When the alarm in Benjamin's watch beeped to let him know he had arrived at the point of no return, he stopped to silence it, took a breather with his hands on his hips and turned around to get back. A sudden feeling of being watched came over him. After glancing around he took two steps before he noticed a movement. It turned dark afterwards.

Mike was thinking many thoughts on the way to the tearoom; he had read a lot of information that all needed their place in his mind and he tried to order it as well as he could. He almost passed the tearoom, but he remembered just in time this was where he had to be.
He entered the establisment and as he was the first he sat down at an empty table, checking out the modest menu.

They puppeted the shadows around them as they slowly stepped towards Benjamin, they could tell by his movements that he had noticed something was wrong, but he had stopped his jogging. They felt their hair on their neck prickle gently as they maneuvered themselves to leap at him, calculating the speed and strength they'd need to knock him into the nearby shadows to capture him completely.

A grin slowly appeared over their face before they pushed themselves off the wall of shadows they had built up, using that momentum to slam into Benjamin and tried to get him into the shadows on the other side, using her shadow weaving skills to attempt to cover up Benjamins' mouth before he could try and get any sound out.

Harriet got to the tearoom not too long after Mike, she had a small carry bag filled with different things that she had over her shoulder. She slowly moved to push the door open and walked over to Mike as he had seated himself at an empty table and moved to sit across from him, gently placing her bag on the ground beneath the table and between her legs.
"Has the morning been good?" She asked, trying to start up conversation between the two of them before Benjamin appeared, which neither of them knew what was happening to him.

It happened too fast. Something pushed him into the shadows and Benjamin tried to yell but it felt like something was covering his mouth. His eyes were wide open and he tried to break free, but the struggle was futile.

Mike looked up when he heard Harriet. "We've done a lot of talking and some research. I realised I know very little of angels and demons and I'm not sure how I feel about all the information I got today. My head feels like I spent a whole day at school, but I still have most of the day ahead of me." He checked his watch, Benjamin should be there soon. "How was your day so far?"
When was the last time he had a moment with Harriet alone? Had he had one? So much had happened the past few days he wasn't sure.

Harriet tilted her head slightly as she listened to Mike speak, she nodded at the mention of being overwhelmed by information. "That's understandable." She said with a small smile, "Studying anything can be a bit hard to start with. I don't expect many to know a lot about either species; to be fair, I don't know too much about them either." She said with a gentle smile with a small sigh as she leaned back in her chair.

"Today has been good so far." She started, crossing her arms slightly, "Freya headed out to get a bit of a walk, her injuries are getting better. I had a call with my brothers, and then I stopped at a little occult shop on the way here." She glanced down to the bag under the tables, "Found it was actually ran by a Witch, which was fantastic."

The figure moved to step into the shadows, pulling Benjamin with them before they pulled him out of the shadows and into the compound. They shoved Benjamin forward with a bit of a grin from the shadows. "Miss Lily." They called out, their voice cold. "The meal has arrived."

Meal? Benjamin looked from the shadow to the woman in the lab goat, he smiled as if she had received a present.
"Thank you," Lily said to the figure. "Thank you so much. You are much more reliable than those agents are." She clapped her hands in delight. "Oh, this is wonderful." She gestured to two underlings. "Take him to his room."

The two guards took Benjamin and dragged him along, putting him in a holding cell. Benjamin tried to resist, but was no match for them. He stumbled into the cell when they pushed him and turned around when they closed the door. "Let me out!"

***

It was reassuring to know even Harriet didn't know much about angels and demons and Mike relaxed a little. It was good to hear Freya was improving.
"A witch?" he asked. "Where?" He was certain he hadn't met a witch before. "How do witches use magic?"
He thought back to what he had learned about them, but the topic hadn't come up yet, nor did he know if the Agency hunted witches or considered them allies.

The shadowed figure smiled at Lily's words, she enjoyed being complimented like this; which is why she was more than happy to help Lily with whatever she needed to. She bowed her head and disappeared back into the shadows and appeared in the common room as she watched Steph and Gaia from the shadows quietly.
She was also tasked with watching the Succubus, making sure to see if Gaia was trying to keep her fed somehow. If she had to tell Lily to split them up so she could have the Succubus starve, she'd do it.

