1.21 Gigawatts [IC]

[Cyroa]

Dark Star shook his head. "Then I'm sorry to say I won't be letting you go." He did look on curiously at Psyche's name though. "I could call her or Scarab. But you are most certainly not leaving here until we get some answers. Sorry," he said apologetically, not relaxing his grip for an instant. "Dear, could you get the phone? I'll keep this fellow company until our friends arrive."

[Electra]

"Who's Psyche?" Stesha asked curiously, but didn't really think it important enough to wait for an answer. "You're not going anywhere, buddy," she told their captured intruder. The plants rustled ominously in agreement. "But you're going to be sorry you decided on the hardass attitude. We're cupcakes compared to what Taylor and Jack are going to be like when their first date night is ruined by some punk stealing a superhero suit and traipsing around." Still cuddling the baby, she dug her cell phone out of her purse and handed it over to Dark Star. Since he certainly didn't need to use a phone to make a phone call, she assumed it was for effect.

[angrydurf]

Jack winced again, "Oh no no no." he said plaintively, "That's really not a good idea." he said looking around the room for some way out. This was just getting worse by the moment, "Alright listen," he offered, "I live nearby, I saw some suspicious stuff going on and decided to take a look." He explained hurriedly, "You clearly have it all well in hand so I'll just be going." he said with a jerk of his head towards the door. He hoped they'd be satisfied with that he really did just want to get out of there now. He had bigger issues to deal with than his fathers legendary paranoia.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star just looked on at the man he held. He blinked his glowing eyes. "...oh my goodness. I think I've finally met someone worse than myself at trying to lie. Are you serious? That was just sad. Stay honest son. Duplicity is not your strong suit. Which is a compliment really," he says as an aside. He floats the phone between Stesha and himself. "Last chance to come clean. Be honest. Honesty is the best policy you know. Otherwise...well, we've already said where this will be going. No need to elaborate I suppose."

[Electra]

"Man, if you can't fool Dark Star, you aren't going to fool anyone," Stesha told the intruder with affectionate exasperation. She'd sort of gotten used to her fiance's overly-trusting nature, but it still got him into trouble. "But this is ridiculous. Neighbors who live next door to a haunted house don't come over because they see something suspicious. And in the unlikely even that it happened, they probably wouldn't sneak in the upstairs bedroom and steal clothes as their first act. Let's see what's under that mask." Quick as a wink, one of the vines reached out to tug the hockey mask off the captured intruder.

[angrydurf]

So honesty really wasn't the best policy after all as it turned out, or at least not near honesty. As the vine snaked towards the mask he jerked back against the binding this was definitely not good. "Oh I really do have to be going." he said as the vine wrapped around the mask and just as stesha was about to pull it away he and it exploded into a cloud of mist though rather surprisingly at least to Jack was unable to break free of Darkstars hold.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star shook his head, still holding him tight. "I'm sorry. Perhaps you don't know who I am. My name is Dark Star. And I'm not letting you go. Ever. I do not tire. I do not sleep. I will not allow you to endanger anyone, let alone those I care for. Now, you have until the phone finishes dialing to explain yourself, fully and in detail, before this goes beyond us." Even as it floated there, it began to dial. The buttons pushed with the gentlest nudge of power.

[Electra]

"It's true," Stesha asserted, turning her body to protect the still-whimpering baby from whatever the misty malefactor would come up with next. "We can stay here all night, or until Jack and Taylor get here, which will be within about fifteen seconds of us saying "trespasser." For some reason, the intruder seemed especially nervous about facing those two, not that Stesha could exactly blame him, so she used leverage she had.

[angrydurf]

Jack coalesced into his normal form once more with a sigh murmuring, "Right forgot about that bit." his encounters with Darkstar were few and far between usually it was only Derrick that he had to interact with. "I'm sorry to say I really must go." he explained with a shrug and with that he vanished with a small pop of air rushing to fill the space he had been occupying.

Once in the void Jack made a quick series of jumps just in case he was followed before pausing to consider what to do next.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star scowled. "A teleporter of some kind as well. Great. Certainly not just a run of the mill vamp." He quickly finished dialing the number Taylor had left behind, using his powers to call the other one. He linked the two lines together. "Jack, Taylor. We're fine and the baby is fine. But we have a problem. Someone was just here. Like one of Jack's...relatives. And he was wearing Jack's...uniform. An old one. He looted it from upstairs. I grabbed him, he tried ghosting and went solid again. Then he vanished. Teleported or something very much like it." He paused. "I can try to force a kind of tracking on him but it was likely not my area of focus. Taylor needs to be here."

