9045/Path of Glory: Work of Heroes (Mark II)

Path of Glory: Work of Heroes (Mark II)
Date of Scene:	11 December 2021
Location:	Dilapidated Building (Hell's Kitchen)
Synopsis:	A rush to save the final victim of the Palpal Killer results in a combat of the mind and the body as a possessed Chas Chandler is discovered to be the culprit. The combined forces of Witchblade, The Archivist, Rien D'Arqueness, and an Awakened Lasariel Weiss manage to wear it down enough to bind it and release its hold over the mind of Cael Becker.
Cast of Characters:	Chas Chandler, Sara Pezzini, Jonathan Sims, Asariel, Rien D'Arqueness, Cael Becker
Tinyplot:	Path of Glory

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Chas Chandler has posed:
    Luck seems to be on the investigator's side as Alis' direction sense works well for once. Either the recall to the Witchblade understands the nature of roads or Alis is just on her game for the night. Regardless the directions lead to an building in absolute disrepair off of West 55th Street.

    Abandoned didn't do the place justice. What it was before it became a holding cell is hard to guess. The rotting hinges and worn grey-brown paint speak of a house but it's a bit too large for that. It's too squat to be offices, being only two stories. Whatever it had been wasn't entirely important though, what it is now is a holding cell for Cael Becker.

    The ghost girl who had been Cael's sister in life (and continued on in death) can feel the energy of herself inside the place but it is a faint thing. A slow dull ping of "you are here but also here" over and over... a piece calling to the whole for retrieval.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The waiting was the hardest part. Knowing that out there the angel had Cael, but having to wait for the others to arrive. Sara had gone from pacing the apartment to pacing the halls, and then to pacing the length of the apartment building outside. She wasn't used to relying on others, for the past year she had almost deliberately avoided building any connections to anyone. The loss of three police partners due to her connection to Witchblade had been the trigger, and now it was happening again. The only reason she didn't go alone was Alis, the constant presence and reminder from the ghost girl that it would be better to have more... more is better than less.

Once the others arrived there were no words, there was merely getting into a car and going. Others might have wanted to talk, but Sara wasn't waiting. Following Alis' directions had been easier than she expected it to be, and where they ended up was not precisely what she had expected. Some how she expected an angelic prison to be more... shiny.

"This is the place," she tells the others once the car is parked and she springs from the drivers seat.

The second she's out of the car the metal tendrils explodes from the bracelet to form the gauntlet and then the armor. Those that know... know that when the armor covers her entire body, leaving not a single piece of flesh showing, that Witchblade deems this a serious threat. That sort of thing is his call, not Sara's. Even as the armor is forming around the NYPD detective, she's heading into the building, and by the time she reaches the door, a bastard sword has formed in her right hand.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    If the Archivist had already learned how to fly, he'd be flying. As it is, he rushes through the streets of New York by foot and by car, uncaring of any looks he might get for being in his superhero outfit as he follows the trail of the ghost. Lydia worked herself to exhaustion, but came through with a beautifully intricate binding, just in time--as if, whatever this angel might claim, /something/ out there wants them to succeed. He's handed a notebook and black candles to Rien D'Arqueness, pulled out and extended his staff, called Lasariel Weiss to come help them after alerting other members of the Justice League Dark that they were needed to help chase down the other part of the angel.

    He explains the plan along the way: Rien will draw circles to bind the angel, Jon will fuel the circles with negative energy, the others will keep it busy while they do so. Insofar as the plan will even work; at this point his first concern is making sure Cael's okay, but they do /have/ to take care of the angel. He's buried his emotions for now, his tone precise and short. Hiding the terror.

    He doesn't stop to wait once they get to the building where Cael's being held. The moment Alis confirms that, yes, this is where they should be, he's on through the door, right on Pezzini's heels.

Asariel has posed:
Lasariel had arrived, but not alone. Giovanni is not one to let a charge just go parading into trouble and Lasariel knew just how to find the most exotic kind. Or other did and then asked her to come along. The white haired woman had travelled with the group and was not checking to see if her guard was staring daggers at her. When they get to the location she has a quiet conversation with the man before moving after the group. He trails after her, but not too far behind. Because he didn't want her to fall in a hole or something while he wasn't looking.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
    Rien waits in a very different way than Sara does. Finding an open spot in the living room, she sits down and closes her eyes, falling into what might appear meditation. Behind those closed eyes, however, there is a lot going on. She's running through the scene with the angel over and over, making sure she remembers it's look, sound and especially how it felt to her magical senses. Truth is, she's worried about this one. Something of that power should have had all her alarm bells ringing before it got anywhere nearby, yet she had no idea it was there until it broke into the room.

