Log:Gridlocked!, Scene 4

Gridlocked! 2010/11/19 	 Devil Dog Imaginary Girl Jolt Lightray Lorelei Merlin Mystique Spirit Paragon 4

The City of Colonial Bay has set up crisis management center at police headquarters. It's beehive of activity with groups of people handling banks of phones, and cops running papers bank and forth. At the center of it, there's a table large table where Police Commissioner Clarissa Camus studies a set of video screens along with a group of detectives and cops.

Lorelei has been waiting here since she reported what she learned to the police, ready to act as soon as they learned more. It's been an anxious wait.

Dorian comes in from outside, having been out searching in a relatively aimless manner earlier.

Mystique drums her fingers on a table, brooding on the cold cup of coffee in front of her and the hours she's losing from her investigator's business. But ancient pacts bind tight and she -must- aid the law enforcement agencies of this time when called upon.

Lightray listens quietly as the situation is laid out by the Commissioner. His wings lightly stir in an unfelt breeze.

"And here we are, back at the command center..." One of the Commissioner's aides has been giving Lorelei the tour of the building in the meantime. Mainly so that staff here could continue to function properly.

Lorelei nods, trying to stay interested, but not really succeeding. At least the backup plan went well, she tells herse;f.

Dorian walks over to where the other heroes are gathered. A rookie cop almost intervenes, clearly looking like he's intending to question why he's here. But one of the other cops stops the rookie, and Dorian continues past, getting to conversation range with the others.

Camus folds her arms. "Bring it up..." she says to an assistant. In a moment, a holographic image flicker into existance over the conference table. A Caucasian male, in his fifties, overweight, and balding. "This, people," Camus sighs, "is our do-er. Jeffrey Wilson, former employee of OCI."

Mystique leans closer towards Lightray, "Do think they'll get to the point before the world ends?" She says in a quiet but not inadible voice. "I miss the time when scribes had to carve theiur runes into stone and cray. There was a lot less shuffling of paper."

Lorelei looks at the picture, clearer than was to be had from the security footage.

Lightray smiles slightly at Mystique's acerbic tone. His fingers rise to caress the surface of the crystal on his chest. He murmurs, "It is certain that Mr Wilson is the one?"

Lorelei says, "He's the man from the cafe. The interesting question is, does he have any known connections to Merlin?"

Camus's eyes flash towards Mystique, partly with annoyance, and partly with the fatigue from being on alert for the 20 hours or so since the gridlock began. "He's our guy. Up until two weeks ago he was a guest of the state, at VCI Roanoke, on drug charges. It turns out that he was part of OCI's computer security team, until they found out about his habit and terminated him. He couldn't stay quiet about getting back at them while he was behind bars." Camus looks to Lorelei and nods. "Getting to that..."

Dorian nods slowly, listening.

Mystique starts to say, "It may be as simple, Lorelei, as..." but ceases talking as the police chief continues.

Camus says, "While he was in Roanoke, Wilson was in a section where was keep a lot of the white collar guys and some tech-based spervillains -- the sort who are powerless without their gear. It looks like he met up with one of Merlin's old associates behind bars, and he may have introduced the two of them."

Lorelei says, "Or taken over his identity. Is there any evidence this Merlin is the same Merlin as before? I think only a hologram has ever been seen?"

Dorian nods. "I was wondering that, too. Perhaps he's using the visage of Merlin as a smoke screen, and he's the real perp."

Lightray shrugs slightly. "In the end its academic, we need to focus on fiding whoever it is and stopping them. Determining specifics can wait until the city is out of crisis, can it not?" He turns his attention back to the Commissioner. "Is the associate still in prison?"

Camus nods. "It's certainly possible. But the connection does exist... So..." She takes a moment before continuing. "It didn't take Wilson long before he missed a meeting with his parole officer. He made a few phone calls into the office during his first week of freedom, and then he dropped off of the grid."

Camus nods to Lightray. "Frank Baricella - AKA Nighthawk. He's in for string of armed robberies he pulled back in the 40s."

Mystique says, "Off the grid prehaps. But he was involved in information technology infrastructure. He did not drop off the net I will wager."

