Log:Black King's Gambit

2008/08/23 	 Akeno Black Queen Diamond Jolt Lorelei Mystique 1

Jolt enters from MagLev System.

Olivia comes walking along, she is heading towards the beach today and was planning on stopping off at the coffee shop to get some coffee. She is humming softly as she walks along.

Alex sits under the shade of a table with a large umbrella in front of the coffee shop. He's reading a book. He catches a bit of glinting sunshine from Olivia as she approaches. He looks up and says, "Heya."

Lorelei, having today free, has been going for a walk along the waterfront, and now, feet a bit tired, she turns toward the coffee shop. She seems to have picked up a few people following her somewhere on the course of the walk.

Olivia looks up and smiles at Alex, "Well hello to you." she says and smiles a little. she seems to be in a relatively good mood at the moment.

Alex says, "It's been a little while, yeah? Why don't you pop inside, grab something, and join me back out here."

Jolt sneaks around. She's been busy mapping the sewers and the rest of the tunnels under the city lately. The cover floats up out of the way as she shoots out of the underground and up onto a nearby roof as the cover lands softly where it was originally.

Olivia smiles, "Well that works, be back in a moment." she says and smiles a little.

Lorelei stops short in her tracks, surprised by the flying manhole cover.

Maybe there's a change in the weather on the horizon. At any rate despite the moderate warmth of the afternoon there's a definite hint of a ground mist roiling across and down the streets and alleys of the district.

Olivia turns and stops from going inside, "Well don't really need to go inside." she says and smiles to Alex, "How are you?" she asks and then notices the mist.

Lorelei says to herself, "Looks like I chose the right time for her walk." She continues toward the coffee shop, though keeping an eye on the open manhole.

It's a usual afternoon on Wharf Street, with a number of people taking advantage of the weather to stroll and window shop. People walk their pets. A metermaid makes her rounds along the street, checking parking meters. Right now, she's stopped across the street from the coffee shop, writing up a truck that's parked illegally there.

Jolt peers down from the roof area as she notices the change in weather begining. Looking at her crude mapping efforts. She's getting better at navigating these sewers and what not. And she wasnt actively keeping the manhole cover floating, it went back into place after she passed it to get on the roof.

Alex smiles and sets his book aside. It's a legal reference text and it's an actual print on paper book. "Not too shabby. And you? What are you up to nowadays?"

Jolt thinks. o O (Damn meter maids, I should start frying them annoying parking meters to save the citizens dumb parking tickets... someday)

The mist is gathering into a thicker and denser cloud, the separate threads and tendrils of vapour moving towards a spot close to Lorelei with increasing speed... Then the mist solidifies into the form of a middle aged witch. There's still mist around the witch's feet though. "Good afternoon, Ms Lorelei."

Lorelei stops again. "Uh... hello..."

Lorelei thinks. o O (Witch? This might be bad....)

Olivia cocks her head to the side, "This and that, was gone for a while, but have come back."

Mystique points to the coffee shop door and tells Lorelei, "You should go inside. Hurry!"

Lorelei was wondering that, and takes Mystique's word for it. She runs for the coffee shop!

Alex nods, listening to Olivia. His eyes shift towards Mystique and to Lorelei as she starts to break into a run. He begins to rise from his chair.

Mystique turns to face the truck parked across the street with mist swirling around her.

Jolt pulls out a shiny PDA and begins to google the company name she sees on the truck for more information. After all it seems fishy to her.

Olivia cocks her head to the side a little and just incase her body shimmers and hardens into her sparkling form.

There's activity from the truck parked across from the coffee shop. The sides of the rear cargo section fall open revealing a number of armored individuals inside. They leap into action.

