7787/A War in Hell

A War in Hell
Date of Scene:	08 June 2019
Location:	Gotham construction site
Synopsis:	Kitty, Doug and Carrie investigate the carcass of a N'Garai demon, reported in the papers.
Cast of Characters:	Cypher, Shadowcat, Carrie Kelley

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Cypher has posed:
It was... a pretty normal day at the mansion, as such things go. Doug had gone out into town. When he came back, he looked a little... uneasy, and he was carrying a copy of the Daily Tattler under one arm.

"Kitty," He murmurs, "Either you'll want to see this, or you won't. Either way, you--or somebody--should probably see it."

So he held up the byline to her.

'GRISLY ALIEN MURDER IN HACKENSACK - Uncensored photos inside!'

The photo on the cover is partially blurred out, but the creature is... indescribable, and familiar.

It's the exact same kind of creature that once tried to kill Kitty in the mansion on Christmas Eve, years ago. The blasphemous name goes unspoken, at least by Doug, but hovers there, waiting to be spoken--

Shadowcat has posed:
"N'garai," Kitty says, her eyes getting big and a shiver running down her back. "Crap, how did it get back into this dimension,?" she says. She shakes her head. "Those things are such bad news. I literally destroyed the Blackbird and hangar killing one during Hanukkah when I was young. It was able to harm me while I was phased even. We're going to need some big guns to deal with this thing," Kitty says, frowning and looking over to Doug.

Cypher has posed:
"Yeah." Doug says, "...Well, this one's dead, at least. Do you want to go take a look at it? Hackensack's near Gotham, maybe your friends there could help us get access to it." He quirks his mouth, and flips through the rest of the photos. "Something ripped it apart." He studies the photos. "Some THINGS. Multiple attackers."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty looks at the picture saying, "I wish it was clearer. Yes, would love to know what managed to do this to it," she says. "I mean, some of the X-men could take out one or more even, but... what got to this one?" she wonders aloud. Kitty nods and then says, "I'll reach out and see if anyone is available to try to help us get into there," she says.

Kitty takes up her phone, taking a few pictures and sending them to Carrie before calling her. "Hey, it's Kitty. Doug and I wanted to go check out those pictures and see what is up with this thing. I've fought one before, it's from another dimension. And it's really tough, so I'd like to know what took it down. Do you think you could help us get in there to look at it?"

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley gets the images, and what she can of the message before responding to Kitty. She'd have to call in a few favors but could likely get in there. She gives a time and place to meet to make it work.

Cypher has posed:
Doug tucks the paper under his arm, and says, "Well, I guess we're going to Hackensack. I'll drive."

Shadowcat has posed:
"Ok, we're heading out there. It'll be about an hour," Kitty says into the phone. Her smile can be heard in her voice as she says, "Thank you for helping. Alright, see you soon." Kitty hangs up and nods to Doug. "Let me grab my costume," she says, turning and running up stairs. She grabs both of them actually, packed in a bag that is always ready to go. And also a little purple dragon comes down on her shoulder. "You'll have to stay in the car if it's not somewhere I can take a cat. Or a bird," she is telling Lockheed.

The drive out to Gotham is a nicer one, the rain of late having let up to make way for some sunshine. Eventually they pull up to where they are meeting Carrie. Kitty hops out to greet her with a quick hug before urging her to climb in the back seat, as Kitty hops back in the car. "Ok, so where is this that we're going to first?" she asks, glancing to Doug and Carrie. "Do we know where the remains are being held already, or do we have to start at the newspaper?"

Cypher has posed:
"Well, detective work being what it is," Doug murmurs, "Why don't we split up? You two can investigate the scene of the crime and see what you can find out, and I'll stop in Hackensack and see if I can suss out where they took it. Between the three of us, we should be able to get in to look at it without getting caught."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley glances over toward Kitty at the suggestion for figuring out this... creature and it's reason for being here. "Okay. Do we have any idea what we're looking for though? I don't really know what this thing is other than that it attacked Kitty in the past." That causes her to frown as she looks once again to her phone and the photos that were sent over. "What do you guys know about this already?"

