A Parisian Lawyer in Dire Straits

Paris, France, a beautiful city, especially when viewed from the air. Slightly less beautiful when you happened to be flying through the air at a mile a minute, having been hurled across the sky by some winged demon. With a tremendous crack, the golden knight felt an impact. Splendid, someone's flat had just been ruined. With that thought in the forefront of his mind, Jean rose to his feet, and picked up his sword and shield. The sword had been lodged in a wall, and his shield had, luckily enough, stayed on his arm. "Hm. I thank you for the damages caused; now someone is homeless. I really don't think you need to breathe more." Jean stepped up, blade in hand, and leaped forward.

The beast that had attacked was some sort of gargoyle or demon, he didn't really care, but one that was terrorizing Paris. Without any warning, this thing had flown on in, killed a few people, and triggered a national security alert. Of course, Jean didn't let something like that slide. Within seven minutes of the sudden attack, Jean found himself in armor, with his sword in hand, and fighting the creature. Being one of the good guys was quite painful sometimes.

Now, with his blazing sword in hand, Jean found himself stabbing the creature in the chest. Repeatedly. With a few more thrusts, the beast cracked, and began to melt. It exploded into tiny pieces, bits of flesh and melted skin rained upon Paris. Good God that had been annoying. For once, something had managed to harm Jean. Now he was bleeding, bruised, and in general disrepair. With a resigned sigh, Chevalier walked away, sneaking into an alley, where nobody would see him. Pulling out his Grimoire, Chevalier sucked his armor into it, and then snapped the book shut, putting it back into his pocket. With a satisfied smile, the Frenchman started walking back home. He was bleeding quite profusely from his chest, but that could be handled by the Pentagramme de Guérison du Chevalier. It would need a hell of a lot of blood to work, but there was a stray cat somewhere.

A few hours later, and after slaughtering a few strays, Jean was back in good shape. He stowed the pentacle, then looked sadly at his suit. It was ruined. He had really liked that suit; he was planning on wearing it the next day. Oh well, he had better get down to a café or something; he was hungry as all hell.

Jean sat down at a small table, ordered some food and a glass of wine, and proceeded to sit and wait. He needed a rest from the superhero life for a bit. A few hours of just sitting there would do him some good.

Penny was in france, what was she doing in Paris? She was hunting for a thief, some dastardly villainous scientist had stolen her research. She needed it back and quickly or her best friend's life would be at risk. Her purse was slung over one shoulder, her dark brown hair braided into a french twist, silver hoops gleamed, her legs were clad in a pair of black slacks, a dark blue shirt, and a pair of black boots. A very old face watched gleamed at her wrist. Anyone who tried to steal it would be very stupid as it wouldn't come off. There was a tiny needle embedded into the flesh of her skin and her super suit was registered to her DNA. SHe would no doubt feel it if somebody tried to take it.
She stopped at a cafe, leaning against the counter. The serving boy looked incredibly startled.
"Avez-vous vu cet homme?" Penny asked pulling out a picture of the american scientist. Have you seen this man?

"Non mademoiselle, je n'ai pas." He said, shaking his head, light locks of hair bouncing.
Dang it, he had not seen him. Penny chewed her lip, "Merci."
She moved away, sighing and looking very tired.

As Jean took a sip of his wine, he watched the people walk by. The hustle and bustle of downtown Paris was a sight to behold, businessmen mixed in with artists and bakers, all making their way down the street, up the street, across the street, humans really were so busy nowadays. Jean remembered the old days, when people stayed at home for fear of being slaughtered, it was certainly quieter back then, if a little less vibrant. With another sip of his wine, Jean smiled. His food had arrived.

A few bites of steak later and he was full, had sated his appetite for wine, and gotten a tad bit more relaxed. With an interested glance, he looked over at one of the serving boys who had been approached by a woman with something of an awful accent. Asking something about having seen a man. Jean caught a glimpse of the picture. Wait, he had seen that fellow, just a few seconds ago!

With a sudden urgency in his step, Jean stood up, walked over to the woman, and tapped her on the shoulder. "Well, from your awful accent, I can tell you're British, so English will do us both some more good. And that man you were just talking about, isn’t that him?" Jean pointed down the road, where the person she was looking for was standing, and a bag of groceries in his hand. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly has this man done to you?"

Penny was about to leave when a man tapped her on the shoulder. The girl spun around and her eyes landed on a man who was about two inches taller than her, blonde hair, and startling green eyes. Her mind began moving at about several hundred miles an hour. Her dark brown eyes traveled up and down once, drawing information only as a woman with muscle memory and photographic memory could. He was missing a wedding ring, unattached, his shirt was wrinkled in several places, there was no woman living with him. Penny figured it was safe to guess he was single as well. Now as for his hands, they seemed slightly calloused, Penny didn't guess guitar or the callouses would have been on the side. A sport or weapon perhaps?
She arched a thin brown eyebrow at him commenting at her accent. Then her dark chocolate brown eyes moved to the man on the street, her lips pressing into a thin line and her face paled with rage.
"Hold that thought." She ran down the street and grabbed the thieving scientist by the wrist and ninja flipped him. He struck the floor with a crack and she reached into the stunned man's pocket before pulling out a thumb drive.
"Thanks for doing business with you."
Penny walked back, hanging the thumb drive on her necklace.
"What did he do to me?" The british woman asked pleasantly. "He stole information that may be the key for saving my best friend's life. If he had it for much longer she may have died."
Penny fixed him with a penetrating gaze, the tone of her voice was naturally soft and any person who knew her also knew she rarely yelled. Unless she was running around as circuit then she was all about yelling.

