Expendable Assets
12th of January 2007 A.D.
Standing five ten in shiny black shoes that might perhaps give him that extra lift, dressed in a dark blue suit belt and fedora handed with the same black stripe Little Tommy Fieracelli looks at first glance less like a real mafioso and more like some college kid whose gotten really into reenacting down in Fairmont and to be fair there is a bit of that, he's younger than he's trying to look and more aware is the image he projects than tough guys are 'supposed' to be. In another time, another place they might have called him a dandy. Set against the backdrop of the Persian style carpet on the wall behind him breathtaking in chromatic complexity he seems almost too crisp and real. Compared to him the trio of guards, though clearly taking their aesthetic cues from their boss look almost more brutish than the ones who had been firing explosive ordinance at you not so long ago.
At Arlene's request you and Harry linger behind the surprisingly sturdy beaded curtain, double layer you realize, while she goes forward to explain the truth of the matter.
"Tommy, I'd say we should stop meeting like this, but I know better than to pose vague wishes to the gods, they might just listen." There is a smile in the priestess' words which is answered moments later by Tommy himself, though it does not reach his eyes.
"Arlene, Arlene, we didn't meet, you
called. Now who'd you catch and what's it going to cost me to take 'em off your hands whole before this is done, if it's one of Correy's street bosses I have some pointed questions myself about things moving in on campus. Someone's making waves, trying to make legroom for a push and now you call me in the middle of the night. I'm either walking out of this a smarter man... or..."
By way of answer Arlene clicks a remote as two ornamental panels slide open to reveal a TV that's probably mostly used for games and the like, a bit of light sports' betting between friends. Alas for Tommy it's not March and the Madness on display is of the exploding kind. The attack on the Strip was major news on every local channel and some of the national ones. Even though there hadn't been any victims the explosions had been very large and noticeable, and of course for some reason 'one of them had been green'. A part of you is amused to hear the poor people in the studio opine what would make bright green flames, but most of your attention is fixed in Tommy himself when Arlene explains:
"Two of your people were involved in that. I have them, they are
fine, but I need to know what they were doing down there. The people they attacked are not the kind of walk away from something like that without answers."
He goes very, very still, though less out of guilt you would say and more the reflex of someone getting hit out of left field. "'The people', not your people. What's it to you?"
"Ken's alive, they found him," the priestess replies
As she says this the man's gaze loses focus for a moment, attention turning elsewhere. "Huh... so he is. Where was he then?"
"Tommy, I have two of your people prisoner for shooting up the strip in the presence of something nasty enough to call a Council Warden and more. Now is not the time to be trying to finagle answers out of me." Before he can answer she waves you and Harry in, introducing him as Warden Dresden, earning a bit of a double take and then looks to you for your own introduction, not who you are of course, now much do you want to scare this fellow. That is when you realize that he can feel the over-presture of your presence.... so you lean into it a little, allow the mark on your brow to spark, the dark mail of your armor to show through under your jacket.
"You, I saw you!" Dawning horror distorts his features. "You're the one!"
A moment later your shield snaps open as you bat away a panicked burst of lead. He's a lot faster than any purely mortal man, blurring though the air, but the gun only had six bullets in it, giving you the chance to...
Arlene wrapped now in a cocoon of soft golden light reaches out and grabs the man's shoulder shaking him, the way one might try to wake someone from deep sleep and with each shake a prayer that holds the name of Ishtar. Here in the place of her power the goddess will not be defied, the light sinks though his skin like a soft rain and in the span of a few breaths his muscles unclench and the scales fall from his eyes.
"What the Hell!" Tommy looks down from his gun to Arlene to you, but it's Harry who speaks first.
"Empty Night! She programed all of them to kill as soon as they spotted us, maybe other things as well. It wasn't some careful assassination. It's human landmines to slow us down!"
It takes a little while to get the point across afterwords, but there is nothing to dispute Harry's point, Sandra, or some ally of hers had turned some or all of the Shadow Killers into unknowing thralls, ready to kill as soon as the switch in their programing flips, with no concern for their own safety or the safety of others.
"Who did this?" there's an edge of desperation to the words. "Who was it that turned me and mine into attack dogs!"
What do you explain about Sandra to Arlene and Little Tommy?
[] She an enemy of yours who almost plotted your destruction
[] She is a warlock wanted by the Council
[] She is a servant of Outiders
[] Write in
OOC: Welp, you uncovered one of Sandra's cards in what was potentially one of the best places to do so, the temple whose priestess has divinely given talent to break compulsions, but there is still quite a few Shadow Killers out there.
