Log:A Child's Fantasy, Scene 1

A Child's Fantasy 2020/06/26 	 Amelia Carpenter Grimm Harlequin Hotfoot Quiet Riptide Slinger Marty Flinn 1

It's near the end of term at Harrisburg elementary, and the kids are looking forward to the holidays. But yesterday afternoon, Jake Barker and Andy Rice. two second-graders, never made it home from school.

Hotfoot thinks. o O (Even younger than I was...)

Carpenter shows up at the school. He has a couple of other pressing cases, like a gun-toting vigilante who tried to take him out a few nights ago. But he was given this one by Captain Landry anyway. His current partner, Detective Harris, doing some research on the vigilante while he takes care of this.

Grimm has a secret soft-spot for kids and a drive to deal with missing persons cases, given her little sister's case was never solved. She appears in a swirl of darkness at the school after scouting where the activity was with her shadow sight.

Amelia contacts Sasha immediately she hears about the kidnappings, "Any of the little wolves involved, Sasha? I'm on my way to the scene."

People taking kids. That has Kelly on the hunt. She always worries that it might involve supernatural predators such as other vampires. This is why she is Apex, the hunter of the hunters. She puts on her mask and since she resides in Harrisburg, it's not that far for her to get to the crime scene.

She isn't the sort to walk up to cops and ask about things. She's more likely to just wander into the crime scene and investigate on her own with or without permission. Which is exactly what she is doing today. She's hoping to catch some scents before everyone else muddles the crime scene with their own scents.

Harlequin shows up for a variety of reasons. One, the Harrisburg Watch informed him about the disappearances. Two, Harrisburg is his home so he's heard about what happened. And last, two of his little wolves (which few know about) attend the school.

He answers the call from Amelia, listens, then murmurs, "I am already here."

Grimm is the sort to walk up to cops. On some occasions. "Hello, Detective," she purrs the title a little and folds her arms over her chest. "I wasn't expecting to see you on this case. Must mean something less than usual happened."

Bree had been shooting pool over at Hacker's Rage (and had made about $80 so far) when she heard Stan Rice, one of the regulars, talking about how his kid hadn't come home last night. Having been snatched herself once. o O (The worst three) She forced the thought away and listened closely to what Stan was saying - that the cops had called in the metas for help, and were meeting today at the school. That was all she needed to know. She cleard the table with her next few shots and walked out, leaving her wager on the table. Moments later, Hotfoot was at the school.

Slinger knows all too well that he's supposed to be working on recovering his old body- but he feels more than a little guilty about Grimm's less than enviable last few months while he was off doing Daemon-y things. So he's endeavored to make it up to her and so its no surprised when the web-slinging hero arrives just behind her.

He swings and lands near Detective Carpenter & Grimm.

A small swirl of water-like energy signals the appearance of Riptide at the school. The teen's looking around carefully for others. He was visiting a trio of meta kids that he was helping on the side. And now? Well, rumors spread pretty fast!

Turning, he heads over towards the police. "Detective. Is this where a pair of kids disappeared from?"

Amelia summons a pair of watchers and instructs them to thoroughly search the school from top to bottom. In case the kidnapping is in fact two children playing where they shouldn't and getting themselves trapped.

Things at the school are already pretty chaotic. Clearly the word has got about: there are both impromptu search parties and parents of other children worried about safety at the school.

Carpenter shrugs and smiles to Grimm, "No reason to say that yet, even though I was given the case. But given how many metas are showing up...maybe?"

"Mmm." Gabrielle glances to the school. "I have personal reasons for helping, even if a villain wasn't involved."

Quiet, personally, avoids watching the news. However, a much more ...diplomatic close aquaintance of hers, who is required to keep up on current events, made note of the story. She also expressed her concerns and worry for the missing children. So it is, as an unasked favor, Quiet arrives to see what aid she might be able to offer.

Slinger is quiet but he keeps his head moving as he looks about.

Harlequin approaches Detective Carpenter and Grimm. "Detective, Ms Grimm," he murmurs in his European acceneted RP English. "May I be of assistance?"

Grimm smiles at Harlequin. "Harleeey. Good to see you out and about and there not be frogs falling from the sky."

