Femtite sees she had initially misread the room. A temper ensues. Eff-bombs, away.
”Connie, you did make a decision that can’t be taken back. I assume you knew exactly how it would appear from my perspective as your pixite form fell lifelessly at my feet. I was paralyzed for… hours, I suppose. Crying,” she scoffs, ”Obviously.
“Then it occurred to me why none of you take me seriously. Why all of you lash out, no matter how kind I am, or helpful, or naïve.” She’s smiling. Not a smirk. Like a eureka, but appropriately placid for the occasion. ”I was like a doormat with a smiley face you could smear mud into with your boot.
“So, no, I’m not stiffly offended. I’m just… goal-oriented.”
She starts toward the door.
But stops… because Connie did ask. ”Mother wanted you to impregnate me. Your pixite form was engineered to… fix me. Size-changing would have rendered me barren again. That doesn’t excuse Mother’s complete disregard for you, nor is it as simple as Mama Wants Baby.
“But the Nanometeor is my business, not yours.”
Femtite keeps walking.
"So I was planning to brood up on the rooftop. Thought I could use some company, if you're up for it." He invites her.
When the door opens, Connie's sonic wards are relaxed and a wall of sad music heralds her red-ringed appearance.
"As long as you're prepared for a full-strength wallow... fine."
"I can accommodate that," Shin tells her, leading the way.
It's familiar, cool this evening, and with some sparse cloud cover. Shin doesn't go for his cigarettes like he would normally. He just sits back against the ledge and looks at Connie.
"You want to go first?"
Connie looks around for a few beats. "You said you were prepared, right? 'cause I'm starting to think there isn't any Haagen-Dazs up here."
"I don't know what you want me to say man. That really f%%~ing sucked. And it basically boils down to me being stupid, and unprepared, and too trusting, and- f!&%. I take it back, you go first."
Shin nods, thinking for a moment. "...So I paid a visit to my future self today and learned he's keeping a future version of my ex-girlfriend as his psychic heavy."
His hands start to tremble. "I'm not trying to compare trauma here. You've had a really shitty day. And I've had a shitty day. No point arguing whose shit is piled higher."
He shakes his head. "And it's the latest in some shitty times since I got wrecked by Max. Broke up with Grace because I realized how shitty she's been to me and I couldn't deal with that anymore. Broke down in front of Imagerie and now I'm getting my head shrinked and the team leader position is going to rotate around. I suppose the cherry on top is lashing out at Femtite when she was just trying to help."
He exhales, hitting his head lightly against the back of the ledge. "...It's different from the shit you're dealing with. I wish I could do more. But you're not alone."
Connie looks off and away. "I can't help but notice that you're just listing things you did instead of the actual problems that caused them. Those are just hurts anyways. The kind that heal, or at least scab over... Shit, did you say anything except for lashing out at Femtite that isn't a positive step?"
"I guess the ex-girlfriend thing is probably mixed."
" 'Cause never in this world has a gal gotten a villainous makeover that wasn't really hot."
"Also it's confirmation that she's alive."
"She's been trapped in a robotic body that's got like half of her face ripped off. And...she's not my Psyche. Timeline's aren't in sync anymore. Which is a blessing." Shin tells her.
Connie narrows her eyes doubtfully. I bet it's still Weird Hot.
"...and maybe it's just because I'm a shitty boyfriend instead of pure evil that she left me. It's probably why Grace fell into bed with Max." He grimaces.
"Yeah, that sounded worse out loud than it did in my head."
Connie shrugs. "I mean, maybe? I've never really seen you in a relationship that was working, but also don't you literally not even know if you two broke up? Because of some horrible memory explosion? I was the one who requested wallow time, but this is just you reaching for reasons to feel bad."
"I was trying to be considerate and say we're wallowing together," Shin protests. "And then you poked all these holes and now I don't know where to go from here." He groans.
"Sorry. This was supposed to be your space to vent, and I took it over," He apologizes.
"Yeah, but I only poke holes to help. Or because I'm annoyed. Seriously though, almost all of that is you going in the right direction. So just keep doing that. No wallowing allowed. I've just.. I've gotta think about what's lost and what's really lost, like, not coming back lost."
