[IC] Magic Streets

[Thundercat]

Victor Vladov / Jackdawl / Lillin Ifriel

"What did you say you were looking this up for again?" Victor remarked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice before chomping into his Lotuswich sandwich. He shot Lillin a look that pretty much said "This is pretty shady" Lillin placed her hand on the chair the girl was sitting on, staring at the computer screen with curiosity at the various articles and fan-made websites that contained mostly fallacious information regarding Operation Freedom. "She say's historical convention but what does that have to do with a group of terrorists?" Lillin remarked. "Who's your boss?" Victor added whilst chewing on his sandwich. Both the detective and the librarian were obviously suspicious of the girl, not even three hours after a terrorist attack you'd think a young girl would be home and out of the military controlled city, not looking up information on a band of freedom fighters. Both Victor and Lillin awaited the girls explanation.

The biblical storm raged on all through Chicago, thus as a result all of the federal agents assigned to the Chicago Public Library retreated into the building. Even though the city was practically on high alert, the library was somewhat calm, the agents walked through the aisles of books and desks casually as if they were merely patrolling a concert. Erandur, an elf with hair cut short and gold skin, was in charge of the situation as well as the other agents. He walked through the library eyeing it's patrons suspiciously, and seemed to be taking his current patrol much more seriously than the other agents the way he confronted practically everybody in the room, questioning why they had come to the library. He suddenly came to a stop though, his bright yellow eyes altered into a menacing purple. Immediately after his eyes changed color Erandur placed his hand on his earpiece as to relay a message to his fellow agents and walked towards the exit. "Cease patrol, we have been reassigned to another district that is in urgent need of our assistance, move immediately."

With that, every single agent dropped what they were doing and immediately bolted towards the exit. Everybody watched as the agents moved with haste, especially Lillin, who looked around confused and taken aback. "Excuse me, where are you all going?! The city is a damned warzone you can't leave this place unprotected!" She attempted to stop some agents from leaving but was merely pushed out of the way. "What is going on, where is your superior? Let me talk to whoever's in charge!" Lillin shouted rather helplessly. Even Victor considered the situation odd.

Eventually all of the agents had entered their vehicles, sirens blaring and engines ready, but none moved. Several agents repeatedly asked for the destination but were only met with silence as Erandur sat in his car, utterly silent. Slowly the bright purple in his eyes changed back to it's original golden color, an astral like substance lifted out of the agents body and floated towards the passengers seat. Erandur placed his hand on his head, squinting his eyes he observed the area and was taken aback at the floating substance next to him which began to materialize and take form. He watched in awe as suddenly Jackdawl sat in the passengers seat. "Who are you? Get ou-" was all Erandur muttered before Jackdawl pulled out a pistol from his coat and put a bullet in the agents brain in less than a second.

As Erandur lay dead in his vehicle, four military grade trucks sped down the street of the Chicago Public Library, two coming from one side, two from the other, puddles of water splashed into the air as the trucks darted down the street. They screeched to a stop, surrounding the squad cars. Men and women of a variety of different races wearing a variety of clown masks poured out of these trucks simultaneously wielding rifles and shotguns and right away unloaded all of their ammo into the squad cars filled with federal agents that were caught by surprise and helpless to defend themselves. Everybody inside the library shrieked at the sound of gunfire and began to panic. Victor equipped his pistol and began to move for the front door when more of the clown mask goons zip-lined into the library windows, crashing through the glass. They fiercely began ordering all civilians to remain quiet, those that didn't cooperate were struck with the barrel of a rifle. Victor placed his pistol back in it's holster, he was obviously outnumbered at this point and fighting back with a weapon would be suicide.

Outside, the shooting ceased. The goons reloaded their weapons and surrounded the entrance as Jackdawl walked up the library steps, an assault rifle causally hung from his right hand. Jackdawl stopped before entering, and began to observe his militia of criminals, rubbing his chin with his free hand he curiously looked them up and down. "You and you, plant charges on all the squad cars, you, you, you, and, er. You, no, you, set up a perimeter. You two, kick the doors down for me, everyone else, with me." The criminals quickly carried out their orders and with that, two goons kicked the doors down. Jackdawl walked with an indifferent posture into the library as if he besieged buildings filled with civilians on a daily basis. Well, at one point he did. By now all of the libraries patrons had been huddled to the center of the building. About a dozen of Jackdawl's soldiers surrounded them and about a dozen more entered beside Jackdawl himself. "Good evening, ladies and gentle-man." He said with a humor like tone as he approached the civilians. "We are, tonights, entertainment!"

