chapter five ♔ it'll be a day like this one when the sky falls down

[eldritchweaver]

the blues - switchfoot

WHO || The Knights
WHAT || Failboat returns from the disaster in LA as the Knighthood goes on lockdown
WHERE || The castle, London
WHEN || Directly after this, Fall 2017
HOW || Actionspam

Hasmed's announcement does not brook any rebuttal: all Knights are recalled to the Castle, where they must remain until the Section Heads and Jack Chessing have spoken about the events in Los Angeles that have left the Knighthood without their usual leader.  

The entire Los Angeles area is now covered with a dark miasma that has interfered with any signals that might be sent out from phones, etc., leaving the whole world wondering what exactly is happening down there.  Final images showed horrendous monsters, a panic of citizens, looting and violence from humans and Shadowkind alike.  

Hasmed has warned of extra magical wards on the castle, and anyone arriving will immediately take notice of one very prominent one: above the entire roof of the excessively large building hovers a black and red sigil in the air, a pentagram in a circle surrounded by runes or words in an unknown language, stretching for miles.  

[ This is the social log for post-LA lockdown.  Failboat must complete the top log before being allowed to tag outside of it. ]

Comments

[hacker]

I had a mission.

[ she glances back at the truck. ]

And I'm not finished yet. I can tell you all about it later, but now's not a great time.

[ambitionist]

A solo mission? [he raises his eyebrows at her like really gurl. u r not a dragon's claw. and also:] I thought all missions were recalled.

Look, I understand that you need to ... go, do whatever you need to do, but that doesn't mean you get a free pass for bullshitting me, okay?

[hacker]

My mission didn't come from Wynn, Alex.

[ she squares her shoulders up. no bullshit. that's fair. ]

I'm here for SHIELD. We need to meet with the section heads.

[ambitionist]

Okay, one, what's SHEILD, and two, what the fuck? How long? Why?

[hacker]

We're here to help. Look, Alex, you said you were going to let me do what I needed to do. If you meant that, what I need you to do right now? Is get out of the way.

[ambitionist]

Wow. Okay. [he raises his eyebrows, just a little put off.] But we're gonna talk, okay? I'm not— look, whatever. Who gives a fuck. But we're gonna talk.

[hacker]

Yeah. Believe me, I know.

[ she's not looking forward to it, after the kali thing. after the same thing. after the clark thing. yikes. at least alex managed to get that much of the truth out of her; it's a testament to his approach and his nonjudginess. ]

[ambitionist]

[it's almost like he has five million ranks in gathering information (not that he actually had to use them but w/e ok it's who he is as a person.) he steps aside.] When you're done.

[hacker]

[ she looks surprised, first.

then ... relieved.

then she buries every emotion she's ever had and returns to the vehicle. to the person inside, she says; ]

They haven't raised an alarm. We should be fine to just ... walk right in, I guess. Come on.

[ then she shuts the driver side door fully. ]

[refurbished]

You're popular. [ there's an edge of humor to the words, but a bit of something else too. clearly, she's done her job well. clearly, that fact is going to make all of this even harder for her. he gets it, at least. ] We'll make this quick.

[hacker]

You know, when I was in school — before I dropped out — I always thought I got off easy. No parents, no dread-inducing parent-teacher conference. [ she slams the door shut and joins him in stride, heading for the doors into the castle proper. ] But I get the feeling this is a solid point of comparison.

[ put another way, thanks, dad. ]

[refurbished]

Are you worried about getting grounded?

[hacker]

Should I be?

[ more seriously, ]

I'm more worried about whether either of us is going to be allowed to walk out of here. But Val'drin said ... I mean, he made it sound like they'd at least hear us out.

[refurbished]

On a scale from Ward to May, how trustworthy is Cabot?

[hacker]

Well, he openly called me a traitor, but he also let me leave. So we'll say somewhere in the middle. At the very least, I trust that he believes my priority is helping.

[refurbished]

All things considered, that could have gone worse. [ they push through the doors and he takes a moment to glance about the lobby ] Not a very subtle guy, Wynnefalshond.

[hacker]

If you were expecting subtle from the guy housing his army in a castle, I don't have anything for you.

[ she laughs. for a minute, she can almost pretend it's easy. it's like the pause, in the eye of the storm, with kali and alex behind her and the section heads yet to come. she's at ease inside the castle, and with coulson at her side, and the two together feels ... right.

well, for as long as no one else has anything to say about it, anyway. ]

How is May, anyway?

1/2

[refurbished]

Reliably May. [ he leaves it at that, as someone looks up from the desk... ]

[unhappily]

[ guess who's still a fucking squire and therefore has desk duty? yeah, she hates this ]

Can I help you?

[hacker]

Uh. Hey, Regina, ...

[ it's pretty evident in her uneasy approach that she

didn't want to see regina here. ]

Can you call Hasmed or Lis'sa?

[unhappily]

And who should I say is calling? [ she looks pointedly at coulson and it's clear this is 100% nosy-ness ]

[hacker]

[ she looks skittishly to coulson then back. ]

Agent Coulson and Agent Skye. With SHIELD.

[unhappily]

Is that supposed to mean something to me?

[hacker]

The message isn't for you, Regina.

[refurbished]

You could always try Google.

[ thanks phil ]