8792/The Last Archivist: Acquisitions List

The Last Archivist: Acquisitions List
Date of Scene:	30 December 2021
Location:	London - England
Synopsis:	Jon and his friends go to London to try to rescue Agnes and get a list of pieces of the Archive. They find the latter, but cannot rescue the former. Martin gets a memory he'd lost, and Charlie saves the day--now she's thinking with portals!
Cast of Characters:	Jonathan Sims, Cael Becker, Zatanna Zatara, Tim Drake, Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe, Phoebe Beacon, Martin Blackwood

---

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Broken mirrors and sign-in books at London funeral homes--an odd combination for tracking things down, but it works in this case. The tracking has led to a warehouse in London, one that Jon has confirmed purely by memory was used to store various items for the cult he used to belong to, the Eye of Ra. There are two main goals today: find a list of items that belonged to Jon's grandmother, so they can be tracked down and put in a vault at SHIELD that now serves as the Archive. The other is to find a thirteen-year-old girl that's been kidnapped. She may not be in this warehouse, but this is the closest that the tracking spell could get.

    The group comes in by portal, and stands on a darkened London street. It's warmer here than in the Tri-City area, by several degrees, and blustery tonight. Jon's wearing his favorite sweater in emerald green, jeans, boots. Carrying his staff and ICER. He's warned everyone that the Eye of Ra is unlikely to pull punches. Anyone they run into will be human, but is likely to shoot to kill. And there might be magic. Probably will be magic. He frowns up at the warehouse and nods. "I've been here before, certainly." He glances around at the others, particularly at Phoebe, who scryed them this far. "Is this the place?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael steps through the portal with only a moment's hesitation. She's never traveled this way - but magic is slowly growing more mundane for her. That ought to bother her more than it does - but she doesn't have the emotional space for that sort of nonsense these days.
    The young Agent is kitted for a fight - wearing top of the line combat armor, with her pistol and ICER both strapped into place, and several reload clips - the girl likes options. She's also got come flash bangs, and tear gas, and a protective mask - everything a girl could want.
    She glances around at their surroundings, checking for signs of danger and trouble, and taking in the sights and sounds. It's her first trip to jolly ol' England - and wouldn't you know, there's unlikely to be any time for touristing?
    A bummer. She'd really wanted that fish 'n chips.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Portaling more than one person takes a certain mental preparation on Zatanna' part. It also makes her smile, it reminds her of student's stuffing as many people as they can into a Volkswagen Beetle or phone booth. Old stuff that millennials likely don't know.

Both Phoebe and Charlie are competent but new to her methods so after consulting them, she took the major part of the group, Cael and Tim, as well as Martin and Jon.

After cutting the air, leaving a purple glowing interdimensional line, she invited people through, following up at the last. They whisper into the warehouse with a pfft as the portal closes behind them. The magician arrives feeling no more winded than, let's say, two flights of stairs taken two at time.

No magician's gear for this gig. Dressed in tailored black, she taps a booted foot patiently waiting for Phoebe and Charlie.

Tim Drake has posed:
    What sort of gear does a by-all-rights hobbyist supernatural investigator-slash-bored billionaire kid bring with him to a cult confrontation?

    Two words: magic sword.

    Yes, it's a katana. Yes, it supposedly is effective against various magical and mystical things. Has it ever been put to the test? ...uh, not really. He wears it on his back rather than at his hip, the strap loose across his front. The stylish color-block hoodie he's wearing is a bit oversized, concealing the shape of the body armor he has on beneath it. Of course, all of the various Bat-related iconography has been stripped from it for tonight. He's just mild mannered rich kid Tim Drake, tonight. Tim Wayne, if he's trying to get you to do something for him.

    His black jeans are comfortable enough not to affect his range of motion and his sneakers... well, they look normal. No one needs to know about the steel plating in them. Whatever else he has concealed on his person will be for him to know and you to find out at a later date.

    The portal trip seems old-hat for him now, though he does flash a thankful smile at Zatanna for getting them across the pond safe and sound. Then he pulls a scarf hidden in the wide collar of his jacket up to conceal the lower half of his face and tugs on a pair of gloves. The knuckles are certainly reinforced, given his plans for punching his way through trouble tonight.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    A very normal looking golden portal spins into existance besides the first bigger one and a batgear clad young redhead steps through. Fingers in a specific bent and muttering to herself as Misfit manages to follow Zatanna's portal to London.

    She shakes out her gloved hands and the portal fizzes and fades behind her "Ugghn.... why am I hungry..." she complains and digs into a utility pouch and fishes out what looks like a protien bar and rips it open and starts munching on it.

    On the bright side though her arrival was quiet, it wasn't like her usual teleporting which rings like a churchbell of chaos magic. Which is probably why this way was high on the list of lessons.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe had helped to ferry everybody, though her portaling looks very different than Zee's or Charlie's. She tilts a moment as she rights herself, feeling her stomach start to rebel a moment, and then wrinklign her nose and dropping her hands. She's wearing light armor, a slash-proof hoodie and denim with kevlar weave (curtesy of her besties) and gives a moment's 'hrrk', as if trying to determine if the braided mage was going to color the gray London night.

    She does not.

    She looks around area, tilting her head back a moment before she gives a nod to Jon.

