5698/The Mirror that Hungers

The Mirror that Hungers
Date of Scene:	23 March 2021
Location:	Petra's Curiosities, New York
Synopsis:	An eventful day ensues when Abcde is tricked by a djinn trapped in a mirror which results in Daniel Sousa and Arturo Malevolo suddenly transported in to the present. Some how HYDRA knew he'd be arriving and turned up to collect Arturo. They also took the mirror but Daniel and Abcde got away. Abcde is letting Daniel sleep on her couch tonight before they head to the police to give statements and find help from SHIELD.
Cast of Characters:	Abcde Prescelta, Daniel Sousa

---

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
Petra's Curiosities, an antique shop in New York, was run by Herman Weiss. The older gentleman was pottering about behind the counter when the little dingding of the bell above the door rang. Abcde was on the hunt. She had been searching for and recording all the failed attempts at writing elemental summoning glyphs in graffiti on walls and at its epicenter was this neighbourhood.

    She figured, perhaps, someone managed to get their hands on a book of real magic - may be even from an antique shop like this one. It was worth checking out. The older man gives Abcde a smile and she returns one, "Let me know if you need anything." With a small nod the young woman from Huntington West Virginia politely replies, "Thank you very much sir."

    Looking over the books and furniture, antique browsing was a state pass time back home and she had caught the bug from her mother at a young age. Usually there's nothing of note - but not this time.

    The mirror sits in the corner of the back room and its surface glimmers in low light in a most unnatural way. The bronze border covered in faces of pained expressions, it catches Abcde's eye and she moves closer to investigate.

    "No!," she shouts suddenly as the mirror reveals itself to her. WikiAdmin (talk) YES WikiAdmin (talk) a dark voice echos in to her mind. The room goes dark about her leaving only the mirror in her sight and she cannot pull away from it, its magic has grabbed her tightly and is refusing to let go.

    Blue swirls of magic leap from her hands as she tries to resist it. WikiAdmin (talk) I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE WITCH, WITNESS WHAT I AM WikiAdmin (talk). Abcde tries to look away but the force of the mirror draws her eyes back to witness the scenes inside even as she notices the mirror drawing her blue magical energy in to itself. Within the mirror she sees two men, overlapping, like a slide show flicking back and forth. One looks like he's from a detective film noir, the other from a medieval fantasy.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
The Roosevelt Hotel - 1956

Daniel had made the drop to Stark's man in the bar, now he just had to draw off the hoods that had been tailing him to let Stark's man make an exit out the side door.

Weird thing was these guys didn't seem the type that Leviathan would use, just cheap crooks, he'd have time to puzzle that out later, for now he had a job to do. So, finishing his drink, he stands up making sure to catch the eyes of one of the goons that had settled into a nearby table before he fakes stuffing something in his pocket to make the man think he still had the whatever the hell it was they had him bring to Stark's people.

That done Daniel heads towards the back, figuring the pool deck would offer him a cleaner escape than having to go through the lobby, especially if it came to a gunfight. ^Checking his pistol is secure in his shoulder rig and then slips out the glass and wood doors and steps onto the deck, turning quickly as he catches sight of movement in the corner of his eye. "Oh hell," he says as he sees the gun gleaming in the dim light he reaches under his coat for his service piece but the guy has him dead to rights....

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    Roma, Italy - 1493

    Arturo's horse sped along the cobble road at night, the bells on its halter jingling a warning ahead for those that may step in to his path. But his pursuers were using the bells to follow him. Suddenly, his horse slide to a stop and reared up; a cart had blocked the way - left there over night. Arturo had taken a wrong turn and his luck had finally run out.

    He fell from his horse and hit the cobbled surface hard, his head cracking against it. Dazed he slowly stood up and stumbled up against a wooden fence. His pursuers came to a stop and dismounted. *shnk* Their swords were drawn. Arturo's head snaps around groggily to witness them, even as Abcde witnesses the men lunging at him from all sides.

    New York, 2021

    Abcde's magical energies start to touch the bronze border of the mirror. They lick and crackle as the faces begin to move and swirl around like bodiless souls, WikiAdmin (talk) Witness my chosen. I have watched their lives again and again, to much delight. Now share their last moments of life with me little witch, again.. and again... and again.... WikiAdmin (talk).

    Abcde's feet slide along the floor even as she tries to find purchase to push back and away. The last moments of Daniel Sousa and Arturo Malevolo flicker before her eyes in an almost mesmerising way. May be that was the point. She grits her teeth and tries to look away again, seeing them near death again and again was making her heart race.

