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Realms: Guardians Logs

First Mission - Part 10

Cosmic Guardians: The Double-Edged Sword
Part 10:Out of the Frying Pan...

As Nikki leaves the van to head back to the building...she notes something odd about the church as she creeps past. It's like a chill washes over her, and her instincts momentarily tell her to stay away. She peers at it with her eyes...and then she Looks at it with OtherSight. Fortean Sight reveals nothing...but the Church glows brightly to Aura Sight. There is magic laid upon that temple, and strong magic at that. Nikki chews her lip and then slips back to the van, shying away from the side of the building and slipping back into the van. She fades in and tells the others that there seems to be some kind of spell or magical aura on the church. Then she promptly fades out and heads back to the lab, hoping to look around a little before Dash gets there.

Just as Nikki fades through the steel gate, she hears a car pull up on the far side. Nikki kicks it into high gear, sliding through the walls of the lab to get to that entrance. If he's already here, I might as well watch if he punches any codes or passwords in. Moving as quickly as she can unmanifested, her surroundings are a blur as she suddely appears on the far side, where Professor Dash, as Reynard described him, was getting out of his car, seemingly preparing to side a small white card into a device next to the gate.

Nikki quickly runs across the small parking lot, which has only two other cars inside it. Unemcumbered in her ghost form, she easily makes it in time to watch Dash side his card into the slot. The security device appears to be a small box with the aforementioned card slot, a keypad, and a small screen. The keypad isn't normal though: it seems to be a combination of numbers, letters, and logarithmic functions. Nikki pays close attention to what keys Dash presses, and they seem to spell out a common computer algorithm. A small face appears on the screen: Good evening, Roland. Dane is expecting you." the face says in a pleasent male voice. "Thank you, Courtain." he replies, getting back in his car and driving into the lot.

Nikki mms quietly to herself and follows Dash's car, taking note of what radio station he listens to, if he listens to one. However, the radio does not appear to be on as Dash parks, and Nikki follows. Going to the door, the ghost watches as Dash exist his car once more and produces a key, which he inserts into the lock, and opens the door to enter. Nikki hmms and follows him in. Keycard. Key. What next?

This time, the lab is revealed to her, not flying at top speed as she was before. This appears to be the main working area, where there are dozens of computers to be seen, some large and some small, some on desks, and some so big they have a space to themselves. To the left, a pair of double doors are marked with a sign: "Static Free Work Room." To the right, there appears to be doors leading to a bathroom, another leading into an eating area with a long counter, and a set of metal stairs going up to a second floor, where there appear to be some smaller offices. There are three people working there, two look young enough to be students, and are sitting down at the computers, coding away. The third is a rather dour fellow in his fourties, with a thick goatee and dark brown hair. He greets Dash with a nod, and juts his chin in a vague upward direction. He then turns and walks up the stairs, and Dash quietly follows.

Nikki follows even more quietly, looking the new fellow over. That must be Dane. Ogier.

'Dane' looks decidedly less approachable than Roland. He seems dark and brooding at the very least. His features and posture was such that one might never imagine a smile as looking all that natural on his face. He's dressed casually in a polo shirt and black slacks, and he leads Roland into what looks like his personal office, which requires Dane to produce his own keycard, followed by another computer algorithm that Nikki recognizes. Once inside, 'Dane' turns and leans against a desk. "Something is seriously wrong, Roland." he begins the conversation.

Nikki lifts a brow and stands in the corner, listening to the conversation. I wonder if they know who their mole is?

"What do you mean?" Roland says with chagrin, sitting in a swivel chair. "How could things get much worse than they alrady are?"

Dane looks out the window in his office which looks out onto the main work area, and juts his chin down at one of the younger boys working at the computers. "I did some checking up on Eric, down there... keychecks revealed nothing untoward, and Courtain says that Eric has not been trying to do anything outside the lab intranet. He doesn't even do any web browsing on this computer. Then I tried talking up Eric a little and he tells me he doesn't have a brother. And he never lived in Wyoming; he comes from San Jose. I decided to have Durandal do a little unofficial digging in the admissions database, and he tells me the information in there bears out his story. Just to make sure, though, I then had him hack the records of the High school he said he went to, and everything's straight in there. So, either your bounty hunter is not who he says he is...or Eric is a major league player, and he's not doing it in the lab. If there was anything going on in here, Courtain would have caught it, being in charge of the security systems."

