Scene #7326: Clan Pendragon Reclamation - Caelton

Owner	Pose
Lilian Rook	Not a lot of time has passed since the investigation of the mines, as it shouldn't be left for long. Given that there was so obviously a serious degree of interference, outsiders showing up even to totally-not-poke-around would be an obvious signal to start covering up and bailing out -- or for disposable assets to be cut off and burnt by a more professional problem. Caelton goes on as normally as it can. There are a great number of people 'out of work', in the sense of having little to do but wait around on road corners and diners or try to lend a hand on the street, with nothing to show for it but anxiety. The site has begun the process of excavation, the elevators having been put back into service and begun hauling tonnes of stone from the depths, with shifts of men working in shifts around the clock, but not nearly as many as are technically employed. There is an air of tension, now exposed through a cut in the skin of frontier idealism. 'Nothing all that bad happens out here'. 'City problems can't follow us out'. 'People can't get us all the way out here'. It's a brittle pretense, strained by communal suspicions, almost palpably floating around the air. Though Ms. Webb has obviously called you back to hear your findings -- a few days after to make it seem less likely that you're reporting to her directly -- you're not strictly bound to a town hall room. In fact, it's probably best if there aren't a pile of people streaming through the doors to stand at attention in the meeting chamber. There are also some significant leads to follow up on in the immediate sense, picked up from the bottom of the mines, best attended to by Elites acting on their own. She has, in fact, asked not to be informed of anything you're doing, beyond a briefing.
Tony Stark	There's someone else who wasn't informed at all of what was going on, beyond a briefing: Anthony Stark. Breezing into Caelton in a vest, slacks, and large sunglasses, he makes 'business traveler grazing' pass at the locals and makes small talk before moving towards Webb's called meeting. Being aggressively calm and normal actually tends to control situations better than wielding massive authority. People open up to 'normal guys' more than suits of superscience tactical freedom armor. When he arrives at the meeting, though, he taps his sunglasses down his nose with a finger, looking disappointedly at Webb with an air of incredulity. "I gave you a blank check. Did you spend it already? I'd say blank checks don't grow on trees, but that was a paper check, so actually it does."
Gawain	When Gawain arrives, not in armor, away from the others, he tips his head briefly, and then speaks, glancing towards Tony as he does. "While I won't tell you our plans going forward, and we do not know directly who did what yet, this was definitely sabotage, likely a miner doing it for Leopold and Hektor. My colleague can explain more, but..." Referring to Arthur, of course, but then he stops. Gawain has been considering something. "I must solve a curiosity. Were those anagathics extremely old and 'cheap' for what they are? They looked...well, generic, and that's bizarre to me! If you have anti-aging, shouldn't it be fancier?"
Damocles	Another figure that's here for the investigation is Damocles: Chaos Sorcerer, Magical Scholar and part-time private investigator. He signed onto this job for his expertise in magic, because this whole area is steeped in it, and this case is no exception. However, the arcane aspects of the action have taken a backseat to the more physical, though no less flashy, atomic angle. High-yield explosives are less of Damocles's forte, but he's still invested enough to see it through, so he arrives at the meeting as expected. Like before, he has his hood down, so the usual obscuring shadow and glowing eyes are replaced by a surprisingly friendly looking face with wireframe glasses. Everything else about his outfit is normal however, from the flowing armored robes adorned with skulls of birds and humans, to the towering staff capped by an ever-burning eye. "Ah, I see the Bling Ravens chapter has joined us in the investigation. Before you ask, I didn't turn up anything useful on my angle. The energy contained in that water is interesting, but nothing that relates to our investigation, I don't think."
Maya	The information from the mines had proven to give them some information she'd turned the Injector she recovered over to the rest of the team hopefully it would prove to be useful. It did raise several questions about this. Maya is aware they are on a time limit so they need to not slow down on this. She is from a small city-state herself and she can get how this colony. Things progress onwards until they are at the meeting. She'll look of to Gawain and Arthur and nods. It's best to let Arthur tale lead on this.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Reveal it Arthur doesn't come inside, he simply GATES himself in, with a big swagger! "I got everything you need to get NAMES." Arthur says, slapping down a hefty, lead-lined CAPTCHALOGUE CARD. This should safely contain the pen-sized electromagnetic radioactive contents, which are displayed clearly. "You wanna know PEOPLE, I can get you PEOPLE. I just need a RADIOLOGICAL SCAN to do on all those MINERS comin' out, and I can give you EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW from the GUY who KNOWS IT ALL." "I'mma HEAD OUT and run some SWEEPS if you want. Like RIGHT NOW, before THE WORD even gets out." He's practically already turning back around, he's only come here to brag early and to check if there's any concerns to deal with before he works.
