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Heathrow Airport, London, England, United Kingdom:
Abbigail stepped off the plane, ignoring the looks from her fellow passengers, staring alarmed at her various bruises. This ended when she arrived at the security checkpoint and handed over her passport. The Guard nodded, checking and gesturing to her face. “Alright then. What’s the story with that?” Abbigail sighed. “Professional fighter. It happens.” The guard nods. “Reason for visiting the United Kingdom?” Abbigail’s eyes dart around at the myriad of cameras as she clears her throat, trying to hold in her nervousness of government officials since she and Sato were framed. “I..I’m sorry, what?” The guard nodded. “Reason for visiting the United Kingdom.” Abbigail nods. “Oh umm I’m here to visit a friend.” The guard nodded when suddenly her computer beeped and suddenly she and three guards around Abbigail drew their batons. Abbigail, for her part, reflexively dropped into a combat stance before she forced herself to stand up raising her hands. “I don’t want any trouble.” The head guard nodded. “Neither do we luv. Keep your hands up and follow me to the side room. We have some questions for you.” Abbigail sighs. “Can I at least call my friend and tell her I’m going to be late. I think she’s kinda a big deal here.” The guard laughs a bit. “Sure. Whose your friend then? Better be a lawyer.” Abbigail smirks. “Lady Rosalyn Crowley. Is a noble good enough?” The guards stop in their tracks and the head guard nods. “I’m gonna contact her Ladyship. If she hasn’t heard of you or is not expecting you you’re going to face charges for besmirching the name of a Noble. Are you sure she’s the friend who invited you?” Abbigail nods. “Yes. Now let’s go.”
A few moments later, they sat in the side room, the guard drumming her fingers on the table. “So you claim the government framed you?” Abbigail sighs. “I know how it sounds.” The guard laughed a bit and nodded. “Your flight originated in Mexico. You understand our concern.” Abbigail nods, “Serious question. How many terrorists you know surrender peacefully?” The guards look at each other, silently admitting Abbigail has them there. Suddenly, the door bursts open and two women come through the door, one of them walking up to the guard and handing her a piece of paper, while the other one points at Abbigail. “Not another word, Ms. Dresden. You have rights.” She says as she sits next to the stunned Abbigail who looks around at the guard reading the paper. “This woman was charged by the Americans with terrorism and is still on their watch lists.” The woman gestures to the paper. “Those charges have since been dropped by the Americans and the watch list is designed to make her life difficult. Furthermore, she is a personal guest of Her Ladyship, who takes responsibility for her. By now, you’ve searched her luggage. Does she have any drugs in her possession?” The guard stammers. “Well umm no.” The new arrival nods. “Does she have any weapons? Indeed does she have anything illegal on her?” The guard shakes his head and the woman nods. “Then it sounds like you have no right to hold her. You could then release her, correct?” The guard nods. “Well, I was curious what brought her here, the standard questions, slightly more important given she is, a felon under American law.” The woman raised an eyebrow and nodded. “Well, if we were in America, that might mean something, and if America weren’t a dictatorship masquerading as a democracy, that might mean something. If American law had been followed and Ms. Dresden had been convicted in a court of law, that might mean something. However, the Americans, being the daft colonials they are, botched and made it painfully obvious she was jailed for political reasons. That is why she’s here. Her Ladyship wishes to protect her friend and is looking into having Ms. Dresden seek political asylum here.”
Abbigail, hearing this, blinked. “Wait, I am?” The Guard looks at Abbigail and looks back to the woman addressing him. “She is?” The woman nodded. “She is. America has made it clear they mean to threaten Abbigail Dresden’s life, thus, she finds herself in need of a country to protect her rights. Her Ladyship wishes to look into the possibility of helping her friend seek refuge here in the U.K.” The guard nods. “Hmm. And why don’t she know bout it?” The woman narrows her eyes. “Her Ladyship had intended it to be a surprise, but it seems circumstances conspired to ruin that surprise.” Abbigail, for her part, sat quietly and listened to the scene play out. The actual reason for the invitation was surprising and, to an extent, irked her a bit. Still, she knew better than to insert herself and decided to wait and see how it played out. Finally, the guard seemed to admit he had lost the battle and Abbigail found herself free to go, walking out of the interrogation room next to the woman. “What do you do for Rosalyn anyways? Oh and since you know my name, I’m curious if I get to know yours.”
