2018.09.11: Cockroach Corner

Albany Heists, Part 1
A group hired by Pax travels to Albany, New York to recover rare Occult books for a client.
IC Date	Friday, September 28th, 2018
IC Time	11:00 pm EST.
Players	Pax, Helen, Aubrey, Estrella, Wesley, Ava
Location	Albany, New York
Spheres	Legio Umbris

---

What a random assortment of people! Most of whom don't seem to know each other beyond the simple instructions of 'Doing a job for Pax'. It's a fun time. After a lengthy airplane trip to New York, hotel rooms were acquired for each person in the group, and everyone was allowed a bit of down time to rest. Pax didn't come, he had some business to attend to, so that just leaves the assembled! Helen has, apparently, been in charge of expenses for this trip. Or at least, the included expenses. Travel, lodging, food if anyone needs it. Pax seems to have set her up with some funds for that. That being said, the job is simple: In Albany there are three rare, esoteric books. They're all the same copy of the same text, all with additional notes by the author, and they're all being held by members of that author's former Cult. The Cult, Pax has informed, is named the 'Cult of the Weeping Eye'. Not much is known otherwise, however he did include a list of targets, and instructions. They read as follows, in the order they're supposedly supposed to be retrieved:

Ellend McNab - 1702 Hudson Avenue. Book is locked in a case in the library. Obtain the book, and leave.

Sarah Alswell - 702 Daytona Avenue. Unable to locate the book. Small home. Obtain it, and leave. Disposable if necessary, seemed estranged.

Lee Fillmore - Alexa Lane. Book is being held in the basement, with a large library. Home is outside the city. Dispose of this one if necessary, and ship all of the books back from the library. ALL of them. (Please)

And that's where we find everyone, after dark, holed up in a hotel room with a map and instructions laid out on the sizeable table therein. Seems he's designated a suite for Helen, specifically for planning this shit. Each of the three people have their own picture, as well as papers detailing their address, an image of the house, where the book is thought to be held, and everything else Pax was able to dig up on them. Which isn't much outside of the mundane stuff, to be honest. No one was really put in charge, outside of some private instructions perhaps, so he seems confident everyone can figure out how to pick all of these books up before their flight leaves the next morning.

Where are Wes' smokes why they are safely tucked in to the band of Aubrey's hat and there they remain. It is not her fault he can't remember where he left his things. Instead she just looks at the other people gathered and waits for the shoe to drop there are always shoes in adventures like this. look aub

Wes sighs as he fails his perception check and doesn't notice his smokes safely tucked up in Aubrey's hat. "Fuck it," he mutters. "Gonna go flatline anyway." He makes his way to lie down on one of the couches. Is he narcoleptic? Whatever he is, a few deep breaths inhaled/exhaled and then BAM, he goes dead/flatline. Or close enough to it for the casual observer. To those with deadsight? He rises up off the couch in ghost-form, leaving his meat suit behind.

It's a sizeable hotel suite. Not the penthouse, exactly, but just beneath that. Almost on the top floor, a large area has been converted to accomodate what must be some pretty epic parties. There's a balcony overlooking Albany here, a sizeable king sized bed resting in the middle of the room, and a kitchen suite attached to the side. The bathroom is large, with a large water jet bath and a double vanity. Clearly, Pax paid quite a bit for this place. A large TV is on the wall, the color scheme of the room is a cream white, and a large table takes up the spot between the bed and the TV. Clearly, it doesn't come standard, but the hotel seemed willing to make accomodations. The mini fridge isn't free, though.

Ava is here sitting on the bed cleaning a handgun which is currently in piece on towel in front of her... "Jesus!" She exclaims and she points the half assembled gun (little more than a trigger stock) at Wesley's ghost. Ava is seemingly able to track him around the room and her Spirit Sight grants a very accurate path for the gun. "You wanna warn a room before you pull some poltergiest shit like that..." And she's back to cleaning her gun and sending furitive glances at the rest of her 'team.'

<WRAITH> Wes, now in projected spectral form, smirks in Ava's direction, "I said I was flatlining, didn't I?" He then looks around the room, "Everyone who can hear/see me, raise your hand, will ya? If not everyone can, I'll slip across slightly to make comms easier."

"Sorrysorrysorry! Uhm---" Estrella looks up from her spot on the floor, eyes wide but immediately softening as she, quite thankfully, finds Ava's gun pointed, well, *not* at her. "Oh... Not me. Okay." She's been there the whole time, but quiet and contained as she's been, its been perhaps unnervingly easy to pass her off as 'that weird girl in the corner,' but not any longer. She does her best to figure out what Ava's pointing that thing at, but simply turns back to rifling through her backpack idly, making sure everything she needs is present.

Aubrey waves a hand middle finger extended to Wes before lowering to pull out his cigarettes and light one for herself. The pack is then tucked away again as she enhales and offers the man on the otherside a smiles. The gun cleaning holds her attention for the most part and seems to leave her with a wistful smile. "I'm Aubrey." she says simply just in case Wes didn't bother to tell them about her.

