Fortifications

[Calvin]

<dl>
<dt>Outgoing Message to Ivan Sarkozy</dt>
<dd> </dd>
</dl>
Yeah I'm available to help - let me know where I need to go and I'll be there ASAP

Edited by Calvin, Nov 9 2017, 12:10 PM.

[Ivan Sarkozy]

Vega seemed angry and Ivan felt his back go up again. This was getting old, like really quickly. He knew what he was doing. He was a cop and had a job to do. End of story. Done. This was his city. It was his responsibility. He wasn't being stupid. He'd messaged Alex, and then, after a moment, the new guy. She'd be able to get a read of things, from what he'd seen of her skills. And the new guy wasn't on any radar. If he was interested, he could be a help. He sent the details, including Vega's address. He was gonna get shit for this, he knew it. The Lt wasn't gonna like him doing this.

But this was his city. His people. It was worth the risk. With luck, they'd have the Atharim on the defense, rather than offense.

All of that flashed through his mind in moments and he was ready to blurt it out to Vega when the whole place seemed to shake. Like a bomb had gone off or something.

A feeling of fear came over him. Or maybe I am talking out of my ass and the Atharim are already coming after us! The thought was terrifying and he was flooded with fear for his family. Idiot!!! Fucking moron!

He ran with Vega up the stairs and outside. The man had his gun drawn and after a moment, Ivan realized his was out too. The power was obviously the more useful. He was gonna have to work on making that his go to. Cruz was crouched on the ground with his hands over his airs while Nox was cradling a puppy protectively. A sense of relief passed through him. Not the Atharim. He could feel the remnants of the power all around him.

A woman pushed passed them and proceeded to lay into Cruz. She was pretty if a bit too thin, even in the face. He liked girls with more curves. Dorian started and then stopped. Ivan could see the little traps Nox had set and was about to say something when little lights formed showing he way. Ivan had to marvel at Nox. The guy was resourceful.

And it seemed everyone was alright despite the explosion. Reminded him of that time with Nox in the tunnels and his own little bombs. What Nox was doing now was far more impressive.

He looked around but apparently in ritzy neighborhoods, people weren't home- or they ignored explosions. That was something to keep in mind. He crouched down and pet the dog. "You ok buddy?"
To Nox. "Looks like it got away from you. Still, From everything I've seen....Look. I know the danger. And I appreciate your warnings- both of you. But I'm here. This is my town. Let me help."
After a moment, he added. "And for cryin out loud, you gotta show me how to do the things you can do. If I'm gonna protect people- and do my job!- then I need to learn. K?"


He hoped they would accept him at his word and stop trying to talk him out of it. He was ready.

[Nox]

Dorian and Ivan came up to him. Cruz looked like he was nodding in agreement to whatever his mother was yelling at him about. Nox couldn't hear a thing - not well anyway over the ringing in his ears. Nov was shaking in his arms and he was purring softly into the dogs ear to soothe the poor little one. That was the biggest drawback to using this as an alarm system. But we also saw just how effective it was.

Ivan patted Nova on the head and said something. Nox sucked at reading lips and just nodded. He thought he understood. He wanted to help but he was more eager to learn. Who the fuck wouldn't be eager to learn how to blow yourself up? right?

Nox flopped back onto the grass and stared up at the other two men with a grin. "They work."


Dorian rolled his eyes and squatted down. "You alright?"


Nox nodded. "Yeah. Ears are ringing. But hey I'm not on fire!"
Nox remembered the many times his sister had saved him from his own mistakes. When the fire singed his eyebrows, nearly melted his clothes on to his skin and the many burns he'd had. He frowned at the memories and sat up scrubbing his hand through his hair. "I miss Aurora."
he muttered mostly to himself as he picked himself up off the ground.

Ivan wanted to help. Cruz was utterly useless right now with Ana full bore momming on him right now. I was surprised she hadn't taken him in the house by the ear yet. I looked at the cop... "You want to learn, now's the best time. I have to redo all the network now. Nova tripped too many and it's failing all around."
Weaves were dying. They had tied too many together and didn't tie them off individually. Something learned anyway.

