6172/Questing for the Shield

Questing for the Shield
Date of Scene:	13 January 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Stardust, Captain America, Quicksilver, 87, Brick, Robin (Wayne)

---

Stardust has posed:
From Gorias and Findias, from Murias and Falias,
Four treasures the Tuatha de brought from Tir Na nOg.
With spear and sword, with cauldron and stone,
Protected were we of the Aos Sidhe;
Prevented the Dubh Sidhe we battle with.

Yet as in Caer Sidi, so must it be in Tir na mBeo,
Hidden from the eyes of the fae in the hands of man.
Yet vulnerable the treasures of Caer Sidi,
In Alba the sword, as a clock was found;
In Erin, the spear's bite in a fiddle's sound.

Two made safe by word and spell and sidhe law,
Two in Tir an iarthair, Seelie and Unseelie seek them.
Unscried they were until today,
A shield the stone, of the captain of that land;
As yet unknown the cauldron, in a Titan's hand.

    The verse... prophecy, scrying, whatever it might be, had been implanted in Vorpal's mind, apparently by a Fae lord, Cait Sith, the King of the Cats. The Fae are nothing if not mysterious, and subsequent research has found much rumor and almost no fact. The Titans research has however clarified a few points. Tir Na mBeo is the land of the living; the verses seem to discuss four items in the world of men that parallel the Four Treasures of Ireland, powerful and ancient artifacts that are the greatest weapons of the Seelie Court. Erin is Ireland, Alba Scotland. In those two countries, a fiddle and a clock appear to have been two of the four. Two others are in Tir an iArthair, the land across the ocean - America. Where to go from there? Once clue seems too specific to be coincidence. A sheild in the hand of the captain of that land? There's only one Captain that could be referring to.

    So it is that the Avengers receive a rather mysterious message from the Titans. "There may be some rather powerful people trying to steal Captain American's shield. We should talk." It's a bit vague, and under other circumstances the reply might have been simply that there are lots of people who are jealous of that shield, but the Titans have proven during the Mushroom Invasion to have some unique sources of information that are well worth listening to...

Captain America has posed:
The message gets passed along the Avengering grape-vine until it reaches the Captain in residence. Assuredly, there was a bemused little frown, but given the veracity of evidence and warnings put forth by the Titans before, he's not going to idly push it aside like some piece of boring paperwork. Thus, with patience, Steve waits just off the main foyer of the Avengers mansion itself. Having reached out to the Titans in return, he expects a small party to arrive at any time to speak with him in person.

He's in jeans and a bomber jacket rather than the regalia of his title, but the shield does rest on his arm where he's threaded it through the two grips inlaid to its concave backing. He's scrolling his thumb up his cell phone's screen, brows furrowed again. Nothing in the news seems to point towards someone attempting a theft of the infamous Spangled shield...

Quicksilver has posed:
Pietro arrives back at the Mansion in literally a blue blur. In fact, Pietro is the one who gives cap the message!

"No idea who would want your shield. It pretty much has your name on it." Of course Pietro attempted to read it. Either way, Pietro wore blue jeans, a track jacket, fingerless gloves, and some comfortable-lookin' shoes.

"But I guess it's a big deal if someone wants your stuff. Whatcha want to do about it?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Only a fool would try to steal the shield. It was tantamount to trying to steal the Lasso of Truth- anyone foolish enough to attempt it had better have plenty of backup to prove equal to the task.

Unfortunately, these were no mere thieves attempting this.

As the team approaches the mansion, Vorpal looks at the assembled quorum. "Goodness I hope we've got this right. I don't want to be a member of the team that looks like a fool in front of Captain America, you know." Fortunately, the Titans are being expected, so their visit is not a surprise. He tries not to oggle and ooh and ahh too much when going into the mansion and before being led to their waiting hosts.

He might 'ooh' a bit. Quietly.

