Dresden: Time Warp

In the forest containing Allenby, the Vanguard were tired. Holland, Inigo, Ellie, Juliet, and Nomei had just finished expelling a group of wyldfae that had been causing havoc in and around the small town of Princeton. While the fight had been difficult, the difficulty was largely due to numbers, as the faeries had three for every one member of the Vanguard present.

"Is everyone alright?" Inigo asked, breathing heavily. As the most proficient hand-to-hand fighter, Inigo had been responsible not just for combating the fae, but also, along with Juliette, keeping them distracted so Nomei could opportunistically pick them off while Ellie wrought her potent magics from behind undisturbed.

Surveying the group, Inigo could see that, aside from a few scratches and bruises here and there, everyone was alright. What little harm there was was promptly being dealt with by Holland and his magnificent lantern. Inigo was glad. With the information from Gerome, they had been able to scout out their opponents' position and form a plan well in advance, so when the negotiations fell through, the ensuing battle was fairly straightforward. Their foes would not be returning anytime soon.

Elli downed some water, hoping that the rising headache was mostly due to dehydration. Part of her knew it wasn't.

I keep overdoing it, and I don't notice until after the battle. I used to notice mid-battle. The headaches have been getting worse, too. I wonder how bad it really is.

Elli slowly reached back with her left hand to grasp the hilt of one of her two swords--the steel one. The headache worsened immediately, adding spots to her vision and ringing in her ears. She quickly released the hilt and the headache died back to a dull throb. She looked at Inigo.

"I'm all right," she said with a grin, "Much less risk for me when I'm not in the front lines."

"Good." Inigo nodded, before smirking, "That was some impressive magic back there. Just their luck they made their hideout a forest when we brought a biomancer." He let out a soft chuckle before looking once more over his comrades.

"Well, you could say the same thing if you'd brought Seth, except you'd use 'pyromaniac'," Elli pointed out with a wry grin, "Though I guess I get bonus points since we don't have to run from a forest fire."

Her mind leaped into pattern on its own. Seth. Warden of the White Council. Regarded by his superiors as a loose cannon, but fairly well trusted regardless. Death, even under suspicious circumstances, unlikely to cause diplomatic repercussions on more than a local scale. Favours fire magic, but as a Warden is capable of more. Strengths of other elements unknown but likely much weaker. Missing an eye means limited depth perception. Close quarter combat best for incapacitation, long distance best for killing due to risk of death curse. Has decent contacts. Manipulable due to recklessness. Expendable under the right circumstances.

Elli forced her mind in a different direction. Seth is a friend. Seth is part of the Vanguard. Remember how we were all worried about Seth when he and Keung went after those vampires and ghouls? It would be nice to have a beer with Seth and talk about magic. I've never been good with fire and Seth uses it in impressive ways. Damn the Fall Court and fuck the Fall Mantle.

Aloud, she said, "I wonder why Gerome tipped us off on this anyways."

Inigo shrugged, "I figure these guys were causing some sort of supernatural trouble and were best gotten rid of from Gerome's perspective. As for why us, well, let's face it, for all that I'm really proud of what we accomplish together, we're not exactly the hardest group of people to motivate into action. You tell us 'evil', 'supernatural', and 'British Columbia' in the same sentence and we're on the case. Provided the story checks out, we then do what we do, and the issue is dealt with in a way that requires no more effort than passing along information. We're probably quite handy for cleanup, actually." Inigo paused, deep in thought.

"That's a little troubling to think about. We should probably ask more questions in the future."

Elli grimaced.

"I looked into it beforehand and couldn't find anything. That's what's bothering me."

Holland wrapped up the last of the healing, feeling the soft warmth receded from his body back to the lantern. "Yes," remarked Holland, "questions would be nice." he stood up and walked over to Inigo's side dusting off his coat along the way.

After surveying the area to make sure everything was dealt with, Inigo turned to look at the large ruined building a short distance away. "Loathe though I am to suggest this, we should probably check out that building to make sure there aren't any more faeries around."

Elli shifted position slightly and was rewarded by a sharp increase in the pain in her head.

"Give me five minutes here to catch my breath, huh, Inigo?" she said in what she hoped passed for a playful tone.

"Yeah, sure" Inigo replied. "You okay?" He asked after a minute, concern written across his face. "You look pale. You want Holland to take a look at you?"

Elli smiled.

"Don't think I'll need it. I just need a few minutes to recharge. And maybe a snack." She reached down to her pack and pulled out a protein bar. "I'm sure we've got enough time for that?"

"I for one, " said Holland, "can agree with the both of you." He pulled out a bag of trail mix and took a handful, offering some to Inigo as he did. "Horay for sketchy buildings in the woods!" he added sarcastically.

Inigo took a handful of the proffered mix, munching on it slowly while Ellie ate. Once she had finished and indicated that she was ready to go, he set about organising the group to head into the building. "Alright, everyone, same formation as before. It'll have to be a bit tighter, since we'll be inside, but it should still work just fine."

Elli smiled, honestly this time.

"Oh, come on Holland. If we never went into sketchy buildings, we'd never go anywhere."

"And we'd never end up burning down all those warehouses." Inigo added, before shaking his head, "So many warehouses."

"I swear," grumbled Holland, "I'd kill to just once intercept some bad guy at a five star resort. Or perhaps a country estate. Someplace nice for a change."

Elli shrugged.

"Eh, it's not all it's cracked up to be. A building burning down is a building burning down. Though it is nice to have a pool to break the fall when you're jumping out the window."

Inigo barked out a laugh, "That's good." he said through his chuckles, "Though, I think Holland just wants to not have to head out to an abandoned shipyard sometime."

As the group stood outside the building, Inigo let out a sarcastic whistle, "Man, this building really ups the sketch factor to eleven, doesn't it?" He asked rhetorically. He wasn't wrong; to say the building was dilapidated would be a strong understatement. Exposed rebar poked out through almost as much of the building's surface area as it didn't, and what little of the walls remained mostly intact still looked as though a strong gust of wind might knock them down. A foreboding whistling sound emanated from the empty door frame, and the blackness behind it.

It was a bit of a fixer-upper.

Holland walked up beside Inigo and focused the lantern light into the darkened doorway. With a bit of a grimace, he said, "After you, my good sir." He added a sarcastic flourish, much like a butler might do.

Inigo smirked, before looking back at his friends. "Alright," he said, "here we go." Looking forward once again, Inigo plunged into the darkness.

Elli looked at the building skeptically.

"Well, this is going to end well," she said, shaking her head and following Inigo inside.

Holland was right behind Inigo, lighting the way. He made an agreeing noise in response to Elli's remark, but was mostly focusing on the darkness ahead.

Inigo continued onwards at the head of the group. The Vanguard walked along the hallway, turning when necessary. After about a minute and a half of walking, Inigo felt something prickling at the back of his neck. He halted, raising his hand to stop everyone following him.

Magic he mouthed soundlessly to Ellie, before gesturing in a circle above his head. Sweep.

The command was a little late for Elli, who had already sensed the magic and was beginning to stretch her magical senses. She pushed the headache to the back of her mind, something that had gotten disturbingly easier to do over the last few months, and tested the area to see where the magical energy was coming from.