    Once Lasariel joins them, they get into Sara's car and follow Alis' instructions. Since Sara is driving, Rien has the time to look through the notebook. The circle is complex, but she's used ones fairly similar before this. The real difference is the energy it has to channel, as she's usually gunning for members of the other team. At least Jon is the one stuck with the negative energy woogies this time. She still feels like she needs a shower just from channeling it into her claws earlier, and that was trivial compared to this.

    Once they reach the location, she whispers a spell and a small backpack appears in her hands. She slings it over one shoulder and then follows the others into the building.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Inside the building, it is dark and as decrepit as the exterior would indicate but to those with Sight beyond the physical there is something else entirely. Enochian script, recognizable by all in attendance (if only legible by some) is scrawled everywhere giving phantom light to the corridors of the almost labyrthine maze that is the inside of the building.

    After moments or possibly hours, time stretches inside the place of darkness and magic, they reach a wall. A dead end. More script in the language of the angels is scrawled there. Large heiroglphys of warding and mystic protection and reinforcement in a variety of phrases and levels of power.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Hours or minutes, the length of time from point A to point B mattered very little to Sara, the goal remained the same... find Cael. Alis moved with her, she could see her as plainly as the could see the script. She knew it was Enochian, but that was the extent of it on her part. Witchblade might know what is says, but like Sara, he didn't care right now.

As the path comes to an end at a wall, Alis just point at it and nods. That is all the more Sara needs to take a full on running start with intent to go through that wall like it was made of tissue paper. With her luck however, she's likely to slam into it, bounce off it and pick herself up, either way... good times.

Braced and ready, full strength behind her charge toward the wall, she gets the urge to scream 'Oh yeah!' as she plows through the wall to the other side.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    The Archivist will have to take the snapshot he got of the wall just before Sara plowed through it to look over later. He's curious about the Enochian, but figuring out what it was saying is for another time. He twirls his staff, taps the base end on the floor, and shimmering blue light forms around him--a shield made of water summoned from the Astral Plane.

    That done, he glances around to be sure the other three--Rien, Lasariel, and Gio--are ready, then heads on through after Pezzini.

Asariel has posed:
"Oh she's going through the wall..." Lasariel states as she and Giovanni hang back. What in the world...but she wasn't asking questions, those could wait until later. She wasn't sure she could process all of the Enochian before Sara got through it either. Which was alright. She looks to her bodyguard and there's a bit of a half hearted smile, "You'll know when to go." she tells him. And that he would!

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
    Scanning over the writings as they move through the building, Rien tries to get at least a general idea of what they say. There could be a clue in them to not only Cael, but also to the angel's motivations. Something has to explain why this being has decided to come here and start passing judgement on people. If it was a demon, she could understand it - they do this kind of thing for fun. But an angel doing it means something is seriously wrong, and every sense she has is screaming that she needs to stop this from happening.

    When they reach the dead end, she's about to examine the wall to see if it's been strengthened or has any magical traps on it when Sara chooses the more direct path. Once she crashes through the wall, Rien takes just a few seconds to see if anything nasty happens to her. If yes, Rein will try and counter any magic affecting the woman. Otherwise, she will simply step through the Sara shaped hole in the wall and into the room beyond.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The tableau inside is one of calm peace. More bowls of mundane golden light dot the floor creating a contrast in light and shadow. There is a small cot to one side and an pair of solid looking chairs facing one another near it. But what dominates the room is the massive cross going from floor to ceiling.

    A figure in a grey turtleneck, dark jeans and sturdy boots with long brown hair hovers about seven feet in the air. In one hand is an ancient hammer, in the other a rail spike sized nail. The nail is poised over the wrist of an already mostly crucified form of Cael Becker.

    She's not on fire--small favor that--but her hands and feet bear burn marks and burst blisters.

