Participants:
| Scene Title | Not You, Eurydice |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Phase One of Eizen's plan to rescue Kaydence Damaris is initiated. |
| Date | February 26, 2021 |
A pounding electronic beat greets Godfrey Wells on his way down the stairs into Wonderland.
Stopping at the metal door, he speaks the passphrase loud enough to be heard by the doorman, but soft enough that it is dissolved below the backbeat of a eurosynth loop. Let in through the door, Godfrey moves into the steam-pipe lined concrete hallway filled with neon-clad revelers making out in the dark to the pulsing rhythm of the music.
Godfrey makes his way down another short flight of stairs, then through a plastic butcher’s curtain into the club proper, where more than a hundred people bounce as one to the rhythm as lights strobe and sweep across the crowd. The air is intoxicating, the feeling of belonging. It is Godfrey’s scene. His energy. Then he meets her eyes across the floor.
Kaydence.
Wonderland
Sheepshead Bay
February 26th
1:13 am
Kaydence Lee Damaris leans up against the bar where she spots Godfrey across the club, drink in hand, raised in a long-distance cheers gesture. It means one less thing for Godfrey to worry about tonight. She’d gotten his text.
Seeing her there, Godfrey breaks into a brilliant smile, clearly glad to see that she made it. Pushing into the crowd, Kaydence doesn’t completely lose sight of him as his over six foot tall frame allows him to keep his head above water so to speak. Thanks to that and the multitude of strobing lights, flitting around the dance floor to illuminate the crowd, she can easily follow his progress.
When the ocean of bodies parts before him, like Moses and the Red Sea, Kaydence gets to see what he wore special for her tonight. He wasn’t dressed like the rest, while it was a wild rave, he was dressed sharp. It wasn’t a suit, but he still wore a creased pair of slacks and a dark purplish-gray shirt that seemed to have a slight sheen that faintly reflected the flashing rainbow of lights.
Leaning in close so that his mouth is next to her ear, Godfrey lifts his voice just enough to be heard over the pulsing music, “S’good to see you made it. What do you think?”
“Not bad, sugah,” Kay says with a crooked smile, lifting her drink to her lips. “It’s discreet and close to my work. Not going to lie, I might’ve cruised the crowd just to make sure my kid wasn’t here. I swear, this is exactly the kind of bullshit she’d love.” She rolls her eyes in a good-natured way and then ends the expression with a smile. “Maybe in six years.” She wrinkles her nose. “Ten.”
The rest of the club moves around the pair, unaware of the very dangerous situation brewing in their interaction. Kaydence is effortlessly relaxed, comfortable in these unfamiliar surroundings and melts into the background until she wants to be noticed. There is charm and poise there that exists in the woman Godfrey knows, but the subtle liberation in her demeanor is a tell he should have noticed. Kaydence never lets herself have fun.
In a strange way, whoever this doppelganger is lives Kay’s life with more liberty and enjoyment than the woman herself.
“No, I meant me, luv,” Godfrey shouts cheekily over the loud thrum of music. Holding out his hands, he takes a steps back and turns in a slow circle so that Kaydence can get a good look at what she gets to play with tonight. He thinks rather highly of himself.
“Seriously, though, I figured I’d spare you the Karaoke and bull rides this time,” Godfrey says as he slips between bodies to lean on the bar and motion for the bartender with one hand, while the other rests comfortably on the curve of Kay’s back.
While he waits, Godfrey gives Kay a look over with a small wicked smile. His eyes almost seem to flash with an inner light as they travel down the frame of her. “Besides, I didn’t ask you here to stress over your child,” Godfrey adds, before she looks back up and squints at her. “She’s eighteen isn’t she? Let her live a little.” Said like a true childless individual. “That is a thought for another night. Tonight is about you, me and this den of inevitable sin.” He was truly in his element.
As the bartender slides down their way, Godfrey offers a tip of a curious brow to the woman next to him. “Shall I refresh that drink for you?”
“Inevitable?” Kay offers with a coy smile and a delighter flutter of laughter. “Mr. Welles you’re going to get me in trouble, and I am very much here for that.” She tips back her drink, downing the last of her martini and offers the glass out to Godfrey, making certain their fingers brush together as she hands it off.
“Vodka martini,” Kay says with a smile. She adds, “dirty,” with a wink.
The club continues to move around them. The thrumming beat of the electronic music vibrates in Godfrey’s chest, and a knot of worry twists tighter in the back of his mind. There’s so much that could go wrong in this situation, so much that could endanger civilians just having a good night out. He needs to get her out of the club.
“Oooh,” Godfrey croons out with an interested lift of his brows.
