As Relaford went about his business, JACE carefully replayed the conversation and the note that Mrs. Eisele had written through his mind.  One of her comments caught his attention.  "Mary, you said Emily, or Jenny, stated I would be forced to choose between her or a virus.  Did she provide any further information about this virus?  Where it might be located or what virus it might be?" 

Mary's face fell and JACE knew from her response that she didn't have an answer for him.  He had already deduced the probable answer, but it was always better to have some kind of confirmation.  At his mental command his armor began plotting the quickest route to his house from here.

As he did so, he worked his way out of the room, down the stairs and into the living room.  It was much too crowded for most people to think in such close quarters and it was obvious that Doctor Relaford was about ready to embark on a delicate procedure.

"JACE."  Mary finally said, her pale face pinched and exhausted.  "I'm so sorry, but nothing.  Only that you'd be sorry."

"Mary," JACE said somewhat impatiently.  "If you have told me everything you know there is no reason to be sorry.  You have given me what you have.  Now stay here and work with the Conquistadors.  I am going to go follow my own leads."  With that, he turned and headed outside.

As the rest of the Conquistadors left the room Heatwave paused to watch Relaford work. She didn't really think a bunch of mumbo jumbo was going to be any help in finding the missing child but the others seemed to think it would. Including Soldier Boy who out of all of them had the most experience. If he thought Relaford had a chance maybe there was something to it after all.

"Soldier Boy, I have a lead I will follow up on.  Please let me know if any further information surfaces here."  As he spoke, JACE activated his jets and lifted off.  He followed the carrot on his HUD, headed to his house at maximum velocity.

Soldier Boy was halfway downstairs on his way to compare notes with JACE, but the team's mad scientist was already out the door. As usual, it was easier to talk to the man via comm link. JACE didn't do face to face very well. "Will do, doc, and you let me know how your leads pan out." Like the rest of the Conquistadors, Soldier Boy suddenly had time to kill while Relaford worked. "Don't just stand around," he said to everyone in general. "Go do something... superheroish."

"Soldier Boy," JACE sent as he flew, "Based on the sensor readings I took, it would appear that Raymond Eisele has been somehow merged with the mattress of the bed on a molecular level.  While I feel Emily and Mary are significantly better off without him, I do not believe it would benefit our investigation should Mary learn about this."  As an afterthought, he added, "If you could arrange for the mattress and Raymond's remains to be delived to the Cathedral, there are numerous tests to perform on it."

And just what would you suggest we do? Heatwave thought. If this were just a normal missing child she would have some idea where to begin but this was turning out to be anything but normal.

This was one of the rare occasions when Celeste's thoughts were in almost perfect harmony with Heatwave's. Phase who had been hanging around the landing doing pretty much nothing now set out to make herself look busy and returned to the bedroom and the ritual.

Raphael's eyes narrowed slightly.  The Legend was flawed, but that was hardly newsworthy.  The sudden bearing of an emotional scar gave them a rare glimpse.  It really was too bad that Sebastian was out of town.  This day was turning into a shrink's wet dream.

As he headed back upstairs the hairs on the back of his neck told Soldier Boy that Relaford was deep into his spellcasting. He steered clear of the room. Soldier Boy had little patience with magic since that night so many years ago. Instead, he went into Emily's room. The room was pretty much what he expected. Girlish, but in a techno-geek kind of way. So strange that her name was Emily. He closed his eyes and thought of his first wife, how he failed her time and again, how he was probably going to fail Emily Eisele, but mostly how he failed Jenny. All these years Soldier Boy beleived he had introduced Jenny to sweet oblivion, but if this were true... if he had doomed her to a miserable eternity on Earth... One more failure.

Heatwave watched as Soldier Boy went into what was presumably Emily's room. Emily who, according to all counts, had been a normal little girl until the night before. So why wouldn't normal means of finding her work? If it was a run of the mill missing child they would be canvasing the neighbors to see if anyone had seen anything. Why couldn't they still do that? With her mind made up Heatwave walked into Emily's room to tell Soldier Boy where she would be.