Lilian Rook	"Please Mister Stark. With all due respect, which is purely given, I couldn't spend it all if I wanted to." Back in the conference room, Webb's response to Tony is easy and unharried, despite the look of tension and additional work load weighing on her, subtly marked in the less effortful outfit and tired eyes. "I need to know what's going on. It's not as if I can do everything, or even most of it by myself, but people are going to ask me, and I need to be able to tell them something. And they trust me, so it can't just be bullshit." She makes a short, sharp, bitter 'ha' in response to Gawain. "Cheap? For whom? Old, though; maybe. The technology existed before everything went tits up, if you'll pardon some Francais again. Not for long. Not for cheap back then. It's only thanks to the fact that warm bodies are in short supplies these days that it came down into the range a community like ours could sort of afford. Subsidized. I know the Urban Centers synthesize their own, of varying quality, depending on which Circle you live in, so selling off an older stockpile . . . I wouldn't put it past them, but that means it was meant for the people of twenty thirty willing to pay a premium for immortality." She stops, frowns intensely, forces herself through half a cup of coffee, and then slowly crowbars the frown off of her face with laborious muscular exertion, at the news. "That's what I'd dreaded hearing. In a way, also what I'd hoped to hear, but . . ." She stands up and turns to the shuttered window. "We're hardly friends with the company. We might have been. We were ready to be, years ago. If they'd been a little different. But I'd hoped it wouldn't be like this again. I'd hoped I could laugh off those 'wild concerns' of the seniors on the council the minute the words 'financial independence' came up. What stings is that they got to one of our own. I can hope for some kind of mind control -- something that makes it not their fault -- but then I wouldn't want us in that kind of thing's sights." She turns back, mostly to check the weird card. "That's definitely not something we could make here, even with the right technology. No nuclear material at all. That's not something anyone should have been able to bring with them years ago, either. They're almost all Third Circle leavers. The Pendragons, too, I trust don't screw with this kind of thing. That has to be something cutting edge, right? There aren't exactly many types who mess with nuclear physics anymore. Not for power, not for weapons, and not if there's magic available. But then it's not as if we have the technology to notice someone walking around with it." She waves off with her hand. "Do it. Whatever you have to do, except tipping your hand. At the very least, someone from outside Caelton is agitating -- arming? Funding? This. Even if it's only a couple of our own they can prey on, this is a huge problem. I wouldn't think L or H would be into nuclears; they make their fortune processing and selling off metals the other elites use, so they don't have to come into contact with any of 'us'. But you never know what kind of connections they might have. If it is the Pendragons, well then we'd be rightly fucked."
Gawain	"It's definitely not the Pendragons." Gawain says suddenly, firmly. They're Pendragons. They couldn't have done that to those they protect! That'd be silly. Before moving to head off with Arthur, wanting to help the diplomacy when they find the guy, however, Gawain has one last thing to say. "We'll be careful. I know you're putting yourself and your community at risk, but we'll find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Don't worry."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Run that scan, baby! Arthur gives a quick little cheeky salute. "DETECTIVE LOWELL all up in this shit, yo." He says, taking a step back and lacing his arms behind his head as if he were about to recline. He falls backwards into a gate. He does not recline. No, instead he swoops low, over every house and every area of concentrated population. His magical senses are only semi-tuned to radiation, but his analysis of limited areas can make up for some of that if he spirals around the town and closes inward. He's even alchemized a GEIGER COUNTER to assist in this, out of the code from the device itself! He should be able to work this out, and find the guy who was exposed to all this radiation, with enough dedicated sweeping -- and enough high-speed rocketry. It shouldn't be obvious what is happening, but it might be slightly obvious that something is going on, since rockets and flying around aren't exactly subtle. Where are you, dude?
