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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 2942177" data-attributes="member: 63"><p><strong>Session Twelve, part seven</strong></p><p></p><p>The group comes off the elevator onto the jail level in a hurry. The office is reminiscent of a police station, but with fewer guards. Which is fine, because they only have three prisoners in custody now – Shanon Mercer the relic dealer, and these two new captives.</p><p></p><p>A heavy metal door separates the entry room from the hall with the cells, and two men in black suits guard the door, standing beside what looks like a modified metal detector. Tagin, the Bureau computer expert, is checking security camera feeds and other technical things. He sits bolt up when he spots Jenny and the others.</p><p></p><p>“Jenny,” Tagin says, “the Chief wants to see you. I don’t know if he’s happy about this arrangement you’ve made.”</p><p></p><p>Robert glances at Jenny. “Oh come on. Tell your boss to-”</p><p></p><p>Jenny shakes her head. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it and be back in a minute. I think it’s best if you don’t tag along for this. Sean, where’s the Chief?”</p><p></p><p>“<em>Tagin</em>,” he replies, bitter. “Chief’s in A&D, trying to pin down who this guy is. Get this, his driver’s license says he’s ‘Chuck Norris.’”</p><p></p><p>No one in the group chuckles except Ian. Wiji-wiji actually bows and mutters something about Mr. Norris being a great hero.</p><p></p><p>“I’m sorry about this,” Jenny says, “but the Bureau and bureaucracy go hand in hand.”</p><p></p><p>“Thanks,” Robert says.</p><p></p><p>Jenny goes to the elevator and leaves, and the group as a whole adopts the posture of people in a doctor’s waiting room.</p><p></p><p>Tagin clears his throat and walks up to them, his voice low so the two guards at the metal detector won’t hear.</p><p></p><p>“You guys gonna go in, or what?”</p><p></p><p>“We can do that?” John asks.</p><p></p><p>Robert says, “Of course we can. Thanks, ‘Sean.’”</p><p></p><p>“Tagin,” Tagin replies.</p><p></p><p>“Hey,” Scarpedin says, “what is it with the Bureau and not wanting to use their real name?”</p><p></p><p>“You mean ‘the Chief’?” Tagin says with a chuckle. “I don’t know what his problem is. Me, I just hate my parents, so I don’t want to use my given name.”</p><p></p><p>“So what,” Scarpedin says, “is ‘Tagin’ your ‘hacker name’ or something?”</p><p></p><p>Wiji-wiji grins. “Douburu negative, <em>ne</em>? Werry interesting gamu.”</p><p></p><p>Tagin clears this throat again. “Jenny won’t be gone too long. You might want to head in.”</p><p></p><p>Bonnie says, “Ye’re not breaking any rules, are ye?”</p><p></p><p>Tagin puts his pinky finger to the corner of his mouth like Doctor Evil. “You’ll find ‘Chuck’ in cell six.”</p><p></p><p>One by one, the group files through the security door into the jail. The metal detector does not go off, despite a shotgun, several handguns, a sword, and other sundry weapons concealed among them. There are no guards inside, just a bevy of security cameras.</p><p></p><p>Robert says, “I don’t think Jenny set this up.”</p><p></p><p>Ian laughs. “Pocahontas, have a problem with you guys torturing a prisoner? Whatever gave you that idea? Oh, and for the record y’all, George suggests we burn the murdering witch with the fires of heaven until he talks.”</p><p></p><p>“Let’s just do this,” John says.</p><p></p><p>“Do what, precisely?” Robert asks. “I told Jenny I wasn’t going to let you guys kill him.”</p><p></p><p>“I’m going to get answers out of him,” John says.</p><p></p><p>Terry, silent and unseen, feels a chill when John says this. What worries him is that he doesn’t disagree.</p><p></p><p>They reach the door to cell six and have a brief powwow. Ian casts a spell to let him listen to surface thoughts, and John assures them that he can heal any wounds he has to inflict, as long as they don’t cut anything off. At this pronouncement, Bonnie decides that she’ll stay outside, claiming that she’ll guard the door, and be there to let them out when they’re done. Wiji-wiji says he wants to stays with her.</p><p></p><p>With that squared away, they head inside.