Bedside Manner (Open RP)

Dire , having cleared the doorway , found a moment to consider the disembodied spirit , clearly not a threat ..

" i am not strange , cant say for the otherone , but she is totally of her trolley , using some very unpleasent magic there , Daggers are never a good sign , i can tell you , from personal experiance .."

leaving the befuddled redcap behind Dire set off after the Woman..

For a few moments, Acid regarded Jase with one of those 'oh please' looks, then vanished with the characteristic clap of air collapsing into a suddenly appeared vacuum. He'd expected something like that. Okay, so not something like that - he'd expected some elaborate martial arts move, but the dispersive properties of the steps he'd taken to protect himself from that worked well enough against paralyzing enchantments.

Still, he hadn't much felt like having the congressman eaten by a shadow, so he'd teleported a few meters away, reappearing on the other side of Rosie in the same instant that he'd departed.

"I thought you said he was cool?" the Khelari remarked to her, though of course it was about then that someone else burst onto the scene with desire for the politician, causing the reptilian to give a sigh. It was always the same with these people. Give them a little power, and suddenly they think they're better than everyone else and can tell them what to do. Typical. Typical.

"Joy, you might wanna head out." he told the composite elemental, though that didn't mean he let his guard down against further would-be attempts to snatch the congressman, "I think I'm gonna have to teach some people how to say please..."

The liquid splashed on to the much exposed skin of the exotic ninja and soon after, he was sent into a fit of convulsions from the charge of the taser. Jase collapsed to the ground, unable to control his body.

Common ninja tactic: misdirection. For all intents and purposes, the child with the super soaker saw Jase go down but the trick caused him to believe he hit when it truly didn’t. ((Placate trick))

The lights tripped on in the hospital. As light travels faster than sound in usual circumstances, an audible murmur rippled out from each ward.

The figure of the Matron lay next to the slumbering men. They still hadn't woken up and the whiff of sulphur from Angela's magical device had dissipated.

To the casual observer, the building manager's office looked like a military waxworks museum - around the still and prone figures, now lit by harsh strip lighting, Balgair's men stood, doing things with military efficiency.

Nodding in satisfaction at a job presumably well done, Samwise waved Rick off further attempts to revive the unconscious men. They were in a hospital after all, no need to waste their resources on it.

"Any...uh...clues an' stuff?" he asked

Behind his night vision goggles, Ocnar rolled his eyes. He pointed to the shattered device the matron dropped. "She was holding that."

All the mercenaries took a few steps away from the shattered glass.

"Well...lets take it with us." Samwise said. This leading thing was *hard*! How did the boss do it?

Ocnar muttered something unpleasant under his breath, but patted down his pockets for a container of sorts. Finally, he gave up and pulled out a thick brown package universally recognized as a Meal Ready to Eat, or MRE. The thick vacuum sealed bag would work. Plucking a knife from his belt, he cut the bag open and stuffed the contents into his hip pocket.

Knuckles huffed, "Why do you always get the spaghetti ones Ocnar? You're Irish!"

Everyone ignored him.

Using a piece of paper he grabbed from the desk, the special ops merc swept up as much of the glass and contents as he could find, then folded the bag shut and sealed it with some black tape.

Giving the thumbs up to Samwise, Ocnar stepped out of the room, checking both directions with his assault rifle before giving the all clear sign.

Each soldier grabbed a man and Samwise picked up the matron. They slowly began working their way back to the stairs, able to move more quickly now that the lights were on.

Dire's voice was loud and harsh as she replied to the Woman ..

"No , killing is not the way , vengeance is a myth , a fools trap , you just become as them .."

Gathering her defences Dire flew to try to place herself between the Woman and the Congressman ...

" ..for him , death is to easy , let him see his fall from power , let him know his failure ..and the true cost of his deeds .."

Dire cast a quick glance , hoping the helpfull Spirit was still with her , and that the others would react as she was...

This time it was Acid who flashed the casual grin, though naturally in a much more toothy manner, "I'm an archvillain, my dear boy. It's what I do."

And as Jase drew the shuriken from his belt, the Khelari did the same with the fingers from his side.