[Avenger Assembled]

"We're on our way," said Avenger, his voice dropping from Jack's casual ease to a flat, cold fury when Derrick explained what was going on. "Describe him to me. Did he identify himself? Say what faction he was from?" On the other end, Derrick could hear Jack urging Taylor to get a portal open, and something about finding his pants. "We'll be there in a second."

[Electra]

While Derrick called Jack and Taylor home, Stesha extended her senses through the plants on the property to try and sense any lingering trace of the intruder. She couldn't find anything, but that didn't necessarily mean no one was there. Very lightly, she rapped two knuckles on the glass face of the click. "Excuse me," she said politely. "Do you and your friends know if that person you warned us about is still sneaking around here?"

[alderwitch]

After a moment, the ghostly face from earlier - a young woman - peeked above the border of the mirror before floating more into view. She glanced around as if conferring and then shook her head slowly. She held up one finger to show she'd be back in a moment and vanished to go check herself with the graveyard ghosts. In a few moments, she was back in the mirror to shake her head again, this time much more firmly. In her hand, she held a bottle from the fridge and after a moment's hesitation, stuck her hand out from the mirror. It looked like the surface of the water, rippling as one ectoplasmic hand extended outward to offer the baby's bottle and the blanket from the floor.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star floated unmoving as he recalled what details he could to relay to Avenger. "He was dressed in one of your old outfits. I saw him upstairs putting it on. Thought it was you at first. But you know how my sights work. I deal in densities, gravities signatures, cosmic placement and vibrations. I couldn't describe his face or anything to you. But I guarantee that I come within a mile of him I could tell you which person out a thousand he is even if there's a building in my way. I just need to find and 'see' him."

[Electra]

Stesha was startled for a moment at the ghost's ability to handle physical objects, but she supposed it couldn't do much babywatching without at least some physical presence. "Thank you," she told the ghost, putting the blanket over her arm and taking the bottle. "I bet this is just what he needs to feel better." The bottle was warm and a little damp, like it had just come out of the warmer, so she carried it and Jack Junior back to the couch and gave him the bottle while she waited for his parents to return.

[alderwitch]

It took only seconds for a portal to open. There was the brief glimpse behind them of the Freedom City skyline before they both stepped through into their living room. The portal in space closed soundlessly behind them and Taylor glanced around the house, her eyes already glowing white as she reached out to tap the security network of the mansion and extend her own senses through it.

"Are you sure you're all alright?" Were her first worried words as she crossed to Stesha and leaned over to check on the sleepy baby as he sucked down a bottle. His little face lit up at the sight of his parents and he woke a bit to open those bright blue eyes and wave his clenched fists around excitedly. Despite her concern, Taylor smiled, "Hi, baby."

[Avenger Assembled]

Avenger stalked into the room like a tiger into a new cage, immediately heading straight for Derrick and Stesha, barely concealed fury blazing behind his eyes. "Tell me everything you saw," he said, carefully modulating his words so it didn't sound he was angry at them. And he wasn't; he was angry at the vampire who'd dared come on his family's land. "I know you can find him again, but I may find him first."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star shut both the phone off as well as he connection to the other as Taylor opened the gate. "A spirit of some kind knocked on the glass. She seemed agitated. I changed and looked through the house. There was man upstairs, putting on one of your older costumes. I thought it was you honestly but I should have known better. I lost him, much as I loose track of you," he said with a slight chuckle. Finding Avenger when he didn't want to be found was extremely difficult, even for Dark Star. He went on to describe finding the intruder again, adding in the mostly-useless physical description. "As I said, I could pinpoint his signature easily if I see him again. But he was dressed like you so I can't get you a facial description. The thing that concerns me is that he was able to do more than what you can do Jack. He teleported, or some variation of it. That implies a much higher level of skill, power or ability than a regular vampire. If you start searching, I should accompany you. Otherwise, unless he's still foolish enough to be still wearing your old outfit, making sure you have the right fellow could be difficult. "

[Electra]

"The ghosts told us there was someone sneaking around in the garden, and that he was getting into the house," Stesha confirmed. "They seemed to be very sure he was after the baby. But he never got close," she assured Taylor, offering her the baby even as he drank his bottle. "Derrick caught him as soon as he came downstairs, we're pretty sure, and he vanished out of the house and off the grounds, according to the ghost who lives in your clock. Which is weird," she added, looking to the clock and the big mirror as though expecting to see someone, "but handy, I guess."