Jolt shakes her head and shuts off her PDA so as to protect it from her own EMP attacks. Making a mental note of the company name to check it out later as she stands up on the roof "This cant be good..." the electrical heroine grumbles "Go figure, I seem to be a magnet for trouble"

The group seems to be a woman in power armor, flanked by a number of unmanned weapons/vehicles. She's standing atop one of the hovercycle-like vehicles. She got her sword drawn, a crudely fashioned blade of metal, and then she levels it, clearly at Lorelei. The crown atop her helmet glows.

Alex gets up and runs away! He turns a corner and disappears down an alleyway.

The Queen rides across the street as the Knight carries her towards Lorelei. "I've been training a long time for this... It's nice to finally meet you in person, Lorelei. I'm going to enjoy this. You: not as a much," she says, speaking Irish-accented English. She raises her blade, twists it deftly in her wrist, and strikes at Lorelei with the flat of the blade.

Lorelei barely manages to dodge back out of the blade's reach. "Who the heck are you?!"

Sable turns a corner, apparently moving in the direction of where else but the coffee shop. Her normally graceful footfalls slow visibly for a long moment as she processes the scene on the street, then she moves decisively, briskly moving toward the disturbance.

The Queen pauses a moment. "Well, I plan on having a bit of time to make acquiantances, but, 'The Black Queen' will do for now."

Lorelei says, "I think you're doing this all wrong. While is supposed to move first. And for that matter you lead off with a pawn or a knight."

"I've always been one to cut straight to the heart of matters." the Queen says, readying her sword for another attack.

Jolt concentrates as she focues her electrical energy into generating magnetic fields of incredible force. Naturally the target of her particular brand of force is to grab at the 'Knight' she's riding and shake the hell out of it!

Lorelei thinks. o O (Well, at least I have a bit of armour over my heart.)

The Queen crashes to the ground, flung from her saddle on the Knight's back.

Diamond moves over to stand between Lorelei and the fallen Queen, to protect of sorts.

The Queen raises her head and looks towards the Bishops. Her crown glows, and the Bishop rise into the air over the middle of the street. They aim their cannons at Jolt and fire lasers at her.

Jolt is hit easily by both lasers and crumples into a pile on the rooftop.

Akeno enters from MagLev System.

Mystique stretches out a hand over the fallen Queen and misty vapors coalesce into a dripping acid pouring from her fingers onto the golden band of the crown like adornment of the attacker's armor.

The second knight tries to zoom in to protect its Queen, but it falls short.

"Damnit!" The Queen says. The crown melts away from her helmet.

Mystique chuckles with a raspy bubbling laugh like marsh gas popping up in a swamp.

The Queen looks at Mystique. An armored visage doesn't make it easy to give an icy glare. "You. You're on my list. Right after the fairy."

Police sirens blaring as he approaches on a motorcycle this time, Akeno slows the bike down as he nears the coffee shop, blinking as he hits the brakes hard enough to leave a streak on the pavement as he parks the bike near the curb. "Kami... I ought to get out more and stop taking those out of town cases that just need help." Sighing, he tightens up a pair of gloves on his hands as he shuts off the bike, locks it, and heads towards the fight.

Mystique says, "Why wait. I'm right here."

Sable closes the distance to the fight, interposing herself between the backup heavy vehicles and the heroes.

The Queen kips up to her feet and then lashes out with her blade at Mystique. This time, she swings with the edge of the blade.

Mystique is knocked back and down by the impact of the sword but otherwise seems largely unaffected.

Diamond blinks as the Queen uses the edge of her sword on Mystique, "Well you just aren't being nice, I think you really need to take a nap, wake up on the right side of bed this time." and with that she throws a punch at the Queen.

The Queen is rocked by the thunderous blow. She tumble backwards, but manages to find her feet again.

With a glance over her shoulder, she calls to the Rooks. To one: "Rook, capture the witch." She points first to the Rook and then to Mystique. "Bishops, attack the big one." She points out Diamond to the hovering Bishops.

Finally one the Rooks lumbers into action. It hovers across the pavement until it slides next to Mystique. It begins to project a wall of energy around itself, encapsulating itself and Mystique inside.

