8728/Dracul Rising: The Price of a Pint

Dracul Rising: The Price of a Pint
Date of Scene:	28 November 2021
Location:	Allen Creek Shelter, Queens, NYC
Synopsis:	The Heliopolitans take out a vampire nest at Allen Creek Shelter in Queens, and find more questions than answers. What blood magic were they doing in the basement? Why did the vampires have pictures of the group? And who is the young girl they found who can produce fire from her hands and understands ancient Egyptian?
Cast of Characters:	Jonathan Sims, Marc Spector, Tara Tsabedze, Phoebe Beacon, Zaya Abdelkader, Jubilation Lee

---

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    The Allen Creek Shelter is a one story shotgun building, nestled in the shadow of much larger buildings in Queens. The basement is where the Heliopolitans' interest lies, a clinic there proclaiming itself as a nonprofit blood collecting organization. The Archivist is in England over the next day or two, but Jon forwarded information to the others, having taken a walkthrough a few days before. The upper levels, he said, felt normal enough, but the basement was /eerie/, with a sense of lingering pain and terror that he couldn't account for with the normal operations of the place.

    The sun has set over New York as they gather behind their leader, to go down into the building and discover what might be in the place to create such an emotional aura.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Moon Knight was dressed in the pristine white suit and tie ensemble that labelled him as Mr. Knight for the evening. He didn't look too terribly upset by the lack of protection though as he stood across the street from the shelter behind the semi-coverage of his white sedan (because of course his car was white.) He eyed the place with an air of concern and waitied for those he had called around him to arrive.

    Hopefully enough would come to aid in the salvation and release of the poor souls being victimized within. He had done enough reconisance on the matter himeslf and had had his informant Jake go in to talk to some of the tenants to get a feel for himself but Jon's report detailed more than he could've hoped to achieve, even if the cost had required the Archivist's blood being in the hands of whatever diabolical uses the vampires had for it.

Tara Tsabedze has posed:
Vampires were not Tara's specialty, in all honesty she had never actually seen or met one until being introduced to Jubilation and Lydia, though they were not the sort she has head about. There was however a plethora of information about them that had passed from one Kivuli to the next, so while she was inexperienced, she was not unknowledgeable.

Arriving not long after Mister Knight, she wears all black over her body, buttonless shirt and tighter fitting legging style pants, with a hooded trench-cloak over that. On her feet is a pair of black leather boots that climb her legs to her knees. Her protection didn't come from armor, so the change of clothing was the oddest thing for her, she was usually far more casual.

Offering Mister Knight a nod, she meanders up to where he is and then a broad smile spreads across her face. When she met him, he was still pretending to be two different people, it had amused her.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Today it's a black sweatshirt under the leather backpack, ripped jeans and tired hair. Phoebe looked just the part of the unhoused that she once served in Gotham, her braids up and underneath a wool watchcap. She had slipped into the place herself, and would be able to back up the findings -- the basement was weird. She couldn't put her finger on it, or stay long enough to try to, but she came, as she had given her wrod that she would.

    Aside from the fact that buying the blood of the homeless was morally wrong on several different levels to her and she found the idea revolting, and wanted to find a way to close it down.

Zaya Abdelkader has posed:
It had not been long at all since Zaya had been drawn to The Mission. It had been a whirlwind of changes for the young girl and she was still adjusting to it all. Thus, when her prescence was suggested she felt the need to comply. SHe did not really know what she as getting herself into. She had been debriefed, but she still had no idea what to expect. However, she had been /told/ this is where she needed to be and she was not in a place to question it.

She arrives wearing a pair of jeans and black vans, a black sweatshirt as well, with a baseball cap; her ponytail sticking out the back. As she approaches she once again appears to be speaking to herself, yet anyone who knows her owuld deduce that the slight tilt to her head means she is listrning to the voice within. "I understand, but you could have told me more." She approaches the rest gathered, stating a few more words. "Do I have a choice?" A smile is given to the group and she exhales softly. "Hey."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "C'mon, perk up, /people/... If it gets any livelier out here a funeral's going to break out!"

    The voice is peppered with the valley girl intonations that can only come from Beverly Hills. It unmistakably belongs to Jubilation Lee, who seems to suddenly appear just over Zaya's shoulder as she's practically spit out by the shadows. If there was a memo about dressing a particular way, she either didn't get it or disregarded it completely. Jubilee is wearing an outfit befitting a workout: a bright yellow tanktop and black spandex shorts. Plain white sneakers and a pink JanSport backpack complete the look. Her hair is done up in a girlish ponytail and her makeup is predictably done in bright blues and pinks.

    "So, like, I'm not going to /judge/ but... grossville," she adds, both eyebrows hiked up. Her mouth opens and her tongue drags against her fangs idly.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    The building doesn't really change at all as twilight descends on the city and the streetlights slowly begin to come on. There's no aura of menace, no vampires lurking on the roof. A few passersby eye the group curiously, but only a few; most people around here don't really pay attention to strangers.

