day 12: outline section 10 (day 12 pt 1/2)

A security system designed specifically to thwart Moone was around him in an instant. The guards, being non-supernatural, were the ones to lead the charge, probably receiving orders on how to handle Moone through their earwigs. What would their orders be? To capture? To kill?

One of the guards, a tall buff brown-haired man with wireframe glasses, rushed at Moone, raised a gun...

And shot Moone straight in the face. To kill, then.

Cracks splintered across Moone's vision. The Mothman helmet was tougher than it looked. He pulled it off, and chucked it at the agent's face. He fell comically, his glasses flying off, which continued to skid toward Moone for a bit, from the momentum from the run. "Sorry!" Moone said, as further guards began rushing around the lobby corner toward him.

Moone, not forgetting his position, simply stepped backwards, into the sigil-caused bubble of looped glamour. From the outside, it would simply look like he'd vanished, the two guards' stations at the desk here empty, with the Necronomicon safely in its [crystal case? something with magical connotations.]

From the inside, the story was different. Moone frowned down at the two guard's bodies, lying gruesomely on the floor in their blood, bodies twisted unnaturally under the desk, with smoking glyphs in their back pressed in like eldritch brands. Certain glyphs would either banish a spirit or keep it trapped inside its body for a time, preventing seancing of the departed spirits; kills like these were the best way to keep secrets. If channeled, these departed guards' spirits would have been able to provide witness of their stories, which would possibly lead to Moone's exoneration.

Moone grimaced. Were these two guards even supernatural? Would they even know what had been going on? MacBeth...

Looking up, Moone could see out the doors to his right, where agents were forming a perimeter around the building, and into the lobby floor to his left, where guards were scrambling past, searching for Moone, thinking they'd given him the slip and even now was fleeing elsewhere.

How would he get himself out of this one? He couldn't just burst out the doors; they'd be around him in an instant. And he couldn't remain in this bubble forever; someone was bound to step through eventually. Were there any other plans to exit the building? Well, Moone did have one... He waited for a break in the rush of agents this way and that in their search for him, and [ducked] out of the glamour bubble.

[He makes his way up the stairs, but is spotted on the mezzanine floor. The suit gets damaged further- he tries to fly in it, down toward the lobby floor off of the balcony, but gets shot down maybe, gliding the rest of the way and ducking away again.] The suit sparked. Moone hid the fact that his wings were now damaged-- if he could successfully make his way to an upper floor, they would think he'd try to escape by making his way to the perimeter wall and jumping out a window.

[runs into Lovecraft somehow. maybe Gef-related.]

Lovecraft seemed alarmed, and Moone tried to tell her the truth. She was no Cloud, true, but she was a woman after Moone's own heart.

He tried to make it brief:

"Gef thought it was me. I thought it was Gef. But it was MacBeth, and now he's got the NOC list."

Lovecraft pursed her lips. Guards burst around the corner behind him, resuming the chase. "Remember that!" Moone shouted behind him, taking off at a sprint once more.

Moone ran towards the elevators. [on elevators, maybe before he can even take them up gets surrounded or something, goes down shaft instead somehow.]

The suit had been damaged in the attack, but... Moone tossed himself down the elevator shaft, and plummeted down the [number] storied to the bottom of the shaft. The wings of the moth suit unfurled, slowing his descent, and Moone landed roughly, yet safely, amidst the [coil and mechanisms and stuff.] Fluttering the moth wings as rapidly as possible, the remains of the wings were shredded all the way with the effort, but it was enough to get him up to the basement level door, which Moone also pried apart. Moone ducked into the parking garage.

Moone knew that at that moment, they wouldn't be pursuing him in there, but already trying to get a step ahead of him and place up roadblocks around the building.

That's exactly what Moone was counting on.

[he grabs car, SUV-type maybe Jeep of some form, established from earlier mission, and starts it up.]

Then, instead of driving toward the exit ramp, he drove inward, toward the building. Up the ramp, bursting through the loading door, and into the kitchens. Crashing through the racks and movable counters, bursting through the doors of that into the dining hall. People scrambled this way and that as he plowed through. Unless the guards after him were to hop onto vehicles of their own and chase recklessly behind him, he was safe from them.

Of course, this didn't rule out having supernatural forces sicced on him... just because he'd be able to deal with those, didn't mean that it would be a picnic, or something he'd very much care for. He'd survive it, but he couldn't afford the wasted time- by the time he'd circumvent the attack, it would quite possibly be too late to escape.

[there's a moment that looks like a close shave, maybe he crashes, but Moone escapes on the motorcycle that had been established in the back of the SUV, during the same mission where the SUV was established.

[drive back through the building, around people,] into the last place they'd expect him to go in a vehicle- into the freight elevator.

Moone mashed three buttons: 6, 7, and 10. They would be scrambling to monitor which floors the elevators would be stopping at- meanwhile, agents would be sent to converge on the sixth floor, to rush the elevator when the doors opened there.

It would look like floors 6 and 7 were red herrings, Moone attempting to escape to the roof via the 10th floor roof access, but in fact floor 10 was the true misdirection. Moone knew what he was doing. Hopefully his stunt with the car had bought him enough time, and the guards stationed at the sixth and seventh floors just in case wouldn't be in place yet; hopefully he'd successfully put them off-guard that he'd been heading for an elevator of all things the whole time.

[there are guards there, he shoots the motorcycle at them, knocking them over like bowling pins, and ducks back into the elevator shaft.

The elevator continued upward to the tenth floor, which had rooftop access- further agents would be converging there, to halt his wingsuit-assisted escape off of the roof. Moone ripped off the last remnants of that suit now, and dropped it down the shaft.

Of course, he had a pristine tuxedo on underneath.

Beneath him, further agents would be converging on the sixth floor, thinking he'd drop down the shaft to have another crack at escaping from floor 6, but he was exactly where he needed to be.

The seventh floor. The portal room.

Moone pried the elevator doors back open-- sure enough, the agents here had run off, down to the sixth floor to await him there. Nobody would have expected Moone to escape through the portal room, because nobody knew that Moone had learned of its existence through mind-reading. [or something- make that sound more convincing.]

Moone dashed his way to the portal room, as stealthily as possible. The building was on lockdown- would there be anyone up here? Would the portal room be accessible? The floor seemed totally empty; Moone couldn't even feel any nubs of souls nearby.

Moone searched out the room, using his memory of the read minds: solid wood french doors, no knobs, no locks. Easy. I'm home free. He found the room, pushed the doors open...

And froze, as he felt a pair of eyes dwelling on him. Moone spun, continuing to push the doors open and pressing backward, hurrying blindly into the room. The person standing behind him-- Moone paled and went dizzy, as all the blood rushed out of his head--

He was standing face-to-face with Mushroom Cloud.

Moone stumbled back, mind reeling. Mushroom Cloud was still alive. What did this mean? Had she ever truly died? Was her death faked, for some reason? If so, why; could she possibly have been in bed with MacBeth, and the Brotherhood he had seen glimpses of?

No, no. Moone refused to believe it. He had seen her die. Moone had watched her die, right in front of him. Did this erase that? He looked up again. Could it really have been? He refused to believe it. But here she was.

Mushroom opened her mouth as if to say something. But Moone stumbled backward, [through a portal, and out.]

He collected the Pontifex, and the two went underground together once more. But the memory of Cloud's face still haunted him.