Reunion [MESH]

[Harry Dresden]

Harry had been irate at being swept out of the facility. He still hadn't spotted any of his friends. He'd thought for sure that Pepsiman would be near that vending machine. On his way out, though, he spotted a familiar head of red hair making its way through the portal to the Nexus. Harry had followed, and thus found himself here, next to the Fountain. It wasn't particularly crowded, but there were still more people here than he'd ever seen in this location before, dispersing in the wake of Dante's Abyss. Most of them had traveled directly to their home Verse. It made it easy for the wizard to walk up behind Erza Scarlet, tapping her on the shoulder with a playful grin. "Looking for something, miss?"

[Erza Scarlet]

Erza spun around to the sound of a familiar voice. "Harry! Good to see you." She nodded emphatically as her skirt and hair continued to spin from the sudden change in momentum, free fist squarely situated at her hip and sword dangerously close to the present acquaintance's leg. "Actually, I was just now looking for someone I met when I first got here, but she seems to be gone. Maybe she was watching the Abyss from somewhere." She shrugged as the scowl quickly disappeared into a more friendly grin. "But hey, you look much better than when I last saw you! Have you, uh, seen the others anywhere?"

Finding Harry here - Being found? - Was certainly a relief, but there were others to check on, make sure they were okay. For all she knew, Samus and Mickey could still be fighting. As for Pepsiman... She sure could use some refreshment, and she didn't want to bring any more patronage to that patronizing man who had been selling (exclusively) Pepsi by the signup booth. "Not fit for the Abyss" my ass.

[Harry Dresden]

Harry had to try not to say anything about being in better shape than the last time Erza had seen him. Well, considering I had a hole through my chest, showing up in worse shape would be hard. Still, he doubted Erza wanted to talk about that, and he took a short step to put a little more distance between his leg and the sword. "I wish I knew where they were. I saw that Samus went down, but if priors are worth anything she's fine. That leaves Mickey. He looked pretty determined to win, but I didn't much like his chances with one hand missing. Hell, Pepsiman should've been awake before any of us, but I can't find him anywhere. Probably went off to spread the refreshment somewhere else or something, I don't know. That was... out of character for what I thought of Jak. You'd think he'd want people bearing witness until the end, but he was in an awful big hurry to clear the place out."

Before he could continue his train of thought, he heard a strange, inhuman-sounding voice coming from off behind him. He turned to find a black-shelled turtle standing on its hind legs, its glowing red eyes boring into people as it asked if they had accepted someone called "Darkseid" as their lord and savior. It was odd, but if it weren't for the obvious glowing eyes, it wouldn't have concerned him. As it was, his grip tightened around his staff. "Erza... I have a job to do. I'll try and get in touch with you later. My home is under Edinburgh, near Minas Tirith in Camelot. Don't try to open the rune-carved doors. They tend to explode when you do that. There's a place to stay if you ever need it, though. I'll key the wards to let you in next time I'm there, if I can catch you."

He turned and started walking over to the strange turtle. It sounded like a thrall, and a really sloppy one at that. No subtlety. But more finesse than a Black vampire used; it wasn't a Renfield, or a normal vampiric thrall. No, this was the result of mortal magic, not a denizen of the Nevernever. And that made it his job to do something, even, no, especially if he was the only Warden here. Thankfully, the little zealot of a turtle was more than happy to tell Harry where to find his Lord and Savior. Harry summoned a bike, a task that gave him time to stew on what had been said, and set off for the gate to the Ashen Steppes, fairly shaking with fury that, for once, had nothing to do with Winter.

So this Darkseid thought he could enslave other creatures and get away with it? Warden's blade or not, that wasn't going to fly. Harry extracted the Omnilium from the bike and spent a few minutes summoning the grey cloak that was the Wardens' other badge of office. It was a little-known fact, but blood left no stain on the grey cloak of a Warden.

Faced with the likelihood of conducting his first execution of a warlock, that property might just come in handy.