---

Akira Takizawa / Rig Leaf / Shuya Nakamura

Akira brushed away the cigarette smoke that lingered in the air beside him. "You know I hate that crap" He muttered. "Bite me" Shuya replied. Akira sighed, he was pretty bored. He always hated stake outs and had specifically asked Takiko to keep him off of those particular assignments. "Whats a biker doing in a damn sandwich shop anyways." Rain continued to pour down and Akira was delighted to hear the sound of his phone go off, even more so when he saw it was a message from Luci. He frowned though when he read that she was going to send pictures and began typing away. "Write down the names of the authors that published the articles. No pics. Put it all on a USB. Keep up the good work! :)"

"Akira!" Shuya shouted, "Time to move!" He hit send and quickly jumped to his feet as Rig Leaf began to make it's move. Akira strapped on his helmet and hopped onto his motorcycle, Shuya did the same on his own as well. Rig Leaf sped down the street on his harley and the two Yakuza enforcers followed. "Try to keep your distance!" Shuya shouted as the pair drove side by side. "No shit!" Akira shouted back. Unfortunately their helmets didn't have masks so the harsh Chicago rain pelted their faces relentlessly.

Rig Leaf made a sharp right turn onto another street and it took a few moments for the pair to approach the intersection. The rain made it difficult to see far distances but thankfully it was day time. In unison Akira and Shuya made a sharp turn, and in unison they drifted to a stop at the sight of the road being blocked off by a wall of two black vans that bore the Underhill Motorcycle Club insignia. "Fuck, that asshole biker caught onto us!" Shuya shouted. Rig Leaf stood amongst several of his bikers, who all wielded machine guns and shotguns. "Now boys!" He ordered his men who began to unload their ammo. Akira shot his right arm into the air and instantly the earth below the road rose up creating a wall of ground and concrete that shielded them. "Shuya, we were specifically ordered not to kill any of them under any circumstance whatsoever!" Akira shouted amidst the chaos. Shuya grunted in response, his mind was racing as he pondered what to do. The sound of engines revving and bikers reloading gave him his decision. "Let's bail!"

[SaraRPs]

Lucina Cobbs/NPC Goons/ Victor Valdov

Luci flinched as the cries and whimpers of the citizens in the middle of the library echoed off the walls around her. Her heart beat painfully in her chest and took a deep breath to calm it. For a time she just sat there in the chair as chaos erupted outside and in the front of the library where everyone was. She herself was in the very back completely alone aside from the man who, was previously munching on his strong smelling sandwich looking bored out of his life but now had a hard look on as he glanced out from behind a bookshelf to see what was going on.

Victor had never seen something like this before, well he had in combat but never in his motherfucking life would he think a library of all fucking places to be taken over by terrorists. From their vantage point four maybe five clown masked goons stood armed with military grade weapons, all of them visibly supernatural. His heart dropped as a man shy of a mask came into view he did not know his name but he knew that face, definitely a terrorist attack. The sound of an intake of breath startled him into remembering the strange girl looking up….a terrorist group.

Victor pulled out his service pistol leaping from the spot he was in grabbing the girl and yanking her up into his chest wrapping an arm around her and pointed the gun to her head whispering to her harshly, “Who the hell are you?! What terrorist group do you serve?! Answer me bitch!” Luci flailed around trying to escape the crazy man’s grasp, only quiet sobs coming from her mouth. Her body was shaking and the fear made her stomach twist into knots, Akira was trying to get her killed. ‘What the hell have I gotten myself into?! Akira...how could this happen to me?’ The cold barrel of the gun against her temple was not easing her panic and almost instinctively she pulled water from the air throwing it in his face causing his grip to loosen.

Luci pushed against him finally breaking free and stepping away from him. Victor glared at her contemplating just ending her life then going after the terrorists, but he couldn’t risk her screaming and alerting them. He raised his gun slightly and Luci panted waving her hands around “W-Wait! I-I’m not a terrorist! M-My boss is hosting a convention and needs this information. Please don’t kill me…” Victor lowered his gun and shot her a glare, “Hide.” Was all he said before he took off deeper into the library.

“Huff..Huff…” All she could do was stand there for a moment before a buzzing in her pants brought her back to reality. Looking down at Akira’s message she robotically dug through her bag pulling out a blue junk drive, and plugged it into the computer and begrudgingly downloaded all content concerning Operation Freedom. Once it was done she put it back into her bag and looked around for someplace to escape.

A small window above a bookshelf caught her eye, it was the only window that hadn’t been barred down during the lockdown and was her quickest option. Luci crept to the bookcase as quietly as she could and started climbing it. “Ay wass the Boss want us to do again?” A gruff Jersey voice froze Luci mid step. “Ya idiot. We supposed to find any hostages hiding back here Pauli.” Luci climbed down the bookcase and dashed into a corner to hide. Their footsteps were very loud and heavy.

