in the middle."

Sera has posed:
Sera nods her head, "Yes. We have lots of good options on the table. And, I appreciate SHIELDs angle. Many of us put our lives on the line to save this city. It's very much home for me now too. So, let's ... slow this mood and vibe down. There's drinks in the fridge, snacks on the counter top. Feel free to mingle and relax on my couches. Stay as long as you like. We'll be ready, when the skeletons make their move."