Maya	Maya listens as the bomb is dropped by Arthur and Webb's continued comments and insight on all of this. He's right they have a window to act before the actors involved can respond they will need to take it if they are to do anything. More comes out about how the relationship this colony has with the company. "Nuclear material humm it would have to be so wouldn't it? If it is the Pendragons that could be an issue she looks to Gawain for a moment. "Are they of the line of Arthur or are they just those who have taken up the name in honour of it?" Maya says nothing else on that it could be important for dealing with the Pendragons directly she muses. "It might not have been money could be they have family in the cities still or something else." Arthur then checks out for the moment to get to work, damn he's fast then again she should have expected it with all the powers she's aware of him having. Well, he should be back shortly with some actable information. "We will do our best to not tip our hand on this."
Tony Stark	"Okay, but for someone who isn't sworn to serve a king named 'Arthur Pendragon', let's talk real options." Tony shoots back at the mildly unarmored knight, ameliorated by Webb's answer about the 'the money not being all gone'. He finds a seat to recline in, manspreading while tapping the side of his glasses. "So let's not knock anyone off the list. The question is 'who would do this, and why'. The Pendragons don't have a way out of this situation without it being very bad for them: right?" Tony looks to both Webb and Gawain for this answer. "However, presuming the Pendragons just set up a big wad of their own people to fail and die a horrible radiological death is iffy at-best. They don't seem the cackling evil sorts." Tony shrugs. "It could always be a HYDRA plot. Always. Never ever rule out HYDRA." "But around here, humanity seems pretty teamed and venged up to battle an invasive alien meanace. Have we figured out it isn't the Antegent?" Lowell is doing his recon mission, but he has a radio. "Lowell? Over-under on space assholes dropping cancer bombs?"
Lilian Rook	Webb returns to her seat, and begins drumming her fingers on the desktop with the pace of someone who used to do something with her hands while stressed, a while ago. "Look, I can't say that I can imagine what goes on in the heads of people like that, but yes, it does seem like a massive waste of time, and more importantly, face -- 'honour' -- for them. They want this place to succeed. Even if it's just to elevate themselves in the eyes of other groups, that's fine by us. You take advantage of anything you can get. I also understand they're the group of the major three in the country that romanticizes the old ways the most. Nuclear whatever doesn't seem like their style, if they can be said to have one." She gives Maya a vague half-shake of the head. "Only technically, or I suppose 'allegedly'. You have to be able to prove some kind of ancestry to get in, so it's all closed up by now, but we all sort of doubt any of them are direct descendants, if any of them even exist. And I doubt they're hard up for money. Money barely means anything to people like that. It's a token of favour amongst each other, at best. Something they throw around to get each other to help, in lieu of any love for one another. It rarely leaves the closed pool. L&H is an example of 'new money'; they convert it into the civilian sectors and back." While Arthur is out, it doesn't take him very long to find what he is after. Caelton is efficient with its space, given he can almost see the borders of the green land from not all that high up. Whoever got dosed with the spicy 5g waves from the mine operation, he clearly must not be aware of it, or have anything to get rid of it more advanced than pellets. He isn't 'out on the town' like most of the other workers; instead the signature comes from inside a 'quaint' little second storey prefab, in the middle of a long, straight street, indistinguishable amidst all the purely decorative wooden facades, without any especial attempt to brighten it up. It blends right in, easily missed, and like most of the dwellings, isn't much bigger than a large two bedroom apartment. There aren't any cameras as far as he can tell; there are extremely few anywhere in the colony to begin with, though the door and windows are all naturally locked.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: What's your wager? "NO DICE on CANCER ALIENS." Arthur calls in to TOny Stark, in a critical tone. "This is all HUMAN PROBLEMS." He figures his guy, and then drifts down, putting a critical look at it. >Arthur: Call over Gawain "HEY, G-TOWN!" He waves Gawain over, who was very, very probably not flying with him. He should let him be here for whatever happens next, considering his intentions. "Gonna hit THIS GUY up!" >Arthur: Hit this guy up Arthur's not going to wait. Specifically, what he's not going to wait for is another round of interactions required to knock on the door. In the interest of narrative expediency, he's instead just going to pop a Gate to the most convenient area inside to relax in an obnoxious way, plant himself somewhere open -- likely the ceiling, upside-down -- and await this guy's presence, wherever he is, whatever he may be doing. He might even steal a snack out of his fridge to casually munch on, if he's not wandering around his house much. His shakedown approach will be simple, of course: "YO. Before you do too much MOVING or TOO MUCH SHOUTING, you gotta know THE BIZ 'bout why the hair's been fallin' out lately. WHAT UP. Heard y'all like COMPLEX ELECTROMAGNETISM. I'm in that FANDOM too, but DAMN BRO, there's some TOXIC FANDOM SHIT afoot here. You got some JUSTIFICATIONS and RECEIPTS for this shit, before I get into a BIG-ASS CALLOUT POST?" He's gonna be a bit of a shithead about this. Gawain doesn't have to defuse violent intent, but he might help make this less obnoxious as hell.
