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xp_logsX-Force takes on the very serious task of a sacrifice to appease the nature spirit. They pour energy into a ritual, and kill a man and maybe the smallest change could make a difference.
Content Warning: Murder.
With the evacuation of the Inner Harbor and all of the surrounding area, Fort McHenry and it's five-pointed walls were quiet and empty. Security had fled with the tourists, and while the gates had been locked, it was a simple manner to re-open them.
The Baltimore Coven had begged off, and X-Force had let them, happily, but they had provided herb bundles and a few more blocks of local marble, just in case.
Topaz was well aware that she looked a little weird, sitting on the ground, alternating between four different phones (including her own), and checking and re-checking the supplies they had at hand. She was also completely soaking wet and in a bad mood and pitied the person who dared to say anything about it.
"Okay," she finally said, looking up from whoever's phone she was holding (Darcy's, she was pretty sure). "We want to be facing the harbor to present the sacrifice to the spirit and..." She pushed herself up slightly to begin moving around the blocks of marble (yes they were heavy, no she wasn't asking for help), looking back at one of the phones to reference the shape she was trying to create - a rough set up of the five-pointed star fort they were currently in. "Bloody hell of course I don't carry a bowl with me, who carries a bloody bowl?"
She settled for her metal water bottle, pouring out whatever was left of her water and shaking it a few times for good measure before grabbing the small bottle of sea water someone else had retrieved. She poured it into her own bottle and quickly shut it again, putting it in the middle of her rough marble creation. She started going through the herb bags next, muttering to herself, then grabbing a phone to begin searching again. "Rosemary works in a pinch I suppose, native would be, though... goldenrod?" She checked the phone. "That might work..."
Clearing her throat to catch Topaz' attention, Wanda opened the small bag she'd carried with her. "How about the state flower of Maryland?" She produced a small bouquet of black-eyed susans. A little bruised from being stuffed in the bag but they had held up well. Wanda handed them off and stepped back to let Topaz have her space.
Back off into muttering as she put together an idea. She produced a small vial from her bag, tapping a bit of each of the chosen herbs in and corking it. "Try to make it quick, and catch as much blood as you can in... I don't know, someone else can sacrifice a water bottle for this. Mix the blood with the water, mix the herbs which all carry some kind of purifying properties, bit of magic - Baltimore might be willing to help, which would be for the best." That part was added with a flick of her gaze in Amanda's direction. "I can also channel some of the spirit's anger into it, which in theory would make the spirit feel empowered knowing that it's doing something non-destructive to help. I hope. Keep the bottle with the sea water in the middle of the marble, everything gets transferred into that without moving it, and everyone think happy thoughts. That part's not required, but the positivity might be nice."
"Remind me to take you to the pet store next time I go." Amanda pulled out a flattened piece of plastic which unfolded into a small bowl. "These things are really handy." The absurdity of her words struck her - here they were about to sacrifice a human being and she was talking about collapsible dog bowls - and she frowned. "Okay, time for the knife. Clea?"
Clea reached into her oversize bag and produced a black cloth and unwrapped it to reveal a small dagger. "Will a regular small dagger do?" She held it out for Amanda to take. The subtle shake of her hand gave an indication that Clea was nervous of what was to come.
"Blood is blood - as long as it's sharp we're good." She took in the shaking as she took the knife. "Right, here's the deal. You two are support. I'll be doing the deed. No arguments."
Topaz looked up, eyes sharp. "I didn't realize you were making decisions for all of us." Yes, she could sense the nerves coming off Clea. "It's my spell." No, she wasn't generally that possessive of things, but something about the way Amanda said it just bothered her.
"I'm not going to let either of you get messed up by blood magic. It's too dangerous and both of you are vulnerable to the type of shite that goes along with it." Amanda's expression was stony. "I'm not, so I'll be taking this on."
"And you think we will be okay with you getting messed up by blood magic? I think not. Amanda---" Clea looked up over at Marie-Ange who had put a hand on her shoulder.
