The Heart of a Child (Imena and Venatorus)

It had been a long time since Victoria Steyr had been in her hometown. The sun was just rising over the horizon, and the fine mist of precipitation might have felt nostalgic if she had the ability to feel such things.   Her mind was not on her hometown though, she had come here for a purpose. Since the death of her sister, she had obsessed over it. She had kept the body, under the pretense of disposing of it personally. No one had argued with her right to cremate her only family, but Victoria had never actually gotten rid of the body. It was Victoria's intention to resurrect Eir, and she had gone to great expense to gather information on her creation and attempt similar projects. She was now confident she could achieve her goal, but she lacked one important ingredient: Eir, like herself, was powered by a human heart. Through some difficulty Victoria had found a subject that closely matched the original "donor." It was simply a coincidence the subject could be found in london, and also a coincidence it was locked away in a government facility so secretive even Victoria had difficulty finding details. For this reason, she sought allies. Some brute force might be needed, or even just a warm body to throw to the wolves in order to make her escape. All that mattered was her goal.  

Victoria stood picturesque in the morning mist. Her blonde hair was kept in check with a white hairband, and her blue eyes shone like lights in the fog. She wore her signature white and teal coat over a pink and white dress that barely showed itself from under the massive coat. Black buckled gloves covered her hands and brown heeled-boots covered her legs up past her knees, disappearing into her dress. The modest ensemble was accented by a blue ribbon on her breast. She looked the part of the proper Englishwoman, though perhaps not one from this particular decade. She sat casually on a bench under the mighty clocktower "Big Ben," the designated meeting place for her help to meet her at. Victoria had the wealth to simply hire help, but people that performed jobs like this for money were rarely trustworthy. Instead, it was easier to simply spread some misinformation...people were much more willing to help liberate an imprisoned child than abduct one. She pulled a silver pocket watch from her coat to check the time, despite the fact that she was under a very large clock. They should be arriving soon.

In past days the air around London smelled a little different.  A little heavier, but a little more accompanying.  Industry came and progress molded it.  All that once made the city a living machine slowly gave way to something Imena could hardly remember.  It now felt like stepping into the collective unconscious of an insect best by gods.  No one could even tell the difference between her time and the century before, but she knew her generation held the same arrogance towards those who came before her.  Old landmarks still held the familiar face, but now with new tenets and business.  Pictures in manuscripts always showed what she new "old" London to be, but now her life faded into the fray of the old ways- worse, it faded into what she once thought as old.

Now, she stood looking at a brave new world before her, unfolding like a compilation entry of assorted landmarks.  Bright screens beamed a light glow across her face while a man in a suit with a fat face and narrow eyes spoke to the electromagnetism.  Red tickers ran in the opposite direction Imena strolled.  Her knowledge of the metro system dictating she stay above ground, less she warrant the wrath of all sorts of vagabonds whom love to prey in the underground.  She presumed old pretenses manifesting themselves in a stroll into the government sector of the grandest city on Earth but a presumption based on a long line of quantified research from her early adventures around the Thames river.  Maybe the city didn't change.  

Westminster approached from the north.  Her rolling case bounced with every gap in the sidewalk, bouncing the buckle of her glove loose.  With the damn thing coming loose, Imena jolted the handle of her case to bring it to a steady standing point against the ground.  However much she did not want to keep her employer waiting, she also did not want to arrive with a bruised wrist from the jarring handle of the metal handle.  Her light blue coat flapped in the early morning breeze coming across the Thames river with her suede boots keeping her from feeling this new air in the English morning.  Misty air reflected off the earrings hanging from her lobes with a few strands of blonde hair intertwining at the apex between her ear and cheek.  The rest of her carefully pulled back hair rested perfectly behind her with the short strands just brushing against the back of her neck.  With the buckle back in prim position, Imena took control of the handle to her case and moved causally towards the monumental clock tower.  

Before her stood a woman holding all the time in the world.  "I think there's a clock behind you."  Returning her case to its standing position, Imena crossed her arms along her shoulders to relax her tired muscles.  "The Timestream Technomancer at your service."  The meeting felt especially cold in the misty early hours without the visage of a living city around them.  "It's been a while since I've been here, but I still remember the feel of the air on a nice morning like this.  I've been away on business to the States, but you can never forget this smell."  And like that, the smell of the past caught up to her.

Venatorus strolled out of the airport, nauseous as usual. He never did like flying. It was most likely the result of falling out of his Uncle's Ilremin, a plane-like device, as a child. He continued walking though; he didn't have time to be wait. According to the message he had received, the child grew more in danger every second.