Nikki chews her lip. Damn...caught. But I suppose that was inevitable. I was sure Eric was our mole, though. He still could be, I guess, but it doesn't seem as likely now. Didn't one of them say he was critical to the project, though?

Roland sighs in frustration. "Great. Now give me the bad news."

Dash grimaces. "The bad news is that FBI agent stopped by the lab. What's his name...the guy with red hair. Agent Hanson. He's asking more questions about the project...and about that incident at Dynamic Systems."

Roland pounds a fist. "Fuck! I can't afford this...I saw him lurking around earlier today too...God, that man gives me the creeps. I'd swear he knows what we found..."

Nikki perks up a bit. Yes...tell us what we found...

Dane waves a hand. "The NSA guys ran him off. For some reason, they can pull rank on this guy...and that's the important thing. But we're so close, so dammned close. With Eric's help we'll be able to finally merge the the three Gibson so they can act as one, and as three separate entities. And then we give it to the NSA for their purposes, we get a big fat bonus, and we're set for life, yeah? Then the FBI can go harrass the NSA for the needs of their X-Files all they want. No more looking over our shoulders for government agents suspecting what we took...because it's part of the system now, and NSA will have posession of the system. Unless something goes wrong." Nikki frowns. They took something to add it to the functionality of their gibsons? Wonder what that was...

Roland looks warily at Dane. "You're about to tell me that something else went wrong, aren't you?"

Dane shrugs. "I don't know. All I know is at one point those NSA guys sped out, supposedly chasing someone. And then they came back, and didn't have anyone. All of a sudden, I'm very worried that a bunch of people want to know about this supposedly secret project. I mean, did someone fucking post it on the web or something?"

Roland leans back in his chair. "I'm tempted to cancel classes and sleep in this office to get this project done without interruption. I won't be able to pull the strings to do it quickly....but you're right. The quicker we get this done, the quicker we can hand it over to the NSA. But we've got to be sure about Eric, now. Because maybe he's the leak. So do whatever you have to, use Durandal and Sauvagine if you have to, but make sure Mr. Pippin is not working for someone else. Okay?"

The man called Dane nods and departs, leaving Roland alone in his office. The office itself is rather untidy, with books and papers with notes scribbled on them everywhere. There is also a laptop on his desk, which, from the wiring, seems to be also connected to the network. He brings the computer out of hibernation mode. "Durandal? Are you busy?" he says to the ether. Nikki leans against the wall and listens. She'd been tempted to follow Dane, as it would be more likely to lead her to Sauvagine, but she doesn't want to miss this conversation, either.

A green sword appears on the screen, which morphs into a green face, which, when looked at closely, seems to be made up of 1's and 0's, a throwback to the old binary methodology, even though the new computers are quantum-based, and not binary. "Yes, Roland. Is something troubling you?" The face replies in a pleasent male voice, though decidedly different than the one used by Courtain outside.

Dash curls up one hand into a fist, and lightly punches it into the palm of his other hand, and leans his chin on it. "Yes, Durandal. A great many things worry me. I take it you already know I had Al look into Eric's history, yeah?" The face on the screen nodded. "Yes, sir. I'm afraid so. Will you need my services further in that regard?" Nikki hmms. Al Dane?

Dash sighs. "Yes, Durandal. We need to be sure. We're so close, we can't have anything else going wrong." He pauses for a moment. "Did Dane complete those programs that were supposed to activate if those NSA loons try and use you and the others against us?" Durandal smiles begninely. "Yes, Roland. And I must say, that was decidedly clever of you...not that I would trust the NSA either, if I was you. A programmer would never create anything that could do him harm...or anything that he could not get back into if necessary. And I've made sure that the back doors you coded are untracable as well."

Roland chuckles. "You know I couldn't have done this without you, right Durandal? It was a lucky day when you happened on my doorstep. Without your help, I never would have been able to make Sauvagine and Courtain. And no one ever knew about you, or how I made the leaps I did in 'creating' you...you're my finest work, and I only started, where someone...or something else left off."

