Five ascensions remain
Act One, in Which a Party is Planned and Executed, and an Unexpected Visitor is Made Welcome.
Invitations have arrived for a Halloween Ball:
Each invitation is on fine black paper, sealed in black wax stamped by a S.I.L.V.E.R. ring, and decorated with silver skeletons and written in silver ink. It reads "You are cordially invited to attend a Halloween celebration at the N_____ Hotel. The festivities begin at 8 p.m. and will last as long as you can! Come in costume, or be subjected to an on-the-spot disguise. Babysitting provided. R.S.V.P. to 555-EEEK!" Also included will be a little scroll on white paper, decorated with bat stamps, listing sources of costume rental or purchase.
555-EEEK is an answering machine with a Vincent Price-like voice: "We sooooo hope you can join our little paaarty. Pleeease leave your response at the sound of the scream." *Eeeeeeek!* (The scream sounds eerily familiar, if anyone has heard Angelina shriek.) It is, in fact, Angelina who is planning the party. She ensures that there is proper security, a well-stocked bar, food, and a band.
Attending (with their costumes):
It's a pretty nice party, especially considering the people attending. A man shows up claiming to be "Bashra Krovalek, the diplomat from Magonia" but looking at his eyes Angelina recognizes Sam German. She's of half a mind not to let him in, but relents in the end when he promises not to start anything. He proves to be full of stories about famous people in strange situations. "So there we were, in the Secretary General's office, with no clothes on..."
Orchid gets fairly drunk and turns out to be a good dancer. Dr. Atsui bets Esteban $50 that Gavin and Gwen are sleeping together. Angelina holds the stake. Esteban dances with Gwen and asks her, and she answers yes without hesitation. Gavin is also getting drunk, but thankfully no one tells him about the bet. Esteban admits that he's lost, but somehow Angelina never gives the money to Dr. Atsui.
Over the next few days, Bashra spends a lot of time with Orchid working on her magic circle in the desert (which is the alleged reason that he's there). Alexandra builds an egg-shaped baby-protected for Katrina.
Act Two, in Which Chaos Engulfs Innocent Children, Heroes Conceal Themselves, and Guns Prove Dangerous.
Esteban catches a radio broadcast which says that his sister's high-school is in chaos after some sort of shooting, with police on the scene and a possible hostage situation going on. Needless to say, he goes ballistic and rushes off, but does let the others know so they are right behind him. Arriving at a police blockade, he makes himself seem just like an FBI agent - "I'm Agent Lopez, and wanted to offer my assistance" - and they let him in. He persuades them to let in "the other agents" as well.
The lieutenant in charge is happy to have the FBI provide help. The situation is troubling, however - there are at least three gunmen, presumed to be teenagers from the school. They claim to have a bomb and a dead-man's switch. And there's no way to approach the school unseen - the best that can be done is to approach from the side so that the main wing of the school is shielded by the smaller L wing.
The main bulk of hostages seem to be upstairs in the main wing. Thielo's aura sight spots someone at a window there, positioned to see out. Everyone is debating what to do when Esteban and Angelina go back to the cars and Esteban convinces her to let him do the invisibility chant. He goes in unseen.
Creeping through the school, he comforts a secretary who is cowering under a desk (she later claims that angels must have liberated the school) and catches one of the shooters out in the hall with a rifle and pistol. It's easy for him to taze the guy and drag him into a classroom. The teen (and all the other shooters) is wearing a Halloween mask.
From there he peeks into the classroom in question and sees two more and a bunch of students, including Tina. They're clustered around something on the floor... Information from the students being interviewed outside leads them to believe that there must be another shooter, and Esteban finds him and tazes him on the gym roof. At this point they're sure no one is watching the side entrance, and the rest of the team goes in.
The boy that Esteban knocked out first has come too and warned the others, but Angelina manages to lure one out by pretending to be their leader from the roof. Then they storm the room, Esteban in first. One of the attackers goes down quickly, but the other puts up a bit of a fight and shoots Thielo in the head, knocking him down and spraying gears around. Then in the ensuing melee a wild shot from the boy hits and kills one of the students (thankfully not Tina). Alexandra goes into a bit of shock but gathers up the gears on autopilot. Everyone else trusses the shooter.
The original body on the floor is revealed to be Martina, shot by the boys when she tried some magic on them (Tina reveals this much later). The team clears out quickly before anyone really realizes what is going on. Angelina does take the time to change her outfit a bit and go back in to fetch Tina, which is easily done since they're trying to clear out the traumatized students and get them to their families.
Act Three, in Which Hearts Prove More Dangerous Than Guns, and Deviance is Redefined.
The police are clearly confused about who actually rescued the children. All anyone knows is that the claimed to be FBI, and that the FBI claims it wasn't them (although to the press they say "no comment"). The press is ferreting about speculating madly on who it could of been. Tragically for the police, they have no license plate numbers for the vehicles, since they didn't think to take them, and have only descriptions of the "FBI Agents". Except for Agent Lopez, who they can't seem to describe at all.