Soldier Boy never cried without a fight. He tried to choke down the emotion like he did every other day of his life, but the tears forced their way out. Not many tears, just a few, but they looked alien running down Soldier Boy's craggy face.

"Soldier..." Heatwave froze at the unexpected sight of tears on the hard man's face. She looked down at the floor trying to pretend she hadn't seen. "I... I thought... I thought I might check with some of the neighbors... You know... to see if anyone might have seen Emily leave."

"Yeah," Soldier Boy said as he wiped his eyes. He made no effort to hide his tears. He was busted. There was no sense hiding it. "That's a good idea. Real good. Just don't mention the magical dead girl or the man who was eaten by his bed. No sense causing a panic."

"I hadn't planned to say anything more than Emily was missing and we were trying to find her." Heatwave said still looking at the floor. "If anyone asks why we were looking for her and not the police, I'll tell them it's an ongoing investigation and I can't talk about it."

"And about this." Soldier Boy made a back and forth gesture to acknowledge the awkward situation. "A little discretion if you don't mind."

Finally looking up, Heatwave met Soldier Boy's eyes and nodded. "There are some things it's better not to talk about." She said before slipping out the door and heading downstairs.

Outside it was turning into a beautiful brisk day.  The sky was clear and there were no signs of trouble in the air or on the ground as JACE made his way back to his estate.

The armored hero smoothly landed on his lawn while querying the security system.  Interestingly, there were no breaches.  This either indicated that his deduction was wrong or that Jenny had used some supernatural ability to bypass the system.  As it was very unlikely he had made an incorrect deduction, he proceeded with caution.  As he entered the house, his force field flickered into life. 

Before proceeding to his secure lab, he moved to his workbench and reconfigured the variable systems in his armor.  He removed the cold shielding and microscopic vision systems.  With a thought, he also removed the x-ray perception system.  Although useful under normal conditions, his home was shielded from the system, preventing him from using it.

He added his DNA scanner and made sure Emily's DNA was the primary data source.  He also reactivated his psi-inhibitor.  Finally he activated his active biological defense system.  Should she have released any agents and overridden his safety protocals, it would keep him safe and healthy.  He kept the holorecorder on.  Whatever the outcome, this data would be very valuable.  Unfortunately he did not have any systems which were specifically designed to combat supernatural or psychic phenomena.  This was an oversight he would be sure to correct for the future.

As ready as he could be, he carefully made his way to his secure laboratory, watching his DNA tracker to see if Emily had passed through this way.

The house was quiet and still, but the entire events of the morning lent it an eerie quality that was usually absent.  Every sound seemed to echo more than usual through his large home.  As he walked from room to room, he saw no evidence of Emily, if she did bring the spirit here, he was confident that she didn't walk into his home.

He reached the laboratory door and removed his left gauntlet.  He placed his hand on what otherwise seemed an insignificant piece of the wall and waited as the hidden sensors carefully analyzed his biosignature, his DNA and his vital signs.  He forced himself to breath deeply and calmly.

After a few seconds, the door hissed open.  Air currents flowed into the room, which was under negative pressure to minimize the chance of any infectious particles escaping.  He replaced his gauntlet and  moved in carefully and quietly.

The laboratory seemed exactly as he had left it, not a paper out of place.  If he hadn't been such a meticulous organizer and known exactly what he was here to check on, it might have been days before he realized that something was amiss.  Unfortunately he knew what deadly item the entity was after, and sure enough, as he suspected - the virus was gone.  The casing was still intact and nothing else had been touched, it seemed as though it had vanished into thin air.

JACE frowned.  Again there was evidence of some kind of supernatural power at work.  Nothing should have been able to remove the virus without setting off numerous alarms.  Just removing it from the container should have set off the detectors in the room, causing a total lockdown of the house and a thermal meltdown if the virus escaped the room.  His entire laboratory and most of the house should be nothing but fine ash at this point.  He was happy his home was not destroyed, but he disliked seeing his security measure so easily bypassed. 

