City of Heroes™

The Champions Super Group Logs

050518 Patriot Has Fallen: Part II
05-18-2005 12:39:48 Entering The Promenade.
Obeying a Champions signal, Lady Blur locates an ordinary-looking building in Atlas Park, spreads her arms in Inertial Reduction, and gracefully leaps to the rooftop. There she halts in awkward confusion looking at the two people there, one of whom seems to have also just arrived.

05-18-2005 12:40:52 [Local]
Lady Blur: Patriot!.
Patriot VI: Hello, Carly.
Pains Pleasure: Hey, Lee.
Lady Blur: Hello, Sarah.
Pains Pleasure: Hi ..Patriot.
Lady Blur: Patriot?
Patriot VI: Yes? Please, Carly, have a seat.
Lady Blur: Something's not quite right.
Patriot VI: How do you mean?
Pains Pleasure: Wh-what do you mean, Lee?
The red-clad speedster seats herself on the roof.
Lady Blur: I can't put my finger on it. Yet.
Pains Pleasure: It’s good to see you, Patriot.
Pains Pleasure smiles warmly.
Patriot VI: Always a pleasure, Sarah.
Patriot VI: You've known me for years, Carly.
Lady Blur: Yes. Patriot.
Lady Blur: Why are we here? And...<she adds this reluctantly> why not Rush too?
Patriot VI: Rush is missing.
Lady Blur leaps to her feet.
Lady Blur: NO!
Patriot VI: Calm down, Carly.
Lady Blur sits down abruptly.
Lady Blur: I am calm. What do you mean: Rush is missing?
Patriot VI: He's been missing since a day before the...Staten Island incident.
Lady Blur: <faintly> No. Oh my dear god, no.
Pains Pleasure: I thought he was on assignment
Patriot VI: Don't worry, Carly. He wasn't there.
Lady Blur: Do you -- <working to recover herself> Are the two events connected?
Patriot VI: He'd just completed an assignment, Sarah, but hasn't filed his report. And we all know how Rush is with paperwork - if you need it 10 minutes ago, you get it 20 minutes ago.
Lady Blur smiles a reluctant smile.
Patriot VI: But, Carly, that's not the main reason I called you.
Lady Blur: <mutters> Perhaps not, but I want to know more.
Patriot VI: You and Rush, of all people, deserve to know the truth.
Patriot VI pulls off the mask, for only a moment, and reveals his face.
Patriot VI: Don't say a word.
Lady Blur 's face drains of colour.
Pains Pleasure: Ahhh! I’m so relieved.
Patriot VI: What's wrong, Carly?
Lady Blur: <whispers> Then....
Patriot takes the conversation tone down to the privacy of very low whispers.
Patriot VI: He's in a coma.
Lady Blur puts her face in her hands. Pains Pleasure hugs Lady Blur.
Patriot VI: And in a very safe place. In four days, news of his death will be broadcast worldwide.
Lady Blur: Please God, keep him safe and ... make him well. <It's clearly a prayer.>

Lady Blur: Why?
Patriot VI: The person behind the attack has to think he's dead. Patriot VI: His death, of course, will be greatly exaggerated.
Lady Blur’s smile twists as she looks at the man in the blue, white and red.
Lady Blur: Not the only one exaggerated.
Patriot VI: We hope that the news will ease the perp's nerves and he'll slip up. See, the shield was stolen. We're hoping some villain will display it, to others, as a trophy.
Lady Blur: I noticed that you were without it. That was what was wrong.
Patriot VI: That's not the only thing wrong. Not the only thing missing...
He paused for a moment.
Patriot VI: Ogma is dead.
Lady Blur: No. <she recovers immediately from her outburst> I am sorry, so sorry.
Patriot VI: He gave his life to save mine, Carly.
Lady Blur: I -- can't imagine what that means to you, Chris.
Patriot VI: When I learned Patriot was in a coma, the only thing I knew to do was taken on the mantle. I was given the government clearance for it.
Pains Pleasure holds his hand for a moment Patriot VI squeezes Sarah's hand.
Lady Blur: <her mixed feelings apparent> Congratulations. I know that doesn't sound like I'm happy -- but I mean it sincerely.
Patriot VI: <nods> But Ogma did not leave me without a serious gift. Every ounce of power Ogma had, he infused me with it.
Pains Pleasure: Couldn’t someone else do it? I worry about you so much more now.
Patriot VI: No, Sarah. The only one who knows him better than me is his wife. I had to do it. <he pauses for a moment> Well, Rush and Red Heat know him too, but neither of them could fill his shoes and not be missed.
Pains Pleasure: <whispering> ...but I worry....
Patriot VI: I know, love, I know.
Pains Pleasure whispers even more privately to Chris: I miss you

