Scion: The New Gods (IC)

[HookerBoots]

There was a moment of silence, and Gabby's fingers drummed on the tabletop for a moment. "This," she said at last, "is very troubling. Three gods, together, concerned enough about this . . . product, the company as well, I have to presume, to set three of us on the path." She snorted a laugh. "But not concerned enough to give us direct information, or to do it themselves." Gabby raised her glass in a toast, the curl of her lips a mix of self-deprecation and irony. "To the gods, eh?"

She sipped her ale, and set the glass down. "Well, lads, I think that we should probably all go to Rectory Square, and see about these lovely factory workers." She fingered the bottles Jason had set on the table lightly. "As well as what these might be about. I confess, I'm curious as to why a bit of rock might be important. I guess we'll find out."

Her eyes surveyed the table, and she said almost hesitantly, "Though it seems a shame - we could wait to go until we finished the food, couldn't we?"

One of the men playing pool had leaned his cue against the wall, pulling out a mobile phone. His glances toward his companions was furtive, and he seemed to be paying a little more attention to the trio in the corner than he might normally. He dialed, and spoke quietly, turning away from the rest of the room while one of his fellows set up a shot.

 

[Armphid]

Jason had to admit that the pictures of the factory workers were strange. He'd have said they were just PR shots with models in place of the workers but they were clearly surveillance work. As for the "predatory" look on the women's faces...that he wasn't sure about. But it still added up to the same point; he had to check out Rectory Square. And it looked like he wouldn't be doing it alone.

He raised his glass when Doctor Moya toasted the gods but didn't repeat it, just raised his glass and drank. Personally, he thought the gods could use a little less toasting and a little more slaps upside the head. But he'd also read the Odyssey and knew it wasn't a good idea not to honor them when you had a chance to do so. Her next words made him smile and he shrugged, "Seems like that's where all this leads for now. But I don't think anything's going anywhere now; these guys shouldn't have any idea that we're looking into them. So let's finish the food, down another beer, and..."

His voice trailed off as he picked up the voice of the man over by the pool table. Handle them? Them who? He had been looking over at them, paying pretty close attention. It might just be because they were a strange looking group; Kenji in his crisp, paramilitary style uniform, lovely Doctor Moya with her dark skin but relaxed posh attire, and himself, all scars, jeans, and leather, looking all the world like a punker. So it could just be keeping an eye on the oddballs.

And he was a Chinese jet pilot.

He grabbed an onion ring and chowed it down. "I'd grab anything you want and eat it now. I think Bonzo and his pals over there just got an order to "handle" us from someone." Jason shrugged, "I could be wrong, but heads up just in case. I'm going to go over and say hi. You guys chill and eat; jump in if you need to but I don't think I'll need help."

The American let his chair fall back down on all four feet with a thud and stood; his gaze openly upon the man who'd made the phone call. He stepped around the table and walked straight towards him, his face stern. As he got closer, Jason looked over the group of men playing pool. Toughs; probably nasty as all get out but he'd fought worse.

As one made his shot, Jason reached down and plucked the cue ball up off the table as it rolled towards its target. "You keep giving us the eye, pal," he said. His eyes were hard and his expression severe, his scars lending a viciousness to his look. "You got something to say, say it. If you don't, keep your eyes where they belong. Or call your friend back and tell 'em you can't handle us after all and let me talk to them."

 

[Thunderus]

Kenji nodded in agreement as both Dr. Moya and Jason suggested to cooperate on this - admittedly intriguing - case, that seemed to have caused such interest in their divine parents, and investigate the area of Rectory Square.

He lifted his glass high, for Gabriella's toast, with eyes full of excitement and a smile in his lips.

"To those above us, may their strength be tempered always by wisdom", he added.

*******​

When Jason notified them of the possible threat, Kenji switched, without even thinking about it, to his operational mode. No sudden moves, controlled breathing, a slight turn of the head to take a better look at those guys. His hand left the glass handle and slided, ever so lightly, to the knife near the paper napkin. A flick of the wrist and it was almost completely concealed below his palm and forearm. He hated that sort of encounters, yet if anything was wrong, as Jason's warning suggested, he wanted to be ready.