Sable waits with her weight on the balls of her feet and unleashes a swift kick at the broad side of the tank as it rolls past but achieves little other than rocking it slightly.

Alex changes into costume.

Mystique smiles looking at the Queen, "I must thank you. The extra protection will be most welcome."

The Queen orders the rest of her forces around. "Knights, attack the White Queen. Rook, prepare to shield me."

The Knight hover and turn towards Lorelei. A loud humming accompanies the activation of their laser lances, and both of them try to attack Lorelei.

The Bishops fly a little higher, now cresting 8" in the air. They rain fire down on Olivia from above.

Lorelei is knocked back by the knight but manages to roll to her feet.

Diamond gets hit but almost seems to shrug it off like one would a bugbite.

Lorelei chances getting an attack in on the Queen while she's busy with Mystique, and strikes a stunning blow for her.

The amulet set in the chest of the Queen's armor glows. She scoffs, "Do you think I'd be here without some form of protection from your magic?"

Lorelei says, "Um - I don't do magic."

Jolt has made one tactical error and isn't going to make another. She gets up and uses the very same move that she pulled on the Queen's Knight at the beginning only this time she's a lot more violent about it... Targeting the Bishop by grabbing it with a magnetic grip and flinging it directly into the other one... Two birds with one stone ya know

The two Bishops back into one another, but without sufficient force to really damage either.

Mystique frowns at the claim from the Queen that she has magical protection. Even so she'll try a spell. Should that prove ineffective... well the safety of her client must come before pride. Plus if Lorelei is killed or abducted she won't get paid.

The Queen's amulet glows again. She doesn't seem affected.

Inside the force dome, the Rook tries to slam into into Mystique.

Mystique uses her elemental powers to turn the air around the Queen into a mist of psychosomatic drug vapor. Her frown deepens as the Queen seems unaffected.

Akeno disappears from where he was, reappearing in front of the Queen with a cheeky grin. And yes, he has a badge clipped to his waist. "Hi. You must be the one in charge of this mess. Akeno Matsuya. CBPD Detective. Since you're causing a lot of trouble, I'll ask you nicely to surrender. Somehow, I don't think you will, though."

The Queen looks over towards Mystique. "Do you like the amulet? It's been in my family for generations..."

"Sorry, constable." the Queen says, "But this is a private affair. The Fuzz is not invited."

Akeno grins. "Thought so. Nice amulet." A sudden burst of wind seems to surround him as he suddenly launches a hard, fast punch aimed at the amulet itself. "By the way, I don't use magic. I use ch'i. Look it up sometime."

Mystique says, "It's a pretty trinket. It will look good on my office wall with the rest of my trophies.""

Despite being in armor, the Queen quickly reacts to Akeno's attack and dodges aside.

The Queen sidesteps from Akeno and tries to grab Lorelei by the arm.

Narosia enters from MagLev System.

Akeno quirks a brow at that. "I see... the armor's just to misguide... well, then..." Akeno settles back into a stance, hands moving almost as if in a blur as he grins a bit. "I always did love when they played hard to get." He calls to Mystique, "Hey, Mystique, stop concentrating on her and get rid of the toys."

The Queen manages to get her fingers around Lorelei wrist. With the suit, her grip feels like a steel vise.

Lorelei says, "Ow - do you mind?"

Mystique looks coldly back at Akeno, "I have been engaged in Guardian activities for over fifteen thousand years, young man. When you get to be a few thousand years old, then you might be listened to more seriously."

Jolt energizes herself as she begins to draw energy out of her body and charges forward towards the bishops and unleashes a powerful EMP Wave that shoots out from her as the center

Mystique thinks. o O (I simply detest being given advice that matches what I had intended to do anyway. It makes it look like I'm following the advice.)

ZOOORCHT! The helicopter blades on both vehicles stop spinning and they start to fall.

"Ughh!" The remnants of the Queen's melted crown fizzle and spark. She doubles over, holding her head with her free hand.