</p><p></p><p>The room has no windows, just the classic mirrored wall, a long metal table, and chairs. The prisoner – tall, black, with a long face that makes him look like Charlie Murphy (Eddie Murphy’s brother) – is dressed in a fine business suit. He sits hand-cuffed, his feet cuffed to the chair legs. A metal collar sits on his neck. They recognize it as one of the magic-nullifying collars the Bureau uses.</p><p></p><p>Terry sees a ghost hovering beside the man. If the collar is working right, the ghost will be unable to use its bond to the man to let him cast any magic.</p><p></p><p>“He has a ghost,” Terry says to Robert. “But the collar should keep us safe.”</p><p></p><p>Robert repeats that to the group.</p><p></p><p>At the sound of Robert’s voice, the prisoner looks up and smiles cockily.</p><p></p><p>“Are you here to break me out and take my offer?”</p><p></p><p>Scarpedin laughs. “We’re here to break something.”</p><p></p><p>John walks up to the man, grabs his forearm, and braces it against the edge of table, then glances at Robert.</p><p></p><p>“First question?”</p><p></p><p>Robert nods and says, “Look, I don’t like having to use violence, so please just answer our questions. What’s your name?”</p><p></p><p>The prisoner frowns. “I offered you a deal, and now you’re gonna try to strongarm a n*gga?”</p><p></p><p>Robert rubs his face. “I’m tired, and I’ve been having a lot of trouble with people not telling me their names. Now you don’t want John here to break your arm, do you?”</p><p></p><p>“Dick,” the prisoner says. “Dick Thevenot.”</p><p></p><p>“Dick,” Robert says. “Appropriate. Okay, dick, who do you work for?”</p><p></p><p>Dick says, “Sh*t, man, if you’re not going to accept my offer, I got no reason to talk to you.”</p><p></p><p>“We’re still considering,” Robert says. “If you’re better than the Bureau, you’ll answer some of our questions, and you’d better hurry up, because we don’t have much time to ourselves in here.”</p><p></p><p>“Okay, alright.” Dick Thevenot works his mouth like he’s trying to figure out how to say what he wants. “I work for some people who don’t like the Bureau.”</p><p></p><p>“That doesn’t narrow it down much,” Scarpedin says.</p><p></p><p>Dick shrugs. “Can’t say much else about them. Ask me something else.”</p><p></p><p>“Why’d you want to kill Terry?” Robert asks.</p><p></p><p>“Y’know,” Dick says to Scarpedin, “I didn’t send that order, but I heard that my bosses, they thought your planeshift magic would be a problem. I mean, if you’re trying to make sure no one can planeshift, it’s easier to kill people who are trouble than to try to recruit them and have them talk to everybody and sh*t, y’know? But, hey, I’m sorry man. We got nothing against you now.”</p><p></p><p>Scarpedin blinks. “What do you mean?”</p><p></p><p>Robert bites his lip. “He’s saying, Terry, that he’s sorry his people tried to kill you, but he wants to move on now.”</p><p></p><p>“Yeah, well,” Scarpedin shrugs, “I don’t like it when people kill my friends.”</p><p></p><p>John groans, and Robert suppresses a sigh. Apparently Scarpedin has forgotten that he was pretending to be Terry.</p><p></p><p>“Wait a sec,” Dick says. “This ain’t Terry Abrams. You saying we actually <em>did</em> kill him?”</p><p></p><p>John puts Dick into a joint lock for his hand. “We’re the ones asking the questions here, not you.”</p><p></p><p>Dick grimaces, but keeps talking. “So how the hell are you all getting over to Gaia if the kid’s dead? Look, this is new sh*t, and my bosses will pay well to know what’s up.”</p><p></p><p>“Shut up,” Robert says casually. He turns to Scarpedin and says, “Good job,” then turns back to Thevenot.</p><p></p><p>“So, dick, why did you want to separate the two worlds?”</p><p></p><p>Dick shakes his head. “I’m done talking.”</p><p></p><p>John shrugs and presses down with full force on the man’s wrist and lower forearm, using the edge of the table as a lever to snap Dick Thevenot’s arm, breaking both bones in the forearm. Thevenot screams, and the rest of the group gasps in shock.</p><p></p><p>A half-second too late, Robert remembers he needs to pretend that he’s shocked too. “No, wait,” he says, half-heartedly.</p><p></p><p>Dick reels for a bit, then spits at John. John keeps a firm grip on the back of Dick’s neck, keeping him immobile as he adjust position to the opposite arm.</p><p></p><p>“Holy sh*t, man,” Ian is shouting. “You just broke the motherf*cker’s arm! I . . . I want to go on record as saying I did not actually want to <em>endorse</em> my ghost’s suggestion. Holy sh*t.”