Cypher has posed:
Doug says, "I only know what I was told. They're extradimensional demons. Intelligent, but extremely cruel and savage. One attacked Kitty when she was alone, once. It killed a whole bunch of people before that. I remember that... the Christmas Killer. The official government line was that it was a rabid black bear. Illyana would be handy to have here. She might be in Limbo, though. You could text her and see if she'll join us later on." Doug says, stroking his chin.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty sits in the car, letting Doug drive while she relates the story. "It's called an N'Garai, yes. They come from another dimension. There was a portal that one of our team closed with lightning. Only later on, one of the creatures got back through. Killed some people. Showed up where we lived. Everyone else was gone, I was literally the only one home," Kitty says. "It could claw me while it was phased. Not cut me, but... if it had gotten a chance to hit me repeatedly, I'm sure it would have killed me. It was really smart, anticipated my moves. Tore through the facility's walls chasing me. I'd lose it and it would set an ambush for me. Finally I got it to chase me to where our airplane is, and I turned on the afterburners full blast. Was able to destroy it, catching it in the back blast. It also rammed the plane into the hangar walls, destroying both," she says, sighing.

Kitty looks over to Carrie and says, "So, if we should run into more of them, best thing is for us to get out of there. None of us are equipped to fight it. But we can hopefully get an idea where it came from and what killed it," she says.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley grimaces a little bit as both tell what they know. Even if it was only a little, knowing how it fought and that it could harm Kitty was a rather good thing to know. "Fire is something that we know can affect it, then," she reasons with a slow and thoughtful nod. "Not that I really have access to that, but it's still good to know." Her eyes shift to Doug, then back to Kitty with a thoughtful little frown. "Well, we both know I have ways of getting up and out of a place real quick. But yeah, I'm not really much of a close combat fighter either. We'll see what we can find I guess."

Cypher has posed:
The crime scene in question is a construction site for a new corporate build, little more than a framework of girders and concrete reaching toward the sky like the bones of a giant. The site's been cordoned off by the D.E.O., but security is light right now and it's easy enough for the two of them to slip past. The body has been removed from the site, but a pool of sticky dark ichor still remains, along with torn flesh and skin. The stench is palpable, rancid.

A light is on in the site foreman's trailer nearby.
%

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty moves quietly, not having donned a costume, just going as herself for the time being. With not many people about, she lets Lockheed out, his Image Inducer turning him into a large raven. Kitty looks over to Carrie, making sure she's ready to go before she starts over, observing the area before moving in.

Once inside she wrinkles her nose. "God, I'd forgotten that smell," she whispers. She moves over to look at the blood, trying to put to use the little bit of forensic training she's completed with Batman. Which admittedly is not much.

Kitty checks to see if the creature just bled out here, or if it was struck. If there is a blood trail, or tracks that might lead anywhere. Also anything else out of the ordinary in the area.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley follows after Kitty letting her sort of lead the way. This wasn't an area she was familiar with so she sweeps the area with a long, thorough gaze to make a mental map of where they were. The light in the foreman's trailer is noticed as well. "How can people not smell that? No wonder the guards are thin... they probably all made excuses to get some distance," she murmurs to Kitty. "Except that guy." Frowning, she tips her head in that direction.

"I'm going to take a peek real quick just to make sure it's safe," she informs her friend as she slips into the shadows with the skill of someone used to doing so. Even if she was in her civilian attire right now.

Cypher has posed:
To a trained eye -- or two -- it is obvious that there was a running battle that ended here. This creature was being chased, at one point blundering through a fresh concrete form. Bounding, leaping tracks akin to enormous dogs... if their front feet were more like hands chase after it, before they caught up to it and pulled it down.

There were three of them. Not as big as the N'Garai was. But big enough.

Inside the trailer, a young man is sitting, security camera footage, his stare intent, focused. He has short-cropped black hair, a DEO Security officer's uniform, and his skin is damp, perspiring in the evening warmth perhaps. ...He is rapidly searching out the security footage of the attack, and deleting it. Why?

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty examines the area and follows the blood splashes until she gets to the cement. She frowns as she checks out the animal prints there. Kitty pulls out her phone and snaps some pictures. She retraces her steps, seeing if she can find any signs of the cement, hoping the dog-like creatures might have picked some up on their feet, left smears of it elsewhere to get a idea of where they went to.

Whatever she finds, Kitty will sneak over to the trailer to join Carrie, and whisper her findings to her friend, then ask what she's seen inside.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley had a good view of peering in the window. Enough so that she lifts up her own phone on record to hopefully have a sampling of the video that the guard was deleting rapid fire. She keeps it helped up just in the corner of the window to avoid notice as much as possible until Kitty returns.

Looking to her friend she lifts a finger to her lips, and gestures for her to get up to peek as well. Quietly she whispers, "Guard is scrubbing the video. Something else is going on here."

