Finding One of Their Own

Lani examined the area closely and at first nothing seemed amiss, but then she glanced down and spotted a strange mark on the ground. She crouched down, but did not touch the round indentation. Instead, she pulled out her cell phone and texted Azari. She told him to come to the alleyway, but did not give any indication of what she had found. When he began to approach her she looked over at him. "I spotted some marks on the pavement out on the street leading this way. I followed them here, but nothing seemed amiss until I spotted this..." she said as she pointed to the perfectly round indentation. "What do you think this is?"

OOC: I think i got this figured out lol

IC:
If it weren't for the vibration he set his phone too Azari would have missed Lani's message. Reaching into his pocket he read the message and excused himself. Advising it was a personal matter he casually walked towards the alleyway lifting his phone up as if he were to make call. Eventually he found where Lani had stopped and began to look over the pavement. Azari crouched down using his phone to take pictures and record. "Hard to say. If i were to guess something either landed here and melted the pavement down or the pavement was displaced by something." He said.

"BUt looking around the edges there are no scorch marks, nothing else seems amiss. Drawing a blank on what could have caused this." He said. Even still he took  readings. It concerned and fascinated him that the indentation Lani found was perfectly spherical. "I also found something at the scene as im sure you're aware." he said moving his hand up. the tip of his finger opened up revealing the shard of metal he found. "I imagine it's a chipped piece of metal from the attack but it doesn't match the coloring of the vehicle. Our assailant wears armor made of a metal." Azari deduced.

Lani carefully took the piece of metal and looked it over. Azari was right in that it did not match the coloring of the vehicle. It was a unique looking piece and Lani knew that they would have to do some testing to figure out what it was. She carefully put it back in the tip of Azari's metal finger and looked at him.

"We should take it back to the Nest and do some testing."

She sighed and stood back up. Worry was etched across her face. "We need to find her. I don't even want to think about what this person wants to do with her Azari. Jasmine just barely has her powers under control and that is mostly due to Matt's presence. If this person's intention is to use her for ill then the consequences are going to be catastrophic."

Azari finished recording all that he thought was relevant and stowed his phone. He knew how worried Lani was and given that someon had grabbed Jasmine without fear was a major concern. "We do have time on our hands." He said. Which was good in their situation as the trail was rather cold. He looked to Lani, "to explain as you said Jasmine barely has her powers under control. Would have to be the sole reason anyone would try to kidnap her." He said.

"For all intents and purposes you have a bomb. A bomb you can't control and itself cannot control. One would need time to harness that. I dont believe this was an act of a chaotic person. This was planned out. Either way we should get back to the Nest and start analyzing what we've found. Wont be able to provide any answers out here." Azari reasoned.

Lani sighed and nodded. They rejoined Logan, Mariah, and Steve and quietly informed them that they were heading back to the Nest to examine and test a piece of metal they had found and would tell them of the results. Mariah, meanwhile, could see that Logan was in emotional distress over the kidnapping of his daughter and suggested to Steve that they go out for a drink. She called a cab to take her back to the mansion.

Lani and Azari drove back to the Nest and Lani made some tea for them both while Azari examined the piece of metal. Once the tea was ready she brought two cups over for them and set Azari's next to him.

"Have you found anything?"

Logan and Steve headed out follwoing Mariah's advise. The others were still at the mansion awaiting any sort of news from Mariah. James was not about to start bugging Mariah every five minutes like Jayden requested knowing it would take itme for them to find a lead.

Meanwhile at the Nest while Lani started to make tea for a long evening Azari had placed the metal shard in one of analyzers. He took a seat as the computer began its work updating the screen with informaiton as it worked. Now Lani knew how Azari's mind worked and his little quirks tended to give away if he was either on to something or if he was in the dark and getting frustrated.

This was more the latter. He was taping his temple rapidly as he stared at the information on the screen. "Well things were going well. I figured we'd start with the metal composition and go from there. However.." He tapped a few keys bringing up the elements that were making up the shard. Some of them were recognizable from anyone who would pay attention to a science course, a few more that required a bit more advanced study and there were a few ??? in place.

"The unknown variables wouldn't be too much of a concern if it weren't for the fact that it seems to be backbone of this material." he said taking up the tea. "I don't know what that is and the computer doesn't know what it is. I will say its reactive to electricity." He said pressing another button. A small spark truck the suspended shard and it reflected off of it. Unknown to Azari was that Doom's armor was enchanted with magic. Something he woudln't think to take into consideration, magic tended to fly into the face of science after all.

"I dont know why or how it does that and it makes me mad." Azari said taking a sip of tea.

Mariah was finally able to speak to James in private. She knew that Jayden was worried to death over his sister, but she was concerned of how he might react when he learned who it was that Mariah feared was behind this.