</p><p></p><p>“Now he knows not to withhold information,” John says.</p><p></p><p>“Whoa, calm down,” Robert says. “Let’s not cry over split bones. We’ve still got some questions to ask. So, dick, what are you and your group up to?”</p><p></p><p>“Screw you,” Dick growls.</p><p></p><p>John snaps the other arm, and now even Scarpedin winces with some revulsion. The man’s groans are horrible, and Bonnie calls in through the doors to ask what’s going on. Robert yells back for her not to worry.</p><p></p><p>“Okay John,” Robert says, “that was pretty horrible.”</p><p></p><p>Scarpedin shrugs. “Hey, you missed what he did to Morgan. Broke the guy like a wishbone.”</p><p></p><p>“Hey,” John says, “this guy’s been trying to kill us! Don’t go getting squeamish now. Keep asking him questions.”</p><p></p><p>“I ain’t telling you nothing,” Dick says.</p><p></p><p>John breaks one of Dick’s fingers, which elicits only a pained grunt.</p><p></p><p>“Look,” Robert says, pointing at the man. “He didn’t even feel that. He’s going into shock. Just . . . just heal the guy.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes,” Ian says. “For the goddess’s sake, can we not break any more bones?”</p><p></p><p>John sighs. “Fine. I won’t break any <em>more</em> bones. I can heal these ones up a few times and just keep snapping them.”</p><p></p><p>John slaps the man’s face to get his attention. “Hey. Answer one of our questions and we’ll heal your broken bones. If you don’t, I’ll shatter the bones in your fingers, which I’m pretty sure I can’t fix.”</p><p></p><p>Robert watches as Dick glares at the group one by one. Something’s odd about the way his eyes skim across them, from head to toe, like he’s sizing them up, or looking for something. Not quite certain what it means, Robert tries a new question.</p><p></p><p>“Were you the one who killed the cop last night?”</p><p></p><p>“Not me,” Dick says. “I have a hired sniper. He did it.”</p><p></p><p>“Okay,” Robert says. “Heal him.”</p><p></p><p>John reluctantly concentrates and casts three spells to fix the prisoner’s arms and fingers.</p><p></p><p>“Thanks a lot, b*tch,” says Thevenot when he’s healed up.</p><p></p><p>John laughs once, then puts Thevenot’s hand palm down on the table and drives the heel of his own palm down onto the bridge of the hand, shattering the bones.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t give us a hard-,” John starts, but Thevenot interrupts.</p><p></p><p>Finally the man seems truly incensed. He screams at John and tries to lunge out of his chair. He curses at John for several seconds, and John backs off. When the man’s outburst ends, Thevenot ends up cradling his shattered hand.</p><p></p><p>“This isn’t working,” John says. “If he just <em>now</em> is snapping, that means it’s gonna be a long time before he decides to fess up.”</p><p></p><p>Robert says, “Ian, you got anything with your spell thing?”</p><p></p><p>“The mojo works,” Ian says, “but Buc Nasty here’s got a pretty strong will.”</p><p></p><p>John says, “I think a lot more is going on here than we know. I mean, this guy is some kind of bad-ass, and we just went and told him Terry was dead. Ian, can you and your ghost talk to the dead?”</p><p></p><p>“Dah!” Robert says. “Slow down.”</p><p></p><p>Scarpedin mutters, “Maybe we didn’t break enough bones. I mean, he’s got more.”</p><p></p><p>The four of them are absorbed in their own discussion, and so they do not notice that Dick Thevenot has closed his eyes and is concentrating as if on a spell. They all assume that the bonded ghost is what gives the man his power, and that the collar he wears thus keeps him from using his magic.</p><p></p><p>Terry is the only one to notice anything. To him, the room seems to darken as Thevenot draws power from the injuries to his body, channeling the pain into magic. The man looks up from under his brow and smiles, directly at Terry.</p><p></p><p>“Look out!” Terry shouts, but only Robert hears him.</p><p></p><p>Black tendrils, invisible to the living, reach out and stab at the hearts and limbs of Scarpedin, John, and Ian. They begin to go into seizures of pain, and they fall to the ground. Robert reacts quickly, pulling out stun gun and straight razor and advancing on the prisoner.