    "This is the place." she replies, and she checks herself. Extending staff. Throwing knives. A couple heavier spell components, and her red leather gloves with the brass 'buttons' on them, which she pulls on, and like Tim pulls her scarf over the bottom of her face.

    "Once I broke the fourth mirror, I was able to get a pretty good view --" she adds, and then points to some graffiti with a fish. "That I recognize."

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin runs a gloved hand through his hair. "I don't know that I'll ever get used to those..." he says, giving a glance to the air where they simply walked through. "Ease of travel is one thing, but the concept itself is just... baffling."

    He is wearing what most would consider his SHIELD uniform. Dark slacks, a navy buttoned shirt, his boots and his black leather coat. His hands are covered by the almost-ever-present gloves with the etching of arcane geometry in fine light blue thread on palm and back of his hands. His ICER is tucked under his coat at a shoulder holster but he likely won't need it for this.

    "If you're going to go for non-lethal, make sure you put them out for a long time..." he says flatly, his expression hard. "They won't hesitate to kill you if the positions are turned." He's fought this Cult before. In fact, it was his first official mission, getting Jon (and others) out of the Cult's control. It went well enough, but he's always felt there were things left unfinished in his mission. Loose threads bother him, it's time to tie some of them up if he can.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon nods aside to both Phoebe and Martin. Glances around at the others, raises a brow at Tim's sword. Hunh. Then he looks back at the building.

    "It's not warded," he says with a frown. "That... worries me. I cannot imagine Elias /not/ warding the place." He shakes his head. "Let's do this quickly, then. Anyone know how to pick locks?" He's certain /one/ of them does, assuming one of the Bat people doesn't just go find another way inside.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I'm better with car doors," Cael remarks with dry amusement, looking to the others to see if they can handle the door. Seeing signs that the matter of the lock is well in hand, she moves to take a guard position while the door is opened, drawing her ICER into her gloved hands, and listening for the sound of the door opening, as her eyes continue to scan their surroundings. Her now rather distinctive hair has been pinned up and tucked under a cap she's pulled down to cover it for just this occassion.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
After cracking her knuckles with a faint smile, Zee holds up a hand to Jon. She expects most of the Bat affiliated people can housebreak, safe break and open things that were meant to stay closed without a by-your-leave. The smile widens when Tim steps forward. "It runs in the family."

Taking Cael's lead she turns away from the door, head swiveling left to right surveilling the area. She is a concealed weapon and carries nothing but a willingness to cast spells.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "Got it," Tim pipes up from the back, and as he makes his way to the door he pulls a small pouch from inside his hoodie, hidden in a pocket along the zipper. He considers the door for a long moment--some of the people present will likely realize he's scanning it for potential (non-magical) traps before he takes the final step forward, crouches down, and slips a few tools from the pouch.

    The first, a long metal stick with a small hook at the end--the tension wrench--he inserts into the lock carefully. Then the actual lockpick comes out, and it's only a moment before the click of the lock sounds and he stands back up, letting the door swing open.

    Then, sensibly, he shuffles out of the way and gestures for one of the magical heavy hitters to take point as he tucks his tools back away.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie digs around in the big hip pouch and pulls out a sleek black metal object. About the size of an old VHS tape. She flings it up into the air and it pops and reconfigures itself into a drone that starts to hover and scan as it zips into the air. It quickly checks the roof and exterior providing a solid map for Misfit's HUD.

    It also starts to probe for local area WIFI in the warehouse that may be able to be compromised. None of this is Charlie's doing, it is all run on routines with the Oracle Array. Seeking to connect to any internet of things or wifi networks with the warehouse facility, it is very good at this sort of thing.

    Charlie meanwhile hums to herself as she watches Tim deal with the door. She shoots him a thumbs up and a grin when he pops the door.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe watches as Tim takes point on the bit of B&E, and CHarlie pops a drone. She hangs back a moment with Zee, and rubbing her chest, right above her sternum a moment she watches with an earnest sense of worry as Tim picks the lock, waiting with baited breath.

    "How likely do you think this is a trap, Zee?" she questions quietly of the older magi, looking up at her.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin watches the door with the same hard expression, as he concentrates on fueling his energy through the etching in his gloves. The thread shimmers to life and a dull bluish glow starts to trace through them illuminating his hands in a small show of light. He looks back to Phoebe, catching the question in her words. "Highly. Elias Bouchard is a right bastard and is not to be trusted with *anything* most espeicially the contents of the Archive or a child."

    He looks back as Tim finishes. "Well done" he says without a trace of condescension in his tone. He could've done the lock as well, but Tim's work is more than impressive. "One moment, before we go in" he says, holding up a hand. He focuses on Tim and Cael for a moment before flexing his fingers. Auras of light blue surround the both of them. "There... you two will be safe from at least mundane attacks for a while with that. Still working on managing protection from magical energies. Not my forte." He gives the other magic users a glance... they're probably more help in that department.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Oddly enough, there is no 'internet of things' in this warehouse, nor any wifi. There's wifi in buildings around, but this one may as well be from the 1950's for all the technology it has. Maybe a silent alarm on the door? But there weren't any obvious wires. It's weird.