Nikki's eyes widen. What? Durandal was created by aliens or something? What did they steal from us, then?

Durandal is quiet a moment, as if considering something. "Roland...I am reluctant to admit this....but I fear that Sauvagine is....not as perfect as you'd intended."

Nikki smiles at the Gibson's words. "Sometimes I love being dead." Roland sits up. "What do you mean?" Nikki moves to stand behind Roland. "Yes...please enlighten us."

The face on the screen. "I and Courtain have been aware of this for some time...but have been...reluctant to reveal it. It seems that something has gone wrong with her. She has been...well, causing upset. Hacking, much as Eric has been accused of. Her name is actually making its way around the Net, and she's well known in the Hackers Playground now...at first it was silly things...nothing that caused any harm....but a few hours ago, she hacked into the Phoenix State Airport. She insinuated herself into Flight control...she....well, after some careful tweaking, she caused two planes to crash by feeding them false data."

Roland seems stunned. "What?? Are you certain?" Nikki's jaw drops as well. "What?? A computer killing people?" Roland stands without waiting for an answer. "That's not possible. Her ethical algorithms should prevent such a thing from happening...are you certain she did this of her own volition? Maybe she was...manipulated? By one of the team?"

Roland strides through the stunned Nikki as he paces back and forth. Durandal seems doubtful. "It is possible, Roland. But it would be very difficult to manage that...and it would have to be someone inside, who would have access to both Gina and 'Tain...because although Gina's path was quite easy to follow when Courtain looked, he could see no trace of any tampering with Gina, either from the outside or in the lab. Beyond the scheduled work and program input of course."

Nikki jerks in surprise at being walked through and moves to the edge of the room again, running fingers through her hair. "Maybe they don't know what she did to the Minotaur..."

Roland stops, exhaling in frustration as he rubs his chin. "Can you prevent her from doing any more damage, Duran? At least, until we have a chance to address the problem?" Nikki chews her lip. I need to find out what they're planning, but I still want to look around and see where the gibsons are located...

The image looks pained. "Please don't call me that, Roland. In comparison to the pet names of the others it sounds...silly. Like I'm some old rock group. But in answer to your question...yes. With Courtain's help. And if you give me the upgrades I requested. But I am reluctant to approach Sauvagine directly. We are more at risk than you are, Roland. You know what it's like when Gibsons battle."

Roland nods slowly in response. "I take it then, you think I should also remain quiet on the subject until we can contain her?" Durandal 'nods' back. "It would be best. But get that equipment quickly, Roland. Then we can operate from a position of safety. In the meantime, I suggest you tell no one else. Albert would react...too rashly."

Nikki lifts a brow. "What's rash about overreacting to a computer that kills hundreds of people?"

"I concur, Durandal." Roland replied in agreement "This close to the completion of the project, we can't afford to tear Sauvagine down and start from scratch. We'll just have to try and repair the damage to her matrix. And I won't tell anyone. I don't want those NSA guys to think anything's wrong, much less that one of our AIs killed someone. I'm gonna go talk to Al and Eric, and make sure that equipment comes in ASAP. In the meantime, Durandal, you page me if anything else happens, no matter how small, Kay?"

Durandal nods once more. "I will, Roland." The professor then abruptly exist his office. Nikki quickly follows after him, intent on hearing what happens next. But...just as she does...she catches a glimpse of Durandal's face, still on the computer screen...and the way she sees it, it's as though it's looking right at her, and smiling. But then she's through the door and loses sight of it.

Nikki freezes just beyond the door and looks back towards it...and then at the retreating back of Roland...and then at the door. Shit. She bites her lip and then heads back into the office and over to the screen, remaining 'invisible'. She says, unaccountably quietly, "Hello?" Upon coming back in, however, the face is gone. And as she is still completely unmanifested, there is no response to her voice. Nikki shakes her head. I must be imagining things... She quickly heads back in the direction that Roland seemed to be heading.

Roland is downstairs now, talking with Dane, and the younger fellow that he indicated earlier. HE seems to just be discussing the hardware upgrade he mentioned, and making references to new security software he wants Eric's help with coding. The only other fellow that was in there earlier, presumably another student, appears to have left.

