Owner	Pose
Cael Becker	Standing in the middle of her hotel room - Cael spends some time staring at her phone.     The truth was, she'd tried to find someone to accompany her on this job //before// she went to Gotham - with little luck. It was with trepidation that she pulls up the phone number of one of the last people in the world she would want to join her on a mission. But- well. It was better than falling into whatever trouble 'Charlie' had found. So hitting dial on her phone, she grits her teeth for a moment as it's piccked up and speaks into it, in a calm and casual voice. "Hey Chas? What're you up to?"
Chas Chandler	Chas has been doing what he's been doing a lot of late: reading. Today it is Sun Tzu. There is a certain poetic understanding in the tactics and ideas put forth by the ancient strategist. Philosphy of combat mixed with thoughts on how to properly conduct onceself in life as well.     The number on his phone gives him pause and even greater pause when he answers and Cael is on the other side of the line. "Uh... not... not much" he replies. "Cael?" he asks. He contemplates asking her if she meant to call him but her greeting was enough to confirm that.     He goes with a second guess at what strange occurance forced her hand to call him. "Is... is everything alright?" he inquires, the confusion clear in his voice, even through the Liverpundian accent.
Cael Becker	"Define 'okay'?" Cael replies in a dry voice - but she doesn't leave him space to answer. "I'm fine - but someone I know from the FBI, a former agent, has gone missing. I found his hotel room - there's a computer, some earbuds, some... google glass things, and a disembodied voice telling me about some urband legend about a girl named 'Eve the Bloody-Eyed - and a missing person my colleague Charlie was looking into when he went missing - two days ago."     There's still little pause as she adds, "And to my frustration... Jon's spending time with Agnes, Sara's busy with her unit Rien's going straight to voice mail, I don't trust Robbie's rider, Johnny's just no, Gabby's a kid, I think Lydia's fucking //asleep,// and Phoebe's- well. //Insane.//"     There's a brief pause now before she adds, "So. Want to come to Gotham?"
Chas Chandler	The list of people before Chas on her list doesn't surprise or upset him. He knows the score with her is pretty unbalanced. Even so a small smirk plays over his mouth. The smirk fades as he thinks over the situation. "Eve the Blood-Eyed..." he repeats slowly. "That's one I'm not familiar with, and she doesn't sound pleasant. But... sure..." he replies with a shrug that's mostly for him.     "Where in Gotham?" he asks, rising and slipping on a light jacket against the evening chill. It's close to summer but Gotham is always a little cold for some reason. He grabs the keys for his cab and heads out from the apartment at the Throne's complex.
Cael Becker	Cael gives Chas the address of the hotel she was in - and the room number, but before she hangs up she adds, "Look... Chas. I need you to- You can't go angel on me. Alright? No matter what happens. You //can't// go angel on me. I don't know if I'll be able to hold it together or not. Alright?" There's tension in her voice as she speaks, and a very pregnant pause as she holds tightly to her phone, waiting for his response.
Chas Chandler	Chas nods, even though Cael can't see it and replies. "Shouldn't be an issue if it's just a look see." He hangs up and frowns, setting his phone on its carrier and starting the car. "But if something comes out of the woodwork, it's not like I can really control how my body protects itself..." He sighs. "I guess we'll see" he says before he sets out.     He knows the streets of the cities around his haunt rather well. New York is his stomping ground, but he's been through Gotham enough times to know a number of shortcuts and easy routes to get there in pretty good time. He draws up at the front of the hotel and parks. He taps his card against the parking meter, regretting it as he looks at the fare rates and starts in.
Cael Becker	After hanging up the phone, Cael helped herself to another dose of her anxiety meds. That'll do it - right? ...right. She tries not to reflect on it too much - and once Chas has arrived, she dives into briefing him on everything she'd learned so far.     "So. One of the FBI agents who helped me get... settled in with the Bureau retired recently, and started doing some freelance work. James L. Charlton III - but I called him Charlie. ...because he hates it. Anyways, he was looking into a missing person's case - Barbara Rodriguez. She was driving home from working as a cashier at a supermarket and just... disappeared. This is where her car was found," she indicates a location on a map, "and Charlie was checking out the area. He meant to check out these addresses..." She indicates two of the marked buildings. "And he disappeared. Not sure which he was going to."     Cael lets out a frustrated sigh. "Not a lot to go on. But apparently a homeless person saw Ms. Rodriguez disappear - after being approached by a girl with no eyes and blood streaming down he cheeks. Charming, right?"