Quiet is far from the most adept at questioning others, and isn't likely the popular with law enforcement, so she utilizes more passive inquires. This means little more than taking a look around the area from whatever reasonably-accessible vantage point she can locate.

Since he knows he's not full on detective, Riptide looks over to Carpenter, "Do you know who saw them last? I'm not the most perceptive guy, but at least helping figure out where they were headed might be a good start."

Grimm quietly listens to as her shadow sight canvases the school and this part of Harrisburg.

There is no immediate trace of the kids, and amid all this confusion picking up the scent is impractical, at least without knowing what the kids smell like to start with.

Carpenter blinks and says to Riptide, "I just got here. So...I need to talk to people and find out." He smiles.

Harlequin glances at Grimm. "No, there aren;t are there, Ms Grimm. Perhaps your senses can find a trace of the children?" His tone carries none of the joculairty it normally does.

Carpenter goes to look for any administrators or teachers he can find to ask some questions.

Amelia moves over to Harlequin, "I have messengers searching. Have you spoken to the Watch, Harlequin. You're the one most likely to get co-operation from them."

Grimm adds to Riptide, "Yesterday afternoon was the last time the kids were seen, from what I heard. As for where they disappeared?" She shrugs, then looks to Harlequin. "Already been looking. I can feel traces and paths of a lot of kids around here. All of us here doesn't --wait." Her head tilts and her eyes narrow. "I sense the remnants of a dimensional portal near the school."

Slinger remains quiet as well, letting Grimm do her thing while he looks about. He's still trying to get his bearings and without his tech he's still trying to figure out what kind of hero hes spposed to be.

He slides down a strand of webbing as he waits- getting a different perspective on things.

"There we go!" He exclaims flipping down. "Lead the way, Grimmace- I've got your back." He adds cheerfully since they've got a lead to follow.

Carpenter shows his badge to the Principal. "Detective Carpenter, CBPD. I just want to ask a couple of questions in regards to the missing students. And perhaps see what security footage you might have."

Harlequin looks back to Grimm. "Can you lead us there, Ms Grimm?" He glances over at Amelia. "And Amelia, can you send one of your watchers to tell the detective?"

Having done a sweep through the area, Apex nods to herself. Now she'll back off and let the others do their thing while she observes and follows from a distance. She's confirmed a lack of what -she- was worried about. At least the lack of such a scent. Now she falls back to watch what's going on.

Amelia mods, "Consider it... done!"

"Yes, yes. Of course. Please, come tp my office... If you'll excuse me..." she says to the parents.

Grimm smiles to Slinger. "I know you do," she says, dapping him. She sends a text to Carpenter on where they're checking so he can come by once he's done. "This way," she says as she opens a gate to the side of the school near the remnants of the rift.

Amelia commands a watcher to inform Detective Carpenter of Grimm's discovery while keeping with Grimm, et al..

Carpenter nods and follows the Principal toward her office.

A Casper the Friendly Ghost apparition appears in front of Carpenter and relays the message.

The principal jumps out of her skin at seeing the ghost. :)

Carpenter nods..."Umm...thank you for hte message." He also gets the text from Grimm, which gives him enough to follow up with afterward. He looks back to hte Principal, "It's okay. Just a message for me."

Slinger daps back and leaps into the gate fearlessly despite the whispering shadows in the impossible distances between.

The principal catches her breath. "Sorry, this whole business has me on edge!"

Carpenter smiles. "It's understandable." He hten says, "I think we'll need to see any security footage on this side of hte building."

Carpenter indicates the side that was forwarded to him.

She nods. "We've had a look, of course, but with so many children leaving school and waiting for the bus, we might have missed something."

Grimm looks over where she sensed the dimensional portal remnants, trying to identify where it was from, or where it leads to. Perhaps she can reopen it.

Carpenter nods to the Principal, "Of course."

Hotfoot says, "Does anyone have pictures of the boys?"

Quiet may not have discerned anything directly useful, but she -does- note the shift of many to follow Grimm and move as a group towards a particular location. That draws her attention and she relocates nearer to get her own better view of the location and/or gathered.

Amelia ports over to what Grimm and Slinger have gone to. "Can you trace it?" she asks Grimm. She looks for anything that might have been left behind. Tracing a closed gate is beyond her but if there's some material object...

