Vadimas Lugosi (hammerfall) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2008-11-18 00:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | hephaestus, herakles, teddy pullman, vadimas lugosi |
Who: Herakles, Hephaestus, and various Vanir and Aesir
What: Wild Goose Chase
Where: Washington D.C.
When: "Late Hours"
Warning: None
Even at night, Washington DC was abuzz. Down in the capital area, secret service agents were already on high alert, patrolling and scouring the grounds. No agent wanted to be the one to go down in history as the one to be responsible for the loss of the President-Elect. The city itself was almost in a tizzy of its own excitement. There was almost a party atmosphere in the air united the poorer, urban section of the city with the glamour of the governing seats and monuments.
The people of Washington DC seemed to be keeping late hours, and those living at Ridgekeep Compound were no exception. Aesir were keeping late hours.
Freyr… Jarrod put away his phone after Teddy’s texts to him and went out to the supermarket for necessary supplies. The cool evening air that swept through his leather jacket made him pause at the doorway to the living quarters of his adopted family. He had been running around too much lately, even for a Norse Elf god. Carefully, he put his grocery sack in one arm so he could bend down and pick up the blue tissue paper wrapped bundle set at the door under the mailboxes that had his name on it. He took a moment and then smiled when he recognized what it was.
Only then to the pause so he could stare at the two black towers that dominated this section of town he called home. With both hands filled… Stupid hand scanners. Jarrod was going to have to think about how to carry his things or learn to juggle one of these days. Or talk to his sister to make them retina scanners or something.
He didn't get to finish the thought.
A large, heavy hand clamped down on his much smaller forearm and yanked him around to face the two Greeks who'd been following. "Where is she?" demanded the taller man. He didn't possess any flashy magic like his father or other relatives. But there was still a glint in his blue eyes that hinted that if the Norseman failed to answer... rejoice, for very bad things were about to happen.
Hephaestus stifled a sigh. He had hoped to avoid creating a scene if necessary. Especially if said scene was happening on the Aesir's front step. However, he didn't want to show any signs of division amongst the Olympians, so he kept his face impassive. Instead of saying anything, Hephaestus kept a weather eye out for any signs of support coming from the compound. He thought back over the preparations he had made and hoped he didn't need them.
When he had first suggested that they meet, Hephaestus had allowed himself time to prepare. He had, of course, armed himself and donned his invulnerable armor, all now hidden under some oversized clothing. The helmet he had hidden in a bowling ball bag until just a few moments ago. He had cursed himself when he realized he had never put in the mental/magical countermeasures he had meant to after the Egyptian debacle. There was nothing to be done about it at the time, so Hephaestus had simply decided to try and use meditation and his own computer-like brain to resist any further attempts. And lastly, he had an array of pocket PCs and phones should the need for technical support arise. They also provided a link to his home systems, which were still processing data in the search for Valentine. Just in case. Herakles, for his part, looked as if he hadn't prepared at all. Which was probably for the best. His little half-brother was always most successful when he let his fists lead the way.
Stifling another sigh, Hephaestus settled into his meditations, doing his best to control his body subliminally. 00110011 00101110...
That glint only managed to thrill the 6'6" blond and very confused man as he was yanked around, but he kept such emotions deep down inside him. It was only unnatural grace and a lack of fear at muggings that kept both groceries and the tissue wrapped bundle in his arms. "What the hell, man...?" Freyr asked as soon as he saw it was Herakles and paused only to bring his glamoured green eyes to meet both Greeks. It was then he understood the question asked, "Val? You came all the way here to ask me that? I told you. She ain't with me. You knew that already."
"Oh yeah?" With his other hand, he flashed the printed out emails in his face. "Tell me what this is, then."
"You gonna actually let me read it?" As it is well known, it is next to impossible to read a paper being flashed out you. Especially by large angry men, Elf eyes or not.
Glaring, Teddy nonetheless let go of him and allowed him to take the papers from him.
Freyr put the clothing bundle atop the grocery sack and placed both on the ground at his feet. Hands freed, he took the papers and scanned through them, the confused look never leaving his fair features, "... I, I've never seen these before."
"But this is your email. Your name," argued the younger Greek, a strong vein pulsing along his forehead.
Hephaestus spoke. "Does anyone else have access to your computer or your accounts? Perhaps a certain shape-shifting son of a giant?" 00110001 00110100
"Are you calling me a lia...?" Freyr growled, his eyes narrowing to the younger Greek, the papers in his hands balled up in his clenched fists, but he held back the obvious shove he clearly wanted to administer. "Loki? He shouldn't...." He turned and looked back to the compound's exterior wall, "That goddamn bastard!"
Teddy looked between them, a sudden worry now creeping into his face as he realized treachery was afoot, even more so than he'd though. "The trickster? But, why would he bother with you? Or Erato?"
Freyr wheeled back around, torn between anger and renewed confusion, "He needs a why?"
"..." He had a point. Did Hermes ever need a why? "I thought he's chained up until your apocalypse," he grumbled.
