xp_logs | Fires From The Ashes

Emma leads a team to the London Hellfire Club to access their records.

It was only through special permission that the team was allowed into the archives. People were not generally allowed access, but it was clear to all involved that this was a necessity. Because of that, the team was given leave to research the many texts in the library, permission given by the Red Queen herself.

They'd been given a task -- to research the name En Sabah Nur. It was hoped that the name alone would help provide information, a plan, anything really, that would help them deal with the situation.

Wanda was grateful indeed, not only because of sheer necessity, but also because she knew a little something about opening protected archives to others. A few months ago, or even weeks, and gaining entry would have been a laughable attempt but times certainly had changed and not for the better. "Thank you," she said, turned toward the Red Queen. She turned her head at the others standing in the archives. "We are looking for anything that might bring us even the smallest amount of information. Even if it appears it might be nothing."

She pointed to a cleared table. "That will be our gathering spot of the information we find." If they were so lucky as to find enough to fill a table. "Re-shelve non-related data so as not to confuse the matter. Are there any texts or materials that will need to be translated to English?" Wanda's question was directed back towards the former Red Rook.

Jane Hampshire gave Wanda an amused smirk. "Most of them, I'd imagine. Including the ones ostensibly in English." The new Red Queen had worked in and around this archive most of her life, read a dozen of the dead languages the codices and texts were in. She had initially been slow to open up access, but it was thanks to the people here that she was the Red Queen, and not on the outside looking in of a major coup. "However, I've taken the liberty of putting together some notes and information in our databases around the name you spoke of. It should give you a strong starting point."

Adrienne huffed out a sigh and touched the list so she could Read it and wouldn't have to look at it again. "Have I mentioned today how much I hate my mutation?" she muttered to no one in particular. She'd said it multiple times since being asked to come on this task and was far beyond the point of actually wanting an answer. Reading and researching were not on her list of favourite things, but because of the nature of her powers she was quite useful in an archive and knew the stakes were too high for her to refuse to do this. But that didn't mean she wasn't dreading the headaches she'd probably have for weeks. "I've got a couple Latin dictionaries rattling around up here somewhere," she announced, pointing to her head, "So I'll take the stuff on this list in Latin and see if I can muddle through it."

Topaz cast an uneasy look around the room. Books usually put her at ease, but the current circumstances and the overwhelming feeling of wrong negated that. "I can start in the back," she offered quietly. "Work my way up." She couldn't do much, but she could do research with the best of them.

"Take Billy with you," Amanda replied, just as quietly. The less attention the Hellfire Club - any Hellfire Club - put on her students, the better for them. "Farouk always talked about En-Sabah-Nur coming from Egypt, so focus around there for now and I'll come join you in a bit." A bit louder, she added, for the Red Queen's sake: "I've studied Arabic, so there's one less language we need translated." She ignored the stab of grief at the memory of just who had taught her Arabic - there would be time for feelings later. Personal wasn't the same as important.

"I know a bit of Hebrew," Billy started to offer, when he recalled something Marie-Ange had said once, years back. "If you are ever stuck in a foreign country where you need to speak the language and you find yourself in need of being fluent, you should cheat." "Well, actually," he said, "I'm pretty good at it, and that--ah, ability--helps with some other older languages." He gave Amanda a pointed look. "If you find anything no one else can read, maybe you can help me...'translate.'"

Emma glanced at the Red Queen. "I know it violates a number of Club protocols, but in the circumstances, I wonder if I could press you for assistance, if I require it." She let her request echo in Jane's mind, a soft strum of telepathy across what Emma tended to describe as a mind's dictionaries. "Time, in this case, is of the essence. If I can read some of the more obscure texts quickly, well... Let's just say your help would be appreciated." Emma's tone didn't vary from the calmest courtesy, nor did she use her telepathy again, but somehow the message about what she would do, if the Red Queen's help was not voluntarily forthcoming, was abundantly clear.

"A request, queen to queen?" Jane arched a brow at her. "I would not turn down a future favour from the White Court easily. Very well. Let us... begin."

***

It was slow going but they were making progress. After some time, it was necessary to re-group and come together to share information.

