1134/Log

Log
Date of Scene:	25 June 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Piper Halliwell, Melinda May, Sam Winchester

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Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper, like her sisters (wherever they are) tends to keep a low profile. She fights bad guys and demons as necessary, when they interrupt her normal life or when she knows an innocent is in trouble. Her day job? Owner and manager of P3, a hopping new club in Bludhaven.

This evening, however, she is out without her sisters, doing what they do best: Dealing with... bad guys. Of a sort. With her sisters gone, Piper's had to keep an eye on things with a different detection method in her scrying and boy does it go crazy over New York City. Any of the boroughs is teeming with all kinds of false signals and its really making sleep hell for her with how busy she is- and frustrated- trying to weed out the bad leads.

Tonight is a little different. She's walking along in lightly heeled boots down an alleyway that leads into an small open courtyard behind some of the older buildings of the city. A lot of the area is inhabited by squatters, some of the buildings abandoned because they are falling apart and haven't been washed away to put up new ones yet. Budgeting and all. Makes for the perfect spot for something bad to happen. And she just had to come alone. Good one, Piper.

There have been reports of girls disappearing in the area- like never to be found again, kind of disappearing. The clearing itself seems empty for now but there is a definite ominous vibe to the air, the moon shining clear high above.

Melinda May has posed:
It was all May could do to not roll her eyes when she was informed that a small team was being arranged to investigate a 'report' made by one of WAND's most trusted assets. The report in question? A clairvoyant vision depicting a location and a young woman being accosted by "the embodiment of evil". That's verbatim from the report, and why May struggled to maintain her composure.

When Winchester was tapped to go on the mission, she mentally cursed and volunteered to drive. The last thing she needs is for the kid to get hurt AGAIN. She'll be damned if that happens when she can prevent it. Thus, the pair of them are walking toward the area that SHIELD's computers extrapolated from the fanciful and distorted description that came from the clairvoyant. If need be, May will play bait to draw out whatever is supposedly preying on people here. But she hopes she doesn't have to.

"...if you want me to get Lewis to back off, Sam," she's saying as they turn a corner and are within close eyeshot of the open courtyard, "I will. She tends to get attached."

Sam Winchester has posed:
"She hasn't done anything except to try to get me more money," Sam says quietly. "She'd just get her feelings hurt if I call her-- or you call her-- on all this silly moosepuppy stuff. It's just her way, and I can tolerate it. She's been kind to me."

He is scouring the reports on a tablet, frowning down at it, comparing various bits and pieces of the information to bits of lore in an attempt to get some sort of an advance notion of what might be waiting for them. This is where he excels anyway; using his encyclopedic knowledge of the supernatural to fast-track his way through these sorts of things. Not that it can always be done via tablet.

He might be a little embarrassed if he knew May is grumpy about the prospect of him getting hurt. He gets hurt all the time. But. He is down an arm. And he has to agree that Dean would probably pop his top if his next injury is taken in service of SHIELD. It's goofy, really. This kind of a report would have drawn one or more Winchesters anyway, and now he gets to be paid for it.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
They are coming in one direction, Piper is coming in another. All heading towards the same central location.

Piper however gets to the clearing first. The thing is, her scrying was going haywire on this central location. It could be an indication of a powerful force (in which she is totally screwed without the power of three, or a prepared potion), or multiple entities.

In the clearing itself, there is a couple of broken down stone benches that probably made this a rather nice courtyard at some part. A couple of trees that hang low, overgrown up the sides running into the neighboring buildings. It gives the perfect cover for a Warlock that was waiting up in the branches. She had her tip. They had theirs. And you think Sam is a danger-magnet? Meet the Halliwell Sister(s).

There is a quick female scream from up ahead of May and Sam, and then a flash of blue light. Bastard threw a blue fireball at her that now burns against the bricks behind her. "Well, good for me your aim sucks." Piper quips, her hands opening almost she would be holding a basket in front of her, but her fingers are tense, her focus on the Warlock.