    More Enochian script dot the floor and ceiling around the cross: labels of Thief and Murderer (and their synonyms for those who can read it). The figure turns, as Sara bursts into the room. All in the room can recognize Chas Chandler as the form hovering in the air, but gone are the blue eyes of the bartender, replaced by golden orbs of liquid light. "Interuptions? How...?" his eyes jerk beyond to the ghost accompanying their midsts. "The shade. The talisman held a part of you didn't it? The Watcher was more thorough than I thought to give him credit for."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Heartbeats in the night. One, two, three. That's exactly how much time passes once Sara goes through that wall before the wings of Witchblade spread out from her back and she launches herself at the Chas-Angel as she bellows, "You son of a bitch!"

She has no idea if its really Chas or if the entity is wearing a face it thinks will bring sympathy, she doesn't care. The momentum built to go through the wall is used to launch herself at him all the same.

For those who can see, at that same moment in time, three beats of the heart... as the Chas-angel looks at Alis the ghost girl grins broadly, does a finger-gun motions at the angel, then literally jumps /into/ Sara and disappears.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    The pieces of the puzzle fall into place five seconds too late. If he hadn't been so hyper-focused on the /angel/, Jon would have checked into things like 'why was the first victim from England' and paid more attention to the people around him, to their motivations.

    Then again... he really didn't want to believe one of his friends had been this /stupid/.

    It doesn't matter. The Archivist starts running to the cross while Sara launches herself at the angel inhabiting Chas, spins the staff and fires a blast of yellow-gold energy at the angel, kind of strafing as he runs. "It's his body, but I can't see his mind!" he shouts. Is Chas already dead, in the ways that matter? They won't know unless they keep him alive.

    To Rien, he fires out a thought: <<Put the circle in a corner and we'll manuever him into it.>> Covert-like, so the angel can't hear. Unless, well, maybe the angel /can/ hear? That's a terrifying thought.

    His aim is to get to Cael, look over her injuries, try to help her. She's not dead. The angel will have kept her alive until after that final nail, at least.

Asariel has posed:
Lasariel wasn't expecting what was happening on the other side of the wall and there is a coldness that settles over her form, "Chas..." she whispers out. Oh that definitely was the shape of her boyfriend...but she'd never sensed anything like this. This was bad. Very bad.

"Hey! Get out of my boyfriend!" she shouts. Yes, because that was going to help, Las!

Giovanni looks over the scene unfolding and makes a decision as his gun is pulled swiftly from it's holster and he aims down the sights so that he doesn't accidentally hit Cael who is high as fuck right now. The ex-military man squeezes the trigger without warning Lasariel.

Because she'd have stopped him.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
As soon as she steps into the room, the backpack is dropped and her claws rip out through her skin. They still seem to absorb light rather than radiating it because she never let the negative energy enchantment drop since they could encounter the angel at any given time. Three whispered words release a spell she keeps prepared at all times and a shimmering field of force surrounds her, fitted to her body. With a growl her father would be proud of she takes the first two steps towards the angel before Jon's thought hits her.

    She blinks at the thought of trying to combat deploy a greater circle, but if anyone can do it, she's likely a good candidate. The claws retract as she dives for the backpack, flipping it open and pulling out chalk to draw the circle with.

    She first marks out the inner and outer circles, then starts the smaller ones between them. The simple shapes done, she begins on the symbols and words that power them, channeling negative energy into them as she does. She sends a quick thought back to Jon <<I hope you can keep him busy long enough. And I still hate negative energy.>> She keeps drawing even as she sends the message, doing her best to get each symbol drawn correctly.

    There's a reason circles like this usually take hours at the least to draw.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Seemingly unaffected by the terrible pain that one can only assume Cael is experiencing, the woman is calmer, and more at peace than any of her friends have ever seen her to be - and that includes the little shade accompanying Sara. She goes from gazing at Chas with a beatific, almost exultant smile of expection, to looking towards the quartet of rescuers that burst through the wall. They've come to witness? That seems right to her - it was a good thing that they should see her accept her final punishment, and be freed at last of her burdens. "Sara, Jon..." she says in welcome.
    That smile changes into puzzlement, which quickly becomes something akin to heartbreak as she realizes what her friends intend. "No, Sara, please, he isn't finished... It isn't finished." Her gaze shifts to Jon as he runs towards her, the pleading look she gives him heartachingly unnatural on her features. "Jon, please, stop her," she begs.
    Even as she does so - her one free hand, her right hand, grips at the nail in her arm, just about her wrist. She grips it and pulls, somehow managing to wrench and free, allowing blood to flow from the wound. She drops the nail, which falls along with the badly burned skin which had sloughed off during the effort. Despite her current position being held vertically against the cross, she somehow appears unhampered as she bends forward for the nails she'd pounded through her calves.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The being that looks like Chas was expecting the Witchblade to come at him as she was. The blast and gunshot were not part of the plan though. Jon's blast catches him on the shoulder, searing away the cloth of the shirt and revealing a swirling tatoo underneath going from arm to neck that seems to shift and change as it's viewed. Check for it being Chas.