“Mort hehe I love these fucking guns man. Sick.” “Ya man… wait. You smell that? Mmm smells like the ocean man.” Big inhales follow. “Yea. I think it’s a…fairy of some sort. Wait till the boss hears there’s a fairy in here!” They laugh and Luci flinches, her body beginning to shake. They’re ogres known for their keen sense of smell and brute strength. She releases a shaky breath and pulls out her phone dialing Akira’s number. “Man Fairies taste so good…if ya know what I mean hehe.” ‘They’re getting closer.’ Luci puts the phone in her jacket pocket and pulls out a bottle of water pouring it into the air letting it float all around her. She knows she’s going to be captured no way she can defeat two ogres, but maybe Akira will call the police or call the Yakuza if he hears her capture.

She steps out into the light and right in front of the ogres who are uglier and huger than she imagined. She flips her hair and tries to give them a confident glare, “I’m no Fairy. Guess again.” Just like she studied about in school ogres get distracted easily, the first goon took a sniff turning to his comrade, “Uh I don know Mort what is she?” The other sniffs, “Douh! She’s a Nymph dumbass!” Neither were expecting the jet of water that knocked them both off their feet. Luci smiled and started to run in the opposite direction. “Guys we gotta runner!”

Luci kept running through all of the bookcases, her eyes set on an unguarded emergency exit. ‘Maybe I will escape!’ Then a pair of gruff arms wrapped around her middle slamming her head against a shelf. She was disoriented for a moment before she began to scream and struggle, “Let me go! Let me go! Help! You asshole! Please no!!” It was another ogre and he gripped her abdomen with one arm cutting off her air supply as his horrible breath hit her neck, “Mmm you smell amazing Nymph…I hope the Boss lets me play with your glorious body first.” His hands ran up and down her legs, brushing over her center making her grimace and struggle more. “Yes. This is going to be fun lets go see the Boss now hm?”

[Thundercat]

Victor Vladov / Jackdawl / Veezarus / Lillin Ifriel / Kara Do'Vosho

"I'm not shitting you Kara, he's right here in this goddamn library and he's got several civilians hostage!" Victor shouted, or, rather whispered loudly into his cellphone, using his Shadow-melding to blend into the background, he watched as the band of terrorists surrounded the group of civilians. Kara Do'Vosho, the Chicago Police Chief, sat at her desk miles away inside the police station. Shuffling mountains of paperwork she listened on the other end of the line. Her and Victor had worked together privately on several occasions and constantly denied the fact they totally had the hot's for each other. "I don't understand, there hasn't been any word of that man since he practically took over London, what's he doing in Chicago?!" Victor gave a frustrated sigh. "We can ask why's and how's another time! Get some police down here asap!"
"I've got my men spread far and wide all over the damn city, we are under martial law! Those trigger happy PMC's stripped me of all power and have me doing desk work"
"Kara, sweetheart, i'm backed into a fucking corner here, is there anything you can do right now?" Kara crossed her legs and pondered for a moment how to deal with the situation. "Buy some time, i'll make some calls and see what I can do." With that the police chief hung up and began typing away. Victor wasn't really sure why he hadn't bailed, saving civilians wasn't really part of his job, but he wasn't about to stand by and watch this terrorist slaughter everyone here. Not if he could do something about it.

The clown mask criminals began to tear through the bookshelves and desks in search of something as Jackdawl began walking amongst the group of civilians who stood in silence and fear, he dangled his assault rifle as he spoke. "Now is the time for fear, and you have all risen to the occasion perfectly, I will spare you all the the menacing speech and get straight to business." He stopped walking and turned to observe the crowd. "Where is Lillin Ifriel?" silence filled the air as nobody uttered a word. Jackdawl continued pacing around the crowd, glaring at each hostage individually "Do you know where she is? Do you know where she is? Do you know where she is?" Lillin stood in the center of the crowd, her body shook with fear and disbelief at the events that were currently unfolding. She looked at the ground and her eyes began to water as Jackdawl circled the hostages. She prayed none of them sold her out.

"What are you trying to gain from this huh?" The voice came from a human, specifically the man that had delivered the sandwiches earlier. Jackdawl stopped in place once more, and slowly turned around to face the man. "What reason is there to shoot up a goddamn library? Huh? Don't you see how scared you've made everyone? Why don't you just take what you want and go." The man stood up straight and without fear as he looked into the terrorist's mask. Jackdawl observed him with such curiosity, as if he had never seen a human speak before. He turned his head to the side in a sinister fashion, then casually lifted his assault rifle with one hand and fired rounds directly into the mans chest. The crowd of hostages began to shriek and scream as the delivery man lay in a pool of his own blood. Jackdawl lifted his rifle into the air and fired off several rounds. "SILENCE!!!!" he roared at the top of his lungs. The malicious tone in Jackdawl's voice vanished and turned into a rough, wicked shout, immediately the crowd fell silent. For a brief moment only the sound of Jackdawl's soldiers shuffling through the library could be heard. "I'm not sure if I mislead you, but allow me to emphasize the fact that we, do NOT, give a SHIT about a single one of you." Jackdawl pulled a woman from the crowd and tossed her to the ground, walking over to her he stomped on her stomach and placed the barrel of his rifle into the her mouth, muffling her screams. "WHERE IS LILLIN IFRIEL?!?!"