    The door opens onto a small coat room, off which is what looks like it might have been offices and break rooms. The building is... eerily empty. There are markings in the dust, as if there /used/ to be other things here, but between the spots where there's almost no dust at all and the scraping marks along the floor, things have been moved, and fairly recently. What's left behind is all office equipment--desks and empty filing cabinets, chairs, a coffee maker. Maybe a security checkpoint or something.

    There's a magical signature deeper inside, a faint one, for those who can sense that kind of thing.

    "It certainly /feels/ like a trap," Jon says in a hushed voice. He draws up his own barrier, just to be safe, shimmering light moving up his body from the ground. He steps over the threshold and into the coat room.

    Nothing happens, and he frowns, looking around. "No other minds that I can sense." His tone is tense, on edge.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael hears the subtle noise of the door swinging open without looking away from the her scan of the surroundings. At Martin's words, she glances briefly towards him, adding a nod of thanks and acknowledgement as the faint blue light seems to surround her. She backs towards the door as the others start to make entry, stepping into the small room beyond with the ICER still held in her hand, though she now points it down to avoid aiming it at any of her companions as they move into position. She remains silent and wordless, as she listens for any signs of life or movement within the facility.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Count on it, Phoebe," Zatanna replies, following the others into the warehouse. She looks like she ate something sour then smoothes out her expression, impassively examining the marks in the dust. Then, like a hound on a scent, the homo magi raises her head, inhaling deeply.

" But someone was here, not so long ago. I wonder what traps they left us?" Hardly a rhetorical question.

"Let's see. ".spart eht kraM".

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim pauses for a quick nod towards Martin for his new, totally cool magical shield. Thumbs up! And then a thumbs up to Charlie too, to acknowledge hers. Not being in costume means he can be visibly enthusiastic about things instead of grimdark 24/7, which is a nice change of pace, he has to admit.

    The glance he took into the building is enough for him to confidently say, "No movement through the dust for at least a week," as he falls into position behind the magic users. Then he swings his Magic Sword (magic as of yet uncomfirmed) off his shoulder, holding it in his off hand as he follows Jon, Zatanna, and the others inside.

    Almost without thinking, he sticks to stepping on the footprints of people ahead of him, quiet as his whole body is attuned to his surroundings. He might not be able to sense magic but he can certainly see a mundane attack coming.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Being in costume has never once made Charlie GrimDark (tm), let alone 24/7. "The building is totally off the grid, no cameras, no WiFi, nada... unless it is on a shielded internal gapless network."

    The drone dips down and hovers above Charlie's head. Providing her a 360 degree alert system and eyes in the back of her head through her HUD and alerts now.

    She will fall in and stick close behind Zee looking round. Doing the head on a swivel high danger sort of thing. No target yet and she isn't going to suggest she bounce to the kid or the bad guy without backup.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe presses her lips together a moment beneath the cover of her scarf, and she reaches into her pocket.

    And there, on a strand of her own coily hair, braided back in and out on itself is a ring -- Tim would recognize it as the ring from the posterboard from the medical lab, and Jon would know is Agnes's ring.

    She takes a deep breath, and she suspends it from her own braided strand of hair, holding it like a pendelum in front of her, her right hand drawing up, fingers splayed and whispers in that Liverpuddlian-stained Latin:

    " Ostende mihi viam sanguinis" -- Show me the path of Blood.

    And her fingertips get a dull rosy-gold glow to them as she looks up. Her eyes narrow. Her nose wrinkles as she glances over to Jon.

    "... it's indistinct." she whispers, wrapping her left hand tightly around the ring.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin takes in a long breath and lets it out. "Which means she was here and is not now or whatever source you were using for a focus was here and isn't now..." he says, though there is a hint of a question in it. He didn't know who this child was to Jon and the others, they hadn't gone into detail about it, but a child in the clutches of Elias Bouchard was enough for him to want it finished.

    "Still, even if the girl isn't here our secondary objective should be..." he looks to Jon and then Phoebe. "Keep trying as we move in... could be that she's warded and it needs proximity." His own head is on a swivel looking for anything that might hold a clue about the Archival manifest or this child. "I don't like that this place is so open... doesn't feel like it matches the MO of the Eye."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Zatanna's spell flares out through the warehouse, and illuminates... nothing, save that magical signature deeper in. Which appears, now, to be something tall and rectangular, an odd sort of trap, but the spell is following what the homo magi would see as a trap. Something about that signature is potentially trap-like.

    Jon glances to Phoebe, and gestures. "Let's go follow it, then. Not much else to be done." He walks on through the first room, and opens the door on the other side.

    The main warehouse is empty, with rows of shelves that, again, look as if they were once full but have since had their contents removed. There's a clear space in the center, which maybe once held larger items. It's dim, mostly emergency lighting on, but there's a single spotlight that shines on a stand mirror of dark wood and shining glass, situated in the center of the room. To magical eyes it glows ever-so faintly.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "We're finding the girl," Cael answers Martin - her tone is quiet, but there's steel and determination behind it.
    "Can your drone see around and behind these shelves?" she murmurs quietly to Charlie - loathe to step into that room before the mechanical eyes have searched for some sort of ambush. ...god damnit, she hates when Sam is right about his damned metal bird son. Redwing is pretty fucking useful.
    She lingers near the doorway, still alert for signs of trouble.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna takes a step then freezes as her magic disappears into the corners of the warehouse. When it flares into a rectangular shape, the professional magician in her sees the gadget used for the Sword Trick - the magician's assistant is put inside and the master impales the box with swords. Or a coffin tipped upright.

