Charles almost hated to admit how much he was enjoying this lavish evening. It had been so long since he had fancied himself up this much and Victoria was a pure vision in navy. Feeling his cheeks warm beneath his mask, the Minister was just about to subtly lift it and perhaps steal a peck on her rosy cheek when the entire Atrium went black.

Was it horrible of him to wonder what Kodee Chosen had done this time?

The thought was quickly dismissed as his lungs filled with heavy smoke that caused him to cough and hang his mouth agape like a large mouth bass flopped on the side of a ship. "I...am..." he wheezed while taking a hold of Victoria's arm, his other hand pressed firmly to his chest and even pounding it a bit. "...I will be fine..."

His slightly dimmed eyes fell upon Tomasz and the other young member of Law Enforcement in his company. "See to it that the lifts to the surface are secure and begin escorting everyone out once their wands have been inspected," he coughed. If someone had tampered with things during the ball, they would know soon enough. Of course this did not answer the young man's query about himself, but it seemed irreverent at the moment. His people were at risk and it was his duty to protect them. Though he did have half a mind to believe that Bain had sent them both over to serve as escorts back to his office, which was the most secure place in the Ministry need to the Department of Mysteries.

Give or take.

Even with his clouded vision he could tell where the source of the problem had risen, the floos, and he cursed under his breath. Kendra had assured him that the issues within the Ministry were resolved and she had even seen to them personally pending one last series of trials with the lifts...and now this? He was not sure what had come over him, but something within the Minister snapped.

As though something has triggered this shift towards rage.

"KENDRA! Get your team clearing up this immediately. Sian! Yourself and a small unit as well. Bain! Secure the perimeter and have everyone's wands inspected before they are escorted to the surface." Assuming the telephone booth lifts were still functional. He had not even heard the young Auror, Ronan Carter's, exclamation to feel it. Because he felt it himself. "AND KENDRA! My office. FIRST thing tomorrow!"

And then he found himself feeling a bit lightheaded, perhaps all the shouting without sufficient oxygen in his lungs thanks in part to the excessive amount of floo powder in the air...but his hand was reaching out and gripping Tomasz shoulder gruffly.

”Every witch and wizard is important,” he replied waving off her thanks with the same two fingers he had handed the handkerchief over with. Ilse seemed fine, if a bit embarrassed. She had no reason to be, as everyone in the room seemed to be in the same state. He brushed some soot off his shoulder with a long pale finger as if to emphasis this point. Just then, The Minster was taking charge. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the man. ”As you are not hurt, I must take my leave.” Surely she had heard the minister calling for him. ”I suggest you head to the visitor’s entrance.” He left behind the handkerchief.

Stepping back into the bustle of the room, not much seemed to have changed. ”Carter, Zabinin,” he called out to Ronan and Dante who were the closet to the exits. ”You hear the minister, check wands.” He spotted yet a few more of his employees, ”Patton and Melo, perimeter checks. Espinosa, Keighley, – crowd control. We need to get everyone checked and out of here.” Any other MLE employees who hadn’t already had orders barked at them, hopefully knew to help with crowd control or wand inspections.

Stepping out the shadows for only the second time tonight, Bain raised his wand to his throat. ”Attention Witches and Wizards,” he said using an amplifying charm so he could be heard over the noise. ”Tonight’s festivities are concluded. Please make your way to the Visitor’s Entrance. All masks must be removed and wands presented to Security personnel for inspection.” With the amount of people in the room, it was going to be a long night. Maybe he should take Sian up on an offer for a lollipop.

The minister was now yelling at Kendra. He should likely get the man out of the room before he completely lost it. Bain started towards the minister and Victoria. He paused for a moment. ”Rastrick, isn’t it? If you’re not hurt, Laska and Merriwether could use assistance with triage assessment.” It was a bit hard to recognize people with the masks and the added shoot and grime, but he was quite certain the man was a heeler, even if he had gotten the name wrong.

He didn’t wait for the healer’s response and instead continued towards Hollingberry. ”Minister, let’s get you up to your office.”

Jane was a very polite and accommodating person. It almost made Conley wish she were a member of his own staff. He nodded to her, and then gave Sachin’s hand a squeeze as he was about to set off to see if he could help with anything. However, Bain chose that moment to broadcast his announcement and well, after the Minister’s outburst, Conley thought it best to get going. ”I don’t think I’m needed. Let’s go home,” Conley whispered to Sachin. The late night in the office, lack of food, and now overall dirt of the room was making him anxious and he just wanted to change out of his ruined suit.

He wondered briefly if he had indeed seen Ilse run by, but as she hadn’t stopped or reappeared in the past few minutes, Conley thought it best to simply follow the Law Enforcement Department Head’s directives. So, he turned to Jane. ”Allow us to escort you to the exit?” he offered her an arm. The floor, after all, might be slippery with the soot and grim all over it and unlike the two men, Jane was dressed in a long gown.

When Jane heard the announcement to leave, she was only too glad to do so--she hadn't had a bite to eat and just wanted to get out of this unaccustomed finery, take a bath, and order some takeaway. She was looking around trying to see what had become of her mask when she heard Conley offering to escort her out--how very courtly. He and Sachin were really very nice young men; Jane hoped her colleagues up in Mysteries were equally personable.

