The Sword of the water god and such

(( A week earlier))

Sean had been searching for something to do for a while. After all the recent events he realized that even with his powers now he wasn't strong enough. It seemed that everyone ha faced was still far beyond him. It bugged him for days at a time. Even after he mt Brightside he was still slightly agitated by this fact. Why was he so weak? Maybe it was just that the people he fought were too strong. Too skilled for him to take down. So Sean needed an edge above most metahumans. Something to give him the power he needed. Which he did find one day while perusing a antique store. It was a musty looking tome. Written in Chinese from what it looked like. Fascinated Sean bought it for the asking price. One thousand dollars. Quickly returning to the hotel. Plopping down on the bed, booting up the laptop he had just bought.Thanks to the money he "borrowed" from Spencer before h left. Acessing the hotel wifi and looking it up. Trying to find out what each og the symbols mean. After about four days of study . Night and day of it he found the asnwer. It was a wonderful discovery he could not wait to jump on. With that he quickly ordered two round trip tickets from New York to Los Angales. Not worrying about expense since the money wasn't his. Packing up all his clothes and things. As he got ready to head off to The city of Angels.

(( Present))

Sean and Brigthside were walking down the streets of Los Angales. It was a pleasent dark day. Clouds over cast in the sky. As people scrambled about their daily lives. On their cell phones and such. Sean had decided to leave all but the essentials in the hotel they booked. he knew where to go, but had to be of a few things first. Which he usually did without Brightside, Since he didn't want to complicate anything. After all no need to do that.

Sean wore the usual. Tight black jeans with ripped up knees. A skin conforming graphic tee. Hair black and blonde swept tot he side. A peircing in his right eyebrow and left side of lip. Greyish eyes looking around. It was a good day. Well for Sean. he loved a rainy day. Extremely. He was close to finding what he looked for. They stood infront of an abandoned non descript building. Sean looked it over curiously. "Hmm i think this is the place." He said raisnig an eyebrow. He was sure it was. So it had to be.

A few yards away from Brightside and Sean, a rather dirty homeless man continued to pick threw the trash. Along his travels the man had come across some old abandoned Canadian infantry clothes. He was no sporting old worn leather combat boots, a few sizes too big camouflage baggy infantry pants held up by a rope belt, a green muscle shirt with an old camouflage tunic that was now missing three out of the five buttons on the from of the shirt, thus simply being left open. His hair no longer contained twigs, leaves and clumps of mud, but it was still a far cry from clean. His bear was more manageable now, but still gave him a wild savage appearance.

Just then he picked up an old Swiss army knife, the only thing visibly wrong with it was the scissors were broken, however the rest of the pieces appeared in perfect shape. Some people will throw out anything. Such a wasteful world. He smiled at his find and stuffed it into an old warn tan side bag he had found. The shoulder strap was held together by a few dozen wraps of duck tape, but the bag itself was still in good order.

He glanced over at the two gentlemen, they seemed rather out of place for this area, though he was hardly one to talk. That's when he smelt it, the wind had changed direction and he could clearly smell the two. The one was... well the only way you could explain was he wasn't human. He smelt... like a lightning storm. Not the moisture in the air, but rather the crisp smell of natural electricity, and free flowing electrons. Giving that feeling that makes your hair stand on end. It was odd to say the least.

And the other.... smelt like... water?

Hound took a step towards them and took a deeper breath, filling his nostrils to the brim. The one who smelt of water, there was more, his sweat, there was something unique about it. Something he had never smelt before it was... as if we was more in tune with nature than most.

The two of them combined gave the distinct feeling like a storm was coming, they were powerful, they were special.

Hound`s curiosity peaked higher than it had in years, he wanted to learn more, he back off and took to the shadows, erasing his presence, he began to channel his animal like instincts, he would track them, and learn why what they were. Today was going to be a good day.