She starts pacing, her physical weariness overcome by the need to almost physically move the words out of her body.
"Let's start small. Take the doll I destroyed to help guide this body. That doll was... I couldn't really have a Barbie like that when I was growing up. When I was in the system, you didn't really get a lot of toys that were Yours. Especially if the grownups kept taking your dolls to give to other kids, or if the other kids would beat the shit out of you for keeping a toy they didn't think you should have. And then Dear Old Dad didn't want me to have one either.
So, when I first started trying to figure out how to leave my new Forever Home and take care of myself, the first thing I tried to get and hide enough money for was Punk Rock Barbie. They don't just make her anymore, and finding one was hard and... Well, let's just say that when Dear Old Dad found her, it's hard to say if he was more pissed I'd gotten a doll or that I'd paid that much for one.
Or maybe that I'd been able to pay that much...
Anyways, he took it away and I took it back, and he took it away and I took it back, and he punished me and I took it back anyways, and then finally he put together a spell that would tell him if I stole it.
Then it vanished anyways, and I'll never forget his smile. He took me out for ice cream as a reward for getting around him by just destroying the doll. It's the way he came up with for me to beat him. Supposed to teach me a lesson about sacrifice for victory. And then when I told him that his idea had a different hole, he locked me away until he decided I really wasn't going to tell him where it was or how I'd gotten it back. That was the last time we spoke before I left. And hey, he was right. I had to sacrifice her anyways."
Shin looks like he'd punch Connie's dad if he'd been around to strike. "I'm just...wow. What an a%@*$$%. I can't believe you stuck so long under that man's thumb. And...I really wish you hadn't had to use her for your spell."
Connie lets out a single dry laugh. "Shin, I was like 14. And after I left, if I ever needed help then that could put me in the system and right back with him. I needed plans on plans on plans. But yeah. Sometimes the only way out of a trap is to chew off your own arm."
He nods. "When you're alone and no one else is there to help, you do what you have to do to escape. That...really sucks."
"Yeah. Didn't think that was where I'd wind up again," Conflux says.
Shin rummages in his coat, before taking out two Baby Ruth bars, and hands them both to Connie. "They're not ice cream, but I figured we might need something sweet up here to get through the bad taste."
The corner of Connie 's mouth twitches. "Do you even know who this guy is? Didn't baseball have like flat bats when you're from?"
"You're kidding, right? The Babe was already long retired by the time I ended up whisked to this time," Shin tells her. "I used to get these from my dad after the Heralds lost games to try and cheer me up."
A reddish light interrupts the pair as they begin to open up. Drifting out of the sky is a woman surrounded by a nimbus of fire and glowing arcane symbols. Feya Firestorm, newest member of the Alliance and their current magical expert, lands lightly upon the rooftop.
"Greetings, Shin Akebono. And to you, whom I take to be Conflux?" she looks to Connie for confirmation. "I have need to speak with Indarius. He has voiced a concern about a pair of demons and I wished to discuss matters with him."
Connie looks up sourly at the interruption. "Are these demons color-coded for our convenience? Or did The Inimitable Indy-G stick his dick in something else? Metaphorical dick. Say what you will, the boy's not really the type for the other kind.
Feya's lips press together tightly at Connie's irreverence. "As a matter of fact, yes. Red and blue. Indarius was concerned about their presence in a nightclub. Now, they seem to have... PR agents."
"Wait, PR agents?" Shin says, standing up a little too fast and wincing because of it. "Weird. Well, unfortunately, Indarius is plenty sick right now. Got some kind of bug and used a lot of energy doing some complicated spell. Probably knocked right out. I think Max went to check on him?"
"Actually, she's involved with these demons too. Let me ring her up," Shin says, calling Max on her comms.
Connie tilts her head back to stare up into the sky. "F+%@ing Praetoria..."
"Oh, you have no idea, believe me." Shin retorts.
While Shin's comm pings for Max, Feya frowns. "What exactly does she have to do with this?"
"Those demons, the red and blue ones, are her body's sisters. Something like that. I really wish I understood the magic more, but the gist is they apparently are all demon sisters, except Max still has her human mind?"