Jean was a bit taken aback as the woman demonstrated her martial prowess. Quite nicely done, if a bit crude. So the man had stolen from her, an understandable reason to chase him around the world. "Quite nicely executed milady, that's a fine set of arms you have. And I do bid your friend a swift recovery from their malady, if it is such a life threatening injury or sickness." Jean titled his head slightly as he examined the female. The modern phenomena knows as the female heroine was quite a new thing for Jean, back in his day all women did was walk around in fine satins and seduce people, this was, if a bit jarring, a welcome change of pace.

A crease appeared on Jean's forehead as he thought about the situation. The woman was certainly interesting, and probably had more to her than this ninja-flipping persona. "Hm. You look like you need a bit of rest. Have you gotten a hotel room yet? If not, you're certainly welcome to a stay in my flat. It's quite the rare occurrence to meet someone so capable these days."

Pennys brain kicked into overdrive at his language, Milady... something was off with this man. Then he offered her a place to stay at... his flat. Her eyebrows shot up. Oh no he didn't. Her cheeks burned and she shook her head.
"I think I will pass on your offer of... eh- staying at your flat."
She crossed her arms across her chest, the pale pink color fading from her cheeks.
No way this guy was going to pull a stunt like that... she would not go home with some random guy. Nope. Nope. Nope. Her eyes narrowed slightly. Her brain was calculated the possible escape routes, so far she was up to three... and something told her she may find it difficult to outrun him.

Jean could see the woman's discomfort- that was saddening. There had been a time when inviting a woman over to his house was met with joy from the lady, but his title of Knighthood meant nothing to these modern humans. France used to be a place where a Knight of Christendom entitled you to free lodging and all the women you could ever want, but looking back, that was also the time when rape and murder were legal, so long as you were of high birth. It was probably for the best that France had changed, but it was still fairly annoying.

"Well, if I cannot offer you shelter, might the fair maiden enjoy a sip of wine with me? It would truly be an honor to sup with someone so fine as yourself." Jean bowed his head slightly, and then extended a hand to the woman. "My name is Jean of Mormount, what do they call you and thine family?"

Penny's eyes narrowed even more, so he was going to get her drunk and then take her to his home.
"I don't drink," She stated. Her voice was not cold but there was an edge of a razor in her tone. A subtle warning. Penny started to move around him when she stopped before asking, "Do you always talk like that?"
It was odd, very odd. Unless he was a quaker of some sort. But she doubted it.
Her pale skin was slightly pink from being in the sun for too long and her dark brown hair glistened in the overhead sunlight. Her brown eyes and mind were trying to form a decision on him.

"I don't drink." At this, Jean shook his head. Was this woman really serious? "Come now, in Paris and you refuse the offer of wine? You must be insane, but I see that you must have some reason." Jean gave a tiny little pout; it was always infuriating when

"Do you always talk like that?" At this, Jean frowned quite violently. "And I ask ye, are ye always so rude? In my day one would not dare to press a Knight with insults." Jean was growing slightly annoyed with this person. She decided to insult him? Well, alright he would explain why he spoke in this manner. "You want to know why I speak like this? It is because of my age. I happen to be centuries older than you miss, born in the Year of our Lord, 1511, in the then Christian Kingdom of France. I have seen more things than you have heard of, and can traverse the most dangerous of regions, and the most precarious of situations. I have defeated demon, monster, vampire, and all manner of creature." With this, to give a little show of his power, Jean took a carving knife off the table. Then proceeded to stab himself. The knife shattered into a million little pieces, and his arm was completely unharmed.

Penny flinched as the knife sped towards his arm and then proceeded to shatter. She resisted the temptation to grab his arm and study it. After the shock vanished from her the British woman forced her face to become neutral.

"I've been called worse," She said slightly amused. "Insane just begins to describe me. As for the wine, I refuse to drink alcohol because someone very dear to my heart was killed and a drunk driver was involved."
The temperature in her voice dropped considerably. "As for your own opinion, I could care less."
Her eyes were a glittering dark brown, like some sort of predator. Then they dropped to his arm and she raised the arm that had been stabbed to eye level.
"That is fascinating-" She began and then stopped herself, her cheeks burning a faint red. "Sorry, I get carried away in my job as a mad scientist."
She was joking about the mad scientist bit and hopefully her tone showed that. She was about to ask him something different when a car came barrelling around the corner headed straight at her.
"Move," She shoved him out of the way, not remembering he couldn't be hurt, at the same time there was a strange black scale like armor encasing her body. Through her armor, Penny avoided most of the damage and she brought the car to a crunchy stop. The young doctor suspected she had a few cracked ribs and a bruised head after the whole blurring movement of the black sedan. The sedan sped off but not before the woman caught a glimpse of the licence plate. With a soft hissing noise the armor shrank down into the watch at her wrist, only showing a pale skinned Penny doubled over in agony on the sidewalk.

