CHAPTER THREE ♔ what's done in the dark will be brought to the light

[wynn]

♬ god's gonna cut you down - johnny cash

WHO || The Knights
WHAT || The aftermath of Chapter 2
WHERE || London, England and variou
WHEN || Evening of June 7th --> onwards
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

In less than twenty-four hours, everything has turned on its head.

A Knight and her allies were kidnapped by Iscariot agents for execution in Rome, barely escaping with their lives.

A mission meant to free one Knight from the influence of a dark god succeeded - at the price of another's life.

A simple recon mission at a Keijen Blade concert nearly led to two Knights committing mind-controlled suicide in front of an eager crowd.

Several Knights went to see Draken Crombe, leader of the Church of the Lord's Humanity, speak in person, and learned just how sinister his religion's dogma is.

A call from Sir Hathaway alerted Wynn to the escape of the doppelganger from the Knight's dungeons, an escape perhaps aided by Elena Gilbert.

A demigod interrupted what might have been a simple smash and grab retrieval of an artifact.

And most horrific of all, in the middle of the night, hundreds of Shadowkind in New York City awoke, and walked in a mindless trance down to the Hudson River to drown themselves. Only the quick thinking and combined efforts of the Knights present and their allies prevented all of them from succeeding.

Beset on all sides, a dark time awaits for the Knighthood - who were already suffering from the capture of Dragon's Claw Sir Thomas Bancroft at the hands of their long time enemy Dimitris Sarandis of Andres Isle.

In times such as these, the light can be difficult to find. Hope itself seems somewhere just out of reach.

Comments

[behindcloseddoors]

[ basically everyone who talked to kyp while he was down in the dungeon relates the same sort of thing - he seemed utterly unconcerned about his fate, was pretty cavalier about what he'd done, and didn't expect the Knights would torture him because they were too honorable, but did think he was likely to get executed. he showed no remorse for his crimes, and seemed to think of himself as better than non-doppelgangers, that what he'd done was natural for his people, including the deception necessary. the picture will got was of a textbook narcissist, and a very alien sort of psychology, unfortunately. wynn would have also mentioned that he believed elena felt a great deal of sympathy for him, despite 'what he had done to her', which seemed a pointed thing to say.

kyp's cell is pretty bare, although it shows evidence of a more troubled mind than what he's heard about. kyp has paced the cell for days, and sometimes anxiously scratched away at paint on the walls.

there's no sign of struggle at all down here, nor has the lock been forced. it doesn't seem like anyone's even remotely tried to pick it. he doesn't develop a profile of a guy who has tried to escape whatsoever, as if it were almost a surprise to him. ]

[mydesigns]

[after awhile, will gets out of the cell and goes to join abigail at the door. and ... bounces his thoughts off her, since it's not like he has any qualified professionals to talk to anymore. just a teenage girl. it's like inspector gadget. ok maybe not inspector gadget, that guy couldn't solve shit. maybe veronica mars.]

He wasn't trying to escape. [he's not sure of very much right now — his head is still reeling — but he's sure of that.]

[theminotaur]

[ her expression knits in concern and she reaches out to put her hand on his arm. the whole empathy thing scares her because he empathized with her dad. he empathized with hannibal without even knowing. who knows if the doppelgänger was also secretly a serial killer IS IT REALLY SAFE FOR SERIAL KILLER BAIT TO BE HANGING AROUND WITH THIS GUY RIGHT NOW?

but still, she will struggle to reel that all in and contribute to the conversation. ] Half the people here wanted to see him dead. The dungeon was the safest place for him.

[mydesigns]

They may want to see him dead, but he didn't think they would actually do anything to him. Not torture. He expected to be executed, though, sooner or later. [he emits a sigh and takes off his glasses to clean them with his shirt.] If Elena had sympathy for him, maybe she acted on it by releasing him. Giving him a ... get out of jail free card. Literally.

[theminotaur]

Do you think that man at the convention had something to do with it? The woman he was with... [ you know, she did that thing. with her brain. abigail remembers because of her mom trigger. ]

[mydesigns]

How?

[theminotaur]

He said he had enough disappointments and this doppelgänger is... a bad guy. [ she seems hesitant about that (because she is pro-doppelgänger ok), but she's obviously implying that it was one of crombe's bad guys. ] Maybe his being caught was one of those disappointments and someone got to... Elena to correct it. I don't think his people would mind using her that way.

[mydesigns]

[he doesn't like it, because it's out of left field considering everything else he knows, but he considers it.] They hated Shadowkind. Why would he care so much as to orchestrate the escape of someone who was an "other"?

[theminotaur]

Because he's useful.

[mydesigns]

Rescuing his favorite cat from the animal shelter. [he humorlessly snorts and shakes his head.]

[brokenteacup]

That woman made people think I said stuff I obviously didn't say. Maybe she did something to Elena? [ she shifts back and forth on her feet, rubbing her arms uncomfortably. ] Two doppelgängers under their thumb would be better than one.

[mydesigns]

I would have to know more about Elena.

[brokenteacup]

We could find her room. [ she takes his hand. come on, dad, getting out of this dungeon post haste, please. ]

[mydesigns]

[wheeeeee, they're off.]

[ex_ric243]

[When they arrive, the door is already open. Looks like someone beat them to the punch because Alaric is already standing inside.

He isn't exactly rummaging through drawers, but he was in here not too long ago and he's trying to see if anything sticks out as missing or disturbed.

It was supposed to help him keep his mind off of ... everything, but so far it hasn't done shit to help him keep from worrying about Elena.]

[mydesigns]

[oh. well. will peers in the doorway at ric like wut.]

... Am I disturbing something?

[theminotaur]

[ creeeeeeeeeeepy. she backs up a little to behind will. ]

[ex_ric243]

[He turns at the sound of another man's voice, almost immediately just as suspicious by their arrival.]

Depends. Who are you?

[mydesigns]

Will Graham, former FBI Special Agent.

[theminotaur]

He's a profiler. [ gosh she is so helpful. ]

[ex_ric243]

I guess that explains why you're here. [Well, one of you at least...]

Alaric Saltzman. [Because he'd been given a name, so.] I'm with the Dragon's Hoard.

[mydesigns]

I was just squired last week. [he shrugs, looking around the room from the doorway to avoid making any eye contact with ric. as is his wont.] I thought I'd help by ... doing what I do best.

[ex_ric243]

Knock yourself out. [He steps aside, since this guy looks a little hesitant to enter.]

[theminotaur]

[ she doesn't quite make eye contact for a second, but then she grows a pair and glances up. she can be will's jack crawford right now. ] Do you know Elena? Will needs to know more about her, maybe we could ask you some questions, too.

[ex_ric243]

[All this avoidance of eye contact is making him think they're the creepy ones tbh.]

What do you want to know?