[Friday, October 31st. 9 PM] [It's late. And most of you have somewhere you'd rather be on Holloween. Some of you may have already been there. Alas, there's work to be done.] [It's a cool, crisp October night. Full moon. Not a cloud in the sky. And you're all standing (or, at least, were supposed to meet up) at the gates of the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.] [Seems Grifter found something. Something urgent enough that he made Sister Admin call you guys in immediately.] [Sister Admin lets you all know that Grifter and his sources have found a half-dozen more bodies, all at least a couple of weeks old, over the past few days. SPLEE-NY has been canvasing churches, music halls, theaters, and the like, per Redcoat's instructions, to figure out where Organist is set up, but thus far they've struck out.] [So there you are. Or not.] [Session Start] * Abby is there. She came from the station, and just looks like her normal priestessy self. Apparently it's pastde on yaye. * Horus comes flying up! She's glowing gold so the colors are hard to make out but she's also wearing flip flops, bellbottoms, a t-shirt, and a necklace with a peace sign with beaded bracelets. Her hair's also unusually crinkly - good thing she has a headband and some ribbons to help keep it back. * Horus touches down, her wings winking away. "Hey Abby." * Abby tilts her head slightly towards Horus, quirking a smile. "Horus. You look casual." There a protest march I didn't get the flyer for? * TheRedcoat is there, with her coat tied even more tightly around her than usual. Yeah, I'm prostesting fucking murderers slaughtering people on the streets. Still workin' on the flyers, though. * Abby nods slightly, then mutters, "Not sure I want to try to look into this one. The spirits aren't a fan of blood." * Jacqueline is there, fresh from the station where she might have gotten a strange look or two on account of being dressed up like Horus. She even kind of glows like Horus, because the fabrics of her costume have been woven with a few luminescent fibers that, all together, create a stunning corona of artificial sunlight around herself. * Christian comes in a little later, sauntering along at a casual pace seeming to take it carefully. He's grumbling under his breath but not much of it seems to be coherent beyond regular complaining and the occassional explictive. He groans as he looks at the progression and pinches his nose. "This better be important." * Jacqueline was sure as hell going to win some club's Halloween costume contest, that's for damn sure. * TheRedcoat 's hat and mask are also pulled down and up, respectively, quite tightly around her face. She looks like Grifter's more statuesque, more nicely-dressed apprentice. It's only mass-murder; no big deal. Yeah, fuck you too, Jackie. God, seems everyone has a hard-on for that costume. * Horus looks at Jacqueline and snerks. "Nice outfit. I like the light effect." * Abby glances to it, with a slight smile, then says, "Better to be settin' the trends, I say. To a point. After all, nobody wants another instance of Le Mantean Rouge." * Christian rubs his eyes slightly. "Man, if I run into a female Shockwave, shoot me." * TheRedcoat spits out a cigarette at that. "Heurgh." [Grifter emerges from the woods! He's dressed in a different, equally beat up trenchcoat and three-piece suit. He pauses, glancing back and forth between Jacky and Horus, before shaking his head vigorously. "Right. Holloween." He waves you all to follow him. "Trouble."] * Abby floats after him. "Ain't it always." Wouldn't be in this business if it weren't. * Horus walks after him, actually. She has sandals. "You got any leads?" * Jacqueline , who is probably already doing the necessary calculations for a female Shockwave in her head, impassively murmurs, "Of course it is," as she walks after Grifter. [He leads you deeper into the Gardens. s'pretty at night, even this late in the fall. "Could call lead." He pauses for a moment. "Bunkers under Gardens. Big ones. From Cold War. Few know. Homeless know."] * Christian takes the rear, still rubbing his eyes. "Right." ... bunkers? Nuclear bunkers? They just abandon those things? Who the hell made 'em? ["Some live there, especially during winter. Avoid cold." He nods back at