Lady Blur: Oh.. Mindwalker.
Patriot VI nods.
Lady Blur: Does -- has this been kept from her?
Patriot VI: No.
Lady Blur: I should go to her. Someone should go to her, be with her. She -- she was there for me --- once upon a time.
Patriot VI: Someone is with her, Carly. Red Heat is with her.
Lady Blur: <looks away, blinking> Red Heat is a good choice.
Patriot VI: She was in the middle of her assignment when she found out.
Lady Blur: Oh, no!
Patriot VI: When the news hit, she let loose a full torrent of extremely powerful psi blasts.
Lady Blur: <worried> Blew her cover?
Patriot VI: Those she didn't kill are now either in comas or being spoon fed because they have virtually no minds left. The ones now in mental care number over two hundred.
Lady Blur: Grief! That had to be noticed!
Patriot VI: Luckily, she was deep undercover. *chuckles* Right in the middle of one of Malta's biggest bases.
Lady Blur smiles reluctantly.
Lady Blur: Fitting.
Patriot VI: No one knows what happened to the base, nor will they ever find out.
Lady Blur: I trust you on that, Chris.

Patriot raises his voice to more normal levels.
Patriot VI: Now, back to your loving husband...This is on the record.
Patriot VI: Have you heard from Rush, at all?
Lady Blur: No. I -- was starting to worry.
Patriot VI: It wouldn't be the first time he's disappeared for days.
Lady Blur: He -- is good about coming home. We speedsters have that advantage.
Patriot VI: So, you're saying he normally comes home every night?
Lady Blur: Yes.
Patriot VI: Hmmm.
Lady Blur: So -- you -- didn't know that?
Patriot VI: Is your speed link to him still active? Just making sure.
Lady Blur: Yes, I -- would scour every inch of the Speed Force before I lose him again!
Patriot VI: Can you try to probe the field for him?
Lady Blur nods, closes her eyes and starts vibrating in place. She becomes a reddish blur to the observers.

A moment later the blur solidifies into a white-faced Lady Blur.
Lady Blur: <panting> It's impossible!
Patriot VI: What's wrong?
Lady Blur: He -- is alive.
Patriot VI: And?
Lady Blur: <the words grate out> But I CAN'T reach him!
Patriot VI: But...but I thought you and he were...
Lady Blur: keeps a very tight rein on hysteria> We ARE!
Lady Blur: It's impossible! Something is blocking me.
Pains Pleasure: Oh shit!
Lady Blur: Only time itself blocked us before -- and that's not it!
Patriot VI: That leaves a number of possibilities.
Patriot VI: #1: Some type of magic.
Lady Blur: <turns to Patriot> What else?
Patriot VI: #2: An even more powerful speedster - of which we know none more powerful than Rush.
Patriot VI: #3: His powers are somehow being dampened.
Patriot VI: #3 seems VERY unlikely.
Lady Blur: Who could do such a thing?
Patriot VI: That's what we'd like to know.
Lady Blur: Even the Council Galaxies slow us only a little.
Pains Pleasure: Company.
Patriot barely has time to look at Pleasure.
Pains Pleasure: I guess he left.
Patriot VI: I've seen Rush fight Galaxies. They don't slow him.
Lady Blur: <smiles wryly> Yes, they do. But not so's you'd notice.
Patriot smiles involuntarily beneath his mask.

Patriot VI: The government's and the Champions' best guesses are magic.
Pains Pleasure: I don’t have a prob with them. The Galaxies, I mean.
Lady Blur: <smiles a little at Pleasure> I understood what you meant, dear.
Patriot VI: Carly, have you ever noticed the Circle's magic interfering with your connection to the speed force?
Lady Blur: <looks back at Patriot> No. The government has theorized that my powers are magic-based, hard as that is to believe.
Patriot VI chuckles.
Patriot VI: They are. Well, at least by scientific standards.
Lady Blur: <with a trace of impatience> Right. I know the litany: not science, certainly not tech, and I don't test as a mutant and I didn’t self-train them, so... what else could it be?
Lady Blur shrugs in exasperation.
Patriot VI: So, you've never noticed the Circle's magic interfering with your line to the speed force?
Lady Blur: Well... some of their mages can put holds on me that take a while to vibrate out of. <light dawns> Could -- could there possibly be a spell THAT powerful...?
Patriot VI: In theory, yes.