</p><p></p><p>Thevenot growls and pulls at his bonds, which fall apart, magically unlocked. Robert slashes at the man’s throat, but Thevenot blocks with his forearm, not even wincing as the blade cuts to sinew. He stands and slams a fist into Robert’s chest. The blow crackles with magic, and Robert’s heart stops. He staggers back and falls to the floor, but as he falls back Thevenot reaches out, grabs Robert’s wrist, and pulls off the bracelet Terry is bonded to.</p><p></p><p>Terry is shouting, calling for help, but his voice is cut off as the bracelet is yanked off. Robert falls to the floor, coughing and clutching his chest.</p><p></p><p>John has managed to fight through the pain, and he gets to his knees. He sees Robert fall and Thevenot ready to make a break with Terry’s bracelet.</p><p></p><p>“Bonnie!” he shouts. “Get in here!”</p><p></p><p>Thevenot smiles his cocky smirk, and as John forces himself to his feet and prepares to attack, the mage simply clenches his fist and vanishes. John curses and leaps, swinging a wide kick through the space Thevenot just occupied, assuming the man has turned invisible, but he hits nothing.</p><p></p><p>Bonnie opens the door, and she and Wiji-wiji step in. John shouts for her to close the door because the prisoner’s invisible, but Wiji-wiji shakes his head.</p><p></p><p>“He prane shift,” the Japanese fey says. “To Gaia. Quick, herupu Robato-<em>san</em>.”</p><p></p><p>“Dammit,” John says.</p><p></p><p>He kneels beside Robert and uses magic to restart his heart, then moves on to Ian and Scarpedin.</p><p></p><p>“Sh*t!” Robert screams. “He stole Terry! How the hell did he-?”</p><p></p><p>“Robato-<em>san</em>!” Wiji-wiji pulls Robert to his feet and leans close, grabbing both his shoulders. “We can forrow. Do you trust me?”</p><p></p><p>“What?” Robert shakes his head, confused. </p><p></p><p>He notices that where Thevenot had stood, a small glass sphere lies cracked on the ground. It looks just like the soul gems the relic dealer Shanon Mercer had used to trap ghosts.</p><p></p><p>“The ghost was a fake,” Ian says once John has cured the pain wracking him. “Dammit, sorry, I should’ve seen it.”</p><p></p><p>Bonnie glances out the door, worried. “The Bureau are coming! Even Tommy Lee Jones.”</p><p></p><p>Wiji-wiji shakes Robert. “Do you trust me? Zhere is no time!”</p><p></p><p>Robert looks around, seeing them all alive but helpless to do anything to stop the bastard that just escaped. He doesn’t know what it will cost him, but Robert nods.</p><p></p><p>“Quickry!” Wiji-wiji shouts. “Come to me.”</p><p></p><p>Shouts are coming down the hall, and everyone scrambles to get close to the Japanese man. Robert watches the door.</p><p></p><p>The Chief rounds the corner, a gun in hand. He holds it out, aimed at the group, and he opens his mouth to shout something, but just then the world grows more vivid, and the interrogation room vanishes as they blindly travel to Gaia.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>End of Twelfth Session. To be continued. . . .</strong></em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 2942177, member: 63"] [b]Session Twelve, part seven[/b] The group comes off the elevator onto the jail level in a hurry. The office is reminiscent of a police station, but with fewer guards. Which is fine, because they only have three prisoners in custody now – Shanon Mercer the relic dealer, and these two new captives. A heavy metal door separates the entry room from the hall with the cells, and two men in black suits guard the door, standing beside what looks like a modified metal detector. Tagin, the Bureau computer expert, is checking security camera feeds and other technical things. He sits bolt up when he spots Jenny and the others. “Jenny,” Tagin says, “the Chief wants to see you. I don’t know if he’s happy about this arrangement you’ve made.” Robert glances at Jenny. “Oh come on. Tell your boss to-” Jenny shakes her head. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it and be back in a minute. I think it’s best if you don’t tag along for this. Sean, where’s the Chief?” “[i]Tagin[/i],” he replies, bitter. “Chief’s in A&D, trying to pin down who this guy is. Get this, his driver’s license says he’s ‘Chuck Norris.’” No one in the group chuckles except Ian. Wiji-wiji actually bows and mutters something about Mr. Norris being a great hero. “I’m sorry about this,” Jenny says, “but the Bureau and bureaucracy go hand in hand.” “Thanks,” Robert says. Jenny goes to the elevator and leaves, and the group as a whole adopts the posture of people in a doctor’s waiting room. Tagin clears his throat and walks up to them, his voice low so the two guards at the metal detector won’t hear. “You guys gonna go in, or what?” “We can do that?” John asks. Robert says, “Of course we can. Thanks, ‘Sean.’” “Tagin,” Tagin replies. “Hey,” Scarpedin says, “what is it with the Bureau and not wanting to use their real name?” “You mean ‘the Chief’?” Tagin says with a chuckle. “I don’t know what his problem is. Me, I just hate my parents, so I don’t want to use my given name.” “So what,” Scarpedin says, “is ‘Tagin’ your ‘hacker name’ or something?” Wiji-wiji grins. “Douburu negative, [i]ne[/i]? Werry interesting gamu.” Tagin clears this throat again. “Jenny won’t be gone too long. You might want to head in.” Bonnie says, “Ye’re not breaking any rules, are ye?” Tagin puts his pinky finger to the corner of his mouth like Doctor Evil. “You’ll find ‘Chuck’ in cell six.” One by one, the group files through the security door into the jail. The metal detector does not go off, despite a shotgun, several handguns, a sword, and other sundry weapons concealed among them. There are no guards inside, just a bevy of security cameras. Robert says, “I don’t think Jenny set this up.” Ian laughs. “Pocahontas, have a problem with you guys torturing a prisoner? Whatever gave you that idea? Oh, and for the record y’all, George suggests we burn the murdering witch with the fires of heaven until he talks.” “Let’s just do this,” John says. “Do what, precisely?” Robert asks. “I told Jenny I wasn’t going to let you guys kill him.” “I’m going to get answers out of him,” John says. Terry, silent and unseen, feels a chill when John says this. What worries him is that he doesn’t disagree. They reach the door to cell six and have a brief powwow. Ian casts a spell to let him listen to surface thoughts, and John assures them that he can heal any wounds he has to inflict, as long as they don’t cut anything off. At this pronouncement, Bonnie decides that she’ll stay outside, claiming that she’ll guard the door, and be there to let them out when they’re done. Wiji-wiji says he wants to stays with her. With that squared away, they head inside. The room has no windows, just the classic mirrored wall, a long metal table, and chairs. The prisoner – tall, black, with a long face that makes him look like Charlie Murphy (Eddie Murphy’s brother) – is dressed in a fine business suit. He sits hand-cuffed, his feet cuffed to the chair legs. A metal collar sits on his neck. They recognize it as one of the magic-nullifying collars the Bureau uses. Terry sees a ghost hovering beside the man. If the collar is working right, the ghost will be unable to use its bond to the man to let him cast any magic. “He has a ghost,” Terry says to Robert. “But the collar should keep us safe.” Robert repeats that to the group. At the sound of Robert’s voice, the prisoner looks up and smiles cockily. “Are you here to break me out and take my offer?” Scarpedin laughs. “We’re here to break something.” John walks up to the man, grabs his forearm, and braces it against the edge of table, then glances at Robert. “First question?” Robert nods and says, “Look, I don’t like having to use violence, so please just answer our questions. What’s your name?” The prisoner frowns. “I offered you a deal, and now you’re gonna try to strongarm a n*gga?” Robert rubs his face. “I’m tired, and I’ve been having a lot of trouble with people not telling me their names. Now you don’t want John here to break your arm, do you?” “Dick,” the prisoner says. “Dick Thevenot.” “Dick,” Robert says. “Appropriate. Okay, dick, who do you work for?” Dick says, “Sh*t, man, if you’re not going to accept my offer, I got no reason to talk to you.” “We’re still considering,” Robert says. “If you’re better than the Bureau, you’ll answer some of our questions, and you’d better hurry up, because we don’t have much time to ourselves in here.” “Okay, alright.” Dick Thevenot works his mouth like he’s trying to figure out how to say what he wants. “I work for some people who don’t like the Bureau.” “That doesn’t narrow it down much,” Scarpedin says. Dick shrugs. “Can’t say much else about them. Ask me something else.” “Why’d you want to kill