As Jason stood up, Kenji nodded to him - in acknowledgement and reassurance - and turned a little more, to have a better view of the situation, which was close to rapid escalation. He smiled reassuringly to Gabriella, and thought to himself that Jason seemed to be quite short-tempered and prone to rush action. That, or he had assessed those people and the threat they posed much more quickly and accurately than would normally be possible. Then again, they were all but normal themselves. He watched and waited.

 

[HookerBoots]

Gabby's breath hissed out between her teeth. She might have known - from what she'd been able to glean, the more of . . . whatever you wanted to call what they were there were together, the more likely strange things were to happen. They were like the rocks that made the stream of fate collect and whorl around, without even meaning to.

She shifted a little, her hand going to wrap around a heavy-weight steak knife that was laying on the table. There was no reason not to be prepared, even if the men turned out to be normal guys on a night out.

The man whom Jason had addressed straightened in surprise. "Oh, yeah? You ain' got no idea what we're doin' here, lad." His eyes traveled over the scarred young man's form. "An' I think we kin handle yeh jus' fine." He cracked his knuckles in what was clearly supposed to be a menacing fashion. "Yer friends there don' look like they'll give much of a fight, though I bet yer ladyfriend'll give just enough a one for it t'be interestin'."

 

[Armphid]

Jason's face went immediately bleak; his wicked smile vanishing. His expression instead became one of pure determined rage. "If you hadn't threatened her with that, you'd have left whole."

He flipped the cue ball he'd plucked off the table from his left hand to his right, taking a half step back as he did so, and then went into a classic overhand fastball pitch directly into the tough who'd spoken's crotch.

The burly Englishman didn't even have time to scream, his eyes simply bulged as if they'd pop out of his head and his mouth flew open as his breath exploded from his body in one great blast. The impact sent him crashing to the floor hard enough to bounce, curling into a fetal position and lying there like a dead thing.

Jason straightened up from his pitch and looked over his shoulder at one of the man's friends who was currently across the pool table from him with those furious eyes. "Arms or legs, asshole. Which do you want me to break?"

 

[HookerBoots]

There was silence as the bigger man fell to the floor, curled instinctively and protectively over his injured genitals. Even as two at the table were standing up, getting ready to join the fray, the man across the table, the one that Jason had addressed turned chalk-white.

But his hands gripped his pool cue more firmly, and he shifted a little. "You'll have to catch me first, punk!" He twisted the cue around, stabbing it at Jason over the table like a lance. The nimble young man darted out of the way, towards the man that was left upright on this side of the table. The second man took a cue from Jason and grabbed up one of the pool balls - the 5 - and chucked it at the young man.

The ball flew wide, crashing into one of the mirrors on the wall and shattering it into pieces. The shards fell to the floor with an almost musical sound. The last man took a few steps back and then moved with the grace of a dancer or martial artist, sliding under the table, his feet angling for where Jason's ankles were. His feet connected with the young man's, but the slide stopped right then, not enough strength to push the slide all the way through.

 

[Thunderus]

Assessing the situation for a couple of seconds, Kenji, bursted into action. In the blink of an eye he stood up from his chair, crossed the small distance between the table and the thugs that were fighting Jason, and stood directly above the injured one, who had received the brunt of Jason's initial assault, lying - as a result - helpless on the ground. The steak knife Kenji had grabbed from the table, with a flick of his wrist, now lay edge-first on the neck of the helpless burly man.

Kenji's voice, loud, curt and clear sounded in the room.

"Cease. Or this will get messy. Stand down and explain yourselves. Who are you, who sent you here, and what's your problem with us? Now. Don't make me repeat myself".

He had absolutely no doubt that Jason was more than a match for those guys. But he wanted to be certain that if those people were indeed ordered to "take care" of them, so to speak, he would get any and all pertinent information on that, before things got out of hand.