    "terminus nostris malis!," she says as the magic from her hands flares. The dark voice in her head begins to laugh cruelly and replies, WikiAdmin (talk) GRANTED WikiAdmin (talk).

    Suddenly, the light in the room returns and Abcde's pull toward the mirror has ceased. She catches her breath. The surface of the mirror begins to vibrate and shake until it suddenly explodes out in a thousand shards, many of which dig in to Abcde like shrapnel. She lets out a cry of pain as blood is ripped from her wounds and pulled in to the swirling vortex between the bronze border where the mirror should be.

    From this darkness falls two men.. Daniel Sousa and Arturo Malevolo.

    And then, as if nothing had happened but a mirror shattering, the world is still again. Abcde is shaking and knees to the ground, plucking at pieces of mirror from her clothing - some of which made it in to her body. She had just royally fucked up. Panting she whispers, "Stulti Magicae.. you're djinn." But the mirror is still and quiet. An empty bronze frame with no faces on it at all.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel's hand clasps the grip of his weapon and it's yanked free of its holster, he had to be faster than fast here or?

Something flashes in his vision and he knows it's too late? all those close calls he and Peggy survived and this is how it ends? Shot dead by a two bit thug beside a pool.

Oddly there's no pain, just a vague sense of falling in darkness, had he been wrong pushing aside his mother's faith after the war, was there life after death after all? Those thoughts and memories of Peggy and Michael occupy his mind as he falls.

Then suddenly he's landing hard on a tile floor, his pistol and cane both skittering out of his hands. "What the hell?" he murmurs as he tries to push himself up and look around, this wasn't any sort of afterlife like they taught him about in Sunday school, it looked like an antique shop, one with an injured woman next to him.

"Hey," he says sitting up weapon forgotten for the moment. "Jeeze, you got hit bad," he says, "Hold on, we'll get you patched up and call an ambulance."

Even ripped from time Daniel is still Daniel.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    Arturo tumbles to the floor. Rising with pep in his step he pats himself over. No swords, no stab wounds. A strange collection of furniture and architecture he's not familiar with. The man is dressed in Italian renaissance clothing and has a dagger on his belt. He lets out a gruff laugh. "ho ingannato la morte," he says with a look of delight on his face. He eyes Abcde and Daniel with curiosity. Blood magic ritual? perhaps she is HYDRA.

    "Mi scusi," he says lift a hand and turns to leave the room, almost bumping in to the old shop keep of this establishment. "Oh so sorry young man, I heard something break back here," he says and looks Arturo up and down. The Italian man is ecstatic and pats the shopkeep on the shoulders, then kisses both his cheeks, "bravo! bellissimo! And you are speaking English," he steps past the old man and steps out of the shop and in to the modern world.

    ---

    Abcde wipes her bloodied hands on her clothing and watches Arturo with confusion, then stares at Daniel. One of them at least speaks American. She pushes back up and says, "Wait..," to Arturo who isn't listening, then tries to step in front of Daniel, "Hold on yourself. I'll be okay, it's superficial. I have a lot of questions."

    Abcde whips the wand out of its holster from her hip and points it to the mirror. Blue magic swirls from her hands and jumps down the wand as she says, "ostendam tibi vera ratione." The blue energy shoots to the empty mirror frame and dances over it... then dissipates. "Oh no...," she says grimly, "It escaped and it's my fault."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Who in the hell? Daniel wonders looking up from the woman to the man who appears out of nowhere looking like a page from a history book.

Then the guy is gone out the door, and Daniel shares a confused look with the shopkeeper before he turns back to Abcde. "Are you sure?" he asks her about her wounds. "And I'm afraid I am not going to have too many answers," he says before Abcde does what she can apparently do. Daniel falls back on his behind staring openly. "What was that?!" he exclaims. "And what escaped from where? Somebody needs to start making some sense around here real quick."

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    With a wince Abcde pulls another piece of glass from her side and drops it to the ground. The shop keeper looks mighty concern, "Oh no miss I'm so sorry the mirror.. it's a new piece I didn't think it would break!" He turns around and potters back toward his counter to get his first aid kit.

    She rests a hand on Daniel's shoulder, still covered in her blood unfortunately, "I can't afford ambulance cover - so - I'll make do. But I just accidentally made a blood deal with a djinn and I am afraid it concerned you and that other man. I was .... tricked."