...which was of course when a certain frigid femme fatale burst from the hospital doors, raging all the way to the moon and back.

The reptilian's eyes narrowed as he mumbled, "You know, I'm starting to get a good mind about the whole nuke the site from orbit deal. Fine. You know what? Fine."

Unwrapping his left arm form about the torso of the congressman, the reptilian dropped him roughly to the ground, a field of force strong enough to stand out visibly against the air forming about him in the process, placing the man in detention against the asphalt. At the same time, Acid snapped his fingers. And they came. From somewhere in the sky they came, on call and ready to serve.

The first were a trio of small mechanoids, spindly metal frames distending as they landed, shaping themselves into some grotesque knockoffs of the humanoid form, arranged before their master in a warding, obtuse triangle.

Bulwark.

The second were a duo of larger examples, their limbs more finely tuned for the tasks they performed, arcs of energy hovering between the antennae that jutted form their metal 'backpacks', seeming to carry the desire to leap upon anything those they belonged to disapproved of. One to the left, one to the right.

Keeper.

The last was a mechanical monstrosity, well over two meters tall and nearly as wide. Its crimson lenses shone most menacing of them all, slim and narrow, always shifting, always watching all that lay about with the cold, calculating stare of machine. Its bulk and prominent, active suite of destructive armament did nothing to assuage this notion, the mighty machine standing to the rear of its master, towering over even the tall and limber Khelari.

Force.

Meanwhile, the sizeable composite elemental seemed to be getting a few ideas of its own, stepping next to Jase with foreboding tone, even for the light, female voice that was Joy, "I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

Rosie considered this, a hand on her hip as she glanced up to the sky. Turning around, she regarded Ace and Jase. (lawl, Ace and Jase. <3)

"Okay, so...I'm half inclined to just give him to 'er." she said with a careless shrug. "But, Emry would absolutely kill me and I would be bound up in paperwork for eternity and a half. S'whaddawedo?"

Thinking, she counted on her fingers.

"OK, so he's going to go down for unauthorized soul trafficking at very least. Phe-Phe's shot people for less, but eh. His career is likely ruined, now, unless he gives some publicists some serious favors under the table. Plus, he's naked and getting pelted with cake by a nine-year-old."

Turning squarely to the frosty lady again, Rosie put her hands on her hips.

"Actually, I don't think we need your help to make him the most miserable jack*ss in the world."

The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit tugged on Rosie's sleeve.

"Um. I'm eight." He said politely. "And can't we all just stop fighting? It's not ok to fight unless we're fighting meanies. And by fighting we become meanies because we fight. And then other people have to fight us because we're meanies, and they become meanies, and then people have to fight them. It's such a vicious cycle." He paused, and gave the sky a contemplative look. "Except for monsters." He added. "They're just jerks. And fat men with piggie faces. And Cruella DeVille." He looked at the frosty lady.

"...But she looks enough like Cruella DeVille. Does this mean I can shoot her?" He grinned and tugged on Rosie's sleeve again, giving her googly chibi eyes. "PLEEEEASE?"

“You guys are something else,” Jase chuckled. “You don’t have caller ID on those police scanners of yours? Or do you answer any 261s that get broadcast?” he joked, sticking his tongue out through his wide grin.

“Besides,” came a voice from the open door of the hospital lobby, “some of us have jobs to do.” Stepping down the stairs was the boy from earlier in the basement although he was no longer injured and he happened to be carrying an ornate scythe that seemed to be made of some sort of obsidian metal, a peculiar material that only reflected light once you were looking right down the bladed curve of it.

Jase sighed disappointedly. “Uh oh. Guess my time is up,” he said with a frown and a wave goodbye. Just then, his skin began to turn an opaque black and his body got tall and skinny until he was a flat 2-D shape that zipped and flew across the ground and stopped at the boy’s feet.