Brick has posed:
It is very impolite to teleport into someone's home without an invitation, or a warrant, or a very good reason involving the saving of lives. With this in mind, Brick is walking, with the other Titans. He does that, sometimes. Walk. Never seen on his web channel, but he does.

He's also, apparently, wearing "civilian" gear today. He does, however, have a pair of small drones hovering over either shoulder, following him around quietly. No really, they're extremely quiet.

"This is assuming, of course, that Tir an iarthair isn't referring to the place they have Arthur in cold storage, but that's rather unlikely," Brick says, stirring the chaos a bit.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin was only Everdeen wearing his uniform, and this was no exception. He always had his secrets to keep, and his real name was indeed a secret.

  All in all, the Avengers were on par with the Justice League, and that made them pretty cool in his book. The stone faced teen glanced here and there while he was in the mansion, even he couldn't help but look. "So, the shield is obvious, but the rest..." he was still trying to break the poem.

Stardust has posed:
Colette has been unusually silent on the journey to the Avengers mansion. That's usually a sign she's been having a deep and involved conversation with the voices in her head. When Vorpal voices his concerns, a smile creeps across her face and she gives a shake of her head. "Oh don't worry Vorp, I'm sure he would understand that sometimes looking like a bit of a fool happens to everyone."

    Brick's translation query elicits another response: "You don't trust Google Translate? It's Google, it knows everything. Besides, two items in the same place, and one is in the hands of a Titan. Which must mean us, or why would he have given the message to Vorp? So unless there's a member of the team I don't know about who's hanging out in Avalon, I think we've got that part right at least."

    Colette is not in civilian gear. She's in full Stardust costume, and who cares if people stare as they make their way to the mansion. It's not like there aren't plenty of stares when you fly either, and that's her more normal method of travel. "Who knows, Robin. I mean not being clear about what they're talking about is apparently the number one symptom of being a Fae. We should probably ask them to explain what the hell they're on about. Does anyone know the international dialling code for Tir na nOg?"

    As they're ushered into the mansion, Colette's interest is as unhidden as the others. It's not like they don't have a cool base of their own, but this one's new to her and it's always interesting to see how the other side lives. It seems very comfortable; Colette approves.

Captain America has posed:
"Dunno what I'm going to do just yet," replies Steve to Pietro as he looks up from his phone. He pockets the thing as he continues, talking as he walks out into the foyer proper. "We'll see what they have to report first. I don't think they're jumping at shadows, but we'll see." It turns out that super-soldier senses make for detecting the arrivals even before they're ushered in the front door by one of Tony's live-in butler-bots. The thing beeps a few times, having scanned each arrival and noting that they are not on the You Shall Not Pass protocol listing, and then flies away to its resting position once more, intert until further notice. Steve lifts a hand on his approach, wearing a mild and polite smile.

"You must be the Titans." He looks between all present. "I'm Captain Rogers. I got your message. Since it's a matter of some potentially powerful folk, let's cut to the chase. What do you know?"

Quicksilver has posed:
"I do not like this, Captain." Quicksilver tells Steve before he crosses his arms and turns his head to the group that appeared to be waiting for them. Man, costumes have....certainly increased in overall flamboyancy. His eyes look directly at Robin, as if he's wondering why someone who looks so young is a superhero. But he makes no verbal judgements- HOLY SHIT IS THAT A CAT?!

Again, no verbatum quite yet. Pietro, for once, is silent. Listening, wanting to know what this group has to say.

Brick has posed:
"I don't rely on google translate, Stardust. I have a much better translation system. Though Maire Boit does tend to include the multiple ambiguities in her contextual frames, which makes for some complicated compression."

*ping*

"Yes, I will remember to tell them we are researching the clock in Alba and the fiddle in Eire. Although, really, if the shield is the analogue to the Lia Fail, it may have taken on a different role this time. I've never heard of the Shield talking like the Stone of Fa'il."