    She slumps her shoulders a touch. Her aunties will be so disappointed in her. She's disappointed in herself. "Who are you, where were you, and what year is it?" asks the young woman wearing the strange clothes carrying a magic wand. She's a bit of an odd mixture for someone from the 50s. Bewitched hadn't even hit the airwaves for another decade for Sousa.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Let someone just deal with multiple wounds, not likely. "It's alright," he says grabbing his cane and pistol putting the latter away before using the former to stand. He reaches into his pocket to pull out the slim wallet that held his ID and badge, he flashes it to the man. "Sir, I'm Field Director Sousa with SHIELD, I need you to call an ambulance for our friend here," he smiles back to Abcde. "Don't worry it's on us, now what did you say about a blood pact?" he says. "Like some sort of magic?" he asks brow furrowing deeply.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    Arturo steps in to the light and the sounds of an early 21st century city. He is assaulted by the garring architecture, of buildings reaching to the heavens. Of people barely wearing any clothing at all and .. SO many people. A car swurves out of the way and honks its horn at him as he wanders on to the road.

    Recognising a road, but not the vehicles, he steps off of it back on to the curb. "impossibile," he whispers to himself in awe. Like being transported to an alien world, he has no points of reference.

    Three black SUVs suddenly pull up in front of the shop. No markings, tinted windows. From two of them step out men wearing black and armour and face masks. They're carrying heavy machine guns. They surround Arturo and the middle car's window winds down.

    Gideon Malick looks out at the renaissance man, then down to a digital copy of a painting of him. He starts to smile and says, "Hail HYDRA." The guards, in unison, salute with two hands, "HAIL HYDRA!" It's not subtle.. and suddenly Arturo has a point of reference like no other. He begins to laugh up to the skies and then looks back to the honour guard, and the man in the car, "Hail HYDRA," he replies. The door opens and he slides in to the palatial carriage with no horses.

    Without missing a beat, Arturo starts to realise what's going on here. He lifts his chin as he regards Gideon and says in his thick Italian accent, "Take the mirror, leave no witnesses."

    ---

    "SHIELD?," Abcde asks curiosity. She vaguely recalls something on the news about SHIELD but they live so far away from her version of life that it doesn't entirely register. "Sir please.. Field Director Sousa. This is important - more important than my cuts," she says with a wince and then shakes her clothing as more bits of glass fall to the ground that were clinging on. "Where and when were you?"

    The shop keeper having made his way back with a first aid kit nods his head, "Ambulance, okay..." and turns and walks slowly back towards his shop front phone.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"Yeah, SHIELD, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, we've got offices here in LA," he says before he takes in the weird clothes and glances out onto the street, it didn't look like LA. "And probably wherever we are," he says before adding with a bit of a grimace, "We work with Howard Stark?" odds were even if this woman hadn't heard of SHIELD she's heard of Stark.

Her question cuts through though. "Where and when? The Roosevelt hotel, LA, July 12th around ten pm or so. I dunno, it was a long couple of days. Where are we right now though?"

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    The look of confusion grows on Abcde's face. She's no cop, no spy. But the dissonance she understands. The confusion magic can reep. "I think you mean Tony Stark," she says when he mentions Howard Stark. Everyone knows Tony Stark, he's one of the coolest men in America.

    She eyes him sideways for a moment and says, "We're in Upper Manhattan, New York. It's March 28th, 2021.." she pauses to look outside as she hears cars pulling up. Her sympathetic expression fades in to one of fear as men with guns step out of the vehicles.

    Abcde is not familiar with SHIELD and she certainly isn't familiar with HYDRA. But a double nazi salute and guns? that's enough to drain the blood from anyones face. She gulps and says, "Mr. Sousa.. we need to get out of here!"

    The armed men burst through the door of the shop and the shopkeeper is killed within seconds. <<Search every room for the mirror>> one of them says muffledly through their mask.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"Who the hell is Tony Stark-" Daniel begins before Abcde gives him the where and when and his heart drops down into his shoes. "2021-" he says stunned, glancing around again, feeling suddenly light headed lips and face getting a bit numb with sudden existential panic. "How the hell-"

But there were other things to worry about, he definitely knows HYDRA and that salute is unmistakable. "Yep," he agrees. "Let me go get the-"

He's cut off again this time by the sound of gunfire, damn it, too late.