He pauses. "Max was pretty cozy with Praetoria...wait. She wouldn't have gotten her demon sisters PR agents?"
The Alliance members arches an eyebrow. "If she's friends with Praetoria, is it possible she'd do it as a favor?"
"That would make sense. I swear, I need to be more on top of these things," Shin says, frowning. "Max isn't picking up. That's...really weird."
"...Conflux, you up for checking on Percy with me? Seeing if Max is with him?" He asks with a worried look creasing his brow.
"Yeah..." Connie notices the reflection of light coming from her dorm. "Yeah I can go as is."
Connie receives a call in her mind, exactly as she called Femtite.
:: I saw you on the rooftop with Shin a few minutes ago. I’m in your room.
If you’re not here in ten minutes, I’ll leave a note where I used to park the Bug.
((click)) ::
"Well," Feya says, "I'll leave you two to it. Wish Indarius my best on a speedy recovery. As for the two demons, see what you can find out about their bid to become popular. It doesn't bode well."
Conflux looks like she's listening to something while Feya speaks. Shit. Amazing timing. So much for doing this with dignity.
"Actually Shin, I've gotta take-10."
He nods as he waves goodbye to Feya. "Ah. Okay, I'll let you know what's up. And..."
Shin looks like he's struggling with his words a little. "...Thank you? I guess that's what I want to say. For being my friend."
With that, he leaves her to go check on Percy.
Shin walks up to the dorm room, knocking on the door frame. "Percy? Max, are either of you here?" He asks before opening it up and stepping inside to take a look around.
Connie sways, whirlwinds of thought and fury and grief and confusion leaving her nauseous and completely overwhelmed. I **never** treated you like a doormat. I could've found a way. You've been the one to pursue me! It might have had a bad visual- though from other outside perspectives it was like I went gently to sleep -but you knew the plan! You were the one who pushed for a relationship when I wasn't sure!Like you have some kind of monopoly on infertility, or disappointing evil parents... Until you called a last minute audible to put me back in Mel's hands that again, made it painfully clear where I ranked in your thoughts, we were all on the same page. I told you what I wanted; we all came up with a plan together, and you didn't say a G$& D%~ned Word about **any** of this. Is she serious? Has she ever listened to anything I've said? Did I ever know her at all? I really hope you're pheromoned or Stepforded or possessed or literally from an alternate universe or something, 'cause otherwise...
"If this is what you're willing to do to have kids, I hope for their sake that you fail."
Femtite lets Connie have the last word.
• • • • •
She flies to the Unity Station, bottling her remorse. A break from dating, slowing down… what would be the point? Connie can go to Shin. She’ll be happy and our past will cease to matter.
At the Unity Station, she looks for a place to store her things.
There is no answer when Horizon knocks on Percy's door. When he opens it up, he sees the usual mess of his room but it's unoccupied.
Stepping inside for any sign of where Percy or Max went, he sees remnants of spells and chalk outlines on the floor, but no notes or anything indicating where they might be.
Skyler scoots closer, but in a cuddling way. "Not here in the dorms," she says. "Let's just chill. Is there a movie you'd like to watch? Or binge a few episodes of something? Infini-Prime has the whole series of Behind the Mask. You can pick it apart about how fake it is. Though I think I heard they use real powered people for actors."
You wake up groggily. You are surrounded by runic circles and floating glyphs that make you feel tired and weak. The room beyond is that of an opulent high-rise apartment with a magnificent view of the city.
The man you believe is Doctor Infinity is standing nearby, going through your spellbook!
"Don't struggle, this won't take much longer."
Shin looks over Percy's room, confused and alarmed. He kneels down to investigate the chalk symbols on the floor. He's the worst person on the team to investigate this. Now he really needed Conflux. He hated having to ask when she needed time for herself to rest and recuperate.
Still, Shin called her up on the comms. "You need to get up to Percy's room now. He's gone, Max isn't here, and there's some magic outlines on the floor. I don't know if Percy's drawn them or not, but my gut says something's wrong. He was far too sick to go anywhere on his own."
Seeing the Unity Station empty, Femtite uses the computer to contact her teachers, then heads back to the Nanometeor.