"What is that?" She points then turns to the other magic wielders. "Do you see it, too?" Her gaze moves from Phoebe to Martin, then Jon and Charlie.

With a nod to the glowing mirror, "And that? Portal? Or trap?"

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim has no interest in finding out what the Mirror of Erised has in store for him, so he lingers on the outskirts of the main warehouse floor, snooping about as is his natural inclination. From within his hoodie, Tim produces a heavy-duty flashlight, and begins to shine its bright beam across the bare shelves, looking for any traces left behind of what once sat upon them.

    He remains well within speaking distance, though. Raised voices distance at the very furthest. At present he's just giving the more magically-inclined investigators to do their investigating.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Misfit flicks her hand and sends the drone into the room to survey all over. It is eerily quiet as it maps everything in HD detail and feeds it to the Oracle Array and her HUD. "Sure thing, drones are awesomesauce." well unless it is blown up or eaten.

    "I imagine it is a portal and a trap... I mean that would be the most insideous thing right. ZZip zoom Twofer." she says it so chipperly. Still she is watching Z's back and studying the image feed from the drone in her HUD.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "This is the secondary path. I had to break through warding already to find here -- it's a possibility. We're going to make sure." Phoebe whispers back. She had to keep her breath held a moment as she concentrated, and follows a path that she appears to see, suspended in red against a background of black and white. She presses her teeth together a moment as they come into the main warehouse, and then the clear space, the emergency lighting going and that single spotlight hanging in the mirror, reflecting back at them.

    She steps forward, leaving the safety of the group -- she sets her shoulder to brush against Tim's as she passes him and stalks forward.

    "... the path leads into the mirror." she states quietly, looking to Martin, Jon and Zee -- to Misfit and Cael, and to Tim. The mirror doesn't reflect her.

    "Zee, think there's a way we can," she asks, and she tucks the ring back into her pocket "determine if this leads to like, a room full of lava?" she frowns "I could go first."

Tim Drake has posed:
    From whatever corner of the warehouse he's found himself in, Tim calls out, "What, you itching to go all Darth Vader on us? You're not lava-proof!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe makes a :| face at Tim's statement. "I find your lack of faith disturbing." she counters with an interjection

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin frowns as the mirror comes into view. "I think I'm going to have to agree with Tim on this one" he says eyeing the thing and its strange properties. "What we need is a rock and string or wire."

    He looks to the rest of the group seeing if they have anything and his eyes light on Misfit's drone. "Or a set of eyes that won't hurt us if whatever is on the other side is hostile in some fashion." He gives the red head a smirk. "How difficult would it be for you to replace your device?" he asks nodding to the hovering craft.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna takes another wary step further toward the mirror, reflecting nothing of the room. She glances back at the others and swallows. The room reeks of dark magic to her. After a long deep breath to center herself, she casts, " ?sehctaw ohW (Who watches)

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Charlie's drone shows empty shelves, footprints in dust. Tim's flashlight shows much the same. There were boxes here, once, and maybe other things with... stands? Pedastals? But nothing anymore. There's a whisper, though, an answer to Zatanna's spell: Elias Bouchard. It's a warning, and a threat.

    Jon freezes the moment he steps into the room and sees the mirror. "/That's/ how he's been hiding her. That /bastard/." A pause. "He uses those to scry. Shit."

    Phoebe steps forward, and isn't reflected in the mirror. Instead, there is the reflection of a room--a bedroom, maybe--where a brown-skinned girl wearing a button-down blouse and long skirt with deep auburn hair sits on the bed. She has her face buried in her knees. As the mirror shows her, she looks up, and her eyes widen in a tear-streaked face. It's Agnes.

    "Phoebe? Ms. Zatara? Jon! No, it's a tra--"

    Several things happen at once.

    There's a surge of magic. The lights go out, and several portals flare around them. When the lights come back up, Martin is gone, there's the visible chains of a binding spell wrapping itself up around Jon, and the group is surrounded by what look to be people in dark green robes, each holding an ankh-topped staff. They were clearly expecting to get the drop on the group, but they could not have expected Gotham vigilantes and powerful mystics. And the group has warning that they were being watched.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Fuck," Cael mutters under h er breath. This was exactly the shit she was afraid of. "Where did Blackwood go?" She asks in a tense voice, even as she brings her ICER up to bear on one of the robed figures, and squeezes off a pair of shots, trying to get one of the bastards down before they can cause any harm.
    Simultaneously, she moves to stand between Jon and some of their attackers. She has no idea what is wrapping around her friend - but it seems pretty clear it's a Bad Thing (tm). "Sims - you good?" she asks with her back turned towards him, and her gaze fixed on the threatening figures.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna lifts both hands in the air and claps hard. A sharp sound like a rifle report fills the air, " ".meht dniB" (Bind them) The attackers are first on her list.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Did Tim call it or what? It's a good thing his eyes adjust to the dark rapidly, because his immediate instinct is to flick off his flashlight and duck down to make his silhouette small. He doesn't realize until the flare of a portal opening just in front of him that he decided to crouch down right behind the insertion point of one of the cultists.

    That's really unlucky.

    For the cultist.