"Me!" Lillin shouted, half crying. The hostages instantly moved away, thus clearing a path for Jackdawl to lock eyes with her. "I-I am Lillin" Jackdawl kept his foot on the woman's stomach and the barrel in her mouth. He stayed in this position for a moment, observing the librarian curiously. "Hello Lillin" He said blankly, his sinister voice returning. Jackdawl pulled the trigger and a single bullet pierced the woman's skull that lay helplessly beneath him. The hostages jumped, some shrieked momentarily but most remained silent. Lillin placed her hand on her mouth and fell to her knees, sobbing. Victor gritted his teeth and by now was at his boiling point. He was definitely going to make this scumbag pay, beyond frustrated he remained hidden, awaiting Kara's reinforcements. Jackdawl lifted his rifle out of the dead woman's mouth and began walking towards Lillin. He stood tall above her as she remained on her knees crying.

"Where's the vault?" He asked immediately. Lillin could only muster up the courage to point towards the direction of the vault. Jackdawl grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and shoved her in that direction, the librarian shrieked. "Walk" He ordered, and she began doing so. "Veezarus, there's a vigilante lurking. Find him." Jackdawl spoke out loud, at first it seemed as if he was speaking to himself, but out of the blue a cloud of green smoke suddenly poofed into existence behind Jackdawl. Quickly the smoke cleared to reveal Veezarus crouching, his tail swayed from side to side as he stood up, sniffing the air in search of Victor, who began panicking, unsure if Jackdawl was aware of his presence or not. As Jackdawl followed Lillin two goons that had been watching the whole situation, not daring to interrupt their leader, approached him. One of the grunts held his right hand on the back of Lucina's neck and his left holding her hands together by her wrists, as to avoid another jet stream attack. "Yo, boss, we found this sweet dame hiding in the back, she's quite the looker eh! A nymph too, what do w-"
"With the others" Jackdawl said blankly as he followed Lillin towards the vault. "Oh, well alright" the grunt muttered, dragging her towards the hostages he shoved her to the floor, inches from the dead woman.

---

Akira Takizawa / Shuya Nakamura

"Left! Turn left!" Shuya shouted at the top of his lungs as he and Akira sped through the city, bullets flying past their bikes. Shuya turned sharply into an alleyway and Akira followed, clothes hanging from wires and trash lingering in dumpsters flew into the air as their motorcycles roared down the alleyway. Four Underhill Bikers were right behind the pair, their bikes roaring as well. None of the four were Rig Leaf. Shuya lifted his robotic arm momentarily in the air, throwing a peace sign meant for Akira, who saw and understood the message immediately. The two had been forced to speak using their own sign language many times on a variety of scenarios, from talking smack to strategizing the two had their own unspoken message. As Shuya's bike shot out of the alleyway he made a sharp turn right, where as Akira turned left. The peace sign meant "Split up" but on some more laid back occasions, also meant other things. The bikers were forced to split up to follow the Yakuza's.

Akira found himself dashing through the Chicago streets, in Underhill territory of all places, when his phone began to vibrate. "Damn, that might be her." He thought, and carefully began to reach in his pocket for his cellphone. Hitting enter, he immediately began to speak, "Luci! I can't talk right now, i'm kind of in the middle of something, send me a text!" He was about to hang up when he heard an unfamiliar voice shout "We gotta runner!" He kept the phone to his ear and attempted to listen, the harsh rain, loud wind and gunfire made hearing very difficult. "Let me- ..... Help! . .. .. Please no-!"

"Luci wha- SHIT" Akira lost his grip on the cellphone and attempted to drift to a stop, his attention was focused on the phone call and he hadn't realized the street was coming to an end and he was moments from crashing into the side of a building. The drift was executed poorly and with haste, that combined with the friction caused by the rain Akira and his bike hit the pavement instead of coming to a steady stop and were now sliding down the road. Akira bounced up and down like a rag doll before slamming into the building, fortunately though his speed had reduced to the point where impact didn't cause much damage. It did hurt like hell though. Akira grunted and blood dripped down his forehead as he stood up, there was no time to recover though, the two bikers skidded to a stop with ease a few yards from the Yakuza member. In unison they pulled their machine guns out of their holsters and unloaded their ammo. Instantly Akira aimed his open palms at the two bikers, every bullet that came out of their guns floated in the air inches from his face. He waited for the bikers clips to empty before dropping to one knee and slamming his open palms into the ground. Simultaneously the bullets fell to the floor and the ground beneath the bikers shot up, launching them high into the air.

