Taste of Hope

Jack did not respond, simply inclined her head. He would let her check out the situation. If she thought they were right and Khaat was there, they would rescue her. And if she was not, she would take it as a chance to neutralize the threat that was James Blood. If she arrived there, though, and found that there was no way Khaat had been kidnapped, she would refuse to call in the reinforcements they so desperately needed. Somehow, though, Jack felt that the latter was less likely that the former. Khaat had been a target of Blood's for so long that it was inevitable that he would finally succeed one day.

Jack turned and waited for Kate to be summoned. As the men worked, she hurried over to the junk drawer and pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil. She tore out a piece of paper and quickly scrawled Max - had to go do some of that secret business I always get in trouble for doing. Please watch Sunny. I should be back by afternoon. If not... well, I'll try to be back by afternoon. -Jack. She tapped the note with her wand and it folded itself up before flying off, down the hall, up the stairs, and up to her room where it would rest on her side of the bed.

With her business done, she turned to see Kate walking through the door. They had met on several occasions, but she was one of the less familiar Lupins to Jack. Jack took her cue from Michael and turned to Kate. "We need to go to James Blood's lair and see if we can find any evidence of Khaat. If there is, I can summon reinforcements and we will extract her before any harm can become of her. I have dealt with Blood, so I'm not too nervous about approaching the lair, but when he notices us, he will attack. We need to make sure we can get some evidence of whether or not Khaat is there. Do you think you would be able to see any signs of her if we went?"

"Yes," Kate said, making her answer relatively quick. "I can. Or, rather, I will recognize her energies. The long and short of it is that all of us magical folk have energy signatures that are unique to us. Sometimes a seer will become so familiar with what someone's energy feels like that we will simply recognize them when they're near. Much like knowing the sound of a loved one's voice. Or their scent. I will know if she's nearby when we get there."

Kate hadn't told all of it, and didn't intend to. The truth of it was that Robert was actually more in tune and more accurate with Khaat's energies than Kate was. And that had happened by accident. A life support spell gone wonky when Khaat was yet a child.

The problem was that he didn't trust himself right now to be able to detect her energies, know she was in trouble, and be able to go in to get her without blowing the hell out of things. Kate knew too well that Robert didn't trust that his own 'health' issues would not make him lose control of himself and cause him to completely destroy the lair and anyone who lived in it. But that didn't mean she was happy with his decision at the moment.

She turned on him and glared hard at him. She had no fear of getting in his face if he needed it. He merely looked at her. "Robert Thomas Lupin," she said firmly, "If you think for one moment, you get to opt out of this, you're out of your mind. If she's there, and you let something happen to her or my grandchildren, I swear...."

"He'll be there if he needs to be, Kate," Michael said quietly. "That's not the mission just yet. Let's not get sidetracked. Do you want anyone else with you, Jack, or do you intend for you and Kate to go alone?"

Jack listened thoughtfully, thanking the magical universe for its odd workings. Kate's abilities would make her feel infinintely more confident in their chances of escaping with knowledge and their lives intact. Not having to fully infiltrate the lair would be much safer, much quicker, and much better for the mission as a whole. She turned and began looking through her cabinets for the potion that would erase their scents. She quickly swigged half of it and handed the rest of it to Kate. "Even if he sleeps, his nose will not. This will keep us from betraying ourselves by smelling human."

She quickly looked down at herself, clad in pajamas befgitting of a woman who was sleeping in a house full of animals and children. She swirled her wand and the clothes immediately lengthened, hardened, and transformed into her usual attire. Jeans, a loose shirt, and an army jacket that would surely be disguised well under the dark skies and green surroundings. "I think the less we have, the better. If we find evidence of Khaat, we will summon you and I will send out my alerts to our allies. Let us hope Khaat is safe, unharmed, and perhaps just slightly misplaced." She grimaced, before holding out an arm to Kate to take.

"Agreed," Kate said. "Michael, you know what I want to say right now." She took the potion, sniffed it, found the scent to be only semi-revolting, and drank a dose for herself.

"I do, so don't," Michael grinned. Robert put his gruesome mask back on. Michael glared at Robert, hating that damned thing. "Apparently Robert and I are going to go randomly scare the shit out of the people in Diagon Alley just because we can until we hear from you. Be careful, you two."