Riptide, meanwhile, is going about asking the parents on locations, what they might have seen. Then he notices a bunch having gone off one way and turns to head after the other metahumans. Looking around, he looks to Amelia, Grimm, and Slinger. "Find anything?"

The principal reaches her office, and passes the security recording to Carpenter as the first order of business.

Grimm examines the air for a bit and sighs. "No. It's been a bit too long since it's been closed to tell which of the infinite dimensions it led to."

Grimm rubs her chin and frowns a bit. "The one thing I do know is the rift wasn't created with magic. Maybe technology. Or a mutant?"

Amelia lays on the ground examining the area around the spot of Grimm's gaze. "I just need a speck of lint, other world pollen, anything." she tells Grimm and Slinger.

Hotfoot notices the crowd and joins in. "Would something that belonged to one of the boys help?"

Grimm grumbles to herself. "If it was sooner, I might've picked up something." She looks at Amelia and raises a brow. She looks around for any dust, remnants, specs that have a dimensional signature not from this earth.

Carpenter nods to hte Principal, "Thank you, ma'am." He then starts to go through the security recording, focusing on the side of hte building initially that was indicated to him.

Riptide looks a bit curious, then comments, "Could it have been one of the kids if it was a mutant? I was checking on three in the area, one of which had some magical acid ability or something."

Amelia raises to her knees than stands. "I see nothing. How about you, Ms Grimm?"

"There's nothing here that's from another dimension that I can feel, either," Grimm sighs and rubs the back of her neck. "Which makes me think it wasn't just some open rift that the kids wandered into. This was something targeted. Planned. That's my hunch."

"There's a thought. I was actually wondering what the two had in common?" Slinger says as he watches the magic users search.

Hotfoot asks again, "Would something that belongs to one of the boys help?"

Carpenter keeps going through footage, focusing on the time points taht seem most likely.

"Maybe." Slinger says to Hotfoot. "I was hoping for a trail of some sort to follow. I don't have a nose for things like that- but maybe one of our resident wizards might?"

Amelia sighs. Looks to Hotfoot. "Yes. If we have five hours to cast the location spell and another four mages to help out."

Grimm's head turns towards the wall, her eyes widening a bit. She leans in a little. "Got a speck of blood here." She looks to Amelia. "Better start calling your mage friends to help and get started if we can't get a lead here."

Carpenter checks other camera footage to try to get a better angle on the kids in question. "Interesting."

Grimm says to Amelia, "Let Carpenter know we found a drop of blood near where a dimensional fit was opened. We aren't touching it, but he may want to bring an evidence bag or have CSI take a sample." She grins a bit. "I've trained on how to do some of this at school, but I think I'll leave it to the professionals."

Carpenter shows the footage to the Principal. "Who is this child here? It looks like he's hte last one to see the two missing kids."

Amelia pulls out her PDA and texts Carpenter with Grimm's message. "I'll text him. My messenger popping up almost gave the school principal a heart attack." she explains.

The principal stares at the picture carefully. "I think it could be Kirk Lewis, or maybe Marty Flinn?"

Grimm chuckles. "Well, I could've just texted him in that case, but thank you."

Carpenter gets the text, and responds back, << I have a lead on a potential third kid who saw them last. Holding his nose in footage. Blood is likely his. >>

Carpenter nods. "Where can I find them? I'd like to ask them some questions about what happened."

Amelia shows the message from Carpenter to Grimm and Slinger.

Riptide head-scratches as he waits with the other heroes, obviously unsure other than the speck of blood on what's going on. And he doesn't want to get close to that. He looks around, then asks the others, "So... what's going on? Or should I just head out? 'Cause I'm awfully confused here."

"Let's see..." She checks on her computer. "Kirk is in 2C, Mary in 1B..." She provides the names of the teachers and the classroom number.

Grimm leans over to read it. "Should we rejoin the detective? I don't think there's much more we can learn here." She looks over at Riptide and fixes a big 'Really!?' look right at him.

Riptide glares at Grimm, "What? You kinda didn't say anything beyond the whole dimensional thing and finding some blood. I'm not exactly going to read over someone's shoulder."

