ic Never Did Run Smooth

[Avenger Assembled]

December 7, 2013

Kingston

Midnight

 

"Fullæstum! Cwæ, fullæstum mec!" The cry was coming from a deserted stretch of half-grown forest near a recent development as Cobalt Templar and Stronghold flew overhead, and as the ring-bearing sentinels flew low they soon found the source of the cry - a young woman about Corbin's apparent age, with long black hair cascading down her back and nearly chalk-white skin. Her clothes were a mess, a torn and slashed fast-food worker's uniform exposing half-healed wounds beneath as if she'd been attacked by a wild animal. Her eyes were the most striking; one an almost brilliant blue, the other a deep shade of purest black. When she caught sight of the descending heroes, she ran towards them, her eyes wide and her voice a scream. "Ellefnee, brega! Ic wédenheortu!" 

 

- 

 

December 7, 2013 

Lincoln 

1 AM

 

Temperance was on patrol when the giant landed on the roof opposite her - there was no other way to describe the man-shaped, eagle-headed and magnificently-winged creature that towered at least twice her father's height as it pointed a taloned fist at her and spoke. The words were chilling like a winter squall, cold and wet as they slapped against her skin, the giant's voice like an avian shriek in an alien tongue. "Drýicge, for anlécas, ærfæder - Cume æt mec, or ic ábær ðu!" It shouted the words again, shaking those mighty wings, as it came closer and closer. Up close, she could feel the celestial chill that rose from those great wings, and see the ice that rimed the massive feathers - it was reaching for her, all right, as if planning to scoop her up into the night sky from which it had soundlessly come! 

[horngeek]

Stronghold

 

Stronghold was flying next to Templar (and having rings flown around her), when she saw the woman.  And heard the screaming in...

 

She pulled to a stop, starting to descend to the ground.  "Sir, do you know what she's saying?  I... kinda suck at most languages."  She was still a bit awkward around the older superhero- it always took her time to become comfortable around new people.  Still, there were more pressing matters at the moment. 

 

The young superhero set down on the ground, looking around as her ring stopped glowing, before starting to walk towards the woman, smiling with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. 

Edited November 29, 2013 by horngeek

[KnightDisciple]

It had been such a quiet, productive night, too. Corbin had barely communicated with the young woman who'd taken up the Orange Ring, and so he'd been definitely willing to help her with flight and maneuvering lessons. She had to grow into the specifics of her powers herself, but moving around in three dimensions was pretty universal. At least, considering their similar modes of flight.

 

And then a woman who looked half-dead ran out screaming in a language he didn't understand, and Stronghold was already moving toward her.

 

He landed not far from where she had. He took a few steps closer, his own face neutral.

 

"No, I don't recognize it. Let me try a couple things."

 

He proceeded to try variations on "Hello I am Cobalt Templar, I wish to help, do you understand me?" in most of the languages he knew.

[Avenger Assembled]

The young woman stared at Cobalt Templar for a long moment, then shouted, "Fleardum! Loðrungum! Uncer wédenheortu!" before turning to Stronghold, who evidently looked like a more familiar face. She shouted "Fullæstum! Cwæ!" again, and when she saw the same lack of understanding, her white face crumpled. She looked down at her hands and seemed to find them terribly alarming, thrusting them in the heroes' faces as she yelled, "Hwa me Ã¡lamp! Mec ferðeas!" All the shouting and superheroing had attracted the attention of the local cops, and a black and white cruiser with its lights flashing pulled up at the edge of the little park. At the sight of the cops, the young woman yelled in perfect English with a distinct Freedom City accent "Cops!" before turning and running towards the cruiser.

[horngeek]

Stronghold blinked at the yelling, frowning in sympathy.  As the police cruiser pulled up, the young woman smiled... before blinking in shock as the woman yelled in English.  "Wait what."