Amanda rubbed her eyes and set the book she'd been skimming through down on the table they'd eventually gathered around. "So, it's official. We have a 2000 year old crazy bloke ranting about space gods."

Adrienne stopped the repeated thumping of her forehead against the desk and looked up, bleary-eyed, at Amanda. "Judgey, race-wiping-out-y space gods," she elaborated pointedly before she put her head back on the desk, mentally sifting through more information she'd gathered with her powers but hadn't digested yet.

Topaz half-considered putting her sweatshirt under Ms. Frost's head - the constant thumping looked painful - but maybe it was a way for her to process the things she'd learned? Either way, best not to interrupt. She put her sweatshirt next to Adrienne's head in case she wanted it and pulled out her notebook. "That seems to be the general consensus," she said as she flipped through the notes she'd scribbled out. "That and some stuff about ways to challenge the race-wiping-out-y space gods." Although how one challenged a god was beyond her.

"Two thousand years." Wanda's voice was soft, curious and horrified at the same time. "No wonder these texts never made it into greater publication. They've all been seen as hoax by anyone with even the faintest grasp of history." Though did the Court gather them because they knew something about them or simply because they were deemed valuable? It did not seem prudent to inquire at the moment. "Did anyone else stumble across references of being able to challenge these gods?"

"It's like..." Billy trailed off as he looked up from one of dusty tomes. Trying to focus amid the jumble of words and languages floating through his mind was more challenging than he expected. His spell had worked, more or less. He couldn't exactly read all the texts but skimming them, certain words would pop up, and if he focused enough, they made sense. Sometimes. He shook his head, trying to clear the muddle and the headache. "It's like Stargate. All these myths...they are actually real. Except...you could kill the Goa'uld."

Emma reached a hand down and lightly touched the back of her sister’s head, using a trace of her power to take away some of the thudding pain from Adrienne. “Myths are a good way to hide truths in plain sight,” she said. “And thankfully someone had the sense to note down a few oral histories before the last speakers of a few languages died out. There was something from a rather obscure tribe that lived and died in Central Africa that mentioned a bird made from fire that protected them when a hole opened in the sky.” She inclined her head at the Red Queen, a thanks for permission to access the books and the capacity to read them.

Snuggling into Topaz's pillow-sweater, Adrienne looked up at Emma, smirking. Now that her sister had taken the worst of her headache away, she felt more like herself again. "A Firebird? Like the Stravinsky ballet? We can save ourselves by performing a ballet? Or, wait! Like a Pontiac? Maybe we can appease the space gods with an offering of a Pontiac Firebird?" She'd come across a reference to the bird of fire herself, remembering the phrase, but now she had to find out which mental box she'd put it in her Repository so she could digest the Reading it was contained within. She put her face back down into the sweater to open the floor to someone else while she continued to sift, in case they'd also read something about the fire bird.

Amanda repressed the urge to roll her eyes at Adrienne - she was always loopy after too much Reading. "Firebird as in giant flame-y bird," she supplied. "Like..." she reached for a particular book, and after a moment of flipping through pages, she stopped and held it up so everyone could see the engraving. "This one, in medieval Germany. 'An angel of fire came down from the sky and saved us all from Judgment Day...'" she read, translating the Old German as she went. "And like what they saw Jean do at Muir," she added. "When she fried Magneto - she went all firebird at him."

"Is that all we could find?" Wanda asked, gently putting back books that had served no purpose. It was a form of pacing - she was still trying to process everything that had happened. The death of Magneto, for which she cried no tears over, still seemed strange and out of place with her world. Add on writings older than should be possible, battling gods ... No. This wasn't exactly a normal situation, even by their standards. "Because if not, then I believe we need to get the word out to the others about the firebird and the ancient writings. Sooner than later because Jean manifesting the exact thing we're looking for cannot be accidental."

Topaz was still scribbling in her notebook as everyone talked - at the bottom of the page she wrote firebird? on one side and Dr. GS? on the other and drew a line between them. "So this is the end of days mad priests are always walkin' through streets preachin' about?" She murmured, more to herself. "I thought there'd be more thunder."

“Give it time,” murmured Emma, lightly stroking Adrienne’s hair. “A bird made of fire and mad space gods? There’ll be plenty of thunder to come. Just... give it time.”