Gawain	"Why would they throw their own colony under the bus - into debt with a group unlikely to be one of their true allies? It's just not possible, though I'll rein myself in from completely ruling them out, I suppose." Before he can think of anything more to say, Arthur's calling him, and Gawain's running off like a maniac, with just a wave goodbye. Blurring through at superhuman speeds to catch up, Gawain passes through Arthur's gate before it closes, because apparently they're not knocking and also Gawain's not breaking the locks, that would be rude. When inevitably the man approaches, if he shows the small inclination of running or hostility, Gawain steps in front of him. "Sir Gawain, Knight of the Sun, Warden of the Paladins. Please tell us about the day of the mining incident."
Maya	The loss of face and honour over sabotaging their own colony mission. It wouldn't make sense if it succeeded? It would be reclaimed land and would be of benefit to them if only as a trading partner for the city. There could be other things too Maya thinks about it after a moment. Maya nods for a moment "So even if they just think they are descended of the Line of Arthur that might be enough, faith in his legacy. As for with the money I can see how it works that way." Meanwhile Arthur and Gwain are at work and she's got faith in them both. Gawain is a man who pretty much lives up to his legend and Arthur is one of the deities in the multiverse who is very down to earth with non-divinities. She can only guess though at what he might say when they go to pick up the guy they are looking for. "L&H has a lot to gain from here too wouldn't it a new market for one and the ventures it already has underway here. So how long has this company been in operation?"
Tony Stark	A gate appears. "If it's not the Antegent, then we're back to it being a HYDRA plot, and that's not better." Tony comments, jamming his hands into his pockets as he springs out of his seat, to follow Gawain into the ROAST ZONE. "If you're a secret nazi, please just tell me know. I want to know, because otherwise I can't cross this off a list or not, and if you're something like a misunderstood German scientist it'd be a twist." "So, floor's yours. The space cadet has handed you the mic, spit a bar."
Lilian Rook	With the scant time remaining in the office, Webb answers Tony and then Maya in order. "It'd be the first inside incident we've had with Antegent were that the case. I know that they've -- certain kinds of them -- been known to create sleepers that return back to habitation areas and cause chaos. Like that kind of fungus that infects ants and bees. But I don't think they've ever equipped someone with technology that looks very man-made like this, and it seems far too convenient that this helps L&H more than it hurts us. In fact, it hurt nobody but our collective funds." One man is not ready for three weirdos to suddenly pile into his small house through a space portal. It isn't remotely secured against anything of this nature, because why would it be? The inside looks as if it would be perfectly livable for anyone from a country used to normal-sized houses and not sprawling 80s American monsters, if they actually cared to make it so. The predominance of undecorated white walls, bare shelves, dusty tables and kitchen surfaces, and the mini-fridge with all of five things in it, as well as a single small 2000s LCD television sitting across from a single chair, give off the vibe of someone with something wrong with their brain, or an extremely poor bachelor. Given this guy works in the mines, he shouldn't not have access to more Stuff. Coming around the corner into the room, he is also surprisingly young, or at least young-looking. Compared to most of the miners, especially. At best guest, he'd have been a child moving here with parents, when the colony was originally set up. He doesn't look like a leukemia patient yet, but he is pretty crackly on Arthur's gauge. He walks in wearing plain blue jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and plain socks, carrying a glass of water and a bottle of pills, both of which he drops the second he's been seen, freezing up on the spot. "A secret what?" he all but squeaks out. That's the first thing he latches on, for being the most immediately