May and Sam would get to the clearing just in time to see the Warlock before her be blasted apart by some unseen force in what looks like almost an internal combustion. But he in a way disentigrates instead of leaving behind any trace.

Melinda May has posed:
May nods to Sam. If he's willing to tolerate Darcy, that's on him. She lets him study the tablet as they walk while she stays alert to their surroundings, and she notes the young woman entering the courtyard ahead of them.

She touches Sam's sleeve to get his attention toward the young woman, but then her scream sets May to sprinting into the courtyard with her ICER already in hand. The flash of blue light is worrying, as it resembles what May has read and heard about vintage Hydra weapons -- the Terreract-based ones.

Seeing the Warlock just ... pop like a balloon is not something May had been prepared for, and she immediately looks around to see if there are any other adversaries in the courtyard while part of her mind is just baffled. The only explanation? The girl did it. That makes her either a person with powers or a threat. And with Sammy down an arm, she's not taking any chances.

The ICER gets aimed at Piper.

Sam Winchester has posed:
Sam is a little slow to shove the tablet into his windbreaker. Privately, he agrees with May's choice; drawing a weapon and holding it on the only visible threat. But...it was young /women/ who were disappearing in the first place. So instead of drawing his own, which is quite a bit more lethal than an ICER, he falls into a familiar dynamic.

Congratulations, May...you've just been cast in Dean's normal role.

Keeping an eye out for anything else, including sigils or hex bags or other trouble, he focues on Piper.

"Ma'am," he says. "Care to tell us what just happened here?"

His tone is gentle, his face open, expressive, attempting to convey that he's willing to hear what she has to say.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper is on alert, just in case any of the Warlock's buddies are around. She's aware of what her scrying was doing in this area and he was too small fry to make her scry go that awry.

And then there is May. "Oh crap. This is not what it looks like." Piper's eyes are wide as the pair of them face off with her, but Sam is... damn he's cute. "I uh.. Well.. Its kind of hard to explain. But right here really isn't the best place. There has to be more of them."

But the conversation starting up has the ones that are in the windows above on alert. The first volley of four blue fireballs are thrown down at the group and Piper freezes them out of reflex, her eyes a little wide. She's not one for hard-ass combat, but magic stuff isn't.. new. But she's surprised that there are so many.

But now about four feet over their heads are four blazing fireballs that are... absolutely frozen in place as if on pause. "You really need to get out of here!" She didn't freeze those two- it would be too difficult to try and deal with moving them considering the four above in the windows? They aren't technically in the 'same room' as Piper. She can't blast them like this.

Melinda May has posed:
More of them? That gets May to looking around the courtyard again, so when the fireballs suddenly appear she's able to duck for cover, pulling Sam with her around behind a low wall.

"Get clear!" she yells at the clearly addled young woman, not sure she's got a clear shot at their attackers, but firing off a single round anyway. "Overwatch, this is May. Hostiles engaged. Prep backup, but do not deploy until I say."

Sam Winchester has posed:
May pulls Sam behind a wall, which produces a slightly bemused look. Because his normal way of doing things would be to charge up and do something about the wizards. This...is the downside of this whole SHIELD thing.

He draws his Beretta though, pointing it downward with his good hand. A fight between witches, wonderful.

He can't just stand there. He steps out of cover long enough to offer a little suppression fire up at the warlocks anyway, just to give the woman time to get clear. That done, he pops back into cover.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper runs opposite of the other two, putting her back to an alley wall, cursing lightly under her breath. Well, this just got complicated. Four of them. Thats why her scrying was going crazy. And would explain the missing women. Rituals.

"Please let this work..." She murmurs, flicking her hands at the frozen fireballs that still hang in midair. There looks like a small explosion against them, trying to 're-direct' them. It halfway works. They unfreeze and veer off course, smashing into the grass at the base of the building away from the trio.

