Issue 1 Downtime

The detention cells in the point had been set up, Nacho had been cleaned up and placed in a cell with a table--and not much else.

Victoria waited for them to let her through the holdig field, then stepped into the room. Her gaze was icy, her expression hard. Gone was the flirty, devil-may-care sorceress Nacho had met at the Hellfire Club. She stared at Ignacio a moment in silence before she spoke up, her voice just dripping with 'really?'. "Mindless Ones?"

"If you're simply here to gloat, we can save some time," he grumbles.

"No, darling, 'gloating' is for when I just beat you. I'm here because you're about to tell me what, exactly, you've done to turn this bloody city upside down."

"Oh, you haven't figured it out yet?" He says with a weary smirk. "I thought you were good."

"Less wiseassery from the idiot that was almost killed by his own summoning," Victoria said. "I can certainly figure it out. I've been on this job for... what, three hours? But that'll take time. And I'm a firm believer of the path of most efficiency, which in this case is you telling me so that I can make sure that your mess doesn't destroy the city and make me have to move again."

"Or I can go for the path of no resistance and make a thrall of you, but then I have to go through a lot of tedious arguing with people who think I don't have the right to do exactly that. So that's an option I'd like to just put a pin in for now, but... well, it's an option."

Will frowned from outside the holding cell, but said nothing. He was the "Good Cop", afterall.

"You really think the Boy Scout you teamed up with would let you do that?"

"He got fairly hurt saving your useless ass, he might. More to the point, there's no 'letting' me, there's just making my life difficult later."

"Now talk. Time is not a luxury right now."

"I did what was expected of me. I took a gamble. Tell me you weren't planning similar and I'll call you a liar."

"I'm not stepping that far outside my league," Victoria snapped. "Our power waxes and wanes to teach us our limits and how to not make brilliant cock-ups like this, and you know that. So no, I wasn't planning to gamble, I was planning to succeed by actually being that bloody good. Now what did you do."

"Do you think Szardos acknowledges any limits? Really? Are you that naive, Valentine?"

Victoria, her patience spent, turned from him, back to the field. "I need something from my room, then we'll have some answers."

Will buzzed her out, and nodded, grinning at her once she passed the one-way mirror. He then walked in himself.

"You comfortable? Can I get you anything? Coffee, water, melted cheese?"

"I suppose a call to my lawyer is out of the question? I know Valentine probably wants to keep this... off the books, as it were."

"You know, I'll get on that, but it might take some time. Technically, that only applies to the police, and our status is a little less sure. But I'll see if I can't cut through that red tape for you.

In the meantime, however, you can really help yourself out here. You know Ms. Valentine, I'm sure. She's not as...willing to go through the process as I am."

"She didn't tell you what this is about, did she? That's a shame, that lack of trust."

"Well, maybe you can tell me, and we'll have one up on her."

"She goes on and on about power and responsibility and neglects to mention to you that we were both given the same task. She's as deep in this as I am."

"What task were you given, Iganacio?"

"This was an audition of sorts. We're both gunning for the same position, you see."

"Is there a dress code? Because, I'll have to admit, Victoria probably looks better in those kinds of things than you do."

"The Valentines have always looked good in court attire," he smirks.

"I didn't realize they were being sued," Will said, blankfaced.

"This is the sort of court that involves whips."

"That doesn't happen when barristers are involved, no matter what those silly Japanese games tell you."

"And this was your audition tape, for lack of a better word?"

Victoria buzzed to be let back in, holding a black velvet bag in one hand, and a steel collar in the other.

"Oops, looks like our time is up. You want to elucidate more, just ask for me. Otherwise, I'm afraid my friend gets dibs."

"So you're just going to let her do that, are you?"

"Let's see, darling... are they going to let you keep being a self righteous, obstructive prick after you almost got all of us killed, or are they going to let me fix things. Dear me, let's think about this." She set the collar down on the table, then began emptying the bag onto the table. A lenth of barbed wire joined it on the table, along with incense, a dagger, and a rose.

"Sorry, but my hands are mostly tied. Without your full cooperation, there's only so much I can do."

"...fine," he sighs.

"You get to be the 'heroes' this time."

"If you search the area where you found me, there will be a dagger whose best days were seen in the hands of the court seers of Nebuchadnezzar."

"I used that to create the wound, using the connection to call upon ancient oaths the Sons of the Mountain undertook. As payment, I inserted into the wound an opal that I was assured had once resided in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon."

"It was all going swimmingly when the first of the Asakku arrived. It was when more came that it all turned pear-shaped."

"I see," Will nodded, glancing at Victoria for a psycho-to-English translation, and to generally take the lead with magical questioning.

Victoria shot Will a look that said 'later... if he could translate 'Victoria glances.' Which, granted, he might not. "All right, that's a step in the right direction. Now... what was your endgame. No one calls up the Mindless Ones just for giggles, and I'm rather sure that wasn't all you did."

"By focusing my will through the knife, I could control the Asakku. With one it worked perfectly. When the rest of them started to arrive, it became apparent that mindless doesn't equal being without will. I could enforce mine on a relative few of them, but the scales began to tip."

Victoria rubbed the bridge of her nose, doing her best to not tell him he was an idiot. "And the infestation of vermin? Giant cockroaches and such? At what point did thatcome into play?"

"Extradimensional vermin," he waves a hand dismissively. "The price of doing business."

Victoria made a disgusted face. "You're what give sorcerors a bad name." Thank god I didn't make eyes at you TOO blatantly. She looked at Will. "I think we have what we're going to get for now."

"Good. I'm just going to step out for a minute or two while you say your goodbyes."

"Oh, the hell with that, I have nothing to say to this idiot. Lock him back up and circle the cell with salt. Cleaning up his mess is a bit more important to me right now."