Children of The Divine (IC)

[Jay 2K Winger]

GM Note: And now for some war god cock blocking...

Location: Penthouse Suite What Has Been Trashed And Burned, The Mirage, Las Vegas

There is one of those long, frightfully silent pauses as Luke Cooley (Battle Frenzied Tuatha-kin) and Lupo Virtus (Super Fighting Robot Champion Roman-kin) stand opposite one another as the flames on the jotun's carcass start to fade.

Then the door is unceremoniously ripped off its hinges as a man of similar dimensions to the jotun steps into the room. Luke, had he been facing the man, would recognize him as "Crocodile Dundee" from the airport. Only one other person in the room has met him, but said person is still in a state of mild catatonic shock from having to help strangle a cyclops.

Solomon Becker takes it all in remarkably quick. And he seems to know exactly what Luke is in the midst of. The big Aussie shakes his head. "Nope, can't be havin' that, mate."

There is a pop and a sparking noise, following which Luke's body seizes up. Solomon quickly withdraws the taser from the man's back and catches him before he pitches onto the floor, propping him against a wall. Surprisingly, this has the welcome benefit of shocking (ha) Luke out of his battle frenzy.

The Aussie looks around the wreckage of the room, looking at the cooked body of the jotun, then the bloody heap of the cyclops, and sighs. "Bloody hell, missed all the fun, did I?"

[Scorpodael]

Jack shrugs somewhat... "Indeed." He says, when Solomon says that he missed out on all the fun... and reaches down to the cooked body, poking it a few times. Then he turns it onto its back, propped up on Luke's makeshift weapons, shoving his knife into its chest, humming a cheerful tune as he cracks open the ribcage to get to the heart. "So. Jotunhammer?" He asks as he reaches in with one hand, starting to ease the heart a bit out of the chest cavity so that he can cut it loose. "Blech. Going to have to rinse this out before I can eat it..."

[Chanlin]

EJ does his best to ignore the cutting out of the Jotun's heart. "Now that things are a bit calmed down we have an interesting conundrum." Anyone watching him can tell the gears are turning in his head, "The note was faked. The big guy there called out my Mother by name. Whoever set this up at least knows what I am if not who. Which means this set up was not just a chance crossing of opposing forces, but they actively sought us out. And unless I'm mistaken, someone other than Tweedledee and Tweedledum-dum here had to cast the illusion over that note, which means we have an as yet unnamed third enemy actively seeking to stop us before we even get going..."

[Naamah]

"Jotunn can do magic."

Aiden's voice is soft, almost like when he first spoke to Emmett. He slowly, carefully rises - focusing on each movement. One hand loosens from the yarn loop, but one is knotted into it, and as he comes up the threads pull along the bloody throat of the dead cyclops. He looks at the bloody loops strung to his hand, then away to the dead Jotunn, then back to Emmett.

"But you're right. This isn't isolated. Jack, be careful - if they knew who we are, they'd know your habits. Their flesh may be cursed."

He brings his other arm up, wipes his face as well as he can with the sleeve of his T. He breathes out raggedly.

"Where is Johnny."

[Jay 2K Winger]

Location: Site of The Great Battle The Mighty Curb-Stomping Round One, The Mirage, Las Vegas

Solomon watches Jack cut out the jotun's heart with disinterest. Now that things had calmed down, it was clear that the big Aussie was certainly armed. Besides the taser on his belt, he also had a sawed-off shotgun shoved in a custom holster on one leg, a honkin' big revolver in a shoulder holster, and a huge machete on his other hip. All this, coupled with his war-worn slouch hat and crocodile-skin vest, certainly helped the whole "Crocodile Dundee" look.

"Dunno what a Yo-toon-hammer is," Solomon replies with a shrug. "Sounds like Aesir-lore, ta me."

He nods to Emmett. "Truth, that. Them as sent these big'uns after ya, they're smart coves, they are. Still, a cyclops workin' with a jotun? They're not exactly the best of chums, them lot. Someone else is pullin' the strings."

He jerks a thumb toward the door. "Come on, Johnny's downstairs in 2827. I'll make sure this mess gets swept under."

[KabeRinnaul]

Luke pulls himself up with a groan, rubbing his head and then the point on his back where the taser stuck him. "You ass... fuckin' hurt."

[Scorpodael]

Jack pulls the heart completely free of the chest cavity, and heads on into the bathroom, running water over it, and through it, cleaning it of the majority of the ichor... and then he heads back into the main room, putting the organ into his duffel, wrapped in plastic, glancing over at Luke. "Letting you go berserk on your teammates isn't an option. Be glad no one ended up stabbing you." He says, picking up the duffel and heading out the door, toward the suite where Johnny should be waiting this time...

[Chanlin]

EJ Takes a moment to stare at (soul gaze) the new comer and then heads out of the room with the rest of the group to the correct suite.

