Justis and Morose: Well, This Stinks

The man known as Justis has a stupid grin on his face when the Grand Mage came in to speak with him. He used to be the Sanctuary's best detective, after all. Morose, Darren and Monotone were in separate cells. Darren seemed to be Irish. "I know what your name means, Justis. I must say, you've done a poor job of sticking to it."
He nodded, then checked himself and shrugged, forcing the smile off his face. "Things have changed since I took a name. Have things changed for you since you took yours?"
"I still have the passion that made me say storm, Justis."
The convict sniggered. "Passion, eh?"
"You know that's not what I meant. So what were you and your three little friends doing sneaking into my house at night?"
Another shrug. "There were five of us originally. Consequence is such a coward, running off like that when he's not even in the danger zone, really." He began smiling again.
"You're a strange man."
"At least I'm not small, like you."
"You're going into a gaol cell, Justis."
"Aw, but they smell."
"All the better."
"Morose was the ringleader."
"We just want to know a little something about why exactly you wanted me."
"What makes you think we wanted you?"
"You broke into my house and your friends asked you to kill somebody."
"I'm good at killing." he was grinning again. He looked very proud of himself, actually. "It's not a good talent to have, I admit, but it's there. I've never been caught before, actually. I was fired from working here on sexual harassment charges."
"Well, you've been caught now."
"Actually, can I not go to a gaol cell? Can just Morose go?"
Jasmin narrowed his eyes. "Uh...you just told me you're an accomplished killer. Justis, you are going to a gaol cell and nothing can stop that."

"What if I make a deal?" Morose asked Montaneux. Morose was quite a panicky young lad, looked to be in his teens with glasses and braces. In fact, upon questioning him in his mediocre way, Ashley had indeed found that Morose was not yet 18 and certainly hadn't reached the surge yet. "I can't go to prison. Please don't make me go to prison!"
"Jonathan," Ashley began, sitting back with a sigh, "We can't just make special exceptions. Besides, if you know what you did was wrong and you still spoke as confidently as you did to whosoever was on the other end of that call of yours..."
"Please! I'm like, their scapegoat or something!" He began to cry. "They're all going to say I was the ringleader, but I wasn't. Monotone was. I swear! Please! I was roped in, I'm so sorry! I was told all sorts of stuff about exams and training and, and..."
"Calm down Jonathan." He sighed. "Listen, we want to know exactly what your boss wanted with our boss, okay?"
Morose nodded. "Okay. I'll tell you everything."

Ame grinned at Monotone, who grinned back. "Clever." He commented. "How many Sanctuaries do you even plan to hit?"
"I don't know." She responded. "Morose does."
"I see. God, what would be the body count for that?"
"Six, seven thousand?"
"Wow,"
"You know, for a Sanctuary Elder, you sure do like death."
"Previous career involvement. You're fascinating, Adrienne."
"Am I really, Lionel?"
Lionel nodded, grin widening. You know that little obsessive thing fangirls do where they see someone and think 'marry me' or 'they're mine' or something of the sort? That was what Lionel was thinking right there and then. Adrienne Monotone was just perfect for him. Plus, to him at least, she was beautiful.

Detective Boden was with Darren. He wasn't getting very far. Darren was pretending he couldn't understand a word Boden was saying. He kept making comments about his 'silly accent' and then mocking it. Ouragan Boden sighed and rested his forehead on his desk. "If this carries on, I'm going to stick you in a cell so deep you'll never see the sun again." He said slowly. Darren Lock tilted his head to the side.
"Huh?"