Ava doesn't raise her hand she just puts her gun parts back together with a moody clip and a snap so she can raise the barrel of the gun and eyeball Wesley.

Estrella's panic gets a double look and then she explains, "Apparently, flatlining means he's going ghost on his body..." She nods to Estrella, "The gun on the coach is astral projecting or something, his spirit is outside his body and he wants to know if anyone else can see him."

Ava notes Aubrey's reaction and then while the other of figuring that out she gets up to retrieve a Hello Kitty duffle bag from the batheroom. Ava brings her bag back to the bed and opens it to expose various automatic rifles, hand guns, grenades, flash bombs, tazers... all the things. She also pulls out a purple towel and drapes it over neck with a little laugh, saying to the room, "Ninth floor, guns, explosives and house wares."

	 Helen is ready to burglar the fuck out of some things as she is dressed for a smash and grab. "Who are the best drivers?", she asks while dropping a couple set of van keys in a crystal ash tray. "It appears that we have three houses to rob. I do not know how many books Lee Fillmore has. So we might need all three vans for his house. We could all ride in one van. But if things get bad everyone would be stuck together. I don't know how you guys want to do this. Smash and grab or try to be sneaky?", Helen states while pushing some maps on the tables so people could get an aerial view of the destinations. She really doesn't address anyone specifically as she looks upon the various members. - She couldn't see ghosts as Wesley did his thing. "Perhaps we leave one van at each house to pre-stage and as we go to each destination. That way we have a backup in case things go wrong. I can't drive a car - legally.", Helen explains while looking to the others. She wears a nametape that says, 'Hel' on it.

The images spread across the table have been lined up in order. The first one, Ellend McNab, has a picture of an older, balding man. The home in question is unmistakeably old, and wouldn't be out of place in some sort of horror movie. An old wrought iron fence, the home itself is done in a wood and plaster style popular years ago for being 'rustic'. It has large windows, a sizeable yard (For Albany), and a gray BMW parked on the street outside. The second, Sarah Alswell, appears to be one of those mass produced upper lower and lower middle class houses built some years ago. Likely three or four bedroom, a built-in carport, and two doors on the front with supposedly one in the back. The image is of a middle-aged black-haired woman. The last is simply an image of the front of a drive labeled 'Alexa Lane', however there's a large, locked gate blocking the drive, and a roughly twelve foot tall wall that seems to disappear into a fairly thick treeline. The house isn't even visible from the image, and the image of the person in question is simply that of an old man, blurred, and hard to make out.

The phantasm formerly known as Wes-Alive grumbles and then wills himself across the Shroud. He'll vanish from deadsight, manifesting on THIS side as a flat two dimensional shadow, vaguely humanoid in outline. But at least this way? He can be heard and seen by everybody. If they're paying attention. "Fine, fine, fine. Better?" His voice is hollow, echo-y, otherworldly. Tres unwholesome. But at least now he can be heard. (And work his mojo on this side of things!) "No splitting the party." A grumble. "Ain't you seen horror flicks?"

Estrella blinks up at Ava. The words take a moment to register, but she flashes a bright smile and sticks her hand into her pack to produce a silver handmirror with a deep patina. "Oh! Thanks... Alright, just..." She purses her lips and gazes into the mirror. In a moment, she gasps and her eyes flutter back into her skull. Her eyes narrow as peers into the room. Another flash of a smile crosses her lips. She waves at Wesley's projection with her mirror and then pouts as he materializes anyway. No matter! "Yeah, that's better I guess." She turns to Helen, "Oh I--- Hi by the way!-- I can drive, but not very well. Sneaky I'm good at I guess, as ironic as that might seem," She raises her fingers and flutters them back and forth, hand cloaked in a pulse of green flame. "Smashing is... noisy."

Aubrey looks at the pictures and lingers on the last set the ones of the gate and old man. She has her traveling bag with her but no obvious weapons. She offers the shadow man the lit cigarette before asking, "Am I suppose to go with or just sit around watching your meat suit, Wes?"

"Part of me is considering staying in the hotel room and investigating the inside of the tub with a bottle of bubbly and maybe a cheeseburger..." Ava gesture back toward the bathroom as she starts to apply guns to her person in various places. A hidden ankle holster, one inside her jacket, the strap of an automatic rifles goes right over head... she just keeps adding gun. "I can watch the meat suit."

Wes-Shadow grumbles as Aubrey teases him with the cigarette. "Eh, dealer's choice." A pause. "I can get into places, obvs." Pause. "And can help smash in a pinch." Pause. "But we're effectively down a body when I'm like this." Down a body. Did he just deadpan a funny? Too bad the shadow's voice is at loud whisper volume and not everybody may have caught it.

	 Helen looks to Aubrey and Wes. "Aye, no splitting up says the spooky voice. Don't do that shit in public.", as Helen picks up the landline phone and walks the hell away from Estrella so the thing just might work. "Act normal for a second y'all.", Helen speaks while covering up the receiver with her hand. "Hello, room service? Yes, I was wondering if you had a wheel chair. My grandpa forgot his at the airport. - Oh, you do. They can deliver one? - Excellent. Thank you.", Helen says finishing the call. As they would soon have a wheelchair to push his body around. Taking off her large sunglasses she puts them on Wesley's face so no one could see him as he was. "He can go with us and fit in a van now."