Cypher has posed:
A moment later, the guard looks up. His reflection in the window is dark -- but his left eye seems to catch the light, briefly. Only this left eye. He stands up, and turns to walk out of the trailer, his expression flat, his step stiff and awkward, as if he's uncomfortable in his skin. He rolls his neck, and it pops. Then he turns to walk out of the trailer, with a heavy tread.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde whispers to Carrie, "Let's see how good the delete program on this video viewer really is." Kitty looks inside the trailer to confirm no one else is in there. Then she phases through the wall, moving over to unplug and grab the hard drive. Hopefully the videos were just tagged for deletion, but the actual files are still sitting there until such time as that part of the disk is overwritten.

Kitty returns, hopefully with it, and asks, "Did you see his eye? And he moves kind of funny too. Let's try to see what's up with him, tail him and see where he goes?" She holds out a hand for Lockheed to fly down and land on, in his holographic appearance of a raven, thanks to his Stark Industries Image Inducer. "Lockheed, we want to follow that man. If he drives off, keep an eye on him and we'll follow," she tells him.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley watches the man move while Kitty slips inside. He's gone though, and she hunkers down straining to hear what might be going on. Did he see them? Quite possible. She's very wary, especially given...

Kitty pops out again causing her to shiver as she nods. "Reminds me of a movie I saw once. Let's get the hell out of here."

Cypher has posed:
He's not going far. He walks to the pool of ichor, still glistening, oily and fresh, and he stands in front of it, before he holds his hand out. Heat shimmers from his palm, washing over the stain of demonic blood and flesh, flash-burning it and rendering it useless. He looks up and blinks slow, liquid. His right eye is unfocused for a moment, before it snaps back into place, and he walks out of the construction site.

He walks with purpose... and he doesn't tire.

As Kitty and Carrie are leaving the construction site, a slim figure steps out of the shadows. "They should not be here. They were almost noticed. But the Eye is turned elsewhere." It's an Asian man, dressed like a Catholic priest, with his hands clasped in front of him. "This one..." It glances to Kitty. "This one we know. The Hated N'Garai fear this one. Why? It is a mystery." The priest turns to Carrie. "This one is unknown to us. But strings of potential twine around her and spiral off into infinity. And there is the smell of a third on you, a third who passed through the gates of Death and back out the other side. Intriguing. A third who is not here... ah. The Eye is upon him, I think."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde goes on guard as the Asian man comes out of the shadows. "Who are this Eye? And what are they doing with N'Garai?" she asks him, confirming at least some connection between herself and the demons that she knows the name. Kitty isn't waiting for an answer though, she pulls out her phone and sends to Doug, "DEO agent, possible hostile. Someone here thinks you may be drawing focus. Get out if you are not somewhere safe. Reply with status."

She glances up and over to Carrie, then back to the Asian man. "And who are you? How do you sense these things you speak of?" she asks him.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley freezes as the Asian man speaks with an eyebrow raising at the fortune cookie talk that was a bit too much like a horror movie for her liking. When Kitty warns Doug, she reaches up to tap Kitty's shoulder. "There was *another* one with us, Kitty," she points out tipping her head the way they came. "Lockheed." Just in case they were warning the wrong person after all. "And eye... his eye was weird remember?"

Cypher has posed:
The Priest smiles, enigmatically, his eyes black and liquid -- for a moment the light catches his eyes, and they glow red as rubies.

"Refugees. The Damned. And this one..."

"...Just a humble Pilgrimm."

The priest who probably isn't turns and walks away.

'They didn't have a freezer big enough at the local morgue, so get this, the DEO requisitioned a *butcher shop* to store this thing in the freezer. It smells as bad as it looks. All right, all right, I'm go--'

'...Kitty, I don't know how it got here so fast, but there's something here...'

The radio goes dead.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty swears as she hears the radio. "Come on, we've got to get to him," she tells Carrie as she turns and begins sprinting. Assuming that Doug has the car. If it was left with them, then it's a rush to the car, and breaking speeding ordinances as they hurry to where Doug was going.

If Kitty is driving she'll give Carrie the phone to try to get a report of Doug's status out of him. Or if they are on foot, she's doing it herself. Either way she keeps an eye out for Lockheed, wanting to wave to him to rejoin them if he spots them.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley takes the phone from Kitty as she starts to run along with her friend. The phone is held up to her ear trying to hear what's going on as she calls over, "Doug? Doug get out of there!" where had that guard gone? Either way the race was on to get to Doug.