Nox started the weave for the multi-directional flash bang bombs. And tied them off with a trigger that if pulled by the power would go off. The weave itself was complicated and as he went through the motions he thought of something. He'd tri it in another one but first he looked at Ivan. "That might be hard to do, but feel free to try. But I need you to connect that one to this one here."
Nox pointed from the corner of one of the network connections that was still standing to the pull mechanism of the flash bang bomb and then to another one on the other side. "To there, with a very thread of spirit. If someone crosses the spirit thread it's like tripping a wire except they can't see it unless they can see it all. The bomb goes off, lights and sound flare and we get a nice house shaking to alert us to their presence. The trick is to get it high enough that squirrels and rabbits don't trip it. But anything as big or bigger than Nova will. No human's crawling on their bellies."
It was a physical network. It would be nice if Nox knew how to do it without alert the whole world but that was far beyond his thinking.

Nox showed Ivan what he was meant and then tied off the spirit thread in a nice safe knot. Ivan was still a rookie at this. The threads should keep him busy at least until Cruz could come help.

But it was that moment of clarity of what he'd done wrong before. The cone had to be in place first. Nox started backwards than he had the last time, and every other time before that. Light reflecting cone like a flashlight first, then the sound cone like a speaker, and then to the actual mechanism that went bang and released the light and sound.

Nox grinned as he finished the weave. It took longer than he'd have liked but that would take practice. And he intended to do that with each and every one of these. Nox turned the weave way from the house towards the street and pulled the trigger. The sound and light flashed in front of him but he was left unphased.

"Fuck yeah!"
Nox started again. Trying to make it faster but not fuck it up. Fucking it up had ear ringing consequences.


Edited by Nox, Nov 17 2017, 12:40 PM.

[Alex]

Alex received a text from Ivan. He'd been working the killing of the kids with Vega. The message was cryptic to say the least and she wasn't sure what any of it had to do with his case. But he had requested her presence at Vega's. Vega was going to have to step out of this case base on the boy's living arrangements. He was still a suspect, no matter how much Ivan and Vega wanted to trust him. She still couldn't believe he was walking free. He was Atharim! And her father was dead because of them - her sister too.

But Alex trusted Ivan - she wasn't sure why but she did. So that was how Alex found herself outside of Vega's estate staring at ten foot high walls and the earth shuddering under her feet. Her car was parked in front and she was walking to the gate. She wanted a quick getaway just in case things got bad and they were clearly already bad. She ran into the property to see if everyone was alright.

Alex was greeted with the barking of a puppy and a flash of light, and sound that had her cringing on the ground...

[Calvin]

Calvin arrived as requested at the Vega Mansion. Man the guy was loaded. Vega didn't like him. Calvin knew that, but they were both professionals and would do the job they needed to do.

Calvin parked behind a car already in front of the mansion. The ground seemed to be rumbling a bit, so he hurried across the grounds to the door. He entered and saw Alex cringing on the ground. Unsure of what happened, Calvin kept his senses open.

He didn't know why Alex was here. Perhaps Sarkozy had called her too. Calvin knelt down next to her. "Are you alright?"


At the very least he could make sure she was okay.

[Ivan Sarkozy]

Nox seemed to shake off what had happened. The puppy appeared unphased. It was bounding around energetically at their feet, especially as Nox explained what he was doing. Ivan watched fascinated. Nox seemed to draw threads of the power out of the air. As he explained, Ivan could sense (or maybe taste? smell? some kind of sense anyway) the difference in the threads. Each one was infinitely thin and Nox wove them into an intricate pattern. First one that appeared to be some sort of compressed bundle. At first glance it seemed like a chaotic tangle of threads. But there was a precision to it, especially as he saw how out of it came a single thread, this time something that tasted more ethereal- it did not make him thing of the earth or water or anything. Nox called it spirit.

But Nox did something else Ivan had never seen either. He looped the threads in some way and then....let go! You always had to hold onto the threads or they fell apart! Except it didn't. He peered closer. It had been tied off in some way.

He itched to try it. But first Nox wanted him to connect this new one he'd made (and was just sitting there above the ground by itself!) to the others with spirit. Once that was done, he decided to follow Nox's suggestion and try to make one of those himself.

