A Birth day

"Gone. They're gone," Marcus said. Not seeing anyone responding to his medallion, Marcus sent up red sparks with his wand, hoping that would bring Jack, the grounds crew, Robert, Kate, anybody.

Michael's medallion went off and so did everyone else's medallion at the supper table in the main house. They all leaped to their feet, and Shannon immediately swept up Abbey, and Nicky rushed in and swept up Molly to rush both toddlers to safety. All of the fighters drew their wands and responded to the woods using their medallions.

"Go!" Elwood ordered Edward. "We'll be fine." Edward responded to the woods as well.

Marcus saw Robert, Kate, Michael, Brian, Khaat, they were all responding to Marcus's alarm.

"What happened?"

"They're gone. Ruby and Angus--they've been taking. I didn't see who," Marcus said. "We were on a walk and they just vanished, damnit."

"Scour the place for clues! Look for traces of magic. Find something. Anything!" Robert ordered. The fighters all split up, casting spells, looking for even the slightest trace of anything.

Angus woke now in a strange looking room. He was chained to something, but he couldn't see what at first. The walls were painted a disgusting shade of what seemed to him like vomit green. There were old metal cabinets with glass doors, a sink, a lab table, and then he saw what he was chained to. It was one of the very old, outdated gurneys that St. Mungos used to use until Khaat had remodeled St. Mungos years ago and had replaced all this old equipment with modern equipment. Angus remembered from one of his stays that there had been little metal identification tags on the frames of the gurneys. The tags had been especially made for St. Mungos and engraved with the hospital's name. He could reach down and feel where the tags used to be on the bed. Reaching down, he felt there was still a metal rectangular metal tag. This wasn't just equipment that looked like the old St. Mungo's furnishings. These were old St. Mungos furnishings.

Where was he? Why was he here? Where was Ruby? Then he got a look at the 'chains' that held him. They were made of a sickening green light. There was a bracelet around each wrist and each ankle. And then he heard a door unlock and he heard footsteps.

He was thunderstruck to see that, of all people, Jess was here. Jess Dark Heart.

"Jess! How did you find me? Help me! there has to be a way to undo these--a charm...something..." he was desperate.

Jess used some sort of spell so that, even standing across the room, she could still make a slapping motion and slap him across the face so hard that he tasted blood in his mouth.

"You're whiny, you know that?" The voice was hers, but he knew something was very drastically wrong here. Nothing made sense.

Jack felt his medallion vibrate and since he was with Joseph both took off catching any guards men they could find and heading to the woods , reaching the spot with Marcus he heard him say Angus and Ruby were gone " you men east side , you west the rest scoured the forest for clues" he called out and each man scattered to there assigned area.

Ruby pulled her self to sit up now that she had regained part of her movement she looked at the chains around her wrists and ankles then around the room " shit, where am I" she asked herself, it was now she heard a faint voice from some place and tried to stand only to fall back on her butt recognising it was Angus " LEAVE HIM ALONE!!" She called out hoping to distract whom ever it was that had taken them. Ruby tugged on the chains and realised they were well made but now old.

Angus believed he heard Ruby's voice somewhere.

"Can't you hear her?" Angus asked Jess. "What's the matter with you? Help me." He struggled and struggled, and she flicked her hand, freeing him from the gurney. He sat up and bounced off the gurney and raced for the door. He tried to open it, and it would not give. He reached for his wand but it was gone. He tried to fire wandless magic but it just didn't work.

"God, you're hyper," Jess told him.

"Well, do something then. Help me!"

"Help me, help me, help me," she mocked, laughing. "Can't you figure it out? The real reason you're here?" He spun around and grabbed her by the throat.

"No, but I think you might want to tell me, or I'll crush you right here and now," he was furious with her. He looked in her eyes, and for the first time he saw that, for certain, she was not Jess. "Who are you?'

"God, you're stupid," she laughed. "Took you long enough. You know how easy it all was? Let me tell you, then, the simple chain. I have managed to step all over Robert Lupin, and he never saw me coming. He's an imbicile. A little polyjuice unlocked every single door at the ministry. And Michael Tremaine, he wasn't any brighter. I went to the department of mysteries, and he put the time turner I asked for right in my hand. Moron."