    They're going to have to go inside to find out whether the vampires most of them fought the other week are actually operating out of the place or not.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Mr. Knight seems content that the group around him is the group he is going to get for the evening and nods. "Wonderful. You're all here" he says, his voice a resonant baritone. "I hope the night finds you well" he nods at Tara and Phoebe. Jubilee, despite the absolute absurdity of her appearance given the weather is also a nod of greeting. Zaya however gets a more discerning examination. The featureless attribute of his mask makes his expression absolutely unreadable.

    "You are new" he says to her and then seems to catch on something. "Ah... I see. A Hand of the sister of Isis, well well." He bows slightly and nods to the building. "I am glad that The Lady of the Temple has seen fit to aid the Traveller in his endeavors here."

    He turns. "Our mission here is simple enough. Go in, get all non-combatants out of the building by whatever means we deem necessary, and then dispose of whatever threats are in there." He pauses, giving Jubilee a steady gaze. "I would appreciate it, should our opponents be mortal... that we refrain from killing them unless absolutely necessary. Likely there will be video surveilance in the building and alas our esteemed Mr. Drake is not here to give an assist to the disruption of such devices..." His gaze shifts to Phoebe, as Drake's associate perhaps she could in his stead?

Tara Tsabedze has posed:
As Zaya arrives, Tara offers her another of those broad smiles and waves her over. She had met the woman upon her arrival to the mansion, and with the seriousness of the present mission, she was prepared to offer the woman the comfort of a known face.

"Do we know how many humans might be in side?" She asks softly as her feline eyes return to Knight. "I would assume that a place like this has normal business hours, and thus perhaps this lowers the number of people inside?"

Truth be told, she had no idea about this sort of thing. She had worked alone for a long time, and on a much smaller level, so this entire adventure was new to her and someone's lead was going to be followed.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "If I can get to their tech room I can short out their surveilliance system." Phoebe states. She raises her hand and looks at a cheap watch.

    She gives a smile to the assembling group, though it doesn't quite reach her eyes, even when she raises a hand to Jubilee, and then she pulls her hoodie over her head. "After hours there shouldn't be too many. If there is some, you'll hear about it. Five minutes." she states, and she hikes her backpack higher on her shoulders, looks both ways and crosses the street.

    Coming around the side of the building she seeks a side or back entrance. Give her a lock to pick, and she can move mountains. In theory.

Zaya Abdelkader has posed:
Zaya gives a confirming nod to Mr. Knight as he addresses her, raising a finger to tuck a strand of her along side her face back behind her ear. "She is most commited to seeing to the success of what is needed to be done." Her eyes then fall to the familiar face and appearance of Tara, taking a few steps to stand beside her. Yes, comfort in something familiar to be sure.

Her eyes move to follow the source of questions asked, trying to gather as much information as she possibly can. She too had done very little in terms of teamwork; having basically been at the call of whatever Nephthys had asked of her to this point. There was a soft murmur as she looked at her gloved hands, tugging he gloves on tighter. "Right, no Killing."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Turkey," Jubilee announces as she gently dabs her closed fist into Phoebe's palm. Jubilation's bright smile and raised cheeks fade as Mr. Knight addresses her directly. Both arms cross in front of her chest to properly communicate her displeasure with that. Her skin is porcelain and free of blemishes, including goosebumps. "Deal," Jubilation replies flatly. "/But/..." Her gaze lingers on Mr. Knight before spreading evenly to the rest of the group. "If there /are/ ...vampires in there, /I/ would appreciate it that you all give me a chance to talk to them before we give them, like, heart burn..." She brings both hands together and mimics driving an invisible stake into her own chest with her tongue sticking out to the side and eyes rolling back for a moment to sell the effect.

    "Let's remember that there might be /customers/ in there," Jubilation continues, trying her best to look serious after her little demonstration. "...And, like, they might be thinking they're going to score some blood without hurting people." Jubilation jerks her head towards the backpack strap that hangs at her shoulder.

    "For the ones that /do/ need to go down... I have stakes and some Dasani bottles full of holy water," she adds before following Phoebe across the street. The vampiress walks with exaggerated hip movements, as though intending for her every step to be watched by whoever may be behind her. Despite that, she seems to glide through the air.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    The shelter is just starting to get busy as the sun's gone down; it's clear, but the temperature's already in the low 40s and threatening to dip near freezing before the end of the night. Phoebe will be able to slip into the shelter proper easily enough, finding that the security room is, despite the money spent on a plethora of cameras, manned by a single security guard who's really just there to clock his time and easy enough to distract or get around.