Amelia says, "We're searching for clues, Riptide. And largely coming up short. This is the 99% legwork part of a criminal case. When someone finds something, then it will be your turn to act. Until then, stick with us.""

Hotfoot says, "If this is where they disappeared from, should we keep other people out?"

Carpenter nods. "Are the missing kids in either of those classes?"

"You're on the same page as everyone else," Grimm informs Riptide and straightens up from inspecting the blood.

Riptide sighs, then nods, "Well, what do we have so far? Seriously, I'm more able to help if I'm in the loop rather than whatever information exchange all of you have going. It's kinda obvious I don't have you all on speed dial or group message or whatever." He shrugs, then looks to Amelia.

She checks. "No.. both in 2B."

"We have a detective contact inside, Muscles." Slinger explains. "That's who they're talking about. This is the first clue we've stumbled upon with a physical ... tangible quality- that means we need a badge here so the case sticks." He elaborates.

Amelia nods, "Think we ought to take a peek at the children the detective was talking about. Make sure they are local?" she asks Grimm.

Carpenter nods and says to the Principal, "Well, I guess we'll have to talk to both, then. Please...lead the way."

Riptide shrugs, "I can stay and make sure no one messes with the blood spec, I guess? Investigation's only going to go so far with me. Just make sure you send someone pretty quick?"

She nods, and leads Carpenter to one of the classes - 1B, since it's the closest.

Grimm nods in agreement with Amelia. "Whoever bled here is local at least."

Amelia nods, "I'll stay here with Riptide. I can bring us both to join you in a hurry if needed."

The principal knocks on the door and has a quiet word to the teach, who asks Marty to join you.

"Well that's a relief. Its been a while since I've tracked down a local." Slinger says confidently. "Sounds good." He says to Amelia before looking at Grimm- his mask not betraying much.

Amelia summon up her fourth and last messenger and sends it to shadow Grimm and Slinger.

Grimm nod and texts Carpenter. <> Her eyes drift over to the watcher on the astral plane watching her.

Marty comes to the classroom door, looking very nervous.

Riptide looks considerate, moving to lean against the wall a safe (five or so feet) distance from the blood spot.

Carpenter texts back to Grimm, << Sure. By room 1B. >>

The principal says, "Marty, this is Detective Carpenter..."

Carpenter smiles and beckons Marty out to the hallway. "Hi, Marty. It's nice to meet you." He shows his badge. "I just had a quick question to ask you."

Amelia asks Riptide, "How are things going for you? I got your message about meeting but, apologies, I've been hugely busy of late."

Marty looks panic-stricken. "I didn't do anything! It wasn't my fault!"

Riptide looks over at Amelia, "Eh... been better. Kinda going through a lot. New powers, kinda trying to work with others out there. A lot of it's making me regret being just a super-strong, durable guy lately."

Carpenter pauses and smiles. "I...haven't even asked a question yet, Marty."

There's a tangible wave of mental energy, and the classroom door behind Carpenter vansihes.

Grimm leads Slinger and walks back into the school, rather than teleporting. "Don't want to spook kids more than we already have," she explains as she senses through the walls and checks the signs to Carpenter and room 1B.

Quiet remains on overwatch, simply observing the grounds. Not armed overwatch, of course. Brandished firearms and schools don't mix especially well, at least not for the brandisher.

Carpenter blinks. "Okay. That might have answered the question." He takes a deep breath, "Marty. Please...relax. I just want to try to find your classmates."

Grimm's comment causes Slinger to stop the spidery thing and walks like a normal person clad in a skintight onesie.

Marty seems to calm slightly. At least, nothing more vanishes.

Grimm clears her throat a bit as they walk quietly. "That's, uhh, awfully tight," she mentions to Slinger. The curses of having shadow sight.

Carpenter takes a deep breath and crouches to get down to the boy's height. To try to appear less imposing. "Marty...what happened with Jake and Andy. Just...describe what happened."

Grimm focuses elsewhere. Like on Carpenter. And...she feels the lack of a door. That's weird. She keys in on Carpenter, just in case.

Marty looks at his shoes. "Nothing happened! I don't know what you're talking about!"

Hotfoot Stays near Riptide and Amelia, since she's the one who first suggested keeping folks away from the spot.

The principal is just staring at where the door used to be.