Chas Chandler	Chas listens and frowns peering at the map. "Incredibly..." he says. "Sounds like a ghost to me, but could've been something else. There are a number of entities that like to take that form..." he looks at Cael. "The only thing we can do is go to the places we know. So... really it's a matter of where Charles was looking into and where this homeless person was, right?" he says.     He's got a bad feeling about this, but the woman is right. Not a lot to go off of since their trail is pretty cold. It's a matter of following what little trail they have. "So... this is your case, I'm just here as backup. What's your gut telling you?" he asks.
Cael Becker	"I don't see much choice but to follow up on these last two locations Charlie highlighted. Odds are - he ran into group at one of them, and if we're lucky... Whatever he found will lead us to him, and to Ms. Rodriguez." She nods he head towards the computer, and glasses, and earbuds nearby.     "Charlie's employer wanted to direct him using the glasses and earbuds, but I'm hesitant to trust them. I say we go as we are - and rely on each other. I mean - what can't we handle, yeah?"
Chas Chandler	Chas shakes his head. "Give 'em here" he says, offering his hand. "Whoever is talking to him might be able to drop some clues as to what happened if they're still on the line." He smirks. "Besides... unless they're stronger than John Constantine, not likely that there going to be able to pull a fast one on me." He tugs at the collar of his tee shirt to reveal a stranger swirling tattoo that moves and contorts even as they eye watches it."     He quickly adds. "And don't worry. I had this before my imprisonment and change. So it's not anything to do with that. Just your bargain bin magic enchantment there." He takes the offer items and slips the glasses over his eyes and puts in the earpiece. "Besides... it's not like we know if they're even still on the line, right?" he says.
Tomie Kawakami	With the laptop powered on and the glasses and earbuds in place, there's a little time that passes before Chas will hear a voice. An east Asian accent. Slight. They weren't waiting on the line, but they were ther quick enough. "Thank you, now I.. ah. Well, then. I'm afraid I only sent two sets and one of them is missing with my employee."
Chas Chandler	Chas stops as the voice comes on and holds up a hand to Cael. He shifts the earbud in place to better hear it. "Umm... to whom am I speaking and is there a reason you are working through a proxy?" he asks. Moving to the window and peering out of it to see if he can see this mysterious voice on the other side. He's aware that these devices have limited range, even over wifi. With a gesture he indicates for Cael to lead on out of the hotel toward the first of the two locations highlighted by this missing Agent Charlton.
Cael Becker	Cael nods - picking up the laptop to bring with them. Chas would have a hard time talking to her without it. "I came on my motorcycle - you want to double-up, or are we taking your ri- let's take your ride." The thought of Chas riding behind her, arms wrapped around her, was abruptly too much for to deal with - so why deal with it at all?     "The location's not far from here," she adds calmly.
Tomie Kawakami	"Some of us are professional investigators," remarks the voice, "and some of us simply have the money to pay them." The laptop serving as a mobile hotspot no doubt extends the range considerably via the internet, anyway, though the connection isn't perfect. There's a slightl irritated huff. "River. Call me that, if you must."
Chas Chandler	Chas fishes in his pocket and tosses the keys to his cab to Cael. It's a big sign of trust for him to let her drive -his- cab. It's not your typical yellow cab. The company he works with has moved to white vehicles with black checker paterns on the side. The light on the top with the box for "TAXI" is dim for the moment, a clear indicator that he is not on shift.     "River. Alright... River," he says, resisting the urge to make a Doctor Who reference. "What's your interest in Ms. Rodriguez?" he asks their faceless informant. "Or are you more interested in what took her instead?" He's played enough games to know sometimes a missing person's report is more than it appears, John Constantine is the master of the misdirect and he was the man's friend for the better part of 20 years.