Venatorus had been contacted by a mysterious woman who refused to disclose her name, for the reason of security. Venatorus could respect that; working in DC, he knew the value of security very well. He was told that their was a child being held against his will in a secret government facility, and that his powers could be of great use here. He did not know how she had discovered him, but he had decided to help none the less. This child was apparently meta-human, and was going to be used by a group known as Dominus for experimentation. The exact age and sex of the child was unknown, but the woman had documented proof of the child's imprisonment. Or, at least she claimed to. He had decided to trust her however. What other choice did he have? It's not like he could abandon a child to this.

He was told there would be another woman going on this escapade, though he did not know who she was or what she could do. Hell, he didn't even know what he was supposed to do. All he knew was that they were going to attempt to rescue the child, but that was as far as his knowledge in the matter went. He hoped to learn more at this meeting. He figured that the woman wouldn't have told him to come here without giving him the information needed to rescue the child. He wondered what exactly the child could do to be of enough notice to the British government that they would experiment on it.

He walked to the meeting place, and it took him about an hour. He took an extensive route, as he did not want to be followed. Every so often he would grab a streetlamp and absorb the energy contained within; though he had enough inside of him to power New York for an hour, he had not fully recuperated from his battle with the Coronel, and did not know how much power he would need for the assault on the government facility. He would rather leave a couple of useless streetlights then die because he wasn't strong enough.

He reached his destination; Big Ben. He looked to the left of the tower to see the rooftop of a building still being repaired, and the street next to it was being repaved. Several buildings were still damaged. He frowned; he did not know he had caused this much damage. It wasn't all him, and it was the Coronel's fault, but still. He felt bad, and reminded himself to make a donation to the British government and all of the businesses he had damaged. Venatorus hoped their insurance covered most of the damage.

Venatorus scanned the area, and quickly found the woman who had contacted him. Another woman walked up to her, dragging some form of bag behind her. Venatorus took a deep breath, and, for better or worse, walked to them.

Victoria snapped her watch close as she looked up. "Mine keeps better time." She said flatly in response to the woman's clock comment. "...but I must admit, it's been some time since I've been home myself. Italy isn't quite so far as the states though." She didn't mention the smell. Victoria had never noticed the smell of London, or anywhere else. Her nose was purely cosmetic, like everything else that made her seem human.

Victoria returned the watch to a pocket in her jacket. The large coat held much more than a watch, despite her frail appearance she was something of a walking armory. She had enough bullets to fight a small war, and one very peculiar box she might need later. As an American man approached the two English natives with a sense of purpose, Victoria ceased the pleasant chatter and simply got up and began walking down the sidewalk. "Follow." she said to both without actually looking back at them.

"Would that I could greet you both properly, but time is a factor. I'll fill you in on what you need to know while we walk." Her voice had a strong native accent. For this mission Victoria didn't have to put forth much effort to blend in. "My name is Victoria." There was no point in hiding her name. "I'm not exactly what you would call "one of the good guys." I'm actually a rather unsavory character, but I'm not completely devoid of morals or compassion." She spoke without looking back, but her pleasant voice carried easily without speaking loudly. "Not for from here there is a small hospital that is in fact a government facility for keeping dangerous metahumans. Lots of higher-ups that don't want ending up like New York. They use it to keep dangerous metahuman criminals 'indefinitely'." She stressed last word in a sarcastic manner. "That way public safety doesn't get put at risk over a silly thing like a trial. They simply disappear anyone that could threaten their survival. Not everyone here is a criminal though. Lately they've become more proactive, taking children with powers too dangerous to be left alone and locking them away before it becomes a problem. A family not terribly far from here is still looking for their child. I have tracked him to this facility." She looked back at her two possible allies. "I'm hoping for his parents sake, that you two will help me commit a crime. Make no mistake, I am intending to break the law. I hope you can agree that in this case it is justified." Victoria merely kept walking. If they were convinced, they would follow.

A clever ruse, but not one to go completely without suspicion.  If her words came true, and with the shadow of doubt traipsing about the fringes of Victoria's words, then Imena merely acted as the counterpart to the lesser of two evils.  Most of the conversation rested on the receiving end of a one way channel.  Not a bad way to carry out the information, after all, one person is clarity, two are noise.  And with the rattling of metal within the hulk of a case Imena carried, the lessened sound in the air made for a smoother intake of thoughts.  

