Participants:
| Scene Title | We Have A Dragon! |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Eve and Liz go to fetch a weapons cache… and things get ugly under the streets of Midtown. A dragon comes to the rescue. |
| Date | October 17, 2011 |
Mas Mechanics and Beneath the Ruins of Midtown
Usually the Ruins of Midtown are silent at this time of night, they have been for years now. Home to the deranged, criminal and homeless as it was the residents of the neighborhood were rarely seen out in mass groups in the neighborhood. But tonight the neighborhood is alive and thriving albeit with a different sort of energy. Perimeters are being established, the police and grovernment agents work alongside FRONTLINE members roudning up suspected Evolved. It's a heartbreaking sight, mothers seperated from their children, fathers beaten to submission. The air reeks of sweat, ozone and fear.
The moon barely shines through the murky clouds overhead, a cold chill in the air. A warning of rain to come. While there are not many Evolved who are reigstered and have an address on file in the area Eve Mas is one of the ones who does. Her father's warehouse and mechanics shop has been a source of comfort for the oracle over the years as well as a safe hideout for her. As news of relocations started to spread from the news and the city that coupled with her ability, Eve knew that tonight was the night to act.
Mas Mechanics sits as quiet as ever in a corner of Midtown. The gates locked shut and a pair of cars wedged together to block the entrance. As the rest of the neighborhood bustles with activity. A lone whistle trails out from the halls of Mas Mechanics.
Inside almost none of the candles are lit. Eve knows this place better than any she's ever been to. Her booted feet clunk on the floor as she sways through the rooms. Touching each wall with a smile almost oblivious to the commotion going on outside. The screams, she must be tuning them out. Her thick dark hair pulled back into a tight bun with sticks stuck through it she closes her light gray eyes and holds the shotgun at her chest. "Smells like rain."
Avoiding the patrol routes is getting a lot harder with all the robots running through Midtown. But Elisabeth is grateful that the focus of the soldiers has to be on the Evos they know about and anyone else they happen to run across. Because it means that unless someone looks like they're running away … or are stupid enough to run TOWARD … the teams rounding people up, passers-by are mostly ignored.
Elisabeth moves quickly, keeping her ears peeled for movements. The call to come to Mas Mechanics was unexpected and … well, honestly, not exactly welcome. She slips in behind Eve and walks through the hauntingly empty building. "Eve… we don't have much time," she urges softly. If they didn't need the weapons, she would have flat out told Eve not to bother.
"There goes that word again." Eve snickers she nods Lizzie's way and proceeds through the Oracle Room to the stairs that lead to down below. Turning to face her White Queen she smiles. "Here it is, down these steps is the basement catacombs." As the two descend. Eve clicks a flashlight on and she lets the light flicker across the staircase. It's desereted as the rest of the building. Cobwebs hang from the ceiling. "Down here it leads to some tunnels. We can take my truck that's out back. Had to move the car and my clothes a few days ago, didn't want the fucking crooks to get their grubby little hands on them." Eve shakes her head as she trails a hand down the railing leading Liz down the steps and into a large room with multiple exits. "This place is like a labrintyth. My daddy said he bought it because you could hide a million things down here." The oracle looks sad as she looks down at her feet, "Never did get to find everything he left down here." She huffs as she looks up at Liz and leads the way to the left.
"Quickly Queen, the rats are co-." Eve stops as a rumble shakes the foundation of the building knocking dust and uprooting a multitude of rats from their hiding places. They surge towards the exits passing harmless around and through the women's legs. "I was off by a few seconds.." she ecohes as she starts to run ahead.
