Across the ocean

Jimmy shook his head at the small man clinging doggedly to his tail, almost literally in the empty but for them DC-19 flying over the ocean towards home, how the little guy had managed to convince him to get this far...yeah he still wasn’t sure but the guy sure had the ‘wear them down till they say yes’ thing pat. Heh he’d make not a half bad counter agent wouldn’t he? With sweet innocent face.

“You get this is literally a suicide mission?” because yes he’d only said that a few times before. “There is no way you and me alone can get him out. Ain’t happening.”

Suicide mission. How many times was Buchanan going to remind him that he was, in all likelihood, not going to be coming back from this trip. Not that he didn’t want to! More than anything, Christian wanted the fantasy that Safi had put into his head; that idea of a life to spend together.

He wanted that life more than anything he could think of. He had been so damn happy, plenty happy enough to believe Safi when he said he was just coming back here to tie up loose ends.

How he’d manage to wear Buchanan down into allowing Chris to carry out what the man continuously called a suicide mission was beyond him. He’d simply used logic, and when that hadn’t worked, a mix of pouting, pressure, and not taking no for an answer until the man had come to his senses. Chris’ life was his own to spend however he saw fit, and right now, he saw fit to make damn sure that Safi was free and safe. And that Safi’s family wouldn’t pay for it, as well.

With a soft sigh, Christian closed his eyes, “I’m very aware. As long as Safi gets out, has his freedom and safety, then I frankly don’t mind.” He remembered his promise not to give his all for Safi. Well, he wasn’t giving it, he’d make them all take it, by force. But that didn’t mean that the odds weren’t against him here. “You get that I love him enough to die for his freedom and safety?”

@kel

Jimmy sighed rubbing his head with dead fingertips, “Right but again, you have this assumption we can get him out, thats not a thing thats gonna happen. So you are gonna go in there with your magics blazing and...die. And he’s still gonna be stuck where ever. Or worse you get captured and they got two for the price of one, and probably off him and me just to make the point to idiots like me.” And yet he was doing this wasn’t he, because it sat wrong with him to take that final request from his friend, to agree to close his books with out doing a damn thing to stop what they both knew was likely to happen.

This way of arguing with Christian ended the same way each time Jimmy tried it. The moment he mentioned Safi dying Christian went still, eyes narrowing as he all but snarled at the very idea. “I won’t let that happen. Are you going to let them kill Safi?” It was all but an accusation, but the sort that was evident that Christian didn’t really believe. A reminder that while Jimmy was being entirely pessimistic, Christian would simply not let it happen. He would do anything, absolutely anything, to make sure that it didn’t happen.

"It won't happen that way. We won't let it. You don't give us enough credit."

@kel

“Fine fine!” jimmy threw up his hands, “Give me a plan kid! More than ‘not let that happen’ because i’ve heard that before and you know where it ends? AT BEST you end up working for them right next to me while Safi is hostage for your behavior!”

@eve

Christian frowned, considering the request. He had...something of a plan. He was quiet for a few moments before he pulled his bag into his lap, opening it enough to allow Jonah to slip out, hovering between them.

“I spent most of my life having no idea what my magic could do. I made toys, little dolls and machines that just… Had a life of their own. Safi thought they were creepy. He never actually said it, but I could tell. I boxed most of them away when they...died… It didn’t feel right, leaving them around.”

He shrugged, “I found someone who wanted them, it’s how I started making money in Hub.” He looked down at Jonah, so obviously fond, but determined. “I didn’t know much about magic… Still can’t make myself invisible or ignored… Safi wasn’t happy that I didn’t have the ability to defend myself, so he taught me a shield spell that, well, I’m not a huge fan of it.” It was true, regardless of the fact that Chris had been using it when he’d entered into that initial fight between them.

Swiftly, he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, one of the many papers he had created. “I don’t like it because it hurts the attackers, but just when I thought I had figured it out, Safi taught me another thing about it. He used it on one of the shadow monsters we came across in Hub.” He gently placed the paper on Jonah via a strip of tape, “But if you have a small robot vacuum coming at you, what are you doing to do?” He smiled sadly, “You’ll bat it away. Hit it. He’s not big, but he moves fast, but if he allows himself to be hit, the blowback… Well, it’ll clear a hallway fairly quickly.”