Cael Becker	A smirk plays on Cael's features as Chas asks a question similar to her own - not too long ago - but she makes not interruption. She catches the keys easily and takes a seat into the car, adjusting mirrors with quick, practiced ease before pulling away from curb. Driving is what Cael //does// - and she's never fully comfortable when someone else is behind the wheel, so she's more than happy to handle the transportation.
Tomie Kawakami	"I'm curious," is the answer. "Aren't you? Assuming that anything actually took her. There's still ample opoortunity for a mundane explanation." Still, driving to the locale isn't that hard. It's late enough, and the thrift stores aren't that far away from where Charlie had camped himself in the first place. Before too long, Cael will spot a familiar car parked along one side in an alley way, obscured from regular traffic. It's the rental Honda Civid t hat belonged to Charlie.
Chas Chandler	"Unlikely that we'd be on it if it were just a simple mundane issue, it'd be much easier to contact the police for a missing person than a private investigator" Chas says looking around the location. He nods to the Civic, if it's pointed out and waits for Cael to find a spot to park before stepping out. His senses, mystical and mundane are tuned to pick up anything amiss. Anything... off, about the location.     "So... simple curiosity, for a woman you have no connection to?" he asks suspicion clear in his tone. "So is there anything else you gave 'Charlie' before he was taken that you're keeping from us?" he asks. "If we're in the dark, there's not much to say we won't reach the same end... and I'd rather not make a scene of things if I don't have to." He glances aside at Cael, but not directly at her.
Cael Becker	Cael parks near Charlie's rental car and does indeed point it out to Chas.     Not that she could hide the car from him - because as he talks to the woman, she approaches it, and pulls out a set of lock picking tools. Gone were the days when slim jims provided near universal access. She crouches by the door of the car, and has the door open within a couple of minutes. She ignores the loud alarm this prompts, and pops the hood of the car - moving to the front to quickly disable to battery, bringing tranquility back to the neighborhood.     It's not like car alarms were an //unusual// sound in this part of town, anyways. Once inside, she starts carefully rifling around Charlie's things with gloved hands - searching for anything useful.
Tomie Kawakami	"Providing answers to her loved ones would surely be welcome, wouldn't it? The police had no answers, and the legend drew my interest. And, though you're not my employees, I'd be glad to retain your services to finish investigating the matter for me. Hm. That's his car." The disabing of the car, of course, isn't hard. Alarm cut and an examination will show everything is as it should be. The most recent destination in the GPS is the nearby thrift store. There's no indication anything happened here or the car directly, but his own kit of tools seems to be missing, so he probably did gain entrance to it. That leaves one thing to do, doesn't it.]
Chas Chandler	Cael's activity with the car prompts an arched look from Chas. After all, the possession of Michael did not allow for equal share of information so he knows little of Cael's past. Still, he can play 20 questions with the woman another time. Right now they had a job to do. The voice's acknowledgement of his car prompts Chas to briefly pause before he realizes the goggles were the camera for the voice.     "I guess there is that, but altruism is all too rare these days so forgive me for being skeptical that your motivations are entirely for their benefit. But I don't like the name of this ghost or entity so we'll do the job. Price for our help can be obtained later." He looks to the store. "Anything of use?" he asks the FBI agent exiting the car. It's her operation after all, he's here to provide muscle and another set of eyes--and a bit more. Because his angellic senses weren't a thing he could turn off, but she didn't need to know that.
Cael Becker	Cael sighs with frustration as she makes her way out of the car - relocking it as she leaves. "Not much. His go kit's not in there - I mean, there's almost nothing in there to go by - but one of the shops he was investigating it just half a block away, so we'd better go check it out," she remarks, frowning as she she considers their options. "...I can probably get the doors open when we get there, but there's a good chance I'll trip some sort of alarm."
Tomie Kawakami	"Very good." A trip to the thrift store is in order, then, and it isn't long before you've come up to the entryway to Fine and Finer's Used Everything store. It's just one of those shops. And old-timey thrift store with a little bit of everything inside. No doubt it operated as a Pawn Shop for the locals when it was in operation, but given how closed up it is, it looks like nobody's been here in months. Just waiting for the lease to expire, perhaps, or maybe simply left to the ravages of urban decay. It's Gotham, you know. It's dark inside, but a quick inspection by Cael, a circumvention of the building, reveals that as dusty as the place is, the side fire exit along the side has been oopened recently and the alarm disabled, if one was active at all. That must be how 'Charlie' got in.