Jean grimaced as the woman examined him, calling herself a mad scientist. Probably a joke, but you could never really be sure with the British. With a sudden clamor, almost as if by a work of the Devil, a car came barreling through. The woman, obviously having lost her senses, seemed to forget that he would have been unaffected by the automobile, instead turning into some monstrous black entity and using her body as a shield. The woman had stopped the car, but it still sped off. Christ, that was certainly random.

As the woman limped over, her blood red as a rose, Jean's expression softened. "I have something for you, don't fret. " The knight rushed over to her, and removed a small amulet from his neck. It was the pentagram that he had used not too long ago. With a considerable effort, Jean managed to cut his arm using a fingernail, and let his blood drop onto the magical trinket. He pressed the pentagram into the young woman's chest, and grinned as the device sizzled, burning away her wounds and sealing her ribs. With a few more drops, she was in tiptop shape. "I wonder what she'll say about that drink now…" mumbled the Frenchman as he smiled down at the young Brit. She really was quite attractive.

Penny could feel herself going into shock, not good, not good. Her vision began to go blurry and she became faintly aware of Jean talking to her and she was leaning against him, struggling to remain standing. It was very easy to forget she was human, such a frail existence she had. Unlike every other creature she had met. Penny was suddenly aware of a burning sensation just below her collarbone, it only grew hotter and she tried to wiggle away from the burning pain. Only to find Jean was holding her in a very firm grip. Then suddenly... it stopped and her head stopped spinning. Penny blinked and looked down, seeing some sort of medallion resting against her her white skin. The scientist picked it up and looked at it, backing away a few steps. There seemed to be some sort of pentagram on it. Her brain was moving faster than she was taking stuff in. The red outline of the pentagram on her pale skin still burned faintly. Her heart rate picked up.
"What did you do to me?" She asked quietly, her eyes narrowing. Her voice was like a razor slice of ice, nothing warm or welcoming. Miraculously no crowd had started to gather, mostly because everybody had been eating inside.
"What the heck did you do to me Jean?" She asked louder, she was slipping into Circuit's personality unintentionally. She had a few ideas but none of them seemed possible. She knew she was healed, the pounding in her head had vanished, and the pain in her wrist, from breaking it last year, was gone too.

"What the heck did you do to me Jean?" At this, Jean smiled. It was always amusing to see people react to magic for the first time. He had gotten more than a few women in his bed with promises of magical elixirs to maintain their beauty back in his wilder days, but now he just laughed as people panicked at the slightest of spells. Really, these fools wouldn't have survived a day in his time.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Didn't your parents ever teach you to be grateful? I just healed all your wounds. This amulet is as old as I am, and was forged by magicians that most mortals could not begin to understand. It is simply a restorative spell utilizing the concept of equivalent exchange. I gave my blood to the amulet, and it healed you. That means that a little bit of me will be inside of you for about a week. Sorry about that, but you should be feeling better than you ever have." Jean extended a hand and said. "May I have that amulet back?"

The street lamps blazed to life as the panic climbed and Penny's heart rate sped up.
Magic?
His blood was inside her?
Her fist tightened around the medallion, the symbols digging into the flesh of her palm. She shook her head, hard and violently. No. Not possible. Magic didn't exist, magic didn't exist- She backed up only to find her back up against one of the wildly flickering light poles. She needed to control her heart rate or her suit would react. At those thoughts her brain began to rationalize, magic to brain power or powerful medicine. That is how she coped, she rationalized. How else would she have survived the whole fiasco of last year?
"Fine," She said coolly, composing herself but her brain was still rattling around in her head at a high level of mental shock.
"I will play along with you for a few moments," She strode forward a few steps and placed the medallion in Jean's outstretched hand. "Why did you do it?"
That was Penny's favorite question, why.
Always, Why this or Why that. Best of all was Why me? It left people, especially males, floundering. Trying not to say the wrong thing.
The british woman waited, her arms crossed her chest, and her dark pink lips pressed together. Her dark brown eyes calculating... they always seemed to be doing that.... calculating people... outcomes....

The woman asked him why. Why? What an odd question. Did this woman have no concept of common decency? He pocketed the amulet, great; he would most definitely need that later. "You ask me why I did this for you? Milady, it was simply the Christian thing to do. And I can see it in your eyes. You don't really believe that this is magic. I think I have something that may change your mind." At this, Jean grinned. The cocky woman would be getting a surprise.

With an artful swirl, his grimoire appeared, and with a quick incantation, his sword materialized in his hand, set ablaze by magic. "Do you believe me now skeptic? Or is thine brine simply unwilling to accept the fantastical?"