Wes-Shadow eyes Hel. Not that it'd be obvious. 'caus elike. No eyes! But. The the spectral voice: "Th' fuck." Pause. "Weekend at Bernies meets Doom Patrol."

Estrella stiffens, lips pursing tightly, and nods slowly as Helen issues that directive. Normal is hard. Better to just shut up. She exhales as the call ends and starts breathing again, "Ah... okay. Well if that's taken care of, I guess we should..." She glances around the room, "Ah god... I'm gonna die..." Its a mutter under her breath, face turned again to the contents of her pack. "Alright, so... if we're ready, I suggest we start with..." She rises to her knees and smooths out her skirts before reaching out to take stock of the information provided on their targets. "Wait... uhhhm!" She points excitedly to the blurred image that, one would assume, is the target on Alexa Lane. "That's not... I don't think that's just a glitch, ya'll. Anyone else seen anything like this before?"

It's only a few minutes before there's a knock at the door, they're in a suite after all, and someone from room service seems to have dropped off a wheelchair and left. They didn't even intrude, allowing the occupants to retrieve the thing at their leisure. It's a newer model, so Wes' body might not be completely uncomfortable when it's just limp in that thing.

Aubrey rummages in her pack and pulls out what looks like a bowie knife then tucks it in to a sheath in her right boot. The pack is then put on her back and cinched in to place. A look is given the the blurred image in the picture but nothing is said. Once the chair has been left Aubrey goes to pick up Wes' body to deposit in the wheelchair.

Wes-Shadow slides on over across the floor towards Estrella, like a Symbiote looking for a host. CREEPY! (watching it move, disconnected shadows and such!) "Who're these guys again?" Pause. "The Pink Eye Gang or some such?" He'd turn his nonexistent eyes onto Estrella's. DId she catch magical pink eye?! Once she's locked and loaded Ava throws a long black coat over her arsenal to better hide it. She sits down on the end of the bed and waits for everyone else to figure out their gameplan for the evening. Aside from seeing ghosts and having guns she doesn't mention or display any other apparent skillsets. While waiting she puts her hair up in a bun and flicks her eyes between each of the people in the room with... including the shadow and his meat suit.

	 After placing the sunglasses on Wes's face, Helen heads to the door to fetch the recently delivered wheelchair; pushing it to Wesley's body to load him up. "Would you mind escorting him?", Helen asks Aubrey. Picking up a pair of van keys she looks to the various drivers. Estrella would likely blow up the engine. Wesley can't drive. It would either be Ava with her guns or Aubrey pushing the chair. "Should I just drive?", clutching the keys in her hand while offering it to any. "We only have a night to do this. Let the lord be with us."

Estrella watches Wes' approach with purses lips and an unamused stare, "Dude, focus. We're getting paid for this." She shakes her head and holds up the blurred image, "Seriously, just take it from me: This guy could be very, very bad news. We're gonna need..." Her head turns to Ava, "You, I guess? With the guns? Good to have you on board-- but fucking *pray* you can land a shot if we get caught." Then its back to the others as she zips up her pack and stands, slinging it over one shoulder. "Maybe we should start with him? I like getting the hard stuff out of the way first, you know?"

Aubrey pats the meat suit on the head before putting a throw over his lap and adjusting the sun glasses. She doesn't seem to have an issue being his baby sitter. "What ever you ladies like, it's your show after all." page estrella = Not directly. It's kinda understood you can ask for something though. He generally works on favors :P You paged Estrella with ‘Not directly. It's kinda understood you can ask for something though. He generally works on favors :P’

Wes-Shadow sepulchral voices. "Let's go nab McNab's book." Pause. "Just wash hands after." Pause. "No touching eyes, nose, mouth." Riiiight. "Redshirts, mini-bosses, bosses." Aha! Video game logic from the shadow-man-ghost thing with a severe case of arrested development, given the comic book and video game references. He did say he needed a cigarette earlier to finish leveling out after the coke and booze! page ...And it's kinda obvious at this point he has money, or at least access to money.

"I can drive but I'd rather keep an eye on our six." Ava explains as she moves to follow everyone else out and watches the end of the procession from the back of the gathering.

Aubrey shrugs lightly, "I never learned to drive but if you need a getaway driver I can arrange one to take us where you need to go with no questions asked."

	 Helen is quick to check the hallways as she calls the elevator to the floor they were on. Hitting the button to the garage she held the elevator doors open for the team. "Aye, then you will guard the rear Ava.", as Helen whistled for the team to gather in the elevator to head to the garage. That way they could grab some books. "I'll just fucking drive.", she replies with a nod. "Ella. Hold your breath or whatever you do. Don't let us crash into the lobby.", the young woman trying to manage things unexpectedly but rolling with the punches.

Wes-Shadow whispers, "If we crash, go limp." Did he just make another funny? 'cause mister dead meat suit? Limp his body can do.