Once whole, the figure of the boy faded into darkness to reveal Jase in his place, holding the large heavy looking scythe. “No more games, witch,” the shadow ninja scowled to Widow Frost, “say your prayers or whatever and make your peace because your end is at the edge of this scythe.” His face solemn and focused, Jase pointed the scythe in the direction of Rosalind, Acid and the Urban Fellow who were between the widow and the congressman. “You. Stand down. I’m through playing here.” Apparently, Jase wasn’t in the mood to feign good manners.

"Yeah, I think he's pretty miserable already." Acid couldn't help but give a light laugh at Rosie's remark, regarding the congressman with half a giggle, half a chuckle, "An' yeh, that's pretty much what's gonna happen to him once the SPC gets done. Right, Rosie?"

The Khelari didn't really react to Jase's shadow maneuver, the event (to him) more of an explanation than anything else. So that was why he couldn't quite place the little dude's scent. Now that he thought about it, it was obvious, really. Oh well. He was allowed a brain fart every now and then.

So now he had a decision to make, hmm? Dang. He hated being decisive in situations like this. It was always such a bother. On one hand yeah, the people that were the intended targets of killing here probably did deserve it. On the other...sigh...he really should do something about it, shouldn't he? Yeah...probably. Ugh. This was going to take effort; he just knew it.

Then again, perhaps he could appease his inherent laziness and minimize it.

"Pst." he whispered to the were-human, "You okay if we just let them beat the stuffing outta one another? We can always stop 'em once they've mashed one another silly, just before someone's about to get killed. Probably be easier too, rather than now..."

Seeing the growing chaotic crowd Dire headed skyward , in a steep climb , which turned into a great arc , bringing her back to earth a few feet behind the Congressman ...

Dire took note of the mixed bunch of powered creatures and readied her self for the next move ...

"Wait wait." Rosie said, waving her hand to Acid. She had a cell phone up to her ear.

"Emmy? Hi, it's me! How are you?"

"Why do you have to be so mean! Besides, this is work-related."

"Here's the situation. We've got a ST 3rd degree going down at the Bell and some lady wants to take out the perp herself 'cause he's done something to piss her off. Ace is here, and so is Jase, and a cute little 8-year old who has cake."

"Huh? The souls? Yeah we've got 'em, they're fine. So do I release him into her custody or what?"

"...Proper channels?"

"Uh-huh."

"Uh-huh."

"...Okay, got it! Loooooove yoouuuuuuu-- Gah! He hung up on me! Jerk."

With that, she flipped the phone closed.

"Looks like you've gotta go through the proper Soul Police channels if you want us to hand over this guy into your custody, Ice Queen." the were-human mentioned, folding her arms. "It's possible, but it's gonna take a lot more than an angry order. There are things we gotta do here, and the more high-profile the perp, the bigger the rigmarole to keep it out of the news."

She turned her gaze to Jase, her face not angry, but firm.

"And I totally understand you wanting to take her out, Partly Cloudy, but don't go ordering me around. Capisce?"

The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit went into a second-long diabetic seizure while Rosie talked before recovering without incident and bringing out a yo-yo. It was made of red plastic, with flashing rainbow lights that turned on and off when it was spun. He then proceeded to spin said yo-yo with considerable skill, apparently waiting for something to happen.

The cold air swirled around the woman - Widow Frost - but the Spirit's intervention made her falter. The temperature evened out to just below freezing. Her left hand remained skyward however and her face registered confusion.

Vengeance was supposed to be swift. The beings assembled before and all around were complicating things and her addled brain was finding it difficult to concentrate.

She sighed as some of her magical power was siphoned off to the spirit world: It translated as a soft moan in the wind.

As Dire touched down and the figure of the boy, reunited with his shadow, readied his weapon Widow Frost spoke, this time in her own voice and not through the air:

"Proper channels? Souls? He's taken more than one?"

A tear rolled down her cheek and froze into a tiny icicle.

"I knew he was corrupt. He was a jealous soul. He wanted me but I was so in love with..."

The congressman spoke, sensing an impending monologue in which he might appear in a light worse than the others had already guessed.

"Jacqueline - Jackie - you're sick. You need help. Why don't you give yourself up? These...people will understand. So will the authorities. You don't need to do this. I'm- I'm nobody to you. Not anymore."