Realizing that he needed to move fast to prevent a public relations nightmare, he quickly moved to the cabinet containing the treatment he had developed for the virus.  Fortunately the sample he had here was significantly less virulent and contageous than the actual ebola virus.  It might kill a child or elderly person if left untreated, but wouldn't create the same level of epidemic.  He quickly made modifications to his armor which would allow him to innoculate people quickly and easily.  He had to reduce his psi-inhibitor power slightly to accomplish his goal, but it would be worth it to preserve his public image.

Before leaving the house, he turned on his television and scanned the channels, looking for any sign of Emily.  If he could find them, he might be able to end this quickly.  Hudson City News, was as dire as usual, but as he inventoried the stations he found nothing to clue him into Emily's whereabouts.

When Heatwave exited the Eisele's, she was greeted almost immediately by a friendly neighborhood dog.  He jumped up and down beside her, happily wagging his tail, completely unaware of the morning's drama.  Both sides of the streets were still littered with curious onlookers, but none were brave enough to approach.  There seemed to be two camps.  Some of them pretended to busy themselves about the yard, as if there was something very pressing to be doing at seven in the morning.  The others gawked openly in amazement, making sure that their kids had an opportunity to see the local superhero, holding them high and pointing and waving when Heatwave looked in their direction.

Heatwave ruffled the dog's fur and waved back at the children while she decided where to start. The two houses immediately beside the Eisele's and the three across the street were in the best position to have seen something so she decided to start with the one on the left then work her way around to the one on the right. With a final pat on the dog's head Heatwave made her way across the Eisele's lawn to speak with the family next door.

A woman in a fuzzy white robe looked a bit panicked as the heroine approached, taking a moment to pat down her unruly curly hair and put on a welcoming smile.  "Good morning.  I'm Sasha...Dearing, it's a..uh...pleasure, truly.  Can I get you some coffee?"  Her tone was a bit tremulous from her excitement.

"No thanks Ma'am, I just need to ask a few questions. I hope you don't mind." Heatwave said kindly. "Do you know the Eisele's little girl Emily?"

"Of course."  Sasha replied.  "I mean, of course I don't mind, as for Emily - I knew her in passing.  She's the quiet type though, so I've never really said more than a passing hello to her.  Is she okay?"  There was genuine concern in the woman's eyes as she asked.

As the two of them spoke, it acted as a silent invitation to the other neighbors, who slowly began to migrate over to where Heatwave was questioning Sasha. 

Seeing the number of people headed her way Heatwave decided to take advantage of the situation. Turning to include the gathering crowd she raised her voice in order to be heard by everyone and continued her questioning. "Have you noticed anything unusual or strange about Emily the past few days?"

Sasha looked towards some of her neighbors for help as she thought on the question.  "Not that I can think of.  Like I said, I don't know her very well."

"Actually."  Another neighbor interrupted, a pudgy woman with ruby red cheeks and blond hair.  "My daughter said she got off of the school bus a few days ago."  Her eyes narrowed, "Is Emily okay?"  By now all of the assembled neighbors that were coming over had arrived.

Heatwave smiled at the pudgy woman. "I surely hope so, ma'am. All I know for sure right now is that she's missing and we intend to find her. Any help you..." She swept her gaze over everyone around, "...any of you, can give us would be appreciated and could make the difference in whether we can bring her home safely or not."

Bringing her full attention back to the neighbor she said, "You said Emily got off the school bus a few days ago? This was unusual for her?"

"Well...yes." The cheery cheeked woman continued.  "I meant, she got off the school bus before it got all the way home. Dessie said she was acting weird.  Might have been last week.  It was the same day that tragedy happened with the Leoni girl.  ...but a lot of the kids were pretty torn up that day."