“You know,” he leans in again so she can hear him, “I do believe I owe you more than a drink. You see, while I do enjoy the company of someone as lovely as yourself, I don’t believe in taking advantage of anyone who's imbibed too much… Which I admit that night it was my fault.”
Fingers move to hook strands of blonde hair and tuck them behind Kay’s ear. There is a flash of light trapped within dark eyes, as Godfrey’s fingers continue on to trace lightly along the curve of her ear. “But, should you desire to… what do the American’s say, ‘blow this popsicle stand?’ I can assure you…” His gazes shifts back to her eyes.
“I shall endeavor to make it up to you.”
Kay’s smile grows, a delighted look that comes with a flick of her tongue over the edge of her teeth and an effervescent laugh that is drowned out by the bass beat of the music. She leans into him, the scent of her perfume filling his senses, the warmth of her on his arm, the ease in which she trusts him.
“Oh, yeah,” Kay says with a mischievous look up and down Godfrey and a hand finding his bicep, “there’s a lot of popsicles and blowing that’s gonna happen tonight.” She says with a wink.
By the look on his face, the Brit is very pleased and a touch excited at her obvious acceptance. “Well, that only leaves one question, luv,” Godfrey breathes into her ear, with a hand curling around her waist to settle at that curve of her back, pulling her in close so his lips brush her ear. “Your place or mine?”
He lingers like there for a few beats, only for Godfrey steps back with a suggestive lift of his brows, hands moving to catch her hands - taking a moment to brush lips against the knuckles of each - and pull her away from the bar into the press of bodies between them and the exit.
“I could use a change of scenery,” Kay says with a brush of a finger down the side of Godfrey’s neck, sliding one arm around his waist, “I feel like I’ve been—trapped a little bit lately, you know?” Her smile has an edge to it, anxiety maybe. “I could use a little change.”
Kay motions toward the door Godfrey had come in with her chin. “Take me home, hero.”
Godfrey hooks an arm around Kay’s waist bringing her to his side, keeping her close as he pulls them through the crowd. “Well then, far be it for me to deny such a wish,” Godfrey says, giving a light nip to her ear.
“I fear it might be a bit of a walk to m’car, luv,” Godfrey says with a impatient sigh and an apologetic look offered. “M’parole officer might not appreciate my choice of playgrounds, so I parked it at Brenda’s down the way there.”
Godfrey breaks out into a wicked smile at his own cleverness.
“Whatever you say, sugah,” Kay says with a purring drawl, cradling Godfrey’s arm in both of hers as he leads her to the door of the club. The bouncer opens the metal security door, showing them out, and soon they’re in the dingy, spray-painted tunnels that lead to the club.
“Been lookin’ forward to tonight for a while, darlin’.” Kay says with a bright smile, laying on the southern accent a little thick tonight. It may be the alcohol throwing her off her game. Whoever she is.
Up the stairs and out of the dank corridor, Godfrey and Kay emerge into the vacant lot beside the old warehouse. From the outside it doesn’t look like anything happens here or that anyone is around. The entrance is so simply camouflaged by the absence of activity. Kay continues to lean against Godfrey, though for warmth against the cold more than anything else now.
“How far?” Kay asks as they start to walk.
“Rest assured, I am worth the wait, luv,” Godfrey tells her rather confident, long fingers playing along the arms wrapped around his, tracing light patterns over her exposed skin. His smile is a wicked one, full of promise - though not for what she thinks.
Like the sirens that one charmed sailors to their deaths, Godfrey continues to use his own charms to lure this false Kaydence to her own doom.
Out in the cooler air, Godfrey takes a breath of the fresher air, before he tugs on her arms. He gives a jerk of his head towards an alley not far from them.
“Just through there, luv, and don’t worry I shall illuminate your way.” As discussed with the team prior to his little ploy, soft light erupts over Godfrey’s form with colorful auroras dancing around like playful sprites. It was a signal fire to warn the awaiting ambush.
Pulling his arm out of hers, Godfrey loops his arm around her waist and pulls her tight to his side with a ‘Mmm..’ of anticipation, leaning down to press a kiss to the point where her jaw meets her slender neck, giving it a nip. A distraction as she’s pulled into the darker alley, barely illuminated by the halo of light around Godfrey.
Kay closes her eyes, exhales a breathless gasp, and—
thwip
Kay lurches to the side, struck in the side of the neck by a dart with a bright red tassel on the end. She grunts sharply, brings her hand up to her neck on reflex and feels the length of cold metal sticking out. Her eyes lock on Godfrey—confusion, pain, betrayal—and then her eyes change.
