JSA HQ briefing room
*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
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*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.”
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*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.*
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“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. ”
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“The question, which I can do no more than guess at myself, is whether this will drive him away, or if he’ll ignore you. After all, your continual presence in Gotham City isn’t exactly a state secret. The, uh .. the odds are he decided to go there despite your presence.” Or because of it.. One can’t rule that out at this juncture.
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“I concur. Remember that if you locate it, don’t engage. Report its position, and we’ll show up in force. Good hunting.”
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"Be right back," he nods.
And he's gone.
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