Trinity/FreakAngels AU: A Heart as Cold as Ice.

[aeons_crackshot]

Time has passed, as it tends to do. The Æon Society has recently received word of people going missing in Greenland, and not the kind of people you'd expect to go missing, either. Natives and experienced trackers and wilderness experts have simply gone missing for no readily discernible reason.

That's why Annabelle Newfield and Connor are here to investigate. Mysterious disappearances tend to be their kind of trouble, one way or the other.

A friend of Jake's has dropped them off in a remote village with his plane before haring off on another errand.

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[aeons_crackshot]

Her memories are hazy, veiled by terror and darkness. The thing wraps its clawed hand around her husband's ankle and lifts him, struggling, off the ground. She tries to pull him out of its grip, but it swats her with the other hand, leaving bruises and sending her sprawling, resulting in a twisted ankle....

He might, perhaps, notice that something is a little...off with the memories themselves.

Annabelle is keeping an eye out for trouble while Connor works.

[leadinghome]

Connor does not like to probe too much, but that bit of information might be need: he does a more focused examination, trying to find more details on what happened and how it happened.

[aeons_crackshot]

Constance's husband, Richard, had rented a cabin up north as a getaway from society for the both of them. Last night, the thing attacked Richard when he was out fetching wood for the fire. It had been sheer chance that she'd looked out the window at the right moment to see the thing in the moonlight....

Annabelle sends Connor an inquiring look.

[leadinghome]

Connor will just read up the direction to the cabin, then. "You wait here." The mental shield should hold a while.

He then grabs Annabelle's hand. "This way. Something big and angry got her husband. I guess it got the other people too."

[aeons_crackshot]

The instruction to wait here draws a protest. "But, but, what if it comes back here?" she stammers. Then she takes a breath. "and you might need someone to, to, look after him while you deal with that thing," she says, voice quavering.

"Ma'am," Annabelle interjects. "You're going to be a liability if we go after that thing in the shape your in." And possibly even if she was perfectly fine, but there's no need to point that out right now.

This does not, alas, seem to deter Constance.

[leadinghome]

"Annabelle is right." He looks at Constance. You will only hurt yourself. Start back to the city, we will catch up with you, but you must go now. Not a nice thing, suppressing her worry about her husband to avoid a bigger trauma later if he is found dead.

"Head to the city, we will catch up. Stop when you find somewhere sheltered from the wind, and rest there."

[aeons_crackshot]

It's a bit harder than one might imagine would be the case to make the telepathic suppression take hold, but it does.

Constance blinks. "I...yes...I suppose I am rather useless," she concludes sadly. "I, I'll go. Please, just, help my husband."

[leadinghome]

"Go, and take care. We will do our best." Another little nudge, and after she turns and moves away, Connor tugs Annabelle along.

Let's hurry, the way she is worried about her husband, the suggestion will be rationalized away in a few hours at most. She can feel how he feels horrible for having to do that.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle follows, matching his speed easily. She's not happy about it either, but it was necessary.

If you hadn't done that, we would have had to either drag her back, losing time, or knock her out or tie her up. That was the most humane option, especially if things go as badly as they might. There is, after all, always the risk that they won't walk away from a particular mission.

She squeezes his hand reassuringly. As they move along, the feel of Telluric energy grows stronger and stronger. Something is producing truly staggering amounts of Ætheric radiation.

[leadinghome]

Still a rotten thing to do. Even if it is not real mind control, and nothing permanent... Connor simply does not like it.

It seems he did not need directions after all... shields up, Connor guides the way to the center of the manifestation.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle projects wordless comfort and reassurance. She's done her share of things that were rotten, but necessary.

The center of the manifestation is a cave, covered in strange crystals that hum with Telluric energy. Trying to find someone in here is going to be a bit like hearing a pin drop during a rock concert...

Not to mention what an empath might be picking up. They are near a location where many men have died, and they did not die quickly or painlessly. They were tortured, mind and body, for days before they were allowed to die.

Annabelle's hackles are on edge. Call it feminine intuition, but something about this place reminds her of Siberia.....

[leadinghome]

Something about the place tells Connor this is not the work of a beast, of a 'monster' in a common sense. This is deliberate. Planned.

The sensations make him queasy, and angry.

"Come out. Now." Now! He is angry.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle picks up on Connor's anger and readies her gun to target whatever may present itself.

"It would seem your rudeness knows no bounds," a man's voice calls out, amused. When he steps into view, Connor may recognize him as Constance's husband.

"You've cut my bait loose, and it's going to be such a bother to drag her back here. Although... I might be inclined to forgive you since you've brought me a present," he replies with a smile, eying Annabelle. Some of his expression is lust, most of it is a far more horrid appetite for pain and suffering.

Annabelle snarls at him, and trains the gun on a spot between his eyes.

[leadinghome]

The world explodes in purple light as Connor lashes out: the empathic gathers all the painful miasma of the area, each bit of pain, despair, fear and suffering, and sends it against the man.

Oh, yes, he brought him a present: it is called payback.

[aeons_crackshot]

Sadly, the purple light doesn't have as much effect as one might hope. He staggers a moment, but somehow earths the purple light into the crystals lining the cavern.