Carpenter shows the picture of (presumably) Marty on his PDA to the boy. "This is you in the picture, right? You went around behind the school with them, and they disappeared? Like that door did? And you ended up with a bloody nose somehow?"

Marty breaks under the gentle interrogation. "It's not my fault! They were bullying me and when they hit me I... made them go away! I didn't mean to, it just happenee!"

"Its kind of my birthday suit isn't it?" Slinger replies to Grimm.

"What's weird?" He asks.

Grimm cringes at Slinger. "At least I was spared that, thanks to your consideration," she quips at Slinger. "And what's weird is I don't sense a door anymore," she says as they get in view of where room 1B's door should be.

Carpenter nods slowly, as he listens to Marty. "I see. Have you...been able to do that before? 'Make things go away'?"

"I do what I can." Slinger says simply but then he's on alert after Grimms explaination.

"Seems like a fancy trick to make indoctrination a bit easier- but I'm pretty sure Social Studies does the job just fine. How close is Carpenter to that door- well, where the door was?" He asks, doubling his pace but not setting out into a flat out run.

"Um, kinda. A couple of times, I guess..." Marty shuffles his feet.

It's as well he's not looking at the teacher, because she's looking quite alarmed by this point.

"I don't think the lack of a door is going to be an issue for me," Grimm smirks a bit. "So no need to smash it down. Besides, he's not under any real duress a the moment." She texts Carpenter. << You golden? Need more time?>>

Amelia texts Grimm, "Mystery solved. Now we just got to get the kids back. Should we join you?"

Carpenter nods. "Marty...come walk with me. I need to have you meet some friends of mine. People who have gifts like you do. I understand that you were protecting yourself, but we need to return those boys back to this world."

Grimm text back. "Join me just outside the classroom. No need for us to burst inside."

Marty says, "Am I in trouble?"

Amelia looks around, "I'm going to join Grimm and Co. Anyone like to come with. Carpenter has sloved the mystery. Now we need to get the kids back."

Hotfoot says, "Do we need to keep an eye on this spot?"

Slinger slows his trot and waits for Grimm to catch up after that. "I guess you're right." He smiles, his mask obscuring all but the slightest traces of it. Luckily Grimm sees everything.

Carpenter rubs his chin. "I'm not sure yet, Marty. We have to get hte full story. The best thing you can do is be completely honest." He stands back up, "C'mon. I'll introduce you to some local heroes. They're going to work with you to try to get your classmates back."

Carpenter texts Harris as they walk, << Yeah. A typical 'me' case. Somehow Landry knew. >>

Amelia shakes her head. "No. The blood spot is from a boy who got punched on the nose by one of the missing kids. They were bullying him and he's a meta. He sent them off dimension." She opens a gate to Grimm's location.

"Heroes?" That seems to encourage him a bit. "Ok...."

Carpenter smiles to the Principal, "Tahnk you for your help. We'll see what we can do about hte door, too."a

Riptide shakes his head, "I remember being bullied a bit when I arrived. Took a few well placed words and actually punching a few before they left me alone... but seriously, at least it's solved mostly?"

Hotfoot steps through the gate.

"Thank you for your help, Detective," replies the principal.

Riptide steps through said gate as well.

Amelia nods as she steps through, keeping the gate open so others can follow, "I guess that's why Carpenter is a detective."

Grimm steps up to the wall and places her hand against it, sensing Carpenter on the other side. The walls opens up for them, the edges surrounding in black. "And he's the best one on the force in this city," she comments.

Carpenter walks with Marty and the Principal to where the heroes are, and he proceeds to introduce the boy to the local heroes, rattling off everyone's names...except Slinger, whom he hasn't met. "Everyone, this is Marty. He...got bullied by our missing kids, and lashed out with his powers, sending them...to anohter world? Any chance any of you can recover them? And perhaps the missing door to room 1B, whcih Marty also hit?"

Grimm studies the missing door to see if she can tell where it went. "Do they all go to the same place, Marty?"

Marty studies his shoes again. "I... think so?"

Amelia smiles, "Can you do when you want to, Marty? If you can. send me there."

Riptide looks around at the others, then hums before walking over and crouching down to Marty's level. "Hello. Marty, right?" He offers a hand towards the teen. "My name's Riptide. I'm actually not that much older than you, I guess. How old are you?"