Great. She pulls a small vial from her pocket that has some weird green liquid in it. "Either of you have a clear shot and a good aim? We have to take these guys out fast. I can't just keep freezing their fireballs, we won't get anywhere."

Melinda May has posed:
Damnit. When Sam's 9mm fills the courtyard with noise, May promptly reaches over and yanks the pistol from his hand, managing to do so without touching the overheated portions of the firearm. "Yes, Overwatch, that's us." She then shoves her ICER into Sam's hand in place of his Beretta.

May takes a quick look out from behind the wall at the small explosions, seeing the frozen fireballs deflected. And when the young woman calls out about having a clear shot, she glances. "I have a shot," she calls back. Though, this is the WORST possible way to go about this. They just TOLD the bad guys they were about to do something.

Sam Winchester has posed:
Sam looks completely confused as May switches his guns. Why is there something blue in there? Why is it too light? Why does it matter?

Whatever.

They're calling shots. Sam decides it's time to be the wildcard now. Someone has to be! It is, again, a reflection of how he works with Dean. Dean is obvious where Sam is subtle. Sam searches for opportunities and precise tags where Dean goes all out.

He eyes that fire escape. He's not in love with it, especially given his size. But they're expecting May now.

He starts up it, moving very quietly for his size. He hopes May will get what he's doing, or she'll probably spoil her shot trying to babysit him. He isn't sure, yet, if SHIELD has really grasped that he's been at this since he was /8/, but...everyone will figure everyone out eventually.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Oh dear. Piper stares at Sam, biting her lower lip. She can't help him. Not yet. He's going up one side, Piper follows suit, going up the other side. She really hates having to get close quarters sometimes, but they aren't out in the open which limits her. On the way, she quickly says to May: "If you get a clear shot, hit one with this." She tosses the vial at the seemingly capable woman before running up the other side.

Sam does make it to the second floor window without any issues. Well, until he crosses the threshold. Inside there are various satanic looking symbols, along with two guys in black robes and burning blue fireballs building in their hands, ready to throw. "Get the hell out of here or be turned to ash!" One of them snarls at him.

Behind them- Sam might notice a sacrifical ritual circle. And the sillouettes of what might be a more feminine frame that seems to be burned into the wooden floor.

On Piper's side, she squeaks a small squeal as she clings to the fireescape as hers starts to try and come undone, making her more or less trip and fall into the window she's aiming for- the same floor as Sam just the other building.

The third floor still has one that is primed and aimed for May, waiting for her to show her head so he can aim for it. The burning blue fireball cracking around his hand, ready to throw.5R

Melinda May has posed:
May is by no means a novice at this kind of mess. She catches the vial and looks at it oddly, but then pockets it. Sam's Beretta gets stowed where she usually keeps the ICER, and a smaller, sleeker handgun is produced just in time for her to see him race to climb a fire escape.

"Wua Ser Tian Jwoo," mutters darkly to herself, then moves further along the wall to where the overhanging trees offer a smidge more cover without compromising her shot. The guy in the third floor window, so nicely silhouetted, is her first target. Dumbass.

Sam Winchester has posed:
The one who is talking is the one Sam suspects will be slower on the draw. So he shoots at the one who /isn't/, and dives sideways, aware that the first will probably send a fireball for his head very shortly after that. He has no snappy dialogue, not when it's "Go" time. Someone's life is on the line here.

He takes the opportunity to try to spoil the symbols, kick the ritual implements, whatever it takes to disrupt or screw up whatever they're doing as he passes. It's not a primary objective, but it sure is a secondary one. The last thing they need is for these jokers to open a gate to Hell, or to bring forth one of the other hundreds of nasty results that really horrible magical spells involving ritual sacrifice can produce.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
May's shot clears the guy standing as a clear target in the window dead on. Though instead of just dying, he is consumed by his own blue fire and disappears within it- Dead.