Chas Chandler	Chas eyes the door warily. "I'm just going to say it now so it's out there... but this feel suspiciously like a trap..." His words are for Cael as much as they are for their mysterious informant/contractor. He glances apprehensively at Cael. "I know you said no angeling up, but... I would feel a lot better about my relationship with my best friend if I didn't lead the way and his girlfriend got eaten by some Bloody-eyed monster..."     He frowns. "At least let me lead the way..." he asks the Agent. "If something in there decides we're food... I admittedly have a better chance of holding it off long enough for you to kill it," he gestures to the building and the unlocked door, "as opposed to you getting caught up and then freaking out while I proactively try to save you."
Cael Becker	Cael gives Chas a dry look, and rolls her eyes, before gesturing towards the door. "By all means. I mean - I don't love the idea of walking straight into a trap - but how else do we find this girl? Or Charlie?"     She frowns deeply before adding, "But seriously. ...don't go angel. Not unless there really isn't another option." That said - she crouches over to get closer to the lock, her fingers using her picks with practiced ease. Gone were the days when she'd just smash a window to get in - thankfully.
Tomie Kawakami	Despite hearing the bit about 'going angel', 'River' declines to respond to it. She has no idea what it means abnyway and seems disinterested in poking that with the stick that is her voice. The lock clicks and the fire access door pops open. It's musty-smelling in there. Nobody's been inside for a while aside from Charlie, if he did. And that seems likely. You immediately see a room full of boxes, rows of shelving covered in dust and the junk pawned off. It's storage. And it's very dark.
Chas Chandler	Chas, being a cabbie and knowing that dark streets are part of his working environment, produces a small LED flashlight from his back pocket. It's tiny but powrful. He clicks it on and shines it inside for a moment before stepping in. "Stay close" he says to Cael as he moves through the storage area, his light scanning the ground and immediate forward path.     "River, was...Charlie" when in Rome right, "wearing a set of goggles when he was taken?" he asks their mysterious benefactor. His mystical senses reach out as well, trying to get a feel for any dangers or 'evil' beings in the area ahead of them.
Cael Becker	As they step down into the storage room, Cael leaves Chas to manage the light. She, for her part, reaches under her jacket instead and pulls out her pistol, pointing it down and towards the floor. Her gaze moves around the space, peering into shadows, and searching for some sigh of Charie. Were there foot prints? Disturbed dust? ..any foul orders, as if of a rotting corpse? She really hopes not to find the latter...
Tomie Kawakami	"He was not. I assume they were with him but he didn't wear them. He was ... uncooperative in following those instructions. If he had, I would know where he was before the signal was lost, but..." The storage space is jam-packed with stuff. It's all junk abck here. An open doorway klead to the next room. Footprints in the dust show that someone wearing sensible loafers walked through this room, around it, and then passed into the next.
Chas Chandler	Chas proceeds carefully and slowly, but he does note the footprints. "It's never easy is it?" he mutters softly. "Alright. I think we're clear in here... moving to the next..." he starts for the opening into the store proper, again, keeping his senses tuned for anything less than savory in the air. He is only vaguely aware of the gun at his back, but he's pretty sure that it won't hurt too much if he gets accidentally shot.     "If... if something jumps me. Don't hesitate to shoot it, okay?" he says to his companion. "I... haven't been shot yet, but I'm pretty sure if I can take a hit from Robbie when he's firey, I can take a bullet with ease."
Cael Becker	Cael opens her mouth, hesitates, and then asks teasingly, "Are you sure you want to tempt me?" Still- she keeps her weapon pointed down and away from Chas.     Her gaze goes to the shelves and boxes they pass, looking to see if any have been distubed, and might offer some sort of clue - but she doesn't pause long enough to fall behind as they continue their exploration.
Tomie Kawakami	"... I have questions," remarks River after that exchange, "but they can wait. It's more fun that way." The pair have now passed into another storage area. Flashlights are required this far in and lights immediately fall on boxes full of old clothes and shortly thereafter a mannequin. A row of them, actually.