Above them a patrol from the government had begun to converge on the property. A tall man with a scar on his forehead leans out of a army convoy. "This the place? Says we got ourselves a precog in here. You know what that means gentlemen, we are most likely expected. Do not hesitate to netrualize the target. Your gas and traq darts are acceptable ways of bringing the target.." he looks down at the dossier in his hands and flips to a photo of Eve on the stage at the Orchid Lounge. One of the night she was performing all the time ago. "Eve Kendra Mas. This was her father's joint so we can assume she knows the layout better than us. Basically, be on top of your shit." is said as he flaps the folder shut and throws it on the seat beside him. As he hops out of the truck he directs two of ten men he has with him to cut open the gates. The two men strode forward and bend over the gates. Beginning to cut the lock one of them, a blonde barks, "And if she's more trouble than she's worth I say we kick her cand-" the gate snaps open at the same time as two pressurized explosives explode on the sides of the gate. The men assemebled are thrown back by the blast as the two soliders.. unforunately pieces of them are flying around the area too.
A man in charger, a last name on his uniform reads. Robertson. props himself up on one elbow and glowers at the burning gate and downed men. "Fucking precogs."
She is very cautious as they move through the place and down the stairs. "Is there a way out into the underground tunnels that will take us across town from down here?" Elisabeth asks as she follows Eve down. The hum that is merely a vibration on at her skin level when she's low-level anxious is not so subtle suddenly… Liz has a very real fear of the dark. And rats.
The audiokinetic literally freezes in place, unable to move further. Her blue eyes are squeezed tightly shut and a very deep bass hum rumbles the very stones around around them. It's rather like being caught in a pipe organ when it plays the ultra-low end of the scale. A full-bore panic attack the likes of which she hasn't suffered in over a year has her shaking, clammy, and dead white in the light that Eve turns on her.
In the street above them, it feels rather like an earthquake, which only adds to the chaos of the blast.
"Ahhhh holy shitttttttttt." Eve sinks to her knees with her hands over her ears not that it's helping much. "Gaaarrr Queeeennnn, you haveeeee to.. stopppp." Rats leap over the kneeling seer's legs and a few seconds later they are gone from the hallway. Eve is holding onto the blonde's leg as she tries to pull herself up to Liz. "JUMPING BANANAPANTS THIS HURTS!"
Above ground the men are all cluchtcing their heads as well. They struggle to their feet and Robertson puts on.. fucking headphones how? He strodes forward rifle now in hand, a slight limp to his left leg. Now it's personal. He gives a signal to the men who sadly don't have headphones and they inch forward climbing over the wreckage of cars and gate metal. Here comesss Johnny! The soliders storm the property.
The best part about out-of-control audiokinesis? It's not the *sound* that's the problem. It's the sub-audible frequencies that distort balance, cause nausea and vertigo, and break things. Liz didn't expect the flood of rats, and she can't quell the adrenaline-fueled upsurge of her power… the only thing she can try to do is focus it better. Away from Eve. Straight up into the streets above.
At least the actual sound that was causing Eve pain is gone. But Liz's shunting of her power out of the audible range and into the inaudible-to-human upper and lower ranges also means she has a sense of the space around them. And its stability. "We need to go. Right now!"
As the noise stops Eve's head rocks and she blinks her eyes. "You are a godsend, thank you." She pats Liz's leg as she hops up on her feet a little dizzy and grabs the wall to steady her. "Ok Queen! Come on we can take it this way!" The darker haired woman leads Elisabeth into a spacious room. A workbench and various tools hang around the room. Her makeshift armory. Beckoning to the blonde she points to a large box and 4 large bags she has stuffed with.. oh god Who gave Eve all the explosives? grenandes and one small pack holds a few blocks of c4. Guns of a wide assortment are packed into the other bags along with ammo. Hefting two of the bags and holding them out to Liz she looks sheepish.
"I can explain! I've been in the game for a long time now.. back in the day me and Cam liked.. well there were explosions.."
Above ground the men are searching the premises when Liz's ability is thrown upward towards them and chaos ensues. Men all over crumple to the ground. Robertson doing the same, headphones it seems aren't very helpful. With a grunt he takes note that nobody has been found upstairs. His eyes lock onto a door in the Oracle Room leading downstairs. He with two more men stagger slowly to the stairs and end up slowly out of the field that Liz's ability is wrecking havoc. One of the men up top screams into finally a gunshot is heard silencing him. As Robertson and his men make their way downstairs they start to move towards the other rooms INCOMING.