Both Underhill Grunts fell to the pavement, injured, but still alive and conscious. Enraged, Akira approached one that had unfortunately landed face-first. He pulled his pistol out from his jacket pocket and kicked the grunt in the stomach. Reeling from the attack, the biker turned over onto his back, and Akira fired four bullets into his chest. "You wide-eyed fuck!" The other biker shouted, who had seemed to amass enough energy to sit up and reach for his gun, but received a bullet to the temple before he could even finish reloading. Slowly, Akira lowered his weapon, and stood still. Rain poured down fiercely on him as he contemplated the consequences of what he had just done. Luci had crossed his mind for some reason, and he snapped back into reality, remembering that she was in some kind of danger. He turned and began walking towards his motorcycle.

[SaraRPs]

Lucina Cobbs/NPCs

As Luci’s head met the hard cold yet strangely comforting ground, she laid there simply staring at the dead women’s lifeless eyes. All life was gone in them, it was very bizarre how her brown eyes were so empty and she had only been dead for a few moments. Everything in Luci’s mind was telling her to get away because what she was staring at was a bloody corpse, but she didn’t care. The only reason she bothered to sit up against the pillar was the blood was still pouring out of the woman and she didn’t want to get any more blood on her today.

Glancing at the shaking group next to her, half their eyes were still on the body and a few had their eyes on Luci, perhaps wondering why she just laid there for so long. She didn’t care. One of the men was looking particularly more nervous than the rest as his gaze moved from the corpse to the goons rapidly. Eventually he made up his mind and begun to move towards the body, people noticed and began to sputter their complaints, “What are you doing?” “Get away from her!” He swallowed and stuttered, “I’m just going to close her eyes! She deserves that decency.” Luci swallowed the scoff that was itching to come out, “It’s not going to work. If a person dies with their eyes open the muscles won’t die for another two maybe three hours.” The man gasped and looked as if he was going to throw up as he moved back to his spot in their little hostage huddle.
“So was it easy catching that little nymph?” Luci’s body ran cold when that whisper met her ears. “Ya ya Benny tell us!” The voice that made Luci sick to her stomach came next, “ Now now my little ogres I don’t kiss and tell.” They all broke out into a hearty laughter and Luci slowly turned her head to them and got a glance of him in the light. He wasn’t an ogre but she could have hardly cared what he was, he was blonde and had a green eye and a blue eye both were as empty as the corpse next to her and he…abused her so wrongly.
The ogres clung on to his every word, “Do you think the Boss would let you take her with us?” “Oh I don’t work for Jackdrawl like you two do I’m just doing a little freelance for the freelancing terrorist. How ironic right?” The two idiots laughed loudly again. He beckoned the two to come closer but Luci was just able to make out what he was saying, “In all honesty, Jackdrawl doesn’t care too much about hostages. He gets what he needs and then kills em all. I think if I just ask him for the little sweetie he’ll just make sure I keep her from any authority and she’ll be mine.” Before she could look away his gaze met hers and she froze. The hunger in his eyes spread dread and fear all over her body. Her heart picked up speed and she begun to shake.

He smiled and started for her but another goon walked up “Mr. Daniels the Boss would like you to remain close to him in case he needs your expertise.” He huffed and slapped on that same sick smile to the guard, “Well a vault experts job is never done I assume? Lead the way fine Sir.” Once they were gone Luci let out the breath she’d been holding taking in short uncontrollable gasps. Her shaky hand reached into her pocket and discreetly checked her phone, the call to Akira ended long ago and not attempts of him calling her had been made.

Anger swelled in her. She was not about to let some British, bad breath smelling asshole take her life and her virtue away and she didn’t count on rescuing. ‘Maybe he didn’t pick up, ya maybe he was just tied up, he wouldn’t just ignore my call.’ There she goes, again sounding like some fucking teenager. She had to get out of here. Looking behind her the front doors were guarded as well as the other exits. She had no doubt that guards were scattered throughout the labyrinth of bookshelves. ‘There’s that little window on the east side if I run fast enough and use some ice I might be able to get out into the alleyway then my life depends on if Akira decides to answer his phone.’

Luci looked up at the idiotic ogre goons and waited for them to turn their backs when a high pitched sob gained her attention. There was a little girl sitting near the center of the crowd, the adults around her were trying to sooth her with no avail. “Momma *hick hick*..” One woman wrapped her arms around the child stroking her hair, “There there honey, you’ll see your Momma again soon.” But the tears in her eyes said that she thought that was a lie. From the looks of it probably all of them were human, if one of them was a sup they would have tried something by now. She couldn’t just leave them, Jackdrawl was going to kill them as soon as he got the information he needed in the vault. Luci’s eyes widened the vault. Jackdrawl was going to open the vault; she had a chance to get viable information about Operation Freedom.