Abby. "Private built. Rich people. Forgot once no more Soviets."] * TheRedcoat starts a new cigarette. Gods. Save me from the rich. Man, that's all kinds of stupid. Especially since this is fuckin' New York. They'd hit the West Coast first if anything. * Horus shrugs. "People were scared. Ain't news." ["Three men. Homeless. Come by so often, check up. Report back if anything bad. Rarely is. Safe as homeless goes."] ["Few hours ago, get word one found, near dead nearby. Badly burned. Electric, docs say. Come to check out."] * Abby lets the man ramble. For a moment, anyway. "Electric? That doesn't fit with the MO." * Christian folds his arms. "Still a dead person though. And unless he got his head shoved into a generator or somethin'..." Err, near dead I mean. [You come to a clearing in a stand of trees, with a large trapdoor open. "Inside does. Other two. Similar injuries." He mutters something unintelligable. "Good men. Tried keep others safe. Died for it."] ["More down there. Lots."] Mm. * Abby exhales slowly, then, "It's... been a while since something felt this ugly." And we're not even there yet. ["Didn't go all way in. Couldn't. But saw... smell."] * TheRedcoat frowns. * Horus glances at Grifter, then steels herself and heads in. Her glow strengthens, lighting up the area. * Christian frowns too. "...smell. Christ." * Christian sobers up and heads on in too. [Horus' glow dims somewhat as she gets underground, but there's still enough light to see by. There also seems to be an improvised series of lanterns strung across the walls on the way down inot the bunker, but more than half of those are out.] * Horus pokes at one of the lanterns, frowning, as she waits for the others. * Abby looks after Horus a moment, then sighs, before looking over at Redcoat and Jackie a moment. Then she follows in. [Grifter stays up top. He looks... fidgety. Nervous.] * Jacqueline murmurs, "Shhhh; we shall protect you," to Grifter, condescendingly and in passing as she descends. [As the first three reach the bottom of ladder, they immediately see what must be the bodies of the other two men Grifter was referring to about fifteen feet down a hallway. One has a pistol still gripped in his hand.] * TheRedcoat has a pistol gripped in her hand too! But it's in her pocket right now. * Abby gets up to Horus and Christian, glowing but not really helping with the light. She presses her lips together as she gets to the bodies. [Grifter doesn't seem to hear that. Down at the bodies seem to have damage consistant with electricity, but something seems off.] [The smell of something really awful permeates lightly.] * Horus makes a retching sound and the wind picks up, slightly, pushing the smell away. * Christian goes up and shakes his head at the bodies. Also the pistol, to see if they even had a chance to fire it. * TheRedcoat tightens her mask and takes a close look at the bodies. * Abby bites off, "Why? What the hell is the point behind this?" ....h-uh. This is not electrical burn. Yeah. Lettin' off half a clip like that. *sighs* Probably useless though. * Christian glances over at Redcoat. "Yeah, I thought of that too. Doesn't look so burnt, does it?" If it ain't electrical burn, what *is* it? Freezing burn. * Horus doesn't seem to want to get any closer. Like flash frozen. Yeah... * Abby mms, then exhales. "Right. Fuck it. I can't have nightmares anyway." She grips her staff tighter and flies past the bodies. * Jacqueline murmurs, "Yes and no," to Redcoat. "Ions nearly stilled, creating a sort of 'cold electricity'. Eccentric, faintly worthwhile, at a stretch." ...huh. * Christian blinks at Jackie. "Cold *what* now?" [Abby moves deeper in. The smell gets worse as the hallway turns. There's a big, partially closed blast door at the end of it.] Electricity. You... know what electricity is, I trust. * Horus follows Abby, hurriedly. She tries not to breathe more than she has to. [Horus' presence (and powers) manage to mitigate the smell somewhat. To the point of bearability, at least.] * Christian turns to Jackie. "Yeah? You know what a fist to the face is, I imagine." * Abby swallows, then mutters, "Wish I could hold my nose." * Abby looks over at Horus, then floats through the blast door, lips still pressed together. So cold electricity. Right. Whatever. Why