AND there's the door opening. Vorpal starts to speak but then on seeing the shield, is siezed with an obvious headache, falling against Stardust.

"Uhm." Brick pauses. "I was hoping that wouldn't happen again. We're members of the Titans. Stardust, Robin, Vorpal -- the Cheshire Cat who is currently having to deal with the reason we contacted you -- and I'm Brick Marston."

quiet *ping*

"I hope we're not disturbing you too much."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin looked quite young for his age, and being short. The look towards him gets Damian to give Pietro a look, only slightly confrontational.

  "Captain America." Damian says, looking quite stone faced, internally, a bit excited to be meeting the Avenger. "Thank you for having us, I'll let Vorpal and Stardust give the briefing." He comments, crossing his arms and giving the floor to his co-leader and the other senior Titan.

Stardust has posed:
    Stardust catches Vorpal before he hits the floor. She sighs slightly, then props him up like a drunken friend you're trying to pretend is still conscious. "Robin, I don't think Vorpal's up to the briefing," she points out. "Uh. Hi!" she greets the two Avengers, waving her free hand. "I'm Stardust. This is Vorpal. He does this sometimes. Uh." She turns her head to Brick, and nods towards the Captain. "Either Vorp is really excited to see him, or this counts as evidence we're on the right track, wouldn't you say?"

    "Um. So..." Feeling rather suddenly in the spotlight, Stardust prevaricates a little. "Nice to meet you guys. We're the..." no, Brick already did that bit. "We're here because we received an extremely weird message from a magical source. Basically, there's a King of the Cats. Don't question it. It just is what it is. And we have a cat. As you can see. The King of the Cats is a Fae. Magical creature. And apparently there is some kind of weirdness going on with..." She shuffles Vorpal to her other hand, and reaches into a jacket pocket, pulling out a folded printout which she hands to the Captain. A copy of the scrying. "Well, read it for yourself. Basically in some way we can't really figure out, we think that there are four objects in this world that kind of parallel four magical objects in the Fae otherworld. And apparently your shield is one of them. So. Uh... we're not quite sure yet what relevance this has, but there's kind of an ongoing war between factions of Fae, and our guess is that one of those factions is hunting down these items. So... yeah. Read".

    Vorpal is shuffled back to her first hand. "Uh. So, do you have a basket or something where I can put the cat?"

Captain America has posed:
"You were expected. No one's being disturbed," the Captain assures the arrivals evenly. Steve eyes the unconscious one they've named as Vorpal. "If you're sure he...just does that sometimes, we've got a fainting couch in the parlor. Follow me." With missive in hand, the Captain leads the way into the very side-room he was waiting in previously. It's a quaint place, just big enough to fit all present. Included along with the fainting couch tucked to one wall is a small square table able to seat four along with a plain chair tucked along the wall. The walls are spartan in decoration, but somehow, it retains more personality than one might see at a corporate or medical building. Perhaps a refined reception room for parties biding time? It'll do.

After ushering everyone in, Steve stands beside the square table. "Have a seat if you'd like. We can call medical staff if Vorpal needs assistance." He doesn't trip over the odd name as he gives the young being one last glance. Otherwise, he unfolds the printout of the prophecy. His wheat-gold brows knit as he reads, mouth moving. "Tir Na nOg. Seelie and Unseelie..." His bright eyes rise as he considers the Titans. These words, he doesn't trip over either, pronouncing them as if he had spoken the language for a long time yet. "So...by King of Cats, you must mean Cait Sith." A small if perplexed smile appears on his lips. "Maithair told me stories when I was young of the Fae," he explains before frowning down at the prophecy again. "And you think the mention of a shield pertains to this here?" The Vibranium shield on his arm is lifted to indicate it.

Quicksilver has posed:
MUST. PET. CAT.

Pietro though is instead distracted from this rather relaxing desire by entering a staredown with Damian apparently. Two confrontational personalities do not do well in a diplomatic setting. But thankfully, just as Pietro is about to open his mouth, his eyes shift to Steve.