    The others head down into the basement, and for anyone with any kind of mystical inclination the /eerie/ feeling hits right off. Everyone else? Well, it's a blood draw clinic in a Queens basement, so however creepy one may find that. The hallway that the stairs lead down into is made of concrete, lit by a single flourescent light that buzzes and flickers. A metal desk with an office chair behind it guards the door at the end of the hallway, and a middle-aged woman with dark curly hair sits behind it, looking distracted and maybe bored. There are folding chairs along the other side of the hallway; presumably this is the reception area.

    "Clinic's closed for the day," she says in a thick Queens accent. Then she hesitates, and says, "Well... closing up. S'pose we could make an exception if you want to make a donation."

Marc Spector has posed:
    If Mr. Knight notices the eerie feeling in the air he doesn't make a note of it instead he fixes his Masked visage on the middle-aged woman and says, with the air of one speaking about the weather, "Actually... I was wondering if you wouldn't mind leaving a few minutes early. My associates and I feel there is something... amiss and we would rather avoid any casualties to those who may be--unwittingly or not--assisting in nefarious deeds."

    Mr. Knight, like his armored counterpart, is rarely subtle. "If you, the other staff of the clinic, and any patients who may be present would simply... depart without incident we can make our time here as short and painless as possible." While his tone isn't threatening, there is an aura of menance and the clear capability of one who is not new to violence in his looming posture above the seated woman. "For your ensured saftey... a hasty retreat is, in my opinion, the best option."

Tara Tsabedze has posed:
Descending to the basement, Tara makes no attempt to conceal herself as she normally would. The entire reason for the deep hooded trench cloak was to keep her ears and features hidden. Most mistake her for some kind of mutant, and she often faces the abuse and prejudice aimed at mutants. The eerie feel washes over her and gets filed away, no outward sign of it showing.

As Mister Knight addresses the woman behind the counter, she moves slightly past him toward the door and pauses there, turning her ears in the air to listen to the sounds of life beyond that door; the faint sound of a conversation, someone moving around, but not many.

Her feline eyes settle on the woman as she does this and a toothy grin is offered, perhaps this time she would be mistaken for some sort of lycanthrope, after all Vampire and Lycans were part of the same mythology. "It really would be in your best interest to depart quietly," she adds softly before looking to Marc. "Not too many there."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Ordinarily, Jubilee, I can break into buildings by myself. Wouldn't be my first time." Phoebe reveals in a quiet murmur to the vampire, but gives her another smile to her, over her shoulder as she passes through, and from the aether she pulls her Nine of Hearts card, and holds it up.

    "Benjamina Dover, City digital infrastructure inspector; this is my associate Candice Kane. May I have access to your server closet please?" she asks the security guard, and as the guard's there to punch in and out, it's easy enough to get into the server room.

    First, as she unzips a pocket on her pack, Phoebe pulls out a thumb drive and looks for a handy, dandy place to plug it into the servers. Pull all the information she can so that Tim can sort it later.

    And then she takes out a silver sharpie, and begins to inscribe a couple of quick circles on the backs of the servers that look Most Likely to be Security Cameras, and checks her watch.

    Counting down.

    "Jubilee, pull that thumb drive." she asks of the vampire, and then she raises her hands up, ready to give a quick invocation for some lights as she turns a side-eye to Jubilee.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    When Phoebe reminds Jubilee that she can break into places all by her lonesome, the vampiress merely smiles back and shrugs one shoulder. "Eh, I just like you, Pheebs," Jubilee answers with a quick wiggle of her eyebrows. When she's given the identity of none other than Candice Kane, Jubilation raises a hand and nods her head at the poor security guard on his way out of work.

    "And I trust you," she murmurs.

    When the command comes to pull the thumb drive, Jubilation nods her head. Just like that, the thumb drive is no longer plugged in. If a human had done it, it would've been the result of a series of awkward movements, one after the other. But, for the vampiress with supernatural grace...it's just in her hand, almost as though it was never plugged in at all. Another nod is fired in Phoebe's direction and the thumb drive is waggled in the air with a fangy grin. "I guess that's that for all you blood bags that show up on those things," Jubilation says joyfully. Security cameras.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Oddly enough, there are no security cameras covering the basement. Or maybe not oddly at all, given what they're here for. The ones covering the rest of the building go out right on the mark, and there'll be footage to go over at least for a day or two.

    Downstairs, the dark-haired woman reaches under the desk with an odd sort of calm. Enhanced hearing can hear the buzz, and in short order the door opens and several hulking men come out to menace Mr. Knight and Tara. Mortal goons, one can presume, but they're in no mood to negotiate nor surrender.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Mr. Knight gives the goons a look and then sighs. "A pity..." he says and then with a flurry of speed that would boggle the normal mind he strikes at the lead goon. His fist connects and there is the crack of bone breaking and the first man drops to the ground. He glances at Tara and presumably her dispatch of an other of the men with relative ease. Mortal goons wouldn't work on the pair of Moon siblings it would seem.

    Another goon is grabbed and slammed into a wall with staggeringly violent force and Mr. Knight eyes the woman. "I will ask again. I do not want to ask a third time... depart and this will be all the easier for you and yours..." The cordial tone is gone from him, replaced with cold steel in his voice.