Dorian nods. "So, we need to find this guy, clearly. Anyone have a clear idea how to do that?" He looks to Mystique as she comments, "Have a way to track him over the net?"

Lorelei says, "I've no idea short of public appeal - 'have you seen this man?' - but I doubt there's time for that."

Camus nods. "Right. We have him at the internet cafe. Plus the phone calls he made to his PO were all from public phones along the main road that goes out to Green Acres."

Mystique says, "I will try. However there are individuals far more skilled in that than I. One of those should be contacted."

Mystique asks one of the officiers on hand, "Is there a terminal free that I can use?"

Camus adds: "We have officers checking out Green Acres, but we don't have a way of getting enough manpower out there in order to be effective." She nods to Mystique. "You," she says to a cop working on terminal. "Stand up."

The cop gives up his terminal.

Dorian nods. "We might be able to scour that area, if need be."

Mystique moves to the terminal and starts an attempt to track and trace Wilson's handle and online activities.

Mystique, and Paragon

Lightray stares off into space for a moment then looks over at Dorian. "can you detect electromagnetic signatures, sir? If so, you may be able to locate the transmitter they need to send their signal."

Dorian nods. "That was part of my plan, if it came to that. I should be able to pick it out. If I know what to look for, I can distinguish it from other signals."

Lorelei just keeps out of the way. She can't see she can be much use in finding people.

Mystique smiles coldly, "I have something here." She calls out, "Activity accessing the OCI systems and a location in the Green Acres region, emanating from this housing development on the west side of Green Acres."

Mystique says, "Ah... The housing development ran out of funds and was never finished. So there shouldn't be any legitimate occupants there."

Dorian nods. "Sounds like a good starting point for the search, then. It should be REALLY easy to pick up signals if there shouldn't be any."

Camus says, "What's the status of those air-cars?" A subordinate responds, "Still tied up helping the FD with that blaze on the west side. Plus the National Guard is still waiting on the word from the Governor..."

Mystique nods to Dorian, returns her attention to the terminal for a few moments. "I can't narrow it down any further." She announces, turning away from the screen.

Lorelei says, "How do we get there? The west side - it should be close to the Main Street maglev?"

Dorian looks to Mystique, "I assume you have the means to get out there yourself?" He then looks to Lorelei, "I can fly out there and carry you."

Dorian says, "And...we should call in anyone else we can think of to help out."

Lorelei nods. "Not Jade Ashcroft though - she's worked on this nonstop and will be sleeping now!"

Camus says, "Maglev is down cut in half. Somebody sabotaged the lines in the middle of the night... Don't worry about the fire, though. We'll handle it. We need you to go after Wilson and Merlin, if he's actually involved.

Mystique says, "Eventually, Dorian. I usually travel by Maglev. I can walk through the elemental planes but that's of limited benefit unless there's an exceptional fortunate confluence of portal locations."

Lorelei nods to Mystique. "I know what you mean - with my worldwalking I'm lucky to arrive within a mile."

Dorian nods. "I think I can carry you both, though I'll be a little tired when we arrive."

Lorelei thinks. o O (Now, if I'd only had time to study that spell....)

Spirit changes form in a brief flash of light. "On the bright side, you'll have your hands free to make some calls. All set?"

Lorelei nods. "Well, I'll do my best not to be too heavy...."

Mystique nods. "I am ready."

Lorelei casts a spell, and becomes rather shorter and slimmer.

Whitmore Forest was intended as a gated community for upper-middle class families until the Crash of '56. Now it's a fenced-off expanse of neglected lawns and half-finished homes. All is quiet out here, even in the middle of the afternoon.

The group steps outside, and Spirit reaches out with a hand toward the two women. A band of energy stretches out and grabs each around the waist...and then the trio take off into the air.

Devil Dog is in a dark dank church as the call comes over his small radio. Standing from a nest of blankets he drops 'A Clockwork Orange' back into the nest with his place marked and steps over to a huge glassless window, hurling himself threw it and vanishing in a flash of flames. He appears hovering over the indicated sight, trying to get a more accurate idea of what is expected of him as he spirals threw the sky on fiery wings.

Spirit arcs down toward the ground, still carrying Lorelei and Mystique. He then sets then down on the ground lightly, releases the two of them, and lands.

