this_fire_burns:

Matt Walker's office is in the upstairs portion of a two-story building near Chicago's South Side, which isn't in the best repair. Still, he calls this place his home away from home and the place where the work he does to finance his /real/ job is done.

He gets inside and takes off his duster, draping it over the back of the chair before sitting down heavily. Still no word on Austin Caine, still no leads, and Matt was reasonably sure that whatever those cultist had summoned was going to make its move soon. He considered calling Ian for advice, or Doctor Strange, but decided he wouldn't. He had to help put this together and then stop it.

He picked up the phone and called the rest of the team, asking them to come to his office.
 

this_fire_burns:

(Takes place around the same time as this scene.)


First, Matt Walker tried setting up an appointment with Anya Stark the old-fashioned way. He called, introduced himself and asked if he could speak to her on a matter of legal importance. When the person on the other end asked if he was a lawyer, and Matt said no, they hung up on him. The second day, he tried again, but pretended to be with one of those gossip magazines. They managed to trip him up rather easily and again, he was hung up on.

( Read more... )

nextgen_holiday:

"A father is a guy who has snapshots in his wallet where his money used to be." -- Unknown

nextgen_misc:

Fifteen hours after the Chicago PD responded to an incident at a warehouse on the pier, Detective Lynch is contacted by Seargeant Griswold, who ended up working overtime and was the first to respond when the call came in.

( Read more... )

nextgen_misc:

 

( Read if you dare )

small_but_tough:

It had been a few weeks since her strange encounter and it was still bothering Karen. She really didn't know what to make of it.

So she called a few people who might know to see if they had time to talk.

seenitall:

After leaving the hospital, Anselm found a grimy room in a rundown motel. It was like every other room he'd ever stayed in, just enough for his immediate needs and nothing more. He made arrangements to have it for the next two weeks. Surely the doctor's police friend could figure out what was mugging old men in the city in that length of time. If she hadn't pressed him to talk to the officer, he would've been on his way out of town already.

Once the room situation was settled, he took two painkillers, bolted the door and tried to get some sleep. The bed was lumpy, his backpack made a hard pillow, and it was still better than some of the places he'd slept in over the centuries.

After dark, he ventured out to get some dinner. The tiny room didn't even have a hot plate although the argument could be made for an outdoor icebox to keep something cold. If the window hadn't been painted shut years ago. Then again, the room itself was cold enough to store meat.

blackmagicwoman:

Shelly was reasonably certain Matt didn't do Valentine's Day.  He didn't seem the type and while that was a bit of a downer it didn't mean that she wasn't going to somehow get to spend the evening with him.  To that end she had casually invited him out for some food and then a movie, careful to make absolutely no mention of Valentine's Day in conjunction with things.  She'd already put her big foot in her mouth with talking about feelings and that sort of thing so screwing up and acting like Valentine's Day was important was something the good doctor was trying to avoid.

...she bought herself a box of chocolates and stashed it in her desk drawer in anticipation of the day being ignored anyway.  Nothing to see here, move along.

So instead of Valentine's Day, Shelly had made plans to meet up with Matt at Emperess, the Chinese place around the corner from his place.  She did, however, dress up a little for the occasion.  When else would she get a chance to wear her killer zebra heels?

nextgen_holiday:

There's a piece of paper and a pen attached to a bulletin board. Across the top is written:

New Year's Resolutions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
+

Anonymous entries accepted.

blackmagicwoman:

*Takes place after the most current plot*

Matt had spent a lot of time at Shelly's place, but she'd never been to his.  She knew where it was but it always just seemed easier for Matt to pop by her place with their mutual weird hours.  Matt also had an uncanny ability to 'just be in the neighborhood' with cheeseburgers from Mac's.  It was nice and made her feel really comfortable.  There hadn't been too many solo nights, but Shelly'd gotten to where she felt good about being alone again.   Dracula's creepy card had set her off, but things had evened backout.

Until the shenanigans with Greg.  That had not only been infuriating because Greg was a friend, but it had also rattled Shelly.  Dracula was screwing with all her friends, it seemed and the more she thought about it, the more the fading scars on her throat seemed to hurt.  Shelly couldn't sleep for the ache, for thinking about it, for getting pissed off and also for being scared.  After restlessly trying to sleep for a few hours she finally gave up, got dressed, and headed down to Matt's.

The irony that she was going to Dracula's son at two in the morning for solace didn't escape her.

nextgen_baddie:

When you lived for centuries, patience and waiting came easy. He had waited and watched the Price boys for awhile before making his move. The Price boys were unique, even for werewolves, and the situation had to be handed delicately.

The Price boys were predictable and it made planning easier for Dracula.

The time to make the first move came when the boys had just returned to Gregory's apartment. Dracula let himself in and surprised the two. They shifted into werewolf form of course, but Dracula used his hypnotic powers on them. Within a few moments the Price boys were under Dracula's control.

