| Details for No Place Is Ever Sacred |
| Summary: | The morning after Shelley's visit to the Cheddar cemetary, Narelle decides to pay Shelley a visit in her hospital bed, intent on seeing what information she can torture out of the auror. It doesn't go to plan. |
| Date: | 1939-02-18 |
| Location: | St. Mungo's |
| Related: | What Men Kill For plot |
| Characters |
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Shelley's seventh floor room had been left alone once the appropriate spells and potions had been administered. At some point, word had filtered down to Jo Sykes that her best (Some would say only) friend has been hospitalized, and her first attempts to get into the ward had resulted in an awfully entitled Celebrity raising her wonderful voice and threatening some people's jobs. Eventually, she's let in, on the condition she wait in the corridor 'until Miss Prewett awakens.' The result is a Jo that leans against the wall, sighing - She's only been here ten minutes, anyway. But she'll wait.
Inside the room, however, there's been horror for the last ten minutes. The Dark Witch known as Narelle has made her entry via the same loophole as last time, and she gently paces back and forth at the base of Shelley's bed. The Auror herself is paralyzed via an effective use of the full body bind curse, although unlike Abram there's no hefty metal spike to consider. A few burn marks, though. With the door magically locked and charmed against noise, she's not afraid to speak. Lowering her wand, in the wake of the Cruciatus curse, "Now I've made myself VERY clear. Very. Very clear. You will tell me all you know of the investigation, and we'll rinse, and repeat. And then again, from the top. Until I'm bored… And once you've told me everything you know… Or I'm bored… I'll end it." She smirks. Her hood is down, revealing fine bones, gaunt white flesh, long black hair and ice-blue eyes. The full body-bind wears off…
When Narelle had appeared, when Shelley realized what the woman's game was… she smirked, and she flipped her off. Then, she started doing everything she could to /induce/ one of her episodes - concentrating as hard as she could on that snippet of memory she'd retrieved from the night Alis was killed - her chest crushed, her eyes locked on Shelley's blood on her lips. She tried to remember the face of the man - the tall man, with brown hair - she could barely recall standing in that fateful doorway.
That, along with the torture, was more than enough to send Shelley's mind skittering back through time.
As soon as the body-bind wears off, Shelley scrambles off the bed, her eyes wide, frightened, and filled with tears. "No!" she shouts, sliding under the bed, and wrapping her hands over her head. Despite the pain of her injuries, the composed and fearless auror - is cowering in as tight a ball as she can manage, underneath her bed. "No, no, leave me alone! Leave me alone! I want my mum!"
Meanwhile, the Ministry's resident rookie made her way to Shelley's wing and floor of the hospital on an entirely different mission. As a co-worker and one who's already been affected adversely by this case, of course Rena was worried when she heard even the vaguest details of Shelley's plight.
Fortunately, as an Auror (regardless of her low rank) the young woman gains admittance far more easily than Jocunda did. No struggle - just a flash of the badge and a brief explanation. Upon entering the corridor and sighting the celebrity however, Rena's shoulders slump slightly and her expression falls. She remembers that woman… not very fondly. However, she's here on official business and only gives her a terse nod in passing. They don't see eye to eye, and there's no need to stir up problems needlessly.
A hand is laid upon the doorknob, and Rena tries to let herself in. She finds nothing but resistance. As a result, begins to feel panic tighten in her throat: "No, no, no - NOT AGAIN!" She is already in full dread, remembering the horrific incident with Abram, backing away and drawing her wand.
The flick of her wand is wordless, and the effect immediate - The bed flying across the room, leaving Shelley with nowhere to hide. The Dark Witch looks frustrated with this cowering girl. Where's the Auror? The calm, confident woman who she had encountered in the cemetery. "Stand up." She orders loudly, "Stand the hell up. Right now." Wand coming to bear again, "Mordeo!" The spell aimed at the head of the girl, instead it strikes her protective hand. Immediately causing it to swell.
Jocunda doesn't do a terse nod. She does a cruel comment though, "Oh, hello, little Auror." Her frown is obvious. "Shouldn't you be running performing errands for the Malfoys? Or of course, young Miss Diderot;" Then there's a moment of panic from the Auror, and Jo withdraws her own wand in a moment. Although it's pointed AT Rena. "/Put/ /That/ /Away./" Her voice is quiet. Threatening. Promising. Jo seems to have interpreted this as a threat.
"NOOOO!" Shelley shrieks. She pulls her hand away from the stinging pain, shaking it as she scurries from where she had been hiding under to bed - to the very dubious protection allowed by the corner. The sudden movement and scrambling have pulled open barely-healed wounds, letting blood seep and stain her hospital gown, as she hides her face in the corner, once again curling up tightly, her eyes squeezes shut while she sobs hysterically. "Mummy… mummy…" she begs helplessly.