 

[HookerBoots]

The man who was now laying half-under the pool table looked up at the young Asian man and swallowed hard. "All righ', mate, don' do noffin' hasty, yeah?" He spread his hands broadly, trying to show his now-peaceful intentions. "We're just muscle, yeah? Hired, some tall, stacked bird, she paid us 75 quid each t' keep an eye out fer strange groups."

Gabby had stood up, her knife held almost negligently in one hand as she approached. "Really. That seems highly unlikely - there are strange groups all over London, it's a bloody big city. You'd be busy all the time, then." She took in the muscular-man-gone-to-seed physiques on the four men, and said, her voice a touch dry, "It's quite clear that you haven't been." One of the men, who had frozen like a deer in headlights, looked at her, then away quickly. "Oh," she said, raising an eyebrow. "It's to do with me, is it?"

The petite doctor stepped over to the man, the one who had thrown the pool ball at Jason, and gestured at him with the knife in her hand. "Tell me what," she said, her voice hard and cold.

The man gulped and looked at her, trying hard not to meet her gaze. "She said . . . she said she knew there was a . . ." he hunted for a word that wouldn't be offensive, "one of you lot, in this area. Described you, general-like, but good 'nuff that we could tell it was you."

Her face darkened, and Gabby shifted her grip on the knife. "You've been following me, then?"

"S'what I said, innit?" He licked his lips nervously. "Strange business follows you lot, why not let it do the work for us? Been followin' you f'weeks, never spotted a thing, you did."

Gabby raised her hand with the knife and hit him behind the ear with the haft of it. The man dropped like a stone. "Gentlemen," she said, looking at Jason and Kenji, "I think we should get out of here. But what to do with this lot?"

 

[Armphid]

Jason raised a hand and pointed at the one across the table from him, "I owe that one a set of broken limbs of his choice." He then nudged the fallen man with a foot, "And he's earned a lot worse for what he threatened you with, Doctor. I need to remove his ability to threaten anyone with that ever again."

He was almost mad at Kenji. Stopping the fight had meant he couldn't do any of those things without it being sheer cruelty. After all, the thugs had surrendered, their guards were down. It wouldn't be right now.

Damn it!

"But I don't think you'd like me to do that." He fixed the still standing thugs with a hard eyed glare, "You should thank the good Doctor and the gentleman. They saved your asses."

He gave them a vicious mile, "You tell that bird of yours that if she wants us, she can come and get us herself. My name is Jason Trigonoplos. You tell her that. And you stay the hell out of our way. If I ever see you again, if I hear your shadows even have crossed their paths," he nodded at his new companions of the moment, "I'll leave you broken."

Then he turned to the other two Scions and shrugged, before turning to walk out of the pub. The doc was right, they should get out of here. Someone was bound to have called the cops and he didn't want to bother with them tonight.

 

[Thunderus]

Kenji's facial expression remained stern and his piercing eyes fixed on the thugs, throughout the scene, even as his knife was pressed in the fallen man's throat. He merely nodded in acknowledgement, as one of them confirmed their suspicions, that indeed someone else was stalking them via this group of paid muscle. The plot thickened, as it would seem...

When they were done with their questioning, he stood up, took a napkin from a nearby table, wiped the knife's hold clean of any prints, did the same for Dr. Moya's knife and transfixing the thugs with his steely gaze one last time, he turned around and followed the two other Scions outside, pausing for a moment to pay the barman and wish him a good night.

"Let's move out, I do not wish for any of us to be caught up in any further dealings with those people".

As soon as they were outside, he gestured to his motorcycle that was parked nearby.

"I can give you a ride if you want, to any destination in London. We can go and investigate Rectory Square, in Stepney Green as we planned to, or you can come to my place to continue our planning session, that got interrupted by those guys back there. I need to say that, Jason, you are quite perceptive and a more than capable brawler. I don't think they stood a chance but sometimes it is good to avoid further entanglements in such situations when there's nothing more to gain from it. Miss Moya, you also demonstrated remarkable coolness and calm. I must say I'm glad that fate has brought me in the company of such Scions.