    The form of Witchblade is intercepted a second latter pushing him from his hovering perch in a tackle that could rival NFL linebackers. There is a twist and the being rights himself before landing on his back, straining against the armored form an matching it strength for strength. "The Warrior come to fight have we?" he growls at her, inhuman golden orbs flaring with glee.

    Giovanni knows how to use his weapon. He expertly tracked the tackled form and the shot rings out in the small room. The bullet hole appears just above Chas' right eye and the head jerks back with whiplash force. "That... hurt..." he mutters and the bullet retreats from the hole it made before the would seals itself shut. "I will flay you alive for that..." it says as it tracks down the bodyguard.

    "Shelley..." the being says, using Cael's given name, "dispose of them" he intones at the woman freeing herself for the cross. "These interlopers wish to prevent you the peace and rest you so freely deserve."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    The Archivist stops in his tracks as Cael /pulls out the nail/ in her wrist. And then moves to the ones in her calves. Disgust twists in his gut, but he starts toward her again as the angel starts giving her commands. "Shut /up/," he snaps at the angel. "You're not flaying /anyone/. You've stepped out of bounds, and we're here to stop you."

    He stops next to the cross. "Becker," he says, "you're not in your right mind." He reaches out, tentatively, with his own mind, toward his fri--colleague. /Patient/. Trying to see if there's anything of her left there. "Becker, don't /listen/ to him. Please."

    The Archivist reaches out a hand, conjuring up a globe of water. He's never healed anyone before, but... he /could/ try now. "Becker, you're /bleeding/. Let me help you."

Asariel has posed:
Las feels bile burn her throat as the shot rings out and the bullet finds its mark. Which is apparently Chas' head. "Gio, NO!" she gasps out as her vision blurs for a moment. Then whatever is inside Chas threatens and she rushes to put herself between her bodyguard and said Chas-Angel.

She is nowhere near as tall as Giovanni, but there is a ripple of power that goes through the room as Gio is blocked by the angel wings that sprout from her back and obscure the bodyguard behind her. She very much doesn't realize that she's got wings! "Over my dead body!" she shouts at the angel as she changes her stance to protect what is behind her.

Meanwhile Giovanni's face pales a few considerable shades given he's remarkably tan, "We're absolutely talking about a rai..." he cuts off as he gets a wing to the face.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
    As she continues to lay down symbols, the notebook detailing the circle floats over to her so she can consult it from time to time. The chalk darkens to a purplish-black as she finishes each symbol and channels negative energy into it. Jon had planned to be the one supplying the energy, but he's a bit busy at the moment, so she takes it all on herself.

    Thank goodness for all the intensive training she's had starting at the age of 5, because she can split her attention and still perform at peak efficiency. The black candles float out of her backpack, one placing itself as each symbol it needs to sit on is drawn. This will probably be the quickest major circle in history, but she's still got to take a certain amount of time to get it right or she may as well not bother.

Cael Becker has posed:
    The next two nails come free - and Cael drops from the cross, to the floor, both nails still clutched in her horribly burned hands, as she stands steadily on equally horrifically burned feet - but the flannel of her pajamma bottoms are untouched. Well, untouched other than then patches of blood blossoming larger and larger on her calves, where the holes from the nail show.
    As Jon touches her mind, Cael is there - but she isn't herself. She feels the pain - but it registers as something akin to ecstasy, though sadness does begin to color her thoughts as she hears the command from the angel. "Jon... You don't understand. He's almost finished, and it's wonderful. If you stay, and you watch... you'll understand. We don't have to hurt anymore. We don't have to be afraid. We can rest, and be at peace - don't you see?" It was easy to see how insidiously tempting and addictive that could be for Cael - as she advances on Jon, the nails gripped in both hands.
    "I don't want to hurt you - any of you. Make them stop, Jon. We can all be saved."
    The orb she ignores as inconsequential, it seems, as her gaze remains locked on the man, a look of sadness, and regret starting to settle over her features. This was meant to be such a beautiful moment - and now it was marred.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The Warrior, that's what it called her, what it called Witchblade. That was his purpose, his calling, his reason to exist, a warrior against the Gods and the imbalance that was consuming the universe. Sara and Witchblade were one, something that rarely happened, that the two separate souls agreed wholeheartedly on the task at hand.