recognizable, serious accusation. "What? No. What? Excuse me-- no. What?" It takes him a few more seconds to process. He glances to Gawain, and all that stuff about being a Warden of the Paladins seems to drain out of his ears before he's even done hearing it, visibly restraining himself from stepping back and nearly falling over. "What? You can-- you can ask anyone. Why me? The foreman or the shift supervisor or anyone else. They already have the whole thing written down at town hall, right? Just ask them for the files. Nothing I can tell you is all that exciting. I was just there and--" Finally, he shouts "Get off the ceiling!" at Arthur, snapping at the casual absurdity of it. "What are you prattling on about?! Electromagnetic fandom what?! I have no idea what you're talking about. Get out of the house!" He runs his hand nervously through his hair, then glances down at the dropped bottle, immediately crouching down to try and scoop its spilled contents in, putting his back between the group and it.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Be more clear >Arthur: Get off the ceiling! Arthur drops down with a heavy "HUP!" Then he crosses his arms and approaches the man with an aura of... something. No, wait, he's un-crossing. Yes, he's immediately going to do that coolkid handshake, unless coldly rejected. "Yeah boy yeah, gimmie that skin." He mutters. "Gonna make you KNOW what I'm TALKIN' ABOUT. Homeboy, I ain't here for PLAYIN', dawg. Someone gave you a LIL' PEN to fuck up everything down in the MINE, all the ELECTRONICS. And whoever did that, they DIDN'T TELL YOU that it'd ZAP YOUR ASS with a FUCKTILLION RADS. I had to pull that shit out in a LEAD CAPTCHALOGUE CARD, my dude, because I didn't wanna give anyone TOPSIDE the BAD CANCERBONES." "You need a BIG TANK OF HEALING SHIT to swim in for WEEKS, because otherwise first thing is ALL YOUR HAIR GONNA FALL OUT, then you're gonna VOMIT YA GUTS, then your ORGANS and BLOOD are gonna GO ON STRIKE and you ain't gonna win that LABOR NEGOTIATION, homeboy. Because you're full of RADS. 'Cause whoever gave ya that PEN, the one that did FANCY ELECTRIC SHIT, they didn't give ya a MAGIC PEN. They gave ya a BAD NUCLEAR SCIENCE PEN, and I dunno if you even KNEW THAT." "I'm here to BREAK THEIR GODDAMN NOSE though. Like, on your behalf, because you straight up got fucked, my dude. Can you give me some NAMES about this?" Arthur turns around, looking about. "Damn, bro." He whispers. "You got, like a SUPER-DISEASE or a GEAS or some shit? Are you takin' care of yourself? Where's this MONEY going? You got a BLACKMAILER I can beat the shit out of too? Is that why you did FUCKED UP MINECRIMES?" Is he even listening to this guy? >Arthur: Get out of the house! No, he isn't. But he makes a note: 'The' house. Not 'my' home, or anything like that. Why is the house kept so strangely? Why is it 'the' house, not 'my' house? That sits in his brain, to be resolved later. Maybe.
Gawain	Gawain frowns as the man freaks out. No memory, perhaps? The knight sighs. "What my companion says here is true. You are, most likely, the origin of the mine explosion. It is possible your memory has been erased, or some sort of similar effect..." He frowns sharper, as he turns to the man. "As a knight, I implore you to help us. Besides this current occasion and the explosion, has anything weird happened to you, lately? The sooner we can solve this, and also your condition, the sooner you can hopefully move on with your life." And then a radio aside, as subtle as he can make it.
Maya	Maya gets the answer to the last question she had t0o ask and now has some idea about this, she'll thank Webb and then dash through the portal before it closes being the last one to the party possibly here. The questioning is already underway so she's going to hang back for a moment. She looks the place over. It seems scarce even by the spartan nature of Maya's culture. Something was a bit off here she sizes up the room getting a feeling for the place. Arthur gets a look from Maya. "You were exposed to if untreated? Fatal levels of radiation." She nods in agreement with Gawain's words and she can see the Arthur is in fine form and it's good to have Ironman here too given with his skill sets he might catch on to thinks the rest of the team might miss.