Patriot VI: Alright. I know that Spirit and Ban, both, have a couple of connections they could tap. Ban recently reported working with Crimson to rescue a Circle mage informant. I've asked Azuria, but she claims that there is none from this dimension.
Lady Blur: A -- hold that would take days to vibrate out of?
Patriot VI: With how the multiverse has been unstable, as of late, it could be that the Circle may have gotten their hands on some more powerful magic.
Lady Blur: Then -- a mage from another dimension?
Patriot VI: Possibly. That's one of the FBSA's theories.
Lady Blur: <teeth clamped together> I'm going to feed him to his own spell book, in that case.
Patriot VI: A dimensional stepping mage who wished to tap Rush for power.
Lady Blur: Over my dead body!
The red-clad speedster leaps to her feet.
Patriot VI: Hold on, girl! We don't know anything positive.
Lady Blur: Don't "girl" me. That's my husband someone is trying to drain!
Patriot VI: You rushing off, half-cocked, will get nothing done. Odds are it'd get you put in the hospital.
Lady Blur: And -- you have a plan?
Patriot VI: Like I said, I'm having Ban and Spirit tap their contacts and intel sources. My hope is that Spirit is still connected enough to magical forces to be able to tell if anyone that powerful is in our dimension.
Lady Blur: Should -- should I scour the Speed Force? Might this mage have more than one speedster "on tap"?
Patriot VI: That's an excellent idea, but if that's the case - why didn't they snag you?
Lady Blur: <eyes narrowing> I'm going to make them wish they tried.
Patriot VI: Go ahead and try it, though.
Pains Pleasure: Maybe she’s not high enough for their purposes?
Patriot VI: Her direct link to the field is more than enough to tap for power, Sarah.
Lady Blur composes herself and passes into a reddish-orange blur even faster than before.
Pains Pleasure: Yeah but maybe they want people with higher security clearances.

Suddenly visible again, Lady Blur sprawls onto the roof top.
Patriot VI: That wouldn't matter to a...what the hell?
Pains Pleasure: Oh, Lee! Are you ok? Want me to call for Angel?
Lady Blur: <shaking herself and standing> Grief! There's SOMEONE there! Someone ACTIVE!
Patriot VI: How so?
Lady Blur: He - she - it knocked me out of the Speed Force.
Pains Pleasure: Are you ok?
Patriot VI: Knocked YOU out?
Lady Blur: shoulders hunched, hands balled into fists> Yes.
Patriot VI: That leaves only one person... But that...it couldn't be... It doesn't make sense.
Lady Blur: <flatly> Blur.
Patriot VI nods.
Lady Blur: Blur doesn't want me there. Or maybe he doesn't want any speedster there.
Patriot VI: The question is why.
Lady Blur: Yes!
Pains Pleasure: Soooo...Rush has his own agenda?
Patriot VI: No, Sarah. You don't understand.
Lady Blur: Rush is not Blur. Not yet.
Patriot VI: We know that Blur is a future version of Rush.
Pains Pleasure: Yeah, so he's Blur.
Patriot VI: Not yet he's not.
Pains Pleasure: But if Blur is a future him ...then Blur is him
Patriot VI: Due to some ...intel... we know Blur is almost a thousand years old or a little older.
Lady Blur looks at Patriot in shock.
Pains Pleasure: Then so is Rush -- and he came back.
Patriot VI: Mindwalker found out, Carly. Right before Blur and Rush disappeared last time.
Lady Blur: <recovering a little> Rush is -- a little over 100, Sarah.
Patriot VI mumbles something.
Pains Pleasure: Not if he’s Blur.
Patriot VI: You're not seeing the picture clearly, hon. I mean Sarah.
Pains Pleasure smiles.
Lady Blur: The man we know is not yet Blur. He has not had time to become Blur.
Patriot VI: Blur could have come back in time, yet again.
Lady Blur: Why?
Patriot VI: Why would he have come back? Perhaps he feels Rush isn't tough enough?
Lady Blur: No! No more! Not again!

