2014.10.15 - Money Mystery (Part 3)

Upon receiving word that Axiom wanted to talk about a coin, Kilroy flipped out. He's got wheels within wheels within wheels moving at this point, and wasn't sure if it was a coin about him, the coin about the Gold or something else. Between three curses of different varieties he's also looking...haggard at this point, but Axiom is on the short list of people he absolutely trusts so he agrees to a meeting. It is a shrine, a Shinto shrine in the heart of China Town behind a seemingly trashy wall with a very large mirror in the back of the room that reflects upon a pool. Kilroy hasn't yet arrived but the hour is not yet nigh for when he said he'd be there. It's a beautiful, tranquil place and Axiom could feel the presence here...presently. If not actually present.

It was finding out Hawkeye wanted to talk that prompted Axiom to contact Kilroy. And when he got the location Kilroy said he wanted to meet, Axiom passed the address along to Hawkeye and set out. He took a moment to look up some things about Shinto shrines before setting out, not wanting to offend any gods or spirits that might be in the area. Arriving in costume, he jumped slightly as his powers were pinged by what he sensed and he glanced around. "So it's one of these places..." he murmured, finding an out of the way place to wait for Clint and Kilroy.

Clint Barton gets dressed in his full Avengers costume before heading out. It might be a bit much but last time he was involved in this case... well he does not know what happened last time that is the problem. He arrive a little behind Axiom and when he notices him, Clint waves, "Hey there, thanks for taking the time to meet with me."

The breeze in the fall wind is cool and calm. Two monks come in to tend the garden but see that a small white lantern has been lit and bow politely, before backing out again and sliding the door shut from whence they came.

Axiom offers a small bow back to the monks. When Clint arrives, Axiom waves a little. "H-hey, it's n-n-no trouble. I'm happy to help. And someone that should be able to help us will be here soon," he says, gesturing for Clint to join him. Clint Barton walks over and finds a seat near Axiom, "Well that is good. I know I am out of my element in this sort of thing. I am a ranger not a mage, though I guess we are not playing one of those dice games."

Kilroy is technically the cleric but he doesn't cast cure light wounds and his use magic device skill is pretty damn high as he literally steps out of a shadow. He spots Hawkeye and would be nervous, but he's worked with Clint in the past and Clint hasn't batted an eyelash at his weird powers. "Gentlemen. How may I be of service?"

"Wiccan s-says I'd be a Paladin or a Cleric or a Bard," Axiom chuckles. "I'm not very good at those games though," he remarks sheepishly. When Kilroy steps out of the shadows, Axiom jumps and lets out a little 'eep'. Looking towards Kilroy, Axiom waves. "H-h-hey. Hawkeye has some information about a weird magic c-coin and I thought you might be able to help."

Clint Barton nods,to Kilroy, "Well not a lot of information but some, and well amsy assistance would be appreciated." he says to Kilroy, then back to Eddie, "I would vote Paladin."

You say, "I would also vote Paladin. You've martial skill of an ecclesiastical nature. Your power is channeled not drawn from the weave." Did he just compare real magic to dnd magic as if he were the same thing? "I can definitely help with that." He smiles, relieved. Both have met Kilroy and something seems..off...about him...both from gaunt eyes to slightly fidgety movements, but he does not seem nervous at all. "Who owned the coin when and where?""

Axiom blushes a little. "If you guys s-say so. I'm still trying to figure all the DND stuff out," he says. "Well um. It belonged t-t-to a guy named Scmidt. But it w-was minted back in the 1930's during that stock market crash. I used s-s-some magic to look into it but we got attacked..." he trails off. He's quiet a moment, just watching Kilroy. "Is s-something wrong?"

Clint Barton corrects, "1929, on Black Friday the day the depression started. Only one minted that day." he hten says, "And Me. Scmidt was living in Jersey." he htnen grows quiet when Eddie asks Kilroy that question.

A great many things happen at once at this point. The good news is that a woman does not appear and go berserk. Go Shinto Shrine.

On one level, Kilroy answers, "No, Eddie. I'm fine thanks. The coin? Huh, that's complicated. I'll have to look into that." Both Clint and Eddie hear that.

What Clint hears at the same time is, "Actually my memory has been wiped repeatedly by an elder Greek god disrupting the natural timeline but since you asked what the worth of the coin was I have to answer even if I'm not myself yet and don't know who I am in that capacity and theoretically still might not even if the balance of probability leans towards it. The coin was created by Yankee Connecticut, my grandfather, the Economy and Priest of God of the Same Name Who is Dead but isn't, and was used as part of a messenger service he started for doing good deeds anonymously because he didn't trust the united states any more after Bikini Atol and the destruction it wrote upon the spirit people. Only one was minted likely because when we make a coin, it is legally real and the magic makes it like that. Why were you checking out that particular coin?"

While what Eddie sees is Kilroy talking without words and holes falling out of his head like Jigsaw puzzles. He has three strings stuck into his back like barbs, and then some angry tiki looking thing looking over his shoulder with a bright white light in a circle around him and a coin spinning around him that says '1 Trillion Dollars' making a gold trail around and around. He also has a nimbus of a God with a dark shadow of some kind in the distant horizon. He sees Mantis looking back at him from a distant corridor and clearly seeing him and he sees a fulcrum upon which a great many things turn, but not yet turning for there are no guarantees of the future.