Whether she had heard Jon or not remains unclear in the seconds that pass. The sword in her right hand shifts down to a broad kopis, a Greek fighting dagger. "You bet your sweet angelic ass we're here to fight," she hisses as she struggles to keep the angel in place.

In her mind there is the registered knowledge that this is Chas' body, but the Witchblade cares not for who it might be. Fighting to give the other time to do what they need, she makes an attempt to stab that dagger into the angel, but not a killing blow, merely an attempt to weaken him as it seems he will heal quickly either way. The more power used, the less he has and perhaps that will, in the end, be just as useful.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The angel's eyes flick to the winged woman and spread into a smile. "Wonderful... it explains so much as to why my host gravitated toward you Fallen Child. Leave and let us continue and perhaps we will find a place in glory for the both of you when the experiment is made anew."

    His attention returns to Sara as the dagger comes for him. He catches the blade with his hands, blood tricking down from the furrow it cuts into his palm. If it hurts him, he doesn't show it on his face. "Very good Warrior, struggle. Fight. For then your loss will be all the more sweet." Still he's struggling to keep the blade from piecing him further than it already has.

    He turns his attention to Jon. "Don't you understand Watcher? You should heed her words. She is here because of your intervention on her behalf after all. This is entirely *your* doing. Her wounds are your responsibility as if you held her hand while she buried the nail into her flesh."

    Something tugs at him, and the golden orbs shift and fall upon Rien doing *something* in the corner. It's hard to gauge and that alone causes a flicker of alarm to form in his features.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The words the angel speak means nothing to Sara, nor to Witchblade. Idle taunting, attempts to rile them up, which fail. She's focused on one thing and one thing alone... keep the angel in that spot.

Full strength it put into pushing that dagger closer and closer to the angel, while the wings return to being tendrils of metal and attempt to wrap themselves around the angels body. "You assume too much," she whispers with an almost laugh to her tone. "I see the fear in your golden eyes."

Sara is well aware that fear has nothing to do with her, it comes from whatever Rien is doing, but all the same it is there and she's going to use it as more distractions tactics.

"If you really want to play, let us know, cause you fucked with the wrong person," she then adds and attempts to thrust the dagger toward it's intended target with a new found vigor.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    The Archivist gapes at Cael for a moment, the glow of his eyes behind his mask brightening as his eyes widen. He can feel something in her, a determination that terrifies him. "Becker... /Cael/, please..." He takes a step back, and then another, but he's subtly angling himself away from the circle and the angel, away from Lasariel and Giovanni, to keep her away from Rien, to give the others a clear shot at whomever they're going to go after.

    "This is because I told you I wouldn't let you hurt them, isn't it? What, just /had/ to show me better? Hurt one of the people there that day, to prove a /point/?" He raises his staff in front of him, vertically, sends the globe of water to become a shimmering shield in front of him. He's been doing this while he spars with Becker, practicing shields and stick-fighting. She's faster than he is, better than he is. He prays maybe the wounds will slow her down, for once. If the angel's enhancing her somehow, he doesn't stand a chance.

    "You already got to Chas," he says in a mournful tone. "Before we even knew what was happening. What the hell else do you even have to prove?" They have to keep its attention away from Rien, after all.

Asariel has posed:
Lasariel gives a look over her shoulder, expecting to see Giovanni, but she gets an eyeful of angel wings...attached to HER body. "Well...that's going to put a damper on my lifestyle." she frowns. Then she looks back to Chas-Angel as her wings fade from vision, "Oh I am not leaving him. I don't know why he let you in, but I'm guessing you took full advantage." she points at the man.

"Angel's can't take unwilling hosts." she calls out.