go through all that trouble? * Jacqueline snorts softly. "A sign of frustration and the mild ignorance it stems from; I forgive you, don't worry." [Abby steps through the blast door... the light is dim, but as Horus follows, she can make out... piles. A lot of piles.] * Horus follows her and looks in cautiously. * Christian snorts. "Yeah. I totally need your forgiveness like a fuckin' sewer rat needs another plague." * Christian walks away from Jackie before she can respond, checking out the blast door. [The smell is now nearly overpowering, and obviously of rotting corpses. Horus' powers, down here, are just barely enough to maybe keep them from retching.] * Abby puts her arm across her face and nose, eyes closing as she says quietly, "God help them." [Most of the room is too dark to see from here except in silohette, but in the nearest pile Abby and Horus can see bodies damaged in a way similar to the ones they found in the park. Chewed on, hollowed out. And again, they see traces of clothes and shoes and other items that mark these people as not homeless.] * Jacqueline , meanwhile, is perfectly content with letting the other three handle the locus point of the death and what not; if anything is above her pay grade, it's probably this. * Horus covers her mouth and nose with both hands as she looks around with wide eyes. "Holy... I... can't stay here. This is... I- I can't." * Abby looks around as she floats forward, then says weakly, "Not homeless. This many... and not homeless. They've got to be..." she trails off, looking down. * Horus backs up, right into Christian. She jumps and lets out a little scream. * Christian tries to go in for a moment as well and covers his mouth, making a retching sound. He doesn't *actually* throw up, but he probably had some of it come up his throat from the sound of it. Which is arguably worse. And gets knocked over by Horus bumping into him. Augh! Fuck! Don't do that! * TheRedcoat counts and inspects and such. * Abby coughs, swallows again, then says, "This doesn't... make sense. This is a mass grave." Sorry! Sorry! * Horus catches herself on the wall. Weeks of it. Maybe... months of it. God, no wonder the spirits are sick. * TheRedcoat carefully breathes through her cloth-wrapped mouth and is glad she decided to go extra tight on the wrappings today. * Christian rubs his head. "It's fine...it's fine..." He heaves a bit again, but tries to catch it. "You okay?" Yeah, there's... there's... * Abby looks over at Redcoat, then says, "I'm right, aren't I?" They've been killing people and storing them here for a while now. * Horus gestures towards the door, tries to talk, breathes, regrets breathing, and coughs. Bodies. Lots of bodies. LOTS of bodies. * Christian goes up and puts an arm around her shoulder. "It's fine. It's fine." He looks over at the door. "Christ it makes me sick though..." Like a fuckin' tomb. * Horus shakes her head frantically. Hair everywhere! * TheRedcoat nods at Abby. "Yes. Huh." From about one or two months to less than a week. He's been here. * Christian just stays in comfort mode and lets out a deep sigh as he waits there. At least he's got an excuse not to go in. * Horus certainly doesn't seem to want to go in again. And...more prolific than usual, apparently. Much more prolific. Yeah, but there's three of 'em. Composer. Organist. And the third. There's between 75 and 100 bodies in here, far more than last time. * Abby pauses for a moment, then picks up the comm card. "It's an Organist and Composer duet, alright. Still... no idea why. Jackie, who the hell would use that power?" No cold burns on these. * Jacqueline glances sort of impassively to what's on the other side of the door, then looks to Abby. "Some scientist--'tis a very limited technology, and honestly, I quite didn't care to hear him explain it." She brushes her fingers along the feathers trailing from her makeshift mask, stops on one and plucks it free. "It was all a bit fetishistic, and I have my limits." * Jacqueline turns her gaze to (the other) Horus and tilts her own chin up slightly. "Are we done with that room and its awful stench, then?" * Christian resists the urge to say "You do?" but he does give Jackie a look that might say the same thing. * TheRedcoat checks for secret