    With all the skill of many months training with batarangs (they're surprisingly heavy, given their size) Tim flings his flashlight at one of the cultists further away coming up to flank Zatanna, and then he two hands his Magic Sword, still in its sheath, and drives it through the air like <insert sportsball reference here>.

    Whatever. He tries to hit the cultist hard across the back of the head with a non-lethal MAGIC SWORD strike.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Lights went out for some people. I mean. The little drone hovering in the room with all its little sensors and cameras. Well it feeds everything to the Misfit Batling's HUD. Whose goggles adjust to the darkness pretty much instantly as well.

    Bats work in the dark.

    When the lights flicker back up there is a slash of settling pink and purple smoke spilling across the spot where Charlie was a heartbeat ago. The ring of magic, pure chaos magic pingpongs across mystical senses.

    Less than a heartbeat later there is a solid meaty thud as the teen vigilantes connects a weighted armored elbow joint with the precision of a surgeon right into the sapping spot on one of the robe and staff wielders heads. From behind. Severe head trauma. Not dead though. "Wooooot"

    Then she is gone in another slash of smoke and clarion of chaos magic moving to find another one.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Agnes!" Phoebe gasps, and she raises her left hand to try and touch the mirror -- generally a bad idea -- but she's stopped when she registers the word of trap, and she turns. Her primary defense targets? Cael and Jon.

    The magic circles on the backs of her palms light up as she gives the command of "Exolvo mi, da mihi lumen!" -- and the rose-gold from her fingers flashes towards her elbows, her aura widening. Hope, and Light, and sher hands come forward, forming a ten foot shield of a slowly spinning, eight-pointed star with the Heirmatic script around it -- and then she lunges forward trying to knock cultists away from Jon with it! Let's see how agile they are if they escape Zee's binding and Charlie's bashing!

    <Pop smoke?> she questions. Because of course, there's going to be Batcoms.

Tim Drake has posed:
    If a couple of smoke grenades go tumbling out from the bottom of Tim's hoodie to bounce across the floor and begin spewing smoke at Phoebe's request, who's going to be paying enough attention to notice in the middle of a fight with a bunch of cultists?

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin isn't in the warehouse anymore. That much is obvious to start. He looks around, barely registering the threat before it is upon him and over with. He turns and examines his surroundings. He is in what looks like an office. Dark wood paneling for the walls and a plush green carpet for the floor. The furnishings consist of two comfortable chairs before a large dark wood desk with the modern fixings of an academic's office on it: computer, notebooks, fancy pens, desk calendar.

    The walls are covered with shelves. Most hold ancient looking books bound in leather without adornment on the spines. Others have artifacts, most with an Egyptian bend to them. Worst of all, Martin recognizes it *and* the man seated behind the desk.

     He is not quite as tall as Jon, but he only misses it by a couple inches. His hair is blonde and has some curl to it, even cut short as it is. There is an almost pinched nature to his features that makes him look almost like a weasel. "I see you still present as an academic when you're not forcing people into rituals for your various schemes. Elias" His tone carries derision. He does not like Elias Bouchard. "What do you want?" he asks curtly.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    In the warehouse:

    "Yes, Becker, I'm /brilliant/," Jon says in a biting tone. Sheer panic, which he tamps down. Martin's /gone/, and Elias was watching. Shit. But he can't do anything unless he frees himself, so he concentrates, whispers softly, and a pair of citrine-colored bolt cutters appear to neatly snip the chains of the spell attempting to bind him. That done, he grabs his staff and shakes it out, glaring around at their attackers.

    "I'll give you /one/ chance to surrender," he says. "The Eye of Ra is a cul--"

    Nope, too late. Tim's thwacked one of the cultists in the head with a flashlight--enough to distract him from avoiding Zatanna's own binding spell. Sadly for him, his magic is not of the 'speak a word' variety, so he struggles to keep his staff free as he attempts to counter the spell. The other robed figure that Tim comes after is neatly downed by another, harder /thwack/ from the MAGIC SWORD. This is probably more due to Tim's training and strength than magic, but whatever the reason, it works. Charlie's downed another with her elbow, and Cael's shots hit a third, his shields not yet up. Clearly they weren't expecting much of a fight.

    Two of the others, focusing on attacking Cael and through her Jon, don't have time to counter Zatanna's binding spell, and get held, joining their fellow hit by the flashlight in their struggle. The other three stop, Phoebe's shield getting in their way, and start up a chant. Attack spells, it seems, focused on the shield.

    So: three struggling with a spell, three down, three to go. And one of those three is likely to get another smash from Charlie shortly. Agnes is standing in the mirror now, eyes wide, watching all of this play out. She says nothing, mostly because there's nothing much to say.

---

    In the office:

    The man sitting at the desk smiles. "Ah, Martin. So good of you to join me." Oily words, oily smile. "It /has/ been a long time, hasn't it? What... thirteen years? That deal Jon made certainly did hide you both well. Not that he really needed to bother; I had what I wanted, and I needed to wait for him to come into his own, anyway." His gray eyes flick to one side, like he's looking at something else. "And he really has, hasn't he? Already conjuring items from the Astral Plane without gestures, I'm really quite proud. I'm certain all that ability to focus is down to you, hmm? Keeping him on an even keel like always, I'd imagine." Despite the pleasant tone, there's an undercurrent of mocking.