She looked towards the closest human and nudged him with her foot, “Psst.” As his gaze met hers she nodded her head to him as a gesture for him to sit next to her. He moved to the pillar and leaned back against it whispering harshly, “What?!” Luci ignored the tone, “I’m planning an escape.” “You? What can you do?” Sighing she glared at him, “I am half water nymph and the best chance y’all got on getting out of here alive.” “Fine what’s your plan?” “We are in the main lobby area, farthest away from the books and the vault. There are only four goons in charge of us.” She nodded towards the ogres, “Dumb and Dumber,” then pointed at the door “And those two guards at the entrance.” He nodded, “So you take them out and we run out?” “God no! Don’t you see those military trucks with more goons outside? Y’all would be shot on sight.” “Then what do you expect us to do?!” “I take them out; you all get their guns and go hid in the librarians’ office while I go after the masked man.” “Ok. What do you need us to do?” “The two goons here are ogres, not the sharpest tools in the shed and get distracted easily, you and two other people get them talking. But before that I need you to tell anyone who has water with them to pour all of it on the floor and I’ll take it from there.” The man nods and moves back to the group puts Luci’s plan into motion.

Two women pull out their bottles and hesitantly pour its contents onto the floor; no one dares to move even though most of them are getting wet. ‘Only two bottles…not going to be easy.” As the guy and two others get the ogres talking about baseball, Luci slowly dragged her hand across the floor pulling the water towards her. The water gathers at her fingertips and she feels happiness, pure happiness and safety and above all confidence.

Luci sprang up and ran towards the door as if she was trying to escape. The guards tense up and raise their weapons…perfect. She stops and raises her hands then lunges forward swiftly pushing her hands out towards the first guard. A fast jet of water flies past her ears and hits the man head on knocking the gun out of his hand and sending him tumbling to the ground. The other guard raises his gun and aims she gasps and ducks to the ground as he squeezes the trigger and misses her. He takes another shot and she rolls over pulling the water that’s all over the stunned guard and throws it at the remaining guard’s face. He screams and releases his machine gun.

By now the Ogres were charging towards her. Luci reaches down picking up a machine gun aiming blindly. One hit the first in the shoulder and the second in the leg and they both fell to the ground crying rather loudly, Luci rolled her eyes walking over to the two “Shut the fuck up you sissy monsters.” And jammed the barrel of the gun on both their heads making them go silent. She looked up at the gawking humans in front of her, “Stop staring at me and go hide in the office.” They all scrambled into the room sparing a few who decided to collect the guns and stand watch.
Luci started for the back of the library when a tug on her jacket stopped her, it was the little girl from earlier holding up a talk plastic water bottle. “I f-filled it up for you, it was empty when you asked for water I’m sorry.” A smile cracked through her façade as she patted the girl on her head, “Honey you have no idea how much I need that right now.” She held it out to her but Luci stopped her, “Open the cap.” The girl obeyed and Luci’s smile widened as the girl looked at her in awe as she bended the water out of the bottle and up her arm. Luci winked at the girl telling her to go into the office.

Walking down the hall through the bookcases she realized that she was bleeding. One of the bastard’s bullets grazed her right arm; “Fuck...” at least it wasn’t her dominant hand. Now she was even weaker than she was before, going after the vault alone would be impossible now. One of the library staff mentioned a man by the name of Victor and that he was a detective of sorts that must have been the guy who accused her of being affiliated with this chaos. Begrudgingly she started calling out in a whisper, “Victor? Detective Victor? I need your help. Hello you there?”

[Thundercat]

Victor Vladov / Jackdawl / Veezarus / Lillin Ifriel

"I'm waiting, Lillin" Jackdawl stood behind Lillin, he placed his rifle on the floor as if it were a cane and had both of his hands resting on the barrel, waiting patiently for her to open the vault. Lillin froze in place, almost in disbelief that this was how her afternoon had turned out. The scum of Chicago knew no boundaries, and she didn't want to further aid them in whatever it was they're trying to accomplish. "No" She whispered, almost regrettably. Jackdawl gave an irritated sigh. "We're doing this, than?" with that he looked towards one of his soldiers. "Get Mr. Daniels will you?" The soldier nodded and walked off to the entrance of the building, where all the hostages had been huddled together.

