[30th January 2011]
[Somewhere, Someplace; - Dimensional Adjacent to County Cork, Republic of Ireland]
Consciousness came back sluggishly, along with the feeling of being cold, as I slowly blinked my eyes in the faint gloom and groaned. Largely to myself, and the chill was largely due to being naked apparently. Pushing myself up to a sitting position I rubbed at my aching head and looked around...
'Ah, yeah...nearly dying. Right, ugh...' I thought cobwebs clearing from head as the room I was in became more apparent along with the brightly glowing ritual circle beneath my body. It'd been damn hard, and time consuming, thing to create through the later years of childhood but seems creating it had saved my life along with the Boss's aid. Still I sighed sadly; poor Mary the Murder Mannequin was gone then, teleported in my place to delay anyway trying to follow me. I'd put alot of effort into creating her, it'd been a nice little hobby actually on boring/rainy days, and now it'd been smashed to itty-bitty pieces by the angry old blonde witch who'd just tried to kill me.
I groaned as I stood up, healing magic or no it seemed being unconscious for...however long it had been...hadn't been conductive to ease of movement when I started moving about again. Slowly, testing, stretching my arms and aching shoulders a little as I stood up and studied my Magic Panic Room/Doomsday Shed of sorts. Certainly should have been more active in updating the place since...well, going active at this whole government agent thing, but it was clearly in better condition than my armour and clothes were. All of which lay broken and torn in a pile with its own little circle nearby I saw...though I hoped the stored stuff should still be intact.
'Hopefully' was the thought there as I forced myself to stagger over towards them, pushing a little power through my body and causing the tattoos to pulse darkly to life. Good, it seemed that I'd healed and my reserves had recovered somewhat even if currently in my original Sean O'Neill body and face and feeling tired. Sadly it was just as uncomfortable bending over to start searching through the black and silver armour as my back protested once again. I made a mental note to put a comfortable mattress there in case this ever happened again and I needed to heal up from nearly dying. Damn Greek bitch and her murderous rage...I forced myself to calm down and focus on the task at hand at the state of the others who'd I'd abandoned by getting trashed so easily.
'Pistol, write off, dagger write off...magic murder bag is a-okay, so heavy weapon or two...phone...perfect...shite, it's a day nearly?' I grunted to myself looking at the time after finding that rather important piece of equipment. My civilian one had lost its power, but the official one was better powered and rune protected so it...nearly the afternoon of the thirtieth now, Irish time.
For the moment I put that aside, then been equally glad the freeze ray pistol in its little holding patch was intact, as was it holster. Even if the armour, mask, and the rest were both damaged and now magic-less at least I wouldn't be completely helpless when I stepped outside the nearby doorway. I shivered and rubbed my arms and shoulders with equally cold hand; whatever the reason the small 'room' in its own pocket dimension was rather cold apparently.
"Yeah...clothes would be great. Also, note to self; install heating here somehow in the future" I grumbled at the chill, slowly turning away from the battered stuff and moving over to the metal chest to my right. Snapping it open with a click I started pulling out the clothes stored therein...some of which no longer fit apparently, because I was being too lazy to update the stores since joining SHIELD. Thankfully I'd stored several sizes and one spell adjustment later I had a decent pair of jeans, shoes, t-shirt, jumper, and perhaps most importantly, jacket with basic protections and places to store my pistol of icy-shooty-ness.
"Okay Sean, you are dressed and...presto-chango..." I really had to calm down as I muttered some gibberish as I activated a simple cleaning spell "...mostly clean. That's good for a nearly dead guy. Go home...oh, wait, hide weapons first dumbass"
It was a chore, but I forced myself to follow through on the instructions I'd written down a few years ago so I avoided rushing out of here in my underwear, or waving a sword in an empty field...or somehow managed to lock myself out. I wasn't sure that was possible, but it was best to ensure it wasn't because of my urge to rush out and see if everyone was okay.
Instead I went through the motions, like getting dressed, storing and hiding weapons, getting the jewellery with stored spells, and then double checked. Preparation was key after all, even down to changing my civvie phone battery. Finally I strode over to the door, took a deep breath as I gripped the handle, and then opened the door...
...and promptly turned around and walked back to the metal box with clothing as the rain and wind snapped into my face...
...one baseball cap, hood on long jacket pulled up and jacket buttoned up later I finally stepped outside and shut the door behind me. One word later and it had vanished, the dimension closed again as I gave a shiver standing in muddy old ruin; listening as my phones started beeping and buzzing softly in my pockets. Taking a deep breath I took them out, the 'official' one as expected, but I focused on my 'home-Sean' one.
'Okay...good...that's missed calls Mam and Da, message about being late only...an hour or so ago. Good, nobody told nothin' yet, grand' I thought letting out a relieved breath as I sought shelter against one of the walls of the old ruined manor house as the raindrops blocked the screen. Rubbing my thumb over it to clear off the drops I clicked through the numbers and pressing dial.
"Hello?"
"Hey Mam, sorry I've missed calls, I'm running late...sorry?" I replied back as her voice came back over the line, waiting in a nervous stress for any indication cover had been broken. Wards hadn't been triggered, but that was only for threats, and I wouldn't put it beyond the handful of people who knew who I actually was to panic and break the three day protocol.
"Young Man, to do you ever answer your phone! What's the point of having one if you don't bleedin' use it!" she groused back to me, the rain pattering angrily on the stones and plants around me "...what were ye doin at this hour! Don't be lyin' ta me now!"
"Uhh..." okay go with the truth then, from a certain point of view anyway "...sorry, we were doin training and got playing a game after on the computer with this girl named Didi...and lost track of time so then I sorta overslept!"
I pressed on as I heard her grumble "...look I'm on the way back, I'm only about half an-hour away but I'll only be home a bit, have to head back into work"
Thankfully that worked, and I managed to click the damned thing off after only a short few sentences of criticising my lack of time keeping and general business. Now it was time for protocol, because the stress and fear was building up inside of me and...
I down a calming draught. Now was not the time for freaking out or rushing off back to the Mountain. Fight was long over, and I needed to know what was going on. So it was time to follow protocol I reminded myself firmly as I took out the third phone, the emergency one to the Taoiseach's Office, and clicked it open. Preparation and knowledge were the keys to a wizard having half a chance at a long life, and if my bosses were sticking to the rules then I would too. Of course it was bypassing SHIELD and the Justice League, but they could damn well wait till I checked what had happened on the computer in case there were other dangers I needed to be aware of right now.
{Amergin. Houdini. In the Wind. Sitrep Pls}
For now it was just type and press send as I turned out of the old abandoned ruin and began walking back through the fields up to the laneway home. If things had gone to shit then I'd be strongest there in my true Sanctum, and I could ensure if that Divine Bitch came after me I'd be damn well ready, and that my family couldn't be used as blackmail. I prayed silently that my friends were okay, that Gemma and Cassie were okay, but in practical terms I focused on accessing the internet on my magically protected phone and tried to check the news for reports of anything related to what had happened since I'd been trashed...
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