    "I /am/ surprised he brought such a group with him. I was half-expecting it to be just the two of you, /maybe/ along with whatever mystic's been prodding at my wards. Is that a /Zatara/ I see? Ohh, exalted company for our dear Archivist and his... plus one. Positively makes your head spin, doesn't it? And /children/?" A tsk. "Violating his own supposed principles, isn't he? Whatever happened to keeping children out of the hero business?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "We're getting them both back," Cael answers Jon with firm, unwavering confidence, repositioning herself to stand between Jon and as many of the unhampered cultists as she can manage. She's not subtle about it either.
    "Agnes, I know we haven't met yet, but we're coming for you, alright? We can handle these guys," she remarks without looking towards the mirror. There's a surprisingly uncharacteristic amount of warmth and reassurance in her voice as she speaks to the child, rather than her normally cold and brusque nature. ... who knew?
    Meanwhile, she takes aim at the cultist who still has the clearest shot at Jon - and opens fire once more with another two carefully squeezed off bullets.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Hey, this Magic Sword is pretty useful. Tim moves forward into the cover of the smoke, which the gas mask carefully hidden in his scarf allows him to breathe through with little trouble. Seeing's a bit more problematic, but he had a target that he was aiming for, and he reaches out.

    After all, this cultist was standing still after being knocked back by Phoebe's shield, trying to dispell it. Logically, an easy target. Tim does his best to catch glimpse of the cultist in-between the plumes of billowing smoke, and once he does, he tries to grab him by his dumb cultist robe, haul him backwards, and then slam him face-first into Balm's magical shield.

    BONK.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie appears and wraps one of the cultists in a headlock wrapping her legs around him, then twists and rides him down to the ground like a pony "yeehaw" THUD. When he starts to get all sorts of caccooned up though well she leaps back off him. That was close.

    "I mean... I can just go to Martin if you want me to go bck him up where ever he is?" because well Martin probably does need backup. Charlie cocks her head and looks right at Zee waiting for the head nod.

    Which is probably best to not send her in alone.

    "Or... um cast a tether on me and I can go in and you can all ride the wake?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    BONK.

    The cultist hits the shield that Phoebe's pressing forward, and as he goes down, the shield tilts forward as Phoebe drops, tucks, and summersaults forward, and goes to sweep the remaining two cultists, relying on her ears to guide her to where they were standing and trying to attack her.

    "Capendae!" she cheerily calls out.

    Because yes, she would warn Tim to 'jump' in Elvish. Nerd. She draws to a crouch, listening for the otehrs as she sits in the smoke. Ugh. Her voice was going to sound rough.

    "Zee, can you tether to her and to me at the same time? Is that too much stress?" she asks. Because mid-fight is an excellent place to discuss magical theory. These cultists don't have anything on Z, J. P, C, and T.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin frowns at Elias. "Not long enough..." he says in response to the man as he folds his arms across his chest. The blue glow hasn't subsided yet but he can move them with ease regardless without disrupting the coalesced energies within. "What he does is his own... and as for the children..." he shakes his head, "they have earned their place as part of our company."

    He fixes the oily man with a hard gaze. "Send me back, with the girl you have stolen and the Archival manifest and never trouble us again and I'll do my best to let you live." His tone makes it clear he's not going to give in to Elias' games or taunts. He means to do their job and be rid of the cockroach before him. For good if he can.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    In the warehouse:

    Jon uses the cover of Cael's bullets and the shield to turn away from the fight, focusing on the mirror. He whispers a word to clear the smoke from that little pocket around the mirror, then says, "Agnes, what's going on? Where are you? Did he hurt you?"

    "My room, but... not." The girl's voice quavers with fear. "He put me in the mirror somehow, but he didn't hurt me. He said... he said he knew you'd come for me. Now that... you know who I am." She looks at Cael and shakes her head. "It's a trap, he was just using this to lure Jon here. I don't think there's a path from there to here."

    Cael's shots fire into the smoke. One goes wide, but the other finds its target. Tim bonks a cultist into the shield, Charlie wraps one up, and--look, Bats are impressive, okay, even when they're not obviously being Bats. Phoebe succeeds in wrapping the rest up, and when all is said and done, Zatanna's spell, finally unopposed, cocoons the whole group so that they can't cause any more trouble. It leaves them all with smoke filtering out through the warehouse, the mirror still there, Martin still gone.

    Jon turns to the others. "Tether? What are you talking about?"

---

    In the office:

    Elias laughs. "Oh, is /that/ what you think is going on here? Ahh, no." Another flick of a glance and a frown. "A teleporter? Hmm." Then he looks back to Martin. "That accelerates my timetable. I really should learn not to gloat."

    He pulls out a piece of paper and slides it across the desk to Martin. "Here you are. The manifest. I can't track most of these down myself anyway. But you, well, you're a good little soldier. I'm glad to have you do the work for me. But first, well. Nothing comes without a price."

    Gray eyes bore into Martin's own. "You really don't know who she is, do you? Or the price Jon paid, with her, for your life? Well... let's fix that. And then send you back."