 

Her head turned towards Cobalt Templar as she followed his lead, starting to voice her train of thought.  "I think there might be... something going on.  I mean, she didn't understand English or any of the languages you tried, but that was just English.  Unless 'Cops' is the same word in whatever she's speaking, of course, or... there isn't a word in the language she's speaking.  Maybe it's a dead language, or she's speaking an old version of a language today.  If that's true, then she's probably being mentally affected somehow, maybe something's taken her over- no, that can't be right, they wouldn't know slang for cops then..."

[trollthumper]

Well. This was a hell of a thing. 

 

Temperance tried to take in the great frost-eagle-giant thing before her, making some sort of effort to place it. The entity wasn't pinging her spiritual radar, so either it was some really honked up form of alien, or it came from another mystical realm. There was enough otherness to it that it might be one of those "children of Avalon" her dad didn't like to talk about... or, it could be an order higher than that, one of the gods who stood above the affairs of spirits. In any case, she figured diplomacy might work first. 

 

That was, before it made a swipe towards her. She quickly took in the beast - she could feel the damp current rising off of it, and was considering giving it a little "icing problem" before she realized the feathers were already rimed. She dodged the talons and willed some water out of her Camelback, forming it into icy pellets. If it was going to come to blood, she'd give what fight she could. But she didn't exactly feel comfortable flinging icy pellets at a possible god whose very form ran through with frost...

[KnightDisciple]

"Not important. She's in trouble and distressed, we have to help her."

 

Templar's voice cut through Stronghold's slight ramble, even as he moved to keep up with the woman.

 

"Ma'am, we can't understand you. Please ma'am, calm down."

 

He didn't fly, but he easily kept pace with her. As they neared the cruiser, he raised both hands in a combination of greeting and "I come in peace". When you're a big guy in big armor, sometimes you have to go the extra mile to not freak out the fuzz. 

 

"Officers, this woman needs help. Definitely an ambulance, and we're going to need someone who either speaks a lot of languages, or has a translation power."

[Avenger Assembled]

The police took the still-incomprehensible woman away, bringing the heroes along to get their story and so they could offer what aid they could in this grim situation. In the back of the cruiser, she continued to speak in that incomprehensible language, proving even unable to write in anything other than a florid script that reminded Corbin of Iron Age northern European woodcuts he'd seen: the only thing that came through clearly were occasional clear words like "cops" and "superheroes" and "pizza!" when they went by a neighborhood pizza joint. Kingston Police Sub-Station #8 wasn't exactly equipped to deal with superheroes, but they did have the resources to fingerprint the patchwork-looking young woman. The two superheroes in the small police station attracted a lot of attention; even in hero-rich Freedom City, there wasn't much call for their work out in the suburbs.

 

But the officers were professional, especially with a subdued kidnapping victim in their company. Officer George Peterson, the officer who'd escorted them in, a mustachioed man in his mid-forties, looked up in surprise as the computer beeped. "Tonya? Tonya Morris?" Their victim looked up and exclaimed "Géa! Mec!" before launching into another stream of incomprehensible words. While a kindly older female officer took Tonya aside for some coffee and to contact her family on her behalf, Peterson took the two heroes aside to explain the situation. 

 

"Tonya Morris disappeared just after her shift at the Bayview Five Guys last night. If her parents hadn't called it in right away, we might not be looking yet, but we take MP seriously in Freedom City. She's nineteen, going to school at Freedom CC, never been in trouble with the law." He laid a thin file on the station's desk, then looked at Stronghold and Cobalt Templar before saying, "Tonya Morris is a native English speaker who I bet doesn't know a word of...whatever that is. And there's another thing..." He held up a picture of what looked like a high school graduation. The girl in the picture with her bright blue eyes, kinky black hair, and mahogany skin looked almost nothing like the girl they'd found in the woods - it took a close examination to reveal the identical facial features under the off-color eye, the lengthened hair, and the skin bleached chalk-white. 

 

"Look, you two are the heroes," he was starting to say, "If that's some kind of Grue in there, or a space robot, I need to get my people out so you can take this lady down..." 