Jackdawl walked towards Lillin, placing his hand on her shoulder he spoke in a light, reassuring tone. "Lillin, that whole situation earlier with all the shooting and murder and what not, it was all just a show. I was hoping to drive enough fear into your heart to the point where you would obey me no matter what. I'm ashamed to say it, but I actually need your help. Time is very much of the essence and I need to get into the vault right away." Jackdawl wrapped his arm around Lillin, pulling her in close as if they were old friends. "Mr. Daniels is highly capable of opening this vault within a matter of minutes, fortunately for you though, I don't have that sort of time. I'm not going to lie, I was very much planning to kill everyone in this building, including you, but if you help me, I give you my word I won't lay a finger on another civilian in this library. I know i'm a criminal, i'm aware i've murdered two already, on several occasions i've been called scum and several more pure evil, but never have I been accused of lying. I'm a man of my word, Lillin, but i'm also dedicated to my work. You have ten seconds to make a decision." With that, he let go of Lillin and backed up a few steps, giving the librarian some space. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Lillin reluctantly approached the vault and began punching in the code. She had no choice at this point and wanted to avoid more bloodshed. The keypad gave an assuring chime and the vault doors slid open. "I appreciate a woman with brains, Lillin Ifriel" Jackdawl motioned to a group of his soldiers "Find it"

Veezarus crawled on top of the bookshelves, hopping from one to the other he had watched the water nymph take out four goons and followed her as she wandered the library. Victor unfortunately watched from cover as the reptile assassin dropped down from the bookshelf and slowly began approaching Luci from behind, drawing a blade. "Damn kid" He muttered, frustratingly. As Veezarus lifted his blade very slowly into the air Victor was forced to jump out of cover. Pulling a revolver out of it's holster as he hopped over a desk he fired all of his rounds into the assassins back, who dropped to the floor immediately. Victor approached Luci, furious he grabbed her arm "I thought I told you to hide dammit!" Before she could say anything back, Veezarus' blade pierced through the detective's back, he grunted, blood dripping from his mouth, and slowly dropped to his knees. Veezarus removed the blade slowly, as to cause more pain. Once the blade was completely removed, Victor fell face-first. The reptile was impervious to bullets, and made it seem like he was going to execute Luci only to have the half-devil reveal himself. "Too easy" Veezarus' voice was wicked, the reptile lifted the detective and carried him over his shoulder. Momentarily he stared into Luci's eyes, and stood tall above her with poise before vanishing into a cloud of green smoke. He would save her for later.

[SaraRPs]

Lucina Cobbs

The smell of sewage wafted over to Luci when the monster disappeared with a possibly dead Victor. It left sooner than it came and the green smoke dissolved into the air. All that was left was a trail of blood and Victor’s handgun; she leaned down picking up the still smoking weapon and checked the magazine, only three bullets left. She toyed around with it for a moment trying to figure out how to cock it sighing when she did. Pushing in the little red button on the side she prayed that meant the safety was on as she stuffed it in the back of her jeans like she had seen on TV.

With a heavy heart Luci placed the hand covered in water over the pool of blood beside her moving the fingers around it in circles. She gasped and moved her hand away shocked, Victor was alive. Her abilities allow her to recognize death because in death blood loses all of its properties including the H2O molecules it feeds on. Feeling a new found determination Luci got up and drew her knife. ‘That reptile has to be with Jackdrawl.’

Luci knew that the vault was smack dead in the center of the very back of the library so she stuck to the right hand side practically clinging to the wall. It was her best chance on avoiding detection. Turning a corner she froze when she saw Daniels walking away from her with a goon. Ignoring her gut feeling to turn around and run in the other direction, she used the bookshelves as cover sneaking alongside them.

Benjamin yawned as his eyes scanning the boring selection of pointless American trash they called novels growing restless with this heist of Jackdrawls, “Is he almost done? This place smells of dust and old pages.” The goon nervously looked back at him practically muttering his response, “I-I do believe so sir. Once we get the vault open Boss will take what he needs and we will make our escape.” This intrigued Ben, “And what exactly is he looking for?” “I don’t know sir but it must be very important seeing as he’s treating the librarian with um…mercy?” Ben didn’t care anymore; his thoughts were on his sweet soft young nymph waiting for him.

What was he looking for? Luci had to know. As they walked away she cut across the media center to get to the left side and continued her journey till she finally reached it. The vault was larger than she expected. It stood as tall as the ceiling and as wide as most of the bookcases, how people could just ignore that thing and keep reading baffled Luci. By the time she registered what was going on the vault had been opened and all the sweet cabinets, draws and glass cases were like treasure land to her the information would be in there.

How the hell she was going to get in there was beyond comprehension. She didn’t have enough power to just barge in guns blazing; a shrill feminine giggle caught her attention as she spun around looking to where it belonged to. In a corner one of the only female goons stood there in full uniform being towered over by a male goon. “Rocky when we get back to the base I wanna go in the woods and fuck you senseless.” She practically moaned in his ear. They both giggled and proceeded with slamming their tongues down their throat, disgusting. They’ll never know what hit em. Luci stalked behind the two holding the gun in her hand by the barrel, when she was right on top of them she brought the gun down across the guy’s head and he groaned falling to the floor. The girl looked stunned but quickly reached for her gun as Luci cocked hers right in front of her face, “Strip.” Was all Luci had to say.