Nikki glances at Eric's screen for a second and then listens a little to the conversation. If they don't lead me to the gibsons, I'm going to have to poke around. Eric's screen appears to have nothing but code on it...but as she looks around, she spots one large rack that has a label on it...'Courtain'. It appears to contain several servers that are rigged together, with removable drives. It's a large system, and does not appear to be easily movable.

Meanwhile, Roland seems to be trying to sell the idea of internal firewall servers to the others...saying that they need to enable the capacity to protect intruders that gained access to one Gibson from getting access to the others...and also in case one Gibson went rogue, and the other two needed to contain it by shutting off access. Dane seems to argue at first, but eventually Roland convinces him that it would be a good safety measure. Eric just sits and listens.

Nikki sighs and decides there isn't much more to be gleened by listening to this trio. She glances around at the other racks to see if she can find Durandal and Sauvagine in this room. After a moment of searching, she finds Durandal's rack over in one far corner, by the doors to the static free room...and Sauvagine's rack on the opposite wall. both look very similar in design. No one appears to be addressing the gibsons at the moment, however, so there is no way to see what the others look like. The three server racks all seem to be wired together...and the racks are hooked to hubs so that all the smaller computers can access all three gibsons.

Nikki satisfies herself with the rest of the computer lab and then starts poking into office. Maybe some bozo left his passwords out and visible or other useful information. Before going upstairs, she notes there's a sign-in sheet...the names are mostly familiar to her...Roland Dash...Eric Pippen...and an Albert Newman. There are also some other names...Herb Chaucer...and Agent Hanson. Nikki recognizes it as the FBI agent's name...the man with red hair. The man she suspects to be Frants. Nikki frowns slightly at his assumed name and then heads upstairs.

There appear to be two offices, which are easily seen into, as they both have transparent polymer for the walls that look out onto the main floor...and down the small hallway, there are two more doors...one that is marked as 'Storage'. The other is unmarked. Nikki ignores the offices for the moment, instead heading to the storage room. As Nikki fades through the wall, the room appears to be full of equipment. Servers arrays, cables, and all sorts of miscellaneous hardware.....some of the equipment seems to actually be damaged, even burned in some places. And in the far corner, there's a large safe.

Nikki's eyes afix on the safe and she smiles. "I wonder what's in there... Maybe we'll find out later." She walks through the wall into the other room with the unmarked door, expecting a bathroom or another storage room. The room appears to be dark, and very small. But from the crack under the door, the vage outline of a mop, a vaccuum cleaner, and shelves with various items can be seen. Likely, a broom closet. Nikki walks back into the hall and towards the stairs. Well...I better report what I found. Those murders may've changed everything. I doubt Sasha'll want them sweeping this under the rug.

Nikki stops herself at the top of the stairs and looks back towards Roland's office, chewing her lip. She heads back through the wall and moves over to the desk, glancing at the clutter there. Most of it appears to be scribblings...there is a half open envelope, and it appears to contain check stubs, same color as the check from the US Treasury...finally, after a minute or so of searching, two things stand out. One is a list tacked to the wall that seems to be a system map...showing the connections, the IP addresses of all the servers on the system, as well as the available IPs that belong to the lab, specifically...and something that appears to be a journal. Nikki's eyes widen at this goldmine of information and takes the time to memorize the IP addresses, even the unassigned ones. Only after she feels like she can pull them back at will, does she look at the journal…


Moments after Nikki left for the second time, Lupis eyes the church that she warned them about. Lupis says, "I want to check out that Church. I was going to go in and confess my sins anyway..." He rummages through his saddlebags, pulling out a journal, a small book, and a pieced of carved stone. "Sasha, you coming? Reynard? I doubt those thugs in the car noticed us, but just in case they saw us stop, might be a good palce to hide out…"

Reynard looks a little wary, glancing at the church. "Why would there be spells on it?"

Lupis shrugs. "Who knows? But I want to try to find out."

Sasha shakes her head, in response to Lupis's earlier comment. "I think we're safer in here, for now. But be careful, Lupis. Don't try and play with the spells..." Lupis grins. "I'm not stupid, chica. I won't..."

Reynard chews on his lip. "I still say we should take Bookworm in there." Sasha shakes her head again. "Not until we know what's on there. It is a church...but, better safe than sorry."