Tony Stark	Tony is on color for this rodeo, but there's something about the words 'a fucktillion rads' that gets him tickled. And so he laughs, despite it all. Despite the gravity of the situation, and the man clearly part of an operation willingly or in ignorance. He laughs at the way Arthur approaches it, the way he moves through space, the utter absurdity o it all. "That actually is way more than most people would get. Still, I've never seen him be wrong, just... loud." Tony thinks on this, himself, for a moment. "Wish I could say I've never been wrong. Ah, besides the point. Anyway: This isn't a criminal investigation. I'm a private citizen, but that is a knight of the Round Table, and ttttttwo gods? So may as well tell them whatever you know."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Clarify "I'm a PROFESSIONAL E-HOOLIGAN, first and foremost." Arthur says.
Lilian Rook	The young man Arthur is harassing (well, the others too) is obviously not any kind of trained agent, or even a good old-fashioned pathological liar. His face twitching when he mentions a 'pen' is too obvious; an amateur could catch that tell. The gradual paling when Arthur continues describing the gruesome symptoms of one's cells forgetting how to be alive is equally apparent. By the end, he's fumbling to screw the cap back on so badly that it takes him seven tries. "Fuck." he whispers. Then louder. "Fuck. Fuck fuck FUCK!" He hurls the bottle into the other room, then claps his face with both hands. "That bastard did me dirty. I should have-- I knew it'd-- fuck me running they always--" He begins rubbing his nose and eyes furiously. He glances fearfully back over his shoulder, evidently weighing up Gawain's ostensible pity-sympathy and Tony claiming he Isn't A Cop. After a few seconds, he starts making a noise like a boiling tea kettle, then sits down on the floor, cradling his head. "No I-- my memory works fine I-- I know it's my fault. They said nobody would get hurt. And they didn't! Nobody was seriously injured or anything. All that happened was that some people in charge owe some other guys a lot of money. That's . . . that's not my problem. It's not like a lot of money moves through here anyways-- I mean you can get some goods, sure, whatever, but it's not the same. Community goods-- they don't buy you anything, they're just for the people here. Nothing leaves. Nobody leaves. Nothing comes in unless it's approved by the budget and . . ." "I was saving up. Trying to get out of here. It's not like I chose to come all the way out here-- I was eleven, I'm not responsible for my family's political grievances. I don't want to be here. I want to go and live in the city. Where it's good. Where I can get whatever I want, and where there's people I can talk to, and where there's all those things to do and see and-- god I can't take it here. It's so small, and I don't like anyone, and it's not safe here-- not safe, and I'm working all the time and it just goes to the community pile and then it just goes to L&H and L&H doesn't see me working and they don't care and it's not like I can get promoted up some ladder or anything so all I could do was try and save cash." He finally lets his hands fall into his lap, staring lethargically upward. "There was a guy. He said he could set me up if I did something for him. In the First Circle. Something easy. Important, high-paid work for L&H. For . . . company service. You know. Having a job. Freedom. Going somewhere big, and safe, and with lots of people, and where you don't have magic roleplayers coming through all the time and you have to bend to them. Something normal, like it used to be. He told me what to do, he gave me some stuff, he said nobody would get hurt, and that he'd see to it. I went to work, I got a call, I busted the generator, and then-- and then a whole bunch of other shit happened. I think he had a second guy. A real pro. I didn't get to meet anyone else he hired, I swear." "So of course the fucking bastard wasn't planning on paying me anything. No wonder I haven't gotten a call back-- he's just waiting for me to keel over and die and tie up all his loose ends, right? We don't have supplies for treating radiation poisoning. Why would we?"
Gawain	As the man comes clean, Gawain sighs...but he tilts his head as he explains his motivations, and nods. "I see. While your actions were wrong, I can understand the motive. While I will not decide your fate when it comes to your crimes, the least we can do is see if there's a way to make sure you do not die of horrible radiation poisoning, though how, I do not know yet how we'll do that." Gawain paces through the room, and then turns to his allies. "Well, then! I think it's time to pay the gentlemen at Leopold and Hektor a visit." A glance towards the miner. "We'll be wanting a description as well, of course! You'll cooperate, surely?"