The congressman's voice was soft, if a little oily. It wasn't particularly welcome, at least to Widow Frost.

"You can't help it, can you? Lies! Always lies!"

Her right fist clenched tight around the dagger. At the same time she dropped her left arm and tiny crystals of ice sprinkled on the sidewalk. The clouds that threatened a blizzard above her subsided.

Her features softened, "How can any of you be prepared to spare that man the fate he deserves? After what he's done to me? After he took the man I loved from me?"

Widow Frost began to cry.

"Oh, honey, we're not going to SPARE him." Rosie said cheerfully, wagging her tail behind her. "Once he's found guilty of soul trafficking in the third degree, oohohohoho, is he going to be in trouble."

She motioned to the dog collar that hung around her neck, and held up the second tag, a shiny silver badge.

"I'm Rosalind of the Dread Trio, Soul Police Chapter. If he's mucking around in the supernatural, it's our job to take him down."

When Widow Frost started crying, Rosie's tail lowered and she fretted sympathetically. "Ah, don't cry! Don't worry! You can come with us if you want to. You've got a rock-solid case against this guy it sounds like, and Emry's a big fan of efficiency so he might just hand him over after hearing the evidence. C'moooooon."

With that, and a burst of smoke, Rosie moved into border collie form and trotted over to Widow Frost.

"Pet me if you wanna, it lowers blood pressure and stuff."

She looked at Widow frost and landed her form solidifying to appear almost alive. thought whited out her Gothic style outfit was still gray instead of black her skin was so pale to be one shade off from white.

"Fate he deserves? You mean like mine to be a mere whisper of who I was? Alright I have killed someone much like him before. So I let you if you can tell me two things. One can you be sure killing him will finish it? Given what these heroes said he has collected souls perhaps he has a deal with a demon or two can you be sure his death will end it."

"Second is this you heard just like I did that he has collected souls. Are you going to let them suffer? Only he knows how he has taken them and how to free them. Perhaps one of those is the soul of your lost love. Are you willing to take that risk just so you can enjoy your vengeance?"

Mystic Ghost crossed her arms and tapped her foot waiting for Widow Frost answers.

((Mystic Ghost aka Talia Maier history is this. She was a girlfriend of a Skull and was caught up in that brutal lifestyle. One day she joined her boyfriend on a bank heist. During the robbery a child started crying her boyfriend turned to shoot the young girl and Talia jumped in the way getting shot instead she returned fire and killed her boyfriend. She died soon after watching him die.))

“ Soul Stealer ! “ the words screamed from Dire’s lips , her whole form went rigid ..the blood splats covering her turned deeper red , the sweet sickly odour of fresh blood filled the air ..

Around her the dark ness deepened , her face became a twisted mask of hate ..

“ No , no death for him ..he shall be reduced forever , let him taste his own curse ..,let him Know ! “
Dire drew back her right arm , a crystal spine , oozing magical venoms ,grew from her hand ..the arm swings down launching the spine at the Congressman ..

Acid sneered at the congressman with a baleful, sideways glare, remarking to him in a very cold tone, "You: quiet. Otherwise I make that thing airtight."

Indeed, it was well within his capability, and he and to admit that watching the guy squirm and turn purple would be amusing. Still, he didn't do it. At least not yet. Verily, outwardly he didn't seem to be doing much of anything, even as Dire landed in the middle of his robotic entourage. True, he had half a mind to put up another force bubble, but he figured if things resolved now - which did seem to be happening - it was worth the invasion of his personal space.

Well...until a certain spine shattered against his detention field, that was.

"Seriously?" he regarded the blood-spattered woman with a mix of displeasure and disappointment, "I mean...seriously? You're really lucky I'm feeling generous right now, or I'd tell the big guy here to just blow your head off."

The assault bot standing next to Dire turned its head and looked down at her as if to affirm that.

"Now please behave." the Khelari added, indicating Rosie by pointing the tip of his tail in her direction, "She's very right. He's gonna get his. And then some. So just chill, okay? the situation's resolved. Just let it be..."