Aubrey gets the wheelchair in the elevator and stands with it infront of her. Wes is just being ignored as she is pretending to be normal. A peice of gum is stuck between her lips and the pack polietly offered to the others.

Estrella nods to Helen as she throws up that improbable indescriptness, glancing furtively about the halls as they move to the lobby and out to the vehicle. Lights flicker above her, hotel doors intermittently jiggle against their handles as she passes. "Yeah, Hel, don't worry. I usually don't like *kill* anything-- tech I mean. I'll just... stay calm." Unlikely. "Oh!" She eyes the gum, "... No thanks."

---

It's only a short drive away, really. McNab appears to live on Hudson Avenue, a fairly popular spot for both tourists and locals in the city. On a weekend especially, the foot and vehicle traffic is somewhat heavy. That's why it's likely somewhat odd that, for whatever reason, the side of the block with the large hom in question is generally empty. People cross the crosswalk at the end of the block specifically not to walk by this house. The structure is older, built of brick and wood and plaster, and has a somewhat imposing stature about it. The BMW in the image isn't here, and all the lights of the home appear to be off tonight. The house sits still, silent, and somewhat ominous in the night. That ebing said, it'd probably be easy to pull the van up right in front of the thing, if it wasn't for the fact that Helen seems to drive by it at least three times. With as large as the house is, you'd think it wouldn't be this hard! Eventually, Wes' just pulls out the map, and instead of relying solely on visual cues the group manages to track the thing down by simple narrowing down alone. This the building across from it? Cool, then it must be... Right on the other side of the street!

Wes-Shadow whispers. Luckily? The van is a confiend enclosed space. "Alright, chums,let's do this." Waitaminnit. Is this fucker about to go all Leeroy Jenkins? He would't dare!

	 Parking the van somewhat illegally, Helen turns around to the crew. "Aye, so this fuck just sleeps the entire mission and he get's paid the same amount?", she asks curiously about Wesley as she idles the engine. "This shit ain't fair.", smacking the body on the chest as she tries to peer out the van windows at the house. "People avoid this place on purpose. It looks very dead. Anyone want to tackle house. Instructions say the book is in a library. Fetch it and leave. What floor is the library?", Hel asks seeing if one of the brains new.

Aubrey settles in to her seat and looks for an ashtray then seems to think of something. "You don't mind if I smoke do you?" She looks far from ready to get out of the vehicle in fact she has pulled out a harlequin romance. "If I can be of help just yell, it's all going on Wes' bill when we get back home." "I can look inside the house from out here, hang on, let me get an idea of the floor plan.." Ava doesn't explain more than that but she shuts her eyes and holds up her hands as if feeling an invisible wall.

Wes-Shadow whispers, "I can get in, and then go hard to unlock." Pause. "But once I'm hard, I'm hard." Pause. "For the duration." The fuck? Did he deadpan another funny? Is the shadow-ghost on some sort of spectral Viagara?!

As Ava turns on her extrasensory perceptions, her mind is teleported across the fence and into the house itself, revealing a fairly opulent setting. Everything is hazy, and details are hard to make out for the woman, but she can tell there are two floors. After a strained search, the weight of some form of magic pressing against her mind to try and psuh her out of the property, she's able to determine that the bottom floor appears to be most entertaining and living spaces. The kitchen, the living room, the dining room, the formal dining room, the walk in pantry... There's a sizeable yard out back as well, but none of that contains the target. No, the target must be on the second floor. A shift of perception gives that impression. There's four bedrooms on the second floor, up a spiral staircase and spanning a U shaped hallway. The bedrooms are opulent, the masters even moreso, with an on suite about the size of the one at the hotel. But the true prize, at the end of the hall on the second floor, is a decently sized library.

Ava's eyes snap open sharply and she speaks quickly, "Something.. someONE... was trying to keep me out but I got a general idea..." She dips a hand into her pocket and pulls out a sharpie. Without missing a beat she reaches over to grab Wes' torso. She pulls him waaay far forward to expose his back. His back is where she starts to jot down a quick floorplan as she speaks, "The bottom floor has a kitchen, living room, all the usual house stuff... but our target is on the second floor in one of these four bedrooms." She continues to draw and seems to be making a rudimentary shape as she goes. "These bedrooms are up a spiral staircase. So its going to bottleneck us..." The shape on Wesley is starting to look very phallic in design... she adds some short dashes to the shaft she made to represent the spiral staircase. "Library is here." Adding a circle to the end of the hallway shaft.

Its dark in the van. So no one can she Wes-Shadow's reaction, if any, to the sharpie hijinks. Still, hats off to Ava. It was a classic move. "Heh," comes the dark, sepulchral chuckles from the darkness.

	 Helen listens to them and looks both ways before opening her driver's side door and hopping out of the van and landing in the street. "Can you try and sneak around the back and get to the second floor by climbing through a window? I'll try and buy you some time." She lights up a cigarette and begins walking across the street as Helen tries to find the best angle to approach. Walking up to the house the girl knocks on the door and rings the doorbell. She doesn't look back at the van as she continues knocking on the door. Causing a distraction and seeing if anyone was home. "Hey-o. Hello?", thumping louder on the front door to the building.