Pains Pleasure: But Blur knows that he is Rush
Patriot VI: Right.
Pains Pleasure: So.....Rush is behind it?
Patriot VI: No, Sarah. Blur might be behind this. You have to see the two of them as different people.
Pains Pleasure: But they aren’t. This Rush doesn’t know but Blur does.
Lady Blur: Sarah, think of it this way. Blur is Rush, but Rush is not Blur. The child is not the man, but the man remembers being the child.
Patriot VI: Perfect words, Carly.
Patriot VI: Yes, Sarah, they are two different people...so to speak.
Pains Pleasure: Exactly. So if it’s Blur...then he is Rush.
Patriot VI: Only older.
Pains Pleasure: Yes.
Pains Pleasure looks happy.
Lady Blur: Yes, but Blur seems to be creating Rush. Or rather creating the transition from Rush to Blur.
Patriot VI: And our Rush is being imprisoned and cut off by Blur.
Pains Pleasure: So Rush needs another lesson?
Lady Blur: Oh, please, no. He's had enough lessons!
Patriot VI: Or has he, Carly?
Lady Blur: My God, Ch-Patriot! You've never held him through his nightmares.
Patriot VI: Carly, I know about the nightmares.
Lady Blur: Then don't talk to me about lessons that Rush needs. <looks away>:
Pains Pleasure: What else?...if he kills him then Rush won’t be Blur.
Patriot VI: Sarah, Blur will not kill Rush. Unless... <pauses in thought>:
Pains Pleasure: Unless nothing! If he kills Rush then Blur won’t be.
Patriot VI: <speculatively> Has Blur now seen a future that he doesn't want to exist for?
Lady Blur stiffens at the words.
Patriot VI: I'm sorry, Carly. We've got to explore all possibilities here if we have any chance of rescuing Rush.
Patriot VI hugs Carolly.

Patriot VI: Wait.
Pains Pleasure looks sad and confused.
Patriot VI: Let's look at something.
Lady Blur had started vibrating again, but stops.
Patriot VI: If Blur wanted Rush dead, you wouldn't have been able to connect with him, Carly. He'd already be dead.
Lady Blur: Rush is alive. I'm positive of that. And he is in "our" time.
Patriot VI: Exactly. So, Blur doesn't want him dead.
Lady Blur: No. Blur doesn't want him dead. But he doesn't want me to find him either.
Patriot VI: Oh.
Patriot VI: Shit.
Patriot VI: Remember after Eric joined with the speed force?
Lady Blur: Yes?
Patriot VI: How he would joke about you breaking the speed limit, on your way home, by three miles per hour?
Lady Blur grins reluctantly.
Pains Pleasure: <whispers faintly> I wish I was smarter.
Patriot VI hugs Sarah.
Patriot VI: You're smarter than you give yourself credit for.
Pains Pleasure sighs.
Pains Pleasure: I just want to help and make Lee happy again.
Lady Blur: <takes Pleasure's hand for a moment> Thank you, dear.
Pains Pleasure squeezes Lee's hand.

Patriot VI: Back then, Rush could know if you were speeding and not even be near you.
Lady Blur: Yes. He always knew.
Patriot VI: What if Blur came back to prevent Rush from preventing Patriot's death? We certainly know Rush could've made it from Paragon to New York to stop a speeding bullet.
Pains Pleasure: Then why hasn’t he let him go?
Patriot VI: Because Patriot isn't dead.
Lady Blur: <stares at Patriot> Oh no! Why? Patriot was like a big brother to Rush. To Blur!
Patriot VI: What if Patriot's life happened to cause a disastrous future though?
Lady Blur: That doesn't seem possible. The man has done nothing but good.
Voices drop back down into whispers.
Patriot VI: That's also why I put on the costume. To try to lure out the would-be assassin, again.
Lady Blur: And ... which "Patriot" would interest him? Would he know who is wearing the costume at this moment?
The tone of voices approaches normal again.
Patriot VI: But what if...what if Patriot were to save a child's life and that child grow up to be worse than any villain we've ever faced?
Lady Blur: We -- can't be made responsible for that!
Patriot VI: Can't we?
Lady Blur: We have to do good. We're heroes.
Lady Blur: To say "what if" about every life we save is to court madness! Is it not enough to regret every life we do not save?
Patriot VI: It's just another theory, Carly.
Lady Blur: <looks at Patriot squarely> OK. Give me another theory.

Pains Pleasure: Hey … what if he needs our help?
Patriot VI: I'm not arguing with you, Carly. I'm just trying to figure this out. We have to figure out what's going on. <turns to Pleasure> Who, Sarah?
Pains Pleasure: Blur.
Patriot VI: In what way?
Pains Pleasure: I don’t know … but what if he though we would turn him down and the only way to talk to us is to get to Rush?
Lady Blur: If he wanted our help, he could have asked.
Patriot VI: Carly, look me in the face and tell me - if you knew you could save the human race, but Pat...I had to die, would you let me die?
Lady Blur: How could I, P-<whispers> Chris? I -- save lives on all fronts, if at all possible.
Pains Pleasure: When we save him ..hell, have all of us there?
Lady Blur: I cannot believe that we --- <Patriot fades away before the eyes of the two women> Patriot!!!!
Lady Blur: He's gone! Sarah!
Pains Pleasure: Ch..Patriot!! <her breath catching in her throat> Where did he go ?
Lady Blur: I don't know. I don't have a link to him in the Speed Force.
Pains Pleasure screams telepathically.....Chris !!!!!!
Lady Blur: But he's a mentalist. Do you know ANYONE that might have a link to him??? Anyone telepathic? Or -- maybe a Kheldian?

