JSA HQ briefing room

[caleb_z]

*It only took 10 minutes or so for Caleb to set up for the briefing. He was a little nervous, but not overly so. He’s led teams before, after all. Never super heroes, though. But he has both led teams and chased demons.* This couldn’t be all that different, could it?*3 oversized commercial roadmaps are pinned up to the walls - one of Gotham

Comments

[caleb_z]

“Not unless you specialize in demonology. It’s a breed of demon known as an Al Koyet. They serve the demonic princes as first rate assassins. The ancient texts have accounts of them following prey for years while waiting for an opportunity to strike. As a species, they are bred with a clarity of purpose that seems to never waiver. ”

*Caleb clears his throat as he produces a piece of notebook paper, on which he has scribbles some notes in black ink.*

“Information at my disposal suggests that these things have a degree of telepathic ability, though insufficient to control the minds of all but the weakest of wills.” *Caleb glances up at the Green Lantern, who’s powers the DEO report operate off of will power.* “I don’t anticipate that being much of a concern, though. They also possess, uh .. some moderate mystical powers. What makes them truly dangerous isn’t any of this, though.”

*Caleb puts the paper down then looks at his teams.* “These things have the capacity to claim the souls of their victims as trophies to present to their masters.”

[green_shield]

::Tara has been silent and taking note she won't need out of habit.::

"So, what? They kill who they get sent after and then kidnap the rest as it were?"

[caleb_z]

“In essence, yes. The victim then suffers an eternity in the lower dimensions.”

[green_shield]

"No known counter to that? Even divine intervention?"

[caleb_z]

“In, uh .. In theory, of course, the presence could always force the soul back to it’s proper resting place. Unfortunately, this would involve directly confronting the power of the combined lords of hell, who aren’t likely to take it well. More people could die in the resulting backlash than god would be willing to sacrifice.”

*Caleb gives off a forced chuckle.* “Besides, Ms. Strong, I’m not exactly sure how to go about obtaining direct divine intervention.”

[green_shield]

::Takes more notes::

"Sorry, Dr. Zukov. Magic is not a field I have work with until last month. Also, what do we call you out there? Your codename or whatever it's refered to."

[caleb_z]

*Caleb opens his mouth as if to speak, but only silence comes out.*

Right, I’m supposed to have a secret identity, aren’t I? *He thinks for a few seconds, his left hand resting on the top of his left shoulder.* “I can’t say I, uh .. I’ve given it much thought. I only go out infrequently, after all. Um .. hmmm .. just, uh, I guess…. I don’t know. Just call me Caleb for now, I guess. I’ll have to think of something more later.”

[green_shield]

She nods and gets to her notes.

[_captain_marvel]

Marvel's brow furrows as he takes in the information.

"What are thier weaknesses? Do they have a prefered set of habbits? A 'modus operandi' as it were?"

[caleb_z]

“No known weaknesses, other than, as with all demons, holy energy. Their habits are remarkably simplistic - be given a target, study your target, kill your target, return and be assigned a new target.”

*Caleb glances back at his hand written notes to see if he forgot anything.* “Oh, right. They, uh … they’re psychology is totally means to an end oriented. In some ways this makes them colder and more heartless than a other demons, and in other ways makes them less so.”

“After all, why kill someone if it doesn’t advance their goals? But if, say, tactically nuking an urban environment will draw your target out of hiding .. or, herd them in a particular direction .. they wouldn’t hesitate.”

[lanterns_light]

"Caleb. Who are these demons after? You?"

[caleb_z]

“If only I knew. That’s, uh .. that’s one of the complications. I don’t know where it is, who it’s after, or even who sent it.”

*Caleb produces a photograph of a stocky, thirty something man with a beard and a receding hairline.*

“This man is named Jeremy Price, and I met him two years ago when I moved back to Metropolis. He’s a, uh … a hallow .. a person born without a soul. Usually, such cosmic accidents go un noticed, but hallows are prized by demons, because they allow them to manifest on this plane of existence when they otherwise couldn’t. And since the inhabited body has no rightful owner, the intruder can’t be forcibly expelled by exorcism. ”

*Caleb now produces a photograph of three corpses with bite marks on their necks.* “I located these three victims while clearing out a nest of vampires in Metropolis. You’ll note that the victim on the right is Mr. Price. Death had occurred shortly before this, as not only had rigger mortem not yet set in, but the body was still warm.”

“Normally, the soul of a vampire’s victim is sent to hell, perverted into a new, demonic form, and then returned to the host body, where re-animation occurs within 2-5 days. But because Mr. Price lacked a soul, the body suddenly became fair game for any sort of demon who wished to inhabit it.” *Caleb produced another photograph of the same three victims, this one with a ghostly image of the creature in the drawing superimposed on top of Jeremy’s body.* “This is an enlarged frame from a security camera I .. disabled not 10 minutes later.”

*Out of unease, Caleb runs his hand through his hair before resuming.* “Al Koyetes don’t answer random summons. The one who is here must have therefore been sent. But, as I’d indicated, I don’t know after whom. And that’s, uh .. not even the worst part.”

[lanterns_light]

"...and what would that be?"

[caleb_z]

“That this intelligence is two and a half weeks old. The, uh … the day after I acquired it, I also acquired the plague. The day before yesterday I woke up, and no one in my building has seen Mr. Price for about 2 weeks.”

*Caleb’s fingers become fidgety as he sits on the desk in front of the room.* “I, uh … and I’m guessing here, but … I’m hoping the chaos of the plague impeded any meaningful progress of the demon towards accomplishing it’s objective. If not, though, we still have an assassin loose on this plain, who can and almost certainly will receive additional strike orders.”

*The very thought of hell having an agent of this nature open-endedly able to operate on Earth brings a chill to Caleb’s spine.*

[lanterns_light]

"Caleb, this thing sounds to be capable of a great deal of death and devistation. We need a way to find and it kill it. Now. What have you got for us?"

[caleb_z]

“Laughably little, I’m afraid. Here’s what I have, however.” *Caleb gestures to the maps, and the 4 pushpins spread out between them.*

“I managed to acquire some personal items from Mr. Price’s house to attempt several locator spells. Unfortunately, they had the predicted effect of not being able to pinpoint the subject so much as give me a general area.” *Looking slightly embarrassed by his shortcomings, Caleb looks back from his maps to his team.* “This is most likely because the entity tied to the items I used no longer exists .. only his body.”

*He takes a deep breath before turning back to his maps and continuing. As he does, he points to the pushpins.* “The first of these was places 4 hour ago, and had him in northern Delaware. Then Southern New Jersey, traveling east. The most recent two - both having been done in the last hour, both place him …” *He looks right at Alan Scott.* “….in downtown Gotham City. I can’t pin him down closer than these 3 city blocks, I’m afraid. ”