***

Harriet gave a small smile, she moved to hand a small business card of the occult store that she visited. "She's a sweetheart." She said with a small smile, "Witch Magic is usually depending on the witch I think." Harriet said with a small shrug.
"I always considered it much like how Texverians' got their magic, a deity blessed them with it and they've been able to use it ever since." She explained, "Of course, I wouldn't be too surprised if it wasn't always the case. But Magic seems to be genetic and inherited from one or both parents."

It soon became clear the door was closed and that Benjamin lacked the strength to open it. The room looked like a prison cell, with a bed, a toilet and a basin to wash his hands. No window. He was fairly sure these people that put him here belonged to the agency, their uniforms had given away that much, but to what department did they belong? For now, all he could do was wait.

***

Mike took the businesscard and examined it. He didn't know exactly where it was, but that would be easy to figure out. He used his phone to look up the address and map a course while Harriet explained what she knew. Of course, Harriet was an alien, she probably didn't know a lot about the way humans did things. That's when he noticed the time.

"I wonder what's keeping Ben," he said, looking up from the phone. "He should have been here by now."

Harriet moved to check the time as well, blinking at Mike's words before she furrowed her brow. "He's not normally one to be late, is he?" She asked before she looked towards the doorway with a frown. "He wouldn't have ran into trouble?" She asked as she looked back to Mike with a frown.

***

Gaia's ears twitched as she looked up into the shadows, directly to the woman in the shadows before she moved away from Steph for a moment, moving to settle down somewhere comfortable.
Steph watched her leave, their conversation had been finished for a while, so she expected this. She gave a small sigh, there wasn't much to do, and she wanted to see her friends again, she wanted to see Benjamin again. She wanted to be free.

"He's not one to be late," Mike agreed. "I'll try calling."
As he had the phone in his hand he was just a few taps away from calling Ben and he listened until he reached the voicemail. "Not picking up..." he muttered as he lowered the phone. Now he was really worried and he looked at Harriet. "Maybe... we can look for him?"
He got up as the tried calling again, but like the first time Ben didn't pick up.
Outside he looked left and right, but didn't know where to go.

Harriet nodded at the mention of looking for Benjamin, moving to follow him as he got up from the table, she left a small tip on the table before she followed Mike outside. She stopped beside Mike and furrowed her brow, turning towards where Benjamin was kidnapped and narrowed her eyes.
"Shadow magic has been used around here." Harriet said, not looking at Mike, "Follow me." She said as she started to head towards where the shadow-bender had taken Benjamin from.

Harriet stopped as she got to the spot and looked around, narrowing her eyes as they glinted a soft purple as markings glimmered on her arms and hands. "Shadow magic." She said with a small huff, "Strange, not a lot of Earthern Humanoids have the ability to do Shadow Magic, not like this." She glanced over to Mike, "Call his phone again?"

Shadow magic? Mike followed Harriet and looked around, but there was no sigh of his friend. When she stopped, Mike almost bumped into her. He wasn't sure what kind of shadow magic existed or who could use it. Again he realised he knew very little of all of this.
He took his phone when Harriet asked and called again. Nothing.
"It goes to voicemail after ringing a few times. His phone is on, but he doesn't pick up." He lowered the device. "Can you detect what kind of shadow magic happened?"

Harriet listened carefully as Mike called Benjamins' phone, just in case he dropped it. She gave a small frown before she glanced towards Mike with a tilt of her head as he asked if she could detect it.
"Detect, yes." She said before she frowned, "But sadly not track it." She continued before she stepped towards the wall slightly and closed her eyes.

She focused, her own magic slowly bubbling through her body as she reached out to grab onto whatever magic was lingering. "Shadow Hopping." She spoke out loud, her eyes still closed as she listened- not to the scenery, at least not what happened in front of her currently. "There was no struggle, one assailant." She furrowed her brow as she continued listening, "No blood, so he's at least not harmed."
Harriet opened her eyes slowly and stepped a single step back, looking around hesitantly before she breathed in. "Just... Give me a second." She said before she lifted her arms as she focused her magic again, this time; something different.