"Most people think we're still up on that mountain. Freyr's reaction suggests Loki is unbound." Hephaestus interjected. 00110001 00110101
"He was bound and he will be again." Ragnarok was a complicated thing sometimes. Freyr unclenched his fists and tore open the blue tissue paper from the bundle that had his name on it. "And these must be from him, too."
"Let us not be too hasty in casting blame. Should we raise these concerns to Odin before doing anything ourselves?" Hephaestus said as he looked at Freyr. 00111001
"Is there any way to track this?" asked Herakles, firm even as he felt his heart breaking. One mortal human could be handled. A powerful god of chaos...
"We probably could. Or I could go kick down his door." The Aesir were not especially known for their calmness, and Freyr was not much of an exception.
Teddy nodded and stepped back. "Lead the way then," he said, a way of apology.
Hephaestus hung back, seeing the advantage in letting his two companions lead the way, despite the problems it could pose when they reached Loki's door. He hoped that he would be able to find someone level headed enough to listen to reason within the compound. He rolled his eyes, remembering whose compound he was in. "Crap," he muttered, as he had let his mantra slip. 00110010
The groceries and clothing forgotten, Freyr placed his hand to the outline of the door and it open. "Quickly follow, before it shuts," he instructed and then stormed on into the compound, taking the stairs up. He was not in the mood to idly wait in the elevator, not right now. He climbed the steps three at a time before reaching the proper floor.
Meanwhile, deep inside the floor wide apartment dwelling, the dark haired, light eyed man known to the Aesir for generation sat. To his side where notebooks scratched at with designs, words and figures with seemingly no rhyme or reason and his hand rested atop them, pen still in his fingers, but his eyes focused on the clacking office balls before him on the coffee table. Focused there to the exclusion of other things until...
Until Freyr kicked open the door with all his might. A siren began to blare, but the Elf God did not care. He rushed forward and Loki came out of his daydreams just in time to lock up in a shoulder grapple with the charging Elf in defense. "Where is she?" was the Elf God's war cry.
"There are a lot of women in the world. None of them mean kicking down my door." was the Trickters' reply.
A growl rumbled out of Teddy's -- Herakle's -- chest. He seemed, if at all possible, even larger than normal. "You'll answer the question, thief! I came to put blood on my hands, and I don't mind if it's yours."
Hephaestus stood casually in the doorway, scanning both the interior of Loki's office and the hallway with the cool impassive gaze of a security camera. His hand rested on his hip, ready to draw a weapon if necessary. His mind cataloged the hallways he had run through and extrapolated, trying to figure out the most likely location of the All-Father. And all the while a steady beat suffused his consciousness. It kept him in control as his companions raged. 00110110 00110101 00110011 00110101
Loki blinked, using his strength to hold back the Elf as he brought his eyes from Freyr to the others. He glanced twice at Hephaestus, and then gave Freyr a shove to bring some space, both breathing and talking, between them. He rolled his shoulders back and nearly dusted himself before relenting. "This about that little Greek thing? Must be when you bring Herakles and associate with you. If I took her, I certainly am not giving her up with this kind of nonsense, but more likely, I don't. I've had other things to do than keep women from your bed."
"If?" Freyr growled and renewed his charge, taking the other Norse deity by the shoulders.
The sirens calmed, only to have a female voice speak out of some unseen intercom, "There's been a breech. What is going on?"
Loki replied as he punched Freyr off him again, "Your brother and pals are here."
Even in the beautiful language the voice muttered in next, it wasn't hard to assume that the translation was, "Fuck. Just fuck."
Part of Teddy's brain that still worked with logic wondered, If he's so hated, why the hell is he in the same building? But that wasn't a question for now. To the intercom he yelled, "We have no quarrel with you. Only the one here. We'll be gone..." He glowered at the half-giant. "Shortly."
Hephaestus struggled to maintain his calm in the face of imminent fiasco. "If you took her, what kind of nonsense would you give her up for? And if you didn't take her, prehaps you know where she is." Hephaestus plied the trickster for information/stalled for time. 00100000
"There will be no threats on our own." The intercom responded back and then clicked off with an audible click.
Freyr grabbed him again, this time by his dark hair and slammed him down to his knees. Loki's glared up at him, his light eyes briming with anger and also amusement. Perhaps it was the latter that kept him from struggling or striking the Elf anywhere on the lower half of his body in relaiation. "I am not frightened by any of you. If I have her, you will not do anything to harm me very much or you would risk her. And if I don't... you are only wasting your time. However," he clapped his hands and the lights of the condo came on in full, nearly blindingly light. Papers and boxes littered much of the dwelling. "Does it look like I've been outside in the last few days? The only path to the door is the one you yourselves have made."
The Elf paused and looked around. There was logic to that, but the fact there was logic made him clearly question it. "That could be a trick..."