The woman glanced at Abbigail. “Tera Jane Walker. Born and raised in Swansea. Worked for MI-5. Now I handle security for her Ladyship.” Abbigail nodded, taking in the information. “So Welsh, huh? Is that why you work for Ros?” Tera shrugs. “Part of the reason. I met her when someone tried to assassinate her. I was part of the MI-5 team tracking the terrorist. I liked my job, but the internal bureaucracy and politics got to me. So I help Her Ladyship out.” Abbigail’ surprise shows. “She never told me someone took a shot at her, who was it?” Tera paused for a moment and shrugged. ‘UKIP nutjob. Decided Lady Crowley was not sufficiently English enough due to her efforts to help Welsh culture..” Abbigail thinks and is about to reply when Tera beats her to the punch as they get into the SUV vehicle waiting outside. “You should consider Her Ladyship’s offer.” Tera says as they settle in. Abbigail raises an eyebrow. “Why?” Tera starts the car and pulls out onto the road, glancing at Abbigail while keeping an eye on the road and moving. “I reviewed your case. The American government has already come after you once. This was the warning shot. Just to show you what they can do if they want to. Next time, it won’t be a frame and blackmail. It will be throwing you in jail for a crime. Maybe trying to arrange an ‘accidental’ death in prison. If you really rile them up, they might just kill you. Every human being on earth needs the protection of a government.” Abbigail nods. “Valora doesn’t seem to need it.” Tera smirks. “Valora Salinas has the training of an elite operative. At times seems to be a one woman army, and she does have the protection of a government outside the U.S. She is also a citizen of Mexico.”
Abbigail fell silent, considering this and nodded. “I’ll talk to her about it, but could it even be possible?” Tera nods. “Certainly. You have a great claim to seek refuge. You have a legitimate fear of mistreatment and threats to your health and wellness from your government. The only problem I saw looking over the info packet on you Her Ladyship gave me was your association with the ROW/ROS groups and that seemed to be weakened if not outright severed last show.” Abbigail blinked in surprise hearing this. “The U.K. has a problem with the Rebels of Society.” Tera smirks. “We’ve had a lot of experience with rebellions and insurrections. Most of them degenerate into criminal movements or use crime to fund themselves so yeah, generally we take a dim view on those advocating rebellion and insurrection.” Abbigail nods. “Right Empire. I always kinda wondered what it would be like living in an Empire.” Tera laughs a bit. “You do. The Americans have an empire.. Just because you don’t call it that doesn’t mean you don’t have one.” Abbigail stops and thinks for a moment and nods. “Yeah.. Now that I think about it...I guess you’re right.”
Crowley Estate, Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom:
Abbigail stood on the balcony and looked out at the sea and stared in awe. “Oh my god, Ros… such a beautiful view.” Rosalyn nods. “Fell in love with this city early, on. Found every excuse to come back.. Even bought the football team. Gives me a reason to be here, you see.” Abbigail turns. “I thought only Americans, Canadians and Australians played football.” Rosalyn pinched the bridge of her nose and narrowed her eyes at Rosalyn. “Not that bloody abomination of Rugby you Yanks call football. I mean football.. You know where the feet of the players actually touch the ball.” Abbigail smirks. “Ohhh you mean Soccer? The word you Brits created in the 60s as a way to take ‘Associated football’ and cram it down to a shorter title? Why buy the team?” Rosalyn shrugs. “I umm played for their girls team when I was younger l. I.. love the team.. The Americans running the team were morons. I couldn’t stand it anymore.” Abbigail nods. “I get that. But you could afford it?” Rosalyn smirks. “My bank account felt it. But I have been saving for a while and in short? I could afford it, yes. Now, let’s talk about you, shall we? We have to discuss your situation, all parts of it.” Abbigail nods. “Yeah. Apparently you want me to seek refuge in the U.K.?” Rosalyn sips her tea and moves over, sitting down on a chair looking out of the coastline and nods. “Seek asylum. You’re not the first American Ex-pat coming to Europe, seeking refuge from McStrump, you won’t be the last. I also believe Tera is right. It is unsafe for you to remain in the U.S. at the moment.” Abbigail nods. “Which is why I haven’t set foot in the U.S. since they released me from prison and flew UOW wrestlers to North Korea.” Abbigail suddenly stops here as a long buried memory hits her. The memory of Gabrielle Montgomery, dissolving in the pool of acid, her screams of agony. It was all Abbigail could do to stop herself from vomiting right there. She came back to the moment to find herself on her knees with Rosalyn crouched down by her, a concerned look on her face. “Yeah… Tera said there was a chance of that sticking with you. I saw that fight, Abbs.. you had no choice. She would have killed you.”