"Did any you happen to see Emily leave her home sometime between late last night and early this morning?" Heatwave continued.

Sasha and the ruby cheeked lady both shook their heads in response, and shared a look between them.

Just as Heatwave was about to accept defeat a man stepped forward, his face had gone recently pale.  "Miss Heatwave, I'm Daryl Baxter.  My wife and son are missing...I thought it was odd this morning.  That never happens, I thought maybe she had plans and I'd forgotten about them.  But it's so early.  Now that I know that something is wrong with Emily, I'm also worried about Heidi and Stephen.  Our car is gone though...so, maybe it's nothing.  Maybe she did have plans."  It was rather obvious that he was trying to talk himself into believing that.

As the man spoke the dog ran back over and greeted him happily, bringing a weak smile to the man's face.  "There you are Chief.  How did you get..."  The smile fell away and his warm blue eyes met Heatwave's again.  "She lets Chief out every morning."

"What's your wife's name, Mister Baxter?" came a low and calming voice from the sidewalk.  Raphael approached and exchanged a neutral glance with Heatwave.  "I'm Orion," he extended a hand to the man.  The dog sniffed it curiously.

Rapheal thought he saw a brief moment of resentment in Heatwave's eyes as he caught her gaze but it was quickly suppressed as she backed off and let him continue the questioning.

"Heidi.  Heidi Baxter."  The man returned eagerly, as he went for his back pocket.  "...and my son is Stephen.  I have a picture.  ...but like I said, the car was gone, so I don't want to be too alarmed."  His voice belied his words as he fumbled for the picture.

Raphael took the photo and studied it briefly.  He moved to stand next to Heatwave and handed it to her.  "Does she have a phone or a way to contact her?"

When the man spoke again it was in a frustrated tone.  "She has a cell phone, but she left it home.  She's always leaving that damned thing."

Raphael glanced sideways at Heatwave. She was studying the photo of the man with his arm around a woman and his hand on a child's shoulder. It looked like the photo had been taken at the zoo, and conveyed a cheerful picture of a family outing.

Looking up from the photo Heatwave asked. "Mister Baxter, It's probably just a coincidence about your wife and son, but if we could get the make and model of her car and the license plate number we can keep an eye out and check on them if we see it."

The words were meant to be reassuring but Raphael could tell Heatwave believed they were on to something.  He hid the proud smile that was beginning to form and schooled his expression for the sake of Mister Baxter.

"Oh...sure.  Sure.  Um...her plates are easy to remember, 357 ULA.  Like, odd numbers and the oooLA.  Like, ooh...la...la."  He gave a big silly grin.  "That's how Heidi remembered it, and she'd do a little dance."  At seeing Orion's unamused demeanor, he continued.  "...and she drives a beige Minivan, a Chrysler Voyager.  Beige."

"Thank you, Mister Baxter." Heatwave turned to Orion, "I'm going to check back in with Soldier Boy."

Raphael gave her a crooked smile and winked.  "I'll wait out here."

Back upstairs, the actual end to the Professor's spell, was much less dramatic. Anti climactic even, as Xavier just stopped talking and lifted the black rock clear of the neck of the bottle.  He could feel the mystical force had imbued it with the power to find the spirit of Jenny Pate.  Even as he held it in his hands he could feel it vibrating on the end of the chain.

"Why would she seek out the girls?" He said, as he loosened his tie, and unbuttoned the collar behind it with his free hand. "They are the same age she was when she lived, for starters. She also has something in common with Emily, because they both have a Powerful friend." Xavier draped the chain over his head, and around his neck, tucking the black stone under his shirt, next to his skin. "I suspect, that if one dug deeply enough into the Leoni family and friends, you would find someone very powerful." He said looking right into Raven's eyes.

“They were also both geniuses” Added Phase.”Well JACE told us Eisele was a genius at the new year's party, and Soldier Boy thought Jenny was pretty smart, for what that’s worth. Was Terri Leoni a bright spark too?”