Tara Tsabedze has posed:
The buzz is enough warning for Tara to know that trouble it coming through that door now. Silvery white light expands over her entire body, and when it fades away, she no longer has the same appearance. She stands now at eight feet in height, her muscular body covered in a thick layer of black fur. Instead of her prior face and head is a panther head, large with sharp teeth extending from her mouth. Both feline ears are still pierced all the way around, and around her neck is a thick silver chain with a pendant hanging on her chest.

The warrior, the protector, the true form of Bast is born into the room to greet that two large human men as they appear. "You have made a horrible mistake," she states, her voice deeper than it was but still touched by the East African accent.

With one taken care of, she aims her attack at the other, not to kill though that is difficult with her clawed hands, instead she uses and open palm strike to the throat to take the man down then looks back to Marc, who has another against the wall.

"You are kinder than I am brother," she states. "They already had their chances, and if they do not leave I will rampage through this buildings and destroy anyone I find still here." Yes, she was giving them another chance, but she was also using her present form as a threat.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Terrible idea, honestly." Phoebe states, and after her invocation fills the servers with water, shutting them down and breaking the machinery with an over abundance of The Wet Stuff, causing shorts, electrical failings, and literally flooding the boxes.

    "We're done here. Cameras are down and they'll have issues pulling info." Phoebe holds out her hand for the thumb drive, and goes to make an exit. "Let's get to the others. Just in case someone's already shot or someone needs to remind how high the stakes are." she quips mirthlessly.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Phoebe's quip about it being a terrible idea to trust her earns itself a firm roll of Jubilation's eyes. "Don't be a dope," she says, pressing the thumb drive into the other girl's waiting palm. Jubilee draws in a quick huff of unnecessary oxygen and lets it out in a demonstrative sigh. "...Yeah, better bail them out of whatever trouble they're in," she mutters for maximum effect.

    "So, which one of those has my browser history?" Jubilation asks Phoebe on their way out of the place. Pause. "...I'm asking for a friend."

    With enthusiasm and energy as her ally, Jubilee makes her way back towards where the others are, totally unaware of the trouble they're in. Her ponytail bounces around annoyingly.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    The goons go down, and no more are forthcoming. The receptionist, watching this with wide eyes, doesn't need to be told to flee a third time. She stands swiftly, knocking her chair over onto the trap door to the sub-basement that sits behind the desk, and bolts for the stairs. Phoebe and Jubilee will pass her running up and out of the shelter, into the night. She wants no more part of what's going on here.

    The eerie feeling, the /fear/, only increases despite the fact that there appear to be no more goons just yet.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Mr. Knight lets the second unconscious good fall to the ground as he watches the woman flee. "Thank you..." he says, once again the perfect expression of patience. Turning around to give Tara a speculative examination, he asks the feline creature calmly, "I like to err on the side of misunderstanding with the first option... I was clarifying, of course."

    He tugs at his white gloves, smoothing out a wrinkle in them before adding. "We should probably wait for our associates before venturing further" he suggests. "They should be arriving shortly." He quickly adds, incling his head, "Your true form is quite lovely, by the way. I feel I must comment on seeing it for the first time."

Tara Tsabedze has posed:
Watching the woman depart, Tara adjusts her stance slightly as her ears once again turn on her head. The voices are still there, this time there is more to it then simple conversation.

"They know we are coming," she offers quietly, golden feline eyes glowing for a moment in reaction to the violence, not the news. "I can hear them shouting, further away, perhaps in sub-basment."

Stepping into the door way slightly, to keep herself between what might come through and the reception room, a grin spreads across her feline lips, "I was only offering a mild threat, and attempting to appear as some sort of beast about to go out of control. Either way, she left."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "No one wants to know how many variations of the word 'vampire' you tried to spell." Phoebe replies to Jubilee, with a slight smile in her voice. Phoebe moves to the side as the receptionist speeds past them, and she looks pensive a moment before she comes down to join the advance team.

    "Server room's flooded." she announces, slipping the thumbdrive into a protected pocket on the inside of her pack, and she stretches her fingers, pulling on a pair of red leather fingerless gloves.

    "What's next?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I feel like there has to be a better word for us," Jubilation replies to Phoebe, offering an explanation that aligns with the other girl's quip about her possible browser history. "I mean, something that describes us without our relation to the living." Her chest rises and falls indignantly, though no air passes through her sinuses. It's just for show. She grins and rejoins the others.

    "Right, so, to remind all you heartbeats... Any vampires, let me talk to them before you decide you know better," Jubilee repeats, eyebrows hiked as she struts on over. Any reaction that might be for the humanoid cat is hidden below the artificial bravado.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Mr. Knight nods to Jubilee and Phoebe. "Wonderful work, both of you..." He eyes the door to the clinic proper. "A hasty retreat then..." he says before looking to the trapdoor. He moves to it and, setting the chair right behind the desk, lifts the trapdoor.

