xp_logs | Dark Dimension: Breaking and Entering

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Amanda, Jubilee, Doug, and Marie-Ange takes things into their own hands. What's a little breaking and entering to a group of seasoned spies?

Marie-Ange pulled up the photos she had taken of the Sanctum on her phone and tapped at them one at a time, sending them to the devices her team held. "Before we go in, I am not certain if these will have changed, but if the strange floorplan is stable, then the library should still be on the second floor. Jubilee, the actual lock and alarm should be easy, but I am certain there will be magical nonsense backing it up. Disarm it, wait for Amanda's word, and then we go fast."

She paused. "Revise that. Doug, go knock on the door. Be desperate. Distract whoever answers."

Doug frowned. It would almost certainly be that Drumm guy who had escorted them to the Ancient One. He rifled his pockets, trying to come up with some way of distracting the man. Keys, one small ceramic knife, his phone...hm. He rapped at the door of the sanctum and took a few quick breaths so as to appear like he'd been running back with an important message.

The door opened slowly, and Daniel Drumm appeared as if he had been waiting on the other side of the door for just this very moment. He had not been, of course, nor had he rushed to the door, at least judging by his calm demeanor and the lack of any notable sweat drops on his forehead or upper lip. He looked at Doug, his expression placid. "Ah yes," he said, a note of cheer in his voice. "What can I do for you?"

"Hi." Doug did his best to look goofy and embarrassed. "So, um, wow, this is kind of awkward." He wrung his hands, talking a bit quicker as he fidgeted. "So, I was wondering...like...if you're seeing anyone?" When Drumm raised an eyebrow, and before he could reply, Doug smacked his forehead. "Shit, I mean, not for me. I am. Seeing someone, that is." He warmed to the conversation, gesturing animatedly. "My friend - Amanda? I could tell that you and she had a little bit of-" He did the 'eyes to eyes' gesture, and then flickered his hands as if to suggest sparks flying. "And...well, she doesn't get out as much as she should..." Oh lord, was Amanda going to murder him. "And I thought I'd do the - lord, this is so very high school - but I thought maybe if I put in a word for her, gave you her number..." He held up his phone and wiggled it in front of Drumm's face. "Like, you two could go grab a coffee or something?"

Jubilee paused in her climb, waiting to see how things would play out. She trusted Doug to do what he did best, just as she would do her own job when the time came.

There was a ripple in the brick wall of the building next to the Sanctum, and Amanda's head popped out, followed by the rest of the witch herself as she perched on a windowsill. "I'm in place," she murmured into the headset. "Bloody place is still a blind spot to New York, tho'. Must be one hell of a spell on it to avoid detection, but I think I can crack it. And Doug? You're a dead man."

"Smash and grab. I do not think it even needs Doug and I, except as backup." Marie-Ange instructed. "Once Doug gives the word, I will come berate him for being an overbearing well-meaning friend, and beg Daniel Drumm's forgiveness on everyone's behalf." Even sorcerers were vulnerable to social manipulation. "Just be fast, please and thank you."

"Anyway," Daniel Drumm said, wrapping up some monologue he'd accidentally started in response to Doug's inquiry, "what was I saying?" He paused and scratched his left eyebrow. "Oh, yeah, sure." He retrieved his phone, tapping in his passcode. "Just type in her digits for me."

Doug fumbled the phone a bit, juggling it and his own before entering a string of numbers into Drumm's. "Ah, perfect. Thanks for that. And letting me put the word in for my friend." He knew Marie-Ange would pick up on the grammatical mismatch.

Marie-Ange came around the corner at a fast walk, heels clacking on the sidewalk loudly. Before she even reached Doug, she had her hands in the air, one pointing at his face, one gesturing towards the nearest subway station. "You! No, no not this again, no. Stop." She reached him in two long strides, and plucked a phone out of his hands. "No, stop. Amanda is already upset, you do not get to interfere!" She stabbed at the phone harshly, frowned and then dumped it in her pocket. "The other one please, so I can erase her phone number or email or tinder or whatever you have given this poor man!"

Watching the scene play out from her perch, Amanda grinned slightly. Reaching up, she grabbed the telephone wire that led to the Sanctum, using her connection with New York to push a counter spell down the cable and into the fabric of the building itself. Luckily, New York had picked up on her irritation with the whole situation and was perversely amused to lend a hand - the protection wards on the Sanctum shuddered and blinked out.

"Ten minutes, J. In and out," Amanda said into her headset, aware that the Sanctum seemed to be fighting back against her interference. "Can't hold it longer than that."

"But no pressure," Jubilee murmured, heading through the open window she'd reached. It was like these people were so inclined toward magic to protect them that they forgot the simpler methods of entry. "Give me a warning at five."

"You're in the wrong job if you wanted no pressure," was Amanda's retort, voice tight with effort.

"I think you like this kind of thing!" Marie-Ange was yelling at Doug, but the comment was for Jubilee, really. Doug hated being yelled
at, Jubilee liked being inside pressure cookers. "What is wrong with you, Amanda's students are missing and you are trying to set her up?"
She made grasping hands at the other phone, while Doug played keep-away with it.

"Look, why is it such a bad thing that I want my friends to be happy and find people who share their interests?" Doug fended Marie-Ange off with an elbow while holding the other phone low and away from his body. "And he seems nice!" he pointed out, waving at Drumm, who seemed almost transfixed by the spectacle playing out in front of him.

"This place is seriously weird," Jubilee murmured quietly as she headed toward the door that Marie-Ange had noted on her map. It was the work of seconds to pick the lock. "I totally think that cloak back there flipped me off."

She headed into the library, the book she was looking for clear in her mind.

"Don't touch anything except what we're after," Amanda replied. "I wouldn't trust any of the shite there."

"Pity, some of this stuff would sell for a mint," Jubilee murmured, pulling the shelf with the book they were looking for towards her.

It was like the people here never expected anyone to get past the wards. Apart from a short set of chains holding the book in place, there was no other security at all. Jubilee undid the chains and lifted the book from it's shelf, careful not to open it as she did.

She knew enough of magic to know you didn't fuck around with it, or with anything associated with it unless you wanted to be in a world of pain.

"I've got it, heading out now."

"Good. Let's get the fuck out of here and get my kids back." Amanda directed her next comment to Doug and Marie-Ange. "Time to wrap it up - we're good here."

Doug filched the phone back from Marie-Ange and put it in Drumm's pocket, patting the man's shoulder companionably. "Er, anyway, we'll just be going now," he said, pushing Marie-Ange in front of him even as she continued to harangue him. He mouthed 'call her!' and wiggled 'phone fingers' at his ear back toward the other man as he wrangled his girlfriend down the sidewalk.