"I still don't know exactly what we're looking for here." Brightside said, trying to keep his patience. A week ago, everything was fine, and Sean seemed happy enough. Then he found some chinese book, and seemed to be obsessed with it. He didn't understand it at all, but he supposed he just wasn't as smart as Sean was; all he knew was that, next thing he knew, they were getting on a plane and heading to LA. He didn't like the idea of going on a wild goose chase; even worse, though, was that Sean was paying for all this with stolen money. He knew at some point he should comment on it...but it felt like he'd just create another dramatic problem.

So, here he was, apparently going to investigate an abandoned warehouse (yeah, toootally the site of some chinese artifacts,) in the middle of a rainy day. He'd already asked if they could go back to the hotel (implying a few other things as well), but Sean had declined, which told Brightside that he was serious about this. "Well, whatever. You sure it's in here? Fine. Let's go ahead then."

Sean looked at Brightside. How he wanted to say yes to him and his various "offers". Though he could oblige later. Now was some important buisness. Afterall what would be more important than power? Birghtside of course, but he seeked the power to protect him. So he wouldn't loose another person he loved. Not again. Sean pushed open the rusty doors of the warehouse. Small plumes of dust coming off of the door as it creaked open. Loud creaks of protest echoed. Revealing the dark interior. Next tot he door was a switch that Sean flipped. Lighting the whole area up. Revealing a wide open dirty area. Yet it had a strange prescence about it. Like something was smothering him. Though that sensation only lasted for a second. He knew this place had to be a point of power. The artifacts were definatly here. His pale pink lips streched into a smile. Looks like he wasn't mistaken after all. Though how he went about doing this was a different story. How would he find a way to the artifacts? What would lie ahead of them? Memories of what happened in Louisiana filled his mind.

How he fought a strange shadow beast. The girl with the same powers as him. A child who could stop all aggression. Would this place be the same to. Hopefully not. Though this would mot likely be similar tot he hall of treasure like before. Maybe Brightside would get something to. Either way they would have to find out.

Alice hummed as she walked down the street, her ipod playful a cheerful pop song with a fast beat... perfect fo a walk. She glanced around, nope, still lost, but hey, atleast it wasn't night time... and she did kind of know where she was going. With the skyline of downtown LA clearly visible, she'd be doing a lot of walking, but she'd get somewhere familiar sooner or later. She glanced up at the sky, hoping it wouldn't start raining, it's not like she had an umbrella on her. Suddenly, she saw a very familiar figure up ahead, along with someone she did not know. She followed behind them silently, hoping to find the right time to jump out and scare to crap out of Sean, it'd certainly be worth the look on his face.

Soon, they stopped, right in front of an abandoned warehouse. What was he doing? She watched as they stepped inside the dark interior, though they must have found a light switch since light soon spilled out from the inside. "Dang, it's really gettin' cloudy." she muttered, looking up at the sky. Staring up at the clouds certainly brought back memories of a certain hurricane. She shook her head before creeping closer... this may be her chance. She smiled wickedly, this was gonna be good.

Hound's gaze followed the figure of a young girl. She appeared to be rather young to be alone in this area of the city, 16 at the oldest, 12 at the youngest. She was cute, reminded him a bit of his younger sister, but overall her appearance was unremarkable. At first glance he assumed her to be a simple passer by, sporting the latest in personal headset entertainment device, however that was when he caught her sent only seconds before she began to make a straight line for the open doors, following the two interesting men from before.

She too had the unmistakable aroma of someone who was more than some ordinary human. Truly this was becoming more and more curious. Why would so many supers gather in such an unremarkable location. Had be accidentally stumble a cross a secret underground base for a super elite fighting team? A laboratory for the military to perform godless experiments? Or something so crazy it could make one's head explode just by thinking it?! Then again they could just be friends having a get together...

