As the chaos unfolded, Rodger cowered in Captain Scott's office, not knowing what to do to help... or if he was even permitted to. But the super battle was over almost as fast as it started, giving way to police work as officers scrambled under Jordan's barked orders.

"Johnny - don't forget to give Captain Scott your report about your own kidnapping," he had the presence to say, completely forgetting for the moment that the man was far more of a professional at law enforcement than he was.

"Err... what should I do, sir?" he asked the captain himself. "Call the New Age Defenders and tell them about this? Summon Don back again? Summmon someone else?" It was clear that the teacher-wizard was at a loss for what he was supposed to do in an urgent situation like this. It was vastly different than the sorts of crises one encountered normal, mundane life.

"You can try summoning Derring back again...that seemed to work...the only consolation is that this takes up most of their attention..."

Rodger nodded, and his eyes unfocused seeking the spell again. It took some searching this time, as the spell menus had shifted again, but he found it.

"Summon Girtabilu!" his deep spellcasting voice intoned after he clicked first on the spell, then on Don's ruby in his mental display.

  A fine scroll of text went across Rodger's vision:  Target out of range.

"What the...? He's out of range," Rodger reported. He immediately checked his mana charges to see if that had used up the mana for the spell or hadn't used any.

Rodger's brows lowered over his unfocused eyes, "Um... what does it mean that one of the gems is flashing? It's a small ruby, the one I aimed at when I summoned Don." he asked out loud, puzzled by this indicator.

A look of horror went over Captain Scott's face.

"Th....that hasn't happened before. That could suggest....oh no...a possible break in the chain....this is bad..."

"What do you mean, a break in the chain?" Rodger's gaze came into focus as he looked at the police captain, worrying. Yet again, his own lack of knowledge and not being told so many things about his android condition was rearing its' ugly head.

"Try the You Got Better spell Rodger...that HAS to work..."

"You Got Better?' he asked, then his eyes unfocused as he looked for it. With a flashing gem, it was right in front when he opened the menus, flashing too. He hadn't seen a spell name do that before.

Clicking on it, it brought up the gem display, wanting a gem to target. The mental cursor was already framing the flashing ruby as his only option though. *click*

"You Got Better!" his spellcasting voice intoned.

No gestures or other animation happened regarding his person, oddly, but a pentagram draw itself immediately, one line in each of the five mana colors with runes bubbling off the edges in fractal patterns. Without any fanfare or noise, the middle flexed open, and bloody red light pulse upwards in a glowing column coagulating into runes inside that then started to condense, much as the iguana creating spell had, forming a human skeleton, then organs and muscles over that, and clownishly white skin (with a fat red nose) followed by a Santa Claus suit. All in a matter of heartbeats.

The pentagram and light faded, leaving Don Derring the clown Santa. Resurrected, in a fresh android body, ready to be blown up. Well, physically ready to be a balloon, at least.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:05, Thu 04 Nov 2010.

THe clown Santa sighed visibly. "Wasn't sure if that part was going to work"

"Don?? What happened? I tried summoning you the other way but you were out of range." Rodger asked, half-babbling.

"Got taken by an evil megalomaniac, Give me a second to get my bearings and I'll explain." SantaDon sat down in a nearby chair. After a moment he spoke up. "Six months ago a Psychic holding an artifact of unrivaled psychic power tried to take over the world wasn't publicized a lot but the Legacy stopped him. He came back in Yuri Ivan's body and well He just sacrificed himself to kill us... I think the others got out in time but I was a bit farther back with a severed spine."

Rodger cringed, wincing in sympathy. Well, it looked like Don's spine was working just fine now, at least.

"I hope they're all right. That sounds dreadful."

He glanced at Nickel (now in his human form?), and back to Don again, thinking about this missing members issue for a second. "If this madman came back once, can he do it again?" the teacher-wizard asked, sounding very worried.

Santa Don shrugged. "I'm not sure. Its possible if he did it before but somehow I doubt it he let out essentially a psychic bomb."

"Oh dear. I hope you don't get kidnapped again... I'm low enough on black mana now that I'd rather not summon anybody again until more is generated. So what were we supposed to be meeting here about, anyway?"

"Me too Rodger Me too." Looking to Captain Scott he asks. "You've got something planned for christmas right? Lets hurry this up so I can get home."

Captain Scott looked at both Rodger and Don.

"The reason we've come together...is because there is suspicion that there may be a traitor in our group. Someone who may try to expose us. I don't know who..but if this comes out, we are all in a great deal of trouble."

Rodger quirked an eyebrow. That idea had been suggested here, in the earlier talks while recovering people, but didn't explain why the meeting had been called in the first place. The order for it had come from the demons, what, last week? He didn't remember exactly. But the possibility of a traitorous player in their little game was very worrisome, none the less.

"As for other matters, this meeting was called for because it has been suggested by our superiors to make merry in the streets...to go undercover. Use the cover of the holiday season to hopefully access places that may have been closed to us before."

Rodger listened closely. Both to understand what was planned, and to sure he knew his part or place in it. After all, he didn't want to mess anyone else up, with their lives all entangled with each other like they were. He wondered, but didn't say anything out loud, how the traitor (assuming it was an inside mole and not someone outside the game) planned to avoid the consequences of their actions.

"Can we cut the dramatics and get to the point? My teams probably on their way to tell my family I'm dead."

"We were going to stage something at the annual Weston Christmas Parade. Sort of an unofficial test for our friends in the Legacy."

Christmas parade? That sounded interesting, Rodger thought, making a mental connection between planned Christmas game events and Don's particular clown look. It would explain why he'd been the clown called. But... his poor family. What kind of trauma would they be going through if the Legacy told them Don was dead, and then they found out they'd been lied to? Well, not exactly lied, but it amounted to the same thing.

He listened, concern and sympathy for Don vying in his expression. What sort of cockamamie story would need to be cooked up (and lived up to as if truth afterward) in order to get Don out of this mess? He didn't have an immediate answer.

Family meant a lot to Rodger.

Don nodded. "Send me the details. How do I turn this off so I can go home?"