Tony Stark	There's a lot of words that pour out of the suspect's mouth. Emotions, feelings, anxieties, accusations. Tony latches onto just a few. Just the few that matter. "You're not going to make things better by making things worse. You make them better by making them better. That's the bottom line." Tony visibly draws out a phone - it looks more like a piece of clear glass with lights inside, but it works like a phone - and holds it to his ear. "Hey, Rook, I've got a 'favor' for you. Got any friends in the First Circle that can put a name to a face? I'll send you a composite by the end of the night. Thanks." He waggles the phone, smiling faintly. "It went to voicemail. She's probably busy. So, wanna get back at the bad guys?" "I'm sure one of the gods can control-zee your current state of irradiation. I know what my next step is: What's yours?"
Maya	The man lays out what happened she seems to have an idea they have a bit of a lead. She also gets his desire to leave this isn't for everyone. "Anything you can tell us will be of help." As Tony puts a call into Lilian which is a damn good idea. Given the Paladins resources, they have a chance to help this man at least live to deal with what happened. She does see he was played but he also said yes. She nods to Gawain. "Will you help set this right?" She then looks to Gawain. "It looks like we do."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Get that sympathy going Arthur heaves a heavy, honest sigh. "Alright homeslice, I'mma level-set with you for real." He says, in a tone indicating that he'd be clapping a hand on his shoulder if it wasn't rude. Then he claps and hand on his shoulder, because it's rude. "You got fucked up by big powers. Which is how it is on this bitch of an Earth. Now, I'm not gonna be forceful or judgey or anything. I'm gonna give you choices and you can do whatever ya want with 'em. This time you ain't gotta suffer the magic roleplayers." "You tell me exactly who you think deserves some bones broken, and you tell me how many. Then, I make that happen, and that's just how it goes -- you pick the numbers, I solve the math. You also got some info, and you can do whatever you want with it, I ain't your dad. Seems like you don't like your dad all that much anyway. But I'll tell ya, one half-dead guy to another: Do whatever, and only whatever, you won't regret. Hold back whatever you gotta hold back to have no regrets. And tell whatever you gotta tell to have no regrets. And," Arthur winks, bringing an index finger up. "You tell me what kind of magic roleplay you hate most. And I'll sass the shit out of the next guys I see doing it. This is genuine hooliganism, and I'll throw that shit in for free, my dude. These guys are cops, they can't give you that kinda offer." >Arthur: Do all you can to heal him! "Whatever you pick, I'll do whatever I got to help getcha back on your feet. I've got a little rads-magic. Should be good for some first treatment to make sure however many days or hours it takes to get ya out to a Paladin heal-tank won't be too bad on ya." He glances to the others. "He's gettin' a Paladin heal-tank, ain't he? You guys got that, right? 'Cause I can pull the irradiated out of him, but that's a lot to pull out of a dude, and he'll need some handling to grow back more."
Lilian Rook	Right now, Arthur is talking to someone who looks, more than anything, too exhausted to even need to hold back tears. "Big powers, right?" he says. "Yeah, I think I remember hearing some things about those. Guess I thought I was smarter than that. Or just less scared than them. Ugh." He stares at the wall for a good half of a minute. "Yeah. Well. If they're killing me off, I don't have any problems with dragging them down as well. I'm sure the guy I got was some flunky, but . . ." Finally, he starts standing up. "Yeah, I'll tell you as much about him as I can. I'm sorry I had to do this after it was . . . already too late, for some things. I'm just glad it was only money." 'Only' money, out of the mouth of someone who wants to move to the big city, on the directions of an entrepeneur. He looks half-curious at Tony on the phone. "You have friends here already-- nope, not looking that one in the mouth. If I don't have to stay here -- especially after this -- I'll do whatever." He attempts to smile at Arthur, and just coughs instead. "I just hate being told that some guy who shows up once a month is so much more important than me, and that he gets to go all over the world, wherever he wants, because he's just better and deserves it. If I had magic and money-- it's easy to be charitable when you have everything. But that's not how people see it. And it blows because it's sort of true that we can't do without them. I just . . . I don't buy it." He holds up his hands as if waiting for a hose. "William." he says. "As for that guy . . . Well, first off, tall; taller than you guys. Sharp, blue-eyed, super white teeth. Had an American accent . . ."