Piper stumbles into the window, just in time to blow up one of the Warlocks by reflex. By all counts that should technically leave just the one still facing off Sam.

The one hit by the ICER freezes as if he's been stunned into a statue. His fire loses its flame and dissipates as he falls over- still alive for the moment, but stunned. The other does fling his fireball at Sam, making it explode against the brick wall where he was just a second ago- thankfully missing.

By all counts- that should just leave the last one Sam is against- who is cussing and throwing a fit about their space being ransacked and torn apart by the lumbering opponent, building another fireball to aim at him.

Though Piper isn't coming out yet..

Melinda May has posed:
The moment that the third floor attacker is down and it looks like Sam has successfully distracted the people on his end, May races out of cover and toward the same fire escape. Sorry, miss, but if Sam gets hurt again some more, there's an elder sibling to deal with. And May really doesn't want to have to deal with him. Not like that.

The moment she's climbed close enough on the fire escape, she pulls the potion the kid gave her, hopes it's not just colored water (she's betting it's not), and flings it at the tantrum-throwing man with the technique and skill of throwing knives or shuriken.

Sam Winchester has posed:
...A stun gun?

Sam Winchester is startled into speaking. "Maybe I should just work for them directly."

Dean would probably cheerfully strangle him.

He whirls on the one cussing and throwing a fit, raising his weapon. But...May's got this. Which means he's free to try to clear the building. He hadn't really seen Piper's own ascent towards this floor; he's just aware there may be more to //deal// with further into this floor, so that's where he goes, weapon raised and ready, trusting May to have his back and to take care of the one that she's taking care of.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
With May rushing to Sam's aid, she gets what she's going for. The sudden arrival of another adversary throws him off for a second, making him miss with the second fireball. As the potion breaks against him, he is immediately consumed and disappears in a brief flash of fire before simply... vanishing without a trace.

Now all that is left is the satanic looking (now ransacked) ritual area on their floor and the stunned warlock that is trying to fight through it but just can't.

Melinda May has posed:
As soon as she throws the potion May keeps heading for that second floor room, arriving just in time to see the man disappear in a flash of fire. While a tidy way to dispose of enemies, it makes it rather difficult to interrogate them later. The one that Sam managed to take down with the ICER, though, is a good thing. May turns the man over to handcuff him, then puts away her pistol and drops a taser baton into one hand to go after the girl and make sure the rest of the buildings around the courtyard are clear.

And yes, she's planning on having a talk with Sam when they get a chance. This running headlong into danger without any notice needs to stop.

Sam Winchester has posed:
It's just the way he's always operated! Or rather, he and his brother are so used to have a certain, unspoken way of doing things that they're both aware of the role the other is taking and what they're doing with it. And then he worked alone. Long story short, he hasn't much of an idea how to work with people who have procedures and things that are pretty fairly well established. And he's got no idea /at all/ how to be protected.

He notes the destroyed ritual and what it was for. May goes down, he goes up; there was a third floor warlock after all, and he wants to make sure they're all down before leaving this building. He supposes he could also cover the whole courtyard from that third floor window too, once he's got the perch, though that may or may not be the best place for him. Either way...it would be good to make sure there are no more nasty surprises up there, so...that's the job he takes.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
The rest of Sam's building is clear, as well as the courtyard. The fire-escape is a lot more rickety than the one Sam managed to climb in Piper's building. Since May went to check on Sam, it gave Piper's opponents time to ambush her. She took out the one upstairs earlier, but there is more on her floor.

She vanquished the one earlier out of reflex, another distracted enough to get the innocent free. So when May makes it onto Piper's floor, she is instantly greeted by an innocent young blonde woman that looks dirty and scared out of her mind as she is frantically trying to get away.

From Sam's perch, he can get a glimpse of what is going on across the way: A floor above May. The last warlock has Piper's hands bound in rope and a ritualistic dagger to her throat, engraved with mystical looking runes.