Grimm rubs her chin at the door and thinks she has a bead on the dimension. But it's such an oddity, she's not positive about that.

Marty looks at Amelia. "Are you sure? Cos I don't know if I can bring you back!"

Amelia nods, smiling, "I'm sure." she says to Marty.

Riptide shrugs, "If you want, you can send me as well. I'm pretty tough, and I trust Amelia. She'll get us out of there."

"Ok. I'll try! Hold still!"

Amelia stays still. She knows even if this goes wrong Grimm will be able to lock on and get the hids home. GHopefully.

Carpenter says to Grimm, "I will need to get that blood sample, it looks like. I expect there will be some legal wrangling, and it'll help support Marty's version of events if I collect the sample."

Grimm nods to Carpenter. "Want the shortcut to it?" she offers with a smile.

There a wave of psychic energy, enough to be felt even by the non-sensitive, and Amelia and Riptide vanish.

Carpenter nods to Grimm, "Sure. Let me deal with that whiel you all help recover the boys."

"Amelia's on it," Gabrielle smiles an opens a gate to the location at the side of the building. The gate faces the wall where the blood spec is. "Right there," she points out to Carpenter so he doesn't have to spend too much time looking.

Carpenter takes the sample appropriately, making sure to wear gloves and bag it for testing later. He then returns back through the gate. "Thank you."

Amelia and Riptide find themselves in a dense forest. Little light comes through the canopy, so there's little undergrowth, though twisted roots make for tricky footing anyway. A few yards away, there's the classroom door, just standing by itself.

Grimm closes the gate, smiling. "Anytime, Detective." It can't be seen under Slinger's mask and giant lenses, but there's a faint eye-twitch from that as Daemon's old personality finds issue with Grimm being friendly with a law enforcement officer.

The first thing Amelia does is look and listen for the missing kids.

There are no obvous sounds of missing kids. There are growls and screeches. And the sound of horses' hooves.

Amelia tells Riptide, "Try to keep me alive if you can." Then she sags limp as a rag doll. Meanwhile the crow lifts its head in a strangely purposeful fashion and launches upwards to get a look at the horses and any riders. And kids.

Marty has fallen quiet. Figuring that's probably the best way not to get into further trouble.

Riptide moves over to catch Amelia just in case and set her down. He strains his ears to try to figure out where or what is going on in this world a bit more.

Carpenter waits patiently while Amelia and Riptide are gone. He's confident than they'll at least report back when something is known.

Riptide is pretty sure that snarling whatever-it-is is getting closer... Amelia, meanwhile, gets a large vista. To (what, for the sake of argument, I'm calling) the north, is a dark, craggy mountain range with a foreboding castle. To the east, there's the sea. South and west the dense forest continue far. Though there does seem to be a sort of road through it (leading to the way up to the castle).

Suddenly a giant wolf on steroids (think LotR movie warg) jumps out of the trees at Riptide, wide jaws drooling....

Grimm takes out her smartphone and starts checking her messages.

Turning as the wolf jumps out, Riptide brings his hands up and blocks the wolf from biting him by slapping the jaws away with both hands. "Woah... Amelia, hurry up!" He calls out before getting himself ready. Fighting an actual wolf? That's got to be one for the record books. Let alone one that's like a... warg?

Amelia thanks the crow, and sends it to a juicy caterpillar as a treat. She opens her eyes, "Dark spooky mountain with a forboding castle on top. Just for once why can't it be a grassy meadow with flowers and songbirds. Time to bring in reinforcements. Oh, yes, of course there's predators of unusual size. Place wouldn't be complete without them."

Grimm frowns as she scrolls through a long list of one-way texts to Malcolm Gibbs that have gone unanswered for...quite some time.

Grimm puts away her phone and closes her eyes for a moment in thought. Then opens her eyes and looks to Carpenter, offering a light smile. "So...you doing anything tonight?"

Carpenter smiles slightly and shakes hsi head as he leans against the wall. "No immediate plans. Why?"

Hotfoot steps off a few yards.

Grimm shrugs her shoulders. "I thought maybe we could grab drinks, or see a movie, or...something." She looks briefly at the kid before looking back to Jack and leaving things at 'something'.