So, where to lady and gentleman?" he added with a smile

 

[HookerBoots]

Gabby tucked her hair behind her ears, studying the motorcycle. "Well, we were talking about heading to Rectory Square, I believe. And I'm not entirely certain your bike will hold all three of us." She smiled a little wryly. "Unless one of us can fly."

The street was almost empty, two men sitting on a bench down the street, smoking cigarettes and an older woman pulling a shopping trolley behind her. The streetlights were shining down, casting pools of golden light on the sidewalks.

With a sigh, Gabby shifted, putting a hand on one hip. "We'll have to see, I guess - close quarters on the bike at best. Shall we try it?" she asked Jason.

 

[Armphid]

Jason listened to Kenji and smirked, "You know, you make it hard to stay grouchy, K-man." The compliments were nice to hear; he wasn't used to them from authority figures and the Japanese man was still giving off that vibe for sure.

But there was no way all three of them were riding on that bike together, as Dr. Moya pointed out.

Should he tell them he could fly? He considered it a moment and then shrugged, "You two get cozy on the bike. Kenji, you owe me one for giving you personal time with the lovely doctor."

He started walking forward, "I'll see you guys at Rectory Square. Watch your asses; this lady after us may have more useful goons around that those toolboxes in there."

With that, he leaped up onto the street sign at the corner, balancing on the signs for the cross streets. Jason laughed, jumping again and doing a twisting flip just for fun as he did so, catching the edge of the roof of a five story office building across the way and flinging himself up onto it.

His feet hit the tarred and graveled roof and he broke into a run. The thrill of the urban escape, of parkour, rushed through him. He called out, not knowing if they could still hear him, "10 quid says I beat you there!"

 

[Thunderus]

He considered it a moment and then shrugged, "You two get cozy on the bike. Kenji, you owe me one for giving you personal time with the lovely doctor."

Kenji smiled, almost mischievously and nodded to Jason. He reached below the motorcycle's seat, in the storage compartment and procured his helmet. He handed it over to Gabriella.

"Put this on, Miss Moya. Your safety matters most. You'll see it's more than a simple bike helmet, so handle it with care", he added with a smile. The helmet itself was decorated with decals in japanese patterns, as if it was a kabuto, one of the vaunted helmets of medieval samurai armors, despite the fact that its design was quite advance and almost resembled - even vaguely - the ones used by mecha-pilots in various anime movies and novels.

Then, he got on the bike and extended his hand to Gabriella, in order to help her get on the motorcycle more easily.

His feet hit the tarred and graveled roof and he broke into a run. The thrill of the urban escape, of parkour, rushed through him. He called out, not knowing if they could still hear him, "10 quid says I beat you there!"

"You got it", he responded to the preternaturally agile Scion. Kenji looked behind for a moment, making sure Gabriella was comfortable on the bike. "Hold on tight, Miss Moya. Here we go". With that, he started the engine and accelerated. The motorcycle roared, as if it came to life, and after some spinning of its back wheel, thrusted forth, like a black arrow, in the streets of London, heading towards their destination.

 

[HookerBoots]

The feel of the ride as they sped through the narrow, twisty streets of London was heady. For the first few moments, Gabby felt fear like she hadn't felt since her visitation. After that, however, she relaxed a little, and started to realize why people liked motorcycles. It was like flying, but with a rumbling, roaring feeling and sound. And faster than she'd expected. The helmet she was wearing was odd, more like a prop from an anime than a safety helmet, but she thought it would keep her brain where it was supposed to be if Kenji lost control of the bike.

That didn't seem likely, however, and he seemed to know where they were going quite well. There were several points where she spotted, just for a second, a small figure leaping from rooftop to rooftop a block or two over, and knew without knowing how she knew that it was Jason. She'd had no idea about him, either - that urban escape stuff took agility and training. Maybe she should have suspected.

