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

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles watches and hates to say it? But this guy is good. Once Adam gives them the all clear, he heads on in to get this show on the road. ]

So are you gonna- link up or whatever? [Or did that happen? Would he ever know when it happened? Man that power is cool.]

[ex_psionic439]

Yeah. After we've dealt with the people inside. [He does not need to split his concentration on more than one task at a time. And, besides the air traffic control operators, there might be another security guard or two in there.

He glances over at Jaime again, because the sword was really ... a bad idea. But he's not even making a dig now, he's being entirely serious. These were civilians not like enemy henchmen.] Try not to stab anyone.

[immuno]

[ Wow.

Like, really though, wow.

Lydia hangs back from the initial confrontation, one hand held near her chest in a defensive stance. Her head tilts as Adam begins to work the guard, and when he opens the door for them, she doesn't entirely believe it. Did that really just happen?

She doesn't impress easily, but that ...

Straightening, she walks through the door, never taking her eyes off the guard until they're out on the tarmac. ]

How long have you been able to do that?

[ex_psionic439]

As long as I can remember. [No for real, he's been like primed for this type of thing since he was old enough to start training for it. But this isn't share time so once everyone's out of the terminal building, it's a straight shot to the air traffic control tower. Of course, keeping themselves from being spotted out here was going to be a lot more difficult since random ass people weren't supposed to be taking tours on the runway and anyone who looked out of the fucking walls made of windows from inside the terminal building they just exited and happens to look down is going to notice them.]

So I'm thinking all of us making a run for it is going to be way too obvious. [But that's all he's got to offer on the matter because his beautiful wisdom score has failed him and he only rolled an 11. But at least he could consider that much before just taking off. Anyone else want to offer up some suggestions?]

[twinfucker]

[Nat 20 wisdom. No one fucking saw that coming.] What about the cars where they're putting the cloth trunks? Or one of the other vehicles? If we steal one, we can probably cover a lot of distance before they realize we're not supposed to be there.

[ex_psionic439]

[Adam sure the fuck didn't. He stares at Jaime like when the hell did you grow a brain.]

That's ... actually not a bad idea. [And look one of those trucks happens to be parked like right the fuck there.]

[immuno]

[ It really is a good plan. Lydia steps forward, glancing around the immediate area to search out an unoccupied luggage car. One of the baggage handlers steps out of his, lighting up a cigarette and pulling out his cell phone—on break, presumably. Turning to the others, Lydia raises her eyebrows, then she starts off towards the car as discreetly as she can.

She'll invite herself to the driver's seat since Lila ain't around, quickly sizing up the levers and pedals (wis 20 total). There's no point to moving silently on a tarmac because there are literally jet engines everywhere, and everyone is wearing protective ear-gear. ]

[ex_psionic439]

[Adam follows a decent enough distance behind her to prevent it looking like the fucking parade has come to town. Shotgun, assholes. Y'all can climb in the back. Yeah that's all I have to offer right now.]

[twinfucker]

[Yeah, Jaime's not even complaining about getting in the back He can hide with the suitcases where people are less likely to see him.]

[killingtodeath]

[Know who doesn't want to be in the back? This guy. But grumbling about that seems stupid. Time to focus on the mission and not the fact that Lydia may or may not want Adam's dick.]

[ex_psionic439]

[So I rolled to see if a guard was posted outside the tower, and what luck. No one was even watching that shit. Which meant that any security was probably inside with the air traffic control operators. So assuming Lydia's wisdom check will let her operate this thing with no problems because it's like a fucking golf cart basically, they all arrive safely in front of the tower!]

This could get tricky. I can only deal with one person at a time. If there's ten people in there, we're fucked.

[immuno]

[ The less good news is that I rolled a d4 to decide how many people were inside air traffic control and it's more than one. ]

[ Lydia responsibly looks over her shoulder while driving the baggage cart across the tarmac. She's pretty much weaving all over the place as she does it too, courtesy of a drive check of 4. ]

When we get inside, if there's any security, you should stop them—don't kill them, though. [ She addresses the command to Jaime over her shoulder. ] Wynn said that the security footage should be inside as well—we can dump it when we leave. So, Adam, you can persuade an actual operator to follow protocol to ground the planes, and Stiles and I will take care of anyone else.

[ At no point in saying this does she actually look forward. Her gaze shifts from Jaime to Adam, and it is for that reason exactly that she drives the baggage car straight into the side of the Air Traffic Control tower, where it bumps back slightly at the sudden jolt. Luckily the tower's base is made of concrete and the carts are made of like ... old bumper car parts. ]

[ex_psionic439]

[It's too bad that these shuttles don't come with oh shit handles because Adam would have been white knuckling that shit as Lydia swerves all over the place. And then they are crashing into the side of the control tower. Like, literally crashing. Way to perpetuate the stereotype about female drivers tho.]

Jesus fucking Christ! [This is directed at Lydia, as is the look of bitch do you even have your license?? Hopefully no one was paying enough attention to see that shit go down because it won't even matter if they get flagged before they can get inside.

But now that they're all alive and suffering from whiplash after Mr. Toad's Wild Ride--]

The problem is that if you all go in swinging, it's going to be a lot harder to convince anyone to do what we need them to. I thought you guys said you could handle it?

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles is definitely 1000000% awake after that motorized adventure. Climbing out of the cart thing, he looks mildly offended by this doubt situation coming off of Adam.]

We can handle it. This is us handling it. You worry about your end of things and leave the rest of it to us.

[ex_psionic439]

[He takes a moment to ... stare at Stiles like this was you handling it? Really? The luggage cart that was kissing the wall after a sudden collision? Y'all are not exactly inspiring confidence over here, just saying.