Esteban and Angelina are comforting Tina. They manage to get her to eat a little and get her to bed, but she's clearly pretty traumatized by the whole thing, especially Martina's getting shot. Afterwards, Esteban starts going on only somewhat coherently about life and Tina and Angelina before implying strongly that he thinks Angelina should marry him. Angelina presses him and he says it right out. She is stunned and confused. Then Esteban pulls a ring out of the drawer in the table and it starts glowing and throwing light around and distant choirs can be heard singing. Angelina goes slowly to the door and then runs like a rabbit.
Meanwhile Alexandra is furiously fixing Thielo, and after several hours manages to get him running again. He comes to and realizes what has happened.
Team S.I.L.V.E.R. takes up positions along the hall and stairwell. Angelina calls out in the lead shooter's voice for one of the two remaining shooters. He appears, but she blows her attempt to hit him with her tranq pistol (which she had holstered in place of the Desert Eagle). He yells, but Thielo tazes him and hides him in the stairwell.
Hearing the commotion, the remaining shooter opens the classroom door. Esteban tries to taze him, but merely knocks into him. The boy panics and shoots wildly, hitting one of the students. Thielo leads the team inside, trying to grapple the shooter. The boy then shoots Thielo in the head, knocking him out. Esteban tries to use the healing kit on the stricken student, to no avail. Angelina pops two 9mms from her sleeves and shoots the gunman in the shoulder, yelling "Run!" at the kids. The gunman shoots again and misses. Alexandra grabs the healing kit and places it on Thielo. The healing kit responds with a puzzled whine that translates to "Furniture?" Alexandra looks closer and is stunned to see Thielo's head full of gears.
Angelina throws down her guns and grabs the gunman's rifle. He pulls out a pistol, but Gavin judo-chops it away from him. Angelina reverses her grip on the rifle and aims it at the shooter, ordering him on the ground with his hands behind his head. Gavin tells Alexandra to pick up all the gears, then places the healing kit on Martina, again to no avail. Esteban hugs Tina, who is terrified at being attacked by something invisible. Angelina, still pointing the rifle at the prone shooter, turns to the still-stunned classroom and in her best Terminator voice, orders "Get out." The classroom empties in a panic, while the team drags Thielo out the back. Esteban is still invisible, so it looks like Gavin is carrying Thielo alone, with Thielo parallel to the ground like Han Solo frozen in carbonite.
Gavin, Alexandra and the still-invisible Esteban drive Thielo back to the Ranch, while Angelina hides her shades, jacket, and armaments, then goes to collect Tina.
The local cops remain puzzled as to how to open all those non-regulation handcuffs.
As for the $100 Angelina kept as stakes for Dr. Atsui and Esteban's wager, when the last guests (Gavin & Gwen) retired to one of the rooms Angelina had reserved, Angelina dropped the money into an ashtray on the bar and burned it.
Esteban: So, did you mean it when you said you didn't think you were ever going to settle down?
Angelina: What?
Esteban: Did you mean it when you said you were never going to settle down?
Angelina: What are you getting at?
Esteban: Well, I was thinking that it's great how you always take care of Tina like that. And I think it would be good for her to have, you know, a stable environment. And you were saying how you could never settle down, doing what you do and everything.
Angelina (looking doubtful): Yeah?
Esteban: And I could never really settle down unless it was with someone who knew what the deal was.
Angelina: Esteban, what are you saying?
Esteban: So I was thinking, what if we got married?
Angelina (opens mouth, then shuts it with a glance at Tina's closed door, then finally hisses): What?!
Esteban: It makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
Angelina: This makes no sense at all. You can't be married!
Esteban: Well, not like regular people, no, but this way we can each do our thing. I know you like to go out and pick up guys, and I do what I do, and-
Angelina: Yeah, that's gonna be a real good role model for Tina. Are you even *listening* to what you're saying?
Esteban: Well, it doesn't have to be obvious. But think about it, you're so good with her, and... you're my best friend.
Angelina (narrows eyes): When did you come up with this? Did you come up with this today? Are you going crazy?
Esteban: No, I've been thinking about this for a couple months.
*Esteban moves to the living room, then kneels down to open a drawer in the coffee table. He pulls out a small box.*
Angelina: Oh, my God.
*Esteban opens the box to reveal a stunning diamond ring. It sparkles fantastically, and the sweet scent of flowers fills the room. Faintly, Esteban and Angelina hear birds singing. Esteban feels his significant charges draining away. Angelina stares at the ring, stunned speechless (!). Finally she tears her gaze from the glittering jewel and stares wide-eyed at Esteban.*
Angelina (backing away): I'm going to go away now. Tell Tina that if she needs me, she can call.
*Angelina flees the apartment. Esteban tries to close the box, and fails. When he turns off the lights, they merely dim to a romantic glow.*
Esteban: Damn.