"I'm pretty certain Doom was the one who took her," Mariah admitted quietly. "He tried to kidnap her in the past and given the strength of her powers it wouldn't surprise me at all if he was the one behind this. What concerns me is what he might want to do with her."

Lani looked at the screen and was just as confused as Azari was about the elements that made up the metal shard. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair and took a moment to think.

"Maybe what we need to think about is who might want to take her and have the resources to do something like this. She was almost kidnapped before and that was by..." her face suddenly blanched as the realization dawned on her. "...Doom. He wears metal armor and he has the resources and the capabilities of doing something like this."

James was glad to step away from Jayden and the others for a bit. The man was freaking out more than Matt which was getting a little old quickly. So when Mariah showed up he had Kamea distract Jayden long enough for hte pair to slip away. James walked with Mariah and once they found a quiet spot he heard her out.

"If it's Doom he's probably trying to finish what he attempted to do a couple years ago." He said explaining that he grabbed Jasmine once before. But they were quick to locate him. "Probably thinks he can control her in some way. Supposed to be some kind of genius, on par with Forge and some of the others. Mr Fantastic i think but i dont know much about that group." James admitted.

"So we have a suspect..thats something. Just have to track the man down." James said scratching his head.

Azari's eyes whitened as he was still looking for references but they were coming up fruitless. Breathing out a sigh and leaned back in his chair taking another drink of tea. He looked to Lani when she came to the realization as to who would kidnap Jasmine. He raised an eyebrow when she brought up Doom. at the time he was engrossed in his own world when Jasmine was first taken so he wasn't infored of what had transpired. He looked to the metal again and put the cup down.

He typed in the computer to bring up information on Dr. Doom. A scientific genius by anyones standards he was also an accomplished sorcerer. This information gave Azari pause. "That would explain the missing pieces of this. And even goes hand in hand with how he pulled this off. I remember dad brought home a robot for Dr Mccoy and himself to deconstruct. Doom has constructs he gives orders too." He said bringing up information.

"That information woudln't be in this system it would be at the mansion." Azari said explaining why their information wasn't able to reference Doom earlier. "Alright, so we can place Doom at the top of our list. Now we just need to find out where he would take care." Azari said.

Mariah sighed a little and looked at her husband. "Tracking him down is going to be the problem. SHIELD has been looking for him for years. Every time we get close he slips away and we have to start all over again. I think for this we are going to have to all work together. I can use SHIELD resources to pull up all the information we have on him and then we can start to form a plan."

Lani pulled out her phone and sent a text to Mariah, letting her know that they suspected Doom. Mariah quickly texted back that she had come to the same conclusion. Lani put her phone down and looked at Azari. "Looks like Mariah suspects Doom as well. She said she is going to use SHIELD resources to gather all the information they have about him and then we can meet and try to put together a plan of finding him."

Meanwhile, Jasmine slowly began to awaken...

OOC: Feel like we should have jumped to this site a while ago. I like the fact that when i post something it shows up pretty quick

IC:

James crossed his arms thinking about Doom. During the last kidnapping the parents were pretty much in charge. He didnt even see any real action during the operation. "So we're not telling Jayden this right? I'm this close to hitting him, i care about Jasmine as much as anyone else does but christ Matt is handling this better." James said. "We can get the other adults involved. They might know more about Doom in any case." James offered.

Azari looked to the computer as it went over information pertaining to Doom. He looked over the reference notes to Latvia, a small country he governed. He wasn't sure if he would take Jasmine there considering it was known he ran the place. "alright, would like to take a look at that robot dad brought back from the first kidnapping. Might have some information." Azari said looking to Lani his eyes returning to normal as he was returning to his more rational side. "Theres a few more tests we can run on this small piece but we'd make better headway at the mansion." Azari said spinning his hair to face Lani.

There was a familiar thrumming sound surrounding Jasmine when she awoke. As she stirred candles flickered to life revealing a lavish room with wide open balcony revealing a beautiful countryside. A roaring fireplace kept the room nice and cozy with a set of double doors nearby. Doom had casted an illusory spell on Jasmine to keep her docile while he was transporting her. He knew it would be a matter of time before her loved ones would be able track them down. And he felt taking her to his home country would be far to obvious a choice. So therefore it was his first choice. Not to mention the vast amount of resources he had at his disposal.

He would tempt Jasmine to join him willingly to control her powers using the government to leverage her. With him she could lead a semi normal life with her family.

OOC-Yeah, I absolutely hate Yahoo Groups anymore. This site is great and your posts show up within a few seconds of you posting them. I have never had any problems with this site before. You can also reply from your phone which is nice.

IC-Mariah sighed and looked at James when he commented about how poorly Jayden was handling this. "Well, they are twins. Studies have suggested that twins can be connected in extraordinary ways. From what I heard Jayden didn't handle her being taken by the government the first time very well. He's obviously very protective of her, which can be a good thing, but it can also prove problematic. I hope that once the shock wears off that he will calm down a little. How is Matt doing?"