Adam has just resigned himself to the fact that they're all going to get arrested at this point. It'll be easier to swallow if he just expects that shit from now on. But he's going to head into the control tower now.]

[twinfucker]

Oh, I don't believe I'll be the one killing anyone. I drive better than that, and I'm still not sure how to make a car move. [Seriously isn't the car to stop through something other than blunt force? Jaime climbs out and starts towards the tower.]

[immuno]

Good.

[ She turns to Jaime as she climbs out, barring his way from the tower. ]

Because you've just been promoted to distraction. You'll get a slap on the wrist for being out here—pretend you just came through the Veil in the wrong place. It shouldn't be too hard. I'll go up first, and send security after you. After that, Adam and Stiles can sneak in and help me with whoever's left.

[ With a quick indicative gesture back to the car, Lydia turns and flounces into the Air Control Tower. TBC when we see what Jaime does with that, I guess. ]

[twinfucker]

[Jaime shrugs.] Not a bad plan. [And something he can easily do, since he does remember pretty clearly what that was like. He unsheathes his sword and swings it down on the front of the vehicle (atk 19, dmg 15).]

Come on, you craven beast, fight!

[immuno]

[ Perfect.

There are three employees inside the air traffic control tower. One toils away at the computers, one watches the security station, and the other is positioned near the door as a more official guard. When Lydia bursts in, the two security officers jump to attention.

Immediately, she starts spinning it. ]

Okay. I realize I'm new, and I don't know how everything works around here, but there is some complete lunatic attacking my baggage cart right now with a giant sword, and I did not sign up for this. [ With her bluff of 22, she's an entirely convincing (if panicky) new hire. They stare at her a moment longer and she throws her hands out, glancing between them with raised eyebrows. ] ... Well?!

[ They both burst out of the tower and run down the stairs for Jaime. Lydia folds her arms over her chest, huffing finally, and then turns to lean out the door, waving Adam and Stiles in. It'll take the guards a tag round to reach the bottom of the tower. ]

[ex_psionic439]

[Adam moves inside once the two guards have bolted down the stairs. Without wasting any time, he immediately moves over to the air traffic control operator and claps a hand on the man's shoulder.]

Some serious shit is about to go down. You need to ground all flights right now.

[He concentrates on psionically charming the man, but apparently this fucker plays nothing but brain games on his DS because his nat 20 will save sure as fuck means he ain't buyin' what Adam's selling him.]

SECURITY!!

[Yeah, they're totally fucked and this night will be spent in jail whoops.]

[killingtodeath]

Security is kind of tied up right now. There's some maniac with a sword down there. You can take your chances out there, or you can play nice with us.

What we're asking? It's important. And it's not like we can actually do anything destructive by grounding the planes. If we wanted to hurt somebody, we'd be asking you to have them take off. So maybe just stop screaming your head off for two seconds and think about how the three of us don't really look like much, but we must be, right? No one would be that stupid to come in without some sort of plan of attack. Are you really interested in risking that just to delay some flights for a few hours? Is that really worth it to you to chance? [Diplomacy 22 to match Lydia's bluff. I can't even make up how this shit happens.]

[twinfucker]

[When security comes out, Jaime is holding his sword in front of him cautiously, staring at the car like it might be a threat. He does not share the bluff/diplomacy skills Lydia and Stiles have, though, cause he's... a little too relaxed looking to be believable (bluff 7).]

Stay back! It may not be dead yet!

[immuno]

[ Well, one of them bought it. He looks to the other like Is this guy serious?? Unfortunately, the other has half a brain in his head, and just slaps his coworker on the arm, drawing his gun. The other mimics the gesture, and they aim at Jaime.

Identify yourself!

[ Upstairs, nat 20-chan rolled a fucking 19 this time. DS Brain Games work, apparently, that shit is telepathy hooked on phonics. Luckily, Stiles still wins that fight. It seems pretty reasonable to claim—after all, they'd have come in shooting if they were terrorists. He leans in, flipping a few switches, and pulls the microphone closer. ]

Attention all personnel. Flights have been grounded due to averse weather conditions until further notice. Incoming flights are asked to detour to Gatwick.

[ For those in the audience, the weather is ... fucking fine. Some chatter comes in over the radio of complaining and dissenting pilots. He looks back at them. ]

That won't last long. What's this about?

[ Lydia smiles cheekily, stepping forward to pull his headset off and put it on herself. ]

Why don't you let us worry about that? Take a load off. We're just trying to keep everyone safe. [ Charm 21 vs 17 will save. He sliiiides back in his chair and lets her at the control deck. ]

[ex_psionic439]

[So apparently Stiles wasn't kidding when he said they could handle it. I guess that's five points to both Slytherin and Hufflepuff, and none for Ravenclaw. Yeah, Adam's keeping track. I guess that makes Jaime Gryffindor? (unsure)

But as effective as them talking to nat-20-chan was for the moment, Adam wasn't going to feel comfortable dipping out unless this air traffic control operator was officially a member of team help keep them all out of jail. Which meant getting in his head.]

Help them with whatever they need. [I guess the operator in question was too busy staring at Lydia's tits because his combined will save and +5 bonus of knowing what was up only added to 13, and that ain't enough to keep Adam out this time. At least this way he wouldn't be asking a million questions and potentially doubting their story.]

I'm gonna go find Lila and her boyfriend. [Unless there was anything else he is gonna head off to do that.]

[twinfucker]

[Jaime is totally Gryffindor. It's a lion obsession thing.

Meanwhile downstairs, Jaime shoots the other two men a look.] Ser Barristan Selmy. [He sounds a bit more believable this time (bluff 13) as he turns cautiously towards them.] Who are you? And what is this strange place?