"Okay, guess we're rolling with this." Pietro literally disappears to the naked eye. As they move, Pietro is later seen again in the room that Steve leads the group entirely too.

Quicksilver doesn't know jack about the Unseelie or Seelie or middle-seelie, he only knows that they have CATS.

"Cait what now?"

Pietro is clearly the least knowledgeable person in the room. but he shrugs, instead just eyeing Cap's shield.

Brick has posed:
"Oh for ... " Brick says. He reaches over and picks up Vorpal into a ... not princess hold, something similar that lets him sit more upright; while the Cheshire Cat is short, he's not the size of a normal house-cat, and wouldn't fit in a normal basket. Then again, Brick himself is relatively short, though also fairly broad-shouldered, looking not too unlike the brick he's apparently named for.

Captain America (or Mr. Rogers, which is proper when he's not in his formal costume?) has led them to what looks like a traditional Drawing Room, which is to say, where people draw together. Brick puts Vorpal onto the fainting couch, since the cat-guy is still doing the breathing through pain thing.

"He was given some kind of memory block that causes him pain at random times. It doesn't have an organic cause, I checked, and Maire Boit tells me there are energy signals consistent with what we've seen at Star Labs when examining Fae magical effects."

It's entirely possible for Pietro to reach the cat if he wants. Vorpal's probably not in any condition to unleash chaos on him and might even find it helpful.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian holds two fingers to his mask's temple and examines the shield with as many views as he can muster, and some nice pictures on the DL. "Yes, when anyone hears about a shield..." He gestures to the Mighty Shield itself. "You think of that."

  "This Cait Sith is, according to Brick, it's made himself a home inside of Vorpal's mind, causing him this pain and suffering. So the fight must go to the King of Cats." The crimson, gold, and green clad vigilante turns his white eyelets to Colette. "So, if this is the shield they mention, what is the cauldron?" Robin gives a slight huff, still trying to gain an advantage over this problem. He's much more used to Gotham issues, crime lords, mafiosos, Lazarus Pits, tangible things, not legends.

Stardust has posed:
"A fainting couch?" Stardust asks. "Is that like a fainting goat? I've never seen a couch faint before. This I have to see." She passes Vorpal over to Brick's ministrations, and follows Steve into the parlour to watch Brick decant the cat into the couch, smirking wide. On her way through she whispers (perhaps not /quite/ quietly enough) to Damian, "They have a fainting couch in the parlour. I know he's from the past, but I didn't realize he was that ancient. "

    "Cait Sith. Yes." Stardust is frankly somewhat impressed that the Captain knows what they're talking about. She was expecting him to be a little... slow. She turns to Quicksilver and explains "It means the cat fae. Basically a fairy cat. Which doesn't mean a little cat with wings who lives in flowers. Which would be kinda cool. It means an incredibly dangerous magic-wielding crazy person cat. Thing. Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

    "It's gotta be your shield," Stardust says, nodding in agreement as Robin indicates their conclusions. "The captain of that land. And that land is the land over the ocean. America. Unless there are any other captains of America noted for their shields, it's a good bet that's it. And the fainting cat kind of seals the deal. And the cauldron..." she turns to Robin again. "One of us has it. Pretty sure it's not me. You have any powerful artifacts you haven't mentioned? It seems like it doesn't have to have anything to do with a cauldron. The sword was a clock, right?"

Captain America has posed:
The shield doesn't flash anything funny in the spectrums of Robin's mask-viewing abilities. Vibranium composite, solid, oddly agile when thrown. Steve glances to the disc on his arm and back to the group of Titans, still appearing bemused.