I need to tend to official business as Princess of the Lavender Spire. I will attend classes virtually all week. Feel free to call either of my mothers to confirm.
Femtite will send a link from her device on the Nanometeor.
To her Anatomy teacher:
Do you remember how I wanted to give the class a Pixite Anatomy lesson? I can do a video presentation on Friday from my home planet!
She makes a similar offer to her chemistry teacher, who might enjoy seeing these Subatomic Unstructures Femtite insists are real.
And finally the school psychologist. Monday 8:00… can we meet?
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"You know, I thought that we'd work together one day. Assuming you're even the real Infinity. And do you really think telling a hero not to struggle is going to work? What's the plan, torture me until I turn to the darkside? Use me as some kind of magical battery to fuel your own plans? Some rediculously complicated plans within plans within plans that my triffling brain would never comprehend?"
Pushing himself to his knees he begins testing the waters of the runes and checking himself for his equipment, unlikely that someone who was prepared enough to take him down would leave his communicator on him. Deep doen he felt his heart pounding genuinely terrfied at the scenario he found himself in, but he had to keep it together until either the others arrived or he could free himself. But a nagging thought crept up, did anyone even bother to check in? He low-key bet they were all dostracted with something luke always, caio with skyler, connie with fems, shin with grace, Max... he shoo'd the thought away they couldn't all get distracted by their hormones at once right, no not after what happened on Nanometeor.
"I'll take it." He says as she scoots closer. "How about Zombieland 2?" He asks. "The first one was great and I was really looking forward to watch the sequel, but then I forgot completely about it... unless you have not watched the first one?"
The man looks up from the book. "I never was Doctor Infinity. You assumed I was, and I never corrected you. That's on you. And I'm not inclined to share my plans because generally, that doesn't end well for the planner."
He turns his attention back to the book while Percy tests the limits of his confinement. Unfortunately, his communicator is gone, and nothing of value or use was left on his person. This foe was, unfortunately, quite intelligent or at least wasn't one to make obvious mistakes.
Skyler shrugs. "I guess so. I'm pretty sure I watched the first one. Though, I can't stand these movies that just ignore superheroes. I mean, I get they want it low-key, but I mean, what threat is a zombie horde to someone like Ordnance? And wouldn't Captain Stalwart or Praetoria just rip through them?"
She otherwise doesn't object and settles in to watch the movie. "Maybe this one will explain what happened to them all."
Slowly but eventually Femtite gets responses to all her emails. Generally they're understanding, and the anatomy teacher responds with enthusiasm about her promise of giving a demonstration of Pixite anatomy.
Caio laughs as he finds they have something more in common, which is overthinking movies. "Well, perhaps the movie takes place in a parallel universe where heroes do not exist... can you imagine how that would be?"
"Or perhaps some heroes turned into zombies as well and the remaining ones are fighting them, leaving the rest of the people to fend for themselves. Praetoria is an a$%&@%@ by the way." He adds.
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"That's pretty fair but let's my mind wander to what else might be happening. Let's see, obviously well funded or at least powerful enough entity to have a high-end apartment. You knew about and ambushed the cities one and only real mage, know spells to put me to sleep, and obviously have some magical talent yourself. Don't look like a Mathers." He lightly kicked the side of the containment field next to the drawn sigils on the floor.
"Oh maybe there's a spell that could cure colds in 'My' spellbook, at least then I could wonder about this with a clear mind." The book almost always forced itself to a spell that would aid him in the situation so maybe he could even will it to whip back and forth through the seemingly endless pages to keep him from working at his ritual.
'Just have to buy time for the others to figure it out... they always do. Right?'
"Or maybe some tea while I wait for your dreadfully slow torture? You know the ol' act like i'll be well treated only to tear it out from under me routine, so heartbreaking."
"Well shit. You didn't go in here, right Shin? As far as we know, no one else has messed with this since Percy vanished?"
"I didn't touch anything," Shin says as he puts out a general call to the rest of the team. "Percy is missing and I can't reach Max. We're investigating his room right now. If you're available, swing by his apartment."