Imaginary Girl, having been ferrying non-hover firefighting vehicles and their crews to the scene of the fire, eventaully gets word of the need for superheroes to handle the /cause/ of the gridlock. Taking a few more minutes to take one last firetruck to the scene, she then flies a high 'ballistic' sort of arcing trajectory up and out of the area she's in and down and into the Whitmore area, coming out of supersonic speeds well before the sonic boom can be dangerous to people and things on the ground. Of course, the *CRACK* of sound barrier breaking is audible, even at a distance, heralding her arrival as she flits down to come to a hovering stop near the others as she says, "I got the message! Where's this gridlock bad guy?"

Lorelei returns to her natural form. "Whew - that's better!"

Whitmore Forest

Whitmore Forest was intended as a gated community for upper-middle class families until the Crash of '56. Now it's a fenced-off expanse of neglected lawns and half-finished homes. All is quiet out here, even in the middle of    the afternoon.

Mystique nods to Dorian, "Thank you. If only all heroes were as sensible." She points to the firey trail in the sky of Devil Dog's impending arrival, "You should consider teaching some of these heroes that snaeking up on villains is much better than giving advance warning."

Spirit chuckles. "Well, he might have seen me in the air, too. I leave a trail of light, after all." He looks up at Imaginary Girl, "Don't know exactly where yet. Just...in the area. If you have X-ray vision or whatnot, nows a good time to use it." He takes off into the air again, and starts to scan for errant EM signals that might be a clue to the villain's whereabouts.

Mystique then winces and covers her ears as Imaginary Girl arrives with a sonic BOOM. "So, just in case the villain hadn't seen one hero we'll make sure he hears us arriving."

"... I never used x-ray vision before. I don't think I can", is Imaginary Girl's reply, though from the look on her face as she glances over at a nearby wall, she's actually /trying/ to see through it, now - and not succeeding.

Devil Dog hovers in the air, scoping out the place himself and trying to get a lock on anything that might clue him in on this techy dude and his operation. hIs info so far is limitted, just 'show up and help find th cause of the gridlock'.

Spirit moves back down toward the group. "Okay...found what looks like a satellite dish. I think that's where the signal is coming from. It'll be controlled elsewhere, so we'll have to track the lines from there, but it's a good starting point." He points out where it is, so the others know.

Just as she finishes helping an old lady carry her groceries home because her car was stopped by the gridlock, Paragon gets an alert over her comm systems. The alert in her HUD pops up in a red flashing box. She puts down the last of the grocery bags down in the lady's kitchen and salutes. "If that's all, I should be going, ma'am," she says in her showy hero voice. The old woman nods thankfully, "Ohhh, why thank you, young man." Paragon tilts her head. "Miss," she corrects. The lady playfully giggles. "You're such a polite young man. I haven't been a miss for ages!" Paragon just smiles and decides not to embarass the woman with another correction. She nods her head and says, "Have a nice day, ma'am." Several minutes later, she's traveling rooftop to rooftop towards the section of the city the alert details.

Lorelei looks about too. Knowing that Merlin uses holograms, any sign of a hologram could be a clue.

Mystique nods, "I'll mist scry for any wires. You'll have spotted any signals transmitted to it I would assume, Spirit?"

Imaginary Girl, momentarily distractedy the idea of having x-ray vision, takes to the air a few moments later, zipping off after Spirit. "What'm I looking for?", she asks as she joins in on the aerial search. Then Spirit points out the satellite dish and mentions tracking the lines, and she flits off that way to start trying to do just that - backtrack the cables that lead up to the dish.

Spirit nods. "It was broadcasting, from what I can tell."

Devil Dog turns and angles out of sight over a building, heading toward something he sees from the air. As he swoops out of sight he is going to land beside a running news truck he found, landing beside the driver door and glancing in. He attempts to dull the flames of his wings so they are mostly shadow, being stealthy.

Spirit rubs his chin, "If the cables are underground, I might still be able to follow them. I'll see. Can't hurt to have more than one person looking." He takes off again, and heads over to the dish to take a closer look.

Lorelei mostly just tries not to be too obvious, though. The fewer obvious heroes in sight, the greater the chance of achieving some suprise.