Jocunda's cruel remarks receive only the slightest sidelong glance before all hell breaks loose in Rena's mind with the locked door is noticed. The threat from Jocunda is infuriatingly ignored. Even as the woman is directing her words at the Auror, Rena's got her own wand directed at the lock of the door. "Portaberto!" She calls out commandingly. There is a wrenching of metal and a splintering of wood as the lock shatters under the pressure of magic. Wanten destruction of St. Mungo's property…
If that doesn't get the attention of the wretched dark witch inside the room, nothing will.
Mummy? Has the torture broken her already? Fuck. Narelle mutters it. "Fuck…" A raw, guttural shout of frustration. "Fuuuuck!" She casts suddenly, aggressively against the damaged bed, and pulverizes it into dust. There's a sound of wrenching metal as the lock is shattered, and Narelle spins to look at it. AGAIN!? That same Auror. Her wand is lifted,
Jocunda strikes first. The lock is torn off, and Miss Sykes whips her wand out. It's a relatively harmless spell, after all - But the shout is loud. "Flipendo!" Driving her back down the corridor, a good twenty feet, pushing away from the wall and standing her ground. Unable to see what's inside the room, scowling at the Auror, who manages to remain standing despite the spell. Jo's wand remains pointed at her. "What the /hell/ is your problem, Miss Lee?" She calls out, loudly. There's going to be all kinds of hell at St Mungo's tonight.
At the sound of the bed being pulverized, and the door smashed open… Shelley simply /screams/. The scream subsides into desperate begging. "No, no. Please leave me alone, please! Please! I want my mum!"
Rena is viciously thrust back by Jocunda's outrageous assault on an officer of the law, relatively harmless though it may be. It is still an assault and an actionable offense - but there's no time to deal with it now. For an instant, angry, she cries out "Stupify" in Jocunda's direction with a slash of her wand as reply, marching furiously back toward the room. Obviously too infuriated to carry out the spell properly, it doesn't work. "You know what, screw it." She growls, "LOOK IN THE GODDAMN ROOM YOU UPPER CLASS TWIT!" She points her wand toward the open door, where doubtless Narelle is within, ready to attack.
The burst of red is diffused against Jocunda, her wand flicked, "Protego!" The shield scattering the stunner without issue. The smirk is obvious, as Jocunda steps forward, preparing her own spell - Although it's halted when she's told the look into the room. The dirty blonde's glare goes from Rena to the room that she's drawn level with, just in time.
Another one? Who the hell attacked the auror? Shelley is ignored, the Auror broken and useless to Narelle. She'd apparate out if it were so easy, but now she's forced to fight her way out. The spell is wordless, a sharp flick and thrust of her wand conjures an arrow that speeds towards the almost unaware Jo Sykes.
"Protego!" She casts again, the arrow coming to a short, sharp stop just before her face. The Quidditch Pro looks shocked now. Not offended. Shocked. Angry. Before the magical arrow has fallen to the ground, Miss Sykes has seen her attacker. And there's a cold fury that's possessing her.
There's more voices - but were they coming to help her, or attack her? Sobbing, frightened, Shelley peers under her arm for a tear smeared view of what is happening. The horrible woman is looking away from her - can she sneak into hiding? Find some sort of cover? She sneaks cautiously to hide behind the small bed-side table that still stood against the wall, allowing a bare modicum of protection, and cowered there, peeking out fearfully.
Would've served Jocunda right if she had been struck. However, Rena has no time for such judgmental thoughts now. Into the room she shoves, knowing full well that her target is waiting in there for her. "Petrificus Totalus!" She cries out, slashing toward Narelle with her wand, a look of cold determination in her dark eyes. It was used on her last time… now it's all fair game as far as she's concerned.
Narelle hisses loudly. Vehemently. Fuck. Two of them. And the brief conflict wasn't enough for her to get away. Her hood is down. Fuck, fuck, fuck. She needs something that might work as a distraction. Shelley is considered. But no. Instead, her wand is pointed at the ground. "Fumos!" Smoke spews out of her wand, immediately. Obscuring the dark witch and the entire contents of the room within seconds, and then spilling out into the hallway. Rena's spell flies into the smoke.
Jocunda follows Rena into the room, her wand moving in an aggressive slash in front of her. "Diffindo!" That's something… Far more aggressive. A simple spell, designed to /cut/. And cut it does - Through the smoke, a fine spray of blood catches both girls for just for a moment, as the smokescreen consumes all of them. Narelle is paralyzed, somewhere in it.