It isn’t just an emotional shift, but a physical one. Kay’s pupils distort, the patterning of her irises ripples and change from blue to so dark brown they might as well be black. That’s when Godfrey feels the sudden impact of a fist against his stomach so hard it knocks the wind out of him. Kay winds up and strikes Godfrey in the side of the head so hard it knocks him down onto his side in the alley.
From his prone position, Godfrey can see Kay’s body shift and undulate as if she were made of a plastic bag full of snakes. Her hair changes shade from blonde to jet black, dark brown eyes locked on him. She grows nearly a full foot in height to stand nearly seven feet tall and practically bursts out of her little black dress, splitting it on the sides. Her muscles grow, shoulders broaden, and she becomes the most physically imposing woman Godfrey has ever seen as she rips the dart out of the side of her neck.
Radios crackle nearby, plain-clothes Yamagato security pop into view on either end of the alley shining flashlights down on Kay. She’s close enough to the ones who emerge behind Godfrey to reach out and grab one by the neck, swinging him around like a ragdoll and cradling him like a body shield as guards on the far end of the alley fire more darts. They hit her human shield and she picks up the darted guard over her head and throws him at the others, knocking them all over like bowling pins.
“You son of a bitch,” Kay says in a more flinty, richer voice as she turns to look back at Godfrey.
This isn’t exactly how Godfrey’d seen this going in his head.
The light around him flickers and sputters from the impact to his head, making the shadows in the alley dance about, while he blinks and shakes his head. After a moment the glow settles again and intensifies slowly.
“Me? I’m not the one pretending to be someone I’m not,” Godfrey scoffs, giving a humorless laugh as he pushes to his feet again and faces her. “I do believe identity theft is still a crime in this country.” Which is rich coming from him.
“So I suggest you come along quietly and I won’t have to hurt you, yeah?” Colorful aurora’s leap around Godfrey’s form higher and faster, lighting up the whole alley around them like it’s daytime. Their aggressive and colorful war dance travels up and down his arms, waiting for the right moment.
Godfrey shifts his jaw from side to side, tongue probing at the inside of his cheek where the tender flesh was cut by his teeth. “S’quite a mean right hook you have on you, whoever you are.”
Spitting out blood, he looks at her with an impressed look.
“I must admit, I am quite intrigued by this display,” Godfrey light-filled eyes travel over the muscled form with a suggestive smirk and an arched brow. “And normally, I would rather enjoy seeing what fun we could have with that ability…” Oh, the things he could imagine… but… there is a blink and his gaze returns to her face, the smile gone. “But I’m afraid you and your people have m’friend… and that just won’t stand.”
A quick burst of light is thrown at the imposter, using the force of the blast, but… surprisingly trying not to cook the woman.
There’s a yelp of shock as the shapeshifter raises her hands to try and shield her eyes from the blast of light. When the glow subsides, Godfrey can see she’s changed skin tones to a far darker shade, perhaps as a reflex from the ultraviolet radiation? It happened so fast. Her eyes adjust to the changing illumination fast, and she lunges for Godfrey without being nearly as stunned as she should be.
The shapeshifter grabs Godfrey by the collar and lifts him up, slamming him into the adjacent brick wall. The stones separate from the impact, bricks crumble and the pair collapse through the old, already damaged wall. Stone dust rises up in plumes, swirling through the auroral flickers dancing around Godfrey’s body. It doesn’t look like the shapeshifter expected to go through the wall.
She rises up, shaking bricks off of her back, and levels a violent stare at Godfrey. “I really liked you, too.” She says with a snarl.
That he was going to certainly feel later, “Oh fucking bollocks that hurt,” Godfrey groans out as he lays there among the bricks and dust. This time, he doesn’t try to get up yet.
“You know…” He shifts where he can push a particularly bothersome brick from under his back. He gives it a dirty look and tosses it aside. “It might have been bloody mutual had you not masqueraded as a dear friend,” Godfrey actually sounds rather put off by that looking up at her just as hurt as she was by his betrayal. “Half of what went down the other night, Kay would have never done… It was rather fun, but it’s also how I knew it wasn’t her. I don’t make it a habit to shag friends.”
The light flaring around Godfrey is the only warning she gets, before she’s blinded by another blast of light from his position on the ground, this one packed with more energy and a searing intense heat. Hoping to blind her long enough for him to get back to his feet… and where the bloody hell were all the guys with the elephant darts?!? Lying about on the job no doubt.
The shapeshifter is slower to respond this time, it might well be the sedatives starting to take effect. She’s bathed in the scalding hot light, braces herself against the pain, and when the light dims Godfrey can see the burns shining wet and red on the side of her that was facing him. Her muscles ripple like snakes again, skin changes hue to a more coppery tone dappled with freckles and her hair changes to a shock of white. In that same transformation, some of the burns even heal.