From the air, Imaginary Girl can spot the outside of the house where the cables from the sat-truck lead. Like a disturbed ant-hill about a dozen armed men begin to swarm out though the doors and open walls of the building.

Merlin's Minions

A crew of men in lightly armored blue uniforms with high-tech guns. Their weapons seem to be sprayers connected by hoses to tanks they wear on their backs. Their masks have respirators and tinted visors built in.

"Hey! I think I found 'em!", says State-the-Obvious Girl, aka Imaginary Girl, pointing down from where she comes to a hover over the building and the armed men.

Mystique sighs, "I think they have found you. Wilson and Merlin are in the house those men came from. I will deal with these minions if you wish to concentrate on detaining the prime movers in this business."

Lorelei runs toward the minions as soon as they come into view.

Paragon finds a perch on a rooftop to survey the scene quietly, her vision flicking to Infrared for a moment to detect all the heat patterns below. Flicking back to normal vision, she manages to locate some of the heroes already on the scene, as well as the armored men. Seeing the heroes converge, she holds her breath and leaps towards the house.

Mystique starts walking towards the house, and minions. She casts a protective mage shield and then summons a mist from the ground around and inside the house. Within the area of the mist are creepy shadows seen only from the corner of the eye, eerie groans and creaks, and a smell of purid marshland.

The uniformed men easily spot Imaginary Girl and Spirit. One points at the heroes and says, "Get them!"

Lorelei runs in, to get closer to the men so they can see her better. At the end of the run she holds her breath.

Imaginary Girl rolls for HAP's and gets 2 for this scene.

Devil Dog suddenly flairs up, completely covered in hellish flames. His right hand snaps forward and a 6 M whip snaps out to his side before he snaps it forward to lash the first man he sees directly in the face with it, the whip macking a loud CRACK as it snaps toward the poor lacky. // stretching 5 M, using whip, damage 10 DC, 7ocv 7 DCV, will also make a pre attack for the flaming up of myself.

Devil Dog's whip knocks one of the Minion's flat onto his back, and the other all stare at him. "What the hell is that!" one of them shouts.

Spirit turns, and flies directly toward the group of gunmen...only to zip past them toward one of the doors they thoughfully left open in their haste. "Excuse me, gentlemen." His light shields start to flicker around his body just as he disappears inside.

Inside the house, Wilson spots Spirit and shouts. "Screw this, I'm getting out of here..!"

Imaginary Girl dives and lands hard on the asphalt of the street in front of the armed goons, landing hard enough to 'dent' where she impacted. Rising from being crouched on one knee after the hard landing, she stands with her feet spread, hands on her hips. "That", she says, in response to the question they asked, "is the guy who's gonna help me kick all your butts harder than you can imagine if you don't put down your guns /right now/ and surrender!" Then, pointing at the nearest man, she adds, "And, you... my eyes're up /here/!", bringing that hand back to point at her face.

A couple of the minions take few steps backward, confronted by Imaginary Girl and Devil Dog at the same time.

Merlin's goggles whirr as he looks at Spirit. "So which one are you? I hardly recognize any of these new heroes... Well, son, let's see what you're made off." He points his staff at Spirit, aiming at the ground where he's standing. A ping-pong ball sized pellet shoots out at Spirit's feet.

Spirit reaches out a hand, causing a shimmering shield to appear, in an attempt to redirect the pellet to the far side of the room.

Spirit manages to deflect the pellet. "New hero? Seriously? You've been out of touch longer than you think."

The ping pong ball slams into a wall and explodes into a cloud of black dust, like iron filing. The dust quickly arranges itself, clings to the wall, and freezes in place over the surface of it.

Merlin's Minions hesitate, faced with the tandem of Imaginery Girl and Devil Dog.

Mystique hurriedly cancels her spooky mist spell as heroes rush into the area before it develops further than a few curls close to the ground. She expresses her opinion of such recklessness in a carrying voice and pungent choice of words. Then she casts another spell and steps through into the elemental plane of water for a moment before emerging again much closer to the house.

Paragon crouches down from her rooftop perch and takes a giant leap towards the commotion, coming up short a ways on the ground.

Merlin says to Spirit. "Then maybe some of my old tricks will have new life."