Now it was time to use them against these foolish mortals who had dared to interrupt his plans.

"It is time to go," he told the two werewolves.

They both howled.

Dracula would lead them into the streets and to a popular night club. There he unleashed the two werewolves upon the club-goers.

Sirens blared in the night as police responded to the disturbance.

nextgen_holiday:

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." JFK

In America today is a day for being thankful for the things in people's lives. Today was a day to celebrate family, friends, prosperity and health with food, family and friends. It is a time to reflect on what is important us and to recognize the gratitude we hold for having those things in our lives.

fullmoonfever:

Greg didn't know Shelly that well, so he opted with the tried and true gift. Chocolate and a gift card with three hundred dollars on it. He delivered them to her place and left them along with a card outside of her door when she didn't answer.

blackmagicwoman:

Shelly was curious by nature.  It had gotten her into a ton of trouble as a kid especially when she turned her curiosity on her little brother, Dante.  Jericho had sent them both to pocket dimensions for time out and that should have broken her of her curiousness, but it hadn't.  Instead it taught her to be more stealthy about it which was why when she unleashed the ritual to sniff out Matt's birthday she expected a nice quiet result that she could then take to do gleefully naughty things with.  What she got was far different.

"You have got to be kidding me."  The ritual results ended up telling her the birthdays of everyone she'd been in close proximity to (save for her patients, she had a ward for that.)  Greg, Michelle, and Matt were all Halloween babies.  She actually facepalmed.

"Okay.  Fine.  Three birthdays.  Three cakes.  Then we all go to Mac's."  She'd have to find a more appropriate costume for this since it was going to be more than just Matt, but she could do that.  She could pull it all off.

***

Three hours later, there were three cakes, an assortment of beers, and some light snacks (and some special things for Michelle if she needed them) spread out in the expansive dining area of Shelly's penthouse.  Simultaneously, magical invitations alerted the members of the team to a pre-party at Shelly's.  Now all she had to do was sit back and wait.

nextgen_media:

Staggered and vague reports are coming that Dr. Doom has now followed his unprovoked aggression against neighboring Symkaria with attacks against Atlantis and Wakanda. As both of these nations are insular and isolated, these reports have been difficult to confirm, and no public announcements have been made by any of the governments involved.  There are even rumors that the respective kings of Atlantis and Wakanda are missing in action.

Even though all the reported victims so far have been isolated or marginalized nations, the U.N. and various governments around the world are reported to be in an uproar trying to decide what action to take.

brit_sorcerer:

Quinn had been thinking about the leprechaun incident and had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time he saw the little annoy creatures. Quinn's magic hadn't been effective and he had to know what to do the next time they came around. Maybe there was a spell or something that would work against them and their magic.

Quinn had to go to the one person who would know about this kind of stuff.

He teleported to 177A Bleecker Street in New York only to find it empty. He wondered where Dr. Strange was.

There was one person who may know. Quinn teleported out to the West Coast and arrived at the front gate of the Defenders.

fullmoonfever:

Greg had thought about going back to LA for the holiday weekend to see his family, but a gig came up at the last moment and decided that playing music was much better than dealing with family. The gig was Sunday night and on Monday Greg found himself in his favorite club, putting back beers and listening to jazz music. It was his idea of a perfect holiday.

fullmoonfever:

Greg stepped off the small stage and headed for the bar. The final set was over and he had the rest of the night free. A friend of his had called earlier in the evening and asked if he wanted to sit in on drums for a friend of his. Greg was getting known as the go to guy when a band member bailed at the last second.

Greg didn't mind. He liked playing and when he wasn't playing he sat in clubs and watched others play. The extra cash didn't hurt at all, but cash wasn't something that Greg paid much attention to. Music had become his life's passion and thankfully he had the means to pursue it.

Mac's was was pretty full, Greg managed to find an empty bar stool and slid onto it. He motioned to the bartender and a moment later a glass of Scotch was set in front of it. He wanted a smoke, but the stupid city had banned smoking in all bars and restaurants. After his drink he'd go outside to have a quick smoke.

marlow:

Questions needed answers, even if Marlow didn't know how exactly what she needed Matt to tell her. With Doctor Strange unavailable, she needed to talk to /somebody/ who might understand. The increased power bothered her a little with the ease she had performing magic that used to require more concentration. Clea said it would happen over time, not practically overnight. Was it dangerous? Would someone get hurt?

Finding her destination wasn't that hard. She knew the general area and having met Matt Walker once already let her transport herself to his location.

She appeared in a simple shimmer of the air and put on a smile. "Hi?"

this_fire_burns:

Matt had recovered quickly from the battle at Vitae, though he hadn't spoken to the others since then. He'd been meaning to check on Greg and Michelle, and call Lynch to see how they were all doing, but he'd been sidetracked by his own ailing, meeting a new ally,  Dracula's revelation, and Shelly's injury.