"Good question." Soldier Boy was standing in the doorway. "We're getting us an MO here. We might be able to use this information to track down any previous events, or... if this goes beyond the Eisele girl... we might be able to determine the next target. This is good. We're getting somewhere. A smart little girl, a powerful friend, and I seem to recall something about JACE making a choice. Course, that was before JACE bugged out of here." Soldier Boy stood there in thought, trying to look professional, not haunted. "JACE," Soldier Boy said into his comm, "got anything to report? Any idea where this is likely to take us?"

Impatience was obvious in JACE voice as he responded.  He was installing the treatment vials into his armor and needed to focus.  "Nothing on a likely destination, but I suspect it will be somewhere with significant traffic or access to water supplies after filtration.  It appears the psychic phenomena has gained access to a potential biological hazard."

Soldier Boy rolled his eyes. "Well, ain't that just dandy. Way to take it up a few hundred notches, doc. When can you get your ass back here?"

"My ass, and the rest of me can return with in 3 minutes and 20 seconds if you think it necessary.    I'm not sure how that would be helpful, but I will bow to your greater experience.  I should point out that the particular biological hazard she may have access to is not as dangerous as most would be.  It requires direct fluid contact to spread and will not spread by aerosal.  It has also been biologically modified to be less virulent than normal as well.  Its actual target will be based on the goal of the entity.  If it seeks to make the maximum number of people sick, it will strike at a blood bank or possibly vaccine supply.  That would get the maximum effect from the virus.  On the other hand, maximum panic will be caused by publicly contaminating the water supply of the city.  It would be pointless from a infectious stand point, but would frighten the most people."  As he spoke JACE accessed the internet and began picking likely locations of attack based on both parameters.  He considered panic a more likely cause, but was unwilling to rule anything out.

Two different scenarios, both of them sucked. That sounded about right. "Okay, doc. You get that worked out. We'll do what we can here."

As Soldier Boy carried on a conversation with someone via some sort of small earpiece, Xavier shook his head, and packed his case hurriedly. The incantation had used precious time. He shot a look towards raven, then to the door, and hobbled to the Large Man.  "Excuse me," he said, hoping to be heard over the conversation, "could you let me by?" He raised his cane, indicating the frame of the door that the Hero so adequately filled.

As Heatwave made her way back to the Eisele's she called Soldier Boy on her comm. "Soldier Boy, I think I know how we can find Emily. A neighbor's wife and son disappeared early this morning around the same time Emily left. I have the make, model, and license plate number of their car and I'm willing to bet if we find it we'll find Emily. Or, at least be closer than we are now."

Soldier Boy arched his eyebrows. Heatwave was quickly becoming his star pupil. Hot damn. "Good. Good. Contact HCPD and tell them to put out an APB on the car, and to contact us if they find it. This is our show. Let them know that."  (OOC: I'm assuming we have procedures in place for this.)

"I'm on it." Heatwave answered, a bit of pride coming through.

Soldier Boy stared at the bed with the grisly prize inside. "Phase, can you pop this mattress over to the Cathedral? If not we'll have to call a truck.."

"Sure, no problem" Replied Phase and with that she and the mattress were gone from the Eisele house.

"You." Soldier Boy said to Raven, who was still stuck to the wall like a sconce, "and you," he said to Professor Relaford. "What else can you hocus pocus types tell me about this?

Genuine anger was filling Xavier, as the earpiece conversation apparently intensified. There was no time for this. He spun on the heel of good leg, and looked at Raven once more, and said simply, plainly struggling to hold onto his temper, "I can track her. If we move fast, we may be able to stop her."

"Let's go, then," Raven said. She hopped down from the wall, eager to be away. Xavier's part in all this was important--crucial, in fact--but waiting around wasn't in her nature. She'd be much happier when she had something useful to do.

Phase popped back into the room sans bedroom furniture.