Spirit shakes his head, "Well, I don't want to punch a hole through you...I'm guessing you're just a guy with some technology." He reaches out a hand, and strands of light emanate from his finger tips, interlacing like a helix, and hopefully wrapping around Merlin's body, wrapping him up tightly.

Spirit looks to Wilson as the bands wrap around Merlin. "Take a seat. You're not going to go anywhere. The place is surrounded."

The light molds itself around Merlin, fixing him in place. "Coherent energy? That's interesting."

Lorelei hurries further in and then, still holding her breath, strikes her trademake stunning pose for the benefit of the minions. Sadly she can't say anything witty, under the circumstances, nor even warn the other heroes.

Collective gasps emerge from the uniformed men as Lorelei runs into view. It seems all they can do just to stay on their feet.

Imaginary Girl's feet lift /just/ off the ground as she floats right over into the face of the nearest minion. Hands on her hips, she bends forward just a little at the waist, to get all but nose-to-nose with him. "Half you guys down, already, and /I/ haven't even thrown a punch, yet. Put down your gun before I put you down with it. I'd really rather not hafta bust ya up - I keep finding myself hitting /too/ hard and breaking stuff."

Merlin is able to click a button on his staff, and his armor crackles with electricity.

The electricity begins to break down the solidity of Spirit's binding energy.

Mystique slows her advance and moves her hands in an intricate gesture while speaking a string of strange incomprehensible words. Around the heads of those hoodlums in the area, centered on Spirit and Merlin, the clear air roils and transforms into noxious brownish vapours reeking of chemical waste and other foulness.

Spirit thankfully doesn't actually smell it.

Mystique slows her advance and moves her hands in an intricate gesture while speaking a string of strange incomprehensible words. Mist billows outwards from the bottom of her robes flowing over the ground and forming into grasping arms and hands wherever any object is encountered. The mist spread to cover the entire house and a significant radius around it.

Myst's eldritch fog immobilizes all of Merlin's henchmen.

ZAM. There's the sound of a blast from inside the house. Spirit is hurled out of the building through an unfinished wall. He tears through the plastic sheeting that was in place to seal up the hole, and ends up unconscious on the ground by the side of the house.

Merlin spots Imaginary Girl zooming into towards him. He levels his staff at her and clicks a button. Small black flakes of material flow out of this staff like liquid and they harden into a shiny black material with a criss-crossing texture to it.

Imaginary Girl, rocketing towards Merlin after seeing Spirit get taken down, slams right into the barrier he's erected to protect himself. Thankfully, she led with her arms up in front of her head, like a battering ram, but the impact makes a very loud, very solid sound. The barrier shows cracks as the heroine slams full-tilt into it, but holds, stopping her cold!

Merlin peeks around the side of the wall at Imaginary Girl. "Allow me to introduce you to a good friend of mine... Carbon Fullerene."

"Just wait'll I introduce you to my knuckle sandwich!", replies Imaginary Girl, angrily.

Lorelei finds that she's not needed against the minions any more - and the bad guy can't see her. So, she guesses it's time to try something from her new bag of tricks. She needs to practice magic anyway.... Staying where she is, she sings and dances and casts a glamour on the fullerene wall.

The sheen of the barrier shifts slightly and it loses its texture -- now its just a smooth, monolithic shape.

Lorelei grins as her spells (she thinks) works. "Try that again, IG!"

Merlin gasps, "What in the name of...?"

"It's called /teamwork/, dummy", Imaginary Girl replies, in a chiding tone of voice. "Duh!"

Good thing someone sent a message to Jolt. Sure she's a little late but she is coming in fast. Standing on a metallic looking skateboard as she flies through the air at quite crazy speeds as she wasn't aware of anything going down until it was almost too late!

Merlin says from behind the block, "No, you dullard... it's impossible... physically impossible."

"Don't look impossible to me... but then, I /am/ just an imaginary girl, huh?", replies Imaginary Girl.

Lorelei laughs. "And you have the cheek to call yourself 'Merlin'. I guess you've never come up against a *real* magician before?"

Lorelei thinks. o O (Of course, if he thinks it's illusion - so much the better...)

Merlin's goggles whirr as he takes a moment to examine his barrier.