He turns back to Abcde, "Let's go," he says nodding to the back. This was New York so even in the world of tomorrow there was always a back door. Or so he hopes anyhow.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    Abcde moves behind an armoire quickly with Daniel out of line of sight from the HYDRA men. The back door is evident, but they will be seen. "Okay," she whispers softly as two of them men find the broken mirror and pick up the frame. They start moving it out of the shop as others continue to search the place for witnesses.

    "I'll blind them," she continues to whisper, "And we run for that door, then keep running, and we don't look back?" That's the best plan she's got. Run away. It's always served her well in the past.

    Even as she lifts up her wand, the blue magical energy swirling around her hands leaps to the magical artefact that is her wand and she says, "portaci dalla loro vista." The blue magic bursts out in a wave there is a bright flash in the room like a flashbang went off.

    Abcde places a hand to the wall as she gasps, her eyes white in blindness, even as the HYDRA soldiers stumble too unable to see. "I can't see," she whispers to Sousa, the only one left with vision in the room. There remains a HYDRA soldier between them and the exit.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"To a value of run, sure," Daniel says with a glance down at his cane. "But you definitely run, I'll be right behind you."

The light flashes and Sousa wastes no time in acting, he raises his pistol aimed right for the HYDRA soldier's head and pulls the trigger before he grabs Abcde's arm and starts limping for the door directing her around the body on the floor with a nudge. As soon as they reach the back he pushes through the door and Daniel glances about for his bearings.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    The HYDRA soldiers would have responded to that gun shot.. if they could see anything. The car containing Malick and Malevolo drives off. Daniel and Abcde make it out in to the back alley. There's only one way to run. The buildings are tall in this part of town, but no less tall than they were back in the 50s. Repurposed, not redeveloped.

    It's not until they've rounded a few corners that they exit out in to a crowded street of people. A market of sorts, with a long boulevard view of downtown Manhattan and it's impressive skyline of giant buildings. Modern cars driving by and everyone typing on small hand held devices while somehow still watching where they're walking.

    Being guided while blind is extremely disorienting for Abcde, but once outside, slowly her eyesight returns. She slides her wand back in to its holster and clings to the stranger, "...what year?" she asks Daniel as she squints with blurry vision.

    ---

    The HYDRA soldiers slowly start to regain their vision. They complete their sweep of the building. There obviously was one witness who got away. And one of their team is dead. The remaining two SUVs, loaded with personnel once more, drive away.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
The buildings look familiar until he's out of the alley and can see the modern fronting and other details as they pass into the market. He slips his pistol back into his jacket and does his best to blend the two of them into the crowd, even as he marvels at things they pass. "What is everyone carrying? Small, about six inches tall and two wide, they're typing on them?" he guesses, before Abcde asks that question again, "'56," he says. "It was July when I left, no idea when it is now." Other than apparently 2021.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    Abcde dips a hand in to her jacket pocket and takes out her phone. She swipe unlocks it and hands it to Sousa, "It's called a cell phone." 1956.. yeah.. this is going to be tricky. "And I'd guess that other guy is from medieval Italy or something," she says with a sigh. She has royally messed up.

    "It's the end of March," she enlightens him and then stops and looks him in the eyes. His face still blurry even as the spell is wearing off. She blinks a few times and he comes in to focus, "I'm really sorry I didn't mean for this to happen."

    "I feel like a complete novice because I was tricked by an evil spirit, a djinn. I knew they twisted wishes .. but .. I don't even understand what it sought to gain." She nibbles on her bottom lip and then says, "May be it needed energy to escape. But now I need to figure out where it went and trap it again."

    She sighs and says, "Mr. Sousa.. you're obviously going to be disoriented by all this. You can stay at my place until you.. we.. figure out how to send you back to where you came from." Back to his death perhaps, but she's simply not sure. May be that's the wrong thing to do. "And find that other guy too. Though something tells me those were his friends who picked him up."

    She places a hand to her heart, "Real terrorists. I knew the big city would be rough but.. I never thought I'd come face to face with actual terrorists!"

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Sorry what was Abcde saying? He sort of loses focus once she hands over the phone it grabbing the lion's share of his attention. It's bright and colourful and disorienting, but also kind of cool..."This is a phone?" he asks. "I'm going to sound dumb here, but do you guys plug it into the lines or something to make it work?" he asks. "And what are people writing on it?" he asks before he makes himself take a breath. "Actually don't answer anything past how it works, the less I know about the future the better."

Thankfully all he knew so far was magic is a thing, there's still HYDRA and it was confusing as hell... oh and there was someone named Tony Stark...

