"Pretty nice show back there. Specially that bit of actual hocus pocus at the end." Zatanna twirled about, not finding the source and guard instantly up. If she didn't know any better she'd say she heard that voice in her head?
"Right you are, luv. But don't you fret none I'm not here to cause trouble. In fact," Manchester drifted down from the roof above, a good distance away and arms up to show unarmed and spoke out loud, "I need your help." Her dark eyes swept over the broad tattooed chest of the man before her, Union Jack colors and bright purple hair above. Long black coat and tall black boots. Regular English punk, he already reminded her a bit of another Brit she knew, similar accents, though John's attire was considerably more conservative.
"You need my help with what?" she didn't drop her defenses, nor did she approach him. On the contrary, the crossed arms and scowl spoke loudly of what she thought of his intrusion into her mind. Even if just to talk.
"Showin's fast'n tellin. That is, if you'll allow. Sorry bout bargin' in, force a habit. Promise this is low level stuff, just like telli but in three-dimension. Trust me, if this was easy to explain I wouldn't be here." she raised a brow at his words, but got the impression if this guy wanted to start trouble he would have. Something told her he was packing a lot more of a punch than he was showing, even if it lacked any distinct tingle of magic. Must be psychic. After a moment she sighed and gave nod.
"Any funny business, and you'll be spending the next three hours as a rabbit." she warned, and got a nod. In came the flood of images and sensations, flashes as quick to pass as they were to appear, giving her a basic run down. A child, emaciated and clearly abused, skin riddled with the marks of it. More children. Trafficking. A drive to punish those responsible, only to find another player on the field. Something rippling cold emptiness, something formed of inky blackness, something dark, expanding out to claim the children. It looked at her, no she had to remind herself this was his memories. Because for a split second she could swear the thing in his memories was noticing her. Looking at and observing her. Daring her to chase it. And then the visions came to a close.
"I don't know what that thing was, but it felt like magic. And it's got thirty kids in its grasp. I don't know for what." he wrapped up the tale, and it took her a moment to catch her breath and wrap her head around it.
"Jesus." thirty kids. And she saw what the first one looked like, could feel the lack of weight in her, no his, arms. If she were being honest, she didn't know what that thing was either. She didn't know how powerful it was, or what magical way could stop it, or what might happen if they forced it from what was very clearly its host. This was dangerous area they were treading, even for her.
"Do you still have anything that belonged to her? We might need that for a locator spell." Black thought about that, having figured the do-gooder would want to help in a situation like this.
"I can call Missy, see if she still has Adela's t-shirt." maybe attaching a name to the possessed child wasn't the best idea. Had that even been the girl's real name? He didn't know how bad this would go, but if push came to shove the lives of the other children would outweigh the life of one. It wasn't a choice he hoped he had to make, but he knew he wasn't the kind to shy away from the hard choices either.
"We can't go running into something like this blind. It looked like some kind of demonic possession, and I don't have a lot of experience with that kind of stuff. My magic's a bit...different. But I know someone who can help us." Not that she was incredibly fond of getting back in touch with her ex, but she didn't want to mess this up either. Besides, maybe this would be just the kind of thing to help ease his spirits after Newcastle. Where he had failed there, now he had a chance to save more than one little girl. A good deal many more.
"The more the merrier, luv, just don't go bringin' in unnecessary drama." for her glare in answer Manchester just smirked, "Don't have to read your mind to know that emotion." fair enough.
"Give me an address, I'll get us there, then we can go collect John."
Manchester had to admit he was slightly impressed with Zatanna's ability to teleport them where they needed to go. Nifty spell, that. He could certainly use something akin to it more often. Make his jobs all a hell of a lot easier. But those were thoughts for another time. For now they had Adella's old shirt and she was knocking on the door to find a disheveled blond bloke answering with half lidded eyes.
"Zee?" the surprise had him awake in no time, blue eyes flicking over Manchester and slitting over a frown, "Don't think we've met."
"No, call me Chess. Less of a mouthful."
"A local?"
"Something like that." Zatanna was the one to pull the focus back,
"We need you help, John." it took him another moment to register, and John Constantine's attitude certainly didn't improve.
"Of course you do. All this way, all this time, and it's cause you need somethin." Zatanna just rolled her eyes,
"Like you do anything if there's not something in it for you?" the heat in those words had Black taking a slight step back, wondering how bad a lovers spat can be between two magicals.
"Well here's something in it for you: it looked demonic. And it's hunting children. It's got thirty of them trapped somewhere, and one of them possessed. We don't know for what, we just know not to go in blind and you're the best we've got for handling this kind of shit. Lets just say I didn't want to make the same mistake you told me about in Newcastle, and I figured you might want a shot at balancing the scales after that." she wasn't pulling punches, Constantine having no sassy quip to return. She knew just what pressure points to hit, so he opened the door and let them wonder in.
"What do you know so far?" John had a cigarette lit up first and foremost while he shuffled into some pants beneath the half open robe and otherwise made himself more presentable for public. He didn't seem to mind either of their opinions on him changing then and there.
"Not much I know of, you wanna cover this?" Chess handed it over to Zatanna, who honestly was probably the most stable and level headed one in the room all around.
"It looked like something demonic. Thick black ooze out of a child's body. Black eyes, sharp teeth, different voice when she spoke. It spread out and knocked all the adults out, and grabbed the kids. When Chess woke up they were gone. We've got a way to find the host, but don't want to go in blind." The trademark trench found his shoulders, and Zatanna noted silently that both men preferred their long coats, though Constantine's was filled with more tricks. He was already plucking things up from around the room, digging through a chest and snatching up odds and ends. Chess didn't ask, over his head all this magic mumbo jumbo. Only thing he cared about is it working.
"I've come a long way since Newcastle," the word still had a bite of bitterness on his tongue, "if we're looking at an exorcism I'll be able to pull it off easy. While you lot get the kids out." he finally paused on the other man in the room, "What do you practice, mate?"
"I don't." it was spoken in his mind with a smirk, making John nearly jump out of his skin and Chess have to hold back a laugh.
"Bloody psychic! Oy! Stay outta my head!"
"Not-" before Chess could finish saying "thing to see", Zatanna claimed their attention again.
"Are you ready?" John gave a nod, Chess fell into place likewise grabbing a smoke since their host had, and Zatanna held the shirt between both hands. Flanked by two smoking Brits in long coats, she spoke the words.
"ekat su ot alleda." the magic rushed forward, swirled in the air around them, and before any of them could respond or reacts, an inky black smoke poured out of a hole ripped above them, and doused them in darkness.
AN: originally I was just going to have Zatanna, but I thought it would be too fun not to have Chess and John working together on something. XD