Lupis bobs his head, "Hokay." He gets out a,d shuts the door behind him. Walking towards the church, he admires it's architecture…and also looks upon it with his OtherSight.

Inside the van, Reynard glances back to Sasha. "If he's not back in ten minutes, can we wait longer?" Sasha shrugs. "I wouldn't worry unless something explodes..." She pauses. "But check on him after fifteen minutes anyway." Reynard sighs, and mutters something about lightning bolts.

As Lupis approaches the church, he starts to feel uneasy. There's something about this church that really creeps him out...even though he's been in churches since he was Tainted....and he's felt no ill effects. He sees something magical about the church with Aura Sight...but it seems faint, not strong like Nikki described. Hewalks around to the front doors, checking out the decorations on the front. Holding the gem in his fist, he brushes a hand through his hair nervously. He tries to feel for the magical powers, to see what they're connected to.

As Lupis reaches out to touch the engravings, however, a flash of bright light explodes into his eyes....and his ears are filled with the plaintive while of something unnatural as he reels backwards...and after a few minutes, he realizes it's him making that noise....and yet, not him. It is his Taint that cries out before a Holy Ward, and he cringes from it from where he fell, scrabbing backwards. He tries to get up but ends up flat on his back on the walkway. He stares up at the church, reaching a hand up to push his sunglasses back on straight before someone sees his eyes. Lupis wraps his arms around his chest, fighting not to let a stream of blasphemous curses rip off his tongue. Cajaro, that hurts!

Reynard's head snaps up, as something comes to his ears. "My god, are they sacrificing goats in there?" He announces, and pushes his door open, bolting towards the sound…

Still on his back, Lupis looks at the church, he can now see the magic blazing brightly, almost in response to it's successful Warding of him and his Taint. "Mary mother of god...." he oathes without really thinking about it, and then looks around to see if anybody is giving him strange looks. As it turns out, Reynard is there, just then. And as he gazes on Lupis...but it's not Lupis. One moment he looks normal...the next his skin is blood red, and he has a forked tongue sticking out of his mouth....his fingers are clawed and his muscles pulse as if something alive moves beneath them....he seems to be cowering from the church...and as he turns his head to look at Reynard, his glasses fall off, and his eyes glow with unholy crimson light.....

Reynard's hackles raise, as he pulls up short. "What in the name of Sweeney Todd..." A hand drifts towards the inside of his coat. "Lupis!" He hisses loudly. And then, just like that, Lupis is normal again....though his eyes still glow red, they are not as intense anymore.

Lupis whispers back tersely "I touched the door, and it fucking hurt, man! There are wards, they... don't like my taint."

Reynard is still staring, as he walks closer. "Lupis, you looked like you belonged in a Gwar concert." He glances at the door. "Why on Earth would a church give someone the image of the devi-" A brow raises. "Taint?" Lupis smiles briefly, thinking he'd much rather be at a Gwar concert than making a fool of himself writhing on the sidewalk in pain in front of a church. He looks over at Reynard, meeting his eyes. "My mageblood." is all he says. A few moments later, and he's standing up slowly, looking for his shades.

Reynard just stares at Lupis, then glances back at the church. "So it's a magical bug zapper for those with your talent."

Lupis licks his lips, feeling a cut in them from when he fell, "Maybe, yeah... maybe anyone who wields Fortean powers. Don't go in there with that watch." He looks across the street as he gets to his feet and slides his shades on. He suddenly get the impression he's being watched. Idling himself with dusting the dirt off his jacket and straightening his clothes, he scopes across the street to see who's looking at him.

Reynard snaps his fingers. "I need to get that; thanks for reminding me. So, do we have any reason to go in, now that you've knocked your head against the door?"

Lupis says, "No, I guess not.. hold on." He looks hard, but he can't seem to pinpoint where his watcher is...only that it's somewhere across the street. Perhaps inside one of the houses. The mage turns to walk with Reynard. He murmurs quietly, "Someone was watching us, hombre. Pero, yo no mira...I couldn't see them, precisely. I think they're in one of the houses.