He stops thinking about it coming back more fully to what Abcde is saying. "I appreciate the offer but if you can make this thing work I'll see if I any numbers I know still work, check in with SHIELD and see if they can help us. We had something like this happen before, hopefully we can fix this with your help, and track down whoever it was in the period piece get up."

Daniel flinches a little about the terrorists, "Sorry you had to see that..." he realizes he doesn't know her name. "Actually what do I call you?" The things with djinn and magic, would wait a few moments one mind bending thing at a time, that's how he's going to get through this.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    Abcde peers over to him and says, "Oh gawd, you're a back to the future sort of time traveler, not a hot tub time machine sort of time traveler." She sighs and grins, then realises neither of those references would mean anything to the olde timey man. "Uh. I mean, okay it's fine if you don't want to know certain things. If we can get you home that is. If not.. well.. any way it's wireless, no need to plug it in to anything. And don't worry it's all backed up in to the cloud."

    She touches the phone icon on the phone which brings up an unfamiliar 3x4 number pad instead of a rotary dial. It is, at least, more obvious how this bit works. Sadly, phone numbers from the 1950s are missing numerous digits to work in the present day and age.

    "Something like this has happened before...," she muses and then rubs her eyes blinking a few more times as the spell is completely gone. "Oh. Duh. Idiot. Sorry." She smiles at him awkwardly and offers her hand, "I'm Abcde Prescelta. Just call me Abcde, Mr. Sousa."

    She approaches a hot dog vender and asks, "Are you hungry?" Not waiting for an answer she orders two hot dogs and then takes out a rectangular piece of plastic and taps it against another square piece of plastic and it makes a beep and just like that she's paid for the food.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"What in the heck is a Hot Tub Time Machine?" Daniel asks. "And are time travellers so common there's types?" he asks not aware those are pop culture references rather than official classifications.

He triess home, it was a long shot but that's where his priorities are, no dice, ditto for calling into to office. Each time he gets some operator who tells him his call can't be completed as dialed and he should hang up and try again. "Hello can you connect me to 363-2298?" he blurts out before the recording end and he's hung up on again. "Wow, I keep getting the same rude operator each time I call, guess I'm going to have to try later," he remarks looking up at Abcde's question, realizing he's hungry when he smells a hot dog. "Finally something I recognize," he says though that doesn't apply to how she pays. "What was that?" he asks her, brow furrowing again.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    "My credit card. You have my phone so I couldn't pay with the app," she says in incomprehensible English. "Did you say 363-2298? Mr. Sousa that's three digits short of a cell number that's never going to work," she says with wide eyes of revelation. She offers him the second hot dog and then walks in to a small plaza with a water feature. There are kids running through it despite the weather. In some ways this is familiar New York, but in other ways.... not so much.

    "I always get hungry when I've done something extremely bad. Food anxiety," she says and bites in to her food hoping it'll calm her nerves. "So.. you're from 1956," she says trying to wrap her mind around what just happened. "I can, without a doubt, say that I have never ever experienced magic like that before. That is.. up there with the kind of stuff I try to avoid like the plague."

    "And hot tub time machine and back to the future are movies about time travellers. They're both pretty silly. You're the first actual time traveller I've ever met so.. uh.. welcome to the woooorld of tomorrow? ...futurama reference. It's a tv show." In the future people talk in pop-culture.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel looks at Abcde closely, not quite able to read her like he would someone from his time, "Are you just making up words to mess with me?" he asks, "Pardon my French but what the hell is an app?"

He takes a bite of his hot dog and watches the kids playing in the water, both remind him of home and give him a moment to collect his thoughts. "Make sense the numbers are longer now, we just bumped up to seven digits before I left," he takes another bite of his hot dog.

He smiles faintly about the TV reference thing, "Peg and I barely watch TV, but I heard good things about I Love Lucy," he remarks, still half watching the kids half staring into space while his mind tries to wrap itself around his new reality. "C'mon if May can do it, so can you," he mutters to himself.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    "No..," she says and then laughs. "No the phone is full of apps. You know to be a compass, or show you maps, your address book, making phone calls.. sending messages to people and reading the news. Pictures of cats, videos, live streams.. everything. Apps." Not being a computer person she lacks the vocabulary to explain it better than that.

    "I Love Lucy? sorry never heard of that one. Alexa, tell me about I Love Lucy." Suddenly, the phone in Sousa's hands beeps and starts to talk, "I Love Lucy, a television show from 1951 to 1957 starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz. Searching for episodes." The screen changes and says 'Content No Longer Available' in white text on a black background.