OOC-Is Doom still transporting her, or is she actually there now?

OOC: Sorry yeah she's still being transported to Latveria via plane. figure she's been placed under an illusion spell of sorts to keep her 'ca'm' and distracted until she's secured.

IC:

James had heard stories of twins and their special link with one another. he just hoped it wasn't the case here. "Nah he was..he became different.' He said remembering those times. Jayden used to smile and the two of them were inseparable in causing mischief. Once Jasmine was taken the smile had left Jayden and he seemed like a husk. Then the whole business with Zoe came and that just caused all types of other issues. He thought of Matt then, "Well he's holding it together rather well. THink he's faking it for his kids sakes to be honest. Jodie's pretty damn sharp for someone her age." He said.

"There are times when im around that one when i feel like she knows what im thinking or feeling. bit creepy really. But like i said Matt's doing his best to stay strong, kind of relying on us heavily on this one. Cant blame him this is a bit beyond normal." James said looking to Mariah.

Jasmine slowly sat up and looked around. She found herself in a large, lavish room. The sun was shining brightly outside and she could hear birds chirping. A fire was burning in the fireplace and she could feel the heat. However, she knew something was wrong...very wrong. Slowly, the memory of what had happened returned to her. She recalled the explosion in the building that had nearly killed Matt, Jodie, and Xavier. Then the government agents had arrived and arrested her. She had been in their SUV when suddenly they were stopped. The two agents had been killed and she had been...taken. Under her she could feel a vibration and in the distance there was a strange humming sound.

"This isn't real...this isn't real."

Her mind and powers quickly began to take over the illusion and rip it apart. Just as she began to realize she was on a plane she looked over to see someone approaching her with a needle. Three others followed suit and they restrained her as the needle was forced into her arm. The plane shook and rocked as her powers surged, but then darkness took her once again...

Mariah sighed and nodded. She was worried about Matt, but there was little they could do right now. "I think I'm going to stay here tonight and help out. I'm not sure what I can do exactly, but I don't feel right leaving either."

Dooms men immediately rushed to Jasmine's side having been given strict orders on how to handle her. If the spells were to fail they were to keep her sedated. It was difficult keeping even a minor spell circle intact on a moving vehicle let alone against someone with such a powerful mind like Jasmine's. The planes alerts continued on until Jasmine passed out and the rocking ceased.

Pleased with the results the kidnappers adjusted Jasmine in her seat making sure the manacles were taut but comfortable as they settled in. The spells weren't going to work so they would have to keep her sedated for the hours long travel still ahead.

James gave a shrug when Mariah said she'd stick around for the evening. "Suit yourself. At least it would make Matt feel better. If we grab Lani and Azari and bring him here we can have a 'lets distract the family with pizza' party." he said having no idea how to help others cope with this. He was definitely his fathers son as he was used to just going out and taking care of the issue but there was nothing to take care of. "Just be warned Jayden will have questions for you." James advised.

OOC- Where do you think we should go from here?

OOC: Hmm..well we could do a summary of how they found out where Doom is holding Jasmine. Have them rush to her rescue, did we want her to be brainwashed in joining? How did you want that play out?

OOC- I think it would be easiest to just summarize it all and jump to them rescuing her. I guess what we need to decide is if she’s actually going to have done some of the things Doom wanted her to do.

OOC: alright then summary it is. Failing to convince her that living in Latveria and working with him he'd just stick with brainwashing. have her help out the common folk but then have her attack another country but everyone shows up to stop her?

OOC-sounds good. But I’m also thinking he tortures her as well. I’m thinking that about four months has passed and during that time both Sorina and Gwen have given birth. Sorina we had already decided was going to have a girl. What do you think for Kamea and Gwen?

OOC: oh yeah he would torture, a bit more creatively than sleep deprivation and thunder. Probably fill her head of images of her family dieing because of the government that sort of thing. Did we want to cover the pregnancy thing with the girls? I dont have a strong opinion either way for Kamea and Gwen's child gender, maybe a boy to balance things out?

OOC-Is be fine with a boy. I was thinking of the Hawaiian name Kalea for Sorina and Kai’s daughter. It means filled with joy. I don’t think Gwen and Kamea would necessarily choose a Hawaiian name so what name do you think we should use for their son?

OOC: I love the name. I think Gwen and Kamea would go with a more american name, Kamea takes more after Kylie in any sense. Sticking with the K names Keenan, Keith, Kieran, Ken, keeping coming across more hawaiian names that start with k than english

OOC-Well they don’t have to do a “k” name. We might have too many at this point. What about Wesley?

OOC: lol maybe. I think Wesley would work, Wes for short

OOC-Sounds good to me. Do you want to start us off?