A familiar blue and white figure appears on the rooftop.
Rush 2.0: Hello, ladies.
Pains Pleasure: Rush!!
Rush 2.0 laughs. Lady Blur runs to Rush.
Pains Pleasure: Patriot just disappeared!
Rush 2.0: Not quite, child.
Lady Blur: What's going on?
Rush 2.0: I know. I ripped him through the speed force.
Pains Pleasure: Who are you?
Rush 2.0: I am Blur, child.
Pains Pleasure: What do you want?
Rush 2.0 leans over to kiss Lady Blur. Lady Blur steps back.
Rush 2.0: It's a ...ah! Why so afraid, love?
Lady Blur: <whispers> Why?
Rush 2.0: Why what?
Pains Pleasure calls mentally for Angel and Shock.
Pains Pleasure: Where is Patriot?

[Tell to Lady Blur] Pains Pleasure: back away from him, Lee. He is dangerous up close.
[Tell to Pains Pleasure] Lady Blur: He will not hurt me, Sarah.
[Tell to Lady Blur] Pains Pleasure: He’s hurting Rush and maybe Chris.
[Tell to Pains Pleasure] Lady Blur: That is a theory. We don't know he's responsible.

Lady Blur turns to see a blue, white and red figure sink down onto the flat roof.
Patriot VI: Oh, God! It's true.
Pains Pleasure hugs Chris.
Lady Blur: What, what is true? What is wrong?
Pains Pleasure: Oh thank god you’re back!
Lady Blur: What will be wrong? <she corrects herself>
Patriot VI: Had Patriot not fallen...he...he...
Lady Blur takes Patriot by the shoulders.
Lady Blur: He what?
Lady Blur: <whispers> Tell me, dear boy. We can work it out.
Patriot VI: A Circle mage, more powerful than any we've encountered, would have possessed him...and completely wiped out humanity.
Lady Blur: Then we must find that mage and stop him before he can get near Patriot.
Patriot VI: Don't you see? The danger of it has passed, at least for now.
Lady Blur: Has it?
Patriot VI: For now.
Pains Pleasure: Then why is he still holding Rush?
Patriot VI: He's not. He proved that much at least.
Lady Blur: Will he try again? Where is Rush?
Patriot VI: I don't know, Carly.
Pains Pleasure: What ? He doesn’t have Rush?
Patriot VI: No.
Lady Blur: What did you see? How did he prove anything?
Pains Pleasure: Oh ..my ..is it ...the ..mage?
Patriot VI: He showed me the timeline in which Patriot had been possessed.
Lady Blur: Yes?
Patriot VI: The mage completely eradicated humanity.
Lady Blur: No collection of SPBs could stop him. <said as a flat statement>

Patriot VI: Wait. Was Blur here? With you two?
Pains Pleasure: Yes.
Lady Blur: Yes. Blur was here.
Pains Pleasure: Oh, I have to call Angel back.
Patriot VI: What did he say?
Lady Blur: He said he took you to see a friend.
Patriot VI: Yeah. A possessed Patriot.
Patriot VI: Now, what did Blur say? Anything that might be a clue to how to find Rush?
Lady Blur: He said that he himself had come from five minutes ago.
Patriot VI: Not hard for someone with a mastery of time.
Lady Blur: He knew we'd been discussing the possibility that he had imprisoned Rush
Patriot VI: What else?
Lady Blur: And he said that I should ask myself where Rush was.
Patriot VI: Wait a minute. He said ask yourself?
Lady Blur: Yes.
Patriot VI: And you said it was a more powerful speedster that slapped you out of the field?
Pains Pleasure: I was so scared. I thought you were gone, like Rush.
Patriot VI: Blur isn't very malevolent, love. He's more benevolent than we think.
Pains Pleasure appears visibly shaken.
Patriot VI: Carly?
Lady Blur: I am sure that a more powerful speedster was there, instantaneously.
Patriot VI: He gave you the answer as to who kidnapped Rush.
Pains Pleasure: OMG
Pains Pleasure: Why? Where is he Lee? Carolly, where is he?
Lady Blur: There are two places that Eric would choose to be: with me or in the Speed Force.
Pains Pleasure: but he didn’t choose this
Patriot VI: Carly, who did he say ask?
Lady Blur: Myself.
Patriot VI: And we know that Rush/Blur is practically ageless.
Lady Blur: That -- appears to be true
Patriot VI: Because of his tie to the speed force. You are just as closely tied to it if not more.
Lady Blur: Rush says that I am. He says that I will be plenty powerful when I come into my own.
Patriot VI: Blur said to ask yourself who kidnapped Rush, Carly.
Lady Blur: Me?
Pains Pleasure: Yes – you, Lee.
Patriot VI: Don't you see it, Carly?
Lady Blur sinks to the rooftop.
Pains Pleasure: I know you don’t want to lose him again, Lee, but where would you put him to keep him safe?
Patriot VI looks with concern to Lady Blur.
Patriot VI: Are you alright, Carly?
Pains Pleasure: It must be a future you -- like Blur is to Rush.
Lady Blur: My -- future self -- is trying to -- preserve my -- present husband.
Patriot VI: Because Rush would have taken the bullet meant for Patriot.
Lady Blur puts her head in her hands.
Pains Pleasure: So why hasn’t SHE let him go?
Patriot VI grumbles.
Patriot VI: I hate time travelers sometimes.
Lady Blur: I -- am -- so sorry, C- Patriot.
Pains Pleasure: Well – he’s safe.
Patriot VI: I can only take one guess, based on what Blur said and showed me.
Lady Blur: It -- must extend over many timelines to necessitate such a -- change.
Pleasure looks at Lady Blur in concern.
Pains Pleasure: Honey, you look like you need to lie down.
Patriot VI: Because I have taken on the mantle and because of the powers Ogma left me with...
Patriot VI: I must be in danger of becoming that mage.
Pains Pleasure: WHAT?
Lady Blur: <with pained weariness> I -- thought of that too -- Patriot.
Patriot VI: It would only make sense, love.
Pains Pleasure: But you would never hurt him
Patriot VI: Rush would take a bullet even for me.
Lady Blur: <tears of outrage starting to her eyes> EVEN!!! Don't underrate yourself, Chris. You -- are important to us all!
Patriot VI: Thank you, Carly.