Smooth, but still lies.  When a liar comes forth with truth it always gives an odd predicament.  "You told the truth about lying in an attempt to garner truth..."  She did not need to speak words to give her commitment, her followed steps did that.  "...If you were a robot of sorts, the perplexity would surely short circuit you."  Her off brand remark rang especially true in the brisk morning.  The smooth air.  

Imena knew not the name, intentions, or background of the man with her, just his face.  A fine one sure, but of all the things she could inquire about a counterpart, this one took the lowest of the seats.  Victoria held some knowledge of him if she courted him for this operation, but Imena also reasoned her own presence disproved that.  No one would garner any files or knowledge save for the mad ravings of the barely relevant blog of a crazed cowgirl, so either this woman could reach for information not known to the world or she reached for straws.

Venatorus frowned. He did not like the way the way this woman, Victoria, referred to herself as an "unsavory character". It unsettled him, but so did the news he had received pertaining the child. He had known of their detainment, but not the severity of the situation. He considered just walking away, and telling this woman he wanted nothing to do with her, and he would have, if it wasn't for the child. It kept coming back to the child. He sighed, and wondered what he had done to deserve this. Victoria could have chosen any of a thousand super powered individuals. Venatorus wondered how this woman knew of his powers. The only one's who currently knew, or so he thought, were members of OCEAN. It briefly crossed his mind that there might be a spy within the organization. Possible, but highly unlikely.Plural seemed too intelligent to allow a spy in, and Venatorus was trained in detecting spies. None of the members he had encountered seemed to be spies, but he could be mistaken.

Venatorus brought himself back to the matter at hand. This woman, no matter how "unsavory" she may be, had a good reason for needing their help. This child was being condemned simply for being metahuman. That was unacceptable for Venatorus. Whatever he may have against Victoria, was nothing compared to the kidnapping of a child. Although he guessed that was what he was about to do. His kidnapping was morally justified though. Although, to the British government what they did was morally justifiable too. Venatorus sighed again; morals and ethics were such tiring conversations, even with one's self.

He continued walking as the woman spoke. What she said made sense, yet it still aggravated Venatorus. If he had the information pertaining to the whereabouts of this "hospital", he would attempt to rescue the child without her. But that was not the case. He would just have to swallow his pride, and push past any moral misgivings he had. After the child was rescued however, he would leave the UK and hopefully never come back. Too many bad memories here. He glanced over at the other woman as she spoke. He agreed with what she said, and gave slight nod. He wasn't going to talk, not now at least. No, he would listen to what the women a=had to say. He was in his element; observe then strike.

Victoria almost had to resist the urge to smirk at the woman's robot comment. How arrogant these humans, to assume a construct would not be able to understand something they could. "You are apprehensive, understandable. Someone like me that deals in information, never gives it away for free without an ulterior motive. I have one, of course." Victoria chatted away in a friendly manner, despite the subject matter. "In this case, I simply have no need to lie. Whatever my motives may be, everything I have said concerning the boy in captivity is true. Suffice to say in order to rescue one of my own loved ones I must rescue this boy. These kind of situations can pop up in my line of work. It's a rather nasty business." Victoria stopped her steady pace and turned to face the two humans for the first time since meeting them. Though she would hardly let on to such a fact, she actually knew very little about them. This whole operation had been rushed. Patients of this particular hospitable had a habit of dying if they became too troublesome, and she needed the boy alive.

"So" She said with a smile on her face, as if speaking to two friends. "I suppose you could say I am appealing to your sense of humanity. I will carry on regardless of course, I haven't the luxury of choice, but I'm just an old birdwatcher from a long-gone war. Not likely I can bring me and the boy out of a firefight." Victoria was still smiling. She had basically blackmailed them with the life of a young boy, but she was very polite and friendly about it. "Decide quick, the hospital is on the next block. Best not to loiter in front of it. There's an empty floor on top I can get us into through the roof, unless one of you two have a better idea. Security's pretty hot in the rest of the building. Our objective is underground." Up ahead a white suspicously nondescript building rose 6 stories up.

Transatlantic travel brought out the adventurer in Imena, or perhaps the jet lag made her less likely to spend this trip devoid of any new assets, but whatever the case, her decision needed to come with some finality within the next moment.  "The roof is the safest way in?"  It sounded odd to question the plan since not only did she not know the building, she did not even know the architecture of the era.  "If the roof is our surest way in, then we should probably start climbing."

