Chapter VII - Healing Pains

This is what you came here for. Adventure, intrigue, murder, mystery and action - plus a healthy dose of boring everyday stuff. One continuous story-line, broken up into smaller themes for easier consumption.
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IamLEAM1983
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Re: Chapter VII - Healing Pains

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Miranda's video did contain a silver lining: Anjali wasn't alone. Coach had gone with her, frequently seen gesturing for the girl to stay a few steps back as the pair did their best to follow along with the pod of five besuited men. The young woman zoomed in on the group, keeping her voice as light as possible while still being audible out on the street.

"See it? See their Flesh Masks moving?
- Yep, I see it..." answered Silas in the sort of drawl he kept for moments that deserved caution. "You know what to look for, right? 'Cause I'm not seeing any obvious signs of Thralls around here, and I've got my head on a swivel...
- Travers' didn't have the usual cues," replied Anjali, "they were more subtle. The Loyalists aren't above poaching from the rebel cells, so who knows?"

The view cut to a parking lot that was near to where the first few moments had been shot, in a spot Miranda would recognize as being near the campus. It was a small distribution warehouse, typically used by the local supermarkets to stock produce and canned goods for a day or two before they'd see store shelves. Several days out of the week saw the place being effectively abandoned, safe for the easily-circumventable CCTV feed near the entrance and loading bays, and that the door had no external handle. It was more accessible than your usual cult hideout, and would look more to Aspasia like the sort of place you'd temporarily stake out to plan moves later down the line. Coach was seen stopping Anjali again.

"This is as far as we go, kiddo - neither of us are taking these guys on alone.
- I've been recording in spurts," the girl was heard replying, "we've already cased the place. We should get a little closer, try and establish numbers before-"

Silas didn't approve, but kept his voice down. "If one of these shellfish-looking idiots gets to me, Angie, you'll have bullets and Hellfire raining down your way - is that what you want? I've got a family to answer to. I agreed to take you this far, but we are not double-teaming these freaks, understand? If you did manage to reach Bagley, then they've already got a plan in the works. The Choosing's tomorrow, now is not the time to try and Harry Dresden a gaggle of megalomaniacs who lost their power source!"

Anjali looked a little shaken. "I- I know, I just thought-"

The lich sighed. "You did good to ask me to come with, kid; but they're here for Nereus. If your Dad and his friends leave town and scramble their trail in time, they'll gain days - maybe even weeks. More if there's some sort of way to really snuff out a Squid's trail without killing them. They'll make it work, I don't doubt that for a second."

Once this had passed, Nereus gave Charles a look that combined sympathy with a bit of unease after the slap, and then expounded on his concerns with Hanako. "That could work, but what kind of Veil could seriously make someone like me pass for a Malk? If you're arguing for some kind of wide-band alteration spell, I'm not sure I'll end up as the most physically agile member of your kin you'll have seen before, if you know what I mean."

Three pursed his lips together. "We've got options. I'll get in touch with Thorn, see if our old contacts still work, and then we'll see if there's ways of bypassing the Wilds, or of maybe making the crossing easier on us."

That said, Aidan shouldered his way past a few people in the group and headed for the open-plan offices. Vernon opted to respond to his daughter at that point, ponderously munching on a baby carrot as he did. "I've no Changeling of my own - not yet, at least - and the Choosing isn't set to be especially political, given the current circumstances."

Eirean seemed a bit more torn. "There's the baby, our need to look after our own Courts, and I'm obviously not thrilled about the prospect of leaving Alex alone so soon after transplanting her, but I also know Court relations are particularly fragile, following the War. After Gutierrez, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else made a move during the event - you apparently already discussed some concerns regarding Asian visitors."

Carrie nodded. "I'm going off of Angel Time, but yeah. They're worried about old bloodlines manifesting, now that Hell disturbed several warrens for old vampires that were formerly in Torpor. Asia, Russia, Indonesia - there's a ton of old faults that were reopened, old caves that were exposed. There's also some archeologists that are a little too eager for Gabriel's sake - they would've found indications that some Hyperborean tombs are still intact. If even one of the old Warlocks survived, even the Quetzalcoatl will've bargained for more than they can chew."

Melmoth grimaced. "That was all a little before my time, actually. How bad are we talking?"

Silva shrugged. "I'm not sure. What springs to mind is Robert E. Howard sendoffs, that window of time where most of the world was made up of roving bands of hunter-gatherers with only a handful of permanent settlements, Ural being one of them.
- So, Thulsa Doom, snake cults, Conan the Barbarian crap?
- Most sociologists don't like to admit it," the former commander continued, "but the world's always had magic. Or, well, almost always. Once the dragons seeded the world with it, the cat was out of the bag. We've had power-hungry practitioners since before the written word existed, and people wielding stone spears and bronze swords against them for almost as long."