    Memory floods into him, not his own. Elias' perspective: Martin dead on a basement floor, his throat slit and eyes lifeless. Jon, younger, maybe 21, staring in horror. He's holding a baby in his arms; behind him is the body of a woman in a tub of water--Martin's old friend, Alya Montague. For a moment, a surge of exultation--everything is out of the way, and Elias can /finally/ have everything he's wanted...

    And then Jon and Martin both disappear. There is a black woman standing there, hair bleached white, holding the baby. She hands the child to Elias. "Stay away from them," she says in a richly accented voice, "and you can keep the girl. But treat her well--that's the deal. I'm told her name is Agnes." She smiles. "The Mother will have Her eye on you."

    The memory ends. And Martin knows--Jon traded the baby to the woman for his life, and the woman turned around and handed the baby to Elias. Martin should be dead. He /was/ dead. And now... he's not, and the girl's trapped somewhere. And Martin doesn't even remember there /was/ a baby.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Even with the men cocooned in spells - well, Cael has no way of knowing how long those spells will last. So she does the one simple, logical thing she can do.
    She walks around the room firing an ICER round into each of them without so much of a flicker of emotion showing on her features. For anyone who knows enough to recognize an ICER, it might not be that alarming. But for anyone not familiar with the weapons? ...it could be a rather disturbing sight.
    "The people with us know what we're doing, Agnes," Cael says calmly. "We're going to figure it out."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Just like cowboys and rodeos, my dears!" Zee calls out direction as she manifests pale blue lines, trailing magic from her fingertips "!rehtea ni stneduts ym ossaL"

    Pale 'ropes' reach for each Charlie and Phoebe. "You first, into the mire for Martin. Follow him. John, Cael -- stay close. Phoebe--" she points Phoebe and Tim to the mirror.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim looks at the magic mirror. Then he looks at everybody else. All he has to offer is a quick up-down shrug of his shoulders.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Really dearly hopes Zee knows what she is doing. I mean yes it was Charlies idea but this is excessly dangerous. The saving grace is she isn't actually teleporting them. She is carving a path through to Martin and then Zatanna will be pulling everyone along the tether to her through her own portal.

    Cause if Charlie grabbed the teleported everyone this particular way it would be deadly for everyone else involved.

    "Okay.. hold onto your butts." and the teenager is gone, just a slash of smoke. To those mystically inclined paying more attention because of all the .. well focus on her right now... she just used a dire amount of chaos magic to convince reality that she wasn't in the room with all of you, but rather she is and has been standing near Martin in the other place. Where ever it is.

    If it works at all. It is a wild card to try to prevent but this Elias is slippery.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Oh. It's dangerous. It's hellaciously dangerous, which is why although Phoebe grabs onto the lasso, she knew it was going to have to be a ride with Tim. She wasn't about to let him go.

    "Mirror's not a door, we're going to be following behind Z." she whispers, and she goes to loop her arm around his shoulders.

    "Hold on tight. This is going to suck." she warns, making a face below her scarf.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "So I'm guessing 'Speak Friend and Enter' isn't the trick, here," is all Tim has to say to that, though he does loop his arms around Phoebe tight.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin's head swims with confusion at the the image. "No... that's not... that didn't..." he puts a hand to his head, the blue glow of his own held magic winking out from the shock of the... memory? Yes. It was a memory. Not one he remembers because he was dead when it happened. He doesn't even remember dying.

    He looks stricken and he can only ask a man he doesn't trust. "Why?" he asks. "Why would he give a child to... to *you* for..." He doesn't need to finish it. "He did it to save me..." he answers. "Where is she?" he asks hard, reaching for the manifest being offered. He had to get out of here. He had to get answers from someone he trusted. But... could he trust Jon... Jon had never mentioned anything of that to him before.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Before they go, Jon looks firmly at the mirror. At the girl standing there, staring at them all. "We're going to find you," he says to Agnes. "Just... hold on." Then he takes his staff and hits the mirror, hard. Glass shatters, and he grabs up a shard in a cocoon of glowing gold. A way to find her, after they find Martin. Then he steps in close to Zatanna.

    Everyone pulls together and stays close, and surfs through magical chaos in Charlie's wake. Smoke and swirling light, growing strange and green the closer they get to their destination. Elias' wards aren't set up to protect from chaos magic, and it's that which carves on through, leaving a space for them to deposit themselves next to and behind Martin in Elias' office. Seven people standing there facing the man sitting at the desk is a tight squeeze, but there's room enough that nobody has to sit on anyone's lap.

    Jon starts forward, preparing to say something, glowering at the man behind the desk. Elias sighs and shakes his head at the intrusion. "Brilliant," he murmurs. "Just /brilliant/." He holds up a hand. "First: kill me and Agnes dies. Second: you have what you came for--Martin has the manifest, and you have a way to track Agnes down." He smiles. "I'm certain you won't disappoint, in that."

    He looks around at the group. "Third... you /could/ beat me down and torture the information out of me, I suppose, but I /do/ have security and allies to call upon. Do you really want to waste the time? I hear there's /quite/ the nasty asteroid heading for New York." He raises his brows. "Actually, I'm terribly curious what it is, but I suppose I'll find out when everyone else does."