Imaginary Girl flies straight backwards, then right back at where she last saw Merlin, before the wall went up. Of course, the wall's nothing close to as tough as it was before, and this time it shatters into thousands of little broken-pencil-lead-sized bits as she smashes through it. Merlin, however, somehow manages to duck and dive to the side and out of the way before she barrels right into him!

Imaginary Girl's nice white suit, of course, ends up 'sooty'-looking, what with her flying through all that graphite!

Merlin's goggles whirr and spin. He manages to get out of the way of the Imaginary Girl's attack as though he saw it coming.

Lorelei grins: she can see Merlin now his wall is down. And in the spirit of continuing teamwork, she strikes an alluring pose to make sure Merlin isn't paying attention to Imaginary Girl or Jolt - or indeed anything much but her.

Lorelei for some reason fails. Perhaps he can't see her through the carbon dust. Or perhaps his mind is just on other things.

Jolt slows down as she notices the fighting and enters the house or atleast the doorway and does little to hesitate as she immediately targets the one that IG and Lorelei are having problems with and launches a huge blast of electrical energy at him. Lets hope his dodging skills are up to par.

Merlin is able to sidestep the blast of electricity.

Imaginary Girl flies at Merlin... then angles up and punches at the ceiling several times as she flies in a circle about the room. As the ceiling cracks and beings to fall down, she flits over to hover next to him and make a 'gun' shape with her finger and thumb, putting it to the side of Merlin's head. "Dodge this!", she says...

KER-ASH! The roof collapses on top of Merlin's heads as well as Imaginary Girl's. The rest of the unfinished home collapses as well, with walls blowing out and other sections of roof falling as well.

Lorelei thinks. o O (So much for line of sight...)

From amidst the rubble, a female voice might be heard saying, "Oops.... overdid it again!"

The glass cylinder disappears, presumbly crushed beneath the rubble.

Lorelei says, "Careful not to wreck too much, or we won't be able to unlock the cars!"

Merlin shouts something, but he's muffled underneath the rubble.

"Oh... uhm... what wasn't I supposed to smash for that?", Imaginary Girl questions as she sets aside the parts of roof that landed on her but didn't crush her down. Then, she reaches down to dig out Merlin. "I'm gonna get you outta there, but you be a good boy and surrender and don't make me squish you some more!", she says to him.

Lorelei stays where she is for, clear of the still-falling debris and ready for surprises.

Jolt steps back out the doorway to avoid the impendingcollapse "Ugh... so umm what now?" she asks since it seems like Merlin has been subdued and they know what's causing the problems.

Imaginary Girl digs through the rubble until she finds Merlin, "Now hold still, or I'll introduce you to that knuckle sandwich I promised you, before!", she says to him.

"... Are you utterly insane?" Merlin asks as Imaginary Girl clears enough of the rubble for him to be heard again. "Do you have any sort of plan other than to punch me repeatedly?"

"If it'll make ya stay quiet and stop fighting, yeah. It's worked for me, so far!", Imaginary Girl replies. Then, she actually grins, and reaches down to pat-pat at Merlin's face. "Just be a good boy and don't make me hafta squish ya... I ... kinda do overdo it a lot, huh?"

Lorelei says, "Yes, actually. For starters, you're going to release all the cars...."

Lorelei walks closer as the dust settles.

Merlin twists quickly away from Imaginary Girls touch and he (spends a half phase) starts to get up. "Ah yes," he says. "Someone here remembers that I've got the upper hand here. I have the key that's unlocks all the cars in the city!"

Lorelei smiles. "Yes. And you're going to give the key to me, aren't you?"

"Oh, c'mon... please?", Imaginary Girl asks, pouting. "The city /sucks/ with all the cars just sitting there. Whattaya want for the key?", she asks, hands on her hips.

Merlin seems lost for a moment staring at Lorelei. "The key..." he says. Suddenly he seems to snap out of it. His goggles whirr and the lenses shift to red. "Stop that!" he shouts at Lorelei. "Try that again, and the key is toast!"

Lorelei says, "Well, ok then, how would to rather we go about this?"

"You let me go, and then I tell you where the key is." Merlin says.

Lorelei says, "But if we let you go, you might escape before you tell us....."