Patriot VI: There's only one person I know that we can tap for info.
Lady Blur: I would take that bullet if I could. God knows!
Patriot VI pulls out a phone.
Bansidhe’s voice can be heard faintly in the stillness as the women hold their breaths.
Patriot VI: Ban?
Ban: Yes, Patriot?
Patriot VI: It's Chris, Ban. I need something from you. I need you to do something you don't want to do.
Ban: CHRIS?!?!?!? B-b-but we thought you were...
Patriot VI: Ban, I don't have time to explain. I need a major favor of you.
Ban: What do you need, lad?
Patriot VI: I need you to hit up all of your old contacts and find out who put the hit out on Patriot. I need you to become what you once were - a professional assassin.
Ban: WHAT?!?!?!?
Patriot VI: You heard me and I don't have time to explain.
Ban: Do you know what you're asking, Chris?
Lady Blur: Good Grief, Patriot! How can you ask....<voice fades>:
Patriot VI: Unfortunately, Ban, I do.
Ban: Chris, I don't think...I...I...
Patriot VI: If I told you the lives of every human on the planet were at stake, would that make a difference?
Ban: Chris...are Patriot and Rush alive?
Patriot VI: Yes, they are...for now. But I might not be for long unless you do this.
Pains Pleasure looks shaken.
Ban: You're going to owe me, Chris. LOTS of valium.
Lady Blur moves over and puts her arms around Sarah.
Patriot VI: *chuckles* If you keep me from dying, you can have anything you want. The U.S. Government will see to that.
Pains Pleasure: <whispers> What’s he saying?
Lady Blur: <whispers> Ban will find the killer -- and stop him.
Ban: Alright, lad. Bloody mercy. Alright. I'll start making the connections.
Patriot VI: Thank you, Ban. I may owe you my life.
Lady Blur hugs Sarah tightly.
Patriot VI: Alright. Ban is on it. We may or may not hear from him for awhile.