Hauling up the two heavy bags, Liz slings them crossways on her body to balance the load. She's still shaking visibly, but grabbing the side of the large box, she tries to talk while they lug the gear. "Cam… you mean Cameron Spalding?" Trask's friend. The first SCOUT operative, really. She knows only that he was killed in the line of duty… and she believes she remembers in the end it was by the men in black helicopters… so his own side.
Elisabeth pauses at the doorway through which Eve wants to go, looking back at the doorway they came through. She lets Eve take the lead and then sets down her side of the heavy box.
Her finesse with her ability is one of the reasons she was tapped for the mission to Antarctica… along with urban combat skills that have only been honed with time. Shaping her ability around the sounds that are already around them, she grits her teeth and focuses on the hallway that leads to Mas Mechanics and the stone all around it. The vibration is very precise, intended to bring down the entire passageway. If the soldiers are in it… well, that's their problem, isn't it? The blonde isn't playing games anymore.
As Eve takes her own bags after zipping them she hefts her side of the box before quickly peeking inside and grinning widely despite the headache she has at the moment. "Brian will be so excited." She whispers as she quickly shuts the case. Some kind of rocket..?
As Liz speaks and they walk out of the room towards the exit that Eve knows. "That's Michael. Cameron's brother." She sighs as she says this, "Cameron was.. a friend. He started PARIAH. I had a dream about him after the bomb, he was going to get caught by the police. I intercepted him, I joined almost immediately. I didn't have much else to live for," as the woman hurry down the hallway. Her eyes are peeking this way and that as her lips form into a grimace at the memories. "Cam was sucked dry. Kazimir Volken murdered him.. and I didn't stop it." The vision that she had of the event still haunts the oracle to this day.
"I failed PARIAH and I failed Cameron. I cannot fail my other friends." Her tone grows hard as the blonde Evolved woman stops them and sends vibrations down the hall.
Again as two of Robertson's men proceed through the hallway before him the vibrations of Liz's ability ripple through the environment. Literally. The man in charge backs away slowly as the walls and the floor roll with the effect of the vibrations that the audiokinetic has manipulated. Cracks splinter up the the men's feet and the other two men turn to run but before they can make it too far they are tossed up off their feet and into a falling piece of the ceiling, utterly smashed.
"Fucking.. FUCK."
It took her months to get her power back to its normal levels. She no longer has headaches and nosebleeds. This is the first time she's actually stretched them out, metaphorically speaking, since she blew them out last November in what Felix has called her 'human tsunami' moment. Eve can see a kind of relief that flashes across her face as Elisabeth turns back to her with her eyes still closed — sound is all around her. For just a moment, her whole body thrums with a power that can only be felt instead of heard. And using the soundwaves behind her to pinpoint the location of the soldiers in the hallway, she very deliberately thrusts a battering ram of sound waves into the ceiling just above them, bringing down enough rubble to block the tunnel from Mas Mechanics completely.
When she opens her blue eyes to look at Eve in the flashlight's glare, the dust particles dance in the space between them. "Guess we won't be going back that way."
Eve snickers as the tunnel comes crashing down. "You are.. extraodinary Lizzie." The oracle breathes out and taps her feet as she shifts her weight side to side. Her friends are badass. The Italian singer takes a look at the rubble and nods. "I guess not.. well there's th-" As the woman speaks a large crashing echoes through the tunnels and the sound that follows can only be described as an suction of floor before expelling. Like a..floom floom.
On the other side of the tunnel standing by the steps leading up to Mas Mechanics top floors is Robertson, jaw working intensely as he stares at the crushed men under the debris. Three men down, the remaining of the seven jog down the stairs taking up defensive positions. With a breath the dark haired man with the scar on his forehead slicks his hair back and taps his foot. With a deep huff he bends over and hits himself hard in the chest. THUMP THUMP THUMP.