Matt Walker entered Chicago Memorial and, as he'd done for the past four days, gone directly to Shelly Drumm's room to check on her.  The first day, he'd been greeted by a man that looked to be Shelly's father. Jericho Drumm was known in every mystic circle in one fashion or another, as easily as Matt's own mentor, Ian McNee, was. Matt had also been hesitant to call Ian, because he was certain he might blow up at his mentor for not telling him about...

No, there was no time to think about that.

He walks into Shelly's room, expecting to see her still unconscious from the damage done to her by Dracula. How they were going to explain the marks her neck was anyone's guess.

How Matt planned to make Dracula pay for what he'd done wasn't.

blackmagicwoman:

Portals, teleportation spells and ways are useful but when it comes to getting down to a suspicious club in the darker neighborhoods of Chicago, SUV was more efficient.  It would also trigger fewer magical sensors so if Vitae was tuned to such things, arriving by car would give them a few moments advantage over the shadowy figures suspected to be murderers for Dracula.

Shelly couldn't help but think of Charlie Manson as she turned the last corner and parked her SUV in the darkness down the street from the club.  A maniacal leader, brainwashed followers carrying out horrific deeds for master. 

"Okay.  Yeah.  This place gives me the creeps.  Let's go see if we can get in.  The website said it was a private club, right?  Most of those are pretty strict.  There's this place, The Mercury in Seattle...definitely not stranger friendly.  Grab your equipment folks."

Shelly herself took a deep breath and said a few quick prayers to the loa before getting out of the car and heading up to the door.  There was a guard there, pale and creepy looking as all of the rest of the cultists they'd encountered had been but instead of stopping them, the man smiled darkly and opened the door without a word.  In fact no words were exchanged at all, just that creepy smile.

Shelly's blood ran cold.  This...wasn't good.

living_mummy:

Egypt is not all uninhabited desert. Along the Nile, the land is lush. There are large cities, such as Cairo and Alexandria. There is much more to the land than simply yellow sand and pyramids.

This is not one of those places.

The sun is blisteringly hot, pounding down on the sandy earth. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, this pyramid is easy to overlook. It is not especially pursued by archeologists. It is not easily accessible to tourists. It is, in short, an excellent place for someone to hide out. One would practically need the coordinates of the site just to locate it.

Coordinates which are now in the hands of a small group of people investigating an evil cult...

notquiteright:

In a darker area of Chicago, there's an apartment building that has seen better days. It's still livable but doesn't look nice at all. And it has one resident, the man that owns it. Gene Kalso, aka The Breaker. To the untrained eye the building is normal. But to those with the right abilities, the building has some pretty good mystic defenses. There are some security cameras cleverly hidden outside too.

He's in the lobby tonight, watching a TV and eating some pizza. The lobby is pretty nice and fixed up and the casually dressed Gene's got his feet propped up on the desk. A security camera overhead watches the door but Gene knows some of his contacts are coming and bringing him something interesting. Something about a body and a laptop. Gene wasn't paying attention to the phone call. But he's still waiting.

"Man, these Mythbusters losers are just jokes," Gene laughs as he takes a swig of the beer he's got with him.

nextgen_holiday:

Mothers are the place that we call home.
On them we rest our heads and close our eyes.
There's no one else who grants the same soft peace,
Happiness, contentment, sweet release,
Erasing nighttime tears with lullabies,
Restoring the bright sun that makes us bloom. - Anonymous

nextgen_misc:

( Cut for occult violence )

this_fire_burns:

Matt's most recent case was, on the surface, a simple one. A middle-age father of four skips out on his family to join some kind of New-Age Spiritual Club (read: cult) that offered to eternal peace and tranquility. The wife was understandably distraught, as her husband left in the company of a beautiful, young twenty-something who was saying all the things Victor Pabst wasn't hearing elsewhere.

Matt almost considered it an open-and-shut case until Mrs. Pabst showed him pictures of the symbols that her husband started drawing on the basement walls four months ago. Pentagrams, mostly in animal blood,  adorned the walls of their Queens home. Matt had already decided to take the case on that alone, as the symbols were the kind used to summon demons and other baddies from the Otherside.

But when the wife indicated that Pabst had been using their children's blood to make the symbols, something inside Matt snapped a little bit, and he'd offered her a reduced rate. He hoped that Pabst was really just a guy who was being manipulated by some rogue sorcerer and that he hadn't actually become one; otherwise, this would get ugly in a hurry. He should have gone to Lynch with this, but knowing her, she'd bring the cops into it and if he was dealing with a summoner, this would get a lot of unprepared cops killed.

So he made his way to Los Angeles himself, leaving Whisper in the company of Mrs. Emberstein.

Two days after his arrival, Matt finds himself inside a warehouse not far from the Staples Center, looking at the same symbols from the pictures on these walls. If these people are summoning a demon, he doesn't have a lot of time to find them and stop it.

Just about every summoning ritual he's ever heard of requires a sacrifice, and someone will die if he can't connect the dots.