This Soldier Boy was certainly an Alpha type personality. He thought as he turned back to Soldier Boy, perplexed. It was like the man was from another planet. There was a language barrier between them, and languages were Xavier's specialty. He thought about what he had heard the man say, and it did seem that his abrupt style, and aggressive demeanor did seem to clear the way to get things done. So he inhaled deeply, and the profanities spilled forth like champaign from under the cork, in as close to the Legends tone and volume level as he could manage.

"Make a fucking hole! And make it wide! You have the worst Goddamned case of head up your ass syndrome I've ever seen. You dont get to be the head motherfucker in charge because you beat the hell out of Hitler, or something. You have no idea what the fuck you're up against. So call the Po-Po, and clean up the mattress, and get the hell out of my way!" Once the vulgarities ceased, Xavier looked up at SB, with a hopeful look in his eyes, wondering if he had been understood.

Even in his grim mood Soldier Boy had to smile. It was funny when nerds tried to act like the cool kids. He stepped back and gestured for Prof. Relaford to pass. "The lead is yours, and for the record I didn't beat up Hitler but I did kick the shit out of the demonic reincarnation of Eva Braun."

Phase struggled to hold back a laugh and only partially succeeded. Aping Soldier Boy wasn't particularly cool, especially if you didn't get it right, still it was a lot funnier than the mouse impression. Phase's laughter wasn't singular. Relaford belly laughed, and a mirth filled grin split his face.

"I think I dated her actually...." he murmured as he caught his breath. He tried to keep his pace up as he walked through the doorway, pondering about the apparent breakthrough in the language department. as he crossed the landing he changed the subject. "The rock on my chest will vibrate, when I'm facing Jenny Pate. (and make no mistake, this is Jenny Pate. Or rather an echo of her moment of death.) It won't tell me how close she is. We could end up almost stumbling onto her, and Emily Eisele. I would suggest everyone be on their toes.

Raven followed close on Xavier's heels. He was right. They had no idea where Emily and/or Jenny might be. For all they knew, Emily was hiding under a bush somewhere in the neighborhood. If she was, and if she went after Xavier, he'd need protecting.

"You know direction but not distance?" Confirmed Phase, finally she seemed to be listening to the limping magician, maybe it was the shared laugh at Soldier boy that had prompted her to pay attention to him, maybe something else. "All we need is a map then. Locate the direction, plot it on the map, then I'll Jump the professor a few miles across town and draw another line. Repeat the procedure a couple of times and where the lines cross, that's where Jenny is."

That's a good idea. Relaford thought, as he made his way back down the Eisele's staircase, one pained step at a time. An accurate map, a good compass, which had the cardinal directions marked off in 360 degrees, a straight-edge, a protractor, and another half an hour, and they would know precisely where she was. He looked over his shoulder at the woman who had spoken. Another very beautiful woman. These conquistadors should do a calendar, for charity.

"I dont think we have that kind of time." he said. "Unless one of you has map, compass, ruler, and protractor hidden in your tights." His eyes dropped over the woman's form fitting clothing, and his cheeks colored slightly. "In certain instances, I really hope thats not the  case."

"Oh I should think our good Doctor has all that gear hidden somewhere in his suit." Replied Phase giving Relaford a winning smile "He'll probably say he is doing the calculations in his head though."   

"That's right," Soldier Boy said. "JACE is the team's Swiss army knife. I'm sure he can set you up."

* * * * *Downstairs, Heatwave pulled out her phone and dialed the number for the Conquistadors' contact in the HCPD, telling him what she needed and that it was urgent. When he pressed her for details she suggested he contact Soldier Boy.

The man had seemed quite eager to skip the step involving Soldier Boy, and promised Heatwave that he would put the word out and contact them at any sign of the car or the missing children and Mother.  He also hurriedly agreed that he would be discreet about the entire matter.

(ooc:  Aargh!  The site is causing me endless trouble today.  Search isn't working due to DB errors on the host side, so I can't find this dudes name.  I'll fill it in later.  I will also be posting D6 today. )