    "Let us see if we can interupt them before they get too far beyond our grasp" he eyes the darkness below. "Ms. Beacon," he asks the young woman, "is there any light that you can create that will not cause our associate" he notes Jubilee, "to flee and our opponents to quail should they be of similar nature?"

Tara Tsabedze has posed:
While the others are preparing and planning, Tara strides over to the trap door and pops it open. With a wiggle of her brow, and a mock salute, she literally just drops down. The darkness is her friend, the night her play ground, she see better without light than with it.

She lands ready for what might be there, claws extended, a snarl to her lips... game time.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "... I don't like how you're referring to us as food items and heartbeats. I can't throw these boots." Phoebe states, checking her boots for throwing knives, and she looks up at Mr. Knight.

    She shakes her head, and then from her pack, takes out a headlamp.

    "Any light I produce will hurt Jubilee. Luckily --" she slips the headlamp on over her watchcap "I was a pretty decent girlscout." she states, and turning the headlamp to 'red light' and goes to drop down the hole as well.

    In for a Penny.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation gives Mr. Knight a skeptical look. "Yeah... I, uh, pulled out the thing," she replies, referring to her minor hand in Phoebe's digital heist. She flashes a thumbs-up and watches Tara's form fall into the darkness of wherever that trap door goes. Jubilee shrugs her shoulders and tilts her head towards Phoebe.

    "That's what you /are/..." she replies with some indignity, her tone suggesting that she doesn't completely understand Phoebe's protest. The girl that was Jubilation Lee has been replaced, it's obvious, but she's in there...somewhere...keeping this creature at bay. With almost no delay, Jubilee reaches up and squeezes her nose, as though she's about to jump into a swimming pool instead of a dark trap door. Down she goes.

    In for a Pound.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    The sub-basement is a large open space beneath the building, that's been set up like an entirely separate... well... not a blood clinic per se, but there's chairs and tables, and bodies on the chairs and tables. Some of them are dead, some of them are dying. All look like they're unhoused, probably (former) tenants of the shelter above. There's some kind of board on a wall in the corner, a map with pictures pinned to it. Another corner holds what looks to be a ritual magic circle, set up for some spell presumably fueled by blood.

    The vampires themselves are fleeing. Several dart through a hole in the far wall, while several more are pulling the still-living victims off the tables and chairs. Their leader stands by the entrance, shouting, "Leave them! The girl's the only one that matters! The Oculus will stake us all if she dies!" He points toward a child of maybe twelve or thirteen being pulled out of a chair by two large vampires.

    Then he sees the group coming down and /screeches/. "KILL THEM!" He shouts. "KILL THE MOON KNIGHT AND HIS FILTHY ABOMINATION!!"

    If there was any doubt as to who the 'abomination' is, he hurls a sphere of pure darkness at Jubilation.

Marc Spector has posed:
     Mr. Knight follows suit after Jubilation, dropping to one knee inside the room beyond. The commotion within isn't unexpected and the red glow from Phoebe's headlamp is enough for him to take stock of the room. "Unfortunate..." he says, "that you should aim at the wrong target!" He reaches inside his coat and pulls out a crescent shaped object. Menwhile he fires rapid style orders to those with him.

    "Tara! Stop them from taking ones that we can still save!" he calls as he releases the crescent toward the one flinging magic at his associate. "Phoebe concentrate your assault on those you can feel and see!" He hopes that the sun-touched woman can focus fire her ability without causing too much undo stress on Jubilee. "Jubilee, I suggest we table the idea of talks and see that the one who just tried to obliterate you does not get a second chance!"

Tara Tsabedze has posed:
The girl that seems so important to them, Tara's golden eyes land on her and those who have her only moment before she launches herself at them. It was a mistake to assume that Knight was the biggest threat in the room, or for them to worry about Jubilation being there, the biggest threat was the monster in their sanctuary.

The claws of her left hand sink into the chest of one of the two with the young girl, while her right arm reaches to attempt scooping the girl up. Vampires didn't need hearted, but it was the place the blood they required to function gathered, so ripping his out may not kill him but it would certainly be unfortunate for him.

"Try me blood suckers," she hisses. "The girl is mine!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Focus her fire?

    Careful what you wish for, Moony.

    "Ignatus! comes the echoing sound of magic being cast as Phoebe raises her right hand, taking careful aim as she moves forward. She couldn't call down her Light without hurting Jubilee, but a well-aimed fireball towards one of the vampires, her eyes narrowing as the flame lights up the room as she moves to the middle of the chairs, right hand still holding up fire as she pulls off the leather cuff over her left hand. The white ink tattoo that ordinarily hides her aura glows dimply in the dark.