As he does this the men around him back away slowly. Apparently they know what this display means because as he beats his chest his body begins to virbrate and as the drumming becomes more fanatic and fevered he starts to yell out, his fists glowing a deep red color. Stopping the drumming he swings his arm in an circle a few times winding up the energy in the room pulsates, the air crackles and he realizes one fist at a time. The first concussive blast hits the debris and blows a hole through it, the mangled bodies of the men crushed within flies out into the area. A hand lays near Eve's feet. "Ah fuck." The oracle says as she picks up her side of the box. "Let's go Lizzie! Whoever that is packs a mean punch!" She yells and begins to move forwad towards the other tunnels.
The second of the blast hits most of the debris through into the huge room as well. Dust flows into the room and the sound of footsteps approaching cautiously can be heard by the two. "Now.." the dark haired man says softly to the men under his command. "Get them." There can't be just Eve Mas down there, not with what he just felt. No precognitive can do that. The men move forwad sweeping their rifles with lights atop through the tunnel as they make their way. The ladies have a few minute headstart best make it quick ladies.
Something is happening here that ought not to be.
Something in the dark, rumbling and crashing and disturbing the delicate system of underground branches that spread out through the midtown crust.
The things that lurk on the surface are not the same ones that skulk in the damp below. The abandoned places lend themselves to adopting abandoned people. Abandoned things. Abandoned things that stay to themselves in the silence, until the silence isn't silence any longer.
The two women's prompt exit to find safety lead them down turn after turn, corridors of slick old cobblestone that become increasingly… cold. Ice shimmers on some of the walls, glistening and turning the tunnels to frosted passages.
Even as the thumping starts, Elisabeth can feel the change in the sound. She's already on the move even as Eve realizes the first explosion isn't the end of it. She hustles the precog forward, letting Eve pick the directions until they find themselves … in the cold. It shouldn't be this cold.
It triggers a memory in Elisabeth's mind, though. Of a meeting right here under Midtown that could be fortuitous. Of a man… if you can call him that… who was choosing to live here. And who'd been willing to lend his skills to certain things if needed. "Bao Wei!" the blonde calls into the darkness.
Her panic has not receded still, and if it weren't for the fact that the reverb basically echoes back and forth through all the tunnels, it might actually give away their position. In this case, though, it's kind of a cover for them, a way to disorient pursuers. "Bao Wei, can you hear me?"
Eve is grateful to have the audiokinetic with her, this solo would have been a real bitch. As if this isn't. She tilts her head as she notices the cold. "Whoa.. are we in.. did we time jump into Anarctica!?" She asks in all seriousness and looks around the room tunnel walking up to tap the ice on the wall. Then Elisabeth is calling out to someone named Ba-Ba and Eve's brow furrows. "You know.. I never.. so close to Mas Mechanics." She snickers and slaps her leg.
Both the sounds of Liz's voice and Eve's leg slaps echoes back through the tunnels and the soliders pick up the pace coming to a tunnel just before the one that Eve and Liz are standing in. Some of the men look a bit frightened as their surroundings change and Robertson puts a head to his temple and sighs. Topside said she was harmless precognitive that most likely wouldn't put up much of a fight. "They're three of these fuckers." says one of the soliders to which Robertson laughs aloud his shoulders shaking. "GO." Is the simple command he says. He needs a raise.
Rushing into the tunnel the men begin to take up firing positions firing in the women's direction. Eve throws herself out of sight dragging the box with her. Taking up her shotgun she leans against the wall looking over at Liz with a wide eyed expression. "Is your friend here?" she asks in loud whisper blowing a wisp of hair out of her face.
As his men fire at the women, Robertson catches a glance of Eve and his eyebrows raise. A fucking armed to the teeth precognitive is the last thing he wanted to deal with today. With a glare he leans forward and starts beating his chest again his fist starting to glow the deadly crimson shade.
The walls of frost become thick with ice as the duo moves, and Elisabeth's shouting echoes off of it into a shrill pinging in the distance. It gets colder still, and the air puffs white leaving their mouths. The sound of a name gets no immediate answer, nor does the pitter patter of shots firing down the corridor.