Abbigail laughed a bit at that and nodded. “Everyone says that as if it makes it better somehow. Funny thing is before North Korea I was caught up in the James Bond lifestyle Val had. Wanted her to train me. I’m sure that died in North Korea too. Val likely decided I didn’t have the stomach for that sort of thing. Which is just as well. I’m not sure I have the stomach for it, either.” Rosalyn smirked. “Well, I think you do, if you’re bound to go down that path, but there are other options too.” Abbigail forces herself to stand and takes a deep breath and nods. “Gods.. every time I think about.. The smell hits. Everytime I think I’ve dealt with it.” Rosalyn nods, standing up as well. “Well, if you want my advice, blame Mcstrump’s regime for ordering civilians to become assassins and North Korea for forcing UOW talent to fight each other.” Abbigail shrugs and sighs. “Can’t blame North Korea. McStrump wiped them off the face of the Earth.”
Rosalyn nodded. “True enough. My point is you can’t blame yourself. You had two choices. Kill her or be killed by her. Blaming yourself will not bring her back, and besides.. You’re not upset with yourself because you killed her.” Rosalyn said, calmly sipping her tea. Abbigail blinked and tilted her head to the side a bit as she scoffed. “Oh this should be rich. Why am so upset then?” Rosalyn narrowed her eyes slightly, not in anger or irritation as much as in increased focus to make her point. “You’re upset with yourself for feeling relief that you survived and for.. Enjoying your final win. The woman humiliated you twice before in fights but you got the last word. When everything was on the line, you proved yourself better, you took pride in proving you were better than she was in the end.” Abbigail thought about this for a second. “I can imagine what Valora would say about that.” Rosalyn paused for a moment as she thought about as well and debated the next words to say. Then an idea came to her. To buy some time as she set it up she nodded. “What do you picture she would say?”
Abbigail had to think about this for a second, visualizing once more the image she had of her mentor and heroine. The fearless, and at times utterly ruthless individual who always managed to come out on top and shrugged. “I’m sure what she would say is that she understands, no worries, blah blah blah. Followed by more of her treating me as someone who needs to be protected than someone who might be able to help her.” Rosalyn glances into her cup of tea and then looks up at Abbigail and nods. “Well, she’ll probably kill me for this. But how would you like to take a look at Valora’s past? You might be surprised at what you learn?” Abbigail raises an eyebrow. “What? More magic stuff? If magic is real, how come no one has ever heard of it?” Rosalyn smirks. “Well when true magic users revealed themselves they were either worshipped as deities, often with disastrous outcomes, or they were hunted down and burned at the stake, thrown in a Iron Maiden, broken on the wheel, hanged, hacked into bits, geeze I wonder why we decided to operate behind the scenes. The basic rules are this, Abbs… if you’re not part of the supernatural world, aka if you aren’t a demon, angel, vampire, werewolf, magic user, psychic or any other of a whole host of options I’m leaving out, you aren’t allowed to know. We’re a very exclusive club.” Abbigail nods. “So… why tell me?” Rosalyn sighs and facepalms a bit as she shakes her head. “Your psychic abilities. I want to take a sample of your blood to try and learn who you’re descended from. In the meantime, your psychic abilities gain you entrance to the club.”
Abbigail took this in and tried to make sense of it. “So… fairy tales, mythology?” Rosalyn nods. “Most of it is real.. Or facts mixed with our fiction to obfuscate the true facts. Don’t...try to figure it out it’s complicated. Compartmentalize is the order of the day. Easier to take in in small bits.” Rosalyn says as she begins mixing herbs together and making weird drinks or something. “So… you a magic bartender or something?” Abbigail says smirking, trying to use comedy to handle this. Rosalyn rolled her eyes. ‘No. Every magical bloodline has a source of it’s power. Sadly, my parents were drug-addled morons. My family started off as potent potion makers. We learned other powers and magicks eventually, but potion making is what we started as. My parents.. Took it to extremes. It’s a habit that killed them.” Abbigail nods.” Overdose?” Rosalyn raised her eyebrow. “No. In their addled brained need for more and more ‘sensations’ they tried a ritual..For the ritual, they convinced me my test as a magic user had come. Locked me in the basement with demons and other malicious spirits. Nearly killed me. I came out mentally traumatized, accepted as a magic user and with a leg that doesn’t work right. My twin sister and some allies she found came to help but got here too late. When my twin sister Gwendolyn saw what happened, she drove my parents mad. She decided death was too good for them. My sister and I...arrange for a special potion to be slipped to them. They will spend the rest of their lives in a padded room, in a straight jacket tormented by terrors only they can see.” Rosalyn paused here, calmly drinking her tea. “We’re an ends justifies the means kinda family. Sadly for my parents, my sister and I learned their lessons a bit too well.”