Skyler rolls her eyes. "A world without super heroes? We'd have been conquered a dozen times over by aliens. We might have lost World War Two, or a comet would have hit us and we'd be in an apocalyptic hellscape." She snuggles closer. "I guess I should be more impressed that my boyfriend is a super hero, shouldn't I?"
The man has good focus, and avoids getting baited. He continues his work, weaving more and more complex glyphs to orbit around Percy. At his mention of the spellbook, the man reacts. "Your spellbook? Did you write it? Did you earn it? No, you chanced upon it and somehow it gave you more power than you could possibility comprehend. This book is mine by right!"
The first thing Connie sees beyond the mess is that Horizon did enter the dorm room. He wasn't the only one. Her lightning-quick mind takes notice of several things:
-Disabled wards.
-The remnants of Indarius's projection spell.
-Small amounts of residual powder -- likely obfuscation dust.
-A demon-binding circle, spent.
-Tiny footprints, probably of a homunculus or imp, that came in and exited through the window.
-A folded and sealed letter under a veil that lifts as soon as Connie approached that reads, "Open immediately!"
"Nah, I'm good with the way we are... better to keep me grounded and focused on what really matters, which is help people. There is too much ego around supers." He says, ranting a bit. "Supers should not be seen differently than doctors, right?"
He than laughs a bit. "Thought I did killed an alien fungus from inside. Isn't it hot?" He jokes.
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Percy was thankful for his slowed reactions cause it allowed him to remain calm at least physically when 'Not Infinity', 'Nega-infinity', 'N.I', 'whatever'? Lashed out vocally about the book. Pride also swelled in him as the creature demanded that it was it's book by right. The book that had been gifted to Percy, the book that he had studied time after time, the book that he had learned and made mistakes with and come into his own being with the help of.
He let out a hoarse phlegm filled bark of a laugh and putting an arm over his stomach. Before his body quickly reminded him that he would choke on his own snot if he continued. Clearing his throat and unceremoniously spitting on the floor near the glyphs he began.
"Did I write it, no, did I earn it, yes yes, absolutely yes. I'm the one who put time into learning about it's secrets in an age of no-magical talent. I'm the one who has been using it for the betterment of the world. I'm the one who has kept it clean and safe, and I'm the one who's going to be walking out of here tonight making sure you haven't harmed a single page."
There is a lengthy pause while Percy catches his breath once more. "Meanwhile you've been squirreled away doing who knows what. I suppose kidnapping, abducting, and creeping on children given your propensity and apparent skill in that field. Certainly not using what you do know for good, which by the way would have been the best way to get on my radar for me to return the book. If you even cared about it in the first place. So please if you wanna tell me exactly how it's yours by right go ahead, cause from my point of view you've done nothing to earn it, and you most certainly didn't write it if you don't even know where what you're looking for is within it's pages. Like I dunno Great grandma's famous Mayonnaise carrot cake recipe?"
He might not be able to get out, by himself, but if him and whatever entity was in the book could do it together. Percy focused as well knowing good and well that his body was already at it's limits for magic today. But this was important, he had to push himself, expand beyond his normal limits, tear apart these damned runes and reclaim what was his.
Feeling the burn of his body as it tries to soak up whatever aether it can, with both the barrier and his own sickness making him feel exhausted already, as well as the massive projection spell from earlier. Percy nearly blacked out from the strain, but held onto the tiny motes of energy that he could bring to bare tucking one deep down in reserve.
"That being said, I would humbly request you remove your filthy mitts from " With a flick of the wrist and a silent word he beckons the book to him via a micro portal.
"You can't reach Max because... whoever did this was got her too. That is your kneeprint next to the circle, right? Not touching things isn't the same as not going in."
She sets the tip of her tongue against her upper lip while she carefully chooses her words. "Wards were pretty dismantled rather than broken. He didn't even have time to clean up after the projection. Probably this was an attack of opportunity, but one where whoever grabbed him had been planning it for a while. I wasn't here and I'm pretty deaf to big power expenditures anyways, but I'm guessing Perce wasn't being uncharacteristically quiet and subtle with this? Probably would've been muffled by my setup down at the base, but c'est la vie...