Jolt yawns a bit as she listens to Merlin and bluffs "Someone forgets that once whatever's causing the signal is removed that a simple script from the car companies will restore all functions which they have no doubt prepared ahead of time. To disable it all I gotta do is fry everything here and I'm very good at destroying electronic equipment you know" yeah it's up to Jolt to be he more hostile and threatening one this time it seems.

"Deal", Imaginary Girl agrees. "But you gotta promise you're gonna not do this kinda thing again", she adds, speaking to Merlin. "Why'd you do this, anyway?", she then questions.

"And if you don't let me go, the city will be locked down for weeks." Merlin says. "I'll make it a simple decision -- you'll have until the count of ten to decide." He looks over at Imaginary Girl. "Well that was easy." He begins to fly up away from the ground slowly.

Lorelei thinks "Darn!" and tries once again to get Merlin looking at nothing but her.....

"Hey!", Imaginary Girl says, flying upwards. "What about this key?", she asks of Merlin, just following - for now.

Merlin doesn't react to Imaginary Girl, instead he stares at Lorelei. "What... how are you doing this?!"

Lorelei smiles, and says charmingly. "I think you were saying something about the upper hand? Now, if you just give me the key...."

"Duh! She's got boobs. Boobs are /power/! Didn't you know that?", Imaginary Girl teasingly chides at Merlin.

"Let me know, and I'll give you the key..." Merlin says. His normally calm voice strains a little.

Lorelei says, "I'll tell you... but I'm not sure you'll believe my. I'm part fae. It's all... just part of what I am. And now, the key..."

Jolt rolls her eyes and comments "You know it might be easier to just knock him out and take him to the police. They can get a headcase to rip the key from his mind"

Merlin says, "Fine. The key was sitting in a buckyball sphere at the bottom of a container of hydrofluoric acid. It's probably now in the basement, lying in a pool of the stuff. You should release me, though. One command from me and I release the key from the buckysphere."

"Oh, hold on a sec, and I'll go get it... then you can go, okay?", Imaginary Girl says to Merlin. "Will you wait here while I do that, please?", she asks of him, smilingly, before turning to ... do what she seems to do best, the days, smash a hole down through the floor.

Lorelei is glad IG took the hint. "Give me a moment... releasing you takes some time...."

Merlin shakes his head. "Damnit. You did it to me again! We'll I warned you! I'm releasing the key into the acid!" He turns and tries to fly away.

Lorelei calls out, "WAIT!"

Merlin hesistates, hovering in the air. "It's too late... it's done..."

Jolt growls a bit "Good you just lost your upperhand" she takes that as a cue to chase and open fire with extreme prejudice. Throwing electric energy at Merlin like it's going out of style.

Lorelei gives Merlin her best stunning pose before he can recover from her call.

"Gwyaaah!" Merlin screams as he's hit simultaneously by a vicious blast of electricity and one of Lorelei's stunning poses. He falls to the ground.

Lorelei says, "IG - get those codes!"

Lorelei keeps up the stunning pose till Jolt puts Merlin down for the count with another zap!

Imaginary Girl flies right down through the floor and down into the basement, angling in the direction in which she remembers seeing the vat with the acid and bucky ball, before she brought down the ceiling. Spotting the bucky ball, as it's already disintegrating itself away, she snatches it up and catches the key fob that's revealed... and flies back up and out, shaking acid off the fingers of one hand (not the one she's holding the fob with!) as if it were water. "Hey! This isn't a key! It's a /keychain/!", she complains.

Lorelei pulls out her PDA to inform the authorities the key is recovered - and IG should be delivering it soon.

Imaginary Girl finally takes a moment to look at herself... covered with grime and dust. Flying through a wall of graphite /and/ having a house fall in atop you isn't good for keeping one's clothes clean, after all! "Aw, man! I'm all dirty!", she says... then the dirtiness seems to just 'fall off' of her. Even what little rips that might've been in her clothing, from the 'cave-in', seem to simply fade away as if they'd never existed. Spic and span, clean and fresh, Imaginary Girl brightly smiles and says, "There! All better!" That done, she adds, "I'm getting this thing to Jade, now... bye for now!", and flits off, up into the sky and away to where Jade awaits to use the key to transmit the restart signal.