Dejected silence followed for a few seconds, until Bucky landed an appropriate growl of "Crom..." A few peals of relieved laughter followed.

"Squids first, anyone who stirs up shit at the Choosing second, Gutierrez third, and whatever's brewing under the permafrost fourth," summarized Lucky, loud enough to be heard by everyone. "No reason to get all worked up trying to balance four plates at once - especially that last one. I've seen Ordo Dracul company execs work off of couldas and wouldas, and when you get that deep into potentials, you don't get shit done, punto."

In the meantime, Archie addressed Alex in slightly hushed tones. "You would be welcome to join us, of course, but I have no idea how comfortable you are with being separate from your Tree for prolonged periods of time. If this should be a problem, I hope your father has told you of Frosthall, which is in the exact same location as this mansion, if only one realm apart. The Gate was moved as part of our renovations - there is a panel of waiscoting on the second floor, on the right-hand wall, a few feet away from Bagley's office. It has no handle, but its magnetic latch catches and releases upon pressure. If you haven't reached the proper mindset, odds are you will find yourself staring at a door-shaped patch of drywall..."

Vernon offered Archie a reassuring smile. "Not to worry, Alastriona knows all there is to know about House Christmas. I made sure that it would snow over our little house in the Vanguard's Cradle at least once a year, and found ways of having gifts flown in from the space station."

He lightly gripped his daughter's hand. "Simply open this door while thinking of how happy Eirean and I were every December, and the way to my home should open effortlessly. If either of us aren't there, odds were local affairs are keeping us in our respective offices. You'll have to excuse your mother; she does have a hotel to tend to, after all. You can ask Mayhew for a ride, should you need to; he'll be delighted to meet you. He is one of the Wyldfae, a horse from our native lands."

Eirean smirked at that. "He's more likely to offer you a ride than to be your ride, though. The way he says it, it's hard to go back once you've gone for prehensile hands. I think I've been a bit of a bad influence, too - he's found ways of using some of our Crown tithes to build up something of a collection..."

Catching this, Tom quirked an eyebrow in amusement. "Hot-rodder, crotch rocket fan, or...?"

Eirean's eyes twinkled. "Vernon thinks automotive innovation stopped at his dark-blue Citroën, but Mayhew thought I needed a chariot worthy of my influential stature in the court... A few Oaths later, he'd spun up financing for a 2027 Aston-Martin DB9. Forest green, of course."

Scoffing, the Winter Lord rolled his eyes. "Balderdash, darling - everyone knows Mayhew's the one who appreciates precisely-machined engine couplings, you're just in it for the leather seats and the LCD window panels."
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Re: Chapter VII - Healing Pains

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Hanako scoffed lightly. "Nothing so difficult, Nereus. It's not commonly known, but Malks of a certain age can temporarily shift allies into a Malk form befitting of their physiques and demeanors, so making you appear as a Malk shouldn't be too much of an issue, should we decide that's the best option to get you all to London," she explained.

Matriel nodded in agreement. "While I'm technically Meris' guardian, that charge extends to you as well. Once the Almighty gave the Architect permission to use early cephalopods to make the Void Weavers, She assigned me to keep watch over your kind from afar. Once your relationship solidified as a known fact in the fabric of time, my ties to the both of you strengthened."

Meanwhile, Miranda watched the footage and sighed with relief that Coach was with Anjali, especially so when the young woman wanted to investigate further. She knew the Soulborn had an intense need to be a superhero and dangerously so, but was grateful when the lich gave her a reality check with the Void Weavers.

Once watched, she hurried over to Bucky to show him the video, as Archie was busy at the moment. "Anjali sent this video. Dad's with her, so they'll likely be back soon. They've at least gotten an idea of where their HQ is!"

Laughing at her parents' tell of car-loving Fae horse, Alastriona laughed and considered her options as she nodded in response to Venon's explanation of how to get to Frosthall. Smiling with fondness at those memories, she sighed with hesitation.

She looked back in the direction of her tree in the greenhouse, appearing as conflicted as her adopted mother. "It sounds fun and exciting to go somewhere new, but I'm leery of leaving the tree vulnerable. While I may not be a main target right now, leaving Hope after just arriving seems too risky in some ways. I honestly don't know if that would weaken me to a degree as well, as it's only starting to stretch its roots."