-----

Remember good old Mihai Viscol? Yulianna crept up behind him as he spoke in a hushed voice to Santa Claus. She crept closer and held a knife to his throat and he gave a bored look to Santa.
"Your attempts on my life become sloppier each day. You need fresh ways of taking Romania, Yulianna."
"I have fresh ways." That was when he heard the commotion outside. If he moved, he was dead. Santa, however, could go to the door and see the true extent of the chaos and carnage outside.
"Oh my God..."
"What is it?"
"Oh my God!"
"What are you 'oh my god'-ing about?"
"The vampires, the massive army, trolls or Serpine?"
"...Ah..."
Yulianna grinned. "Does that make your blood run cold, Grand Mage? Or should I say colder than it already is. Your Elders were part of this. I tried to warn you."
"Take your blade from my throat and maybe I will reward you."
"You don't understand, Grand Mage. It's too late. We're all going to die and if I don't appear to be on their side, I die too. Right here, right now."
Mihai would have shaken his head if there wasn't a blade there. "You'll die either way." He reached behind him and the blade dug deeper into his throat. He gave a small gag and his ever so dark eyes widened in fear. "You wouldn't dare..."
"I am a ruthless person, Mihai. I thought you knew that by now. I have made many attempts on your life before."
"Well, I have a rolling pin." Santa stated jovially from behind her before hitting her over the head. She fell and the Grand Mage coughed a little as the blade dragged across his throat. "Are you okay, Mihai?"
"It cut me, Santa..."
The Scandinavian teleporter pulled the strange man off his seat and to the door. They both jumped when there was a knock. "Mihai?" Haos called, sounding a little bit terrified. "Please! Let me in!" Her voice rose and became hysterical. "Lumina's a traitor and I don't know what to do, but the corridor's empty right now! Let me in! Please!"
Yulianna groaned from the floor as the curse in her bracelet took effect. "They're both traitors..."
"And you're untrustworthy and have just made an attempt on the Grand Mage's life." Santa reminded her. He then turned back to Mihai. "What are we doing?"
The Grand Mage hesitated. "We let her in and we shackle her. Put shackles around Polina's ankles too, providing the curse doesn't kill her." Santa looked shocked by the idea of shackling an elder. "Polina's right. We cannot trust anyone. Not in these dire times." Haos was shrieking to be let in again. "Shackles please, Mr Claus. Prepare yourself." He opened the door and pulled Haos in. The hall was filling again with all sorts of things that worked for Mevolent. Haos gave an indignant cry as Santa shackled her.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"Extra security, Valoros. No need to be offended. I fear. It is what I do."
"Mihai!"
"I am sorry." He lifted Polina over his shoulder and linked arms with Santa. "Go."
"Where?"
"I don't know. Scandinavia."
"Mihai, there is a reason I came here..."
"Anywhere that isn't full of vampires and deadly things!"

In a panic, he found himself in what used to be Polina/Yulianna's room. It was still covered in a sheen of ice from their last visit and all the lights were off. It was like one of those scenes from a horror/fairy tale film. "Wow." Mihai breathed.

-----

When Boden left him, Darren smirked and kicked his shoe off. A rather odd and silly place to hide a phone, but it had been Darren's place for a long time. The reason he appeared to walk with a perpetual limp. Besides, it was a strong, fat, clunky phone. He lifted it to his ear and grinned, speaking in Norwegian. "Chunk Cider to Glitter Ninja."
"Quit calling me that." Came the snappy reply.
"You have your vantage point?"
"Uh, duh. The Grand Mage lives here. I think I have more than a vantage point."
"Then go?"
"Darren, sometimes I really want to kill you."
"Maybe later."
She hung up on him and went upstairs, reaching into her handbag. It was very late, or early depending on how you want to view it, and Axel had decided he would rather sleep than attempt to catch up on his workload. He was undressing as she walked in and his face lit up. "You're up late." he commented joyfully. She threw something from the handbag at his face. He winced then laughed. "Did you just throw glitter at me?"
She smiled along, the smile growing as what Axel had thought was glitter began to burn him.

-----

Austin reluctantly knocked on the door, plastering a sheepish grin over his face when Helper opened the door, glaring through a pair of black eyes. "Hi, Box..."

The living room was full of friends and foes alike, all sporting similar injuries. Daemon walked over for a hug and nodded to Cadence, who nodded back.