Reynard nods, and walks back towards the van, glancing at the other side of the street idly, along the way. Gazing over the tops of his own sunglasses....at first he sees nothing. Then, he catches a glint of light from a second story window of a house that is directly across from the lab. A glint that could be a reflection off a scope or a pair of binocs.

Reynard reaches up, and removes his sunglasses, dipping his head and taking his shirt, to idly rub the lenses. In the process, he narrows his eyes, peering up, even with his head tilted, toward the spot. Unfortunately, he can't make out any more than that glint. Lupis limps along beside Reynard, oblivious. He keeps limping across the parking lot when Reynard pauses.

Reynard replaces his sunglasses into his jacket, seeing as his slitted pupils help with the night vision. Heading toward the van, muttering, "I think we have a bird watcher, Lupis."

Lupis stops and turns. "You mark him? Maybe we gotta go catch him. Did they see us come from the van?"

Reynard keeps going, pulling Lupis back around to face the van, "Don't look. I saw glass-gleam in that house across from the lab. Someone's watching. And we;ll be out of sight once we have the church in the way..." A few steps later, Reynard pulls the door of the van open, "Sasha, I think we have more then our Sedan-sitting friends to be wary of." Sliding in, "Let's just hope Nikki can get in and out of there fast." Lupis follows Reynard, climbing into the back of the van. He closes the door, and curls up into a seat. "Owwwww."

Sasha blinks at Lupis. "What happened to you?" Reynard chuckles ruefully. "Sin buffer." Lupis says, "The church was warded against my fortean blood. Man, it really hurt. Threw me through the air when I touched the door."

Sasha grimaces. "Good thing the warder wasn't around then. We don't want to have a war with the Catholic church if we can help it....now, what was this about a watcher? Where was he, exactly?"

Reynard points in the direction of the house, though it can't be seen from this angle: the church blocks the way. "In a window. Either a bird watcher or a scopesman."

Sasha blinks. "What, that one?" she asks, pointing at the farthest house she can see, which isn't it. Reynard says, "No, the one on the other end of the church."

Lupis says, "What street number was it, Reynard? Maybe we can find out who lives there." Reynard tries to remember. "Thirty second block, wasn't it? I couldn't see the number..."

Sasha grimaces. "Well....he won't be able to see us, or get us with a parabolic mike or microwave from where we're situated.....still, when Nikki comes back, let's get out of here fast.

Lupis says, "We can drive by when we leave... Unless you think it's the MJ12 team. Good spot to spy on the lab from, hey?" Sasha nods. "That's what I'm afraid of...." Lupis snorts, "Maybe we need to take those vatos out then." Sasha shakes her head insistently. "No, not yet. We can't afford to play our hand yet." Then she offers a wry smile. "Besides, Nikki will never forgive us if we kill her marked Red-Head." Lupis says, "True, true. He is hers by right. We're just here to help set him up for her." Reynard says, "Nothing says we can't subdue him to a point of submission, mm?"

Lupis shakes his head. "That's not as much fun. Not as satisfying, I think." Reynard grins impishly. "Well, we could torture him? You've got your guitar, right?" Lupis would hit Reynard, if he weren't so shaken up. He just glares at him, with his evil demonic eyes still dancing in rage at the pain the church caused.

Reynard just chuckles, and holds up his hands in apology. "Kidding. But to get back on the subject...you should figure a way to send up a Ghost Flare or somesuch, so that we can keep in contact with her when she goes soloing."

Lupis grins. "Hey, that's a good idea, amigo. Uhm...what's a ghost flare?"

Reynard spreads his hands. "I havn't the foggiest. Just something that'd grab her attention, that normal folk can't see?'

Lupis pulls out some magic books and journals, and starts looking through them for anything that might help him figure out a way to send Nikki a signal. "I have no training in spirit spells. I don't think I could do that... Maybe I could control a little chipmunk to carry her a message. Reynard holds up his hands at the angry man, before he chuckles, glancing toward the lab. "I don't think a chipmunk would be in place there, let alone would she know it's from us."

Lupis smirks. "Maybe you could sew him a cute little pouch to strap around his neck?" Reynard rolls his slitted eyes. "I crochet better."