@kel

Somehow he’d hoped the kid had a better plan than ‘go in guns blazing’, but here they were and he didn’t have a better plan so fuck it. “Yeah always found thats a personality thing.” he muttered, people with flamboyant, self confidant personas didnt care if they were unseen, loving it even if they wouldnt admit it. People who were commonly overlooked...yeah adding any layer to that to make them truely invisble? Yeah it took training to get over that natural reaction.

He glanced over the rune marking, snorting slightly as he recognized the origin of the spell. “You consider what happens when two shields like that meet? Safi learned that spell FROM these guys.” he reminded him, not unkindly, but almost...teaching.

@eve

Really, it wasn’t ideal, this plan, for Christian either. He would have happily stepped in more carefully, snuck through the halls, found Safi, and portaled them away without ever harming a soul if he could help it, but Jimmy here had made it abundantly clear that that wasn’t an option even worth considering.

His dismissiveness of the little roomba earned Jonah, always more than happy to show off his skills, zipping forward right toward Jimmy’s head before stopping to a hover just in front of the mage and skipping away as though to say, ‘I can make you want to hit me.’ Christian bit his lip to stifle a chuckle, “Yes Jonah, just like that but not at our allies.” Not friends, not with the man who had caused Safi the pain Jimmy had caused him, but an ally nonetheless.

Strange bedfellows and all of that.

“It’s the only thing like it that I know.” He looked at Jimmy, asking quietly, “Do you have a better idea what we could use? Doing it like this..” He sighed, “We have to go in hard or you’ll be right about it being suicide. We need to surprise them before they can strike out or get their guards up.” He looked at Jimmy, “Because who’d be stupid enough to hit them in their own home, right?”

He knew other spells, other tricks, that he could use, but not for Jonah… So if Jimmy had something else, all the better. Chris was willing to learn.

@kel

Jimmy rubbed his scarred eyebrow, caused by the same granade that caused the one on Safi’s jaw. “OK. lets have a quick little magic lesson humm? You do atomitons? How long does that take to manage?” Jimmy lead him up to the table bolted for that purpose onto the plane floor and started steching out the common shields they would be going against, and the general layout of the building. “Mirror shields are fun but some of these guys are going to be good enough to layer them, and invert them to drop on you. Thats how we catch mages. Drop a shield that sends everything back into your teeth you try and send on us.” he demonstrated, “The only way out besides overloading, which might fry you too is to find the sink where they are draining the overflow.”

@eve

Christian wasn’t a soldier. He didn’t think about how you would catch a fellow magician, or have any real idea of how to shoot a gun (point and pull the trigger, that’s about what he knew). He had only really become a magician recently, and his knowledge of how to use it came secondhand from Safi or from another universe altogether. What he was, though, was perceptive. He could tell different shades of purple and how they clashed or meshed with other colors. He could read a room. As Jimmy sketched out different spells and runes, Christian studied them, even if he didn’t really know what they did, it would help to know them, to recognize them. “Depends on how long I want them to last, and how big they are…” Shrugging, Chris looked over to Jonah, “And how much life they really end up with. There’s a lot of variables.”

Fun?! Those shields wer fun to him?! “Not the word I’d use.” Christian made a face, “They’re actually kind or terrible… I don’t want to hurt people, and I don’t want people to hurt me. I’d rather just…” Christian shrugged again then sighed, “It’d be easier if we could just sneak in… No one has to get hurt at all.” Had Safi mentioned the fact that Chris was a pacifist? Chris didn’t think so, not that Chris realized the two were still in touch at all, but honestly…

Still, he paid careful attention to what Jimmy was saying, what he was actually getting at. Overloading? Overflow? Christian frowned, his confusion evident. He, unlike many magic users, pulled from himself, from his own reserves. And unlike most, his well ran very, very deep. He wasn’t sure he understood what Jimmy was referring to. “What do you mean overloading and overflow? What sort of sink?” He was trying to follow, but Jimmy was using terms that he wasn’t familiar with. He felt very, very out of his depth suddenly. “I’m not sure I’m following you.”

@kela