Pains Pleasure: What -- what are you saying?
Patriot VI: I'm saying that there may still be a hit out on Patriot...me.
Lady Blur: Yes, that seems likely.
Patriot VI: I asked Ban to tap his old life and find out.
Lady Blur looks worried.
Pains Pleasure: The only ones .....oh....
Pains Pleasure looks relieved
Pains Pleasure: I thought you meant we were going to have to take you out!
Patriot VI: He's not happy about it because he's going back into a world of darkness and may end up having to assassinate someone.
Pains Pleasure: If he’s a bad guy then it isn’t -- assissination.
Lady Blur: And -- <quietly> then we will have to pull him back out of darkness again.
Patriot VI: Carly?
Pains Pleasure: Just a rather messy arrest.
Lady Blur: Dear, dear Sarah. I hope you never have to look at darkness that way.
Patriot VI: Do you know how difficult that will be?
Lady Blur: <looks steadily at Chris> I think I have some idea.
Patriot VI: Ban was so addicted to that power...or illusion thereof...if he sinks deep enough, we may lose him.
Lady Blur: <firmly> In saving you, and Patriot, and Ban -- I swear I'll do whatever it takes to bring Ban back.
Pains Pleasure: What am I missing??? A villain is a villain ...when Ban gets him, it will be another villain off the street.
Lady Blur: No, sweet Sarah. It's not quite that way.
Patriot VI: Sarah, you're not understanding.
Lady Blur: The darkness is -- seductive. And once it has its hooks in you, you want to sink deeper. Even while you loath it.
Patriot VI: It may not be a "villain" who is taking on the contract.
Pains Pleasure: But Ban is good now and he's strong.
Patriot VI: If this mage has lackeys...they could be members of any government in the world.
Lady Blur: And Ban already has a -- criminal record.
Pains Pleasure: So?
Patriot VI: Meaning Ban might end up having to assassinate someone like that. That won't look good after his trial and he'll immediately disappear to save his own skin.
Pains Pleasure: He's doing penance.
Lady Blur: A foreign government could -- and would -- demand his extradition.
Pains Pleasure: So kidnap him and bring him here and arrest him!
Patriot VI: Not to mention, Carly, that it could even be someone within our own government.
Lady Blur: He would have to go back to the underground OR face a hostile trial with a foreordained verdict.
Patriot VI: The nail on the head.
Lady Blur: Either way we could lose him.
Pains Pleasure: You talk like he’s going to get caught.
Lady Blur: Sarah -- that's a definite possibility.
Pains Pleasure: He's Bansidhe.
Patriot VI: Sarah?
Pains Pleasure: Yes…?
Patriot VI: Do you know why Ban left that world?
Pains Pleasure: Yes.
Patriot VI: Tell me.
Pains Pleasure: He was asked to do a job and when he met the man they talked and Ban was a changed man after that.
Patriot VI: He still killed that man.
Pains Pleasure sighs
Pains Pleasure: I know he did.
Patriot VI: That man was Patriot IV.
Lady Blur shivers.
Pains Pleasure: but the man told him to. He was sick.
Patriot VI: Honey, Patriot knows Ban's real name.
Pains Pleasure: So? Why does that matter? He was on world trial.
Patriot VI: That means, somewhere in his files, Ban's real name is listed. Having his real name, any government could find every last resource he has and pull it out from under him...preventing him from hiding.
Pains Pleasure: But he’s not hiding now.
Lady Blur: Yes, he is, sweetie. 'Else we would know his name.
Pains Pleasure: We all know him and his history, so go look it up if it matters to ya.
Patriot VI: I've been over those court documents. Nowhere in them was his name listed. The names of his parents have been wiped from all records. Ban made sure very few people could ever find his real name.
Pains Pleasure sighs in exasperation.
Patriot VI: Honey, Ban is nothing if not thorough.
Pains Pleasure: It would have been in the media.
Patriot VI: No. It wasn't. None of it. Trust me. I checked.
Lady Blur: <quietly> The man called Ogma would.
Pains Pleasure: So what you’re telling me is he is still wanted?
Lady Blur: Sweetie, Ban was found guilty. He is, in fact, "serving time".
Pains Pleasure: .. and is serving his time here as a hero!
Lady Blur: So -- this is but an illusion of freedom.
Pains Pleasure: Well -- it’s better than a jail cell.
Lady Blur: You should know that "parole" can be revoked at any time "for sufficient cause".
Pains Pleasure: …and look at all the good he’s done! He took Requiem this morning!
Lady Blur: "For sufficient cause" <she repeats slowly>
Lady Blur: An assassination of a government official -- of any government -- when not condoned by the United Nations, would certainly be considered "for sufficient cause".
Pains Pleasure: But he’s a bad guy ...why not just arrest him? I mean arrest the guy Ban is going after.
Lady Blur: His guilt must be proven -- and in that time, Chris could be dead.
Patriot VI: Honey, listen to Carly. You even know yourself. If this is a Circle mage we're dealing with and it's someone within the government, Ban's involvement could very easily lead him into major trouble.
Pains Pleasure: Maybe he isn’t in the gov.
Lady Blur: We're not willing to take that chance.
Pains Pleasure: So we are offering up Ban for Chris?
Patriot VI: Here, love... Listen a moment.
Lady Blur: The fact that they were willing to try for Patriot this past week in such a public venue indicates that SOMEONE with LOTS of resources is behind this.
Lady Blur looks at Patriot.
Pains Pleasure: I don’t think I like this scenario.
Lady Blur: What's the plan, Chris?