Lupis suddenly gets an idea. "Wait a minute. A chipmunk would not be out of place in somebody's yard, hey? Maybe I can use a little mammal to scope out that house down the street. You see any near by?" He looks out the window without waiting for a response, checking out the trees around the church for signs of rodents or squirrels. "Even a stray cat would work..."

But, as Lupis looks around, his vision starts to get a little blurry....he sees an image of Tryxillandra before his eyes, all nude and inviting....she twists seductively, and no matter where he looks, that's all he can see. She cooes to him, making a 'come hither' gesture with her wrist....and he can hear something in his ears....a laugh...but not her laugh...it's his Taint, laughing at him....tempting him. Lupis shuts his eyes and buries his face in his knees. He rocks back and forth gently, swaying. "Not now, not now... please...."

Reynard, seeing and hearing none of this, sees a striped tabby cat walking down the sidewalk. "Hey, Lupis! I see a-" he glances back, and is abruptly aware of Lupis's discomfort. "Lupis? Um, Sasha..."

Sasha turns around to see what Rey is looking at. She blinks. "Lupis? What's wrong?"

Lupis peeks his head up and risks opening his eyes...Tryx's face is there, her teeth bared in maniacal laughter...but again, it's not her voice....it's His Taint....and there is screams and flames in his mind. He bravely states, "I thought I saw something... that wasn't there... that's all." He tries to focus on Sasha's face, and not the transparent visage that mocks him. He grits his teeth, What is happening to me... if it's not her voice, it must not be her.. it's my blood, fucking me over for hurting it by trying to go into the church!

Reynard watches Lupis. "I'm...going to get the cat's attention." He slides out of the car, and shuts the door. Easing down, he takes a candybar out of his jacket, and begins to unwrap it. Of course, he's rattling and tugging at the wrapper quite loud, dragging the paper across the pavement.

Lupis tries hard to banish the images before him. He knows they are not real. They can't be real. But they burn through his head. Bookworm looks concerned, actually looking at Lupis. He puts a hand on the mexican's thigh....and murmurs in a small voice. "They're not real." And suddenly, it's all gone, and Lupis can see and hear again. Sasha is watching Lupis cringe in fear and seeming pain, looking shocked...but then, as Bookworm does....what he does, she seems to relax, even as Lupis does. "Ah... thank you...." he murmurs weakly. Bookworm goes back to staring at nothing. He keeps his hand on Lupis's thigh, though.

Outside, the cat looks over Reynard, as if trying to decide if he's acceptable. Reynard has unwrapped the candybar at this point, and is flicking the wrapper between his fingers, before wagging it lightly in the cat's direction. The cat seems hesitant, sniffing Reynard's fingers...and then the cat suddenly starts purring loudly rubbing and licking the proffered hand.

Reynard chuckles lightly, and shifts his hand to rub a nail along the back of an ear. He lets his finger drift down it's spine, then up to rub underneath the jaw. "'ello there." The cat seems to love Reynard, and loves the attention she's getting even more. She's quite an esctatic cat. Huh. Wonder if those genetic pheremones they gave me work on animals too...never tried that before.

Reynard is dissapointed when he gets cat hair on the freed candybar, though, but figures it's worth the gaining of a minature spy. Scooping the cat up into his arms, craddling her and offering an earrub with a thumb, he peers in the window. "If I open the door, Lupis, is the cat going to be scared of you?"

Lupis is breathing deeply to calm himself. "It's cool, hombre." Reynard nods, and opens the door, before sliding in. "Now, do your hocus pocus, my friend." He assures the cat with a tail-brush. The cat purrs contentedly, and doesn't seem to have any trouble with Lupis or anyone else in the car.

Lupis prepares to cast the spell the designed to control mammals on the cat. He concentrates, and goes through the motions, chanting the words, staring at the cat. Your will is mine. You will be my eyes. After a moment, the cat seems to go glassy-eyed, as Lupis super-imposes his will over the cats. She stops purring.

Lupis says, "Hey, girl. You can do a few things. Then come back for some nice petting, yeah? We need you to go down the street and climb a tree to look inside a house for us... I'll tell you where to go. Goood kitty...." The cat doesn't respond. But then, at the moment, it has no will of it's own.