Annabelle takes this opportunity to fire. Alas, it would appear that telekinesis is among his arsenal of abilities, as the bullet bounces off a shield shaped distortion in the air.

"Well, well, you are a curious creature," he remarks. "I do believe it's my turn, now." Aiming for the perceived weaker target, he slams an incredible amount of power at Annabelle's mind. Will the shield hold?

[leadinghome]

cowardscumyouthinkyouarebigshitbecauseyoucanhurtpeopleyouarenothingbutacowardhidingbehindtricksatickaparasiteworm

Maybe not if he were going to just block it, but instead Connor redirects, deflects, dissipates the attack.

clichéstupidcartoonyshityouarenothingworthlessyouwillendasmearonsomerocksandwillneverevenbeknown

That is his special gift: feedback. Chains of every emotion in the area, darts and bolts of everything he inflicted on innocents.

haveatasteofwhatyoudidcowardscumpatheticlittlenothinglikeaspoiledbratwantingtocausetroublewhatsyourproblemmommydidnotloveyouenouhgyoudidnotgettheponyandthepinkdressandthepricesstiarayouwantedforyourbirthday

Connor smashes the ground under the man with raw telekinesis, then attacks with the sharp crystals.

[aeons_crackshot]

He snarls, his face a mask of rage. He has to shift the shield a bit to deflect the crystals. He's forgotten Annabelle entirely. This is a very bad idea. She can't quite get a body shot, alas, but being shot in the arm with a .45 hurts, a lot.

"You bitch!," he snarls at Annabelle, his hand moving to try and staunch the flow of blood. He throws his power at her again, but he's planning to affect her body not her mind this time.

Thankfully, the shield absorbs most of the attempt to crush her heart, but an observer can hear ribs crack and Annabelle lets out a pained noise before she collapses, unconscious.

[leadinghome]

Oh no.

He did not do that.

IwasgoingtobenicetoyoubutnowyoucrossedalineandIwillhavetocrossalineandyou.will.die.

The mental stream turns an eerie cold, and Connor strikes tree times.

The first attack is mental, another bolt on concentrated emotional miasma. The second attack is physical, at the arm wound, tearing it open so it will bleed profusely. The final blow is a mix, a telekinetic vise clamping on the man's balls and squeezing, couple with a jolt of psychic energy amplifying the pain a hundredfold.

[aeons_crackshot]

There's really only one possible response to all of that. There's going to be a lot of screaming in agonizing pain going on.

If Connor's is paying attention to anything other than the beatdown, he might notice that the crystals in the cave seem to be absorbing his pain, his suffering, amplifying Connor's own power. This may explain the fiend who's screaming in agony's uncanny psychic strength....

[leadinghome]

Oh, they are next, shattered crystals do make great projectiles, after all.

Having fun yet, you piece of shit? How it feels like, to be in the receiving end and realize you are just a miserable coward?

Now, comes the real attack: dig into his mind, for every memory of the things he did... and make him feel each mote of suffering he imposed on others.

[aeons_crackshot]

Funny how the crystals almost seem to scream as they shatter...

He attempts to fight back, of course, but Connor has righteous wrath on his side and the sheer unbelievable agony is making it hard for him to concentrate.

The men who died here were not his only victims, far from it. He was a cruel sociopath even before his Inspiration. An emotional abuser to his wife, Constance, and most everyone else. He's used her as bait to bring him victims, erasing her memory every time and reversing the process to let her drown in horror when she realizes what she's done. That she'll do it over and over again because she's powerless against him...

Karma is a bitch.

[leadinghome]

It is payback.

Connor presses the point: now he is hopeless.

His wife will never know the truth: she will grieve for a basically different man, and will move on, meet someone nice and be happy.

The people in the city will never know the truth: they will be told of a strange monster that was killed and buried, and the real culprit will be forgotten.

The government will never learn about his actions. Nobody will be touched by fear.

Connor and Annabelle themselves, can simply forget him: reduce the memory to 'strange nasty thing in the backwoods, dead and people safe now'.

Forgotten. Insignificant.

Does not matter if the part about himself and Annabelle is not true, what matters for Connor is that the monster will die, convinced of his own irrelevance.

You are nothing. And now it is time for him to die, with the last crystals used as lances and daggers to snuff him out of existence.

[aeons_crackshot]

The monster gurgles his last breath and expires. The cave is oddly silent to ordinary and extraordinary senses, with the odd feel of Telluric energy gone with the last of the crystals.

It's just him, an unconscious Annabelle, and the dead here now.

[leadinghome]

He is dizzy, and feeling sick, but first... Annabelle. Connor will check her, her injuries, her condition, and do as much as he can to help.

It would be much easier of Miki were there, but his own limited talents will have to do.

[aeons_crackshot]

It's not as bad as it should be. Annabelle has been told that she's too stubborn to die, and fortune tends to dote on her Inspired children.

Annabelle starts to stir when Connor checks her. Quite a few ribs are cracked and there's considerable bruising. Nothing dire or requiring the immediate attention of a doctor.

Connor may learn several very profane and impolite phrases in foreign tongues when Annabelle come to. "Connor?" she says, wincing a bit.