[Kheldarson]

Deann shakes her head at the shenanigans but moves over to the bodies to see if she can retrieve her arrows. The one's in the Jotuun are crispy, but she recovers the two from the cyclops, grimacing at the blood. "Lovely." She grabs a nearby towel to wrap them in before she heads out herself.

[Naamah]

Aiden stares at the rest, then pats his pockets down with his free hand, slowly tracing back to the plastic bag with the rest of the yarn and the pulque bottle.

Yes, no problem, no problem at all - we just killed two beings, business as usual guys, off to chat with Johnny and...

...

fuck my life.

He pulls his phone out as he silently follows the rest - one hand still entangled in bloody yarn - and texts Kerry to have a shirt and jeans delivered to Johnny's room. Gore was definitely not the 'in' fashion at the moment.

[Mytical]

Lupo shrugged and followed the rest. At least somebody else was cleaning it up.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Location: Room Where CSI Would Have A Field Day, The Mirage, Las Vegas

To Emmett's soul gaze, Solomon would definitely show that he's not an enemy to them. Oh, he's not entirely a nice person-- Emmett could probably see that the big Aussie has his share of black deeds on his soul-- but he's not one of the Bad Guys. The impression is that Solomon is a good guy to have on your side, and to try not to tick him off.

As Luke stands back up, Solomon glances back at him. "Which would ya rather, Brighto? Sore muscles from a taser? Or wakin' up in a room fulla dead bodies what you made so?" He shakes his head. "You want, we can settle up later, you and me. For now, I got damage control ta do. Go on, go see what Johnny wants out of ya."

The group leaves, and Solomon surveys the damage and whatnot with his hands on his hips. "This might take a bit o' work," he grunts.

Location: Room 2827, The Mirage, Las Vegas

The door opens as the group starts to arrive, and Johnny Mercury is on the other side. His usually cheerfully irreverent attitude is gone as he ushers everyone inside, scanning the hallway as they come, then shuts the door and locks it. He's got a gun in his hand as he does so, and once the door's locked, he checks the safety, then heads over to the bar set up in the kitchen.

He ignores any questions anyone might have as they arrive, setting up six shot glasses on the bar, then selecting a bottle of some amber-hued liquor. It has no label. He pours eight shots and then passes these out to everyone, saving the last for himself. "Drink up," he orders. "I like to call it the One True Whiskey. It's not the full Nectar, but it'll sooth your nerves and replenish you." That said, he swallows his own shot and then pours himself another drink from one of the standard bottles of liquor.

When tasted, the One True Whiskey has a good taste-- but not like any mundane liquor. It tastes of your favorite drink, but with the intensity cranked up all the way. A warmth would spread through you, and any fatigue gently melts away. Bruises would start to fade, and cuts heal. But unlike with mundane booze, instead of it impairing ones' faculties, they get more clear. "Just the one shot," Johnny sighs. "We don't have much to spare."

Selene, the whole way from the fight scene to Johnny's room, had been busily tapping away on her tablet, and she looks up after swallowing her own shot of the One True Whiskey. "Just checked the Mirage's systems. Looks like the suite upstairs was arranged through intermediaries, but I backtraced them to Pyke Brands." (Pyke Brands, the company behind the best-selling Slam! energy drink.)

Johnny grunts. "Pyke. Pretty sure they're a Titan front organization." He sighs. "Great, this just keeps getting better and better." He pulls out his cell phone and puts it on speaker as he calls up a number. "Solomon?"

"Oy, what is it? Mite busy up here."

"How bad?"

"Not too bad, but this is gonna take some doing." There are a few muffled noises, which the canny might recognize as silenced gunshots. "But I think I can get this covered up as some kind of mob thing gone real bad. The mundies will ask questions, but they always ask questions. They just won't get any answers."

Johnny nods. "Finish up quick and get back down here. Selene should have the security footage doctored soon," he adds with a glance at her, and a quick nod from her as well.

"Will do," Solomon says. "Be down in a few."

Johnny sighs, and knocks back a swallow of his fresh drink. "Okay," he says, wearily, "you got questions, so ask."

[Chanlin]

Emmett knocks back his drink, pours himself a shot of some actual whiskey from the bar, knocks that back, and then looks pointedly at Johnny. "Why don't we start with the question I'm sure is burning in everyone else's mind. What is this mission you called us here for?"

[Scorpodael]

Jack eyes the whiskey, then shrugs, and takes a shot... "My question's a bit more practical, I suppose... Do you know where I can find about 5 pounds of kosher salt? It's supposed to be a kind of metaphysical cleansing agent and barrier against corrupt influences, according to this..." He says, peering at the book he'd bought. Strange sort of request, perhaps, but then again, salt is all sorts of useful!

[Naamah]

Aiden beelines for the bathroom, stripping off his shirt, finally untangling the yarn from his hand, and washing off with a dampened towel. He comes back in, sits down and takes the glass, giving Johnny a Look before sipping very carefully.

"Do you actually know where we're going?"