The Hellfire Estate - NYC
< The winds of change continued to blow through The Hellfire Estate as a great renovation was under way. Her exile on Sheena Island had ended and her work there had garnered her a bit of freedom. However, she was a woman who's life was defined by her work, so the concept of "free time" was rather lost on her. The departure of Dominique Devereaux had been a well timed one, as there was work to be done here that could no longer remain "in shadow." >
Robotic Voice: "Doctor, security systems of the lower levels have been upgraded per your specifications, and construction of the lab is going smoothly. We believe full completion of the project in possible within a few days."
< From the dark halls of The Hellfire Club, the woman in
shadow steps INTO the light, to reveal a face not seen in this timeline in quite some time. Her wild and familiar icy blue eyes look up and down at her creature before her, a ghastly creation with multiple cybernetic arms, a human like torso, and a circular head that contain a haunting bright orange orb composed of a number of different swirling energies, bound together by the chains of magick. >
"We need to work faster than this. Though I take great pride in all of my creations, The White Queen does not see the beauty of my creations for what they are. Return to the re-charge station, I'd like to take a look at your productivity sequence and see if there's a way to increase it even further."
< She spoke to the creature in a low, breathy and cerebal tone, one that indicated her interest, but refused to betray her confidence. >
Robotic Voice: "Affirmative, Dr. Shaw. Heading to re-charge station. Re-charge to be complete in two hours."
< She nodded, taking a moment to look at her perfectly manicured black nails, fussing with them for a moment as she made her way down the hall and towards a wing of the mansion that she had just acquired; the quarters of the former Black Queen herself, Dominique Devereaux. At the far end of the east wing, she opened a door that led to her Chamber of Shadows, a place for her to get away from the cold and sterile environment of a laboratory, a palce where she could connect to her magick, to plot her next move, to ensure that she was centered. She had nobody tying her to this timeline, or rather, nobody that she herself was connected to, but all around her she could sense the presence of her counterpart, a rather dissappointing woman by the name of KELLY KING aka Witchfire. She knew that coming to this timeline she would be vulnerable to any number of different versions of herself, but she never expected that she would run into a timeline where she would be DEAD. The longer she spent in this world, the more she was able to see about Kelly King's life and the more she became dissappointed yet determined. The only legacy she had left behind was one of mental illness, and her three children, Alison, Cameron and Erika. One of them was dead and the other two had dedicated their life to DESTROYING the very work that KELLY SHAW had dedicated her life to doing. This world may look at HER and think she would suffer the same fate as her counterpart, but the world, what was left of it after what she planned to do to it, would be VERY wrong. >
< The Chamber of Shadows was a place where she could very much insert her own true identity in the world, solidify her new life. The second she entered this timeline, she felt destiny call to her, her gift of sight alerting her to exactly where she needed to be and what she needed to do. Across the multiverse, all of their work had been tainted, BLIGHTED by The Six and their allies. It seemed to be fate that this version of herself happened across this version of Diana, The White Queen, and it was an opportunity to fix mistakes, to further the cause, to continue to do the work she had dedicated her life to until it was destroyed in THE INFERNO, though not the one this world knew. As she entered the room, she noticed a box with various, gawdy gold trinkets and knick knacks left over from the previous resident of this office. Kelly Shaw rolled her eyes, pulling out a small tape recorder and speaking into it.
"Note to self, burn the witch's box."
< She had yet to meet Isis, but she hadn't been impressed by her initial assessment. Dominique was a woman who had the power to destroy GODS, and yet Kelly had noticed she spent most of her time performing parlor tricks for mortals and dazzling them with a less than exemplary voice in a casino like atmosphere under the ROOF of her would be enemies. The Hellfire Club was better off without her. >
< Taking a seat in her sleek black desk, candles began to burn brightly upon her command, their flames highlighting a number of "trophies" on the newly decorated walls of the room. Across from her was her floor to ceiling length mirror, which hosted no reflected but instead a swirling black hypnotic, pulsating energy. This was
The Eluvian, a powerful scrying tool that had the capacity to facilitate inter-dimensional travel. She had pieced it together herself from pieces she had found around the world during her internment on Sheena Island. On the far right wall was a large framed pair of holographic wings, that were the ones she had crafted for The Choir and The Right before The Purifiers Attack. On the opposite wall, were several pages of The
Book of Vishanti, a POWERFUL spell book in the right hands. And finally, next to the fire place on a magickal stand, stood
The Staff of One, a beautiful and hypnotic, darkly powerful staff that she was hoping would give her an edge in the days to come. She had learned so much in such a short time, with modern technology filling in gaps that weren't possible yet in her timeline. She was in a good place, for as much as somebody who had bound her own emotions away with magick some time ago. In this timeline, she had opportunity, and with THIS Diana, she saw the path to success. >
< Part of that pathway to success was a
"march towards darkness", one that both Kelly and Diana had been working on for quite some time. Waving her hand in front of her, The Eluvian began to swirl and buzz with a haunting magickal energy as an aerial view of the city zoomed forward until it revealed KAREN VICTORIA aka Shadow Weaver, walking down a cold New York Street, on her way to a magick shop. Though she was not one for comedy she couldn't help but laugh to herself for a moment. >
"Hundreds of years of modern science, and witches still flock to shops filled with sage, incense and books full mostly of nonsense."