[alderwitch]

"I'll go talk to Alice," Taylor said before Jack could ask, collecting her son into her arms. "She doesn't usually hide when its just us but they're all skittish around new people. Well, new living people. They'll be more friendly the next time you're over."

Taylor walked over to the clock and tilted her head to the side. The others would be able to see her lips move but the only sound that came out was the same whispery noises that the ghost girl made. The stronger of the spirits could manage the ectoplasmic oomph to communicate with the living but with how riled up they all were, Taylor figured that it would be easier just to toss off a quick speak to spirits spell. Her brow furrowed in confusion and she asked a few whispery questions for clarification before rejoining the group.

"Now that's strange," Taylor said as she rejoined the group, forgetting for a moment they hadn't heard the conversation with her musings, "Maybe some sort of doppelganger..."

She shook her head and elaborated, starting from the beginning, "Alice says they sensed the baby's mystic signature outside and upstairs while he was down here with Stesha and Dark Star. That's when she got concerned and brought the matter to everyone's attention. They claim they don't know who the man was but to all of their senses, he was duplicating Jack Jr.'s mystical footprints."

[Avenger Assembled]

"That son of a-" Avenger's hackles went up as he stalked the room, his big hands balled into fists at his sides, the vampire seeming the perfect accompaniment to a room full of the unquiet dead. "Put his hands on my son. MY SON!" He growled, then shook his head. "Yes, I know, you kept him safe, and I'm grateful, but if his power can reach him here, he can reach him anywhere. We need to find him." He snapped his fingers. "Taylor! Maybe he duped his own signature, but did he cover everything? His clothes? _My_ clothes?"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star 'floated' there, feeling a bit...touchy about the intruder himself. To come after a child like that. That was just wrong. He looked over at Taylor. "He tried stealing your son's essence or power? How is that even possible if he never came close," he said, concerned. He knew very little of the arcane side of things. He quickly brushed past that. "It doesn't matter. Can you track him down somehow with some mystic ritual?" Avenger was right. If she could track him down, this villain could be stopped and questioned before posing any more danger to the baby.

[Electra]

"He was really worried about the idea of seeing either of you," Stesha offered, drawing her feet up under her on the couch. "Derrick and I, we made him a little nervous, but he was really, really unhappy about the idea of encountering you guys. Which, you know, makes sense because it's your house and you're scary and all, but it seemed kind of different than that. Like he wasn't really worried about getting beat up, but even seeing you."

[alderwitch]

"Let me see..." Taylor said thoughtfully. She crossed back to Stesha, holding the baby out for her to take. When her hands were free, she started to lift them up as she spoke, "Even if he's duping the signature, I should be able to..."

Taylor broke off with a sharp cry, pulling her hands in as if she was burned. Uncurling her hands slowly, she looked down at the welts that had lacerated her palms even as her magic started to heal them. "...Feedback?"

Her chin firmed in determination and she waved everyone back a bit, "Tricky. Stand back, this is going to take a bit of brute force."

A year ago, had already been on of the more potent mystics in Prime. These days, if she wasn't within spitting distance of the Master Magus, it wasn't for lack of focus. Nobody, bar Eldrich himself, was going to deter her with some feedback. Thrusting her healing palms out towards the mirror, the glow of raw eldritch power surrounded her hands before burning into the mirror in a steady stream that turned its surface white hot. Taylor's eyes bled white first before turning to the star spangled black of the Void as she forced reality to bend to her formidable will. Slowly, almost reluctantly, the image of the costume thief filled the mirror, hazy, almost murky as he slipped in the window. Taylor pushed harder, forcing the scrying to slip back farther, to the figure lurking in the graveyard. With the faint sheen of persperation on her brow, Taylor gave one last mental shove and the image coalesed to his arrival in the city.

The shadows snapped into sudden and almost too vivid color of a pale young man, his long dark hair pulled back into a single tail. His eyes were a bright blue, startling with the Asian cast to his features. As he grimaced, the shadow of dimples flickered in his cheeks as he popped into existance suddenly, his expression disoriented and a little afraid.

[Avenger Assembled]

"You sonofa-" Avenger growled at the mirror, before belatedly remembering that it was a mirror and that the man there could not in fact hear him. Instead he glared uncomprehendingly at the face before him. "I have no idea who that is. He looks a little like Jackson," he said thoughtfully, "or maybe..." He blinked. "Is that bastard trying to steal his FACE too? He is! He's trying to make himself look like some kind of grown-up Jack Jr! I'm going to rip open his face and find the real one underneath!"