What ever the case may be, Hound was not going to learn the truth in the alley way. He surveyed his surroundings, and spotted a fire escape ladder nearby leading to the roof, with a small platform halfway up. Taking a running start he leapt higher than an average person could ever dare hope, grabbed the ladder's bottom rail. He had done much training in the deep dense woods which allowed him to swing and flip up allowing him to climb. He moved like a wild animal climbing a tree. Stopping at the second story window he peered down into the now dimly lit storage building. The inside appeared normal for a warehouse, sparsely filled with abandoned materials, garbage everywhere, even a rat or two was clearly visible, unafraid of humans. He could see the two men from before near the centre of the room, and the girl now making her entrance.

Over all it seemed rather uneventful, what on earth were they up to? Thankfully a few of the windows were cracked and broken which would allow him to hear their conversation, even with out his super hearing.

Brightside sighed. Empty, just like Sean said it would be, and that wasn't a good thing; now he was going to preform some ritual...thing that was described in the book. He didn't get it (well, didn't get magic in general), so he was a little afraid. It was odd, considering that he was fearless against thugs with guns or even supervillains. Oh, but nobody start some fucking voodoo ritual! I'll bolt it! Brightside mentally scolded himself. Sean wouldn't do anything too dangerous.

Would he?

"Ok, so, no blood right? No Luigi Boards, or whatever they're called? And no demons and shit?" He tried not to scowl skeptically, but he just couldn't help it; he was here pretty much against his will and he had no idea what was going on. He was frustrated.

Sean walked to the center of the room. Pulling a backpack off of his back Placing it on the ground. Taking out a small box of red chalk, a leather bound tome, and some candles. Sitting down legs crossed, As he opened the book to the middle page. Revealing the words written in chinese. Though Sean prefered speaking them in Latin. Made them sound more fluent. As the book landed on the ground plumes of dust were sent up. Then Sean went to drawing. A large star with circles surounding each point. Then he pulled out multi colored chalk. Writing strange symbols in each circle. Each representing the five elements. Fire,Earth, Water, Air and Spirit. He drew the symbol for water slowly and fondly. Placing a candle each also a different color at the points. Taking a deep slow breath. Muscles relaxing. A perfect picture of serenity. He was a master of all the relaxation tecniques, yet he couldnt use magic one bit. Though he had enough raw power to force a little ritual to work. That and the things needed to force the flow of magic energy.

The air took on the scent of an ocean. As if they were suddenly sent to an ocean shore. He could feel the power course through his body. The magic was close to being ready. Welling up in his chest. Around his heart. A slight wind stirred up. Dust on the floor displaced.Lights flickered rapidly. Then stayed steady.What he was doing was calling the elements. Though to him all it felt like was that water came to him. So he prepared to do a long intricate chant. The ritual was about to begin.

Brightside shifted uncomfortably as Sean laid out his materials. From what had been put out, he figured that there wouldn't be anything really weird going on, so he relaxed. He even gave Sean a little encouraging smile as he sat and meditated. Well shit, looks harmless enough, he thought, and once he realizes nothings gonna happen, we'll go home.

But something did happen, even before Sean started his chant. The smell of the ocean ran through the air, and a certain humidity filled the space around Brightside, giving him cold shivers. The room darkened but a fraction, and the candles....their flames changed color right before his eyes. Water was blue, Earth was green, Air was...nearly invisible, Fire was pure red, and Spirit was some ghostly white. I could have fuckin' sworn those were normal a second ago. The Water candle, previously as bright as the others, grew in size, overwhelming the other colors.

Brightside clenched his fists, trying to stay calm. This was completely out of his realm of experience, and he desperately wanted to leave, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Sean here all alone. If anything, he wanted to make sure that he'd be ok, safe from whatever strange phenomena was occurring in the warehouse.

Hound was a man who had seen many strange things, and what he saw before him was easily the fifteenth weirdest thing he ever saw. Right between a were-moose ripping it's way through some campers and a beaver the size of an elephant having its way with a grizzly bear it had made it's bitch. The sounds that poor bear made still haunt Hound to this day. Poor Bastard.