[b]"Okay, someone wants to grab Indarius the mighty. Whoever It Is scopes out his kinda garbage wards, waits for a big flare that suggests he's out of juice. Grab him and get him out of here, but that's not enough. Whoever It Is sets up that circle there to catch demons, which works just fine on Deedee even if she isn't one quite yet, and waits under a veil until she's trapped to spirit her away too..."
She finally turns to Shin. "Have you actually gotten Caio on comms? You didn't get grabbed going in here alone, which suggests you're not on the pull list, which leaves magically potent beings as the common denominator. Assuming the envelope that just appeared is the trap for me of course."
She shrouds the envelope and herself in separate broad spectrum wards, and gets some non-conductive tools to slice open the envelope.
"But it would be rude not to be certain."
"Wait, hold on," Shin says to her. "If that's supposed to be a trap meant for you, doesn't it make sense for someone else to open the envelope so you can spring them free?" He points out.
"I know I've got zero sense with the magic stuff, but at least I can be a good buffer. Obviously if this guy has gotten Percy and Max, he must have set this up for you. Or Caio," Shin says, pausing as he looks at his comms.
He switches to a direct line to the werewolf. "Caio, there's trouble at Percy's dorm room. Get over here as soon as possible."
He looks at Conflux, before gesturing to the letter. "You know this stuff better than me. But if you get knocked out or sucked into some pocket dimension, that's really bad. I'd rather have you on the outside and myself be the one to get turned into a rabbit."
"Shin, you opening it would be more dangerous because you can't take the same precautions I can. You don't have the amateur root around in the wires to save the electrician just in case. You have the electrician handle things so no one gets electrocuted."
Caio was in Skyler's room when he gets Shin's message, so he is able to get to Percy's room quite fast.
"Hey, what is the deal?" He asks, noticing the worried looks in the other's eyes. "My uncle is an electrical engineer, and I've learned a couple things from him..."
A look of supreme annoyance crosses the man's face when Indarius yoinks the book from him.
"I'm puzzled by your actions. It cost you greatly to attempt that trick, yet rather than wait until my attention is turned, you try it now. Which allows me to do this:"
He gestures, and the arcane sigils surrounding Percy glow brighter. Too bright, to the point that he has to squeeze his eyes shut rather than risk permanent blindness!
"What good is a book if you can't read it?" his condescending voice is heard through the blinding glare.
When Conflux slices open the seal, her eyes go milky-white and her body becomes rigid!
You see William Westscott Mathers in your mind's eye. Despite your precautions, you are getting his message directly sent to your astral self.
"Child. I have taken this opportunity to further our plans for this family. You may have some misplaced feelings of loyalty to your friends, but always remember: family comes first.
"Do not interfere, and they will be unharmed, if a little worse for wear. Test me on this, and the consequences will be on your head. Try for once in your life to not be a disappointment."
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G̸̬͊u̶̬͋t̴̙͝ ̴̞̈V̷͓͝e̶͖̓n̴̲͂ ̷̛̥B̴̯͊
He intones as he attempts to send the book through the aether to his dorm room.
"Let's give Connie time to free herself... it will be better than we trying anything." Caio says to Shin.
Connie jerks herself back to the room with a snarl on her lips.
"Envelope was the trigger, not the conduit." she says as though that's all the explanation required.
"Okay... okay... This is a bit tricky, but... Okay!"
She held out her hand to Caio. "I need your phone." Turning away to block exactly what she was doing on the screen she continued "By the way. If we all used those 'find a friend' apps, there's a very real chance we'd all already know where Max and Percy are. Just something to think about for the future."
She hands the phone back and scoops up the letter. "Okay, pretty sure I can find Whoever It Is that did this. I have to do something in my room where it's quiet. So just gimme fifteen, okay?"
"You sure it is the time to meditate?" He asks as he takes his phone back and checks it.
Shin looks at Connie carefully. The snarl she'd given after snapping back seemed off to him. "You sure you're okay?" He asks, trying to gauge her...and finding it impossible to do. She was an impermeable as lead.
"Okay, well...I'll see if I can't get Clocktower to ping their comms, find a location for them that way. I'll be honest, that should have been my first instinct, but with this magic stuff you never know if they're somehow in another dimension or universe or behind some barrier interfering with the logic of the world."