In a short while, the motorcycle stopped, almost swerving out to one side on the edge of what looked like an art installation, several realistic-looking statues of working people. Unusual, that. Normally, artists who did these kinds of things made them more abstract, something that wouldn't actually remind people of the plight of the poor. And stone wasn't a usual medium anymore, too prone to wear. But who knew what artists were up to anymore? It could be a statement about impermanence, or some such.

On shaky legs, Gabby got off the bike and lifted the helmet off her head, looking around the area. "So this is the place, eh? Well. I wonder where Jason is? I don't want to get ahead of him. Though it seems like he owes you 10 pounds."

 

[Thunderus]

Kenji got off his motorcycle, after turning the engine off and inhaled deeply, as if reinvigorated by the quick trip. He enjoyed speed, not much, but enough to like the sensation of air to his face, as he travelled in high velocity on his motorcycle. This time though, it was better. He had a passenger as well. And not just any passenger. He had lovely Miss Moya, a fellow Scion, who by whim of luck or design of fate had crossed paths with him, earlier today. The pound of her heart, as she leaned over his back, her gentle hands holding on to him for stability, during the trip....it was priceless.

Oh and arriving there before Jason, the other Scion he'd met earlier today. Even as he was concentrated in driving he could catch glimpses of him, at the corner of his eye, navigating the urban landscape like it was some sort field track to display his skills upon. The man was most certainly talented at that. A real pro at parkour. And from what he'd witnessed earlier today, he was confirming the "more than meets the eye" aphorism.

He turned and looked at Gabriella.

"I hope you enjoyed the ride, Miss Moya and that my driving skills did not cause you too much discomfort.

This seems like the place indeed. I agree though that we should wait for Jason. And not that I'm going to ask for the 10 pounds. As he very well put it, I owed him already for that brief time of enjoying your lovely company Miss, if you don't mind me being bold enough to state it. So I guess that I'll pass on collecting that bet and we'll call it even. Not that even a second of your company could ever be compared or calculated by mere pounds. Some things are priceless and beyond material calculations".

He then turned to check their surroundings, hoping that she would not be offended by his sincerety or perhaps by his overexplaining of some things.

 

[HookerBoots]

Gabby blushed lightly, though she wasn't sure it was visible in the dim lighting. "Thank you," she said softly. "It's always nice to hear that sort of thing, you know." Her lips curved in a small smile. "And your driving was fine. It's been a long, long time since I was on a motorcycle. Thank you for it."

She took a moment, as he was doing, and looked around the area. This place was strange, certainly. But she thought she could see the factory over there, maybe? It wasn't much more than just a hulking shape in the gloom right now, but the shape looked right, and there was the smokestack from the photo there as well. This place, a piece of stone, and small scales and teeth. How did it all fit together?

Having put the more analytical side of her mind to the puzzle - a puzzle to which she was certain they didn't have nearly enough pieces to finish - she turned to face the way they'd come, eyes searching the skyline for a figure approaching them. "Jason should be here soon, shouldn't he? We can't have gotten here that far ahead of him."

Scales and fangs meant snakes, but snakes in London . . . rare, at best. So something strange, and it had to do with stone. But what kind of stone? Was it a building the snakes were being kept in? Was the factory a front for some kind of illegal exotic animal trafficking? If so, why was it important enough for them to be involved? Something wasn't fitting here. She needed to see those vials again.

"Maybe we ought to try to get closer to the factory, or just look around a bit while we wait? I hate to get started without him, but I also hate to waste time."

 

[Armphid]

Jason couldn't help but smile as he traversed the old city rooftop to rooftop, street to street. He vaulted alleys with easy, short hops and bounded over busy streets in long, arcing jumps to barely catch himself with one hand on a ledge or flagpole and scurry up the building's side to the top. Several times he heard shouts and gasps below as people saw him, even heard them cry out or yell at him, asking him what he was doing, if he was mad, or just calling him a bloody loon.