Aubrey watches the drawing session and gives a thumbs up. She yawns and idly licks at a fang as she looks at the comatose body of Wesley. "Dear god tell me you drew on him in permanant marker." is said to Ava. Since Helen did not respond she tucks her own unlit cigarette behind her ear and settles back to read while they go rob the place.

"I /can/ walk through fucking walls," Wes-Shadow mutters.

"Oh yeah?" Estrella perks and looks to Wesley, suddenly less dour and self-contained. "Maybe this won't be so hard, then. You wanna just float in there and grab it? You look pretty sneaky all shadowy like that."

There's a palpable sense of dread that fills Helen to her very core just as soon as she crosses the gate of the property. It sinks in fairly deep, and briefly makes her consider turning around immediately, but she /just/ manages to power through it on her approach to the front door. Upon her knock, there isn't any sort of response. The house continues to sit silently, the only sounds here that of the city around them, however even those are a bit muted. No one seems to look in the direction of the house, either.

Ava is in assault mode and she's got a police-like demeanor as she takes out her handgun and carries low and to the side. She keeps her eyes moving as everyone else chats, "Let's move around back." This to Estrella and possibly Wesley, "You two stay in front of me and I'll give us some cover." As she moves Ava has a habit keeping her eyes and head turning and searching, watching the house and their rear with equal effort. Ava adds to Aubrey, "Of course it is..." With a silent chuckle.

Wes-Shadow does as directed, and heads for the house. He can either phase through the door/wall and open it for the others, or stay phased and pass through barriers until he finds the damned book. "Am I letting us in, or solo-ing," Wes-Shadow whispers.

Estrella nods to Ava and steadies her feet with a breath. "Alright, I can do that. Let's go." And she follows behind, doing her best to be indescript. "Let us in. Just be sure to check of security systems first, yeah? You could open that door from the inside at still set off an alarm."

Wes-Shadow would roll eyes, if he had them. "I DID used to be a fucking cop," he mutters.

Abrey makes a happy sounding sigh as she lights up. The bodice ripper romance is openned up and she begins to read. An eye is kept on the street incase the owner of the house shows up or anyone else. She talks to the Wes suit as she reads, "You know you could have gotten the same level of protection if you had them take you to a home depot."

"That explains sooo fuckin' much." Ava mutters as she retains the same demeanor and moves in with the other two, "If you can't pick up the book in that form, maybe we should be let in... let me see if I can't break in from the outside." She's casing the windows and entryways with a studious gaze.

	 Helen keeps on knocking as no one answers. She will try the front door to see if its unlocked. If locked she will join the group rounding the side to try and get through a second floor window and access to the library from the back of the house.

Wes-Shadow is THIS > < close to going Leeroy Jenkins on the op. "Am I going in?" He sounds impatient. Or impertinent. Or both!

Wes-Shadow shifts from shadow back to ghost (visible only to the deadsighted) and then his ghostly form shimmers as he wills himself intangible. Kitty Pryde, eat your heart out! Aubrey is his Colossus, obvs. He phases through the door and reconoiters. PAX - tell the man what he's won! Or sees!

Ava remains outside the wall where Wesley phased through and she keeps her guard up as she continues to watch for subtle shifts in the house and landscape. Ava whispers for Estrella's sake, "He's inside."

Aubrey looks up from her book and glances around before returning to the soft core porn Harlequin is renown for. She has cracked a window to let out the smoke and tap her ashes on to the gorund. She is at least a civilized rv guest. "I really should have charged you by the hour Wesley."

	 Helen just begins scaling the building like a thief. Using any kind of vertical structure to climb as she aims for the second floor library. The woman was dressed in all black but her shoes as she pulls herself up to look inside and see if she spotted any lone books in a case by themselves through the window.

Estrella nods to Ava, "Thanks." She returns the whisper, then crouches down by the door and begins sifting through her backpack, "So... we just wait until the pork lets us in, right?" She brandishes a lockpick, "I mean, you know, if you think we can trust him." She watches Helen clamber up the side of the building with a twinkle in her eye. "Or... that... yeah."

The inside of the house is opulent, in the way Harry Potter houses are opulent. Highbacked chairs, long rugs in the entry hall, a fireplace in the sitting room, everything! The house itself is eerily quiet, with no lights emanating from anywhere, except for the key pad attached to the wall next to the door that has the word <ARMED> flashing across it in big, blocky green letters. The doors all appear to be locked, as are the windows, and presumably, Wes' discovers, connected to a security system of some sort. The window Helen finds looks into a fairly large library, the door to the room itself closed, and sitting against the back wall furthest from the windows is a glass case with a single, old looking book sitting in it.

	 "I see the book.", Helen says whispering down to Ava and Ella while giving a mild thumbs up to them. Meanwwhile cursing Pax beneath her breath. The cigarette slowly smoked as she looked from her perch by the windowsill.

Ava keeps her gun in her right hand and throws a thumbs up at Helen's whisper with her left. She lingers in the same manner while they wait for a door or window to open.. something.