Abbigail stands up. “What could they possibly have done…” Rosalyn cuts her off. “They locked a 12 year old girl in a basement and made her fight demons. Have you ever fought a demon, Abbigail? Something that can look in you, find what you want most and offer it to you? I’ll go more into detail on me some other time. For now, we need to focus on you.” She said, handing Abbigail a potion. “Drink it all in one go. This will help me keep you rooted so that we can come back.” Abbigail looks at the potion and nods. “So umm butterfly effect?” Rosalyn laughs a bit. “We’re not looking at the future so there is less risk. That being said, my aim is for us to watch. So watch. Don’t interact. Do not take anything, do not leave anything from our time there, just stay next to me and watch.” Abbigail nods, not fully believing any of this is possible and adds in a question. “Could you make sure I can’t do anything by like… astral projection or something?” Rosalyn smirks. “That’s what the potion is for. I’ll need help to make sure you return to your body when we come back. But mixing magic and psychic abilities can lead to unexpected results. Also, without fully knowing your background and abilities, I find it smart to cover all my bases.” Abbigail nods and adds in one final question. “C..can we maybe use this to find out about my parents?”
Rosalyn smiles sadly. “Sorry, luv.. If you plan to poke through time and space, you need a clear idea of where you’re going and what you’re looking for. Now… I have a plan for us to look in at a few pieces of Valora’s past, both to help you and because I believe Valora might know at least one of your parents and with you here with me, maybe we can lock in on that a bit better.” Abbigail nods, considering this. “So what are we looking at today?” Rosalyn is silent for a moment. “The first time Valora took a life. You’re focused on that on your end. Let’s see how Valora handled it.” Abbigail laughs. “Likely barely noticed. She’s a badass like that.” Rosalyn nods. “You might be surprised. Let’s get ready.” Abbigail nodded and they moved deeper inside the house to a special room Rosalyn used for things she wished kept secret. They both downed the weird concoction Rosalyn made and she then began calling to mind the spell she would need for her plan. Abbigail settled in sitting cross legged as she listened and suddenly became aware of severe feeling of vertigo, the room spinning as Rosalyn finished her spell and the two women found the room in Rosalyn’s mansion fade away, replaced by the streets of 1990’s Los Angeles. Abbigail looked around, and the two women found a paper stand with a paper bearing the date. She then turned to Rosalyn. “You made a mistake. Valora is like..15 or 16 yrs old at this time…” Rosalyn remained silent and the two made their way through the streets, moving at the speed of thought until they got to a small unassuming house. In the garage, under a car, Valora is under a car working on the car, ‘California Love’ playing over the radio. After a few minutes a very frustrated young Valora, pushes herself out from under the car and stands up, wrench in hand, oil on her shirt as she stands there, trying to control her rising anger. It is a battle the young latina loses however as she kicks the car, swearing in Spanish as she tosses the wrench into the toolbox as she paces back and forth, trying to plot out her next move, talking to herself out loud as was her habit at this stage of her life. “Okay.. we know this car is a god damned piece of-.” Valora got sidetracked by another barrage of swearing in Spanish and English before getting back on track. “Okay.. I need some fuckin’ spark plugs.. Some god damned oil, Oh and a new fuckin’ battery.” Valora says ending with a flourish of Spanish swearing as she looks at the allotted money her mother left for her the job, sighing. “Well, I can get the spark plugs at least. But the rest is out the window unless I plan to give those pendejos at the auto shop a strip tease and a fuckin’ lapdance or some shit.” Valora glances at the battery and frowns. “Nope. Not sure even that will work..” Valora pauses, thinking for a moment, as the scene seems to slow to a stop and looks at Abbigail. “Anything stand out to you?”