"There is not enough time to argue." Marie-Ange said. "Ritual now, before the city is more damaged than it already is, discussions of who does what with regard to magic later." She took one step back, and then turned. "Doug, help me move him. The faster we get the two hundred pounds of arse into the ritual, the faster Baltimore is not crab food."
Gabriel from his position standing slightly on the fringes of the group, rolled his eyes. "Seriously," he muttered, as he strode away from the ritual to gawk at a towering statue of Orpheus whose physique was his ideal body type. "My underwear's so damp you could wring it out and solve a drought, but let's argue more about which witch is the biggest badass."
Somehow Doug got the impression Amanda wasn't going to much enjoy the discussion with her 'ducklings' and her...girlfriend? He was pretty sure Angie was refusing to put a word to whatever she and the Brit were. She was funny like that sometimes. He thought about dropping his own thoughts in about Amanda's martyr complex, but a) not really his place, and b) massively hypocritical. Also c), moving said lump of arse into the ritual. "Two hundred? I think at least two fifty," he observed, grasping the man under his armpits and dragging him into the center of the space. The exertion left him a bit short of breath, and he shook his head. "Maybe three hundred, geez," he muttered as he staggered over to 'hold up a wall' away from the action.
Amanda bit her tongue and gripped the knife tighter in her hand. The 'lump of arse' - better known as Mr. Paul Bryan, state senator - rolled over to his side and began to groggily pull himself to his knees as the (sedative/taser) he'd been hit with began to wear off. No time for arguments indeed. Her jaw set, Amanda stepped behind him and grabbed the hair at the back of his head and roughly jerked it back so that he was staring upwards at the sky.
"Please," he managed thickly. "Whatever you want. I'll pay."
"Yeah, you will." And with that Amanda drew the knife across his throat, firm and unflinching even as a hot spray of blood from his jugular hit her in the face. She dropped the knife, pulled the collapsible bowl back out of her jacket pocket and held it under the red torrent until it was full. Then she let him go, letting him drop to the ground and continue to writhe and gurgle with ever-increasing weakness. "Topaz. The water and the herbs. Quick."
"Messy," Darcy murmured mostly to herself, stepping to the side of the splash zone.
Topaz's jaw was set, expression unreadable as she swirled the contents of her water bottle, infusing just a little bit of magic into it before she poured it into a bowl. There was a gentle tug in the air as the spell pulled on some extra magic - nothing drastic, just a little bit from anything available and whatever was in the air, stirred up by the raging spirit.
"Might wanna put that down," she said flatly, stepping away. The contents of the bowl waited until everyone was safely out of range before surging to life. Colors swirled to life in the air, umbrellaing out to catch the rain, then seeming to climb into the drops of water, toward the clouds. It spread out, searching for the spirit, trying to comfort it, placate it.
It's okay. He's gone. He can't hurt you again.
It wasn't a perfect fix. Humans were still awful. There was still pollution, and terrible politicians hell-bent on destroying the environment for some unfathomable reason, but this one person who had been causing damage was gone, and sometimes even the smallest change could make a difference.
And the rain started to slow.
Doug had hung back during the ritual, letting the magic types do their thing. His part of the job was to make sure they weren't interrupted, and then tie up the loose ends regarding Delegate Sleazington of Lower Douchebagina. He was occupying his time during the ritual by cataloguing the list of tasks needed to create a trail that led to a much more prosaic end for the man when a brief bit of vertigo hit him and he wavered on his feet. He tugged at the collar of the jacket he was using to keep the rain off, feeling sweat gathering there. "Is it supposed to feel this warm for the ritual?" he asked Clea in a soft voice so as not to interrupt the main events.
Amanda noticed something going on with Doug and Clea, but there was no time to do more than raise an eyebrow. Opening her connection with the city, she mentally crossed her fingers and allowed the city's consciousness to join in with the spell. You don't have to kiss and make up, but please, acknowledge that we're trying to fix things, she mentally scolded Baltimore's awareness. Enough of the stubbornness. We're helping..