Loki grinned maliciously, "Could be, I suppose." And then he brought his clear blue eyes to Hephaestus, "If I have, perhaps I would negotiate but threats will get you no where with me. And if I don't, well... I would suggest looking to those who would have greater interest in her. Enemies maybe."
Herakles narrowed his eyes and looked to his brother. "[The Egyptians? Subrosa? Or someone new?]" he asked, using their own language. He had a feeling that the higher-ups in their own clan wouldn't want them spreading the idea that the Greeks were being attacked from all sides. Which wasn't far off from the truth... but still. Even with new allies, one had to keep friends close.
Hephaestus turned to Loki, his helmet providing a blank, impassive face. "It is too bad you won't negotiate. Perhaps I could have helped you keep your affairs in better order. But now, perhaps not." Having said this Hephaestus turned and strode out the door. He addressed the ubiquitous voice, "If you will meet with me, I will endeavor to explain this intrusion." 00111000
The voice did not have time to respond because the All-Father had made it out the elevator and stood before Hephaestus, glancing around him only for a moment to see the mess of the interior. He said something in a horribly accented language and Freyr released Loki's hair, allowing Loki to stand again. He then spoke to Hephaestus, but any one was really free to answer, "Maybe you can explain it to me."
"My excitable friends and I are searching for a member of my family. She was kidnapped mysteriously a short while ago. All signs pointed here, to the Aesir, but I fear it may have been a simple case of calculated misdirection." It was simple and the truth. 00111001
"I see." Odin said calmly, but could not resist the urge to rub at the gray-blind eye of his glamour. He was really beginning to learn to hate not knowing everything; he never grew accustomed to that. He stepped forward to be better into the room and scanned all the participants. "And I presume all roads lead to Loki?"
"Actually, all the evidence leads to me." Freyr replied as he approached the All-Father, "But that very fact makes me think he did it."
"Obviously. Because no one else could be framing you." Odin stared at Freyr for just longer than comfortably before looking away to Loki, "But its not an unsound theory. Did you kidnap her and blame Freyr? I think we both would rather you just tell me than for me to see your history."
Loki laughed as he kicked his feet up on his couch, without a care to any of the papers that may have been beneath them, "You would rather. I think its hilarious, but come now, Odin. If I were going to frame Freyr I wouldn't have been so vague about it. Not when I could shapeshift into him and make a big scene."
And Odin couldn't help but sigh. However, it made all the sense to him and the likelihood of Loki just lying about that and framing Freyr in this manner as a ploy was low enough for him to believe him. He said something to the Elf-God in what would be a beautiful langague if not for a terrible accent, causing Freyr to look away, before turning to the Greeks, "I believe you are in the wrong place for your search and request you search elsewhere."
Hephaestus' phone chimed softly, the sound routed directly in his helmet. Pressing a button on the phone at his waist surreptitiously, Hephaestus observed a short message from Jarella, who was manning his computers at home as they dredged every electronic avenue looking for Val. Val had been located in Bryant Park, NYC. Jarella patched Heph through to his mainframe, and the information scrolled before his eyes. Hephaestus struggled to maintain his mental composure against a wave of anger, frustration and embarrassment. They had been lead around by the nose like a bunch of fools.
"I believe we will do just that, All-Father," Hephaestus said, his tone betraying little of his inner turmoil. "Teddy, we are leaving. Freyr, you're free to come unless Odin makes you fix the door you broke." There would be time for explanations later. Hephaestus was already moving towards the exit. 11001010
Nodding, the former mortal turned to Loki and said, in a truthfully apologetic tone, "Sorry about the bother," and turned to follow his kin.
All three Aesir seemed to look at each other as Herakles turned to leave, Odin and Freyr trying to be sly about while Loki not caring in the least. Freyr followed to the point of just outside the doorway, "I need to clear some things up here, but tell me when you find her. And if you need an extra set of fists to punch people with. I might not have my flying sailing ship anymore, but I have a pretty speedy helicopter."
Hephaestus nodded. "I'll keep you informed. Should we need more fists, I will contact you if I'm able." Hephaestus continued walking. 00110010 He exited the Aesir compound without uttering another word. Once he was free of the confines of the impressive compound, he turned to Herakles. "She's in New York City. I've sent ahead to have my plane ready. Do you want to come with me, or do you have your own means of transportation?" Hephaestus discontinued his meditation. He didn't think he would need it anymore in Washington D.C.
New York...? "Is yours faster?" he asked. "Wait, dumbass question. Yes, I'll go with you. Please, take me."
Hephaestus grinned. He liked this new, polite Herakles. "Then we are off. Hephaestus strode off to his rental vehicle, parked well off from the massive Aesir building. Even though this trip had been pointless, at least it hadn't taken him farther away from his true destination. And now that he knew where he was going, nothing would stop him until he knew that Val was safe.
Summary: Hephaestus and Herakles follow all credible evidence to Washington D.C. in search of Val. Freyr, the prime suspect, ends up joining their search. They are doing very well, until it is revealed that all the evidence they found was planted, all their actions were pointless, and that Val is in a completely different location. Oops.