Cael Becker has posed:
    The sensation of being pulled through by the magic is different than anything Cael has experienced before, and it leaves her feeling nauseous, and disoriented. When they 'land' in the crowded office, Cael stumbles a step or two, bumping into Phoebe before she finds her footing, and straightens. She doesn't bother with an apology in the moment, though. As soon as she's aware of their surroundings, she turns, leveling her ICER on Bouchard, but holding her finger on the guard, rathe than the trigger. "Sims?" she asks simply, and calmly.
    She'll just have to puke later. Ugh.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
It is a sickening slide in the wake of Charlie's chaos magic. They tumble through and somehow land on their feet. Zatanna can hear Bouchard's sneering voice while they fall from high up into the office.

"Bouchard, you must like the sound of your own voice. I have no time for it." She nods to the others,"You know what to do." Then mutters a spell under her breath. A luminous wisp of blue attaches itself to Martin. "Good bye," she wishes the man behind the desk, a chill in her voice. "Charlie, we are behind you."

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim comes through the chaos-portal-tagalong as well as can be expected, which is apparently a good deal better than Cael who looks like she might puke. He's proud of her when she doesn't though.

    All he can do is team up with Phoebe to glare Elias down real hard. They're from Gotham. They know how to glower, okay?

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie touched down without any trouble. Well touched down isn't the right word. She was just standing there moments before everyone else shows up using Zee's magic lojacking her like that. "Shew" she notes when it gets crowded like that and is very relieved.

    "Uh wait... again?" she is suddenly not relieved. Okay well. She has no issue doing it again, but well figured that. "Okay." she notes and then concentrates and there is another flare of chaos magic as she convinces reality she is back where they originally staged the portal jumps to London. Safety.

    She looks very nervous as she waits for everyone to show up though. No on exploded in Elias's office. So this will be okay right.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I only play a dwarf in campaigns." Phoebe answers back to Tim in a quiet manner meant for their own joking, and she holds him tight in a strange reversal of how being tethered to things usually works for heroes. "Agnes -- hang tight. We WILL come for you." she states to the girl in the mirror, and she goes, holding to Zatanna's Magical Tether, and onto Tim. She feels her head pound and her stomach revolt as they're pulled following Charlie's wake, through the wards that now she's getting more familiar with ache as she passes through, arriving with her fingers and palms still glowing brightly, not quite releasing Tim upon landing to Stare Down Elias.

    And reaching out a hand, she very, very gently steadies Cael.

    "Rule number one of magic -- no one will blame you for throwing up. Just aim for the jerk's desk if you do." Phoebe comments conspiritally to Cael, her left hand with the tether on her back.

    She definitely remembers her first time being pulled. Poor Chas.

    And then they portal back to London. Phoebe's stomach begins to rebel, but she forces it back to calm with a squeeze to Tim.

Martin Blackwood has posed:
    Martin turns in surprise as the others arrive. "What... how...?" he asks, his vision blurs with tears as more memories, unlocked by the after effects if Elias' revalation, flood into him. Memories he has no context for.

    His eyes lock on Jon and he feels so many emotions he can't express them. Not here. He holds up the list. "I... I have it..." he says weakly. "We... we should..." he feels the tether attach to him and *knows* on a fundamental level that this portal will not be as gentle as Zatanna's in its travels as the young woman's chaos magic swells in preparation.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Shoot the bastard," Jon snaps in response to Cael. He reaches out to take Martin's hand, protectively, steeling himself against the way the portaling back is going to feel. He didn't throw up the first time, but he /might/ the second. This wakeboarding on magic after Charlie is /hard/ on the stomach.

    "Hold on, love," he says softly. "I've got you. Everything'll be fine."

Cael Becker has posed:
    That's all Cael needs - and really, all Jon gets out is 'Shoot' before the rest of his words are drowned up from the persussion waves from the ICER as she fires multiple rounds into the man.
    She only regrets she was holding an ICER in her hand instead of her pistol, judging by the tone in Jon's voice.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    There's enough time before Charlie portals out to see that the bullets from Cael's ICER are stopped about three inches from Elias by something that flashes a deep emerald green with each round fired. The man sighs and rolls his eyes. "/SHIELD/," he says, in a tone of deepest irritation. And by the look in his eyes, he means it for all three of the agents before him, including Jon.

    Then they're yanked away, on that stomach-lurching ride back to their initial origin point, back in the Tri-City area. This is going to require some recovery time.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
They tunnel like mad chipmunks behind Charlie's shield of chaos, buoyed by Zee's gentler magic. Falling...

    Falling

    Falling...

Zee suppresses a furious need to chant, "There is no place like home...

It smells like there are logs blazing in the fireplace. Home.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie is pacing as she watches to see if the others make it along their tether surfing on Zee's magic through the chaos.

    "Oh thank christmas..." she notes relieved and crosses her arms and continues to watch. To see if anyone explodes in bloody chunks. She is watching for a reason. "Lets never maybe ever do that again. I can't take the anxiety." without eplaining why she is so anxious.

Cael Becker has posed:
    As they emerge, Cael can see that they're somewhere 'safe' - and that's all it takes for her to give into the increasing pressure in her stomach.
    She doubles over, as whatever contents may currently be in her stomach make their way back out. God, this has been happening too much of late. ...she's going to damage the enamel on her teeth if it keeps up.
    "Ugh. Let's not do that again," she mutters after spitting out the last of it and wiping her mouth clean on the back of her gloved hand. "And fuck that dude and his shields!"