The colors began to coalesce, forming a smaller (relatively speaking) ball in the sky, presumably wrapping around the spirit. Topaz pushed a damp strand of hair away from her face, head tilted slightly as she tried to stay aware of the emotions in the air. There was still anger - no surprise. But also something else. A touch of acceptance, maybe? Begrudging, not entirely thrilled, but sometimes that was the best they could ask for.
The spirit buzzed in frustrated acceptance, a splash of the slowing rain hitting the participants as the colors shrank her down into a small sphere. The colors swirled, oranges with hints of yellows and reds as it hovered in front of annoyed-magic-sympathy, dropping down into her eventually outstretched hand with the mental equivalent of a petulant sigh. She would accept this sacrifice of blood and herb, with only mild regret that she'd not also taken the time to accept the advances of haughty-sharp-regal. A small flash of prismatic light and the ball was warm but still in Topaz's hand.
Darcy stepped forward with a sigh. "The clean-up for this is going to suck," she said dryly, eyes moving over the blood and spray as she knelt to dig in her bag. A towel, a few plastic bags, and a packet of body wipes plopped next to her, a muttered "well that's certainly not enough" and then louder, "Nat? Come with me to find a janitorial closet? Maybe we can get some trash bags and bleach to store him and mop up the blood. And to stash the bloody clothes or wipes of people who made a mess in the name of drama, Amanda."
"I've definitely been part of messier clean ups but this is certainly up there." Natasha stood with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. They'd also need to sanitize down the whole general vicinity to ensure no blood spatter, fingerprints, or other random detritus was left that could tie them to this time and place. "Might need to raid a few closets and possibly need someone to 'port into a few stores for specialty ingredients."
Topaz carefully knelt in front of the box waiting to take the spirit to her new home. "Safe travels, mate." She tipped her hand, encouraging the ball of light to move forward. "Maybe wait a century or so before trying this again, yeah?"
Content Warning: Murder.
With the evacuation of the Inner Harbor and all of the surrounding area, Fort McHenry and it's five-pointed walls were quiet and empty. Security had fled with the tourists, and while the gates had been locked, it was a simple manner to re-open them.
The Baltimore Coven had begged off, and X-Force had let them, happily, but they had provided herb bundles and a few more blocks of local marble, just in case.
Topaz was well aware that she looked a little weird, sitting on the ground, alternating between four different phones (including her own), and checking and re-checking the supplies they had at hand. She was also completely soaking wet and in a bad mood and pitied the person who dared to say anything about it.
"Okay," she finally said, looking up from whoever's phone she was holding (Darcy's, she was pretty sure). "We want to be facing the harbor to present the sacrifice to the spirit and..." She pushed herself up slightly to begin moving around the blocks of marble (yes they were heavy, no she wasn't asking for help), looking back at one of the phones to reference the shape she was trying to create - a rough set up of the five-pointed star fort they were currently in. "Bloody hell of course I don't carry a bowl with me, who carries a bloody bowl?"
She settled for her metal water bottle, pouring out whatever was left of her water and shaking it a few times for good measure before grabbing the small bottle of sea water someone else had retrieved. She poured it into her own bottle and quickly shut it again, putting it in the middle of her rough marble creation. She started going through the herb bags next, muttering to herself, then grabbing a phone to begin searching again. "Rosemary works in a pinch I suppose, native would be, though... goldenrod?" She checked the phone. "That might work..."
Clearing her throat to catch Topaz' attention, Wanda opened the small bag she'd carried with her. "How about the state flower of Maryland?" She produced a small bouquet of black-eyed susans. A little bruised from being stuffed in the bag but they had held up well. Wanda handed them off and stepped back to let Topaz have her space.