She then reaches to pull on the strings of the mystical energy around them and fires off an attack of her own, hoping that she can help herd the angel to where he is needed to be.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
    Fortunately the symbols are familiar, so she can draw them quickly. The Hebrew words, while not unknown are not the usual script so she keeps referring to the floating notebook to make sure they are correct. Still, the circle is taking shape much faster then really should be done. Even while drawing she comments, "You don't sound like any angel I've ever heard of. Threats and torture sound to me like a demon, and I've dealt with hundreds of those. So, are you just playing dress-up? I'm thinking a one way trip to Hell might be just the thing you need."

    Even while she's talking, the last few symbols are laid down and the black candles flare to life. All that remains is it's inhabitant and a flood of power to bring it to life. <<It's ready Jon, get him in there.>>

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Jon..." His name and her features are so mournful, pleading, as she continues advancing a step for every step he retreats. "I'm sorry," she tells him. "I was supposed to be done - it was all finished..." And he interrupted, and ruined it all, and now she has to cause more pain - cause pain to someone she cared about. But it had to be done. "You'll understand," she promises him."
    She allows herself to be guided - and tries to steer him a little in return - as she herds the man back, towards one of the walls of the room: the doorless, windowless walls that had been her prison, and had become her sanctuary. That had been meant as her mausoleum. When she finally engages with Jon, each blow and kick hits with a surprising amount of force - either she's been holding out, and hiding enhanced strength from Jon all this time, or the angel has gifted her with a small measure of his might. With each punch, she loses more and more of the delicate, burned skin on her hands - though Jon, still in her mind, can feel that agony only fueling her on - as she dodges around his staff, and tries to land blows past the edge of his shield. The nails are still held in her fists, though she doesn't try to stab with them - not until she has Jon back against the wall.
    That's when she moves with surprisiing speed to try to drive one of the nails through his arm, and into the wall.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The tip of the blade moves inexorably down on Chas' shoulder forcing him to step back in an attempt to get away from the cutting force of the Blade. "You won't beat me, not like this... you should know better than that if you are truly worthy to be called the Warrior."

    He then speaks to Jon. "You attempted to utilize the words of My Father in a threat, your charlatan. Now you see just how useless your attempt was. She is my instrument and you all will join her on crosses of your o--"

    His word is cut off as the blast from Lasariel strikes not the angel, but the hilt of the Witchblade conjured kopis driving for him. The force is enough to send the blade home and it buries itself into his shoulder while blazing with Lasariel's own Angelfire, driving him further and further back into the circle drawn by Rien's expert hands.

    Once there he seems to realize what he has fallen into and panic crosses his feather. "No. No. I will not be bound. No!" he struggles to break free of the dagger holding him in place, weakened by the shell he has saught to inhabit as tendrils of the wings wrap the angel in place holding him fast.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    <<You're going to have to power it, Rien! Little busy here!!>> The Archivist flings the thought at Rien--and thank the gods she's here, because his plan's entirely gone up in smoke at this point. <<Soon as he's inside it, let loose! We're going to have to pray we've timed this right!>>

    He's busy trying to keep Cael at bay. He didn't /mean/ to get boxed into a corner, but she knows every weakness, every move that he still clumsily telepgraphs. "Shut UP!" he screams at the angel as he spars with Cael. "/Charlatan/?! I was /forced/ to learn those words in /public school/, you /git/! I can recite your bloody book by /heart/! You talk about the /Father/ and you tell me it means who I /love/ is wrong?! I would /never/ treat my children this way! Your book says we're supposed to be able to be forgiven, but you force /Cael/, who's been /trying/ to make up for her wrongs, to /hurt/ us?! Fuck you, and /fuck/ your book! If you want me, come after /me/, not my /friends/!"

    The admission shocks him. Cael can't be his /friend/. If Cael's his friend, she can't be his patient. If Cael's his friend, he can't /help/ her.

    It's enough to give Cael an opening, and the nail embeds itself into his shoulder, and out his back, into the wall, pinning him in place. He screams in pain, and the shock is enough to make the entire Archivist outfit vanish.

    Jon stares down at Cael, breath coming in shuddering gasps, sweat beading his brow. "Shelley," he whispers, "/Please/. This isn't you. Please, remember who you are." He can't fight her physically--but he can send images into her mind. The look of triumph on her face when she first tried Falcon's wings, the way Sam grinned in pride on seeing her take to the air, even if she stumbled. The way she got right back up again. The way she bantered with Sara over coffee after they all came out of the red mist, the loyalty and camaraderie and trust the two women share. The way she cracked open, admitting to her fear of magic in their first therapy session. Her fierce determination to protect Alis from exorcism, from SHIELD, from anyone that might hurt her. Teasing Jon about his stumbling attempts to use 'cop lingo' over kebabs the other day, while they tried to lay out this plan, holding back the pain of putting her roommate and best friend out as bait for this angel.