Axiom frowns at the answer to his question. He has to wonder why everyone says that when it definitely looks like the opposite. Before he can follow up though, there's some weirdness going down. He stares in surprise as Kilroy starts falling apart but before he can comment on the whole 'you really do not look fine!' thing, he spots the other things. Tensing up, he points right at the tiki thing. "Alright, I d-don't know who or what you are but you should probably start explaining yourself and what you're d-doing to him," he says, glancing at the coin and nimbus a moment as well.

Clint Barton nods to Kilroy not seeing what Eddie does in fact only hearing answer, "Well it is part of a case where we were getting message sent ot us byt micro transaction in stock prices." he hen says, "We tracked it to Mr. Scmidt who was getting messages by the flips of the coin."

For a moment reality snaps back to one nice unified whole as Kilroy looks around to look behind him at whatever the hell Axiom is yelling at, "Huh? There's nothing there Axiom..." He looks at Clint. He nods, "That's interesting. There is an entire pantheon of spirits I work with and Shepard called the Gold. It could be any one of them."

And then it starts again. Axiom sees the tiki laugh and shrug, as if what was done was done but he arches a brow he points to the barbs and his chest and says, "He it did to selfhim." Like a record player skipping around in time but then looks at the holes and says, "Not circus monkeys my not my." And walks away without moving, and the holes appear in Clint's head too but its really just A hole whereas Kilroy's head looks like swiss cheese.

What Clint hears in addition to what both hear is, "Oh, that? Yes, I used it to send a message as part of my campaign to expose corruption in the US government and also to find out who I can trust to help before I decide to leave or go on an insane mission against the Nine Prime worlds before fixing what our entirely lax justice department failed to do because they've been bought and sold. Its only a week and a half way."

It should be noted that both of these things happen all at the same time and are likely slightly disconcerting.

"Wait, the Gold? Like the Red and Green?" Axiom blinks. He's had dealings with both. "And there is something there..." he trails off, frowning at the empty space. When the weirdness reappears, he frowns. He listens to what the tiki-thing says and looks to the barbs. "This is m-messed up," he says quietly. When he sees the holes in Clint as well, Axiom lets out a thoughtful noise. "Okay...m-m-maybe I can try to fix this..." he murmurs, starting to take some things from his belt. "There's something m-magic and pretty wrong looking g-g-g-going on."

Clint Barton looks over to Eddie, "I am pretty out of the loop on magic so do what you think is right." he then looks back to Kilroy, "Nine Prime Worlds, Like the Nine realms Thor comes from? "

Kilroy now can't deny you're speaking about things he didn't think he said. "Uh....yeah, I'll look into that coin for you." He starts to walk back toward the same shadows he left from.

At this point, a not invisible but kind of pretend invisible rai stone comes up that you're not supposed to know is there but do interposing itself between you and him. As he walks towards the Shadows, Kilroy says, but doesn't say, "The Nine Prime Worlds are a hostile power composed of millions of timelines that believe they are the only real worlds. My father is held captive by them even though he's a super villain and thinks he's a human ATM. I need to free him because I'm an idiot and do the right thing but also because I need the trillion dollar coin to complete Project Justice. Oh and it is magic but I wouldn't look into it. When Id id people I cared about got hurt and had their brains swiss cheese so I changed to doing this instead. You probably can't fix it but you can fix Clint. Nice to see you Axiom." Eddie is not the name which he doesn't say but Eddie hears (but not Clint unless Clint already knew it.)

Taking that pad and pencil out of his belt again, he looks up as the Rai Stone appears. "If there's a thread to the worlds then it's s-s-something my boss is probably going to ask me to help fix," he says. "And t-telling me not to look into it is a good indication I should," he points out. He starts to draw something on one of the papers when he finishes though. With a few arcane symbols drawn, he concentrates and starts to cast a small spell to try to repair the holes in Clint's memory. Clint Barton looks over to Eddie as the stone appears, "Alright yeah this is way above my pay grade." he shakes his head a little, "Let me know the play if there is one." he tells Axiom.

Kilroy vanishes, relieved.

The shrine returns entirely to normal. The exception being that Clint's memory is now nice and quiet restored. The lingering edges of the spirit world can be felt but not seen or tasted or smelled and definitely not heard. One thing Clint would know that Eddie did not is that the woman taunted him at great measure.

"Puny mortal? Do you think you can bend the will of Fate? Greater than you have tried and failed. And died because of it. I do you a service." And then proceeded to yank out his memory with a magical spork. At least it felt like it.

Axiom chants quietly until the spell is finished, the paper vanishing in a little flash of white flame. "Well, um...if that w-w-worked, your memory should be f-fixed. I...am not sure what to d-d-do next though. I think I n-need to go talk to my boss at the Infinite Embassy. Does SHIELD have any information on someone c-called Cold Hard Cash or something called Project Justice?"

Clint Barton watches Kilroy vanish then he drops to one knee as the memories come rushing back, "Wow, yeah they ar back, thanks Axiom." He then stands back up, "I am not sure. The first sounds familiar but I will have to head to base and look them up."

Axiom nods a little. "I'll c-call if I find anything out," he says. The power booster thinks for a moment before taking a breath. "C-can you also look into a Trillion Dollar Coin? It seems pretty important." Clint Barton nods, "Yeah and well it would be." I mean that is more money then really exists I think." he shrugs, "Alright I will get get busy with the files."

Axiom smiles. "Alright. I'm g-going to get going," he says, stretching a little and packing his belt back up. "G-good luck with all the files."