Back off into muttering as she put together an idea. She produced a small vial from her bag, tapping a bit of each of the chosen herbs in and corking it. "Try to make it quick, and catch as much blood as you can in... I don't know, someone else can sacrifice a water bottle for this. Mix the blood with the water, mix the herbs which all carry some kind of purifying properties, bit of magic - Baltimore might be willing to help, which would be for the best." That part was added with a flick of her gaze in Amanda's direction. "I can also channel some of the spirit's anger into it, which in theory would make the spirit feel empowered knowing that it's doing something non-destructive to help. I hope. Keep the bottle with the sea water in the middle of the marble, everything gets transferred into that without moving it, and everyone think happy thoughts. That part's not required, but the positivity might be nice."
"Remind me to take you to the pet store next time I go." Amanda pulled out a flattened piece of plastic which unfolded into a small bowl. "These things are really handy." The absurdity of her words struck her - here they were about to sacrifice a human being and she was talking about collapsible dog bowls - and she frowned. "Okay, time for the knife. Clea?"
Clea reached into her oversize bag and produced a black cloth and unwrapped it to reveal a small dagger. "Will a regular small dagger do?" She held it out for Amanda to take. The subtle shake of her hand gave an indication that Clea was nervous of what was to come.
"Blood is blood - as long as it's sharp we're good." She took in the shaking as she took the knife. "Right, here's the deal. You two are support. I'll be doing the deed. No arguments."
Topaz looked up, eyes sharp. "I didn't realize you were making decisions for all of us." Yes, she could sense the nerves coming off Clea. "It's my spell." No, she wasn't generally that possessive of things, but something about the way Amanda said it just bothered her.
"I'm not going to let either of you get messed up by blood magic. It's too dangerous and both of you are vulnerable to the type of shite that goes along with it." Amanda's expression was stony. "I'm not, so I'll be taking this on."
"And you think we will be okay with you getting messed up by blood magic? I think not. Amanda---" Clea looked up over at Marie-Ange who had put a hand on her shoulder.
"There is not enough time to argue." Marie-Ange said. "Ritual now, before the city is more damaged than it already is, discussions of who does what with regard to magic later." She took one step back, and then turned. "Doug, help me move him. The faster we get the two hundred pounds of arse into the ritual, the faster Baltimore is not crab food."
Gabriel from his position standing slightly on the fringes of the group, rolled his eyes. "Seriously," he muttered, as he strode away from the ritual to gawk at a towering statue of Orpheus whose physique was his ideal body type. "My underwear's so damp you could wring it out and solve a drought, but let's argue more about which witch is the biggest badass."
Somehow Doug got the impression Amanda wasn't going to much enjoy the discussion with her 'ducklings' and her...girlfriend? He was pretty sure Angie was refusing to put a word to whatever she and the Brit were. She was funny like that sometimes. He thought about dropping his own thoughts in about Amanda's martyr complex, but a) not really his place, and b) massively hypocritical. Also c), moving said lump of arse into the ritual. "Two hundred? I think at least two fifty," he observed, grasping the man under his armpits and dragging him into the center of the space. The exertion left him a bit short of breath, and he shook his head. "Maybe three hundred, geez," he muttered as he staggered over to 'hold up a wall' away from the action.
Amanda bit her tongue and gripped the knife tighter in her hand. The 'lump of arse' - better known as Mr. Paul Bryan, state senator - rolled over to his side and began to groggily pull himself to his knees as the (sedative/taser) he'd been hit with began to wear off. No time for arguments indeed. Her jaw set, Amanda stepped behind him and grabbed the hair at the back of his head and roughly jerked it back so that he was staring upwards at the sky.
"Please," he managed thickly. "Whatever you want. I'll pay."
"Yeah, you will." And with that Amanda drew the knife across his throat, firm and unflinching even as a hot spray of blood from his jugular hit her in the face. She dropped the knife, pulled the collapsible bowl back out of her jacket pocket and held it under the red torrent until it was full. Then she let him go, letting him drop to the ground and continue to writhe and gurgle with ever-increasing weakness. "Topaz. The water and the herbs. Quick."
