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[withmoreme]

INBOX text / audio / video / action "You've reached Tony Stark. Leave a message at the beep and I'll delete it at the first opportunity. Alright, bye!" code credit

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text | @angelpants

[stupetballs]

[She meant to touchbase with him earlier, but then Barbas happened, then the attempted jailbreak happened, then torture happened, so when she does finally text him, it's been a minute since he talked to Fitz.

But shhhhh, Tony doesn't have to know how long she was sitting on this.]

So a little birdie told me you wanted a crash course on the Veiled Order and/or everything we know about Hell so far.

@iamironman

[withmoreme]

[It's okay, he's had his own plate pretty full getting used to all this insanity.]

That little birdie would be right. I wouldn't mind a good scan of a murder board, if you've got one lying around.

[stupetballs]

You know, I just so happen to have one of those. Swing by the bar and I'll give you a tour.

[withmoreme]

It's a date.

And then he will head out to Shorty's, trying not to be too obvious about it in case any of the Brute Squad's around and watching.

[stupetballs]

Waverly's behind the bar doing her thing with her usual smile, even if that smile's been dimmed slightly. When she sees Tony come in, she waves him over. "Gimme a sec to finish up here, and I'll give you that tour."

If she's vague it's because she knows demons are watching, and for the most part they haven't taken issue with her research room yet.

[withmoreme]

Tony heads over to her with a nod. "Sounds good," he agrees as he slides onto one of the stools. "I'll be right here."

[stupetballs]

It takes her a few minutes to finish up the last couple drink orders and trade off with Doc, before she steps out from behind the bar and gestures for Tony to follow her. "The murder board awaits," she smirks with a flourish.

With that, she'll lead him to a back room where against one wall rests a whiteboard covered in notes. She gives him a bit of a sheepish look as she closes the door behind them. "I know this looks a little nuts, but my brain works better this way?"

[withmoreme]

Tony stands from his stool as she returns, chuckling a little at her wording and gesturing for her to lead the way. He follows her into the bar's back room, eyes immediately finding the whiteboard. "You've been busy," he tells her, honestly impressed.

He doesn't think it looks nuts at all, considering how some of his own notes tend to look. "How long have you been working on all this?"

[stupetballs]

"Pretty much since I got here." She leans back against the table. "My sister and I went to a Q and A session disguised as a dark ritual and it kind of all spiraled from there."

Which is very much the short version of what happened.

[withmoreme]

Tony looks away from the murder board to blink at her. "So they have recruitment drives," he asks, because he's gathered that from other people, but, well. The Order seems to both be pretty quiet and really out there all at once.

[stupetballs]

"Sort of. It's more promising to give you information and then drugging you into blood rituals, but yeah. I guess you could call it recruitment. We opted to not become full fledged members and we were rewarded with one of these."

She holds up her right wrist, revealing the Leviathan cross tattooed there. "That came with some fun mind control side effects."

[withmoreme]

Tony gives a little acknowledging headtilt - and then looks over at the tattoo, frowning at it. "Care to expand on that?"

He won't blame her if she would rather not, but he's just trying to gather as much information as he can.

[stupetballs]

"Back in November, whatever spell binds all these tattooes together? They all activated. People lost time, self-harmed, some to the point of throwing themselves in the fire. There was some fun group chanting. It was ... really messy."

She wasn't here for some of it, she was out on Lucifer's island, but she heard and experienced enough to know it wasn't fun.

"But that was the last time they were seriously active, so who knows. There might be more to come."

[withmoreme]

"I love a good group brainwashing," Tony returns dryly. "Really brings people together in awfulness." He thinks for a moment. "Any rhyme or reason to who ended up marked that you've found?"

[stupetballs]

"Well, at first, it seemed to be people who didn't take them up on their join us or suffer offer. But then ... it started affecting people who weren't even here when that happened." So while they thought they understood it, they soon saw that they understood nothing.

They were Jon Snow, with Jon Snow in tow.

"After a while it just seemed like they were marked out of opportunity. People would lose time and wake up with a mark."

[withmoreme]

"So they just skipped straight to the creepy part. Great," Tony returns. "And I'm guessing no one's come up with any kind of way to stop people from getting snatched into the middle of the horror movie."

It sounds like there are a ton more questions than answers, here, and that's never a good time.

Or, well, sometimes it is, since he does love a good chase and problem to solve.

[stupetballs]

"Well, they haven't snatched anyone in a while. Mostly because the big push with the tattoos happened back in November. They didn't get to make their sacrifice but they did get a message out and they've been quiet ever since."

And then Barbas showed up. So, you know, never a dull moment.

[withmoreme]

"And now we're dealing with new management," he finishes and reaches up to run a hand down his face. "You know, it shouldn't really surprise me that we never end up in a universe where you can just sit around and do crossword puzzles."

That seems like it would be a waste of theoretical physics.

[stupetballs]

"I mean, I'd like to think there's one out there somewhere. But it might be like ... super-high pressure crossword puzzles. You have to complete them with confidence, in pen or you get dropped into a shark tank."

Maybe ... Waverly has been in Hell a little too long, or maybe she just watches too much reality TV. The world may never know.

[withmoreme]

Tony chuckles. "You're probably right. These places definitely prove that whole... 'careful what you wish for' thing."

It's a toss-up, honestly, but he's right there with her. It would definitely make for a good game show.

[stupetballs]

"That they do."

And it gets even more complicated from there.

"As of now, the rumors are that the Veiled Order is possibly trying to summon the Leviathan. And they're looking for the Spear of Destiny, which may be the only thing that can kill the Leviathan."

[withmoreme]

He makes a dim, amused little noise at that considering what he's called the spear Loki brought with him to New York. "I'm guessing the end goal there is to unleash the Leviathan, take over this plane and possibly all others, etcetera?"

[stupetballs]

"That sounds about right. They at least want the Leviathan to eat Lucifer. He and the Veiled Order do not get along."

Possibly for good reason, possibly not. She never really got a straight answer.

[withmoreme]

"Yeah, I got that," he returns and shakes his head. "Or maybe I just assumed. I was going to say something about there always being a sea monster, but I don't even know that this thing is a sea monster. Do you know anything else about it?"

Tony looks back to her from studying her notes.

[stupetballs]

"About this Leviathan specifically? Not much."

She only knows about as much as Lucifer has deigned to tell them, or what they've been able to discover in the library.

"But as far as the lore is concerned, sea monster isn't far off. They say that God created three beasts - Aziz of the sky, Behemoth of the Earth and the Leviathan of the sea. Some traditions say that God created two, a male and female, but when he saw how destructive they could be, he slew the female, dooming the Leviathan to be alone for all eternity. As a result, Leviathan vowed to consume the world out of envy."