"Magic is famous about interfering with tech items, specially magic that comes from locations... If whomever took Percy and Max is half as smart as they seem, I don't believe we'll be able to find them with the Clocktower." Caio says, not to diss Shin's idea, but just to share this with him.
While not wanting to depend on the wolf anymore, Caio do borrow his scent, hoping to find a trail he can follow.
Caio sees that Connie had downloaded the Find Your Friend app and added herself as a contact.
He gets a very strange, acrid smell that raises his hackles. Furthermore, there's a scent of Percy going out the window along with that otherworldly scent.
Forcing a spell through the barrier specifically meant to stop magic takes up the last of Indarius's reserves of energy. The page disappears, and he passes out.
The card is picked up. The man appears annoyed, but still in control of his emotions.
"Have you had time to think? You have little time left before you are fully corrupted. I suggest you take my offer, otherwise your humanity will be lost forever."
"Look, it's all that I have to contribute here, so maybe don't knock my resources before we try them," Shin says to Caio with a bit of heat to his tone of voice. He's frustrated from not knowing how to help Conflux, tension in his body again as he links up with his base's supercomputer.
Hopefully the comms would be trackable still. He really didn't want to have to tell Caio that he was right.
Caio shrugs, seeing Shin in on edge and since he also was, he decided better not to push it. "I do hope they work."
"I've got a couple scents, credo, I think I can track Percy's socks anywhere..." He says as he pokes his head through the window. "But I'll wait for you guys. Seems reckless to split since who knows how many more traps there will be."
After fifteen minutes, Connie hasn't reappeared.
"Connie is taking too long..." He says to Shin. "Let's check with her."
Shin has been using his remote access to Clocktower to try and figure out how he was going to find everyone by comms. It was certainly possible magic could interfere with it. But there was one thing he figured out about magic, was that it was a little too exacting. Conflux couldn't just make a single general ward against all danger, she had to specify and layer them on. So something that would be overlooked by your magician who didn't have the best sense of science might be the best shot here.
In a flash of insight, he realized that Clocktower had one thing in its archaic software package that might be more useful here than he first thought. "So, the comms are sort of put together from other old tech. But part of their package is that there's parts in them that can't be replicated elsewhere - like the radium paint on its interior components. I don't see it used at all these days, so if I use Clocktower's radiation sensors to do a sweep of the city, I should pin down where their comms are at least," He explains to Caio - before the other hero pointed out Conflux had been gone for a while.
He calls her on the comms while doing his sweep of the city with Clocktower, using Caio and Horizon's comms as a reference to look for other sources. When she doesn't pick up, he gets worried and lets the program run while going to her room. He knocks on her door quietly, before trying the knob. Not opening it if he hears anything from Conflux after his knock. "Are you in there, Conflux?"
"Sounds like an invitation," the man comments. He sighs and shakes his head. "Striking a bargain is the easiest form of getting what one wants out of a being such as yourself. You get something, I get something... it's all mutually beneficial -- unless the bargain struck was unwise. You've probably heard stories about such deals going wrong. You could have even tried to outwit me, if you'd agreed.
"Of course, beings such as yourself can also be controlled through force of will." He starts speaking words of power, and Max feels her body grow taut, like a bow string being pulled back. Conceptually, she can imagine herself as a bullet being loaded into a chamber, with the man in charge of where the gun is aimed.
After your preparations, you reach out to Quincy. It takes several tries before he finally picks up. "Why do I get the feeling you're not asking to join my Saturday night group? Which is good, because I've got a waiting list."
Caio elects not to jump out the window and try to follow Percy's scent. Shin gets Clocktower working on a sweep of the city for the unique radioactive signatures of the team's comms, though such a sweep may take several hours or even days without a place to start.
They decide to check in on Connie to see how she's progressed. Just as they're about to leave Percy's room, there's a brief flash of light and an audible >pop!<. Before they're able to do anything else, they see a well-worn sheet of paper fluttering to the floor.
What do you do??
The good news: it'll work. Bad news, it'll take way too long if I can't narrow the search parameters... Shin is thinking as he starts to head out - and then suddenly there's a pop in the air that sets him on edge. He looks and sees the page starting to flutter to the floor.