He studied the one Nox had made and could sort of puzzle out how it worked. Light (from fire) and noise (from the air- which made perfect sense, now that he thought about it). He started the weave and thought he was getting there when half way through he froze. Wait. Was it over or under? He looked at the model trying to see. He had made a wrong turn. Damn! He was holding the threads and the pattern was wrong. Suddenly he had an image of letting the threads go and him exploding.

No. Relax. All he needed to do let the threads go. He wasn't too deep into it yet. It should unravel without much harm. The springy part of it with the fire threads hadn't been put in yet. A small gust of air and a bit of heat was all he felt

He tried again, this time going more slowly. And he was already slow. What Nox did in a minute took him 10. By the end, beads of sweat stung his eyes. One last thing....he carefully, tried to imitate that tying off motion. And then, watching it he could swear he almost saw it pulsing....he let go, tensing himself. It hung there where he made it. Nova was still near Nox but to be safe, Ivan decided to carefully (very carefully), raise it up higher. They could put it at the right height later.

Then he connected it with spirit to the others. He was grinning madly and turned to Nox to show him what he had done. All of a sudden, whatever Nox had been working on went off. Only it was different. Ivan heard the blast but only from a distance. It seemed like it had been aimed. Nox swore in satisfaction.

He'd used flashbangs on the job but they were always a double edged sword. They exploded outward like the ones he made. It was why they were used before law enforcement stormed into the room. What Nox had done had made it something they could use while in front of whatever was the threat.

Still facing Nox, he said "Dude, that is awesome!"
And then he realized they weren't alone. Alex and Calvin were there, Alex on the ground with Calvin was helping her up. She'd been right in the path of the device. Ivan ran over to her. "You ok Alex?"


Alex shook her head probably clearing the cobwebs. "What was that?"


She seemed alright but he knew she didn't like Nox. He wanted to defuse the situation before anything go out of hand. So he laughed. "Oh, that was Nox. He decided he wanted to knock you off your feet."


Alex glared in Nox's direction then turned her attention back to Ivan. "Haha, funny! What was that? He's not there."
She pointed at Cruz. "Neither is he, isn't that Dorian's son?"
Her look got harder more stern and concerned. "What the hell is going on here? You're all playing with fire."


The laugh died. The woman barely came up to his elbow and weighed 100 pounds wet and suddenly suddenly he felt like a little kid getting chewed out by his mom. Well not his mom, not really. She didn't look like his mom. Not in the slightest. And he'd checked her out more than once. A lot more. Which she probably knew. Not that that embarrassed him. He didn't leer. But he wasn't afraid to let a woman know he was interested. She couldn't help how her clothes looked on her.

And then he realized he'd gotten lost somewhere in his mind and had to think again of what he was thinking about? Oh yeah, she was upset. At them. "Yeah, we are I guess. Playing with fire I mean. But if the Ath...if they come after us, we need to be ready.
Suddenly, something she said made him frown. "What do you mean Nox is not here? Or Cruz? You just looked at them."


[[with alex]]


Edited by Ivan Sarkozy, Dec 1 2017, 12:59 PM.

[Alex]

Calvin helped Alex up and she couldn't really hear his question but she nodded anyways. "Thank you Calvin. I'm fine."
She was fine except for the ringing in her ear. But she looked around and three of the five men in her general vicinity were empty - devoid of any emotions at all. THREE.

What was Dorian playing at? Wasn't that his son? And three boys. She knew they were all in their twenties, but they were just kids. Was Dorian starting an army? Did the Captain know?

But it was Ivan's returned question that made her do a double take. She thought she'd told him she knew he could do whatever it was he could do - channel the term was quickly becoming coined in the media. "I don't feel you, or Nox, or Dorian's son. Calvin is here and Dorian is here, but the rest of you are empty. Not here. If I didn't see you I wouldn't know you were here."
She explained. Her voice sounded frantic.

It had taken Nox and Dorian long enough to get to them, they had walked back to the house and then down the driveway . Dorian was at a jog now that he'd hit the pavement but Nox walked slowly a small dog nipping at his heels. He seemed like he had a care in the world - he could have killed someone!

Dorian stood just the other side of Ivan and her look of disapproval extended to the man who should know better. "Dorian what are you playing at here? Does the Captain know? This is going to get you in hot water. Not to mention get your son killed by hanging out with him."
Alex pointed to Nox still several feet away from them. He was now squatting down and petting the puppy looking like he had nothing better to do. He was an arrogant piece of work.