[Avenger Assembled]

Across town 

Not long after midnight

 

By after midnight in the Cline household, Holly was long since in bed, and her parents, who were no spring chickens themselves, were in bed as well and winding down with the promise of work in the morning. Despite Richard's speed, Paige was the one who picked up the smartphone first - after all, she was reaching for it even before it started ringing. He looked up from his Book as the conversation began. "Paige Cline? Hello, this is the Freedom City Police Department. We need a psychic's services for an investigation in Kingston as soon as possible and yours is the first name on our contact list. Are you available?" Knowing he had all the time in the world, Richard went back to the book. The light of Corvus, known as Gienah or Gamma Corvi, will cleanse ungodly lies and deceit from the world, but must be summoned carefully lest it cast a terrible thirst on all who burn beneath the Light of Truth...

[Electra]

Paige stifled a yawn as she listened to the voice on the phone, "Wow, you really keep your directory information up to date, huh?" she murmured. It was good public relations, as well as good in general, to be on affable terms with the local police. Back in LA, they'd kept their number on file with the department in case of emergencies, but in five years, they'd only been called upon three times. She should've realized that doing the same thing in Freedom City would be likely to have very different results. "What sort of services do you need?" 

 

They didn't give her much information over the phone, but the gist of it seemed to be a young woman whose language no one could understand. That didn't seem like too big a problem, she hoped. With any luck, she could still be home in time to get some sleep before Holly went to school. "Yes, I'm available," she told the officer on the line. "I'll be just a few minutes." Hanging up the phone, she rolled out of bed. "Get dressed, darling," she told Richard with a wry grin. "I need a ride." 

[horngeek]

At the policeman's statement, Stronghold looked at Cobalt Templar, worried.  "...if you think it's best, I can... probably pull up some restraints for her, but... well... she seemed confused more than anything."

 

She frowned.  "She's the victim in this.  And... it looks like she's the same person, I mean look at the photo- really look at it past the colors, and her face is the same.  If this was a robot or a Grue, she'd either look like one or we wouldn't be able to tell.  And all the words she's used since then, the English words- they're modern ones.  Her being an infiltrator doesn't fit at all.  And she needs our help.  As soon as we figure out how to communicate with her... um."

 

The young heroine bit her lip, thinking.  "And find out what happened to her, stop it happening again, and help her."  She looked up, her expression determined. 

[trollthumper]

Temperance locked eyes with the giant of ice, who was clearly failing to yield to the assault of frozen projectiles. "All right," she said, "I don't think you can understand this, otherwise you might have led with it, but I figure I've gotta take my chances. So, I would like it very much if you expressed your concerns clearly, and did not take a random swing at me for no good reason --"

 

The ice giant stepped forward again, with intent that was more likely than not malicious. "Or we can do it this way." Ice poured out from her hands again, but instead of forming into missiles, it shifted into a shimmering curtain, quickly wrapping around the giant before sealing shut. That frosty wall held it in place, but hopefully it would last the thing's barrages until she could reach some sort of terms with it. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"On it, babe," said Richard with a grin. He was dressed, complete with costume and leather jacket, faster than the eye could see - and with a little help from him, Paige herself was in costume before a woman who wasn't married to a speedster could have gotten out of bed. He took the eyeblink time to actually get the story from her mentally before they left the house, having long since learned the problems with rushing off into danger without proper communication. Geez, poor kid. Maybe we're lucky and the doughnut squad out there doesn't know Spanish when they hear it or something...For all Richard's feelings about the police, though, he was pretty sure that wasn't the case.

 

With the conversation done, he took Paige's hand and stepped outside, and together, as they'd been doing for over twenty years now, Fast-Forward and Hologram ran. It was a second's run across the Narrows to Kingston, only taking that long because Fast-Forward needed to briefly pause to make sure his memory of Freedom City geography was up-to-date: a lot of Kingston had been built up again after 1993! Smooth glass water under their feet, a brief suggestion of small houses and suburban streets, and they were at the front door of the police station. 

He pecked her on the cheek and said, "Just get me when you need me, and I'll be back here. Love you!" And with that he was gone again into the Freedom City night, with only Paige's connection to his mind letting her follow the now-impossibly fast trip back across the river. 

[KnightDisciple]

"She's not a Grue or a robot. I've fought the latter, and I know enough about the former to be pretty confident on the matter. If she was some sort of infiltrator she's doing an incredibly poor job of it. 

 

No, something else is going on. Maybe if we can get someone to help translate, directly or indirectly, we'll know more. If we can figure out where she was taken, that will give us a direction to take. Something was done to her."

 

He sighed, crossing his arms as he looked thoughtful.

 

"Probably magic. It seems like a magic kind of thing."

[Avenger Assembled]

Officer Nancy Lee was waiting for Paige when she walked in, an older woman with a concerned look on her face. "Come in, Mrs. Cline, I'll show you to our victim. Or do you prefer Hologram while in costume?" she asked neutrally. Most superheroes just went by name, of course, but most superheroes weren't ex-villains with their name in the police rolodex. "We have a suspected kidnapping victim who may have been...altered against her will, brought in by Cobalt Templar and Stronghold." She led the way into the 'waiting room' where Tonya Morris was waiting for them, looking miserable as she wrote frantically with pen and paper in a language neither of the women spoke. 

 

She looked up at Paige and her escort and said, "Hwæne?" 

 

"I've tried to tell her that her mother's on the way," offered Lee, "but she can't understand me, and she can't make herself understood." 

 

"Ah, our expert's here," said Peterson, pointing as Tonya's escort ushered a familiar face into the conference room that held Tonya Morris - in her black costume, silver belt, and familiar holographic symbol, everyone knew Hologram, psychic host of popular Discovery Channel show Supercrime! With his knowledge of history, Cobalt Templar knew the TV host was a former villain, now on the side of the angels. 

[Electra]

"Hologram is fine," Paige told the officer politely. "It just keeps things easier." Policing in Freedom City had changed a great deal from the bad old days, but as always Paige had to tamp down the momentary impulse to work up an illusion and scamper out the door. Old habits, she supposed. At least Richard had gone back home to be with Holly; he was much worse about dealing with authority than Paige was. "Do you know anything about her, or how long she's been gone?" 

 

She listened carefully to the officer's explanations as the walked through the station and into the waiting room. There were already a couple of heroes present, Cobalt Templar and Stronghold, she remembered Lee saying. Youngsters both, nobody she'd have met before. She smiled at both of them before turning her attention to the girl. "Tonya," she said gently, sitting down across from the girl. "My name is Hologram. I'm here to help you talk to us. I'm not going to do anything to hurt you, all right?" 

[horngeek]

Stronghold blinked as Hologram entered the room.  Was it... right, it was the host of SuperCrime!  Man, she'd watched that show quite a bit when she was younger.  Might have influenced her quite a bit later on, actually.  Seeing how a lot of the superheroes really worked...

 

Anyway.  She smiled back at Hologram, before settling down to watch silently.  She really, really hoped this would work.  Well, it probably would, Hologram knew what she was doing, right?  The police wouldn't have asked her to help if she couldn't help, anyway. 

 

She sighed, looking at Templar.  "Hate feeling like I can't do anything in a situation like this."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Genóge! þu betulde mec! Ic þæs huntunga edgrówunga!" With a mighty effort, the giant strained its tremendous muscles and shattered Temperance's icy barricade. But it made no effort to approach her or resume their dance; instead it flew into the sky with a bellowing roar and heave of its mighty wings, rapidly evading the hydrokinetic as it flew above the roof - and promptly vanished in a rush of wind so icy cold that frosty vapors rose from the space it had departed like a cartoon smoke outline. Temperance was alone, and the monster was gone. 