    She sighs a moment and thinks, "So you have .. friends that know about time travel? How do you have friends in 2021?" She looks somewhat curious and asks, "Who is May?"

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel just pretends he understands half of what Abcde is saying but focusing on trivia, "Huh, guess I should have started watching that sooner, only one more year left when I get home," and he /was/ getting home.

Though when she asks about how he has friends here. "Like I said, we've had this happen before, the details are classified but someone came back from last year, we got her back home, that's who May is, just thinking about what she went through when she was in the past." The whole thing about how his wife from 1956 is alive here too is a story for another day.

"I think if we can reach SHIELD she and the others will be able to help, at the very least they should have the resources to track down the other guy the Squids picked up," he says handing the phone back to Abcde. "I could definitely use your help both in getting in touch with SHIELD and afterwards on figuring out how to get home, at least in my time we didn't have anyone who knows anything about magic and it sounds like from what you're saying it's some pretty serious magic going on, and there's a djinn, like a genie right?" hey he reads even if he's not sure about magic.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    She moves to the messaging app and sends a quick one to her aunties group chat, <Messed up big time today, will chat about it later. Looking after a time traveller. Am safe now. Love you all> She puts it back in to her coat as more bits of broken glass somehow fall out.

    "Well, that sounds like a plan. There's a police station not far from here - we can ask them how to get in touch with SHIELD? since I'm betting any phone numbers you have aren't going to be worth much any more," she says with a smile. If she can at least make sure he's okay.. then the bigger problems can be worked on.

    "Magic isn't that.. common in the world. So, yeah, I mean.. we were definitely around in your time and before that too. But it's not like we advertise ourselves. Especially not after the witch hunts," she says with a wry smirk. "And yep. A genie. Not like in Aladdin though, these ones are selfish creatures who use people to get what they want, which is usually not good for everyone. I didn't think I'd ever come in to contact with one... and then the first time I do I blew it."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel is lost in his thoughts, packing away the last of his hot dog, just taking in the background noise of the city, the cars, kids playing, people talking, it was a lot like home if you didn't focus on the weird talking phones, flimsy looking cars, and flashing signs with video. People at least were still people.

"Makes sense," he says of her people not advertising themselves. "I can see why you'd want to keep your head down, which makes you helping me out back there a big deal, so, once we get in touch with SHIELD we'll make sure you're safe and nobody comes looking for you, you've got my word," he says. "And I don't know a thing about magic, but it sounds like dealing with djinn is a lose-lose sort of proposition, so, while it didn't turn out great," he thinks back to the poor store keeper. "It didn't turn about as bad as it could have by the sound of things, so let's take the victory and keep moving, and if it makes you feel any better, I am pretty sure you saved my life."

The hot dog is finished and he tosses the wrapper into the trash. "So thanks," he tells her before he moves to stand up with the help of his cane. "^Up to talking to the cops??" he asks.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    She rises up with him and then nods her head, "Well. I really don't know what SHIELD is about but thank you for the consideration. As for the cops?" She looks down at her clothing. Spots of red everywhere from when the mirror pulled blood out of her for its magic.

    "I wouldn't mind getting a change of clothes first... I think if I walked in to a police station wearing this there'd be a lot of questions. And.. you can't go walking in to a police station with that gun. Ever since the invasion they've been tetchy about things like that," she says.

    "If you can wait a day, why not come back to my place - we'll get a doordash or ubereats of something nice. I have a couch you can sleep on - and first thing tomorrow we go find your friends?"

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"Invasion?" Daniel asks before he stops himself. "Nevermind," though the curiosity is there behind his eyes, before he glances at Abcde's clothes and then looks at his own suit jacket with a bloody handprint on the shoulder. It's a wonder nobody's called the cops on them yet. Especially with a bloody murder scene a few blocks away.

"Good point," he allows, before letting out a breath. "Okay, we'll at least stash my weapon and get some different clothes for you and lose my jacket, but then we'll go see the cops," he says, clearly eager to get on with that part of the plan for whatever reason. "And if it does come to doing that tomorrow, any chance I can owe you for a motel, I appreciate the offer of sleeping on your couch, but I wouldn'gt want your neighbours to talk," he says, holding up his left hand complete with wedding band. "As if a man staying over wouldn't be bad enough," he says without irony.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    "The Chitari.. with Loki?" it dawns on her that of course he has no idea about one of the biggest things to ever happen to New York. Then there's Brainiac and the Warzoon with Zod on top of that too... "Nevermind. Aliens invaded, it was bad. More than once." She smiles a moment and nods her head, "... sure I suppose, but why would anyone talk?" Ripped away from his wife? that must be hard. "A man staying over? oh gawd," she says with a laugh. "Dude this isn't the 50s. No one cares about that stuff anymore. Heck, no one cares about anyone that isn't in their friends list."