Meanwhile Diamond grapples with the Rook that's remained at the Queen's side.

"Bloody ACRO scientists didn't mention anything about that..." the Queen complains. "Knights, to me." she says, before looking to Lorelei. "We've got a flight to catch."

The two Knights fly to beside the Queen.

Jolt calls out once the Bishop's start falling "Look out below!" hopefully to give anyone in the way enough time to you know get out of the way of the giant falling chesspeice.

By now, most of the bystanders have cleared from the middle of the street. The only things at risk are perhaps an abandoned car left in the middle of traffic.

Akeno moves again, "Hey! I'm talking to you, lady!" He makes his move, a quick hard grip on the wrist and a twist to get Lorelei away from the Queen and leap away with the heroine. "And if you think you're going to get away with kidnapping on my watch, think again!"

The Queen throws her arm over the waiting Knight. "Knight, away, full speed!" To the other Knight, she says, "Attack the nearest person!" The Queen rockets down the street, pulling Lorelei along with her.

The remaining Knight attacks Akeno with a laser-lance.

Akeno blinks as the Queen suddenly slips out of his grasp, then he ends up with having to bend in a nearly impossible way to dodge the laser lance. "Now that just pisses me off..." He frowns, looking at the Knight to make sure it doesn't try anything else before he gets a chance to go after the two.

Mystique checks to make sure she's maintained her misty shield. . o O(This is going to hurt, maybe) She watches the flight of the Knight carrying the Black Queen and Lorelei away, and then transforms into a fine mist that seeps effortlessly through the porous force wall and is whipped at speed across to before the queen on the front of the Knight... and braces for the impact as she reappears from the mist."

Mystique misjudges the distance and direction of flight of the fleeing Knight, then misjudges her mist walk across to it... and ends up exactly where she intended to be.

The Queen looks to Lorelei. "Your friends are persistent... I'll give them that. Not much in the department of common sense, though."

Akeno looks at the Knight that attacked him. "Sorry. No time to play with you." Turning, he takes a step and vanishes. Reappearing in front of the Queen as he moves forward again in a leap. "Wind Fist Technique, divine winds swirl, wind blade!" Wind swirls and to those capable of seeing such, swirls into a blade out from his hand as he leaps at the Queen and takes a swipe at her with seemingly nothing to everyone else.

Lorelei says, "If you think they're bad, how do you think half the rest of the world will feel that you've abducted me? I think you'll be quite unpopular.."

Akeno disappears in a sudden movement as he reappears a bit ahead of Queen, chanting his incantation as he stops to look back and see what Mystique has in mind, back-pedalling and ready to move again if he gets the chance. This isn't his first run in with someone who's got wheels of some sort, but the first time some have heard him say that incantation. Let alone the shape of it isn't something normal for a pacifist cop that doesn't use guns.

The Queen climbs fully into the saddle of the Knight. "Knight: assuming manual control" She says, laying a hand on the controls, even as she continues to tug Lorelei along with her. She digs her heels into the sides of the Knight and tries to shake Mystique off of the Knight, shouting "Hyah!"

Mystique looks at the Queen, "If I'm on your list then trying to shake me off this device is foolishly counter-productive."

The Knight carrying Mystique, the Queen, and Lorelei continues to barrel ahead at full power.

Mystique shakes her head as she sees what Akeno intends. "No! Get out the way!" She shouts at him.

WHA-BAM! There's a horrible collision that leave the front of the Knight crushed and smoking.

"That maniac!" the Queen says, sounding nearly exasperated.

A pained grimace of concern and worry passes fleetingly across Mystique's face as the Knight crashes into Akeno and knocks him flying.

Mystique says, "We agree on one thing at least, then." to the Queen.

Jolt flies down closer to the two Rooks and unleashes another EMP wave, although she's not quite sure how effective it is going to be this time with one having its forcefield up...

The unshielded Rook shudders and coughs thick black smoke; it's done. The EMP shatters the force field that was protecting the other Rook.