The smell was powerful, if he didn't know better he would have sworn he was standing on a boat in the middle of the pacific, not down town in Los Angeles. Still with a simple look around Hound could confirm he was in fact still in the city. What ever these two were up to, it was clearly going to end terribly. How did Hound know that something was going to go wrong? It was magic. Something always goes terribly wrong. When will man know not to mess with from the beyond? Still if the earth doesn't explode, or a giant marshmallow monster doesn't eat you, it makes for a great drinking story...

Alice snuck in, sticking to the shadows, seemingly becoming part of the darkness itself. She watched curiously as Sean took out the various items, obviously for some arcane ritual. She was definently reminded of that vampire series... ah yes, House of the Night or something like that. She watched him prepare, drawing the symbols and lighting the candles. And then, it began. Alice's eyes widened, she swore she could smell the sea. She watched as a series of strange events happened... this was for real!? Alice shook her head, this was wayyy past her. She crept out of the shadows and moved towards Sean, wanting to get a closer look. She was completely fixated on the ritual as she moved, it was as if she was in a trance.

((OOC: you called me Wally XD))

The smell was overwhelming as it increased. Yet Sean's mind payed that no more mind. He was ficused on the chant. That he had to be sure to get right. As power coursed through his entire body. Like a pleasent burning tingling sensation. The chant came off his lips in a rapid flow so fast he could barely understand himself. In a low rumbling voice. It flowed like a rivers. Fluid and clean. As each candle's flame increased in intensity. Soon illuminating the entire place. He ddin't even notice Alice's approach. Everything pretty much was irrelivent at this moment. As a great flood of power seemed to crash over him. Eyes turning from their blue green, almost greyish color. Into a pure blue. Glowing slightly. As symbols came from the focal point of the circle out wards. Around a ten square foot radius around Sean. As the ground split. Revealing a dusty looking staircase. As the energy died down. Yet the smell of an ocean still lingered.

Sean coming down from the high of the magic. Eyes still that clear crystal blue color. As he stood up collecting his things. Putting the candles out and washing away the circle with water gathered from the air. Now dense with it. Putting everything back into the back pack and slinging it over his shoulder. "So we ready to move on?" Sean asked sighing. As he stood up.

Brightside looked at the staircase more in horror than in wonder. He expected some voodoo creepiness, not symbols glowing in the air and color changing eyes and the freakin' ground cracking open like an egg. "What the fuckwas that, Sean?" he whispered, as if afraid to disturb the freaky magic spirits that had caused all this. "This is serious shit...not to mention you probably ruined the foundation. Are you seriously thinking about going down there?" He couldn't understand why anyone with half a sane mind would do it. What was he expecting to find, Excalibur? Under a warehouse? Not to mention he had the ever-so-creepy feeling of being watched. His loyalty was being tested, heavily. "Sean, this is crazy. Please, don't do this..."

Alice somehow felt that someone... or thing was calling to her down there. Maybe it was simply the draw of the energy, either way though, she found herself moving towards the stairs. She silently walked past Sean and Mr. Brightside, until she was standing right in front of the stairs. It seemed like she was in a trance. She shivered slightly, she could feel the power leaking out... "What's down there?" she asked, her voice nearly a whisper as she continued to stare down into the darkness.

Hound's faithful watch continued as what appeared to be a stairway to hell's gate it self appeared in the floor of a rather unlikely place, a random dirty ware house in Los Angeles. At the very least, Hound expected such a place to be located under a Kindergarten in California. The one who appeared to have summoned the stairway and the young girl seemed eager to venture forth, drawn in by some unforeseen power. Meanwhile the man who smelt of electricity seemed to be wary of such a course, smart man. This was the point during a scary movie most people would be screaming at the screen and throwing popcorn despite having no effect in the faint hopes that the people would not go down to the deep dark basement where someone was waiting with a chainsaw or axe.

Hound continued to watch, now wishing he had popcorn...