Edited by Alex, Dec 1 2017, 01:41 PM.

[Dorian]

The boys were all busy with whatever it was they were doing. Even Ivan was working with them now. He was certain the young officer didn't know what he was getting himself involved in. He just didn't understand. But it was his life. He could take stupid risks.

Dorian knew his life was in danger. He knew Ana and Christian were in danger and even his parents. While Dorian was in the house he'd made a phone call to beef up his father's security. They would be safe as he could make them for any Atharim attacks. They were human, they would be safe if they could keep the Atharim from them.

Ana's parents were a little more difficult to protect, but Dorian did his best. Now that he was outside he wasn't so sure they all didn't need someone like Nox protecting them. The boy knew first hand what it was to be the hunter. And he knew how dangerous the Atharim were. Dorian understood, but he only cleaned up their messes. Never actually seeing the underside of their jobs.

But the new weave Nox had done went off in one direction, even technology wasn't that far advanced. Ivan was right, this was a game changer. But Dorian saw Alex a bit too late to warn her and she was standing in Nox's line of fire when it went off. He had tried to be careful, aiming away from everyone here. Only to hit an innocent bystander.

The rookie was at her side in moments. Where had all these people come from and why were they here? Those were Dorian's first questions.

But Ivan was there first with Alex and Calvin and the diminutive woman seemed fine. Disoriented and shouting over the ringing in her ears much like Cruz and Nox had been.

By the time he and Nox... he looked back to see the boy petting his dog several feet back as Alex began dressing Dorian down. He gave her a level glance. "What I do in my off time is of no consequence to the Captain."


Alex countered. "You are harboring one of them."
Her finger thrust in Alex's direction. "Your son is one of these channelers. You have bombs going off outside your perimeter. How is this not a concern of the Captain?"


Dorian sighed and rolled up his sleeve. "I'm not harboring one of them, Dr. Pirozzi. I am one of them."


Her eyes went wide and she did a double take, first to Cruz then back to the tattoo and then back at Dorian's only son. She was clearly distraught with confusion.

But it was her knowledge of a secret that only the two men here knew about his son that had him questioning, "How do you know about Cruz?"

[Nox]

Nox saw the wandering pedestrian's just as the weave exploded. There was nothing he could do about it. Nothing he knew anyway. He was so excited it had gone right that it took him a little while to register that Alex had been in the middle of the line of fire and was now cringing in pain. And likely hated him more than before.

A man and Ivan were at her side almost instantly. Dorian walked around the traps with me and I tied off the last of the connections while Cruz finished up where he was at. Fixing what Nova had destroyed.

Nox lingered behind Dorian. Alex already hated him. He was only going to make things work so he knelt down and patted Nova on the head and played with his little pup. He missed his sister more than ever. There were so many things he wanted to say to her and so many questions he wanted to ask. And Sage wasn't even here to reminisce with. Fuck! But it was that moment Nox decided tomorrow he'd visit Sage. They had to talk and he needed a friend. As much of a friend as he had anyway.

But Dorian asked a question and Nox knew the answer. He wanted to reassure Dorian more than anything that Ivan or he didn't give away his secret. Nox interrupted before anyone else could say anything. "She's like Aria. Sentient can tell when we use our powers. Aria says we go empty, like she can't sense our emotions anymore. We become nothing. Cruz is putting up traps and playing with water and spirit."


Dorian looked over at his son and then back to Nox and nodded. He asked, "Why are you two here? This is so not a police matter."

[Calvin]

Alex was alright, although her equilibrium seemed a bit off. That happened sometimes with large explosions. Calvin had been out of the blast zone, but he would imagine anyone nearby would have ringing ears.

He could smell a mix of emotions from the room. The shock of finding out that Dorian was one of these Atharim was a big deal and it made things start to click together. Ivan was a channeler as was Dorian's son. Another man that Calvin didn't recognize was one too. Things were just getting more difficult.

Dorian asked why he and Alex were here. Calvin didn't know why Alex was here, but he could assume that it was the same reason he was. "Sarkozy asked for assistance?"
It really was that simple.