With her keen ears picking up on the nobles' dilemma, Hanako gave them a quick bow and stood. "It's ultimately your decision, of course, but I can go in your stead and keep you updated you on what I hear and see. As a knight, my oath extends to Eien-no-Yuki and Hope and am able to travel freely. We've already secured our invitations, so that won't be a problem," she stated, gesturing to Matriel and herself.
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Re: Chapter VII - Healing Pains

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"So... that's a no on fakin' a chopper 'splodey death?" Charles asked.

Watching the video, Marius had to scoff a bit. "They can't be all that skilled if a kid and a cowboy can tail them that long, running commentary and everything. Now, are they watching the skies or not?"
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Re: Chapter VII - Healing Pains

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The former Augur seemed a bit dubious, in regards to Hanako's suggestion. "Are you sure? They'd probably notice that something's different about me - something tells me fat Malks are a rarity," he noted, one hand pushing a few fingers into his own paunch. Catching the ball, Vernon nodded gratefully to the Malk woman. "As opposed to absent regional Lords, of course. I think I speak for the both of us if I say we would be honored if you could pass on our salutations to the King and Queen."

That seemed to relieve Eirean. "Yeah, that's probably for the best," she noted, placing a hand on Alex's shoulder. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the old Mayan Fae seized the same opportunity as our friend Hector. We're on speaking terms with Baron Pachacuti, but his constituents treat Mexico City's Faeside like it's another barrio - just their most heavily-guarded one.

Having watched the vid, Bucky clicked his tongue. "Nah, that ain't no HQ; it's more of an FOB, I'd say. Quickly scalable, easily torn down.. They'll carry out whatever it is they've got in mind and then vamoose. Considering how connected this country is, they don't even need somewhere close by to really call home. I wouldn't be surprised if they were cherry-picked by Chambers and schlepped off to the East Coast with a credit card, a keyring and a few prayers to their fucked-up gods. Small outfit like that - it means there's at least some sort of legitimate outfit Chambers wants to keep afloat. Plausible deniability."

Tom appeared thoughtful for a few moments, before speaking. "We can split up even further, cover the skies to try and divide our pursuers while another group heads through Faerie, but I wouldn't consider it until we're sure Chambers doesn't have some concrete means of following us."

Picking up on that, Nereus gestured uneasily. "We'd set up a number of moneymaking operations before christening Renewal - one of which was a private shuttle range. You might've heard of Meridian before."

Vernon nodded. "Yes, one of the first few shuttle operators to predate the Battle of Hope and to corner the market for then-freshly-adapted Karthian repulsor drive technology. I remember it went spectacularly bankrupt in 1997. Cult-directed self-immolation, I presume?"

Marinos nodded. "Yes, Christopher wanted to take our shuttles off the market, bury all callsigns - the brief period that saw us legitimately operate really only happened to move capital. It was all upholstered cabins and champagne trays, though - there isn't any sort of practical retrofit that could weaponize them, the engines are too old and to even get close to workable hardpoints would take the kind of voltage that wouldn't be safe to pull by even a kamikaze."

Carrie pursed her lips. "If you've moved capital, Chambers probably is sitting on enough money to buy Army surplus for a small squad or two. I'd have sold the shuttles for parts and created screen companies to buy one or two Warthogs - nothing fancy."

Archie scoffed at that. "Nothing fancy, she says, counting some of this country's most expensive ordnance as nouveau riche fodder."

Silva shrugged. "Hey, this is America, Holden. You want a decomish'd Tankbuster or a wreath's worth of NATO-spec hand grenades, just travel anywhere that doesn't vote as Blue as Hope does and tell your friendly neighbourhood hunting goods specialist that you're looking for surplus. They'll put a mile's worth of red tape between you and the thing, but once you've signed that last dotted line? How do you think I armed my guys, during the active resistance days? For close to nine months, the entire goddamn world was a gun launderer's paradise."

That made the android pout. "Alright - fair enough. Let's say our boy has one of these grotesque bits of engineering-based overcompensation. The Airborne team would only need to use a shuttle. Simple missiles don't typically fare especially well outside of the planet's atmosphere."

Lucky rolled his eyes at that. "What's a sniper do to hit a moving target, Holden?"

Archie looked like he could see Vargas' point coming and quietly sighed. "They lead their shot, of course."