Estrella sets herself down onto her knees and fumbles through her backpack to get out that mirror again. She stares into it, arranging her hair before her eyes flutter again. She swallows the gasp this time, though, and shakes the daze from her head before peering around the premises with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. "...Fuck." She mutters, then glances up to Helen to return the gesture, "Great! What's it look like?" She cups her hands over her mouth to project the whisper, "Because this guy has wards set up all over this place. Probably on the book too--- if it's really important enough to send us all across country for it, I mean."

Wes-Projected phases back outside. "There's security. The house is wired. I say I manifest, grab the book, toss it out the window, then we all amscray?" Audible only to those with deadsight, and such.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this..." Ava mutters softly with a concerned expression after Estrella mentions the wards.

Estrella nods to Ava and whispers, "Yeah right? Glad it's not me inside."

Wes-Projected frowns, then slips back inside to try and figure out how to shut down the security system. He has Police Procedure, Investigation, Intuition. Mina pages: Plus I've felt so blah lately. Weather changes most likely.

Wes-Projected phases back outside. "We set off the alarm, we got five, maybe ten minutes max 'fore police arrive."

"Great!" Estrella continues to whisper through cupped hands, "That's plenty of time. Just toss it out here and jump."

It takes a little while, as a mundane alarm system seems to be holding up the supernatural A Team! But at least people don't seem to notice that there's random people walking around the yard. The wards seem to be working against themselves in that regard. After some thought, and a bit of searching, Wes manages to find nothing really related to the key code aside from three slightly worn numbers on the pad itself. Estrella, on the other hand, manages to find a breaker box hidden in the bushes behind the AC unit. All it takes is a bit of finesse and some extremely good timing of switches, and the keypad in the house suddenly goes dark.

Estrella poses, "Ta-da!" And then immediately brings a finger to her lips to keep herself from giggling before she returns to her pack by the back door. page Watcha up to?

Wes panics and starts shooting the place up! But his gun fires plasm bullets, so luckily, nothing happens. Not really.

Ava suddenly ducks as she hears the sound of gunshots and then she stands up slowly cursing about ghost cops.

Having no idea about the difficulty being over come in the theft of the book Aubrey continues to read. The occasional glnace is given to the street looking both directions before looking back at the book. A flask is pulled from her bag and a long drink of the contents taken. Having used the comatose Wesley as a cigarette holder while she drank her cigarette is plucked from his lips.

	 As soon as the power goes out, Helen elbows the window as hard as she can. Breaking glass and hopping inside to get into the library. They were running out of time perhaps as she bee-lines for the display case holding the sacred looking book. With a grunt, Helen attempts to drag or slide the case as she wobbles it towards the window and locks her knees. She would attempt to push the entire display case out the window and let it topple to the ground below and shatter. She didn't know what wards were or how to deal with so. So fuck touching the book, she will just use other things to carry it. "Watch out below.", she calls out after 

The case itself isn't /too/ heavy, and Helen seem strong enough to wiggle it. Thankfully, the alarm doesn't go off when the window is broken. In fact, nothing really seems to happen once she's actually inside the house. That feeling of 'dread' simply falls away, and everything feels normal again. That case is tossed out of the window, and thought the glass itself doesn't shatter (strangely), the casing around it breaks apart into tons of pieces on the ground. page estrella = Nope!

Ava jumps out of the way, taking several swift footed steps backwards as she watches the whole display case come clattering to the earth below. Her eyes jump instinctually back to the house as she expect a reaction from the owner inside. She levels her gun and points it at the house, "Time to move. Someone grab the book.."

<WRAITH> "Aw, man. Miracle Pax ain't gonn abe happy if the book gets ruined. AUBREY! START THE CAR!" Wes packs it in and heads for the getaway vehicle. page You guys have literally been afraid of an alarm system, an empty house, and wards that make you feel 'A sense of dread' for like an hour >.> You paged Estrella with ‘You guys have literally been afraid of an alarm system, an empty house, and wards that make you feel 'A sense of dread' for like an hour

Estrella looks up just in time to see that display case hurtling towards the ground. She reflexively raises her arms above her head shield her, her aura flicker with a pulse of green flames, and trembles for a moment before collecting herself and remembering her breath. "Huh.." She purses her lips. "Magic glass but... otherwise it looks clean. Let's get the fuck out of here maybe?" And with that, she swings her backpack up back onto her shoulders and starts making her way around the house back towards the van.

	 Getting the fuck out of the house, Helen carefully jumps from a safe spot to the yard. No one else is grabbing the book. So she takes off her amish hat and uses wood pieces to kick the book into the hat like a container. She also attempts to take the glass pieces. Maybe they were valuable or could be studied for use.

ooc Go for it! I'm working on setting the next one in the mean time.

Aubrey waits for Wes to get back in his body before replying to his shout. I do not know how to drive." Which is of course the reason why the RV has not been started. "Also i've been drinking." Which is really not a valid excuse when one is a vampire.

Estrella scrawls a simple mandala on the floor of the van, sits cross-legged before it, places the book in its center and starts to pour through it. She wrinkles her nose after a few minutes and shrugs, "This thing is so mundane I feel like it might be a fake. Its not as old or fragile as it seems. Anyone speak Latin?"