    She seems quite amused by the old fashioned concerns and says, "Come on, I live several blocks away and it's quite the walk." The walk though, gives her time to think of the old man that the hydra terrorists killed without even a thought. Troubling. Very troubling. What do terrorists have to do with a guy who came out of a mirror possessed by a djinn.. and how did they even know to turn up?

    "Do you know who they were? hail hydra? that's what they yelled right?"

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel blinks as a whole bunch of names are thrown his way, but one thing out of that sticks in particular, "Aliens?!" he blurts out getting a few looks from passers by. 'Yeah, aliens, big deal, welcome to New York pal', seems to be the overall mood of those who look.

"You're telling me aliens invaded New York more than once?" he asks dropping his voice lower, yeah, he was supposed to not know about this stuff? but aliens!

Even social norms are throwing him, "Okay wow, that would have made life easier back in the 50's," he remarks about people not caring about that sort of thing.

Daniel steels himself for the walk but when it comes time to move he does it without any complaint. "Those are really good questions," he says about how the guys knew to show up and what they wanted with the mirror. "I don't have answers for them but HYDRA, that's what they're called, basically Nazis," he says. "You guys still know who the Nazis were right?" he asks because at this point he's taking nothing for granted. "Anyhow a couple of days ago, or, you know, July 15th 1956, they were bringing that mirror into the country with a bunch of other artifacts, my team and I intercepted them and they should have all been put in lock up, so I don't know what happened over the last six decades that let it end up in that guy's store," or well, he had one idea of how it happened, and given that HYDRA showed up to collect it, he is thinking it might be the right one, his brow furrows deeply with those thoughts and he's silent for a short bit. "Anyhow, HYDRA loves anything that can bring them power, so I think a mirror that could do what happened today would be right up their alley."

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    It suddenly dawns on her as he says nazis - and the salute - and hydra - ding. Her mind races back to a school excursion to New York City and the war museum where they had a Captain America tribute section. "You mean the guys Captain America fought in world war 2 are _still_ around?!"

    "Neo nazis just never quit do they!," she says with exasperation. She shakes her head, "Well.. tough luck for them. The power that was hidden in that mirror has left it. Bad luck for everyone really. I don't know how scary more neo nazi scum are but a djinn on the loose? there's a reason they are bound to objects that are meant to be lost and forgotten."

    She frowns and then glances up as a police drone zips over head heading back in the direction they had come from. "That's.. sad.. I think they must have found the body. I can give a statement to the police tomorrow about what I saw. And leave out the bit about the magic mirror and djinn."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel jumps at the drone, like he's not sure he can believe what he's seeing. "Is that like a tiny helicopter?" he asks, it looks like a really fancy toy but there's no missing the NYPD markings on it. "What does it do?" though that's mostly a distraction from less pleasant subjects. "Yeah, that's them, I lost my leg and spent most of my career fighting them, I kind of figured they're still around but damn it's hard to see it," he says. "And wait, neo-Nazis? There's new nazis?" he asks dumbfounded. Why would people want there to be more Nazis, there was a whole war about why they're a bad idea.

He pauses a moment to take a breath. "I gotta say, not loving the future so far," he admits, before making himself focus on the task at hand. "So, priorities find and stop the djinn, then find and take care of HYDRA, or at least the ones messing with the mirror, does that sound about right?"

He nods though about the statement. "We can both give one when we check in with the cops later. They'll understand."

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    She nods her head, "Right. Like a tiny helicopter. See you're getting it. Mostly just to yell at people to disperse and to provide an eye in the sky when there are criminals on the run with guns." The drones are new to her too.. they didn't have those in Huntington. "Pretty neat idea, so long as they don't become sentient and start killing us all," she says with a grin. "Oh right you don't know terminator.. it's another movie."

    The air, though, is quite clear. No leaded petrol? barely anyone smoking. The future sure is a weird mixed bag of changes. "Well.. find and stop the djinn absolutely. Take care of neo nazis? I think .. that's really a job for the FBI don't you think? or heck may be the Avengers. Yeah, the Avengers would save the day. Not that I know any of them," she adds.