"The time turner. It's how you got Ruby and then came back seconds later and got me," Angus said.

"Exactly. But this was weeks in the planning. I bought all the old equipment from St Mungos when Jess sold it off. Bought it from her myself. She's a miserable old crone to work for, you know that? She deserves a taste of her own medicine, and I thought about it, but this is so much better. I disguised as a new healer wanting to start my own practice on a shoestring, and she practically gave this junk to me."

"Why?" Angus asked. "What's it all for?"

"Money, you twit," she spat it out at him. "And you know what? We both know someone who will pay top dollar for you--dead or alive. Makes no difference to her. You are my business proposal. If she pays high enough, she can have you--eventually." She laughed, amused at herself. "Until then, you and whats-her-name---you are my new toys, so you should settle in. We're going to be here awhile."

Ruby heard the faint voices again this time she recognised Angus with out a doughty. Tugging on her chains she sound the still strong but the point they were attached at the wall wasn't, looking around she lifted the mattress of the metal bed and saw a spring hanging down, pulling it off she started gouging out the bolts that held it to the wall.

Eventually she managed to get one chain off her right hand off the wall now she worked on hr ankle and left hand. She paused hearing foot steps and hid the spring pushing the chain end back on the wall to look like it was not removed as she waited to see if whom ever it was would stop and check or just continue past having heard the fake Aria call her bait.

The minute Ruby got the shackle off her wrist, new shackles appeared, but these were made of light, not steel. These were they were made of a glowing gray light--dark magic that glowed. They wrapped around both her wrists and her ankles. They bound her from using her magic, and they would not be wiggled out of like the steel had been.

And when the new shackles appeared, Aria's voice with dark, evil, maniacal laughter filled Ruby's cell, mocking her efforts.

"Go ahead and demolish your playpen, Baby," the voice echoed in the room and mocked her. "No one will find you here. No one will come because they can't find you."

"Kate," Robert went to Kate, "can you find him or Ruby? Can you try? What about Caprice? We need to try anything, everything...."

"I get nothing. Nothing. He's been blocked from me...."

"Is he alive?"

"He has to be. If he weren't, I would know that," Kate reassured him. "He's been blocked somehow. Caprice might not be able to find him either. Robert, this time, they might be on their own."

"No, they're not," Robert was trying hard not to roar at her in defiance. "We leave no one behind. Wherever they are, they know one thing. They know we will come. We will find them and bring them home."

Angus was livid with her. She could imitate Jess and Aria both. He hadn't wanted to kill before. It had always just been necessary when he had. Self defense. This was different. This woman needed to be eliminated for entirely different reasons. He was at war with himself, ready to cross a line, and a part of him feared that if he crossed that line, there would be no coming back. Did he really want to do that?

Ruby saw the new shackle appear and sighed " shit" she said sitting down hearing the woman's voice she scoffed. " that's what you think" she said " has to be a way to get these off " she said looking at the new shackles on her wrists and ankles but she sat back against the wall.

Laying down she felt using all her energy trying was the wrong way to go for the moment . " what do you want from us?" she asked into the air hoping she would get a reply " and why imitate Aria?" she asked again as she lay down on the bed facing the door as she waited " also whens food?" she was trying to be as annoying as possible to make them come to her.

When Jess turned to leave the room to go tend to Ruby's shouting, Angus picked up a scalpel off of the lab table and he hurled it at her, striking her square in the back with it. She screamed and whirled around and fired wandless, rapidfire spells at him. They were so fast he couldn't even keep track of what he was being hit with. He had to focus. He had to be purposeful rather than to just scream in incoherent pain. And it hurt. The spells were mounting. and he was hurting.

"Ruby! Run! Get out and run!" he shouted at her. "You know what to do! Just do it!" He wanted her to know that the best she could do for both of them was to escape as soon as she could and go find Robert. Find the family. Bring them. That was the only choice they had. This woman needed to be stopped once and for all, whoever she was.

"Shut UP!" Jess screamed at Angus. She fired at him with both hands, and he could not contain it or the pain. It slammed him against the wall, and he passed out.

Ruby heard the woman cry out then she heard magic firing she tried to move to the door but was stopped in her tracks her arms pulled back tight " Don't hurt him, please , just let us go" she called out hearing more spells being fired then Angus voice telling her to run, she tried to move but couldn't but she tried with each pull she wanted to kill the woman. " I can't Angus, I'm not leaving you." she called out but heard nothing back.

For a moment she was frozen thinking Angus might be badly hurt or even , this terrified her dead. She instinctively went to her chest and found her medallion still on her neck that the woman had missed. Touching it she hoped the signal would get threw to some one and guide them to her and Angus. in the mean time she studied the cuffs that were on her to see how she could break them.

Angus woke up, not knowing how long he had been out. He was still in the creepy room, and he was lying on the floor. His clothes were covered in blood and mud, and beside him on the floor was a potions cup with a part of a dose of potion still in it. He sniffed it, and it revolted him. It was such a strong rejection that it made him sick. He saw no wastebasket. There was just that sink, and he barely made it to the sink in time.

"How did he make any kind of a fighter out of you?" Jess's voice came to him again, jeering, making fun of it. He spun around and saw her sitting on what looked like a countertop across the room. "You're such a little boy. Does he put toys in your missions kit, Little Boy?" she laughed. He was instantly reminded of the bubbles that they all loved. The little bubbles that made such a big bang. They were designed like toys but used for a serious purpose. Wait. Is that what Robert thought of him? Did he see him as a little boy and not a serious fighter? Or was she just getting in his head? She laughed.

"I used her, you know," she told him. "I used her to get to you. She's just bait, and the only reason she's alive right now is that you care about her, and I can use that for my own amusement for now. But you, my little boy, you have exceeded yourself. You've come into some maturity, thanks to one of my own little potions innovations. You see I've had you under my control for some time, and we've been cleaning things up. We have more to do, but the first phase is complete. Well done, my new little boy toy." She threw a change of clothes on the gurney. "Clean yourself up. You're disgusting."

"What have you done?" Angus demanded in a low and angry voice, dreading whatever it was that she had done. He had a feeling she had used him somehow, and he wasn't going to like it.

"Why are you so despondent, my little pet? Aside from the fact that that woman you're attached to is a spoiled little brat. She's going to have a long wait. We do not have concierge service here. Of all the women in the world, why'd you pick that one? There is obviously no accounting for taste. However, as for you, though, you've done our world a great service. That old man was worse than your woman is. He was always too powerful, too ambiguous, always acting in the gray, never decisively good or bad for his own gain, and always one step ahead of just about everyone, but not me. No more, though. We're free of him once and for all--thanks to you. You will change your clothes or I'll just disapparate them. I'm already tired of his blood and guts all over you. I'd rather have you naked, I think. That might be fun. Next time, do be less messy about it, won't you, Darling?"

Angus looked wide eyed. What had she forced him to do? Had she somehow controlled him and had him do the unthinkable? Where were they? And Ruby--had she gotten out? Was she still here, wherever here was? Had she not come to her senses yet and realized that she was their only hope of both getting out? Hanging around in captivity to try to get them both out together was sheer folly. If she was hanging around waiting for Angus to rescue her, then at this rate, she might well be waiting til old age. He wanted to shake her and shout at her to wake her up that she was the only help he was going to have to survive, and it was going to take more than just his efforts and hers to get out of this. It needed the entire first string. She had to listen, damnit. She had to get out and go find the rest of the team.

If Angus could distract this nitwit and keep her focus, then Ruby could get out and bring back help. And was Robert alive at all? Was he losing this family too? Was this imposter, whoever she was, lying again? Or was she telling the truth? What was he supposed to believe about anything? How had she managed to turn the very threads of reality upside down?

"You're nothing but a coward," he hissed at her. "Hiding behind polyjuice potions and voice enchantments. Spineless, weak, hideous through and through. And probably hideous on the outside too. At least Jess isn't half bad to look at. Nobody would want to look at you. No wonder you're such a miserable excuse for a human being..." She fired round after round of magic into him but she wasn't noticing that he just kept coming closer to her, step by step.

"Oh, that's rich," she laughed, unmoved. "Why don't you just say something about my mother?"

"Your mama is so ugly," Angus began rattling quickly at her, "Just some east end bastard loser named Frankenbitch...." Angus began. "I bet that's where your mustache comes from, isn't it? You probably need to shave all over, don't you? I think I'll just call you Sasquatch...Oooh. Frankensquatch! That's it... because you don't even deserve a real name..."  She subconsciously reached for her face to check if she actually did have a mustache. And in the very next fraction of an instant he attacked her with the speed and the ferocity of a cobra.

He grabbed her by the throat, and in rage, he slammed her head against the wall over and over, wanting whatever the hell this was to be over. She managed to grab something, and she slammed it down on his head. Whatever it was had been metal because he heard it ring when she hit him, but his rage kept him moving, attacking, striking. The bar brawler in him hadn't even really gotten a good start, and he was sure she was no bar room brawler, not like he was. He yanked her off her complacent arse, hurled her to the floor and then he went right after her, fully intending to brawl with her until he stopped her for good.

As Robert and the others searched the woods for any sort of clue, Kate turned and suddenly saw Caprice standing in front of her, and she was pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Kate frowned, and then Caprice suddenly appeared to Kate's left, repeating pulling the rabbit out of a hat, and then did it again to her right. It didn't make sense to Kate at first.

"Robert, I might have a little thing," Kate called. Robert hurried to her. "Can you see her?"

"Who?" Robert asked.

"Caprice. She's here."

"No. She's apparently just here for you, but if she's here, your 'thing' is likely not so little. What do you see?"

"She's pulling a rabbit out of a hat," Kate frowned.

"Muggles' version of magic. Just illusion, really. Smoke and mirrors--No magic at all," Robert said.

"Well, yes, but she's disappearing and reappearing in different places and each time she does, she pulls a rabbit out of a hat," Kate said.

"Illusion," Robert frowned. "And in every direction?" In front of Kate, Caprice nodded vigorously.

"That's it," Kate said. "She says you've got it."

"I see," Robert said. "Then perhaps one of them, either Ruby or Angus, or both of them are being screwed with, where absolutely nothing is at it seems." Kate saw Caprice nod.

"Caprice says that's exactly it. But why?" Kate frowned. "That makes no sense."

"Kate, that sort of mind-bending can sometimes be used as a horrendous form of torture, to try to drive someone out of their minds or to make them feel like they can't trust their own judgment of even the most basic things. It can take a long, long time to undo that sort of damage if it goes on long enough," Robert told her. "I forbade its use by our espionage teams in the ministry a long, long time ago. Some things are too evil and dark and should never be used at all."

"Torture? That sounds like Suzanne's speed. Why is she perhaps using it on Ruby or Angus? And if it's being used against Ruby, she'll never stand up to it. It will completely crush her. She's just not strong enough for that."

"Yes, I know. And if Angus is with her, he knows it too. He'll stand up to just about anything thrown at him, but she's a different story. All the more reason to find Ruby quickly. Preferably both of them, though."

She looked at Caprice, who had an image of a wooden chest in her hands. She opened the chest and dumped a whole shower of gold that was dripping blood out of it. "Money," Kate said. "And blood. I'm seeing money that is dripping blood."

"Blood money," Robert suggested, and Caprice nodded. "It has to be someone either working for Suzanne or wanting to work for Suzanne. One or the other."

"I'll go see what Irene's team knows," Michael said, apparating back to the main house.

"Caprice, is it Suzanne?" Robert asked. Kate looked at Caprice, and she shook her head no.

"No?" Kate frowned. "Are you certain, Caprice?" Caprice rolled her eyes at Kate in irritation. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Of course you're certain."

"Not Suzanne, then?" Robert asked.

"She says no," Kate said.

Ruby sat in he cell looking at the glowing braclets around her wrists and ankles. Standing she walked over to the iron door and looked at the lock " can't be too hard" she said softly to herself , taking the piece of metal she managed to break a small piece off and stuck it in the lock, gently turning it until she heard a click she twisted it back and again a click was heard and the door swing open. Opening it she poked her head out and saw a long corridor, each side had similar doors on them but she could hear a fuss from down the corridor and she took off towards it.

Jack looked at Robert as Kate spoke of Caprice and interpreted what she was indicating as he moved with them his nose catching nothing in the air but the scent from Caprice that he had smelt when she had appeared before. He saw Michael aperate away and stayed with Robert as Joseph joined them both in the forest.

"all entrances to the grounds locked down" he informed Jack as he moved to stand with him.