    The fact that, /just/ for a moment, when he'd fainted after that statement at the crime scene, he'd genuinely thought Cael was one of his best friends in the world, now dead. Not that she is now, not quite, but she /could/ be, if she'd come back to them. She has a family waiting for her, if she'll just come /back/ to it. Sara and Sam, Jon and the rest of the Justice League Dark and people she hadn't even met yet. /Real/ love, and joy, and peace, not the farce the angel is offering.

Asariel has posed:
Lasariel wasn't sure where this untapped power was suddenly coming from...but she had a bit of an idea. She could think of that later. Right now they had an Angel to bind. Which was another first. She moves away from Gio, "Go help Jonathan and the others." she tells the Italian. He does as he's told and rushes over to help Jonathan and Cael if he isn't batted away. He's sturdy for a mortal after all.

Lasariel approaches the circle, cradling the fire of the angels as she does, <Your father would not want this.> she states in Enochian. Though there is a price to calling on the angelfire. She drops to her knees outside of the circle, "Go back to where you came from and leave him with us.> she whispers as she makes another ring just on the outside hoping to give another barrier to get through if the other doesn't hold.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
    Rien was actually planning to power the circle the second she was able to look up after completing it and seeing Cael driving Jon towards the wall. He was obviously a bit busy, so it's on her. She watches Sara straining to push the angel back, then with Lasariel's help plunging the blade home which causes him to stumble back into the circle.

    The room goes cold as Rien throws her arms wide and pulls in every bit of negative energy she can handle. Purple-black sparks crackle across her body as she kneels there for just a moment with her eyes closed. When she opens them, that same purple-black blazes from them, and she reaches down and touches the outer circle. Looking up at the angel with those blazing eyes, a hard smile on her lips, she says "Yes you will, fucker." and unleashes all of that power into the circle.

    The chalk drawings explode into dark fire, illuminating the circle even as they seem to pull light into themselves, the room darkening as the flames race around the circle. If all has been done correctly, she's just caught herself an angel.

    But is it good enough?

Cael Becker has posed:
    Images and memories assail her for the second time - but this time, they play out from Jon's point of view, not her own. Sadness bordering on grief pinches her features as she steps towards Jon, leaning her head in towards him until their foreheads touch, and putting one arm around him - behind his neck, so her hand rests on his cheek. She's gentle, careful of the way his shoulder is painfully pinned into place, and the action is so strangely unlike Cael - though Alis would recognize it as more reminescent of how Shelley used to be with the people she felt close to. "Oh, Jon. I know it's hard, I fought it too, but it's so much easier when you give in. You'll see. It's so wonderful, and I'm glad you and Sara are here to see-"
    She cuts off, and pulls away abruptly, a moment of fear showing on her features as the angel is forced into the circle. Fear is followed by confusion - and slowly dawning horror. "Sims? Oh, God - Sims, I-"
    She doesn't finish it though. As the angel's influence leaves her, the pain of her injuries is now crippling, and she sinks to the floor, staring at her hands, and at the blood still pouring from her wounds. "Oh God. Fuck. What the hell did I do?"
    As Gio approaches her, she tries to wave him off. "Help Sims, please. I didn't mean to- Oh, shit..." Tears stream down her cheeks, and she can't risk wiping them away, not with her ruined hands.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The angel struggles more against the bindings of Witchblade as well as each entity approaches him and whispers their own desire for his banishment. "This only buys you time. You only delay the inevitable" he murmures weakly as chains of VOID spring around him over the tendrils of Witchblade. "I will never be truly bound. It is not Written." Then he drops to his knees in exhaustion.

    Without warning space folds *in* on itself. Darkness engulfing all in dilapidated building that was Cael's prison and all on the street in Hell's Kitchen. There is no sound. There is no sight. Just utter darkness. An emptiness that speaks of terror and the end of all things. It's brief but for that instant, the universe ends. Then just as quickly it is rebuilt and both partines are standing before the Laughing Magician facing a figure that looks like Chas in everything but the eyes. There are burns and cuts across the figures form and chains of a black that has no true name--more an absence of *existence* rather than a lack of light.