Terry?” Robert asks. “Y’know,” Dick says to Scarpedin, “I didn’t send that order, but I heard that my bosses, they thought your planeshift magic would be a problem. I mean, if you’re trying to make sure no one can planeshift, it’s easier to kill people who are trouble than to try to recruit them and have them talk to everybody and sh*t, y’know? But, hey, I’m sorry man. We got nothing against you now.” Scarpedin blinks. “What do you mean?” Robert bites his lip. “He’s saying, Terry, that he’s sorry his people tried to kill you, but he wants to move on now.” “Yeah, well,” Scarpedin shrugs, “I don’t like it when people kill my friends.” John groans, and Robert suppresses a sigh. Apparently Scarpedin has forgotten that he was pretending to be Terry. “Wait a sec,” Dick says. “This ain’t Terry Abrams. You saying we actually [i]did[/i] kill him?” John puts Dick into a joint lock for his hand. “We’re the ones asking the questions here, not you.” Dick grimaces, but keeps talking. “So how the hell are you all getting over to Gaia if the kid’s dead? Look, this is new sh*t, and my bosses will pay well to know what’s up.” “Shut up,” Robert says casually. He turns to Scarpedin and says, “Good job,” then turns back to Thevenot. “So, dick, why did you want to separate the two worlds?” Dick shakes his head. “I’m done talking.” John shrugs and presses down with full force on the man’s wrist and lower forearm, using the edge of the table as a lever to snap Dick Thevenot’s arm, breaking both bones in the forearm. Thevenot screams, and the rest of the group gasps in shock. A half-second too late, Robert remembers he needs to pretend that he’s shocked too. “No, wait,” he says, half-heartedly. Dick reels for a bit, then spits at John. John keeps a firm grip on the back of Dick’s neck, keeping him immobile as he adjust position to the opposite arm. “Holy sh*t, man,” Ian is shouting. “You just broke the motherf*cker’s arm! I . . . I want to go on record as saying I did not actually want to [i]endorse[/i] my ghost’s suggestion. Holy sh*t.” “Now he knows not to withhold information,” John says. “Whoa, calm down,” Robert says. “Let’s not cry over split bones. We’ve still got some questions to ask. So, dick, what are you and your group up to?” “Screw you,” Dick growls. John snaps the other arm, and now even Scarpedin winces with some revulsion. The man’s groans are horrible, and Bonnie calls in through the doors to ask what’s going on. Robert yells back for her not to worry. “Okay John,” Robert says, “that was pretty horrible.” Scarpedin shrugs. “Hey, you missed what he did to Morgan. Broke the guy like a wishbone.” “Hey,” John says, “this guy’s been trying to kill us! Don’t go getting squeamish now. Keep asking him questions.” “I ain’t telling you nothing,” Dick says. John breaks one of Dick’s fingers, which elicits only a pained grunt. “Look,” Robert says, pointing at the man. “He didn’t even feel that. He’s going into shock. Just . . . just heal the guy.” “Yes,” Ian says. “For the goddess’s sake, can we not break any more bones?” John sighs. “Fine. I won’t break any [i]more[/i] bones. I can heal these ones up a few times and just keep snapping them.” John slaps the man’s face to get his attention. “Hey. Answer one of our questions and we’ll heal your broken bones. If you don’t, I’ll shatter the bones in your fingers, which I’m pretty sure I can’t fix.” Robert watches as Dick glares at the group one by one. Something’s odd about the way his eyes skim across them, from head to toe, like he’s sizing them up, or looking for something. Not quite certain what it means, Robert tries a new question. “Were you the one who killed the cop last night?” “Not me,” Dick says. “I have a hired sniper. He did it.” “Okay,” Robert says. “Heal him.” John reluctantly concentrates and casts three spells to fix the prisoner’s arms and fingers. “Thanks a lot, b*tch,” says Thevenot when he’s healed up. John laughs once, then puts Thevenot’s hand palm down on the table and drives the heel of his own palm down onto the bridge of the hand, shattering the bones. “Don’t give us a hard-,” John starts, but Thevenot interrupts. Finally the man seems truly incensed. He screams at John and tries to lunge out of his chair. He curses at John for several seconds, and John backs off. When the man’s outburst ends, Thevenot ends up cradling his shattered