The Queen's helmet sparks, and she grunts. "Damnit."

Jolt unleashes another EMP wave, basically destroying that one but falls down exhausted and unconscious afterwards... Oh well theres one easy to pound on one left for Diamond to finish off atleast.

Lorelei tries to get the Queen's sword out of its sheath with her free hand.

Lorelei gets the sword out of the Queen's scabbard - maybe she's in this fight yet!

"Hey... do you want us to crash!" the Queen complains. "What kind of fae are you, anyway? You don't do magic... Cold-iron doesn't bother you in the least..."

Lorelei says, "Why the heck do you think I'm fae?"

Lorelei's question isn't entirely rhetorical - she's trying to find out if she'd behinf the break-in, for a start.

Mystique balances on the smoking wobbly Knight and places a hand gently on Lorelei's shoulder if she permits. "I was planning to get off about now. When you like to come with me, Ms Lorelei?"

Lorelei says, "yes please."

"I'm starting to have my doubts," the Queen says, in response to Lorelei. "But the Black King is convinced. And that's good enough for me..."

Lorelei says, "What's with this whole chess theme anyway?"

Mystique moves so she is in front of Lorelei given the direction the Knight is heading in. "I'm sure we shall meet again, Black Queen. Look after that amulet. I have a spot picked out for it on my office wall." With that remark both Lorelei and Mystique transform to mist and are whipped away by a swift breeze. The reason for Mystique's placing herself in front of Lorelei becomes obvious with the mist reforms as Lorelei and Mystique 40 meters back towards the coffee shop... and they are travelling at the speed the Knight was.

"When I saw the armor, I knew....."

The Queen casts a quick glance over her shoulder at Lorelei and Mystique before bolting off into the sky.

Mystique tumbles to a halt laying in the road with Lorelei gathered protectively in her grasp. "My apology for the bumpy landing Ms Lorelei. I hope you will have forgotten about it by the time I present my bill."

Diamond finishes off the final Rook.

Lorelei says, "No worrries - it wasn't too bad. Thanks for you help! Do you have any idea who that was?"

Mystique helps Lorelei to stand while doing so herself. "No. Although I do remember a mention of ACRO by the woman."

Lorelei picks herself up, being careful with the sword, and checks to make sure the Queen ins't coming back.

Lorelei nods. "I had the feeling they must have supplied her.... I wonder if this sword is more her usual style...."

Mystique heads over to where Akeno is down and when she gets there looks back at Lorelei. "Glimmer has been on a first aid course. Instruct her on that to do please."

Jolt finally opens her eyes and rubs her head as she staggers to her feet and looks around as she ends up walking around until she finds an alleyway with a manhole and goes back down to the sewers and on her way to find her hideout

Lorelei nods. "I'll do that."

Glimmer looks around, "Oh, hi everyone." she says in a high whispery voice.

Mystique vanished in mid-step being replaced by Glimmer.

Lorelei says, "Hi Glimmer! Sorry to jump right into things, but Detective Akeno has been hurt - can you help him?"

Glimmer bobs in the air "Sure I can. I went on a course for doing that. Not for looking after Detective Akeno specifically but for helping anyone who was hurt." She's already moving over and giving first aid (paramedics). "Oh, he looks bad doesn't he."

Lorelei thinks. o O (Whoops.)

Lorelei hopes Glimmer knows what she's doing.

Glimmer flies up after putting a bandage on Akeno's left leg. "You should go to the hospital." She tells him.

Lorelei says, "The Black *King*... I wonder if that's Smith...."

Lorelei checks who's calling before answering.

Lorelei says, "Hello?"

Akeno grumbles as he comes back around. Most of his clothes are spreaded from the impact, well at least the pants aren't. That'd be embarassing as he sighs. "Knew that was a bad idea... anyone get the licence plate at least?"