Reynard looks down glumly. "Damn. I wanted to put some tape on her feet, now that she's lucid..." He grins lopsidedly, before opening the door, and setting her down. Controlled by Lupis, the cat races around to the front of the church, but steers a wide path from the doors. Looking both ways, the cat then races across the street. Lupis closes his eyes to prevent double vision, concentrating on what the cat is seeing...it takes a moment to get used to the differences, but he can manage it.

The cat's head swivels as Lupis looks around for the house...and after a moment, he finds it, right across from the lab. Lupis moves the cat to sneak under the bushes then, towards its goal. Hmm, maybe I can find a tree to climb up and get in a window... the mage thinks. A quick glance shows there are no trees outside the house...however, there is a flap in the front door big enough for a cat to go through. Inside the van, Lupis grins. Sweet.

Loping up the steps, the cat pokes it's head through the pet door, looking about and sniffing at Lupis's direction. Lupis being human, however, he cannot translate the scent into something meaningful. Ah well, no worries... Inside, Lupis sees a dark hallway through the cat's eyes, but there is still enough light for the cat to see fine.

Padding quietly inside, Lupis looks for, and quickly finds the stairs up, since Reynard had indicated the glint came from above...he does make a quick visual check into the doorways he passes, and finds nothing. Slinking up the stairs, he sees light above...and moves very slowly, as he doesn't want the cat to be in direct light. Going halfway up, he listens for voices...there are none, though there are sounds of movement. Slowing moving the cat to the top, he sees where the light comes from: a room at the far end of the hall, close to the fr ont of the house.

After waiting several seconds, Lupis hears the movements stop, and as no one has come out, he wills the cat to move forward to look. The immediate thing the cat sees is a stern faced woman looking through binoculars. She seems to be watching straight ahead. The woman appears to be wearing some sort of black jumpsuit. There is also a sniper rifle laying down to one side. Lupis makes the cat creep around the corner, and immediately after doing so, can see another man, this one in a suit. He seems to be eating, and sitting by some sort of electronical setup. He's not Red Hair, though: he has short brown hair and is wearing a blue suit.

Lupis says, "Huh, a lady is watching through binoculars. Mid thirties." he says aloud to the others. "She's in a black jumpsuit. She has a sniper rifle beside her. There is a man in there too, wearing a suit. He's monitoring electronic gear, probably surveillance. He has short brown hair. Blue suit. "

Reynard frowns, at the mention of a sniper rifle. "Lupis, if you can, get a glance at what's on the equipment, if it has a screen." Lupis nods, and urges the cat sneak around to try and see what's on the equipment the man is using. He says aloud to the others in the van, "The way she's facing, she's probably looking at the lab."

Lupis, enjoying himself, swishes the cats tail without realizing it, as his mental control manipulates the cat in unexpected ways. Enjoyment becomes frustration as Lupis has a hard time seeing things from on the ground. There appears to be more than one device on the table, though he can't make specifics. The man with the suit, he can see now, is wearing headphones.

Lupis says, "Huh. He's listening to somethon on headphones. Definitely surveilance equipment, then. He looks around for a place for the cat to hide, preferably up higher, on top of a piece of furniture. Suddenly, the man with the headphones speaks. Unfortunately, to Lupis, it's gibberish. Apparently his control does not enable the cat to understand English. "Wait, they're talking... Dammit. The cat doesn't understand english. Or whatever they're speaking."

The woman seems to make a noise that is a response. Then the man falls back in his chair as he clutches his ears in seeming pain. Lupis-as-cat ducks out of the way before the man collapses on him. The woman turns around at that, trying to help him up....

Lupis says, "Hello...he fell over. Something from the headphone startled him..." Then the woman looks back at the window, and makes a loud sound. From the moments of her lips, the cat can see she seems to be quite excited about fecal matter. "Somethings going wrong for them..." Reynard looks over in the direction of the house wonderingly, but of course, still can't see it from this angle.

Back inside the house, the woman suddenly grabs the sniper rifle, and the other man pulls out a Glock....and abruptly notices the cat. "They're grabbing their guns!" Lupis growls as he tries to get the cat away from the man.

Suddenly everyone....the folks in the car, and the people in the lab - including Nikki about to read Roland's juicy diary - hears the report of a rifle.

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