Getting a tad flustered, Jase withdrew his scythe with a spin and let it come to rest on his shoulder. “You people are too much,” he growled. Listening to their circumstances just made him all the more aloof to emotion. “Who really gets recompense for showing pity to either of them? Superiority complex? Some loaded sense of justice? You should recognize a sinking ship when you see it.”

With a heavy swing, Jase stabbed the pointed tip of his scythe into the pavement, long enough to free his hands. “…well, I’ll just speed up this whole situation a bit.” He began playing a game of cat’s cradle with, what would presumably be a string of pure blackness. As he dexterously spun the strand through his fingers, his black weave began to get more complex and expansive. After a moment, he sat with his legs folded, still weaving the string. There was an obvious look of frustration as he eyed the pattern, “..come on,” he sighed, apparently having some difficulty.

Dire simple stepped closer to the Congressman , from the dark swirls around her long strands of magic swept out to coil around the Congressman ....

Dire's voice had become deep and dangerous .." we can wait .." drawing more magic to her , a new cloak of a dark shade that hung ready ..a surgestion of what she might do ..the air became heavy , and even the metalllic robots could pick up the taste of the promise of fears unleashable ....

" take your best shot , tinman ...i hope you know where to aim .."

Dire's magic tentacles could curl around the congressman all they wanted to - they still couldn't reach him. Acid's detention field was still up, and it wasn't going anywhere until he decided otherwise. Logically, the chances of him doing so while someone was actively trying to kill the guy were categorically low.

"Oy." the reptilian grumbled, somehow resisting the nearly insurmountable urge to facepalm. This really wasn't going where he wanted it to - and not just with the blood-soaked gal.

He looked to Joy, wondering if he should ask her to try and possess the spastic woman, then to the assault bot, playing with the thought of having it give her a hug and not letting go until this was resolved. In the end, he decided against it. The detention field prevented her from affecting the congressman, and with her present approach she wouldn't be getting through it, so what was there really to be concerned about? Okay, so maybe she'd cause trouble when Rosie got around to taking the guy in, but perhaps the were-human could talk her down as well.

Either way, it was worth a shot. The detention field wasn't going anywhere, and though the Khelari made preparations for it, he somewhat doubted she'd realize he was the force keeping the barrier in existence and attack him.

If not...well, then he'd just have to expand the force bubble again and go from there...

All sorts of emotions flickered across Widow Frost's face.

"But if you take him in then what will become of me?"

Her voice sounded younger now and a lot more unsure than when she had burst forth from the hospital ready to rain down ice on everything in her way.

"If it weren't for him then this may have never happened to me."

She indicated her pale skin and the remnants of ice clinging to her. Then she glanced at Dire, trying in vain to break through Acid's impenetrable forcefield.

"You said vengeance was pointless - that it was empty and had no use. Where does all that anger and hatred go when it's been spent?"

The congressman ceased his attempts to placate Widow Frost. Although, in truth, he had hoped she would go ape anyway and distract his current captors. His addled brain searched for another way to extract himself from the situation. Maybe a spell? No use without that damned pendant. So he found himself babbling half-remembered sermons from his youth and snippets of bible quotes. At this stage he figured he should try and make peace with anyone or anything that might save him from Rosalind's future investigations.

Widow Frost relaxed her grip on the dagger she held. Then she let it fall to the ground. It clattered and sparked a little but otherwise presented no further use to her without her having to stoop down and pick it up.

Something within her was nagging her to give herself up now. Perhaps it was Rosie's kind words or seeing the congressman helpless, like a drowned rat, trying to make peace with a force which he had clearly foresaken some time ago. It may even have been the Spirit's intervention, siphoning some of her power and along with it her cold ire.

Of course, in this crisis of conscience, she didn't spot the real figure of Jase behind her: Her figure was prone to any kind of attack.

Surely no-one here would be as cruel to strike her down in such a vulnerable state?

The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit dashed forward the moment the dagger clattered to the ground, scooping it up and ninja-leaping away in a single moment.

"ITEM GET!" He shouted, holding the dagger aloft in one hand like a certain popular video game character. "DUH DUH DUH DUH!"