She didn't tend to need or ask help with anything, but looking down at her dragging skirts she thought better of going solo. After all, since they were offering, might as well take them up on it--she never had done that well with heels, after all. "Thanks," she replied, "maybe that would be wise. I'm not used to walking on these stilts," she continued, pointing to her high heels, "so maybe it would be good to have someone around in case I fall over." She chuckled a little, looked down at her wand, still ready in her right hand, and prepared to start off to the exits.

Ilse was a bit taken aback at his insistence that she was important. He said it with such authority that she didn’t really feel like she could even appear to disagree. She nodded her understanding when he said he had to go check on others then watched as he disappeared into the crowd shouting for people to do certain tasks.

The minister had told her department head to get a group of people together to work on whatever had happened, but surely that didn’t mean her? She wasn’t, like, an important person in her department who got called to emergencies and stuff. She was barely more than a paper pusher.

Deciding someone would find her if she was supposed to stay, she just began moving along with the crowds filing toward the visitors exits. As she was jostled along she bumped into someone and turned to apologize, surprised to find it was Conley. As she looked at him, tears filled her again, but she didn’t say anything. What could she say? She didn’t want to just keep staring, though, so finally she croaked out, ”Okay?” but that was all she could manage.

There was so much shouting going on. Sachin winced. The Head of Transportation was in for it tomorrow. He would not have liked to be in her position, especially now since the Minister was calling her out in front of everyone. On top of this fiasco, the Minister’s words had to be more embarrassing for Kendra. Then there was Bain barking his own orders. Well, most of the attendees may have already figured out that the event had come to an abrupt end. Sachin was quite ready to leave. Thankfully Conley was too. Hopefully the wand inspection wouldn’t take a very long time.

With Jane in their company, Sachin headed to the exit. Jane was in good hands, by the way, so she need not worry about falling. Sachin was jolted out of his thoughts when he realised that someone {Ilse} had literally bumped into Conley. His gaze turned in the direction of the obviously distraught woman. An eyebrow went up curiously.

Gabriel hadn't even realized the head of his department was at the ball until he started telling people what to do. He reacted pretty quickly though, pulling his mask off his face and stashing it in a pocket of his jacket. Luckily he was used to responding to his last name. Unluckily, the floo explosion had gotten soot all over his face, so he had a bit of an inverse mask outline now. He headed toward a corner of the room, intent on checking for suspicious activity or whatnot.

He was so excited for something exciting to do he forgot to make sure that Mariana lady he had met was alright until he was several meters away. He turned to look back and give her a bit of a sheepish wave without breaking stride, leading to a confusing pirouette-type movement that he probably wouldn't have been able to manage if he attempted it again.

Once he got to the corner he started poking around, moving slowly along the wall.

Bain didn't need to worry about her. Alphonsine was perfectly fine, even covered head to toe in soot. It was hardly a surprise, given the consistent trouble the transportation department had been having. She just had a certain proclivity towards dramatics when the situation warranted it. But as delicate as she appeared, she recovered rather quickly as she pulled off her mask and cast a Tergeo to herself, siphoning off much of the residue from her person.

Her eyes soon shifted to the Minister at his outburst, and she couldn't help the small, almost imperceptible smirk as she sauntered over in his direction. Finally, the head of transportation would be getting what she deserved after endless months of incompetence.

Alphonsine reached Charles just as he stumbled towards Tomasz, and she caught the tail end of Bain's words after he made his announcement to the rest of the guests. "Don't worry, Bain," she murmured in her most soothing tone as she gently reached for the Minister's other arm. "You can oversee security, I'll assist Charles." Having the Minister's ear was important to her and she knew she could be quite helpful in this capacity as well. "Come, Charles. Let's sit down and have a nice cup of tea."

Embarrassing was an understatement. Kendra was already mortified and wishing the ground would swallow her up when she heard ALL THAT from the Minister. Thankful that the soot on her face covered the burning flush in her cheeks, she pressed on towards the fireplaces, not giving a second look to see if any of her team was following her. If they knew what was good for them, if they valued their jobs, they would be.

Her own job security felt shaky at best. Kendra had never known Charles to be so angry or to raise his voice like that. And well, even though she could understand why he was so upset, she did find it rather unprofessional to be berated like a child in front of the entire Ministry. She knew better to say anything though. Even as she felt like every pair of eyes in the atrium were on her.

Kendra simply got to work, fighting back angry tears. She was a strong woman and would not succumb to emotion like that, not in front of the collective Ministry. But she knew that something was wrong. She knew that her entire department had been working hard to fix all of these disruptions over the past year or so. And they were not incompetent. She had heard the whispers, growing increasingly louder over time. But she simply refused to believe that anyone in her department, including herself, was that bad at their job. But someone was taking the fall for this and she knew that someone was going to be her.

Pushing her thoughts and emotions aside, she diligently began casting magical barriers around the floo openings to prevent any potential aftershocks before she'd start cleaning the mess.