mogget_cat | OOM: Who ya gonna call?

Yrael has the information they'll need for their... field trip, that which Tesla helpfully procured for them about the Cabal. Yrael, Axel and Nikola have been planning this for quite a while, and since the Cabal seem to be stepping up their activity in regards to searching for Nikola, they decided that acting sooner was better than later.

Getting into Tesla's world is as simple as him opening the door and letting Axel and Yrael step through.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Axel returns Yrael's look; he's willing to follow his friend's lead.

"Can I put my hands down?" he asks, looking back to the woman.

The woman eyes Axel up and down, and then Yrael. Her eyes are intelligent, business-like, unafraid. "I suppose so," she says with a slight nod, lowering her gun but definitely keeping it at the ready. Her voice is light, with a thread of English accent running through it.

"Who are you, then? You must either be very good at keeping a low profile, or must be new in town, else I would have known to expect you. You're out for revenge on the poachers, I expect."

"We're not so good at the low profile, but very new in town, yes," Yrael says, smirking slightly.

"Hey, speak for yourself," Axel says, lowering his hands. "I can keep a low profile."

"Until you don't want to anymore, of course," Yrael smirks at Axel, before turning to the woman. "We were following intel we received - similar to yours, actually. Those that were supposed to be here have caused trouble for a friend, so we intend to cause them trouble in return."

"Understandable, but it can make things difficult if you're planning on staying in town," the woman says with a slightly tense smile. She understands wanting to cause trouble, but doesn't truly approve of it. "There's no need for causing unnecessary tensions between humans and Abnormals. If you need a place -"

She hands over a business card, which Yrael holds so Axel can also see.

'Sanctuary
for all

Dr. Helen Magnus'

Followed by an address.

Edited Date: 2010-07-19 12:38 am (UTC)

Blink.

"You really mean it?" he asks, eyes narrowed in suspicion, pointing to the card.

Yrael's expression is much different. His eyebrows rise in mild surprise - he recognizes that name.

"Yes," Helen says earnestly to Axel, complete sincerity on her face. "There are a lot of different kinds of people in this world; none should have to suffer because of the ignorance and fear of others. It's been my life's work."

Axel's lips twitch, and it's not a smile.

"If you say so." He turns back to Yrael-- "We done here?"

"That depends," Yrael murmurs.

"There's still a long way to go, I know," Helen admits, seeing Axel's look, "but that's why the work is important."

"Humans tend to be stupid," Yrael supplies with a dry look. "We know this."

"... We're working to make that the exception, not the rule." Helen's wry smile shows that she knows very well how stupid people can be when they're afraid. "The intel we both received may have been wrong, but I'm still getting signs of something odd up ahead."

"Yeah? How 'odd'?" Axel asks.

...burning something would be good for his peace-of-mind right now.

"Heat-signatures, about the size of a small room," Helen says, checking a small hand-held device at her side. "Or a very large..." Her mouth twists. "...piece of merchandise."

Yrael's look is curious. "We were expecting a facility."

"Maybe it's just a drop-off point." Helen suggests, terse.

"Maybe. That way?" Axel asks, nodding down the tunnel.

"Yes," Helen says. "Second right, and then an immediate left. Then the next left after that should show us what there is to see."

"Want to check it out?" Yrael raises an eyebrow at Axel.

Axel gives a toothy grin.

"You know I do," he replies, and pulls the hood of his coat up over his head.

"Just making sure I wouldn't have to talk you into it," Yrael smirks, bright in the gloom that shadows Axel.

"Right pair you are," Helen murmurs, making sure her gun is loaded and ready, and peering along the line of her flashlight as they head down the tunnels.

Axel laughs softly at that, and falls into familiar step beside Yrael.

Helen is getting the feeling that she's the one with the fewest weapons here, despite the guns she has in addition to the one she has to hand. The tunnels drip darkly; The gritty-damp sounds of Helen's boots echo faintly, almost loud beside the silent movements of those accompanying her.

"I'm assuming," she says as they turn corners, "that you had a good reason for not introducing yourselves."

"If you survive, maybe I will," Axel says.

As Helen stiffens and half-turns, Yrael interjects. "We're not here for you, Helen Magnus. There is no worry on that point."

Yrael knows her name. Knows some things about her.

"We have mutual friends, in fact. But we are here for mutual enemies tonight."

"What he said," Axel adds, with a sharp toothy grin visible under his hood.

Helen gives them a long measuring look before continuing down the tunnel, watching their approach to the heat signatures on the device.

"We're going to have to have a long talk, not just introductions, after we get out of here."

Yrael says nothing, just smiles. It's not a full smile, though - apart from the stench of the tunnels, something smells wrong.

And there's something setting Axel's nerves on edge - more than just the sewer itself.

He shoots a quick glance at Yrael, fingers curved in a certain way, suggestive of violence. ~~Behold, as the narration resists the urge to innuendo.~~

~~Stay strong, narration, stay strong!~~

Yrael lifts his chin slightly, an agreement. They are poised, ready, as they turn the last corner -

There's just enough time to register what it is they see before them. They are unfamiliar in detail to Yrael, but he recognizes the general idea of most of them: large electro-magnetic weapons, massive amounts of traditional incindiary explosives, TNT, C-4, those meant to kill from shrapnel damage - the effect is somewhat frantic, as though whoever had put them there were trying to throw the book at a problem they didn't know how to solve.

"Axel!" Yrael snaps, moving instantly to grab Helen before she can continue forward, still taking in what is before them. He is fast, but not fast enough to grab her before her boot contacts something in the darkness, at ankle-height, resulting in a quiet click.

Axel has less than half a heartbeat to decide - defend or escape - and really, for him, that's no choice at all. Defence has never been his strong suit.

The portal is open, and Yrael grabbed, and he pulls all three of them through, closing the way back almost violently.

And because he had no destination... they are in the dark.

He pulls Helen before him, putting himself in between the flimsy mostly-human and the explosion. The portal closing catches just the beginning of the explosion's shockwave, throwing them back into the darkness.

Yrael is moving again almost immediately. "Everyone still with us?"

Helen is dazed, working out what happened. "Where are we?"

Yrael can't smell any blood, and from the little of the blast they caught, internal injuries aren't likely. She'll live.

Edited Date: 2010-07-19 06:48 pm (UTC)

"In the darkness between worlds," Axel replies.

He wonders if she can see him, in the dark, with his hood up, and that thought makes him push the hood back, so that his hair stands out like a beacon. Better the Heartless go for him, anyway; he knows how to take them out.