    "Exolvo mi, da mihi lumen!" she follows up, unbinding her own aura, and she already feels the strain as her healing aura begins to work -- hopefully it'll be enough to keep those poor unfortunate souls around her from perishing until she can focus her attention on them!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    To the untrained eye, it would appear that Jubilation's reaction to all of this was precognitive, as her hand was reaching for the zipper of her backpack almost as soon as she landed in the sub basement, but that's not the case. From time to time, depending on her call to the blood bubbling within, Jubilation is capable of great feats of speed, strength, and agility. In this case, the vampiress took note of the hostility of the situation in a blink of the eye. These were /not/ customers. These were not vampires just looking to get a meal without putting their fangs into some unwilling neck. They would need to be handled.

    Mr. Knight's 'I told you so' is going to be /so/ annoying, Jubilee manages to think in between these moments.

    The blast of darkness sails past Jubilee as she leaps into a sudden handspring. By the time the flourish is complete, Jubilation's backpack has been opened and a wooden stake is in her right hand. Her left hand, meanwhile, pulls out the other stake that she just plunged into the chest of one of the vampires about to spring to action.

    "Who are you calling /abomination/?" Jubilee announces with a mock huff as her right hand lowers to her side, empty. Another vampire a few feet away falls to the ground, lifeless, with a stake sticking out from his chest. A look of shock is etched onto his face, not at all expecting it to end like this. "Yeah, okay, so, these guys are all Wicked Witch Of The West and not Witch Of The North," Jubilee calls back at Mr. Knight. The heroic quipping comes to a fast end, however, as Phoebe's fireball zips across the room. It draws out an instinctive hiss as Jubilee /glares/ at Phoebe, distracting the young vampiress!

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Warn the Seneschal!" The leader shouts into the open hole. "Warn the--!" And then he gets a crescent in his throat for the trouble. It doesn't kill him outright, but his hands go up to his throat and he gurgles. Not fun.

    The vampires Tara went after fight viciously. The one that has its chest ripped out flings darkness at Tara as it goes down, and the other does his best to hold the girl while still fighting off Tara.

    This is all complicated by the girl suddenly opening her eyes, /screaming/, and flinging her hand out. The fire that flies from her hand isn't as impressive as Phoebe's fireball, but it's enough to make the vampire drop her. He turns to face the huge cat, while the girl backs away from them both, still screaming.

    Phoebe is healing some of the victims that still live, and her flame has killed at least one of those trying to grab them off the chairs. Several more flee the fire, and Phoebe generally, hissing louder than Jubilee.

    And Jubilation? She's killing vampires dead, impressively so. Fortunate that Phoebe's fire wasn't aimed at her. In all that movement, she might catch a glimpse of what's on the nearby wall: pictures of the Midnight Mission and the Heliopolitans, with various notes on each one. Photographs for most, but Jubilee's is a very good hand-done sketch.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Mr. Knight pulls another crescent from his belt, sending it at the legs of one of the fleeing vampires. He intends to let as few escape as possible, if that means hamstringing them and disposing of them after... so be it.

    He tosses another silvered crescent and passes Jubilee as he does. His own enhanced speed, while not so swift as the vampiress, is still very impressive and he manages to come out of the pass with a stake in hand. He uses the shaft of wood with brutal efficiency,running in through the chest of one of the vampires near the cork board wall and then he stops. He trusts his associates to help mop up what remains as he turns his attention to what is actually there, his eyes narrowing in irritation and anger.

Tara Tsabedze has posed:
Rending claws shred through vampire flesh repeatedly, first the one who didn't have the girl but was too close to her, and then the other who was holding her. With this one there was no choice but to be more careful, not wanting to harm the girl in anyway. The darkness flies toward her in and in that exact moment her entire body explodes in a silver white light, the counter to darkness but it also lights up the room. There is nothing holy, no connection to a deity from this light it is pure magic on her part.

When the girl wakes and flames erupt from her, a mischievous smile slides onto Tara's lips. "Oh that was a mistake," she offers with a slight laugh, then tears into the now hands free vampire with a vigor born of delight and purpose.

Realizing that the girl is terrified, lost and moving away, she finishes off the vampire by ripping her claws through his neck, decapitating him, then she makes herself small by dropping down to all fours. "It is alright little one," she offers soothingly toward the girl. "I will protect you if you let me." As she speaks, she is moving slowly to try and put herself between the girl, the vampire and any route of escape.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Oh! Another caster! Handy! With Tara in charge of making sure they don't get the girl, and Phoebe making a magic-rich environment with the texture of a particularly Light and Holy Angel Food Cake as her Healing aura makes things pretty uncomfortable for the Unliving.

    Phoebe forms another ball of fire in her hand, the softball-sized holy-flavoured flame lobbed again at another hissing vampire, before she takes a deep breath.

    she raises her hands, glowing silvery yellow circles overwriting the flame evocations on the backs of the red gloves, and then echoing on the floor around them as she casts a circle -- literally, a magical circle made of magic -- and she focuses Holy in the ground around her.

    She's got a safe space baby -- and she'll write your name... or something. Either way, it's a safe space away from vampires as the circle glows, and she tries to keep the Light low to not cause Jubes to throw a Hissy Fit (TM)

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The distraction of Phoebe's fireball draws Jubilation's eyes away from her next target. The hissing, the fangs, and the look of pure hostility on her face is all telegraphing what could come next. But, would Jubilee /really/ attack Phoebe? Her shoulders rise and fall as the vampiress stares at the source of the infernal flame, the dancing light that sends her kind into a tail spin.

    Suddenly, Jubilee leaps into the air, both arms extended in Phoebe's direction! "Lookout!" she snarls, grabbing hold of one of the copper pipes that runs along the ceiling of the sub-basement. She uses it to launch herself into the air and...

    ...Right into the invisible border of a magical circle designed to keep vampires out. Her trajectory changes suddenly, sending Jubilation careening to the ground in a corkscrew-like spin, totally off her mark. A high-pitched cry fills the air as the vampiress rolls along the cement floor. When she springs to her feet, her skin is giving off vauge wisps of smoke as it recovers from that brief encounter with Holy.

    The vampire that was behind Phoebe is free to flee since Jubilee didn't land on his chest as she had planned. "Where do you think you're going!?" Jubes calls out. She leaps forward and pushes her last stake through the back of that vampire that thought he might be the lucky one who got out. She steps over him, ready for the next one, but instead finds herself standing next to Mr. Knight, staring at a pencil sketch of herself. Jubilation reaches up and gently touches her hair, comparing it to style in that drawing, as though it might give her an idea of exactly when she was being watched.

    "What the f---" she whispers...

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    It all looks recent, the photography. Some of it's from a further angle than others--telephoto lenses, maybe--and some of it's pulled off CCTV, but those who frequent the Midnight Mission are much clearer. Mr. Knight is there, with "Moon Knight--leader, bounty on head," written on the photograph. Tara's is one of her going into the Mission and says "??--Bast-connected, mutant?" Jon's says "ARCHIVIST--DO NOT ENGAGE" in bright red lettering. Tim and Phoebe both just have their names, Lydia's says "Clan Valkkai whelp," Jubilee's says "Unknown Clan, unknown origin." There's a picture of Red Arrow with "??" on it, and one of Morrigan with "Hold for ransom?" noted beneath her name.

    They have, indeed, been watching the Midnight Mission.

    The vampires are all fled or dead or immobilized. Phoebe is healing most of the homeless who remain alive. The girl, who can be seen to have thick curly hair of a dark auburn, light brown skin, and dark eyes, has backed herself up to a wall, eyes wide. She's scrawny, dressed in an old-fashioned sort of outfit, dark green sweater over a button-down white shirt, ankle length brown skirt, penny loafers. She holds up her hands, shaking like a leaf, looking between Tara and the others. "D-don't... don't! I... I'll... I can make fire!" She has a London accent. She's darting her gaze between the hole in the wall and the 'rescuers,' as if debating fleeing after the vampires.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Mr. Knight looks at the board and then at Jubilee. He takes a note of her smoldering appearance and then sighs. "Remove this. Take it with us when we depart. Intact if you can..." he says in a clipped tone. He's angry. *Very* angry.

    He turns and moves toward the girl. He gives Tara an approving look and gestures to one side for him to properly address the girl without the looming (even when on all fours) pathera near. He kneels down. He's not that terrifying setting aside the displays of violence he engaged in moments ago.

    "It's quite alright. You're safe. We will not harm you. I'm Mr. Knight" he says offering the girl a gloved hand. "In fact... I have a place that you can stay where you will be safe from all of..." he gestures behind him. "This... and we can work on finding your guardians, if you would like. Food, a warm bed, new clothes, whatever you want." Mr. Knight is not above appealing to childrens' materialistic desires.

Tara Tsabedze has posed:
Tara inches her way back from the girl, making certain she stays low and thus smaller, while putting herself in the hole in the wall to ensure no one is going out it, or coming back in it for that matter. Her senses told her something wasn't right, or that there might be more to this girl than she seems, but if the vampires wanted her for something.

Switching to Egyptian, hopping Knight could understand it, she says quietly, "There is something wrong about her scent. It seems familiar, but it feels as if something is interfering with my scense. Be careful."

Settling into her now more distant location from the girl, her eyes take a moment to look over the board, but that was a matter for another time. Quickly the golden feline eyes return to the girl.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee's eyes raise to watch Mr. Knight, watching for any reaction to their discovery, as though it might give her some clue into what to do next. She gives the slightest nod at the man's command to take it all with them, her own expression remaining positively neutral until Knight turns away from her. As soon as he does, her neutral expression shifts to one that's a little more sour, a little more prickly. Somewhere, held back by Jubilation Lee's remaining control, her Dark Passenger stirs as she stands there taking orders obediently.

