Crumpled Memories

Echo Labs...it felt like forever and a day ago since this place went up in flames on all the national news networks, sending headlines over mass media of the travesties that were being performed there, and of the exodus of imprisoned Vagrants and neo-humans, both natural and created there, spilling out into the general public and now on the run. Public opinion was still split, where those on one side decried the horrible mistreatment of their fellow man in cruel facilities such as these, whereas the other claimed that these were dangerous individuals that could not function in a healthy society. Jake kept hoping that the neo-rights activist who invited him to her cause, Calamity, would have contacted him after the lab went down, but that call never came. He couldn't help but feel a pit of dread in his stomach whenever he thought about it, wondering and fidgeting with the burner phone she had given him so long ago.

The conversation came up again over dinner with his roommate, the vagrant vigilante, Huntress , and in her usually blunt and sharp-tongued manner, she suggested he go and investigate the remains of the facility for some form of closure. If he found her still there, or any indication that she might have escaped, he can rest easy knowing she's likely fighting the good fight elsewhere and will contact him if he's needed. If not...well, closure was closure, and he could send her to rest properly. But to dwell on it as he was? That wasn't healthy for the mind, and Jake had enough mental and emotional stress to deal with on his regular demon patrols, not to mention the constant concern of possible capture and detainment.

And so, after traversing through a few hellscapes to avoid detection from human military, though maybe not so much the demon threats he usually had to deal with, Nevermore ended up in Denver, Colorado, the last place Calamity's notes had mentioned, and the location where the worst crimes against humanity has been unveiled in the last year. Echo Labs was mostly in shambles, and the masked hero silently floated over the barbed wire fencing surrounding the condemned building on small embers, and started taking a look about the ruins. The main floor building was all but destroyed, but the majority of the facility seemed to go many miles down into the earth, as if to a place of Hell of its very own. Probably not too far from the truth, as the rumblings of a demon's snarl rang in his ears, a sound only those tied to magic and the occult could hear, sending an uncomfortable shudder down his spine. Of course this place would be tied to a hellscape. The level of negative emotion here, the horrible things that happened...it might as well be a beacon for those pointy bastards.

Suddenly, an angry scream burst out, and Jake's heart practically exploded from his chest, a few violet embers dancing off his hair and shoulders as he ducked behind a fallen slab of concrete, out of sight. Was someone in trouble? Or just royally pissed? The sound of her seemed very young, but no other voices followed or called over hers...Nevermore slipped around the concrete and filled his cloak with fire to take to the air again, landing into a crouch on a higher stack of fallen building scrap to get a better look at the commotion from a safe vantage point. Looks like its just the one girl...what's she doing in a place like this?  

Nevermore watched for a moment with great interest, opting to stay quiet for the moment, only for his eyes to widen in surprise when she quickly put pencil to paper and then literally dragged the drawing out into reality in a quick motion. He threw both of his hands up as her attention and literally drawn blade was pulled towards his direction. “Woah, sorry, don't mind me. I'm not here to hurt you, kid, I'm just investigating. I'm a neo-human too. Like you.” He lowered one hand to pick up a small sliver of stone at his feet and held it up so she could see, then let it light ablaze in a tiny purple candleflame. “See? Please put the knife back in the book. I'm used to having pointy things thrown my direction, but it's still a bit uncomfortable when it happens, you know?”

Sketch

His hands still up where the girl could see them, Nevermore cocked his head to the side, shrugging his shoulders a bit as he did so. “Eh. Fair point,” he replied plainly, and hopped down from his concrete perch to stand more at her level. “Not a lot you can trust nowadays, with how wonky the world's gotten, right? But, at the very least, I can trust that you don't trust me, and in turn, I know I shouldn't and don't trust you in turn. And with that perfect circle of untrust in play, we know we can furthermore trust that the other is armed, dangerous, but likely doesn't want to cause any problems for themselves by provoking the other.” The cloaked neo unsheathed the baseball bat hooked onto a leather sheath at his hip, twirling it with a flourish and laying it comfortably at rest upon his shoulder. “So as long as we both have our weapons of choice at the ready, which can be used at any point should a wrong move be made, but you know you won't make a wrong move, and I know I won't make a wrong move, we should be good.”

There was a ring in his tone that made it sound as if he were grinning from ear to ear behind the mask as he offered this roundabout logic. “But if it makes you feel any safer, I'm looking for clues on a missing person...and I have no idea who you are, so I'm pretty sure you're not the lady I'm here to see. And believe me, I'd remember a neo who could literally draw a blade like some kind of 3D printer.” Nevermore suddenly looked up and towards the open maw of the ruined laboratory, startling slightly, as if a noise only he could hear snatched his attention. Snapping jaws like bear traps clanged in the deep reaches of his brain, along with an uncomfortable sensation of being stalked for prey. Enough pleasant chatter – time to scope this place out, get the closure he needed from here and potentially seal off a hellscape...before the demon general that created it started hunting. Jake eyed the young girl, thinking carefully. The anger she emanated, anger and fear...and drawn to such a place as this...it was very likely this was the target in the first place, and in good faith, he couldn't just leave her alone to wander into a trap.

“I have the distinct feeling,” he said, slowly moving towards the entrance as he spoke and standing just over the edge of the ruined pit that went down, down, down into darkness below, “That if I tell you to move along and play somewhere else, you'll just get indignant, ignore me entirely, and snoop around here anyway, making what should be a simple in and out mission for me into something way more unnecessarily difficult.” Jake shrugged, turning the eerie round lenses of his mask upon Sketch, and gestured she come along with a tilt of his head. “So with that said...you coming?”

Sketch