It is the drumming of kinetic energy that finally coaxes something out of the tunnels beyond where Eve and Liz find some cover.
The sound of something heavy scraping over rock and brick sends shivers where the cold doesn't, and in the dark a frame solidifies in the mouth of the tunnel just beyond Elizabeth. Ice shines in the reflection of flashlights, dark and blackened at its core, a flush of prismatic light scattering across the tunnel. An eye surfaces out of a pitted hole, a golden ember that flickers behind a crag of features.
Bao-Wei's shape is a jagged mountain of a thing, long-limbed and broad, covered in sharp edges and the glitter of cold down to the ragged mouth that opens up, empty.
He doesn't herald his arrival with banter— instead, the monster lurches forward on all fours and barrels down the corridor for the armed men, wind whistling in a rattle through his phantom pipes.
When the scraping slither comes to her ears, Liz knows what's coming. She's met him! "Duck!" she hisses to Eve, crouching low in the tunnel to let the huge form go by them. She's not sure she can actually counter the kinetic energy, nor is she certain that it won't kill Bao Wei's ears… wherever those reside. If he indeed has any. But she reaches out with her power to the sound that Roberton himself is making, tweaking the frequency into the highest pitches that humans can hear — it's seriously painful. And after all, he doesn't appear to be wearing headphones any longer.
As the sound of the large..dragon? entering Eve ducks as Liz says and looks up as he sails past them towards the men firing. A gasp escapes the woman, "Frosty.." she whispers and lifts a fist into the air. "BOO-YAH! You guys wanna meet our friend? Fal.. FALCOR!" She yells and as Liz unleashes her abilty on the soliders again she whips around the corner and fires her shotgun at one of the men near her. The shells hitting home sending the man flying as a bleeding mess into some of his comrades.
At the sight of Bao-Wei the men are visibly shaken. They did not sign up for this. At all. Robertson's eyes widen but that moment of shock passes quickly as the oracle fires on them and the ice monster barrels towards them. Two of the men run straight up the Bao-Wei convinced they can scare him and attack him with their puny fists and bullets. Robertson on the other hand continues to drum on his chest each time his fist hits home he lets out a loud grunt. Beginning to walk forward towards the beast he glares as his pace picks up and he starts to wheel his arms in motion the kinetic energy crackling in the air, the sound effect accompanied with his ability proves to be a deterrent as Elisabeth manipulates it's frequencies. Screams of pain echo through the chamber as the men some of them sinking to the ground their hands over their ears. Robertson falters and sinks to one knee gritting his teeth he wheels his arms faster and charges forward screaming as blood leaks from his ears.
One of the concussive blasts hits one of the walls and casues slices of ice to fly array. The other is saved for Bao as the two clash together, ice and kinetic energy. Punch Gorilla Activate.
The reception is there, even if the organs are not. Despite this, the shrieking does little to dissuade Bao-Wei from reaching out to snatch at one of the men as they come firing upon him. He rumbles out as the sound shrills at all of them, and yet he has nothing to bleed. His ears are physically spared, even if his head is not. Standing up straight, ice snips off against the ceiling and tumbles down his hide as one giant, clawed hand reaches out to grab onto one man currently on the ground, covering him in an icy palm. Contact begins to freeze him to the spot, the cold seeping down through layers of kevlar and flesh.
No time to make sure that he does the job— the kinetic fist coming at him cracks into his other hand when he reaches up to catch the punch. It sends spindly cracks up over the surface of the icy limb, but the density of the blackened ice saves it from splintering.
Contact, as always, begins to freeze glove and flesh and bone, the surface of his body a deadly caress.
They were coming after Eve. Lethal force is authorized. Elisabeth has a moment of utter disconnect. "No!" she shouts to the dragon, cutting off the sonic attack. "No, stop! Don't kill him!" How far will she go? Apparently there is still a line she struggles with. "Just incapacitate! Please!"