Not to say everything in this certain frame looked to be in precise order, but given the set of circumstances and opportunities, climbing some stairs to get to an abandoned floor felt like the easy part.  Most of the information in this endeavor stayed closed up, but never look a gift horse in the mouth, even if you are possibly the horse in question.  "Let me just grab a few things."  Imena pressed a button in her handle to break allow the top part of the suitcase to slide off.  While the trunk appeared as one singular component, it actually consisted of two separate compartments, giving Imena something more akin to a carry bag.  "This one can stay with me and the other can find a home somewhere more discreet."

Even in the morning air of a grand day, watching eyes always wanted to spot trouble.  Victoria's warning made sense given the fact they intended to actually cause a little mischief on behalf of a young child.  Within her bag she contained a number of archaic tools still held in service because of Imena's electricity manipulation.  Most of the devices would hold some value in the first World's Fair, but fell under the temporal wave suffocating most technology in the churning thresh of progression.  

Alas, the misplaced girl looked around the world she came from and awaited the next phase of this plan.

Venatorus continued walking with the two women, as the "hospital" neared in sight. It was a rather suspiciously inconspicuous building. It was rather nondescript, and surprised Venatorus. He had been expecting something like Alcatraz, or maybe a tall concrete building with barbed wire around the sides. He shrugged slightly to himself. Appearances could be deceiving. He drifted back behind the women, letting them lead the way. The woman whose name he still did no know messed around with her suitcase. He quickly turned his attention to Victoria, watching her raptly. There was something off about this situation, but Venatorus did not know what it was. Yet. However, he couldn't do anything about it until the child was safely rescued. After that, he would confront Victoria and demand answers. Until the, he would just make sure to no let her walk behind him.

Neither of her companions had shared their name, which wasn't surprising. People tended to keep their names to themselves when committing crimes. The woman was on board, if wary. The man was following, though he had remained silent. He was clearly less than comfortable. "A little professional advice, you're more likely to come out of these sort of things in one piece if you're not so tense going in." She smiled softly. "I can see that you're probably not used to working with dastardly spies. People like me are necessary though." She paused, and looked away towards nothing in particular before continuing. "The world's a lot different when you can't leap tall buildings in a single bound. You wouldn't believe how close we come to world war three on a daily basis."

With that she led them into the alley beside the hospital. We'll be safe from surveillance here for about six and one half minutes. More than enough time to scale a six story building As Victoria spoke she quickly produced from her massive coat three odd-looking large canisters with spikes jutting up from the top on the ground and placed them on the ground . She stepped back, motioning for the other two to do the same. The canisters burst with a puff of smoke and a bang, sending the odd spikes straight up six stories past the vision of those still on the ground, planting themselves firmly in the building's structure. They left behind a cable like a long grey tale, falling gently down the building's side "James Bond eat your heart out. I sincerely hope neither of you are acrophobic...or prone to nausea." She wrapped a single gloved hand around the middle cable and tugged twice, and in response the spike greedily devoured the cable unseen on the rooftop. Victoria shot up at an impressive speed, flying past windows that revealed only closed blinds and empty rooms. The frantic pace of the device slowed as she approached the top, and she gently climbed over the cusp to find herself on the roof. She turned and readied to help her companions up, assuming the had not lost their nerve.

Working with an odd collection of less than savory people only made Imena feel more at home with this setting, and even at home with her own original setting.  "I can see the necessity..."  She held the spiked canister in her hands under a curios gaze.  "And I applaud the methods."  Even if things went as dastardly as Victoria warned her, at least she would not need to attend to the normal generalizations and horrible mannerisms she put up with from Elaine.  "But, I'm a little disappointed you didn't expect us to bring things from home."

Placing the device into her bag for a later deployment, Imena pulled out a collapsing rod and extended it three feet out.  Wires ran the length of the rod out of a dormant looking battery and into a central fulcrum.  Pointing the device towards the ground as a fulcrum, Imena sent a pulse of energy through her hand into a storage chamber within the flux capacitor.  A slow hum began to work as Victoria ascended the side of the building.  "She got a little head start."  

Energy both materialized and exercised.  Without leaving a trail, Imena began to lift along the electromagnetic spectrum.  While Victoria pulled herself onto the ledge of the building, Imena stepped onto the ledge of the building and collapsed her rod.  A few loose wires stuck out from the bottom of the rod as the interior became too full to allow any more space to be intruded upon.  "Should I get a torch to start cutting?  Or, do we have alternative methods of egress?"