Glimmer asks Akeno brightly, "Did you get hit by a car? It happened to me too. But the car went right through me. Made me swirl all around and I got dizzy."

On the other end of Lorelei's PDA, a voice speaks in an Irish accent. His tone his raspy and perhaps a little sickly. "Lorelei... *ahem* You may call me the Black King. I see that you and your friends have bested my Queen in combat. Good show. But a wise general never fights a battle unless he has already won. I have someone here who would like to talk to you..."

Akeno blinks, then looks at Glimmer and sighs. "Oh... hey, Glimmer, no I was hit with a modified hover-bike with armor." He pauses as he looks to Lorelei and the PDA, then back at Glimmer. "I hate to mention it, but we might need Mystique back."

Lorelei pales.

Glimmer tries to stamp her foot on the ground but it simply squishes out into a small cloud. "Bring back Mystique. Bring back Mystique. That's all anyone ever says to me." She pouts before turning back to Mystique.

Lorelei on a sudden thought put the PDA on speakerphone so the detective can hear..

Akeno frowns, motioning at Mystique to be quiet as he gets up. Wincing a bit as he rubs where some of the metal from the bike got through his skin judging by some of the cuts there.

Mystique nods to Akeno.

Lorelei tries not to sound as nervous as she feels. "Well?"

Quentin's voice is the next sound heard on the line. His voice is eerily calm, and measured. "Stephie... I want you to listen to me very carefully... there are men here with guns... they've taken me somewhere and they wanted me to tell you..." There's a pause on the other end. "No matter what they tell you, you stay away!" he blurts out quickly. There's the sound of some kind of scuffle on the other end. Far away from the microphone, Quentin shouts, "I love you, honey!" There's a loud slamming sound and then the call returns to silence for a few moment.

Lorelei says angrily, "If you hurt him... if you do anything to him...." But tears are welling up in her eyes.

The King's coughing is the next sound on the other end. He sounds winded, and angry. "Your father is alright for now. But his well being depend entire on your cooperation. I will be in touch."

Akeno steps back enough to begin making calls as he listens. He whispers it mostly, talking to his superior and a few others as he gets the call traced while he can.

Akeno grumbles a bit, then sighs, "Wind Fist Technique, spirits of the wind, I call to my aid, healing through my hands." He starts to work on himself, then the others as he shakes his head. "Can't believe I misjudged that teleport."

Lorelei says, "Who are you?! What's this all about?!"

"You could say that I'm an old friend of the family." the King says. He hmms contently, but that breaks into a spasm of coughs. Sounding in between fits of hacking, he spits out, "Await my call!" He hangs up.

Akeno considers. "This could be trouble... I've got the call traced, but was to a dead end..."

Lorelei shouts, "Wait!" rather too late, before breaking into more tears. It's been a while since she felt this helpless.

Mystique asks Akeno, "How closely did you locate the call?

Akeno frowns. "We didn't... at least not yet. Unfortunately, it might take a while... so all we can do is wait and hope that Lorelei's father is fine."

Mystique says, "If you can locate the source of the call within, say a few miles, I can either find Lorelei's father or eliminate everywhere except a few spots."

Akeno shakes his head, "It's not that simple... I had to rush procedures just to do that... they're compiling a map soon as they can and will tell me what they can."

Lorelei says, "Is there anything else we can do?"

Mystique nods. "Yes. The caller had a strange accent. Did you recognise it?"

Lorelei says, "Irish but.."

Akeno shakes his head. "Irish... so we at least have some ideas to look for. I'm going to do a thorough background check and see what I can find."

Mystique looks at Lorelei, "But..?"

Lorelei says, "I should know that accent... I think.... maybe it'll come back to me."

Mystique nods. "He had a very bad cough. He also claimed to be connected to your family and his words suggested a connection that is quite old."

Lorelei nods. "I know but... I don't really know much about my family.... Maybe I can find out more....."

Lorelei hurries off to her Dad's place, hoping to find some clues.

Mystique goes with Lorelei.