The shambles are the streets connecting place to place in Persepolis. They are small, winding and dark. They are no place for any God-fearing mortal, so you lot should be fine.

::Sia exits The Four's lair and walks through the winding streets, remembering the way she's come so she can return. It takes her a while before she comes across somewhere she recognises, and from there, she finds her own penthouse.::

::Richard bursts from The Four's lair and straight into somewhere right from a, god knows, Pratchett or Gaiman or Tolkien or whatever you damn well want. The streets are so narrow and mazelike he immediately wishes he was back inside. But Lucy needs him to run, so he'll run. It's a good thing he visits the gym so often. He plays footy at weekends too, so can run pretty fast, and for some time. He sets out immediately, screaming for his daughter at the top of his (mental) lungs.::

::Jasmine responds.::

::Sufjen bangs the door open in his chase, then steps out into the shambles and lets the door slam shut behind him. Enraged, he looks from side to side to try to see what way Richard went.::

(I don't know where I am, kiddo, but here's a picture.)

::He focusses strongly on what he can see, concentrating as hard as he can on sending the image to his daughter.::

::Jasmine's reassurances that they're coming sink into Richard's mind.::

::Instead of trying to chase Richard without knowing where he went, Sufjen closes his eyes and follows him with a shimmer, appearing in front of the Australian wearing an expression of extreme menace.::

"Gotcha."

::Richard draws up from running, stopping so suddenly he hurts his feet. He doesn't know what to do; he's seen what Sufjen can do. What now?::

"To chicken to take on my wife, eh?"

::Sufjen walks towards Richard - with a heavy limp - showing no expression on his face.::

"Not at all. But we couldn't exactly let you run off, now, could we?"

::The air resonates from the demon chilled and dangerous.::

::Richard shivers and backs off a little.::

"My daughter's on her way."

"Good. That makes our job easier."

"You know-"

::Richard's trying to think of how to stall the demon.::

"Lucy's always said she... she and her sister, they were some kind of special breed. Fabled ones. Prophesied about, however you wanna put it."

"Lucy is wrong."

::Sufjen takes a menacing step closer, his eyes narrowing.::

"Stop talking now. It's time to die."

::Knowing Sufjen can get to him at any second is enough to make Richard stop trying. But the Shambles is a weird and wonderful place offering many weird and wonderful things. And it's not like the ground is paved and smooth; it's dirty and covered with bits of rubble. Like the brick he's now hurling at Sufjen's head.::

::The demon tilts his head to one side. That's more than enough to avoid the projectile.::

::Ozymandias orbs in with his elite team of crimebusting witches and Sera not all that far from where Richard and Sufjen are - distance-wise, that is. Take the wrong twist in the path and you'll end up miles away. He'd selected a quiet place, for much of the Shambles is actually quite bustling, to appear with his whitelighter magic.::

"Here we are."

(Wow, it's been a while.)

"I know my way around a little. The market's that way... and that way, and that way."

::He points in several conflicting directions.::

::Petunius frowns and looks around at each given direction.::

"Okay, note to self: avoid the market. This place is like a freakin' maze. Worse than a maze."

::He turns back to Jasmine, waiting for her psychic radar to guide them.::

::Luke takes in the appearance of the scenery, unsheathing his blade in the process.::

::Sera swallows and glances around, not liking this place too much. She turns her gaze to Jasmine.::

"Can you sense him?"

"Yes. He's close."

::Jasmine purses her lips, then turns in the direction she can feel his pull the strongest.::

"He's over there."

::She's staring right at a house.::

"In the house or beyond it?"

"Beyond it. Just... that way. Not far."

::Jasmine starts towards a passage beside the house in question.::

"Jasmine, it's this way."

::Ozymandias nods in another direction.::

"I know it's confusing, but trust me."

::He starts to run down that way.::

::Luke follows so that he doesn't lost in this awful maze.::

::Jasmine, Sera and Petunius all head after the whitelighters at pace.::

(We should be grateful we've not run into anything nasty.)

"Oz, he's in trouble!"

::She shouts this ahead, sensing her father's fear of the demon that's about to attack him. She pulls ahead suddenly, following both her father's mind and Ozymandias' in order to work out both direction and path to get to him. It hurts to run this fast, and she needs to stop -- but she doesn't. She won't.::

::Gritting his teeth, Ozy ups his speed too so he can keep up with the psychic.::

::Sera, concerned about Jasmine because like hell she's in a fit state to run this fast, picks up the pace and tags along behind the blond, her alert eyes on the path ahead.::

::Jasmine rounds a corner. The right corner. She stops short, stunned, then yells.::

"DAD!"

::She throws a psychic punch into Sufjen's mind, visualising a fist shoving into his psyche and taking up all the space available. Then she begins to open the fingers and spread them out wide.::

::Sufjen's hands move up to his forehead and he roars with agony, feeling as if he's being stretched in a way he can't even begin to describe. He falls down onto one knee, then gets up and staggers back before falling again.::

::Turning, Richard sees his daughter and faces he recognises. He glances fearfully at Sufjen before hurrying over to the group.::

"Jasmine!"

::He catches her hands.::

"Thank god you're all right!"

::Jasmine stares into her father's eyes, distracted now.::

"Where's mum?"

(If she's...)

::As soon as Jasmine becomes distracted with attending to her father, her grip on Sufjen lets up and he becomes clear enough to realise what's going on. Knowing that he doesn't stand a chance against the whole lot of them, he gets up and quickly shimmers away in a hasty escape.::

"Damn it."

::Sera exclaims upon witnessing Sufjen's cowardice; she turns to Jasmine and Richard, waiting for the older man to answer the blond's question.::

::Luke glances at the father-daughter duo, sighing to himself as a thought crosses his mind. Now how are they gonna explain all of this stuff to Richard?::

"She's back in their..."

::Richard struggles to find the words.::

"Place... thing."

::Still gripping his little girl's hands, he turns around and stares in confusion at the winding paths. He notices, thankfully, that Sufjen is gone - but becomes paranoid the demon is lurking somewhere out of sight waiting to pounce.::

"I..."

::He can't remember how he got here.::

"Dad, come on."

::Jasmine tugs on Richard's hands so he looks back into her eyes.::

"This is important."

(Come on...)

::Ozymandias is starting to look anxious now. The reason isn't just because he's worried about Lucinda - he's worried that they've been down here for some time now and it might not be too much longer before their luck runs out and they get found out.::

(I shouldn't have shaved. Might've been able to pull the warlock look off like old times.)

"I can't remember, Jazza! Can't you do something?"

(Like what?)

::Frustrated, Jasmine closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. On exhalation, she searches her father's mind briefly, then shakes her head and turns to the others.::

"He didn't look where he was going. I can't do anything."