LONDON CALLING

kaden waved Robert off and sat with Jessie to listen. but after amoment he stood up walking behind Robert as he spoke he sighed and shook his head placing his hand gently on Roberts shoulder. Gently and so he would not notice Kaden started the healing process of his shoulder. He knew it would take some time but he hoped it would help him focus on his mishion. Once he was satisfied it was healing again, he moved back to his seat and looked to Robert.

"Jessie we'll call today a miss, but I will stay and help, my shift at the hospital isn't till this evening." He whispered to Jessie.

"Great, and I think extra hands would be great." Jessie said and looked at Robert as he had spoken to Michael about what had happened to him.

"Robert," Mira said seriously, "I've heard of these sorts of things happening, but generally either the sender--presumably the seer you think might have been killed--or the receiver--presumably you, have come very close to death, and that allows a bit of a temporary rift in the veil. We may never know exactly what happened, but it does make me very concerned for you. I don't think you should be alone at least for today until we have more time to take stock of things."

"I think Mira's right," Gabe said. "And, yes, I do think you should talk with Kate, since she's the senior seer amongst us."

"No, no. I won't frighten her unnecessarily," Robert said.

"She may already know," Gabe said. "Have you ever successfully been able to keep anything from a seer?"

"Point taken," Robert sighed. "Alright, can some of you head over to Khaat's and the rest of you come with me to Paris?"

"Anyone have any preference of where they go this morning?" Gabe asked.

Kaden looked at Gabe and then to Robert as did Jessie " I think Jessie and I can go where needed" he said Jessie nodded " or stay here." Jack paced and then stopped his hands resting on the back of Michaels chair.

"I'll go with Robert" said Jack now in protection mode once again over Robert. " you'll need the muscle, got the brains" he said motioning to Michael. but it was Kaden who spoke up.

"well that explains a lot." he said making Jessie chuckle as he lightly tapped Kadens shoulder smirking." sorry always thought you were a braun kinda guy "

"Alright," Robert said. "That's a fair plan. Gabe, how about you and Mira go to Khaat's and lend a hand there, and I'll take Jack and Michael with me. Jessie, you and Kaden might want to float back and forth between Khaat's and here. Keep an eye on the protection spells on both properties, and if we're breeched at either place, send an alarm immediately."

"You might want to check the medical supplies at both places, Kaden," Gabe said, having noticed Kaden applying a healing spell to Robert's shoulder. "We've been hitting the supplies rather hard here the last couple of days, but I presume some of our supplies need restocking. And I don't know if any of the new arrivals at Khaat's have used any or not."

"If we're low on something, go ahead and go get it. Put it on my account at St. Mungos if you need to," Robert told Jessie and Kaden. "My med kits never did get put away. They're sitting on the floor in the library. They're the messenger bags next to the desk."

"Don't forget to tell Jess to resize the salads. I did not chop the steak with a microscope," Michael reminded them. "Are we ready? Shall we go?"

"I think so," Robert said. "Alright, let's head to Paris." Michael drew his wand.

"Jack, let's go with Robert this time. You take hold on one side, I'll take hold on the other. If he goes sideways someplace, at least we'll be with him."

"For all you know, you three could end up dangling from the top of the Eiffel Tower," Gabe teased.

"Oh, you're a lot of help, you are," Robert scowled at Gabe. Mira burst into laughter.

"Don't let Jack drive, then," Mira teased.

Jessie and Kaden nodded to Gabe " Jessie can do the restock and I'll restock the medical suplies, I'ill let Jess know about resizing the salads in time for dinner." Kaden said and heard Jessie chuckle at Mira's teasing of Jack.

"Hey Im not that bad at porting, well at least Jess tells me, and it was only the once I landed in the mud" he said his cheeks now slightly pink at the teasing. He stood up with Robert and stood at his side. " besides I haven't been to the Eiffel tower or seen the top yet." he said chuckaling softly.

"The top isn't all that exciting, actually," Michael said. "The very top has a radio antenna."

"Don't ask him how he knows that," Robert said. "You really don't want to know."

"It isn't a crime to go climbing or to fly a broom," Michael said.

"Well, they both are if it involves the tower," Robert laughed. "Alright. To Paris we go." He ported them to Paris outside the headquarters. It was clear that there was new damage. The place was smoking and smoldering, and Robert was certain he had not left anything burning last night. The lawn and the sidewalk had debris from the building.

Michael whistled, astounded by the damage.

"That's going to take some heavy duty spellcasting," Michael said. "Maybe we're better off to look at a new place, rather than this one."