"I'm curious as to why a people known for silver tongues and shy natures want anything to do with one of Howard Stark's creations. It hasn't gone missing, not that I'm aware of. Not even during my time in the ice." He gains the fine lines of stress about the corners of his eyes before they smooth away. "You're absolutely sure it's the Fae...? And not...something else?" He gestures towards the unconscious Vorpal. He leaves the interpretation of 'something else' to be many things: medical issues, mental problems, drugs... The risk of catnip-induced hallucinations could be very real with the young feline-being, he has no idea. "If there's someone you might want to be in contact with, it's the Doc. Strange. Doctor Strange,"he amends. "He's probably come across the Fae before. I don't know anything about a cauldron, however, or a sword-clock." Steve glances over at Pietro in a silent quest for answers, in case the silver-haired speedster is aware of anything.

Quicksilver has posed:
Magic sucks.

Pietro looks firstly to Steve as he seems surprisingly knowledgeable about any of this. He shakes his head when silently questioned about the Cauldron or a sword-clock. "No idea about that either. Like you say, Strange would probably know. This is more his expertise than ours."

He looks to Colette. "Cauldron could be some kind of...host maybe? I don't know. No idea how about a sword clock."

He looks to the Cait Sith-Inhabited Vorpal, and tilts his head.

Okay, look, Pietro is just a guy who can run REALLY fast. magic and Fae and lore is out of his wheelhouse.

He blinks though...looking at Vorpal. He reaches over just a little bit to pet the kitty.

Brick has posed:
"I personally dislike the vague woo-woo of magical thinking, but there is a pattern to how magic tends to be wielded, specific to each instance. There are always rules, even to so-called chaos magic," Brick says. "The Fae - the Tuatha de Danann - appear to live in a semi-detached dimension that exists either parasitically or symbiotically with this one. It isn't subject to the same set of natural laws. Their treasures were used to defeat their enemies, based on the magical qualities that were part of them. Like a complex machine that requires special parts, except that those parts, when brought from their sub-universe to this one, appear to be remapped to existing things that fit the requirements for their function. The clock cuts time into uniform pieces. The fiddle pierces the heart with its music. The shield is, I conjecture, a physical defense against tyranny, which is what the Lia Fa'il was. And the cauldron, the bottomless source of food from which nobody ever went away hungry. It also has some other analogues, as a life-bringing tool for rebirth, and as a way to purify. There's several of us who have things that might meet that description."

Vorpal begins breathing more slowly, but still sore, flinching very slightly at the first touch and possibly purring, something cats do when in distress to feel better.

*ping*

"I know, but it seems to be helping," Brick says. The *ping* noise came from his shirt pocket, where there's apparently something that could be confused for a phone, or in the old days might be an oversized pack of cigarettes.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "Father and I have many 'powerful' artifacts, he keeps trophies from all of his accomplishments. My grandfather's sword, Penny Pincher's giant penny, the Tyrannosaur robot, Goliath, the Lazarus...THE LAZARUS PIT! It's not a cauldron, but it does make sense, it bubbles, it restores a body, among other things." Robin clenches his fist, sure that this was what the riddle solved. "But even then, the Lazarus and Captain America's shield, they do not seem to connect that well.

  "A life bringing tool, or for rebirth. The Lazarus can cure any disease, heal any wounds." Brick's mention certainly feels like this is the cauldron.

Stardust has posed:
Stardust's eyes don't glaze over at Brick's explanation, but only with some effort. She doesn't handle detailed and accurate technical summaries well. "Brick is our science genius," she clarifies. "He's been able to measure some kind of residue of Fae influence. So no, it's magical rather than pharmaceutical, if that's what you're asking."

    "Isn't Doctor Strange missing?" Stardust asks. "Or has he been found again? We have a magic genius of our own to ask. Though as it happens she's been standing in for Doctor Strange lately with the whole..." she gestures vaguely. "Magic thing. There's this thing called the 'Sorcerer Supreme', but I don't know much about it. Some kind of magical champion thing. It's normally Strange, but while he was missing it was Raven. Our magical genius. So yeah. What we should probably do is get her... or him... or both of them... to dig into Vorp's head and drag the Cait Sith out. Then hopefully we can persuade him to explain himself a bit more clearly. Apparently Fae just love to give people cryptic rhymes instead of talking straight."