Not thinking anything of it and reacting as he would, he goes to grab the page before it hits the floor, turning it over in his grasp to see what's written on it.
The page looks like it's smeared with fresh blood. It reads in a barely-legible scrawl, Fancy tower.
Shit.
"Uh, Connie? I just got a blood-smeared note popping into Percy's room with the words 'fancy tower' written on them. I'm hoping it's a clue he sent us and not a trap," He calls out to her over the comms as he inputs the new search parameters for Clocktower to narrow things down. Fancy tower, probably in the financial district, maybe Praetoria Tower? No, that wouldn't make sense...
Caio freezes for a moment as Shin grabs the paper, but once nothing happens to him, he relaxes a bit. Seeing the words, he looks around until he finds Percy's notebooks to compare the writing.
Honestly, what is it about me that makes people want to trap me and make me be a princess in their weird royal fantasies. 'Cause if there's a setting I can opt out of, I should really get on that.
"Well Quince Pie, there's some games going on I figured you might wanna know more about with considerably bigger stakes than your weekly sesh.
"Dear Old Dad is making some moves involving some of our mutual party members, and Our Plans for the family the royal Our Plans. I figured you wouldn't want to have all that go down and not be a part of it, so I just wanted to make sure you got an invite as a part of the family. And hey, if you decided you didn't think the plan was everything you wanted it to be, all you'd have to do is give me a nod, and I'd help put things on ice - no heat on you."
" 'Cause if you don't go... Well Number Five, time's running out on getting Dear Old Dad to make changes to the family plan."
"Okay, du-- I mean, um... look. You had to have known Dad had his eyes on Percy. Guy's like, stupid powerful. And, well, stupid. That's who's in trouble, right? I don't think he'd care much for the demon girl or the werewolf."
There's an impatient sigh. "I mean, what do you really want from me? You know how Dad gets. Why should I get involved?"
The handwriting is pretty bad. So it's almost impossible to tell who might have tried writing it. The blood and the torn page smells like Percy, Caio can tell.
"Worst comes to worst, you can always try to stop anyone who messes with his plans, and if you don't come help pick a winner, there's a very real chance, I'll end up getting asked a lot of questions, and the fact that you didn't want to get involve would probably come out...
"Besides. He didn't stop at grabbing Percy."
"The blood is certainly from Percy." Caio tells Shin and as Connie again fails to answer, he frowns. "Let's find Connie... she might be in danger and while I do want to follow Percy's trail, with only three of us remaining, we should not split up."
Shin hasn't paused to fully listen to Caio before he's down the hallway, down a flight of stairs, into the other wing of the dorm and stops in front of Connie's room, giving a quick knock before he tries to open the door. Two members of the team have been kidnapped so far today - he'd rather not lose Conflux like...
...well, like so many others.
"So let me get this straight: You don't want me to help you stop him? You think he needs help defending himself? That's rich.
[B]"Look. You have fought him tooth and nail for years now. If you'd have just cooperated, he might have been done by now. He even could have been able to, you know, give you what you wanted. But no. That's not how you ever would act. So I don't know why I would believe you when you're telling me he needs help and that I need to help him to stay in his good graces."
"Just a little insurance, devil girl. Just insurance," Max hears ringing in her ears.
"If stopping him's what you decide is best for you- best for the family, then sure, give me a nod. But whether or not I've fought him tooth and nail not, that doesn't change who he is. You think everything's sewn up, and all that's left is waiting to get your assigned portion of the scraps? Well ask Abram what can happen to what you've been promised, ask Gaius, or hey, just ask yourself, Number Five. How'd that work out when he switched to the whole Seventh Son plan? You know his plans can change - don't you want to be there when there's leverage for you to grab?"
Quincy's voice comes across ragged. "Why do you care all of a sudden?!? Can't I just live my life? If he ends up becoming a god, do you really think it'll matter to him that I helped or didn't? Don't tell me you actually think that if you handed him the keys to everything he wants, he's going to feel the least bit grateful! That's not how he is! And no amount of groveling at the end is going to change that!"
At this moment, Conflux hears an urgent knock on her door.