Of course, if the soldiers antagonize the dragon? Well….
The man that gets hit by Bao is done. A few of the slices of ice pierce another and he's down. That leaves five more men. The others don't know anything but orders and so they charge and shoot at Bao-Wei, he is considered the biggest threat. Roberton howls in pain as the combination of his ability and Bao-Wei's skin touch instantly freeze his arm up to his under his elbow. The kinetic energy splinters the arm and Robertson falls back as his left arm shatters into bloody mist and glass. The scream he utters could hurt the ears. "Argh! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!" He stomps on the ground over and over again. His men charge the ice entity as one charges for Liz and Eve. Deciding against close quarter combat he uses his shoulder to prop himself to a standing position clinging to the arm that is broken off. Ice glistening at the end of the stump.
With a wild look in his eye he stomps his foot again sending cracks throughout the catacombs. His whole body radiates with crimson kinetic energy. Bellowing he beats his remaining fist against his chest and expells a trio of kinetic blasts from his body. One collides with two of his men shredding them effectively while the other hurtles towards Bao-Wei. The final one shoots up uselessly into the ceiling above causing cracks to form above the group. It's but a few seconds before pieces of the ceiling starts to fall towards them.
The oracle yelps as the man loses his arm and then decides to kamikaze all over the place. Light grey eyes widen and she levels her shotgun at the approaching solider, her shot going wide and hitting the wall instead. Eve looks over to Liz as she draws her knife and begins to strike if he makes it. A section of the ceiling crashes near them and it just barely misses the solider.
The short tail at Bao-Wei's back smashes into the wall as he turns, jerking his head to peer over his shoulder to where Elizabeth pleads. Robertson's hand dislocates from his palm by virtue of its owner, who soon learns not to attack as he does. Teeth click wordlessly at Elizabeth while the other evolved readies another bout of kinetic energy past his pained shouts. At least there is no blood loss, the ice having effectively closed it off.
Bao-Wei's arm sweeps out to meet the scatter of gunfire, bullets lodging into or ricocheting off of him. The blast fired from Robertson clips his side, blasting a half-moon into and through the ice at the edge of his belly. The golden eye drops down, and up again, focusing on the one-armed man amidst his falling comrades.
"Five." A voice rumbles out of him, maw opening wide. One step forward, ice forming underfoot. "Four." Another. "Thrrree…"
Yeeeeaaaaahhhhh…. Elisabeth might chalk it up later to a momentary pang of conscience. Or perhaps she really just is that good at the base of it all. And too much an optimist. It's a theme with her. There's a reason she's the White Queen and not the Red Queen.
As the last soldier comes right at them, Elisabeth finds herself reacting with the combat instincts that have been drilled into her by necessity. The pistol has already cleared its inner-pants holster before Eve's knife appears, and just as the precog stands to launch herself, the blonde former cop puts a triple-tap of bullets into the hurtling soldier's face. He's too close for any other kind of shot, really. It's stupid luck that she and Eve are not going to be dead. Liz's hesitation cost them precious seconds.
But the soldier is down. And Elisabeth stares at him.
Luck or fate however you want to look at it has indeed shined down on the women tonight.
As the ceiling continues to come crashing down in parts Robertson steels himself for whatever Bao-Wei is doing, his men decimated he stomps his foot again among the fallen debris around him. The rubble lifts with each stomp a short field of kinetic energy spidering out from him. With a growl he winds his remaining arm up but as he begins to charge up to release his eyes widen. There's not much time for him to retreat or anything and so he winds his arm faster and faster hoping to unleash a volley of energy before the ice dragon does. Time for this man though seems to be running out.
Eve pads up to Liz softly as the woman guns down the man, a sad look in her eyes. "We are all collatreal damage." she whispers and lays a hand on the blonde woman's shoulder. "Let's grab the booty, your friend will meet us right? He's.. impressive." Eve wishes she could pet him.