doors and stuff. * TheRedcoat also checks for signs of blood trails to see if the bodies were carried in from the same way they came. * Abby floats over to Jackie. "Gonna need a name. And I ain't sure. I still don't get why they're doin' this." [Redcoat finds a still-functioning ventillation system running off a generator, which is also powering the few working lights, but otherwise there's nothing remarkable.] Yeah, we're done. He was rather unremarkable, what can I say? The needs of now and my distaste for scientific dead-ends /then/ can scarcely interact in any meaningful way. * TheRedcoat checks the working condition of the generator. New or from installation? * Abby shakes her head and comms to Sis Admin, "Sis Admin, this is Mizuki. Please tell me you can put your finger on a guy who electrocutes people with cold, or however that worked." * TheRedcoat finds no blood trails leading elsewhere than from where they came. [From installation, repaired and jury-rigged numerous times.] [Sis Admin comes onto the line. "Isn't ringing any bells, let me check my databases..."] * Abby closes her eyes and says quietly, "I really hope she finds it." * Jacqueline rolls her eyes as her one held feather begins to glow quite a bit more brightly than any of the others, or really, than her costume period. She is pressing her fingers tightly against it, rolling it about between them. "The /electricity itself was cold/," Jackie communicates. "Honestly." * TheRedcoat grumphs again and turns away. She checks to see if the team has left footsteps. [After a minute or two, Sister Admin comes back onto the line. "Got something. Mostly operates in Canada and outside the city, so he wasn't in my main databases. Hold our your card and I'll project images."] * Abby holds up her card, then, because she's got it barely in her hand. Stupid staff. Stupid hand. [Once Abby does so, an image projects of a masked, shirtless man with long, curly blond hair down to his back, wearing leather pants and ice skates and holding a guitar with a neck shaped like a hockey stick. "Badgerforce. Guitar that shoots out cold electricity, enhanced strength, skeleton reinforced... Jesus, he reinforced his skeleton with unobtanium."] ["His story... okay, was the lead singer/guitarist for Canada's best-selling metal band. Did a five-album series about Wayne Gretzky riding a bear and saving beautiful women from the Red Wing Dragons of D'Troit and the Red Devils of Nouveau Jersey."] * Abby glances to Jackie, then says, "Sounds riveting." * Abby walks out of the room. "The Organist and the Cannibal Conductor are working with him. And they've been collecting bodies here for months. It's ugly." * Horus listens to the story because it's at least something to do that isn't STARING AT BODIES. ["Couldn't get signed by an American record label, so he put up the rights to all his music to finance a tour. It flopped. Bad. Apparently made him snap. He ran off with the remainder of the money, apparently using it to finance the 'upgrades' he got. Works as a minion to the stars, so to speak."] * Jacqueline glances to the picture, makes a face that betrays the same kind of recognition that one might regard a particularly recognizable plague-bearing rodent with, then shifts a couple steps away from the door. "Like a far flung future civilization's flawed and child-like undertanding of ours." * TheRedcoat walks out, frowning. "Wish we had been more careful coming in here, might make it hard to set up a--" ["The band name was 'The Great Ones', for what it's worth."] * TheRedcoat blinks, tilts her head as if rewinding, then blinks again. Ran off with the money...? ...that. Wait. What time is it? * Christian turns to look at Redcoat. "You remember somethin'? [It's about 9:25 now.] * TheRedcoat pulls off one of the latex gloves she HAD TOO put on over her regular gloves and tucks a hand into her coat, pulling out a folded flyer, which she shakes out mutely. Better. I know where he is. * Horus turns and looks at Redcoat. "Serious?" * Christian raises an eyebrow and waits for an explanation. Hopefully it'll come quicker from Redcoat than from Jackie. * TheRedcoat hands out the flyer, which has the name of the band and a picture on it and words like EXTRAVAGANZA and HOWLOWEEN and stuff on it (probably). She then reaches in to get a phone, notably not one you've seen her with before. He's throwing an event at a former Masonic temple. * Horus takes the flyer and reads it over. "Let's crash it." * TheRedcoat starts texting furiously. * Christian raises an eyebrow and looks at the flyer. "For serious?" Are those even sentences? [Sister Admin speaks. "I'm checking Masonic temples in the city... I'm showing that SPLEE-NY checked all of them. Was pretty high up on their list of possibles per your info about Organist."] * Jacqueline glances sidelong to Christian, makes a soft noise of amusement and shakes her head wordlessly. [Redcoat texts! For the moment, she gets no answer.] But they didn't check for this guy, because we didn't know about him at that point. * TheRedcoat is feeling charitable and suppresses saying anything like "Even though Canada BORDERS YOUR ACTUAL STATE." * TheRedcoat is sure thinking it, though. We...may be able to pick up some backup on the way, as well. * Abby floats out. "If it, uh, USED to be Masonic, it's probably got some of the old structure. And either way we gotta get over there." Usually the only thing left if it used to be Masonic would be the basements. [Sister Admin. "Okay, so we need Masonic temples that aren't Masonic temples anymore... give me a minute, I'm gonna have to track down some historical archives."] * Jacqueline , despite doing everything in her power to avoid looking directly at the painfully bright thing between her fingers, manages a soft smile and a hazy recollection: "There is a library in Brooklyn that fits the bill." Beat. "Once, I was there /without/ having had a sugar cube of acid beforehand; I am quite certain that I recall the details." * TheRedcoat does some more texting stuff. Meanwhile, can we get out of here? Try not to make more footprints. There is a *possibility* they will come back. * Horus doesn't look so spooked anymore, but she does seem uncomfortable. ... Arright. You clear them, Redcoat? If this lead falls through, there is a faint potential to set a trap. ["Former library... gotta be the main Brooklyn branch. Only one old enough to have been a Masonic temple and to have it been forgotten."] [Redcoat doesn't get any answer to those texts either.] * Jacqueline turns towards the door without really looking at it or Horus, because she kind of can't. "A moment. Cover your ears, eyes, whatever you like." She pitches the feather through the door like a dart; it doesn't directly on a body, but it's close enough that when it goes up in a loud, flaming bang, the mass grave is set alight. * TheRedcoat holds up a "just a sec" finger to Horus and seems to be dialing a number. "I--" * TheRedcoat drops the call. "Jackie, NO--" Ah, merde. Well, no need to worry about setting a trap *now*. * Christian sighs and mutters something about "fucking loose cannons" Anyway, yes, let's head out. Excuse me a moment, I have some calls to make. * Abby can't cover her ears, but at least she's facing away as things explode. She looks over her shoulder at Jackie, and there is a tight angry look on her face. "Those people had families, Jacqueline." Let's get outta here. * Christian heads on out. He doesn't want to be a part of this. * TheRedcoat puts action to words and does just that, ditching her latex gloves in the fire first. As she goes up above ground, she tries to separate herself a bit from the rest of the group while making her call(s). [Nobody seems to be picking up their phones.] ... * Horus just looks ill and leaves. She doesn't want to yell or talk or anything. * TheRedcoat speaks to the comm card. "What is the address. We need to get there NOW." * TheRedcoat smokes a stressful cigarette as she stalks away. [Sis Admin provides the address.] * Jacqueline slides her hands into her jean pockets as she begins to make her way to the surface. "And while we hunted their killers," she lowly says, "while we waited for /whomever/ to sort through them, to match ruined bodies to whatever records could be scraped together, they would continue to rot in the middle of that atrocity." They have been cared for. They will have justice. I am content with that. * Abby turns away from Jackie and says quietly, "That wasn't your decision to make," before she flies up and out. [Session End]