< There had been many over time who had attempted to blend the worlds of magick and science, but Kelly Shaw had been one of the few who had succeeded. For some time now, she had been authoring a new craft, a new way to manifest power and to connect to the ambient forces of magick within the universe, so many of which had yet to be discovered. To consistently turn to the old ways as some sort of homage to one's ancestors never felt right to Kelly. While there was power in invoking words that had been said since the beginning of time, there was something to be said for blazing new and uncharted territory. >
< Tucking a tendril of dark brown, almost reddish hair behind her ear, she watched Karen walk down the street with perverse curiousity. She had known Karen in her native timeline, even tried to help her at one point, before she lost it. But she had to remind herself that this was not the Karen that she knew. None of them were the people she knew and as such, she looked at this world and the people in it, with the same kind of scientific curiousity that drove her life. As she surveyed Karen, obviously feeling the effects of the magick she had put into place earlier, she became engrossed with ideas. Would this Karen break like the other one when faced with her past, with her choices? This Karen was decidedly darker, managing to survive what she hadn't before, but it was always good to test the waters, to assess your opposition and see what they were made of. The Six would experience her tests soon enough, but for now, she had set her eyes on Karen. Call it nostalgia, call it perverse machinations, there was something about the witch that made Kelly want to "open her up and see how she worked." >
< Walking over to her vanity in the corner, she grabbed one of the many unholy, glowing crystaline bottles and selected one with a purple hue, spraying herself like perfume that was really a combination of chemicals and magick blended together to create one of the many potions she was famous for. Everything Kelly did had a purpose, and this was a part of things as well. From beneath her dress, she felt her
Omni Pistol, one of her most deadly weapons, a mystical gun she had crafted that was capable of any number of desired effects. The chamber was full of five bullets, containing syrums, potions and compounds that could ignite her power, and fight back her foes, each bullet introduced at the SPEED OF LIGHT, it's magick protecting it's presence. From inside of her Chamber of Secrets, she shimmered away and appeared RIGHT in front of Karen Victoria herself. >
Karen: "Oh my stars! Excuse me. I didn't see you."
"No worries. It's a
frosty night. I can't think of anything else but this cold."
< She peered at Karen with an alluring smolder as her "perfume" began to swirl in the air around them. Actually a complex potion, it was compromised of a number of chemicals, magickal herbs and pheremones, that dulled the senses, blurred the lines between reality and dream, inducing somewhat of a waking hypnosis. This would cause a normally very guarded Karen's pulse to slow, thoughts to become disjointed, but act far more responsive than she would normally be, all without her even knowing. Her black manicured hands grabbed the doctor's arm a bit softly. >
"I don't mean to bother you, but aren't you Dr. Victoria? This may come a bit from left field, but I actually studied your work for my thesis in college. There weren't many leading female voices when I was in school, and I will thank you for not guessing what year that was."
< Tilting her head slightly. >
"Such a shame about your husband, Christopher. Just goes to show you that even us licensed professionals can't always determine if the people we love are going to batter our bodies or kiss our wounds, am I right?"
< She saw the confusion well up in Karen's face. She was reacting in line with Kelly's hypothesis. Time to press further. >
"You're daughter seems to have turned out quite nicely, though. Beautiful girl, when she isn't manifesting horns and trying to swallow the Earth whole...and let's not forget about about your other daughter..the one who you let take the brunt of the abuse your husband doled out when you went into hiding? How is she doing?"
< Kelly was playing the part of concerned friend and chilling temptress. Her words began to echo ALL around Karen's senses, almost as if she didn't know where they were coming from. Her body would go ice cold, her face would break out in a cold sweat as her vision went in and out of blurriness. WHO WAS THIS WOMAN? And why did she feel the need to rationalize her choices all of a sudden? What was happening. Kelly's voice went lower, while still maintaining it's melodic apathy. >
"But what I really wonder Karen, is what happens to the woman who counsels them all, when she needs counseling herself? Sure, you can turn everybody else into nice and neat little packages, but who is fixing the cracks in YOUR psyche? Who counsels the counselor? Could it be Michael? No, probably not. He can't handle that kind of darkness, not again, not after everything you've already put him through? Oh, that would just be crazy, but then again, that wouldn't be very outside the realm of reality, would it? In fact, women in your field often lose their careers...and their minds due to their work, needing more help than the ones who've paid you to help THEM..."
< She got CLOSER to Karen, speaking quickly, confusing Karen with the pace at which she was speaking. >
"You've lost it Karen, you've lost it entirely, and there's only one person here who can straighten you out...and... [pausing, feigning sincerity] I think we both know who that is...."
"MEEE!!!!!!!!"
< Karen would HEAR AND SEE Christopher Victory all around her, lunging at her from every single direction, attempting to HIT her, attempting to BRUTALIZE her like he had done before! Karen was LOST in the imagery of Christopher around her as Kelly continued. >
"You can't keep this up, you're losing your grasp...and when YOU lose it...[whispers]
so will they."
< Kelly sensed the impending arrival of Michael via her omni-sight. She was done. For now. >
< Shimmering out of the area, Michael would run up to find an EXTREMELY distressed Karen Victoria, seeming to SCREAM and shout at HERSELF, fighting with something completely imaginary. He didn't know, and neither did Karen, that she had just come face to face with Talisman for the first time
! >