When she lands in her seat Ava spins around and watches out the back window with her gun leveled at the house until they can't see it anymore... she's watching for anything on all planes of existence.

---

Book one has been obtained! (Finally) As the party speeds off in their conveniently placed getaway van, they notice absolutely nothing happening behind them. Seems the wards were simply there to deter intruders, not to actually /harm/ or /stop/ them. Great! The book itself in fairly unassuming, but it does look a bit old, and might be best kept in one spot for the trip. Next stop: 702 Daytona Avenue! The neighborhood the group finds themselves in is mostly lower class. This area has clearly seen better times! Most of the houses are fairly run down, there's trash on the side of the street, and potholes litter this area. The house in question is much easier to find than the last one! It's just a run-down old structure, one story, with three bedrooms max and a beat up old Toyota sitting in the driveway. There's no lights on, and a few window units are running in some of the windows, but otherwise everything seems silent here. The RV doesn't stick out too much, really.

"I speak Latin." Aubrey offers when the question is asked.

Estrella closes the book and holds it out to Aubrey, "Then read this and tell me its not gibberish, if you would?"

Aubrey takes the book gingerly as books have power and she likes her current state of undeath. She reads a little then thumbs through pages before handing it back. "Well it won't raise the dead or call up Cthulha but to the right magic user it could be a great help."

Estrella nods and flashes a thumbs up to Aubrey, "Thanks," Then shrugs and sets the book some place nice and safe before rising to a stoop in the back of the van and dusting her hands off. "Alright... Oh hey! This place is homey!" It doesn't seem to be an ironic sentiment. "Nice, right Helen?" Her eyes offer a hopeful glance, and then start looking over the premises as she slips out to sit on the bumper. "I guess I'll just..." And she goes for that mirror again.

	 Helen shakes her head while she drives them to the next location. Slipping a crowbar up the sleeve of her hoodie she tries to stay on the road as they neared. Of course pot holes and curbs are barely clipped as she wasn't the best driver. "Let me guess. You two will stay here?", Helen asks while looking over Wesley and Aubrey, already knowing the answer. "Ava, Ella. Let's just search this place high and low. Pax doesn't know where the book is so it might be hidden. I'm going to try the front door again.", as the woman steps out of the van and lighting another cigarette before jaywalking across the street towards the destination. -Knock knock- "Hello?"

Estrella groans audibly and brings her hands to her eyes to rub them as whatever she was doing in that mirror just completely sputters to nothing. "... Yeah let's do it. Ava, you wanna take the rear again? I can do the searching."

Before they get out of the car again Ava holds up her hands closes her eyes, "Hang out, let me find it."

"I can go with you if you like, as I said everything I do gets charged to Wesley. So by all means help me run up his bill." Aubrey is grinning brightly now, "I am sure he won't mind."

The inside of the house is once again hazy and dreamlike in Ava's view. She can't really make out much, other than the house is a bit unkempt, and there's two individuals inside. One in the living room, and one in bed in one of the bedrooms. Both adults, from the looks of it. Unfortunately, the vision doesn't give many specific details, other than focusing on the bedroom where one adult is in the bed as the apparent source. At least it's easier than the last place, though!

Helen continues to the door during this inspection, and upon knocking, the faint noise of the TV can be heard muting. A minute or two later, a middle-aged black-haired woman opens the door to peer out, the chain still slid locked and her right hand hidden behind the back of the door as she glares at Helen through the slit in the door she'd made. "Yea?" she drawls suspiciously, her eyes cutting past the woman and to the van parked across the street.

	 Helen comes up to the door pulling her skull mask up to her nose as the tv mutes, side-stepping a foot away from the door as she drew attention to it by ringing and knocking. As soon as it is opened Helen drops the crowbar from her sleeve and pierces it an inch in front of the elderly ladies face through the door. Her voice a cool whisper as she spoke. “You move you die. You blink you die. You breathe too loud and I will fucking bash your head in with something I find in this house. Your universe ends tonight, if I will it. Sit down and shut up.", as Helen stands up straight and waves Ava to draw guns on the elderly lady, so she could step into the small house. The hooligan leaving the crowbar pierced all the way through the door and into the wall barring it from closing.

Wes manifests in the Real, and heads on over to assist Helen.

The woman behind the door narrows her eyes and jumps back at the sudden crowbar going through the door. It's intimidating, sure, but she's kinda a bit cornered. When Helen breaks the door open and tries to grab her, she whips around a fucking katana! The blade is unfortunately turned sideways, and so simply pushes Helen back, but as soon as Helen's assault has been pushed back the woman yells in fury as the blade suddenly wreathes itself in flames, igniting with a gout of fire as she seems to prepare herself for another attack.

Meanwhile! It's not too hard to sneak around the back of the house for Aubrey and Estrella. It's late, and thankfully that yell doesn't seem to have woken up the neighborhood, but this one is a bit more active than the last, even at this hour. The window leading to the bedroom in question is easy enough to find, as the house doesn't seem to have any sort of defenses, other than the insane sword-wielding lady at the front door.