Kate rolled her eyes, not amused with the mask either. Nor was she amused that, while Robert's ability to track Khaat was better, he was handing this off to her. She knew his reasons, but she didn't have to like it. Robert might have been the Minister, but in their own marriage, few knew that Robert had always considered her the smarter of the two of them. She had been content to sit, her entire life, in his shadow.

Clearly, Jack was more than qualified or she would not have been given this level of responsibility. Kate was perfectly content now to be following Jack's leadership. She drew her wand and took Jack's arm. "Let's be off, then, shall we, Jack? I want my family back."

Jack could not think of any other preparations to be made. This was not a situation one could fully prepare for, because so much was up in the air, so much left to chance. Jack was looking forward to securing Khaat's safety, hoping that the safe return of his daughter may be of some healing to their Minister of Magic. Jack thought that her help in this may be enough to convince the Lupin family to stage their victorious return, bringing safety and security back to the country.

That, and Jack had a hard time helping where she knew she could be of help. Hell, she had helped bail Aaron Marcheti out of Azkaban because he had helped her survive it the first time, regardless of the fact that he was the Dark Lord for some time. Jack had this bad habit of singlehandedly trying to save the world, even if it meant walking into the lair of the most dangerous werewolf currently in the United Kingdom.

She lifted the hood of her jacket, covering her tell-tale mane of red hair. Kate gripped her arm and Jack said, "That's the plan." She turned on her heel.

Jack appeared on a dingy street in London. "Follow," she growled in a low voice to Kate, immediately beginning to walk down the street. She had apparated a street off, to help throw off any potential suspiscion of their arrival. She walked at a normal speed, cautious about looking as though she were attempting to do anything that might draw attention.

She spotted the house that she had confirmed only that night as the hideaway for James Blood and his pack. She approached and turned down the alley next to it, her eyes raking the building side. She stopped and ran her hands across the building and found a oddly shaped stone. She flipped it upwards to find one of the basement windows that often sat at the top of the basement walls. She waved Kate over, hoping there would be something in getting part of the hideaway open.

((Sorry it's so rushed, I'm getting antsy to fight. Lol))

Kate walked with Jack at a casual pace but the more they walked, the more she felt the physical sensation of anxiety. It was rising, rising, rising. With every step closer she took, her skin tingled, her heart began to beat faster, she felt herself beginning to empathize with pain, dread,and panic. She felt herself beginning to break out in a cold sweat. Something was wrong. This wasn't her fear. Wasn't her panic. Not her deep dread. This was Khaat's. Kate knew her own child and knew her energy signature. It got stronger the closer they got to the old house.

"She's here," Kate said softly. "I'm certain of it." She was used to feeling Khaat's energy, but she wasn't used to feeling such strong emotion that went with it. That was usually Robert's forte. He would feel her emotion more clearly at times than his own.

"Wait." Kate added softly. "This is all wrong--something is very wrong. She's panicking--and she never panics. This isn't at all good."

Khaat had been trained to fight from the time she could hold a twig in her hands. Panic and dread were not part of her make up. In Khaat's whole life, Kate had never seen her panic. Khaat thought like her father, like her uncle. She reasoned, rationalized, pushed emotion aside for logic--but this wasn't thought. This was raw, primal fear.

dp:  feel free to move this to a different forum/start a new thread if you'd like to start the battle thread.  i'm good with whatever you want to do.

Jack glanced over at Kate, who was beginning to look more and more worried. She finally spoke, confirming that Jack indeed needed to call in reinforcements. Before Jack did, though, Kate confirmed that something was horribly wrong. Jack turned to Kate and said, "Fetch everyone. I'll call in the Order, some of my associates, and, hell, I'll even call in Potter's Army. When we get here, we'll gather, storm in, and save Khaat. I'll leave that rescue of Khaat to Michael and a team he'd like to take in. I'll focus on Blood."

She sealed up the basement and straightened up. "Go get them. I'm going to safety proof the street and wait for our forces to gather."

She waited for Kate to disapparate before hurrying out onto the street. From there, she cast a Patronus of a Jackal and instructed it to reach the Order with the message "Khaat Lupin taken hostage. 14 Podmore Street, London. James Blood's lair - come with care." The Patronus burst, becoming dozens, and headed out, one heading for Hogwarts. She fished in her pockets and found her PA coin, quickly alerting Potter's Army.

She quickly summoned road bloackades and set them up, before setting up similar enchantments to those surrounding Hogwarts. They were quickly put together and she stared down the door, preparing for the task at hand.

((I'll make one now))