Amelia opens a gate back to where the other heroes were. "This place is spooksville. I think it's a pocket dimension. Theres the classic dark grim castle on a mountain top. Predators of unusual size. I heard horses but couldn't see anything in this virtual jubgle. Caming through?"

Hotfoot says, "Why not?" and steps through the gate (on her phase)

Grimm looks over to Amelia and raises a brow with an amused smirk. "A classic dark grim castle, huh? That literally has my name on it."

Slinger looks to Grimm and the others. He heads through, checking his webslingers on the way through the portal.

Carpenter nods. "I should probably stay here with Marty. But...keep me in the loop?" He then points to Grimm, "The answer is 'yes', by the way." He smiels.

"A castle?" says Morty, curiously.

Carpenter blinks and looks to Marty, "That sounds familiar to you?"

Morty shrugs.

Amelia keeps the gate open. She wants everyone to hear what Marty has to say.

Carpenter smiles and crouches again to get to Marty's level. "Either it does...or it doesn't, Marty. Anything you can tell us would be helpful. Do you know anything about it?"

"I'll try, but I'm not sure I can really communicate with you while on the other side. But I'll let you know as soon as I can." Gabrielle smiles at Carpenter's response. "It's a date, then." Now all she needs is her typical luck and to end up gravely injured on this little side adventure. She steps through the cate as she listens to Marty.

Morty shakes his head. "It just sounds a bit like a story...."

Slinger makes a gagging sound but otherwise leaves Grimm and Carpenter to their business. 'Better a local than a Fed...' He thinks.

The warg tries once more to take a bite out of Riptide.

Hey, look! There was discussion of some kind of inter-dimensional and/or -spatial gates, and now there's yet another one. This one has people speaking through it and isn't suctioning up school children, at the least. Quiet approaches this one, looking and listening to better learn who and/or what is on the other side, and what the conversation going through it is about.

Carpenter nods to Marty. "What story are you thinking of?"

"Just a book I like.... It has knight and dragon and monsters and stuff!"

Riptide brings a hand up as the wolf bites into him. And... doesn't even draw blood. He looks over at Amelia, "Hey, Amelia! Was there any more wolves when you were scouting?" One arm does go up to make sure his face isn't in danger of being bitten off as he holds his ground.

Slinger confirms his webslingers are primed and sets to swinging towards the sound of trouble.

Carpenter nods to Marty, though he glances toward the gate before he turns back. "What's the name of the book?"

"The Tower of the Dark Knight", says Marty.

Slinger's leap is right on- he gets up to the wolf and begins to cocoon him- missing the wolf entirely, and webbing the heck out of a tree.

"Oh come on!" He exclaims.

Carpenter tries to pull up some details of the book on his PDA.

Grimm smirks at Slinger. "That's what you get for gagging."

"I'm trying to give you room to bouce. I think thats a marked improvement." He says, yanking on his line in frustration.

Hotfoot runs up to the wolf and shoves her flaming left hand up close to its face. "Back off!" she bellows, keeping her right fist cocked for a punch.

Carpenter calls through the portal, "Where you are is likely based on a book! 'The Tower of the Dark Knight' The knight in the castle is a villain sort! A couple of heroes fight their way there!"

Grimm listens to Jack on the other side. "So the knight is the villain in this place? Got it!"

The warg clearly doesn't like the fire - but isn't intimidated.

From the other side of the portal, Kelly has been observing. She checks to make sure the blade is snug in its scabbard before she bursts into motion. She is through the portal in a blur. At least she's almost at speedster level of movement. Surely dedicated speedsters will just see her running. Others will see a black leather blur.

But she emerges from the portal and flashes to a stop without skidding a millimeter (Gotta love clinging!) and as she does so, she yells, "BAD DOG!" as she reaches to curl an arm under the jaw, and another about the neck of the creature to try to wrench it away from others... aiming to grab and point the jaws away from everyone (including herself!)

The warg seems rather surprised to be restrained so.

The sound of hooves grows closer.

Dark castles? Evil knights? This is not the average case of playground bullying. Maybe there will be a princess locked away in need of rescue, too? After some consideration, Quiet moves through the portal, herself, though doesn't run into the midst of the warg wrestling.