"I don't know yet," Robert said. And then he picked up a distinctive odor. "Wait here. This won't be pleasant." He went around to the side of the place and opened the gate and went into the back garden. There, on the lawn, was the smoldering husk of a form. This was, so far as Robert was concerned, the seer who he had gotten some brief energies from by accident. He was almost ashamed of himself for hoping it was the shapeshifter that they wanted to stop. He started to check the remains, but he found himself to be rather disappointed. Unless the shapeshifter had not actually been a woman all along, then this was not the shapeshifter. This was the crispy remains of a man, not a woman.

Jack stood and looked at the building whistling at the distruction. Noticing Robert move he moved with him not letting him out of his site. He ground to a holt at the sight of the smoldering remains infront of them both " wow, whose mr chrispy, not one of ours I hope?" He asked glancing around to check nobody was around. He saw what remained of a hole in the building and moved to take alook " he must have come from this room, what was it used for?" he asked as now it was ruins and if anything that was paper or ceramic once sat in it , was now all over the floor in peices or burnt to ash.

Michael wasn't in the habit of being left behind either, so he had followed when Jack had also disobeyed Robert. He saw the corpse on the lawn about when Jack did.

"Great. Crispy critters," Michael sighed. It wasn't the first one he had ever seen, but Robert was right. The stench was horrendous, and the visual wasn't much better.

"I don't know if it's one of ours or not," Robert said. "I'll have to do an autopsy to try to find out, and even then it might not be identifiable." Robert glanced up to see where Jack had gone, to explore the hole in the building. "That room?"

"Old muggle heating system room and tool room," Michael told Jack. "We left it in place when we bought the building. It used to be a block of muggle houses, but the wizarding community bought the entire block in the 1980's and constructed the elaborate illusion of a bunch of low income townhouses for the muggles to see so they didn't see our involvement in a muggle area. If the wizard community ever gave the neighborhood up, it made sense to leave the old muggle heating system intact so they didn't suspect anything. But we haven't used that old furnace, ductwork, and muggle tools for decades, so that room's been locked off for a long time. Serves no purpose for us."

"I go in periodically and cast a cleaning spell so the dust doesn't suffocate us, but that's about all that anyone ever goes in there," Robert replied. "I wonder if the lab in the basement is intact. I should go and check. It would be far easier to do the autopsy there than to take it home and try to remove the stench from the house later. And if I take it to St. Mungos, then there's all the bother of having to explain it.'

"And so, you're going to waste your next breath telling us to wait here while you just pop down there to check because you don't know how stable the building is yet, and you don't want it to fall down on the three of us. You're such a predictable git sometimes," Michael sighed. "You're not leaving us behind, you know. We'll both just follow you anyway, so let's get to it. Let's see if we can walk downstairs the old muggle way, on our own two feet, and see if your lab is intact, shall we?"

"Neither of you take orders worth a damn," Robert sighed.

"You're welcome," Michael replied, with an amused smile. "Alright. Let's get to it." He stepped through the hole into the old furnace room and flicked an alohomora spell on the door so they could access the rest of the building. Robert sighed and followed Michael, motioning to Jack, knowing Jack wouldn't be left behind either.

Jack listened to Robert and chuckled at Michaels interaction, When Michael spoke of the room and its function he nodded " oh okay floor looks intact." he said pulling his head back out from the room. "good idea, wouldn't want death my dust" he walked over to Michael and nodded again at his words. then his a chuckle as he spoke.

"Nope, not when it comes to your safty, besides I fear Kate's wrath more than yours right now." Jack said his arms folded across his chest watching as Michael walked to the hole and climbed inside.

"you want awnsers and in there are the awnsers." he said to Robert " so after you." he motioned with his hand for robert to enter and he would follow behind them both.

Robert went downstairs and found the lab to be like the rest of the place--pretty much unusable. He sighed in even more frustration.

"Well, buggar," he sighed. "Won't be doing any autopsy here. I guess the next best plan is probably my lab at the farm. I can lock people out of it there, I guess." He rooted around in the cabinets and found a plastic tarp that was yet intact. "Let's wrap him up before we cart him off, shall we?"

Michael looked at Jack and then back at Robert.

"He's the biggest. I think he should muscle him into that tarp," Michael said, half teasing.

"Crispy critters are considerably lighter, Michael," Robert said. "We'll wrap him up like a burrito and make sure we have all his bits and bobs, and then we'll take him home, I suppose. We probably should put another protection spell on just to be safe. Let's do a quick walkthrough to make sure that he didn't have an equally crispy companion, though, before we go. Just be careful, though, and keep your eyes open because I don't know yet how structurally sound this place is. It's always had good bones, so it may be alright. I just don't know what damage the place really took, though."

"Just what I was in the mood for," Michael said sarcastically, "A gigantic, charcoaled burrito. I think I might be skipping lunch today. I suddenly don't have much of an appetite."