Melinda May has posed:
May catches the girl, gives her a one-second glance over to make sure she's not about to bleed out or something, then lets her go to keep searching for Piper.

"Overwatch, send in containment teams. One innocent coming out, get her to medical." She's got her taser baton in one hand and her pistol in the other. She crosses the floor as quickly as possible while clearing it, starting to worry that she's not seen the young woman from the courtyard yet. Damnit.

Sam Winchester has posed:
Sam suddenly remembers something.

May equipped him with a com link.

Which is a good thing. He's not sure about the capabilities of this weapon. He's not sure what the range is. He's not sure he can make a precision shot at this distance.

He doesn't use any formal cool SHIELD language.

"The witch from below just got herself into a hostage situation, May. They've got her bound and they've got a knife to her throat. I have a visual, but I don't know if I can get a shot from this distance. I don't see any other assets or resources I can use either."

Melinda May has posed:
"Which floor, Sam?" May is instantly alert, ready to move in the direction Sam indicates.

Sam Winchester has posed:
"Third floor," Sam replies.

Though it occurs to him he might have /one/ resource.

"I might be able to assist in another way."

If...he can make it work. Unreliable as it is. "But don't count on it."

But to that end, he holsters the ICER. He's going to need to concentrate.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
The innocent that got free is a bit shaken up and traumatized by almost being sacrificed, but physically, she is alright and will recover. She won't be able to tell much except that she was kidnapped and forced into a white gown and told that she was a gift to their Master.

Third Floor: When May goes upstairs, she will find Piper in a room off to the left- facing where Sam is standing in a window across the courtyard. The dark haired man, dressed in a black robe is working on getting a struggling Piper out the other side, trying to make off with her. Her hands are bound and she's not making it easy for him, but he's pointedly keeping her hands facing away from him. One arm is around her waist, the other holding the dagger to her throat that causes a thin line of blood from a small cut.

Her blood makes the runes on the dagger dimly start to glow a faint dark purple. Apparently it likes her blood. "Let me go!" Piper gripes at him as she continues to try and struggle- figuring she's on her own.

Sam Winchester has posed:
Pain blooms in his brain, but it's not the same level of pain that he had when this...gift? Was first emerging. Now it's the pain of strain.

Last time he did this he misaimed and got a man's mask, and nearly got murdered for that privilege. This time if he misaims, someone else might get murdered.

Not acceptable.

But if he can get this dagger, he can get May an opening that doesn't involve something out of the dialogue from /Speed/.

So he raises his hand. Hazel eyes darken as his mouth twists into an expression of grim concentration. He wills the dagger to yank out of the warlock's hand. To yank it out the window and away from the man holding it, well out of his grasp.

Sam Winchester reaches for something inside him, that thing he felt before, a pulsing line of force in his head, a thing that vibrates through his body when he touches it, leaves a sensation of pins and needles and burning in his skin, in his blood, leaves the faint stirrings of a hunger he can't explain or find a way to fulfill in the back of his gut, a hunger that he now knows will bother him and pain him for hours, even if he eats until his belly is fit to bursting.

It doesn't matter; the expected discomfort is a sacrifice well worth it, those glowing runes are as bad as immenent threat of a cut, and he just doesn't have it in him to watch and wait and do nothing at all.

Melinda May has posed:
May turns and races for the stairs the moment Sam tells her 'third floor', but that means she's still several seconds away. And Sam said he was going to try something. She has no idea what that means, but if it's anywhere in keeping with the kid's usual stunts, she's going to have yet another reason to scold him when this is all said and done.
She reaches the third floor she sees the man trying to pull Piper away and her pistol is aimed at his head instantly. It's not a clean shot though, not with the girl struggling as she is, and that dagger against her throat.