Chas Chandler	"I'm sure you do..." Chas mutters softly to River. "And once this job is done, perhaps an exchange can be made. One for one." He shines his light over the boxes and then it jerks to the mannequins. "Oh... not creepy at all..." he says grimly, as he runs his light along the line of mannequins slowly. "Can I just say right now that this is an insanely terrible idea, especially when we don't know the capabilities of this being?" he adds. "For all we know it's a shape shifter..." He's not tempting fate at all.
Cael Becker	"How many people we got to throw at it before it stops being an insanely terrible idea?" Cael counters, her pistol training on the mannequins for a moment, her postur stiffening - only to relax again almost immediately.     "Remember - he came here alone. No backup at all. Of course, I just didn't want to hear it from Jon if I'd tried something equally foolish."
Tomie Kawakami	There's some crunching from over the audio. Is River eating popcorn? Or potato chips? It's very brief, but there. "OH! Mannequins. Very nice aesthetic." Creepy, of course, as one pans the flashlights over the room. Oh, hey. Wait! Did that one move? Flashlights have to go back after panning over it! No, no. It's still. Something just began to drip on Cael, however.
Chas Chandler	"We can argue about aesthetics when we meet..." Chas replies as he keeps his slow but steady pace through the room. "Yeah... Pretty sure, Jon would have a fit if you came to this sort of place without someone to back you up" he says. "Got enough worries with everything else going on. Don't need you disappearing at the same time."     His light pans along the floor after its extended stay on the sus mannequin. "You see anything that jumps out? I wouldn't discount some trained investigative mind in this situation, even with the more than mystically suspicious overtones involved."
Cael Becker	"Nothing much, I'm afraid," Cael replies with obvious annoyance in her voice. Because she'd like to get this over and done with sooner rather than later.     As something starts to drip on her, she lets out an ugh and steps out of the way. "Leaky pipes," she mutters. "This place must be falling apart. Scan up there above me - see if something damaged the pipes - maybe there's.... some clue in it. Some sign of a struggle..."
Tomie Kawakami	The trickling continues when Cael moves. A flash of red, on her, on the floor. Blood. It's bloopd. A steady, oozing trickle of it, stretching to the ceiling in a phlemgy consistency.
Chas Chandler	"What? What do you..." Chas stops as he turns and notices the color. "Oh... bugger all..." he mutters. "Cael... back... now..." he says, his tone shifting from worry to seriousness in an instant. He's fought bloody oozes before... when he was still human. Mind you he had mystically enchanted weapons at the time and now... he has a flashlight, but he wants to be the first thing seen by whatever this blood is coming from.     His light pans up the viscous trickle to the ceiling, he really has no clue what he expects, but he is fairly certain he's not going to like whatever it is.
Cael Becker	"I'm wearing the evidence. I will //never// be okay with //wearing// the evidence," is Cael's immediate response to learning there was blood trickling on her. Ugh. //Cold// blood. There was nothing good about that.     "...doesn't blood congeal by the time it's cold?" she asks - as she steps back and away from the stream - the point of her pistol tracking towards it though she's not really sure why. What is she going to do against //blood//?
Tomie Kawakami	A bloody ooze? Would that it was so simple. Panning the flashlight up reveals a mass of congealed blood all across the ceiling, yes, and it seems to be mobile too, yes, a certain kind of life to it. It's been watching you with many eyes, as it has many faces coming to the fore and receeding back into it. Their mouths are open. They scream. All of them. The blood is screaming. It drops from the ceiling in a massive, grotesque wave and congeals aropund a mannequin, which is now stretching towards Chas, aiming to grab him. It has no eyes.
Chas Chandler	Chas' eyes widen as the massive blood creature dropes and animates the mannequin. While, most people would probably recoil in terror, Chas is far from most people. There are both perks and penances to being the closest thing to a brother with the Laughing Magician. Whethern courage that borders on stupidity is one of the other is a matter of debate.     Chas drops the flashlight and kicks it towards Cael before he lunges in to meet the animated model. There is a momentary pulse of golden energy around him before he freezes amnd clamps it down. The pause and forcible tamp down of the angellic reaction, allows the thing--whatever it is--to grab him.     "Cael... now would be the time to you know... do the thing!" he says, getting an eyeful of the black face of the creature before him. "River... if you have any tips... now would be the time to disperse them!" he asks their curiously silent vocal companion.