The wall seemed to glimmer as if glass as in front of it, before it pulled out a bit, not passing Harriet. The glassy texture shimmered a bit more, but suddenly a ghostly version of Benjamin appeared in the 'frame', taking a step forward to pause and check things. Harriet narrowed her eyes as she watched the shadowy figure hesitate in the shadows as they watched Benjamin. Mike would be able to see the shadowy figure as well, as the temporial illusion didn't allow them to hide in the shadows.

Mike watched Harriet do her magic and didn't speak to allow her to concentrate. He stepped forward when the illusion was brought up, watching Benjamin and the shadowy figure, and how Benjamin was suddenly taken by it.
"Maybe..." he began and paused. "Our magic isn't really strong, but I did read about some kind of tracking ritual that will allow you to find the whereabouts of a human you know. There should be a table back at the agency with the runes already carved into it, we just need a map and a pendulum kind of thing." Mike turned to Harriet. "Unless you have anything that could work now?"

Harriet stepped away from where she was standing and looked back to Mike quietly, she thought for a moment before she nodded once. "Let's head back." She said, "Might as well let Ethan know as well, just to keep him in the loop; type thing." She smiled slightly, "Did you want to walk or would you like me to teleport us? I'm fine with either or."

***

Steph felt her stomach rumble slightly, she wasn't sure if it was normal hunger of Succubus hunger, but she wasn't going to ask about it. She didn't want to be given random people to 'feed' off; how can someone be a succubus but also potentially Demi-sexual?
She wanted out of here, but she felt like that wouldn't happen anytime soon; Lucy didn't seem like the type to allow her to just leave. Especially if the company she worked for thought she was dangerous, despite her helping them out.

"Teleport us." The decision was made without hesitation, teleportation would be the fastest way to the base. "I'll let Ethan know when we're back, it will be faster that way, especially if you teleport us."
It was only after Mike had made the decision that the first doubt crept up. What would teleporting feel like? He had never done it before. Surely it would be safe, but it would also be a very new experience.
If their teams members kept disappearing like this, would he be the next to be captured, or would he be left by himself? He wasn't sure what he would hate more. There was a certain danger to being captured, but he hated being alone. Maybe being captured wasn't the worst of the two options. He turned to Harriet and nodded to let her know he was ready.

Harriet looked towards Mike as he said for her to teleport them, she smiled to him softly and turned to face him properly, stepping forward a single step before she held out her hands towards him. "Grab hold of my hands. It'll be quick, I promise." She said with a soft smile, she knew that Mike may get the smallest amount of queasiness when they teleport, but she knew it wouldn't hurt him.

When he grabbed her hands, she closed her eyes and breathed in. The ground around their feet seemed to shimmer with a soft purple as spell lines slowly snaked around them before the environment in Mike's view suddenly started to warp, becoming black around them before it cleared away to the base, just out side of Ethans room.
She didn't let go of Mike for a moment, opening her eyes and scanning him over slowly; making sure he wasn't going to fall over from being dizzy or being sick.

Mike took hold of Harriet as she instructed. It happened fast, and it was unlike he had ever felt. He world was there, then it was gone, then it was back again. His head felt light and he blinked a few times. "Wow, okay, I'm good," he said as he let go of her. "Wow..." He looked around as if his mind still had to get used to the fact he wasn't where he was a moment ago. "Okay..." He took in a deep breath and went to the door. "Ethan!" he said as he knocked. "I'm coming in."
Mike opened the door and stepped inside.

"Whatsup?" Ethan asked from the bed, yawning. After being awake throughout the night he had been sleeping until now.

"Ben is gone, someone took him."

That woke Ethan up and he jolted up. "What? Who?"

Mike explained what had happened and what he had seen. Ethan looked from him to Harriet to see if she would confirm it.

Harriet watched Mike carefully, keeping watch of any sickness that he might be feeling before he seemed okay. She followed quietly as Mike knocked on Ethans door and waited outside as he entered, she didn't want to enter in case Ethan wasn't clothed or comfortable with her in there.
Mike motioned for her to join him as he explained what happened, and Ethan looked to her after he finished.

She gave a frown and a single nod.
"Sadly it was another shadow user," She said calmly, "We do not know their intentions on why they'd take someone like him, Annoyingly with the way Shadow Magic works, I cannot trace where he was taken." She frowned as she shook her head, "Why are our teams being pulled apart?" She lamented.