Shelley lets out a quiet moan at the obscuring smoke - and here she'd thought things couldn't get any more frightening. Still crying, she clings to the bedside table with white knuckles.
Everyone knows exactly where /she/ is, there's little doubt.
The young Auror wastes absolutely no more time on this confounded nonsense. She dives into the smoke instantly, having heard the thud of Narelle hitting the floor, immobilized. She has only so many seconds with which to do anything useful. Coughing, her eyes water and sting from the confusing smoke, but she does find the prone form of the woman and instantly directs her wand at her: "Stupefy!"
Jocunda is a little more traditional. Following the thud, she hears the spell and… Doesn't seem to care - The Athlete leaping atop of the unconscious Narelle, her wand hand prising Narelle's free, and grasping both wands in the same fist. Her free hand draws a fistful of robe, and pulls the witch up bodily. There's a sudden, thick 'crack' of flesh striking flesh within the smokescreen, then again. And again. And again. Gripping both wands in her fist as she hits her over and over.
There's scuffling, and hitting in the smoke. The sound of spells being case. And Shelley remains in her 'hiding' place, crying quietly and hugging herself - and desperately wishing for her mother.
Now Rena is well and truly fed up. Jocunda has gotten in the way, interfered multiple times, and NOW she is brutally beating a disarmed and unconscious prisoner of the MLE. "Enough," the redhead glowers furiously at the woman, waving her wand again and not even taking a second to consider the possible ramifications. "STUPEFY!"
Jocunda joins Narelle on the floor - and both of the prisoner's wands are taken into Rena's custody. She doesn't stop to check on Shelley just yet. By now, hospital security has arrived on the scene. Several orderlies whose job it is normally to keep an eye on the mentally unstable patients who occasionally come there. Their wands are out and pointed at the prone women on the floor in a trice as soon as the situation is explained in a few choice words.
"Shelley…" Rena says gently, but hurriedly as she comes and crouches beside the poor woman, "I have to get these to the 'olding cells. Please forgive me. I will be back as /soon/ as I possibly can." She doesn't reach out or touch the woman. It would probably only terrify her more. She doesn't even know if the words reach Shelley.
Shelley's eyes widen as the woman comes near her, and she backs away - but when she doesn't try to touch her, or level a wand at her - well. It's at least a little reassuring. She nods jerkily, asking in a desperate voice, "You'll find my mum?"
It's satisfying. The stress, the fear following the Sykes Gala is worked out with each hard blow. The sad fact is that Jocunda could do this all day - But the smokescreen begins to clear, and Jocunda doesn't even notice the stunner that robs her of consciousness. The result of her anger is clear, when the smoke clears.
Narelle is breathing, although the pretty, fine bones have suffered some for the beating. Bruising, bloodied lips, split nose. Jocunda is still her beautiful self, slumped against the floor. Only her knuckles show signs of an injury.
Not even remotely sure how or where Rena will find the poor battered woman's mother, she simply nods and flashes a quick, confident smile: "Sure as sure. I'll get her to you as quick as a wink." She is interrupted by the arrival of two nurses, who hurry in to manage the damage that's been done by all this chaos.
Pushed back from her friend and co-worker (and out of her line of sight) Rena's shoulders slump and she looks incredibly drained and dejected as she turns away. She knows damn good and well that nothing good is going to come out of this. "I can't win."
Speaking with the orderlies momentarily, she gets on with departmental routine. The prisoners are taken into custody in the usual manner - though Jocunda is treated far better and more civilly and with greater respect than Narelle.
Jocunda would be far better equipped to deal with Shelley like this. But unfortunately, she's unconscious right now. And when she wakes, there is going to be hell to pay. Especially when she finds out exactly what knocked her out in the end. The righteous fury of Jo Sykes begins to echo through the Ministry. Demands to see Katherine Sykes, and her lawyers.
Narelle, on the other hand, is going to take more than a few hours to wake. And when she does, she only gathers her legs beneath her, sitting cross legged. Eyes closed, head bowed. Patient.
Someone will come for her. MLE. Or her kin. It matters not.
The die has been cast.
The nurses to their best to calm and reassure Shelley - one distracting her, while the other casts the cheering charm on her. They offer her chocolate, and gently escort the woman from the ruined hospital room to a new and empty one. One of them even manages to secure a large stuffed hippogryff, which she hugs while nibbling on her chocolate.
No one seems to be able to level a wand at her without causing fright - so she's eventually offered a potion to help control the bleeding in her barely-healed wounds. It's not as effective but at least it's something.