Cael Becker	Cael doesn't hesitate - she squeezes off several rounds as the screaming mass of congealed blood drops in on the mannquin.     It's not Chas moving into the line of fire, necessarily, that stops her. It's that brief flare of a golden glow. She steps back, her breath catching in her throat. No, no, no, n-     But he stops - thankfully. Still, it leaves he staring at Chas with wide eyes, and hints of panic on her features. His words snap her out of it, though, she she resumes fire - trying //not// to shoot straight through him to get the target.
Tomie Kawakami	"... huh. Well... fire?" suggests River, "That seems like it'd work." She sounds remarkably nonchalant in the face of what's on sight. "I'd suggest retreating and setting the place on fire myself." Still, bullets hit the mannequin and the ooze to little initial impact, but it does delay it a little and cause it to turn towards Cael. It's form is filling out now, seeping into the mannequin's joints as it flattens out. A semblance of herky-jerky life, like a marionette without strings visible... though in this case the puppetteer is a multi-faced pile of semi-sentient, hungry blood monster. The glow makes it recoil from Chas, if only momentarily, out of pure reflex and instinct. Sudden light does that. ... but it's still scxreaming through its many mouths inside the mannequin.
Chas Chandler	Chas jerks a bit as a few of the shots hit him. It stings but it's not enough to really register on his radar. "It's not working Cael... get out of here and I will handle it..." he says. "You know that would've been something to brief us on before we came in here, you know..." he says to River with irritation.     He's struggling, and he -is- strong, for human standards. But it's likely not anything compared to the mindless frenzy that is the blood monster trying to eat him, or whatever it is trying to do to him. "I can make fire but to do so..." he jerks away. "Just... go!" he says. He promised her he wouldn't as long as she was in the area... once she's gone he's free to destroy this thing for good.
Cael Becker	"...we should go together," Cael protests, after emptying her clip to little avail. She releases the empty clip, and slams a new one into place, as she starts edging around the conflict, to head towards the exit.     "What if Charlie's still here, somewhere? What if he's still alive?" she asks. She wouldn't lay money on it - but it was possible. Maybe it needs to keep its victims alive for some reason?
Tomie Kawakami	"... I would have had to have known you were going to run into a monster made up of screaming blood to brief you ahead of time. I didn't anymore than you did. I already shared everything I knew about this. Now, please retreat and -- ah, right. I suppose he *could* still be alive." She'd more or less figured he was, you know, *very dead*, but the possibility exists that he isn't. The Mannequin *is* strong, but there are limits to the artifical body it's using, empowering, to give it form and structureo to grab onto Chas with. It tries to push him into the wall. hard, smashing shelves.
Chas Chandler	Chas winces as the creature slams him into the shelves with surpsing force. "Then I will refrain from bringing the place down, but if we don't get rid of this thing now there's going to be four dead instead of the possible two." He grits as he does his best to both keep the monster from killing him and keep it from turning its attention to Cael.     "Look, I am keeping myself like this for your sake, but we need fire and we need it fast..." he says. "I can do that but not when I'm like this..." he struggles against the monster. "So unless you know of a fast way to get fire... for the sake of your safety, you need to get out of here."     He idly thinks of what will happen to him if he -is- killed. Would he go nova? Would he just disappear, Obi-wan Kenobi style? He really wasn't sure. And right now, he didn't want to find out what this thing had in mind to do with him to get the point acrossed.
Cael Becker	"I'm going, I'm going!" Cael counters. "But... don't get yourself killed! Jon'll get put out with me!" As she continues backing towards th door - she fires more shots off, but now she's taking careful aim, trying to catch the mannequin in it's joins. Maybe if she can disable the thing....