The iguana gestured, as if nonverbally stating There you go and then elaborated. "I'm Chambers, pinche? I set up at a decent vantage point from the spaceport - somewhere uptown in Providence or maybe on the cliffs just off of the Bucks' mansion - somewhere with good elevation. I send one of my guys to spoof your tracking number, legitimately pull it up on the airline's site to get your destination, then calculate a vector from there. Going off of standard takeoff and landing procedures, I can do this in a few seconds flat. All I need's the right window, a maglev rifle and a depleted-uranium slug, a decent view on your angle even if I can't see you - and it's curtains. I nick the ion engine's fusion chamber, destabilize the coolant and bam, Hope gets a brand-new second sun for about forty-five seconds."

Archie blinked. "We were talking about Warthog helicopters, I believe.
- I'm saying any idiot could vector in on you at any altitude between ground-level and the higher-tolerance altitudes of standard rockets, you moron! Staying suborbital won't keep you safe if your friend has enough pull to actually pack something to total a defenseless shuttle in one hit."

Bucky nodded. "So it's Fae or bust, until we know for sure that going airborne wouldn't get us killed. Who could we pull on to get that kind of info?"

Smirking, Melmoth fished one of the abandoned champagne flutes for himself. "Well, I'm not much for bragging, but I am a small, neighbourhoodly, congenial and pretty damn likely approachable aspect of Greed. Say the word, and I can trace money like the world's best Curative mage traces veins before a blood draw. Chambers thinks he's the new hotness, but he's as covetous as the rest. Gimme the rest of the day and I'll put a few of Wolfram's guys on it. You'll have every single expense Chambers made in the past six months printed in nice and crispy triplicate."
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Re: Chapter VII - Healing Pains

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Marius turned to Preston and Gomez. "Hauser, you've got a pilot's license, right? And weren't you just bragging about having a Marine chopper that hadn't been decommissioned yet?"

"Well." Preston looked nervous, and scratched the back of his neck. "Sort of? AH-1W, phased out for AH-1Z, got in a firesale. Don't have any missiles though..."

"I'd bet we could come up with some between the lot of us," Marius countered confidently, and Charles nodded in agreement. "Just enough to make those cult freaks hesitate, right? Put one of us reality-warpers up there to bend their munitions away or turn them into confetti or some damn thing and we're fine!"

"Never flown under fire, though," Preston replied, though he didn't sound opposed to the idea.

"You've got to have someone in your little rat's nest of contacts who does. And if not, Jenkins and Jameson have combat experience in the sky, I'm sure."

"Tha's even assumin' we go skywards inna firs' place," Charles cautioned. "Oughter be fun if'n we do!"
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Re: Chapter VII - Healing Pains

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Hanako offered the Void Weaver a faint, lop-sided smile with just a bit of exposed sharp teeth. "Perhaps, but you and Meris pulled a ruse over an entire city for over a hundred years. I think you could play the part of a ravenous nekomata for however long the time would be to get from Japan to London," she replied dryly.

She then nodded to Eirean and Vernon. "Once we have an idea of who's traveling with whom and how, Matriel and I will head off for London," she said. "By the sounds of it, there's more than enough activity here to keep you on your toes without having to worry as much about upstarts from Morgana's Court in London."

Alastriona sighed in relief. "Thank you, Dame Urakawa," she responded.

As the discussions went on about using old-fashioned shuttles and Chambers' expenses, Meris listened and smiled in the Greed demon's direction. "Thank you, Melmoth. Whether we go through Faerie or by air, it sounds like we'll have our travel plans decided by later today."
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Re: Chapter VII - Healing Pains

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Hanako's choice of words made Nereus exchange a look with Meris - if he was ravenous, it probably was for peace and stability; he'd always been more of a bon vivant for everything else - but he did understand Dame Urakawa's logic, however.

"I suppose we could try it out, I'm just not really up to looking like a feline, honestly. The locals don't need a Belphegor callback."

Vernon shrugged. "We'll skip the obvious Garfield tabby pattern and the stereotypically Manx and Siamese types; globalization's changed Japan's Wyldfae as much as any other locale's," he explained, as he stepped closer. He undid his unbrella's handle as he did, exposing what was likely intended to be a short-range holdout or a hidden dagger, but instead began to loosely waggle its point forward, reaching out with his other hand to stabilize the former Augur.

"Not too much fur, there's not enough natural material on here to evoke the right texture, so..." he said, muttering as if the air between himself and the Void Weaver were a canvas of sorts. "I say we go Sphynx. Big, reddish-pink eyes, just a tiny bit of a more pronounced eyebrow ridge so you can sell Gubbin's unintentional haughtiness, a little more blood to your skin and more translucence..."

As he spoke, other features began to overlay themselves over Nereus' own, his natural traits fading from view. Nereus the Sphynx Malk, as it turned out, looked fairly irritated. "I bet I look ridiculous," he told Meris, even as his changed eyes, completely altered mouth and dainty fangs effectively sold his annoyance - as if he'd always been a Malk.