"Two." Bao-Wei's eye glimmers, the pupil dilating and contracting as he watches Robertson put up a last stand instead of fleeing. "One." His breath leaves him in a spill of fog, belching out in silence and washing down over the floor. "Foolish." The mist rolls out around his frame as he steps forward. Ice begins to grow ahead of him, blossoming at feet and spiky shoulders, the cold fog licking at Robertson's ankles before it solidifies and creeps upward. Any more volleys at the iceman earn simply more holes, molten chunks blasted out of a shape who cannot feel them.
As the ice breath is released from within Bao-Wei the kinetic energy manipulator snarls as his ability seems to fizzle out as he is taken over by the ice. "Ain't this.." he says as the ice crawls over his blunt features and his eyes. "A bitch." A perfect statue of Roberto stands there harmless now. The fog and the dust linger around the remaining three standing in the chamber. A few more pieces of rubble crash to the ground but the fight is over.. for now.
Pulled from the momentary flashback of another person whom she shot in the face and killed, Elisabeth works on shaking it off. But she won't leave before the end of the fight. It is not until Robertson is literally a statue of colored ice that the blonde is finally able to speak again. "We're going after them," she tells him quietly. "The corrupt government people, the Commonwealth Institute. We're burning it all to the ground, blowing it to hell. You told me once that we could call on you. Does that still hold true?" Her tone is calm, the horror of what is happening around them compartmentalized as much as she can. "Will you fight?"
Eve peeks up at Bao-Wei as Elisabeth speaks. She nods her head and drags her belongings closer to her. "You could smash those doors down. Pie in the sky. You are an eureka. Do you.. can you fly?!" she leans forward just about ready to poke his hide but she backs away before she accidentally grazes his skin.
There is an eerie silence from the frame ahead of them, and the cold is beginning to get uncomfortable. Bao-Wei's head turns, feet shifting underneath and arms hanging, pendulous. Ice creeps back to him, gently trickling upwards to where the holes in his hide shine fresh. His good eye fixes Elisabeth with a somewhat distant stare, jagged mouth grinding, opening. Her words have the iris darkening some, listing between irritation and something deeper. Thoughtful.
Eve's voice deters any immediate response. He stares at her instead. Bao-Wei shifts, pivoting to face them from a safe distance. The cold begins to pull away from them, a fog creeping across his frame.
Eureka?
"Pie—?" The narrow of brow downward is quizzical, bemused. "No. I cannot." What a strange woman. "You want my help? Against the Institute." Somewhere in there, the man he was is howling with derision. But it is difficult to forget what they've caused. What they've enabled. Who they've taken.
"Fine."
Honestly? Elisabeth had no idea if he would even know who they were. She nods slowly. "IN two weeks' time, there are two teams. One to the Institute's facility in Alaska, one heading to Massachusetts. If you have a particular knowledge of one place or the other or a particular target you'd be interested in being present for, you're welcome to join either team. " She pauses, perhaps a little shell-shocked over this firefight. "Is there anything you need from me in the meantime?"
"In another life I attended surgical conferences at Cambridge…" Bao-Wei's answer is distant, air seeping from the pit of his mouth in a plume of cloud. He's been there. Another life, as he said. The bent of brow expresses a twinge of something more forlorn, passively stuck in a memory of a memory.
"No. A location. A time. I can swim there." The beast rattles his head, turning away, shoulders tossing as he shakes off the remnants of his fight. Pieces of ice scatter like a glitter of snow as he moves to go. "They took from me, as well."
The expression on Eve's face ranges from awe to dissapointment to no flying to excitment at his aggreeing to help them. She nods her hed eyes wide and eyebrows raised. This is huge. Literally. Eve can't help but feel a sense of comfort that someone like Bao-Wei is joining the fight. She smacks her head as the possibilties blossom in her mind. "Of course we want your help! You've got the breath of ice. You look and people freeze. You point and," she makes a sound akin to crackling ice by wiggling her teeth around and flicking her tongue through them.
"I bet you Simon isn't planning for this.." The oracle looks to Liz and Bao-Wei. "Did we just gain a new party memeber?!"
YUP!