 

- 

 

"Ic náhtu acnéow," said Tonya, sorrowfully shaking her head, but she didn't resist or pull away as Paige sat down opposite her and began probing her mind. While the psychic did her work, Officer Petersen put down his police phone and turned to Cobalt Templar and Stronghold with a look of sharp professional concern on his face. 

 

"Tonya Morris' appearance matches that of a Jane Doe discovered two nights ago in Wharton State Forest. Black hair down to the waist, blue eyes, and looked like some big animal had been at her before she died. State police think she was a runaway from Manhattan or Newark. No ID yet, either nobody put her in the system...or after she got changed, they couldn't make an ID."

[Electra]

Hologram folded her hands on the table in front of her and closed her eyes, a peaceful expression settling over her face as she prepared to search the lost girl's mind. She was quiet for a moment, then sucked in a quick breath as though startled by something she saw. Her eyes flickered as though she were dreaming, and her fingers twitched even though they were folded. Another minute of quiet, then suddenly she cried out in pain, her eyes flying open. "Unferth!" 

 

She leaned forward and massaged her own temples for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "She's definitely Tonya Morris," she reported to the police and gathered heroes. "She was kidnapped by Unferth and Medea. They...hurt her, took her somewhere." Hologram was tentative now, describing images she didn't entirely understand. "I see her in a house, some kind of medieval hut, thatched roof and animals skins. Interior decoration by Alighieri. She has some kind of ritual knife and she's chanting, but she doesn't understand what she's saying, so I don't either. That's strange. Something wrong with the memory." She cracked a faint smile. "Beyond the obvious." 

 

Hologram raised her head, looking a bit more composed as she continued. "I see Unferth again, laying on the floor in front of her, asleep or dead. He sinks into the earth as she chants, and the grief..." Her voice caught for a moment. "The grief is horrible, overwhelming. Like she's losing family. Then she's picking up the knife, holding it over herself, and I lose the memory." She took a deep breath. "When she comes back, she's in the forest, and she cries for help, and you come to her, but no one understands her, and she can't understand anyone. Medea did something to her mind." 

 

Cautiously, with a reassuring smile for the girl, Hologram reached across the table and traced her fingers lightly over the girl's forehead, once, twice, three times. "Tonya, honey, can you understand me now? Can you talk to us?" 

Edited December 2, 2013 by Electra

[trollthumper]

And that was a thing that happened. In fact, it had happened so swiftly and with such conclusion that Temperance was trying to figure out whether or not she's snapped. 

 

No, no. There was still the hanging chill in the air - well, one that wasn't coming from her at least - and a scent that she could best describe as "wet, frozen feathers" drifting through the night breeze. That thing had certainly been here, and then it had vanished just as suddenly. Perhaps it had vanished into another realm, or gone backstage. 

 

But wherever it went, it did leave a very distinctive scent. That was something she could start with. She looked down to the street below - sure enough, there was a dog spirit rooting around in one of the dumpsters. She reached into her jacket pocket, pulled out a Milk Bone, and dangled it over the roof. The spirit climbed the walls - hardly flagging as it did - to get up and snap the biscuit from her fingers. 

 

"Now," she said, "I need a favor." She pointed to the patch of air where the creature's scent still hung thick. "Think you can find that?"

 

"Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!"

 

The dog spirit took off at full speed, and Temperance tried her best to keep up. 

[KnightDisciple]

"Feeling helpless despite all your power is unfortunately common in this line of work. You never fully get used to it."
 
His face displayed a bit of sadness when Officer Petersen reported the dead Jane Doe. Though it sounded like the cause of death wasn't some internal disease, which meant maybe he could punch it in the face.
 
Then Hologram revealed it was Medea who was behind a lot of this. As Hologram described more, he went from "a bit of surprise followed by attempts to be stoic" to "something is going to burn". 
 
"هذا الخنزير المحبة امرأة!"

 

The large hero took several steps back from the open door into the next room and began pacing, which was quite a thing with a man his size. 

 

"Ella no ha causado suficiente sufrimiento y miseria en este mundo ya?"