hand. “This isn’t working,” John says. “If he just [i]now[/i] is snapping, that means it’s gonna be a long time before he decides to fess up.” Robert says, “Ian, you got anything with your spell thing?” “The mojo works,” Ian says, “but Buc Nasty here’s got a pretty strong will.” John says, “I think a lot more is going on here than we know. I mean, this guy is some kind of bad-ass, and we just went and told him Terry was dead. Ian, can you and your ghost talk to the dead?” “Dah!” Robert says. “Slow down.” Scarpedin mutters, “Maybe we didn’t break enough bones. I mean, he’s got more.” The four of them are absorbed in their own discussion, and so they do not notice that Dick Thevenot has closed his eyes and is concentrating as if on a spell. They all assume that the bonded ghost is what gives the man his power, and that the collar he wears thus keeps him from using his magic. Terry is the only one to notice anything. To him, the room seems to darken as Thevenot draws power from the injuries to his body, channeling the pain into magic. The man looks up from under his brow and smiles, directly at Terry. “Look out!” Terry shouts, but only Robert hears him. Black tendrils, invisible to the living, reach out and stab at the hearts and limbs of Scarpedin, John, and Ian. They begin to go into seizures of pain, and they fall to the ground. Robert reacts quickly, pulling out stun gun and straight razor and advancing on the prisoner. Thevenot growls and pulls at his bonds, which fall apart, magically unlocked. Robert slashes at the man’s throat, but Thevenot blocks with his forearm, not even wincing as the blade cuts to sinew. He stands and slams a fist into Robert’s chest. The blow crackles with magic, and Robert’s heart stops. He staggers back and falls to the floor, but as he falls back Thevenot reaches out, grabs Robert’s wrist, and pulls off the bracelet Terry is bonded to. Terry is shouting, calling for help, but his voice is cut off as the bracelet is yanked off. Robert falls to the floor, coughing and clutching his chest. John has managed to fight through the pain, and he gets to his knees. He sees Robert fall and Thevenot ready to make a break with Terry’s bracelet. “Bonnie!” he shouts. “Get in here!” Thevenot smiles his cocky smirk, and as John forces himself to his feet and prepares to attack, the mage simply clenches his fist and vanishes. John curses and leaps, swinging a wide kick through the space Thevenot just occupied, assuming the man has turned invisible, but he hits nothing. Bonnie opens the door, and she and Wiji-wiji step in. John shouts for her to close the door because the prisoner’s invisible, but Wiji-wiji shakes his head. “He prane shift,” the Japanese fey says. “To Gaia. Quick, herupu Robato-[i]san[/i].” “Dammit,” John says. He kneels beside Robert and uses magic to restart his heart, then moves on to Ian and Scarpedin. “Sh*t!” Robert screams. “He stole Terry! How the hell did he-?” “Robato-[i]san[/i]!” Wiji-wiji pulls Robert to his feet and leans close, grabbing both his shoulders. “We can forrow. Do you trust me?” “What?” Robert shakes his head, confused. He notices that where Thevenot had stood, a small glass sphere lies cracked on the ground. It looks just like the soul gems the relic dealer Shanon Mercer had used to trap ghosts. “The ghost was a fake,” Ian says once John has cured the pain wracking him. “Dammit, sorry, I should’ve seen it.” Bonnie glances out the door, worried. “The Bureau are coming! Even Tommy Lee Jones.” Wiji-wiji shakes Robert. “Do you trust me? Zhere is no time!” Robert looks around, seeing them all alive but helpless to do anything to stop the bastard that just escaped. He doesn’t know what it will cost him, but Robert nods. “Quickry!” Wiji-wiji shouts. “Come to me.” Shouts are coming down the hall, and everyone scrambles to get close to the Japanese man. Robert watches the door. The Chief rounds the corner, a gun in hand. He holds it out, aimed at the group, and he opens his mouth to shout something, but just then the world grows more vivid, and the interrogation room vanishes as they blindly travel to Gaia. [i][b]End of Twelfth Session. To be continued. . . .[/b][/i] [/QUOTE]
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High Fantasy Modern Storyhour - The Long Road (updated December 7)
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