"Messy," Darcy murmured mostly to herself, stepping to the side of the splash zone.
Topaz's jaw was set, expression unreadable as she swirled the contents of her water bottle, infusing just a little bit of magic into it before she poured it into a bowl. There was a gentle tug in the air as the spell pulled on some extra magic - nothing drastic, just a little bit from anything available and whatever was in the air, stirred up by the raging spirit.
"Might wanna put that down," she said flatly, stepping away. The contents of the bowl waited until everyone was safely out of range before surging to life. Colors swirled to life in the air, umbrellaing out to catch the rain, then seeming to climb into the drops of water, toward the clouds. It spread out, searching for the spirit, trying to comfort it, placate it.
It's okay. He's gone. He can't hurt you again.
It wasn't a perfect fix. Humans were still awful. There was still pollution, and terrible politicians hell-bent on destroying the environment for some unfathomable reason, but this one person who had been causing damage was gone, and sometimes even the smallest change could make a difference.
And the rain started to slow.
Doug had hung back during the ritual, letting the magic types do their thing. His part of the job was to make sure they weren't interrupted, and then tie up the loose ends regarding Delegate Sleazington of Lower Douchebagina. He was occupying his time during the ritual by cataloguing the list of tasks needed to create a trail that led to a much more prosaic end for the man when a brief bit of vertigo hit him and he wavered on his feet. He tugged at the collar of the jacket he was using to keep the rain off, feeling sweat gathering there. "Is it supposed to feel this warm for the ritual?" he asked Clea in a soft voice so as not to interrupt the main events.
Amanda noticed something going on with Doug and Clea, but there was no time to do more than raise an eyebrow. Opening her connection with the city, she mentally crossed her fingers and allowed the city's consciousness to join in with the spell. You don't have to kiss and make up, but please, acknowledge that we're trying to fix things, she mentally scolded Baltimore's awareness. Enough of the stubbornness. We're helping..
The colors began to coalesce, forming a smaller (relatively speaking) ball in the sky, presumably wrapping around the spirit. Topaz pushed a damp strand of hair away from her face, head tilted slightly as she tried to stay aware of the emotions in the air. There was still anger - no surprise. But also something else. A touch of acceptance, maybe? Begrudging, not entirely thrilled, but sometimes that was the best they could ask for.
The spirit buzzed in frustrated acceptance, a splash of the slowing rain hitting the participants as the colors shrank her down into a small sphere. The colors swirled, oranges with hints of yellows and reds as it hovered in front of annoyed-magic-sympathy, dropping down into her eventually outstretched hand with the mental equivalent of a petulant sigh. She would accept this sacrifice of blood and herb, with only mild regret that she'd not also taken the time to accept the advances of haughty-sharp-regal. A small flash of prismatic light and the ball was warm but still in Topaz's hand.
Darcy stepped forward with a sigh. "The clean-up for this is going to suck," she said dryly, eyes moving over the blood and spray as she knelt to dig in her bag. A towel, a few plastic bags, and a packet of body wipes plopped next to her, a muttered "well that's certainly not enough" and then louder, "Nat? Come with me to find a janitorial closet? Maybe we can get some trash bags and bleach to store him and mop up the blood. And to stash the bloody clothes or wipes of people who made a mess in the name of drama, Amanda."
"I've definitely been part of messier clean ups but this is certainly up there." Natasha stood with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. They'd also need to sanitize down the whole general vicinity to ensure no blood spatter, fingerprints, or other random detritus was left that could tie them to this time and place. "Might need to raid a few closets and possibly need someone to 'port into a few stores for specialty ingredients."
Topaz carefully knelt in front of the box waiting to take the spirit to her new home. "Safe travels, mate." She tipped her hand, encouraging the ball of light to move forward. "Maybe wait a century or so before trying this again, yeah?"