Abbigail nods. “I’d be tempted to say she has an impressive grasp of swearing for as young as she is but growing up with nothing, I know how quick one has to grow up. She’s torn. She wants to fix her mother’s car, but..” Abbigail nods as a thought occurs to her. “She’s debating between not wanting to disappoint her mother and wanting to, no needing to fix her mother’s car. She’s about to decide to call a local chop shop. She knows she can get the parts cheaper there.” Rosalyn nods, changing her plan as she notices some blood dripping down Abbigail’s nose and the pair return to the present, Abbigail dropping to her knee. “Whoah… that’s a bit of a rush.. Next time warn me.” Rosalyn nods. “I planned to, but we pushed too hard. That bloody nose is your warning side to let your mind rest and recover from psychic strain. Don’t feel bad. You’re still learning to use this ability.. You’ll be able to last longer as you get used to it.” Abbigail nods. “So.. fatigue is why I’m feeling the vertigo?” Rosalyn nods. “That and the unexpected disconnect. Takes the body a bit to adjust to new realities. Now, while we wait for you to recover, we can discuss more practical applications of your gift to help you in the ring.” Abbigail rolled her eyes at this. “Uh huh..I couldn’t read Valora’s mind. How the fuck do you expect me to read Takuma Sato’s mind?!” Rosalyn shrugs. “Simple. Takuma Sato is younger and not as disciplined as he likes to think. Also, if he can defend against you reading his mind, you can still use clairvoyance.” Abbigail nods. “Right.. Look ahead into the brief future and try to pinpoint what’s going to happen.”
Rosalyn nods. “Do it now. In 30 seconds I’m going to do something. Discover it. Counter it.” Abbigail laughs a bit but Rosalyn stares at her intently and Abbigail sighs, looking back and focusing. Time seems to slow down and Abbigail sees it. Rosalyn reaches into her pocket and grabs a small stress ball, throwing it through the air. Abbigail watches it until it slows down and almost comes to a stop… Back in real time, Rosalyn moves normally and reacting with amazing reflexes, Abbigail catches the ball and throws it back at Rosalyn who holds up a hand and forces it to stop in mid air. “Good girl. You’re learning faster than I hoped.” Abbigail points at the ball floating in mid air in front of Rosalyn’s palm. “When do I learn that trick?” Rosalyn smirked, looking at the ball and shrugged. “We’ll see. For now, we need to focus on Takuma Sato. This fight won’t be as simple as when you fought last. He will be ready for this time. You two have trained together and worked together for a time, you will already have a good idea of how the other thinks and approaches a fight.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Abbigail said as she sat down. “Funny thing is I thought Valora would be happy with this situation. I mean, after I lost it and attacked Sato for breaking her arm, any hope of me being part of the ROS or the ROW is pretty much gone.” Rosalyn smirked. “Think Valora is more upset at someone fighting her battles for her. Pride and all. She’ll get better with it once she understands that this is you picking a side. But for my own edification, why did you choose to stick with Val?” Abbigail laughs. “Why? You on their side?” Rosalyn narrows her eyes. “Most assuredly not. Valora and I are in the income branch that those in that movement believe is responsible for all of their problems. Looking at France and Russia, I know exactly what they intend for people like me. But we’re talking about you at the moment, dear.” Abbigail sighs. “I don’t know. Part of it was Sato breaking her arm. When I saw that, I just...snapped. I get winning the match, fine. But to deliberately injure an opponent unable to defend herself? All his honor talk just seemed like bullshit. Val says she saw something different, I dunno. I never saw Sato be dishonorable before… guess it just shocked me but I just get the feeling that something out there in the universe wants me with Valora. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve got good friends and allies who the ROS and ROW would demand I start calling the enemy, maybe some deity or the universe telling me that right now I need to be where I am. I didn’t think, really.. I just..reacted. Valora is always telling me to listen to my instincts.. My instincts told me what Sato did was BS and if he and the ROW can’t or won’t stand up to the real bad guys then what fucking good are they? But France and Russia.. Are you referring to what I think you are?”
Rosalyn nods. “French Revolution and Soviet Bolshevik revolution? Yeah. And I know you have friends with them Abbs… but they are cut from the same cloth...and just as bloodthirsty and ruthless. Which, Sato may have shown you, unless there is as of yet hidden motivation for what he did.” Abbigail nodded. “Food for thought, I guess. For now… I guess I should try to relax for a bit before packing to head out for Cuba.” Rosalyn stands up. “Well, we’re getting paperwork started before you leave. I’m deadly serious. We need to make sure you have a nation providing protection.” Abbigail sighs and nods. “Yeah. Might be a good idea. Definitely don’t want to end up in prison on BS charges again.”