Now if only she knew exactly what Sam said he was going to try, she'd know what to watch for and take advantage of. This whole winging it thing is really annoying.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Sam's attempt... works. The dagger tugs in the Warlock's hand and it draws his attention briefly off the woman he is holding with a clear 'WTF' look on his face. It pulls and tugs away from Piper's throat before violently being flung out of his grasp and out the window- imbedding in the trunk of the tree below in the courtyard.

Piper's eyes are also wide, but the momentary 'WTF' moment for hostage and kidnapper stills Piper for a few seconds. An opening for May.

Melinda May has posed:
May takes that opening the moment it happens, and because this guy was clearly threatening Piper, she aims for a head shot. No mercy. She can only hope that she isn't scarring the girl for the rest of her life.

... even if Sam did identify her as a witch. Maybe that means having someone's head explode inches away from her own won't get to her quite as much. May hope so.

Sam Winchester has posed:
Sam would love to feel elated, but for the moment he's gasping and clapping his hand his right eye. Backlash pain strikes at him in this, his third attempt to use the power whose origins he doesn't fully understand. He staggers to the window though, softly groaning with the force of it, to peer at that knife. He trusts May to handle the wizard. He just wants to make sure the knife isn't turning the tree into an evil plant monster, or opening a dimensional portal into Hell, or melting the tree, or any number of the other horrific scenarios he can think of...

And he can think of rather a lot, pain or no pain.

Unpleasantly, the hunger blooms a moment later, making him feel like he hasn't eaten anything at all in hours. It brings forth a warning whisper that things which usually come with /hunger/ are not good things, but the part of him that really enjoys this power in spite of the pain shuts that right up. He just needs calories, it rationalizes, because he's using some energy his body has never used before. That's really all it is. Or maybe a scrambling in hunger signals. He's not really hungry, his body just doesn't know how to react yet. That's gotta be it.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
The dagger seems inert where it is stuck in the tree. The glowing runes die down as the blood drips off and isn't being fed into it anymore.

Piper screams when May fires the shot- no she's not some hardened Agent. Nor badass super cop or something. She's ... just a witch trying to deal with her circumstance. Which... DOESNT USUALLY INVOLVE FIREARMS!

The Wizard's head explodes from the back from the projectile and his grip goes slack. He falls backwards, thudding on the ground as Piper slowly walks away from him in a bit of shock. That.. Was close. To her head. Her eyes are wide as she stares at May, completely forgetting for the moment her hands are bound.

Melinda May has posed:
May steps forward immediately, reaching to get Piper away from the corpse. "Overwatch, May. What's the ETA on the containment teams? Sam. Meet me in the courtyard." She pulls Piper along, gently but in a manner that indicates the younger woman had better just follow along.

They make it down to the courtyard quickly enough, and once there May puts away her pistol and brandishes a small multitool from somewhere inside her jacket. "I can cut you loose, or you can do it for yourself." She's giving the girl a choice as she did just have a blade at her throat mere moments ago.

Sam Winchester has posed:
"Okay," Sam replies, relieved that the tree isn't melting. Later that thing can be retrieved and studied and maybe melted into slag.

He carefully makes his way down, which is going to take him a moment, though he's aware that the recently liberated witch might need a bit of comfort. She also might need a hanky or something. He pats himself down. Did he carry one today? Usually pretty useful for wiping the gore away.

Piper Halliwell has posed:
Piper really isn't so much a 'girl'. She is a full grown woman of 27.

Piper follows May down into the courtyard. She's rapidly absorbing what just happened, but sometimes you have to, to process it later in private. She's still a little shell shocked. "You can." At least May's proven she's not there to hurt her. Hopefully.

Once her hands are free she rubs her wrists a little, a hand raising to brush her neck, feeling the slender cut there. Its not very deep, just was enough to bleed just a little. Probably sting like a paper cut.

"Thank you for your help." She doesn't look like she's about to break down crying or anything. She's just rather.. numb. Even moreso without her sisters to lean on. A brief smile is given to Sam, replaced by worry, seeing his state: "Are you okay?"