Aubrey takes a step back and hurls herself through the window in the general direction of the bed. Hopefully the person in the bed is a deep sleeper...not.

Estrella whistles internally as she watches Aubrey careen through the window, then uses the hem of her skirt to brush away broken glass and hoists herself in.

Wes works his spooky magic, making it seem like Helen is actually 3 feet away from where she actually is. Hopefully that buys her time to get situated an dget the upper hand. Helen's opponent will see her dodge and shift positon with alacrity.

Everybody was kung-fu fighting! Or at least, they were in the living room. Sarah goes in to strike Helen with her flaming sword, only to have the woman parry and attempt to knock the blade from her hand. She's flung wide for a moment, but manages to keep her grip. This momentary distraction allows Wes' spooky magic to affect her, causing the woman to become slightly disoriented. No blood drawn just yet, however! Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Aubrey flies through the window. There's a man on the bed, wearing only a pair of boxers and a slightly soiled white wifebeater, who doesn't move much on the sudden entry. Instead, he turns his gaze over to the women, then shifts it to Estrella, and breathes out a deep 'Holy shit, dude...' He seems... Out of it. Considerably.

Helen says, “Book... now... or... die...”

Sarah says, "Fuck you, bitch!"

Aubrey catched the man's eyes, "Your having a bad trip the only safe thing to do is pull the covers over your head and stay still."

	When the woman flings her sword into the wall or where ever it went, Helen just starts cackling with laughter almost like a hyena as she drops her crowbar to the ground in the hysterical fit during combat.

The fight continues! Sarah goes to swing her sword, but Wes' illusion fuckery manages to make her miss Helen entirely. Without that, it may have went into her head... Regardless! The sword goes flying, the flames leaving it as soon as it leaves her hand. Realizing /something/ is off, Sarah shakes her head and slaps herself, then roars in anger as she charges Helen. Looks like it's about to get a bit gritty! Meanwhile, in the bedroom, the man in the bed stares back at Aubrey and ends up moaning a little. "Oh no, man! I don't wanna bad trip, fuck!" He does as he's told, and turns to cover his head up with the blanket, turning his back to the pair and trying to go to sleep. Estrella, on the other hand, realizes that such a thing wouldn't just be in a drawer somewhere. No, no. It'd be somewhere safer... Like between the matresses.

Estrella straightens herself up after climbing in the window, glances around the room, and immediately walks over to the bed. She squats down and slinks an arm between the mattresses with a grunt, "Yeah... what she said." She gestures to Aubrey with her head and pulls the thing out to admire it, then heads back to the window to hop out.

It's still a fight guys! Helen goes in to punch the shit out of Sarah, but Sarah rolls with that punch like a champ! It doesn't seem to do much to the woman, but just as soon as she's about to go in to return fire on the Amish girl, Aubrey catches her from behind. The woman grunts in confusion, then screams as fangs sink into her throat and Aubrey begins to feed! Wes approaches, manifesting his sword, however the subject isn't in a spot to fight at the moment. Estrella, for all her efforts, has a fairly peaceful walk around the side of the house. It's a nice night, y'know?

<Joke>Somewhere in Prospect, Pax has a doll of everyone here, and keeps poking them with needles...<Joke>

It's an unusually long fight. Sarah has a /lot/ of life in her, and even with the Vampire grappling and draining her blood, the guy with the sword trying to kill her, and the woman with a crow bar beating on her, it takes an aunnatural amount of time for her to finally go down. Clearly, in a one on one fight, this woman is fucking ridiculous. Perhaps that's why, instead of killing her, the group simply knocks her the fuck out and leaves her unconscious on the floor. She's tired, and instead of waking from that, she ends up falling asleep right there. What a lady, let's give her a round of applause. Back in the van, Estrella has retrieved the book, and as everyone else gets in and begins to drive off, they amy or may not want to talk about whatever the fuck just happened.

Wes grumbles. "What the fuck just happened." Gone is Mr. Wiseguy. Here is Mr. Grumpypants.

Aubrey flops in her seat and pulls out dental floss for those hard to reach places between her teeth. Once floosed it's time for gum to get the stench of blood off her breath.

	 Helen wipes some sweat from the brow as she pants and leans against a wall for a second just to breath. What a fight. As the teenager just takes time to breathe. "Be right back.", she says while then jogging off to the van and hopping inside. Looking over her shoulder, Helen backs the van all the way up to the door so they could easily kidnap Sarah. "Check her for a wallet. ID, money. Anything. Take her sword and use the duct tape in the duffle backs to tie her up.", Helen asks politely while her hands still shook with adrenaline. "Make it fast. Cops could be coming."

Wes's brow furrows. "Th' fuck are we still doing here? Go! GO GO GO!" There are two Wes's. Manifested Wes. And flatline Wes. One is more agreeable than the other. Obvs.

Aubrey hops out of the van and goes to get Sarah and her sword. Tossing the woman over one shoulder and then grabbing the sword. She is quick about it and has apparently kidnapped people before.

	Helen's foot is on the pedal ready to jet once all are in...

Manifested Wes watches flatlined Wes. "Well, aren't you a handsome devil..."