It only made his smile wider, his teeth bright in the dark gloom of the ancient city's night. He laughed as he hurled himself over a particularly wide lane in a sideways, cartwheeling leap; his ringing laughter making all those walking on either side look up and stare at him in shock and wonder.

His feet hit the rooftop and he threw himself into a run again; God damn, did this feel good! He missed being able to do this with others though; not even his old crew would be able to keep up with him anymore.

Rectory Square was coming up, if he was remembering things right. Jason hopped to the side to kick off of an air conditioning vent and launch himself higher up to get a view. That was it! And fuck!

The motorcycle was already there. He'd lost the bet.

It wasn't that 10 pounds was a big deal; he just hated losing. And losing in front of a serious dish like Doctor Moya that Kenji was clearly also interested in stung even more.

Still, a bet was a bet and he wasn't about to be a sore loser.

As his foot hit the edge of the last rooftop, Jason gathered himself and jumped as high and far as he could. His figure was small against the oddly orange foggy night sky of London; light pollution making even this dark sky bright enough to see him against it. The building had been a good four stories tall and he'd made his leap from the top of it, catapulting himself a good five or sex stories more upward as he plummeted through the air and towards the ground.

He let out a sharp whistle as he sailed far over the heads of Kenji and Gabby, just in case either of them was twitchy enough to start shooting once he landed. He came down in the middle of a bunch of statues; spread out in some artistic fashion. He landed on his feet and sank into a three point crouch; but the impact from that high up and falling that fast should have cracked his legs and sent them spearing up into the rest of his body yet it seemed merely as if he had hopped off a ten foot or so high ladder.

Jason rose to his feet, "Nice moves, Kenji. You're the first to beat me on a dare like that." He rummaged in a pocket and pulled out a small folded roll of notes and tossed it in a high arc to the Japanese security specialist.

He looked around him at the statues, "And I thought lawn gnomes were weird." They looked like people; pretty much just ordinary, working class folks. Really like ordinary working class folks. "...This...this is a clue or something, isn't it? There's something strange about this."

He had a feeling; a tinging, nagging sensation that this was familiar. He should know what he was looking at. "Am I just freaking out or do you guys think so too? There's something about these statues."

 

[Thunderus]

Kenji nodded to Gabriella, content and relieved, that his compliments had not fallen on deaf ears and that he had not offended the lovely doctor with them. He looked around for a while, searching for Jason. When he was almost ready to give up and heed Miss Moya's suggestion of investigating the factory by themselves, until Jason would catch up with them, his ears caught a strange sound akin to a sharp whistle and he turned immediately, his hands flying to his weapons in the blink of an eye.

Barely restraining himself from erupting into action, his heart pulse returned to normal in a few seconds, as Jason literally landed in front of them.

Kenji smiled.

"You sure know how to impress and make a dramatic entrance Jason. I'll certainly give you that. Thank you, but I was merely exhibiting my driving skills. Nice moves I think would be literally more suited to yourself. You demonstrated an extraordinary capability of navigating the city maze in the most amazing of ways, my friend, if I may call you that as a token of trust for our common cause. As for the money, thank you, but I'll forgo collecting on the bet. I don't mean to offend you, not at all. I didn't beat you by myself first of all. I had my motorcycle to count upon. And besides - as you very well said yourself a bit earlier - I owe you already for giving me some more time to enjoy a bike trip with lovely Miss Moya. So, you keep your money and we'll call it even. Not that her company can be measured by material wealth, but you know what I mean.

It's good that you're here. We should proceed with the investigation of this place and I'm sure that your keen senses, displayed already once before tonight, will be of much help in discerning anything strange around here. And no, you're not freaking me at all. Come to think of it, those statues are indeed quite strange. Art is not supposed to be that realistic nowadays, is it?"

Kenji took a better look around, scanning their surroundings for anything out of place, then focusing on the factory in general and in the statues ahead of them in particular.