    Stardust shuffles her feet, looking thoughtfully at Steve. Suddenly for no apparent reason, a smirk spreads across her face, and she looks quickly away, watching Pietro pet the kitty instead. It's hard not to want to pat Vorpal. "Um." Say something. Something that doesn't involve mentioning a perfume factories in the French Riviera, or the nickname 'Captain Jasmine'.

    Yet.

    "Uh. So our guess is that line about 'hidden from the eyes of the fae in the hands of man' is that there are four kind of parallel items. Objects in the human world that are magically connected to the four treasures. So the Unseelie can attack the four treasures through these four human objects. Unless they get protected by this word and spell and sidhe law thing. So we have to figure out how to do that... I guess? And figure out what the fourth item actually is. Before we get invaded by trolls or something. So we get both items together, get them spelled up to protect them from whatever, and we come up smelling of roses."

    Stardust glances back to Captain America again. "Or Jasmine."

Captain America has posed:
Steve remains mum during the lively brainstorming flying around him. He muses over the conceptualization of his shield being an analogue to an artifact that rightfully belongs in another world entirely. Given the mansion itself was residing in another dimension until not but a month or two ago, his world views have been expanded and, as such, tilts his head back and forth thoughtfully. More things in Heaven and Earth and all that. He glances over at Pietro and while he doesn't say something in regards to the speedster's actions, he does give the young man a gimlet warning look in passing. It could be a trap, petting that cat.

"The Doctor has been found, yes..." The Captain is now giving Stardust a very pointed look. "So he could dig into your friend's head, yes. I was unaware that his position had been handed off, but given it's been returned, he should be able to aid you. Your friend, Raven, she should be able to help him as well with his uninvited guest." He still continues to consider the young woman. An inhale as if to say something further, but he stops himself and simply remains silent. Maybe it was a slip of the tongue.

Surely Bucky hasn't been telling stories when drinking again?!

Quicksilver has posed:
"Lazarus pits heal people. Noted." Is all Pietro says in regards to Damian's Epiphany. But wait, HOLD THE PHONE. Kitty is purring. Kitty fur is nice. But, eventually Pietro stops petting Vorpal and instead focuses on the task at hand in regards to the group.

Once it seems that Doctor Strange is the way to go, Pietro nods. "Looks like you group of people I don't know have your answer."

Stardust gets a glance. He blinks at her. He looks to Steve. This is definitely coming up later. But, Pietro has decided now to fall into silence.

Brick has posed:
"Raven was called in as emergency fill because she was most qualified at the time, and the position has to be kept staffed. Apparently," Brick says. "Not like Pope where they can take a couple weeks to fill the slot and the world won't end."

*ping*

"OK, yeah, the Papacy doesn't actually have to literally ward off interdimensional attackers. Point."

Brick nods, and strokes the back of Vorpal's head. It's ... he's usually not safe to pet.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Vorpal groans and opens his eyes, rubbing his head. It is strange enough to visit the Avenger's manor without remembering what happened. It's stranger still to find yourself on a couch with people over you.

"Auntie Em," he says groggily, "I had the strangest dream. I dreamt I went to seet he Avengers and then hot guys petted me. Did I fall asleep watching Cinemax again?" he mutters, slowly sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "Then it's settled, we approach the Sorcerer Supreme for assistance." Damian looks to all, giving a positive outlook before approaching Steve once more, looking a little uneasy. "M-may I...hold y-" Then the cat wakes up, and the small semblance of the boy under the mask goes back. "Good, you're awake, let's go." He says, already making his way out of the mansion, having raised his hood to hide the slight blush on his olive toned cheeks.