Tomie Kawakami	There's silence from River again. This is clearly not what she had in mind. There's not a whole lot she can do from her end, obviously. "...whatever you're going to do, I suggest doing it quickly," she finally offers. Still, an arm detatches due to Cael's shooting and it screeches loudly, not happy with the destruction and damage to its chosen vessel. This makes it loses its grip on Chas and it seems to think better of whatver it was going to do, exploding in a spray over him before slamming into the wall with its gelatinous bulk and passing into the next interior room. Seems it has limits on what it can do without hands to operate.
Chas Chandler	Chas waits until Cael is back into the former storage room before he grits his teeth. "Fine... you want to play... we'll play." That golden glow surrounds him again and engulfs his form. The light illuminates the storage area in a wider range than his flashlight did, if at a lower intensity. There's nothing else to indicate his change other than the glow but it's significant enough.     "Running will do you no good" he says as he balls up a fist and simply punches his way through the wall into the next room, giving chase to adversary. The destruction of drywall and plaster is intense, but not absolutely destructive to the building. At least not yet.
Cael Becker	Even seeing the glow through the door sends Cael stumbling back, moving through the darkness towards the door that leads back out into Gotham. "CHARLIE!" she calls. "Barbara! If you're alive - make some noise! Charlie!" She continues stumbling back - a crash sound coming as she knocks into some shelves, knocking things to the ground.     She's not having a fun time.
Tomie Kawakami	No answer. Not looking good for them. What's reveled in the next room, however, in the dim glint of flashlights and gunfire more or less seals that deal. Suspended from the ceiling in the middle of the room thick, gooey lines of blood and ooze is another mannequin. At least, that's what one would have to think at first. It's a mannequin, yes, one cobbled together from the pieces of others. It must have been collecting them, building something from them, a preferred form. ... but it needed skin, you see, to stretch over it. Viscera to fill it, in a grotesque failure at understanding anatomy. No points for trying. The horrible oozey-thing has coiled around its creation protectively, this time animating it and tearing itself free. It seems like it's making a last stand.
Chas Chandler	As Chas sees the thing tearing itself free he gives a sad sigh. "Pitiful creature. I will make sure your end is quick and as painless as possible." He lifts a hand and a small ball of fire, about the size of a baseball, forms in his hands. It rotates and spins with white hot flame. It is literally a miniature sun. He wrinkles his nose as the stench of the flesh as well as the mystical wrongness of what was being constructed in the room.     "Come free, and meet your judgement" he says, his eyes glowing golden and a pair of semi-transluscent silver-feathered wings appearing behind him. "You are not meant for this world."
Cael Becker	"Charlie!" Cael calls again - but there isn't much hope in her voice. She can hear, faintly, the strange changes to Chas' voice as she stumbles back out into the alleyway through which they'd entered, watching the building with anxious consternation. None of this went how she would have liked it to go - but it it what it is. As long as Chas gets out of there, somehow...     Fuck. "FUCK!" she shouts, tilting her head back to scream it at the heavens, before she starts pacing back and forth outsidee.
Tomie Kawakami	To Cael's eye, the buildiing interior suddenly lights up. That smoke soon begins to curl from the roof and the glow of fire alights it only makes it clear what's likely happened as the glow fade from deep within. In Chas' ear, there's a mystified 'huh'.
Chas Chandler	Chas watches the thing burn for a moment but then there's a crack from a support beam burning up. He shakes his head and moves to an exterior wall. The fuel of righteousness is running through him and he has no trouble smashing open the doors to the closed up store. He closes his eyes and with an effort of will the angellic glow around him fades to nothingness.     Still he walks with a sense of purpose and determination as he approaches Cael. "We're leaving" he says flatly as more of the building lights up. "They're dead. Charlie, Barbara, and that thing... all of them." He puts a hand to the earpiece. "I have questions and so do you. So... I suggest we find a time and place to meet." His tone brokers no negotiation.
Cael Becker	As Chas approaches - Cael holds up a hand to forestall him from coming too close to her, as she forces herself to slowly and deeply on the hear and the now - and not the images threatening to overwhelm her mind. "What did you see in there?" she asks blutly. "How do you know they're dead?"     Her gaze shifts back towards the parked cab before she adds, "If you... give me a second, I'll drive."     She needs to drive.