 

[HookerBoots]

Looking around at the statues, Gabby shivered a little. This place was creepy, very creepy. These stone people, all standing around immobile. It felt like being in a graveyard, or a museum after-hours. She felt out of place, and a little unwelcome, as though she was intruding on their privacy.

But she moved forward anyway, pulling a penlight out of her pocket and shining it against grey stone faces and hands. "Huh. This is strange." She looked back at the guys, both of whom were doing their own investigation. "I can't find any tool marks. These guys should have chisel marks, or something to tell us how they were made." She played the light over the side of one of them, and squinted. "And there's no seams where the molds met, either. Or signs of a seam being ground down."

Her eyes went away for a moment, as her mind started to add the information into what she already knew. There was something important about this, but she just needed to put it together. Maybe . . . maybe there was another piece that could help. She reached out, hesitantly, to touch the nearest statue.

 

[Armphid]

Jason shrugged at Kenji's comment, "I don't know much about art but these things just look too...natural, I guess." The wild looking scion moved through the statues, looking over them again. A lot of them had looks of surprise on their faces, as though something had startled them.

Doctor Moya was right; the statues looked like they hadn't been made at all. It was like they just were. He also might be seriously underestimating artists too but he had no idea how you'd get this level of detail; the statues had hair, not just a mass that was hair shaped, but actual hairs. The clothing was also incredibly real-looking with folds and creases, he just had no idea how you'd get that effect.

He rummaged in his satchel for a few moments as he looked at the statues and pulled out the vials with the piece of rock and the snake fangs. "These were from Rectory Square..."

A thought struck him and his face paled a bit, making his scars look all the more livid. "Holy fuck. Guys. What if they're not statues? I mean, what if they didn't start out as statues?" He licked his lips, "I don't about your myths but I can think of one where there was a monster that turned people to stone..."

 

[Thunderus]

Kenji looked closer to the almost lifelike status, admiring initially the expertise and talent of the artist who had sculpted them. The his eyes started examining them more closely, paying attention to each and every possibly observable detail. Knowing the usual procedure of creating such statues, he disturbingly discovered that no cast marks could be found on their surfaces and that the level of detail displayed on them was truly remarkable down to the tiniest details.

What was more disturbing, was the fact that one of the statues was missing a very small part. A curl of her hair to be more precise, a piece that looked eerily familiar. Taking a look to his right, Kenji confirmed his suspicions. He'd seen the missing part before tonight and he was seeing it again, in the small container that Jason, one of the two Scions he'd met earlier, had on his hand.

The talk about myths of monsters turning people into stone was familiar as well. And someone as fond of mythology as Kenji, could not but remember the myth of the Gorgon, Medusa, who according to Greek Mythology used to turn people who would look upon her directly, into stone. She was slain by the hero Perseus, who had faced her with gifts from the Gods and used his cunning to turn her powers upon herself, utilizing his polished-like-a-mirror shield, if memory served well.

"The myth of Medusa and Perseus correct? Now that is really disturbing, but still it's a bit soon to draw conclusions or definitive connections between them. Oh, Jason, if you don't mind, could I please see that fragment a bit closer? Or could you remove it from its container and bring it close to the hair of that lady statue? Seems as if it could be the missing curl of her hair or at least part of it. Miss Moya, can you see that? What do you think of it?"

 

[HookerBoots]

Gabby took her hand away from the statue she was touching - it was warm, but the day hadn't been sunny at all. And even if it had, it had been dark long enough it should have cooled by now. She walked over, peering at the end of the strand of hair. "It certainly looks broken off. And they look similar enough." A small smile played over her lips. "Of course, the only certain way to know is to take them both into a lab and use a microscope to match up the fracture lines as well as the . . ." she paused, then blushed. "Ah, sorry. Researcher mode, I guess. From what I can tell, they're the same."

Suddenly, her pocket lit up and vibrated. "Oh, hell." She dipped two fingers into her pocket and pulled out her phone, glancing at it before answering. "Hi, Marta. Yeah, no . . . I know, I stopped, and now I'm out with some friends I met." She sighed almost imperceptibly as the woman on the other end of the line spoke rapidly. "No, Mart. Everything's fine, we'll take care of it if anything needs taken care of. Yes, they're men. I know, I will. Right, I'll text when I . . . okay, I'll call when I get home."

She turned the phone off and stuck it back in her pocket, smiling apologetically at the others. "Sorry, she's kind of my . . . bodyguard, I guess? That's how dad introduced her to me, at least." Gabby turned her attention to the statues, then looked at the looming bilk of the factory. "If it is Medusa - or a gorgon - we have to do something." She bit her lower lip. "I don't know if we'll be in over our heads, though."

 

[Armphid]

Jason had wordlessly handed over both vials to Kenji at the Japanese man's asking. He and Doctor Moya examined the statue and within moments it seemed that all of them had come to the same conclusion.

Medusa. But she was dead, right? Could monsters come back to life? He had never asked June about it. Maybe he should right now. As Doctor Moya got a call on her phone, he strongly considered it. June was like them but she'd been doing this for a while. She was more powerful than him personally, though her talents were in different areas than his. Maybe he needed her help...

...Fuck that.

She wasn't there to help him. She was there to keep an eye on him and give him the jobs she didn't want to do. If she was there to help him, she wouldn't just appear, dump crap on him, and then vanish again. She wasn't there to help him. She was there for Hera's amusement, just like him.

Jason lifted a hand and traced one of the scars that went down his face in an unconscious gesture as he turned to look at the looming shape of the building that dominated the square. Then he took a long look around at the statues. "They were in over their heads. I don't know if we can turn them back or not...but I'm going in to find out."

The American glanced back at the others, "If your bodyguard is up to our level, you might want to call her in, Doc. This could get ugly. I'm going to see if I can get a better view of things in there; sneak around a little, look in some windows. Assuming everything goes all right, I'll circle back here and we can put our heads together. Sound like a plan?"

 

[Thunderus]

Kenji observed the statues again, listening to the comments from Jason and Dr. Moya. When her cell phone rang, he waited, keeping silent, until she'd finished her call. He smiled and nodded, after Jason finished talking.

"Since it seems that it's her duty to protect you, and trust me, my ancient heritage is full of such stories, in medieval Japan and further before - might be a good idea to see if she could get here fast enough to help us and fullfill her own duties of keeping an eye out of you, in the process. It could make her feel better as far as your father and the duty he appointed her for, is considered. Besides, if she's even half as pretty as you, we may get to see another beauty, before any mythical creature attempts to petrify us", he added with a slight grin, in an attempt to lighten somewhat the mood of his companions, considering the severity of the situation they were facing, if their assumptions were correct.

He looked around once more, thinking of Jason's suggestion as well.

"We could do that as well. You could scout around and alert us if you spot anything of interest. And....well if it comes to it and we end up biting something we can't easily chew, I could call on some help from a lifelong spirit companion I was gifted with, upon my visitation. I don't know how helpful it might be, but I think Seiryu will hold his own versus quite a few things that would do us harm".

 

[HookerBoots]

Sighing, Gabby nodded reluctantly and pulled her phone back out. "I suppose you're right. She's just . . . a little overbearing, but she is good in a fight." Her fingers flew over the phone, typing quickly. "Here, I'll text her." She sent the message and locked her phone, tucking it away. "She should be able to be here in about ten minutes - our building isn't too far from here."

Her eyes traveled over the area. There weren't many businesses in the area, and even fewer that were still open as the evening wore on. They'd be conspicuous if they just stood around. "There are a few benches over there," she said, pointing. "Jason, if you wouldn't mind taking a look around, Kenji and I can sit there and wait for you - or Marta - to get us."

The pretty doctor made a face. "I hate sending someone off alone, but . . . I have no doubt you're better at stealth than I am."