Awesome sighed as Austin took his place beside him. "Things escalated, I see." The Necromancer pointed out in a quiet voice. "You get involved?"
"I did."
"Verdict?"
"Box's taking the Necromancer girl's side."
"Cleric Noon has never been one for rational thinking. Box would be making a mistake, and I'm not just saying that because she wants to use me as a sacrifice. Cleric Repine can be impulsive but thinks things through properly and more rationally. Plus Daemon's not going to let it happen, nor is Cadence when she finds out."
"Sierra supports Noon, Robyn opposes."
"Good for her."
"You're in a bad mood."
"You think?"
"Don't be like that. Remember when we were best friends?"
"No."
The vampire shifted in his seat. "What happened to you?"
"Belinda died."
"Ah." He hesitated, trying to think of other friends of Austin, trying to think of one that might still be alive. "I have a sister."
Austin frowned. "Arachne."
"Arachne." Awesome confirmed.
"Our sisters are really weird. Mine, yours and Gale's that is."
The bone breaker nodded and sighed. "Who's the redhead?"
"Niamh. Gale's sister."
Awesome's frown deepened. "Crystalline?"
The Necromancer Cleric looked up, glaring. "What?"
"I have a plan. If it's okay with Box I have to call some friends over. All my friends."
Austin arched an eyebrow. "All?"
"Aleron, Amandine, Artemis, Luna and Katherine. I have a job for all of them, plus it achieves the same without killing you."
"...Yay..."

-----

B-J looked up when the lock clicked. Twist nudged the door open and smiled, gesturing for her to come to the door. Her emerald eyes widened as she hurried over. "Advantageous!" He put a finger to his lips, pleading her to be quiet before handing her what appeared to be Sense Warden robes. There was a muffled noise behind the short man and the door that he kept mostly shut. Once she was draped in and hidden by the robes, she stepped out and had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from laughing too loud. Erin Hades Motionless was behind Twist, duct tape wrapped in layers around his head at jaw level in a desperate attempt to silence him. He was still talking through, his hazel eyes flickering about in a panicky way.
Twist gave a quiet sigh and locked the door again before gesturing for the two of them to follow him. The amount of times he had been here, he was pretty sure he knew the entire mapping of the place by heart. Arduous Marshmallow was waiting outside by his car, scowling. "You know," he started as they approached, "I think it's best I stop doing favours for people. The only reason I'm helping you, Twist, is because that ginger bloke practically begged me to help this Maleficent woman should we find her..."
B-J frowned. "Ginger bloke...?"
"That weird tunneller with the ugly shoes. He seems quite attached to you. Went to Roarhaven when we got him free. Not sure where he went after, but Roarhaven would be a good bet if you wanna see him."
B-J laughed a little. "His name was Garnet and he's not attached to me. He thinks I'm bad luck." She hesitated for a moment. "He's an old friend of mine, though. I got him into magic in the first place. In a way it could be seen as my fault he ended up in a cell, I guess..."
Arduous rolled his eyes and started the car. "Get in and I'll take you to Roarhaven."

-----

Perseus was still with Faine when Arachne arrived. Her hands clenched as she approached the man. He was sat on her bed, talking to the little girl quietly.
"Hi mummy!" Faine cooed, waving with an adorable little grin on her face.
Perseus shifted away from the child, looking at his feet.
"This is Perseus and he used to look after me. He's nice. I like him. Can he stay with us? Can he babysit?"
"Maybe. But now he has to go back to his room." She took him by an arm and the back of the neck and heaved him to his feet.
"I'll come quietly if you let go of my neck." He muttered. Reluctantly, Arachne complied.

Charles was in the corner, curled over, chin on his chest, eyes closed, hands clasped together on his knee. River was pacing in front of him, talking about how this new information made no sense to her. Perseus walked in with his head held high, arms crossed as tight over his chest as he could cross them without hurting himself for warmth. He completely ignored River and snuggled down next to Charles, who cracked open an eye and failed to make out the form of the person beside him.
"It's Percy." The Cuban Mage offered helpfully.
The small Frenchman closed the eye again and slipped his arm around his boyfriend's shoulders, ignoring Perseus' hiss of pain.
"Charles?"
"Mmm?"
"What's with her?"
"She's having a mental breakdown."
"Oh...why?"
"Because."
He hesitated. "Have you been crying?"
"My everything hurts..."
He hesitated before hugging Charles back, who gave a cry of pain as a response before biting down hard on his bottom lip to stop himself doing it again. "Sorry."
"It's okay." Charles gasped before another tear spilled through. "I'm never playing brave and fearless again. I made an idiot of myself and now they know where my Grand Mage lives..."
"You've never been tortured before coming here, have you?"
He shook his head sadly.
"You get used to it."
His eyes snapped open and he gave Perseus a look. "Seriously?"
"It takes a really long time, but I can sleep through it now."
"You're weird."
"And you're French. Oh well."
"Heeeey!"
With a grin, he tightened the hug. "No offence."

((...What just happened?))