 

He is clearly talking to himself. 

 

...Ranting, really.

 

"Assez mauvais elle a mis ce fou Stratos lâche sur une banque complète d'innocents!"

 

Definitely ranting. He's not yelling, though; it's somewhere between "mutter to self" and "normal speech" in volume.

 

"Medea wird den Tag, als sie dachte, diese Art von Leiden verursachen bereuen! Ich werde die Furcht vor Gott in ihr zu platzieren! Ich werde sie zu brechen!"

Edited December 3, 2013 by KnightDisciple

[horngeek]

Stronghold nodded as Cobalt Templar's words... frowned at the revelations of the death... and at the revelation of the identities of the supervillains behind this, her eyes widened slightly.  "Wait, Medea as in-"

 

Then Cobalt Templar began ranting.  In foreign languages, sure, but she could guess that none of it was... polite.  Something that sounded like 'misery', She was fairly certain that the name of Dr. Stratos was dropped in there, and Medea was name-dropped near the end.  Another time, Stronghold would have been impressed at her... mentor?  Sponsor?  At Cobalt Templar's wide linguistic range...

 

But now... "Uh, sir?  SIR!"

 

Once Stronghold had Cobalt's attention, she continued.  "You've encountered Medea before?  Um... is there any particular way she operates?  Anything that might help us here?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yes, I think so, I...oh!" Tonya looked in surprise in Cobalt Templar's direction, bicolor eyes widening, before she looked back at Hologram and laughed nervously. "I can...I can understand English again!" She looked down at a discarded Time magazine and grabbed it ecstatically. "And read! Oh my lord, I thought they'd fried my brain for sure!" She looked down at her bleached-white hands and fell silent. "Can you fix these, too? I mean, I..." She blinked, reaching up to run her hands through hair that was much longer and silkier than it had been at the beginning of the day. "Can...can I have a mirror, please?" she asked, a scared kid (even though she looked a couple of years older than Will) deferring to someone who looked like an adult. 

 

---

 

Temperance had more luck when she reversed her spectral hound's investigations and sent it back the way the creature seemed to have come - she found a definite trail leading backwards towards Kingston, usually a quiet semi-suburban neighborhood that today was alive with activity - the spot where she and her hound lost the creature's trail was in an empty scrub forest swarming with cops. A flashlight beam pinned her briefly in the air before someone yelled, "It's another cape! Stand down!" 

[trollthumper]

Well. Suppose I'd better come up with a good explanation for this that doesn't involve, "You can't see him, but this dog led me here."

 

Temperance gave a slight whistle, soft enough that a dog could pick it up but not loud enough for the police to suspect anything. This was enough of a signal for the spectral hound at her side, who swiftly sat on his hindquarters and took in the search party. Every so often, one of the corporeal dogs would look in his direction, as if passing a new dog on the dog park. The dog spirit was immensely entertained by this.

 

"Hi, there!"

 

"Strange our paths would cross like this," she said as she approached the one who'd pointed her out. It was time to adopt the deep and mysterious act. 

 

"Hi, there!"

 

No matter what was going on in the background. 

 

"I was trailing a strange creature who was running amok in the depths of the city." She looked at the crowd - yeah, definitely looked like a search party. "Might it have something to do with your pursuit?" 

[Avenger Assembled]

"We had an abductee found in the woods about an hour ago," reported the officer, eying Temperance warily. Hero-loving or not, everybody was a little tense on this particular night in this area. He told her the story of the strange-looking young woman and how she'd been ranting in a language no one spoke, then been taken back to the station by the heroes Cobalt Templar and Stronghold. "At first it looked like an alien thing, or one of those Grue robot duplicate things, but now they're saying something about it being magic. Station called in a psychic to read her mind, maybe she can tell you something. She didn't look like a monster herself, more like somebody who got worked over by a giant bird, or giant wolf, or something...what kind of monster did you say you were tracking, again?" Once they had the story, the officers directed Temperance to their nearby sub-station.