    Then she bawks at Sousa for a moment, "Ah..ha.. well.. _maybe_ we get some nice police who will understand but that's a gamble. We're absolutely calling my family lawyer _before_ we go to the police station to make statements. Gosh I don't know what police were like back in your time, but.. you have to be careful."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"Looks like something Howard would dream up," Daniel says of the drones turning to watch it fly out of sight. "Handy though if it's a bit," he smirks wryly. "1984, the book not the year," he says and clarifies. "Weird thinking '84 is the past right now."

The air does smell different, cleaner, but in all it still felt very much New York.

He opens his mouth to ask about the Avengers but stops himself, "SHIELD will help with HYDRA it's what we do, or at least it's what we did in my time."

He frowns though about the cops. "Why would it be a gamble, we witnessed a crime we're coming forward, I mean they might look at us funny for not sticking around the scene, but I'm with SHIELD, it shouldn't be an issue." After all despite a bit of butting heads over jurisdiction SHIELD and the NYPD got along fine in 1956.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    Abcde folds her arms as they wander, soon coming making their way down the streets of Queens and toward her apartment. "Well.. if you say so. In my experience they'd immediately assume we were the ones who killed the shop owner just to avoid the red tape of dealing with yet more white supremecists. As if the ones going after all the mutants aren't bad enough."

    "I just wish they'd leave all those people in Mutant Town alone, you know? ...you had mutants back in the 50s didn't you?," she asks and then suddenly starts to doubt herself immediately, "didn't you?" She pauses in front of a building, "This is me."

    A keycard is swiped and the door unlocks. She's lucky, in a way. The success of her first book allowed her to buy this apartment. She has no loans to worry about, but also not much money left. Making her way inside to her apartment - despite it being 2021 - it looks exactly as one would imagine a writers home to look like. Paper everywhere. But also a tablet and a personal computer. She still preferred paper.

    "Welcome to Cassa del Abcde. Make yourself at home," she says and then moves to the couch to move papers off of it. There's a cat that looks up from a cardboard box on top of a shelf and peers at Daniel accusingly, "Oh don't mind Mittens, he thinks everyone is secretly a demon in disguise. Quick question.. do you have a first name?"

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel blinks a little at the mention of mutants. "No, but I can sort of figure it out by context clues, so-" he begins before pausing a moment. Whatever he was going to ask is let go. "Sounds rough," he says of the plight of Mutant Town.

"Anyhow I still think the cops are our best bet, if you want I can go in by myself and leave you out of it."

When they're inside he looks around, enjoying the sense of familiarity, "Sorry, yeah, my name is Daniel," he says when she asks. "And it okay to call you Abcde?" he asks before turning his attention to the cat only to turn back, "I honestly can't tell if you're joking about the demon thing, that's the sort of day I'm having," there is a smile given to the cat before he asks Abcde. "Shoes on or off?" he asks about the rules of her place, as he leans just a little against the wall, the walk had been murder on his leg, and he was happy to be off of it for even just a few moments.

Abcde Prescelta has posed:
    "No.. I feel responsible for you now.. and that other guy. I'll go with you," she says with a smile, "Daniel. Yes, call me Abcde." She walks over and rubs Mittens's ears and touches her nose to his head. He purrs, "Not kidding." But she's grinning so may be she is kidding.. or is she.

    "Shoes off please," she says and then eyes him up and down, "And if you want to blend in a bit better, I have some clothes that might fit you. From an ex.. any way, please, make yourself at home. Microwave anything you want from the freezer if you're still hungry. Remote for the tv is on the couch.. and I'm going to have a shower and get this blood off me and see just how badly that mirror messed me up."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel takes his shoes off slowly, the pain in what's left of his left leg not helping. "I appreciate that," he says of feeling responsible. "And to be honest it might be good to have someone who better understands," he waves vaguely. "Future stuff."

Once his shoes are off he puts them neatly by the door and takes off his coat to not get blood on the furniture. "Where should I put this?" he asks before Abcde offers him some modern clothes. "Sure, if it's not too much trouble," a beat as he remembers some of the people he saw on the way here and what they were wearing. "And if they're not too wild."

He makes his way over to the couch putting the remote aside but glad to be off of his feet. "Thanks for putting me up here, Abcde, anyhow, don't let me keep you," he says. "I think I might just close my eyes for a second."