Patriot VI: If there's a hit still out on Patriot, that means Blur and Lady Blur know that I could become the mage. Ban is tapping his resources to find out. If it so happens that it is, we're hoping Ban can find the mage's mole. If the mage's mole is someone of VIP status, Ban will have to take out the mole and end up facing prosecution for it. Lady Blur: Will I speed force Ban?
Patriot VI: For now, we wait. If your future self took out Rush, to keep him from interfering, I don't want to lose you too.
Lady Blur: Based on the future Rush saw, I'm on borrowed time already, Chris.
Patriot VI: Borrowed time? Before what? Becoming yourself? It looks like you and Rush are gonna outlive us all, Carly.
Lady Blur: I haven't got my head around that one, Chris. This is the first indication that I even show up in the future.
Patriot VI: Well, Carly, now you know. You should also take heart that you live a long life with your husband.

Pains Pleasure: <whispers> But what if you are wrong?
Patriot VI: Let's hope I am, love.
Pains Pleasure: if you’re wrong then Ban will hit the wrong guy and still be prosecuted.
Patriot VI: Carly, go home and get some rest. I'm going to spend some time with Sarah. Not to mention I don't need to be making myself an easy target.
Lady Blur: No, Sarah. I am certain that Ban will not hit the wrong guy. It will be the right one or no one.
Pains Pleasure: Not if the theory is wrong.
Lady Blur: As you have said, he IS Bansidhe. If there is no hit out on Chris, Sarah, there is no need for assassination of the assassin.
Pains Pleasure: But we know there is one out on Patriot.
Patriot VI: Hon, Ban won't make a hit without my approval. When we get home, I'm going to be on the phone with the president and pulling strings as hard as possible

Pains Pleasure: Lee, why don’t you just ask Blur?
Lady Blur closes her eyes.
Pains Pleasure: Ask Blur !
Patriot VI: Ask Blur what?
Pains Pleasure: Who tried to take you out!
Lady Blur shakes her head noncommitally.
Patriot VI: I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that we've seen the last of our help from Blur.
Pains Pleasure: Maybe not if Lee asked him.
Lady Blur: <the answer is slow and pained> Sarah, I don't know where to find "Blur".
Patriot VI: Carly, after you get some rest, do you want to try contacting Blur?
Pains Pleasure: …with the speed force!
Lady Blur: I'm not -- powerful enough --to go through time, yet.
Patriot VI: Sarah has a point.
Lady Blur: At least, -- Rush -- has -- cautioned me -- not to try.
Pains Pleasure: You looked for Rush, look for Blur.
Patriot VI: You found Eric without traveling through time, Carly. Same might work for Blur.
Lady Blur: I – will – try. But --- if he is -- somewhere near, -- sure, I'll -- find him.
Lady Blur starts to vibrate.

Pains Pleasure: Get some rest first!
Patriot VI: It's worth a shot, but after you get some rest.
Pains Pleasure: You need to be at full strength.
Patriot VI: <his voice becomes more piercing> Rest first, Carly. Sarah's right.
The reddish blur seemed to fade in an out, like a strobe light, lacking control.
Lady Blur: HowcanIrestwhenlivesareatstake?
Patriot VI: Because I'll be in hiding until I hear from Ban.
Pains Pleasure: Because if you go down now, you will be no good to Rush or s-Patriot.
Lady Blur's vibration slows and she stops moving, slumping in extreme fatigue.
Patriot VI: Sarah's full of valid points tonight!
Pains Pleasure: No, I’m not.
Patriot VI chuckles.
Pains Pleasure: I don’t understand anything!
Patriot VI: Hush, love. You've actually pointed us on good tracks, so far.
Lady Blur straightens and takes Sarah's hand.
Pains Pleasure: Maybe Rush will be home when you wake up.
Lady Blur: <tears come unbidden to her eyes> Sarah, listen to me. You knew it was me before I did.
Pains Pleasure: forest /trees.
Lady Blur: You knew I was too tired for the Speed Force. You've been very awake on many points tonight.
Pains Pleasure: Don’t worry about me, Lee; you go get some well needed sleep.
Lady Blur: <softly> Help keep me thinking straight so that we can see all our men safe again?
Pains Pleasure: You got it! I can’t have a decent conversation with either of my sister and I’ve been avoiding everyone.
Patriot VI: You can with me, when I get off the phone with the president.

[Tell to Patriot] Pains Pleasure: I don’t want to TALK to you......

Pains Pleasure: Oh, that’s right you have no travel power.
The red, white and blue figure took Pleasure in his arms.
Pains Pleasure: mmmmhmmm
Patriot VI: <smiling under his mask> No, but to the shadows I go.

05-18-2005 15:33:57

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