A few minutes later Luci wiped the blood off her cheek of the now naked unconscious girl below her feet. She braided her hair and stuffed it all under the uniform cap and pulled the visor low on her face. Knowing the possibilities of sups in the vault she smeared some of the girl’s blood and hair on her chest and hid it under the black button up. She ditched her clothes and bag in the garbage and stuffed her phone, cash and junk drive in the many pockets of the vest.

Picking up the riffle she strutted over to the vault stopping infront of an important type goon hunched over a tablet, “The perimeter has be secured so they sent me in to assist Sir.” Without looking up he questioned her in a bored tone, “No breaches Angela?” “No sir.” “Go on you know what we’re looking for.” Actually she didn’t but she entered anyway looking up at all the files on endless shelves. Artifacts rested in the back covered in glass with a light shining over them. Trying to contain her awe she started scanning the files, when that voice echoed in her ears.

“Wow Jack! Looks like you didn’t need me after all huh?” Ben walked up next to Jackdrawl and nodded respectfully at him. “So the librarian cracked. Where’s that lizard boy of yours, he owes me ten bucks.” He glanced around and leaned in towards Jack, “But um I have a new proposition for you. You remember that succulent little nymph that your boys caught? Well I was wondering if you were willing to negotiate some sort of deal and let me have her. We um had a moment and I’m crazy about her.”

[Thundercat]

Jackdawl / Veezarus / Benjamin Daniels / Lillin Ifriel / Shadow

The entire time Mr. Daniels spoke Jackdawl kept his focus entirely on his soldiers as they rummaged through the vault, you couldn't tell, and he wouldn't show it, but Jackdawl was very excited and enjoyed returning to the field. "Consider her your payment, Mr. Daniels" Jackdawl said blankly, turning his head towards him he spoke boldly, as to emphasize how serious he was at the moment. "If I have to deal with her, i'm going to deal with you as well." Looking back to the vault, Jackdawl waited patiently when Veezarus teleported next to him, holding an unconscious detective on his shoulder. He tossed him to the floor and he lay still. "The vigilante you requested"
"I have it!" somebody shouted "I-I have it! Jackdawl sir, it's the Kennedy Manifest!" with that the soldier jogged towards the terrorist and handed him pure black notebook. "It's Christmas." Jackdawl placed the notebook in his coat and lifted up his rifle, holding it with both hands. "We've got it, boys and girls, lets go home"

Jackdawl walked with about a dozen of his soldiers walking behind him, along with Veezarus and Lillin. The few hostages that had decided to stand watch jumped at the sight of the group and lifted their weapons, aiming at the crowd of criminals, too overcome with fear to pull the trigger. "Oh no.." Lillin muttered. "Well, how interesting" Jackdawl said, looking around the lobby in search of the civilians that crowded the place minutes ago. "I must be losing my touch. Kill them." Lillin screamed and threw herself onto Jackdawl out of desperation. "No! You promised! You said you wouldn't!" Jackdawl grabbed her by the neck and shoved her to the floor. "Two of my men lay dead, Lillin. These vigilantes wield guns, they've made their decision. Blood for blood." Turning his head, he nodded towards his soldiers who lifted their guns in unison and unloaded into the hostages. Lillin remained on the floor, sobbing once more at the sight. "Where's the nymph?!" Mr. Daniels asked. "I'm afraid now isn't the time for romance Mr. Daniels, if it's meant to be she'll come back I assure you. Let's go."

Jackdawl gestured toward the goons outside as he walked down the steps, signaling that it was time to leave when a military helicopter flew out from behind a building, joining the helicopter were several military grade trucks, somewhat similar to that of Jackdawl's. Mercenaries exited the vehicles, immediately aiming at Jackdawl's who aimed right back. Mercenaries that resided in a building on the opposite side of the Chicago Public Library smashed the windows open and set their sights on Jackdawl. The rain that poured down on Chicago suddenly began to fade away. Inside the helicopter a mercenary approached and opened the sliding doors, revealing a light machine gun manned by another mercenary and aiming right at the terrorist. The man known only by his codename, Shadow, lead the assault, and spoke with a bold tone into a megaphone from within the helicopter. "Order your men to lower their weapons, put your hands in the air, and get on your knees, or we will open fire."

Jackdawl looked around the area in a surprised fashion, as if he were impressed. His soldiers, willing to give up their life for their master, refused to drop their weapons and began shouting various slurs and curse words at the mercenaries. Shadow spoke once more. "Jackdawl, you. are. surrounded. This is your final warning. