March 30, 2017:
Lara arrives back at the SHIELD HQ after a week away, she is surprised to find Darkedge sneaking up on her to have a chat.
The Trisk
In front of SHIELD HQ out on the street at night.
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions: Melinda_May
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
It's dark. A clear night, so the dark is puncuated by streetlights, car headlights, the moon, and one star. Or satellite. Soemthing up in the sky. Leaning in a shadow just inside the mouth of an alley where he has clear view of SHIELD's main entrance is a silver-haired dark elf. His arms are crossed, and he's been here since just past sun rise.
It occurs to him that as a human, his target may have already left, gone home, but with out having ever felt the touch of her mind (as she is not telepathic herself and can not respond in kind) Darkedge has no way to locate her mind. Thus, he waits, planning to stay here until half the night is gone. Perhaps this time, he can track her to her house…. so he stands a btter chance of finding her in her domcile when next he needs her.
If it had been any time in the past week, Darkedge would've been left waiting for a very long time. Lara had been overseas for the past week, visiting many different locations on a trip to ultimately find more information on the case she'd been working on… the ancient Dropa-stones and the mysteries that they possess.
However, Darkedge was in luck, because pulling up to the front of the SHIELD building was the black Jeep that Lara acquired a couple months gone-by. Low and behold, there she was, exiting the vehicle's driver's side and moving around toward the back of the Jeep to open its rear entry. The young Agent started to root around in the back of the vehicle…
AHA! The moment she steps from the vehicle, Darkedge straightens from the wall. He watches her step around to the back of it, open it, and begin looking for something.
A heartbeat later, the elf peers over her shoulder while leaning against the not-door-hinge-side of the open back door.
'One wonders what it is you are seeking…' he sends softly, just 'loud' enough to have the thoughts drift from his mind into Lara's.
When you live the kind of life that Lara lives, having someone appear over your shoulder like that so suddenly and 'speak' into your head so shockingly… it causes one to react. Lara spun around and shot backward into the corner of her Jeep's backside, she had a hand going toward the inside of her jacket, but when her eyes recognized the visage of Darkedge in front of here… and then the sound of his voice in her head… she exhaled.
"Thats a heck of a way to greet someone, you know." She told him outloud, speaking softly on this cold night. Lara turned back to her jeep and went back to rummaging through the four duffle bags that were lined up next to one another inside of it, clothing and gear sticking out of them. "What is on your mind tonight, Darkedge?" She asked then.
With its darker than teh rest of the world at current interior, the jeep is perfect for Darkedge's eyes. he can make out all the details of her items in her travel bags.
' Indeed. Troubles in the Veil… and that which you seek.' Because he stated that he wondered, and she didn't really reply…
Lara smirked at his words and she shook her head while she started pulling guns out of her bag. Four of them, each a different type and each one holstered in a different kind of holster, they were dirty covered in mud and such.
"Its been a hard week for me, I apologize if I seem a bit short. I've been 'seeking' information, and I ended up having several people… attempt to sneak up on me in the process." She glanced over at him then. "So you can maybe see why I was a bit jumpy there."
The rippling sense of acknowledgement and understanding drifts from mind to mind at her words, silver eyes focused on what she was doing. The guns were studied, academically almost, as a warrior would study a weapon they knew cuold undo them completely.
'You seem no shorter now that you have ever been,' the elf retorts, deadpan, as if he's trying to make a joke… because he isn't. and yet..
Lara listened to the man say this while she started pulling more items out of another duffle bag. This one he might be more familar with, though it'd seem somewhat foreign to him since it was modern-day Earth weaponry… but it was a bundle of carbon fiber arrow shafts each tipped with a ticked arrowhead. She sat these saide and then pulled out the limbs and body of a compound bow, the bow itself was all black but the weaving strings that helped operate the weapon were a bright crimson red.
"You're funnier than you probably think you are." She said, glancing over at him while she sat the bow aside with the guns. "So what can I help you with tonight, Darkedge?" She asked. Lara had been on a plane for the past half a day, and she was tired… it was probably pretty clear in her voice and body language.
The arrows are recognized, but not hte bow-parts. One arm is lifted over his head as she leans on the car, eyes still tracking her motions.
'I don't mean to be,' states Darkedge, head tilting faintly.
'I have information about the dangers to our realms. Not much, but some. I need an audience with May.' he says, eyes trailing over to Lara. He can't hear it in her voice, he's just not used to that sort of thing, but her body is a different story. Fatigue is fatigue and likely a universal.
'May i assist in locating that which you seek, or transporting it elsewhere, so you can contact your liege?'
Lara listened to everything that he said and that last part with 'liege' made her laugh softly again and she shook her head. "I'm fine." She said to him in response. "But I do certainly appreciate the offer." She glanced at him and gave him a weak soft smile.
"When I get inside, I'll leave a message for May that you're looking to contact her. She will probably be more than willing to speak with on such a topic, within the next twenty four hours, I would think."
The archaeologist would then go about unfurling a new bag that was separate from the rest and she'd start putting all the weapons and gear into it.
"There's nothing… needing immediate attention, is there?" She asked, glancing toward him again.
One arm still up on teh doorframe, Darkedge sketches the nod of a bow as Lara agrees to carry his message to May. He is wholey unsure why she laughed softly at his words, and she declined his offer of assistance, so he feels no remorse in merely standing there, leaning up on this odd wheeled box, and watching her move the dirty weapons into another bag. For transport to be cleaned and repaired, most likely. Darkedge hazarded a guess that the thing with string in many pieces was the box for the arrows.
'Unknown. The Veil was ripped assunder in part of the city you dwell in. Beast was fought, but reverted into the man he was and shoved back… elsewhere. For the moment, the tear is sealed. How much longer it will hold, or if more tears will form… I can not say. None of that is my expertise.'
Lara zipped the duffle bag closed and pulled it to the edge of the Jeep's bumper. She looked over at him after he said these things and she seemed intrigued by it all. "That sounds… dire." She replied. "Though if this… tear… you speak of is closed, then that is a good thing. Perhaps it'll stay that way, if we can get some measure of luck for once." She showed him a small smirk then.
"You've come to the right place for assistance with this though, and I think May will be appreciative of you coming here for that reason." She nodded her head once to him. "I'll leave the message with her, I think she'll be eager to hear all about this."
'Your fortress is unforgiving to me,' states the elf, pushing up from the door jam. From the pounch on his belt, Darkedge pulls out a bright sky blue topaz. It's at least a karat in size, perhaps more, and ovaloid as if it were tumbled in water and sand to a high glossy polish. And, it's flawless.
'Be with her, or give this to her. I shall locate this stone, when the moon is high during the next Dark Time. I would be appreciative of an area with minimal lighting, though I understand that a darkness sufficient for me to be completely at ease would be neigh impossible for you to navigate.' Darkedge holds out the stone for Lara to take from his palm.
Lara looked at the jewel when he handed it over. It was the color of the ocean on a sunny day and depending on the section of she looked at, it almost looked to be as deep as the ocean. "Its very beautiful." She said quietly, reaching her left hand out to accept it since he'd say to deliver it to May.
"I'll take it to her office first thing once I'm inside." She told him, going then to lift her duffle bag up and out of her Jeep and then step backward to prepare to close the rear door.
Taking her cue, Darkedge bows again.
'I am in your debt.'
And with that, as if it were a way to say farewell, Darkedge steps… into the jeep? He steps toward the interior of the jeep, where the shadow is darkest and deepest and best for him to use to step away and on with his searching for the few hours he has left before dawn.
END