Godfrey has half a second to recognize that she isn’t blinded before the shapeshifter bodyslams him into a concrete pillar. The impact knocks the wind out of Godfrey’s lungs again, but this time the shapeshifter just reaches up and winds her hands around his throat. “Nothing personal,” she says through her clenched teeth, “it’s just work.”
Weighed down by the exhaustion coming from his ability drain, Godfrey can only yelp in surprise when he’s slammed into. Oh this was a fine predicament he’s gotten himself into. The light he has been emitting sputters and dies as the last of his reserves slowly drain. He needed sunlight, but being the middle of the night, there was a fat chance of that.
Gasping for breath, Godfrey claws at the shifter’s wrists and tries to claw at their face. As darkness edges into the peripheries of his vision, he desperately reaches for what reserves he has… finding… finding….
What was that?
Godfrey could feel it just beyond his reach… if he just… reaches a bit
further.
Godfrey’s eyes roll back in his head and his back arches, feet kicking against the pillar, hands becoming vices around the wrists holding him there. If he could breathe, he might scream, as Godfrey feels a new energy washing over and into him… it wasn’t quite as pleasant as he’s used to.
It burns.
The skin under the shifter’s hands heats up like Godfrey was developing an intense fever, not just that… something feels off.
The shapeshifter starts to say something but whatever words were going to escape her lips are terminated when Godfrey’s body erupts into an auroral fire. Seething waves of green and violet radiate out from him, tinged pink at the ends. His eyes are black pits, ringed with golden fire. Each of them miniature eclipses.
The shapeshifter recoils with a scream, dropping Godfrey onto his knees as she grabs at her head and staggers around the warehouse. Her eyes wrench shut, muscles, squirm beneath her flesh, and knees buckle. Like a snowman in the hot summer sun, the shapeshifter begins to diminish under the invisible radiation Godfrey emits.
Her vast musculature shrinks, her height recedes, hair turns from a shock of white to a dull coppery color and her eyes shift to a pale blue. Freckles dash across the shapeshifter’s cheeks and the bridge of her nose, and—though the same height as Kay—the person that comes out on the other side of that eclipse is decidedly not Kaydence Lee Damaris.
Philomena Haas collapses onto her knees, looking down at their hands, then up at Godfrey with wide eyes. “How?” Is all they can manage, voice hoarse and tight, terrified of the one thing that they haven’t needed to face in so long—
—themselves.
Phil’s eyeline wavers. Without her metabolism under their control the tranquilizers hit like a speeding car. Phil collapses onto their side, coppery hair in a halo around their head.
It takes a hand bracing on the ground to keep Godfrey from following her down. He feels like he’s been hit by a bloody truck. Grabbing at his bruised neck, he fills his lungs with precious air. Looking at the person collapsed on the floor, they aren't the only one confused by what happened.
Looking down at himself, Godfrey can’t hardly see himself… it was like every part of him was back lit. Taking a breath, he watches the corona like tendrils of light spill off him. “What in bloody hell?” he breathes out in wonder, looking back at the tranqed shifter.
Cloaked in darkness and ringed in a corona of light, Godsfrey rises to his feet. Where he once felt drained of all energy, Godfrey started feeling himself again. Whatever was happening… it was filling him with the same energy that normally took hours… but it bloody well made him feel like he was sitting in a sauna cranked all the way up. What it had to do with the shifters sudden collapse he’ll have to figure out later after he figured how to turn the bloody thing off.
The discomfort was rather distracting.
Looking towards the crumbling brick wall they fell through, Godfrey calls out, “Hello? Could use a bit of help in here.” He grabs the sleeping beauty under their arms, which looks weird in his current eclipse state, and starts to drag them back towards the alley. “I caught the imposter.”
It takes a moment for Yamagato’s plain-clothes security team to filter in through the warehouse doors and the hole in the wall the doppelganger created. At first their weapons are trained on Godfrey, and for a moment it feels like Eizen wasn’t going to honor his end of the deal. But once they realize that the glowing shadow isn’t a threat, all eyes are on the redhead spilled out on the floor.
There are no sirens in the distance, no cries for help. This battle took place in a remote enough part of the city to not draw attention. As Godfrey’s eclipsed form cools and he returns to normal, he feels a throbbing sensation in the back of his head, but also something intoxicating, something addicting. He feels power. New power.
Watching the Yamagato security team zip-tie the shapeshifter, Godfrey wonders just how different things could have turned. If that could have been—or one day will be—him.
But, he supposes, only time will tell.