    Jubilee's eyes dance across the photos tacked to the wall, her attention lingering on Lydia's -- Clan Valkkai -- before her own. She reaches out and grips the pencil sketch of herself between her index finger and thumb. She gives it a quick tug, ripping it cleanly off of the wall. "Unknown clan, unknown origin..." she reads softly, staring down at the picture held in her hands. Clan. It's not a term she's familiar with, at least as vampires might be related, but it gets entered into a mental to-do list.

    The drawing gets folded into quarters and tucked into the elastic waistband of her workout shorts.

    "I guess we left survivors," Jubilation mutters quietly to anyone who might hear it. She reaches out with both hands and grips the sides of the corkboard with the tips of all of her fingers. Maybe Knight meant for her to pull down the photos, but Jubilee instead gives the entire thing a tug. She stumbles back a little as the cork board rips from the drywall, sending a tiny cloud of white dust into the air.

    With the tableau now held in one hand down at her waist, Jubilation approaches the young girl, just as the others have. A smile forms -- a closed mouth one -- and Jubilation tilts her ear towards one shoulder. "...Plus, we can /hang/!" Jubilation declares, extending an enthusiastic thumbs-up towards the girl. "You like movies? I know the login for, like, three different Netflix accounts!" This is just normal teenage Valley Girl enthusiasm. Not a vampire glamour. Just a kid who doesn't know Egyptian talking to another kid.

     "I know what you're thinking," she adds with a vague gesture in Tara's direction. Jubilation brings the palm of her hand up so she can increase the dramatic effect of her stage whisper. "It sounds like they're from the moon, right?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I do /not/ smell... wrong!" the girl protests. She understands Tara, evidently, and glares between her and Mr. Knight for a long moment.

    But then Jubilee is... relatively normal, and she smiles shyly. "My father doesn't let me watch movies," she confesses. "I have to /study/ instead." She rolles her eyes. "I'm Agnes." She says it like she's saying something /terribly/ forbidden. But she puts down her hands, slowly.

    "You should kill the others. They want you all dead. I didn't understand most of what they said, but..." She hesitates, then shrugs, looks off to the side briefly.

    Then her glance flickers back to Jubilee. "I've never watched Netflix. Can we... can we /really/??" This poor, poor girl.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Mr. Knight looks over his shoulder at Jubilee and chuckles. "Yes. Yes you can." The fact that the girl could understand True Egyptian was surprising but not entirely uncommon... especially if the girl was precocious. He rises and nods at Jubilee. "If you and Ms. Beacon could take Agnes upstairs and outside to my car... Tara and I will see that these are..." He looks out at the bloodshed and chaos around him. "Disposed of, properly."

    The man obviously wishes to ensure a proper destruction of the vampires, the bodies, and any remaining evidence is logged before he departs for the Mission with the new child in tow. Apparently, he's decided she will be living there under his roof and thus his protection until more can be learned of her and her situation.

Tara Tsabedze has posed:
Both of Tara's brows lift high on her panther face... how did this human child know a dead language? That was just one more question among many that would need an answer at some point. Without another word, she moves to start collecting the bodies of the vampires into a pile. There were many ways to dispose of them, but to ensure that they could never be found and all trace of them was gone, magic would be used.

Once the bodies are gathered into a pile, the silvery light begins to form around herself once again and she begins to 'cleanse' the area of all evidence. Stripping away the blood, bile, innards and all of the other mess that had been created, she works her way from the outter edges to the pile.

"You may want to cover your eyes for this," she comments softly, then her entire body begins to glow brighter and brighter. There is no heat like fire from her, but the corpses begin to melt as if there was.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Yeah, well, your father doesn't have to know..." Jubilee replies with a good-natured, though mischievous twinkle in her eye. Whatever surprise she might have about Agnes understanding whatever language that just was, Jubilee's face does not show it. This is a top level performance -- a vampire pretending to be human, or at least not as obvious about what she is.

    "I'm Jubilation," she replies. "Jubilee. Jubes. Whatever floats your boat!" Jubilee shrugs and winks at the kid. Her head quickly jerks towards Mr. Knight, briefly making eye contact with him as a way of acknowledging his direction to take Agnes out of there.

    "He's got this cool place. I stay there sometimes, like, a really long sleepover. Pretty cool, I gotta say..." Her words drag out as her tone shifts into that famous vocal fry of teenagers everywhere, all meant to try to make the idea of cooperating with them sound like the coolest thing ever.

    Not wanting to stick around for whatever Tara's about to do with these bodies, Jubilation jerks her head towards the exit. "C'mon, Agnes," Jubes offers. "Let's get you acquainted with a little friend I like to call... /Streaming/..." With that carrot dangling in the air, Jubilee begins to walk in the direction of the way out, still carrying that corkboard in one of her hands. She likely wastes no time before making a joke that might get them both laughing about the cruelty of being named Jubilation and Agnes.