"I'd say you're spot-on," noted Three with a smirk. "You look like the type of Wyldfae I'd really pay attention to if I ran a restaurant. Oooh, I better get his fazole done straight, or else he'll shove bees in my mouth or make me sprout a donkey's tail!"

Nereus Malk's ears swiveled away from the gathering, a fang glinting as he spoke. "Cruelty isn't my style, Aidan. I can work the concept of an obsteperous food critic or a self-absorbed merchant, sure, but you'd have to pay me in thousands of years of guaranteed peace to get me to use the Speech to mimic the effects of an Oath."

Hearing this, Vernon exchanged a look between Meris and Bucky, before settling on Shamus. "How would you feel about looking like a Squid, mister Wallace?" he asked. The Clank replied with a few slight readjustments on his sword's grip and angled his mouth to suggest a pout.

"The old Two Jackets in a Crowd, hm?" he noted. "If I look like Nereus and it sort of looks like I get my ass kicked in the Far Reaches, then the spies are going to be passing faulty data around. We could plant Nereuses and Merises in every team, give at least two pursuers the illusion of a clean kill. They'll need weeks to suss out who went where and with whom."

Three nodded and glanced at Meris, waiting for her input. "This seems crazy enough to work," he noted, his grin somehow evoking cautiousness.
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Re: Chapter VII - Healing Pains

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"The idea definitely has potential," Meris agreed with a wide smile. "Since we're looking for additional doubles for myself and Nereus, would you be willing to play me, Neasa?" she asked.

The oldest of the McConmara siblings nodded. "I'm taller than you by about six inches, so the illusion should still work, I think?" she mused as she looked over at Vernon.

"It should, yes. You'd have to reel in some of your strength, of course," the Archmage reminded her.

Neasa nodded. "That's doable."
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Re: Chapter VII - Healing Pains

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Charles and Marius eyed each other up. "I think we're too tall to be Meris and too skinny to be Nereus," Marius noted, "and with Hauser behind the stick he couldn't play the part. Unless you did a stint with the Marine Corps back in the 80s, Milady?"

"How long would illusions have to hold up?" Preston asked. "Make chopper seem harmless. Find morons, draw in morons, blow up morons. Easy."

"An' what if they got more morons than they got shuttles?" Charles asked.

"Better make sure I got enough missiles," was the succinct reply. "Supply of morons, endless; supply of shuttles? Not so much. Would have heard."
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Re: Chapter VII - Healing Pains

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Bucky was silent for a few moments as he gave it some thought. "Let's just send one decoy team, then. We can't spare more, and we couldn't make every pair convincin' enough, so..."

Three nodded. "It's better than nothing, and it at least improves our HVTs odds of making it to London."

Nereus glanced at Meris. "The worst I could think of is Chambers' men assuming we'll have organized ourselves and simply delaying their strike, hoping they can keep us on-edge long enough."

Lucky couldn't restrain a snort at that. "We've been on-edge for close to a year, hombre. A few hours more is nothing."

That surprised Aidan. "You're coming with us? Gutierrez is your target, our business with London doesn't impact your own surveillance. You'd lose whatever windows of opportunity our leaving would give you."

The iguana shook his head. "If he ain't there, kiddo, he'll have sent someone. He's a dragon, hijo, and not one who's on good terms with Vienna. He needs to make in-roads with the Unseelie for leverage, after the war, and with whatever fractious Native American Wyldfae are still out for blood."

Archie was a bit puzzled. "I could surmise there was tension between you two, but Mister Gutierrez seemed like quite the gentleman. To seek an audience with some of Mab and Morgana's underlings, he would have to have committed felonies the likes of which I doubt my uncle would so much as tolerate."

Gomez grimaced lightly. "Eh, he's careful, is what I'd call him. Drug trade's not victimless, but he's older than folks like your Biggs guy. Mucho older. His influence trickles all the way down, so all Vienna has is several filing cabinets' worth of evidence that's uh, variably court-admissible. They won't turn him down if he shows up in Austria, but they also won't unfurl their red fuckin' carpet, like they did the last time you types rolled in."

The android nodded. "Ah. I see. Whereas Morgana's contingent would offer a listening ear - likely attached to pockets nearly as deep as his."

Three sighed. "Whoever's planned something, they'll keep it down for the cocktail after the Choosing, once the guests are expected to mingle. We can't stop everyone and anyone from networking or hobnobbing, but we can listen in, at least."
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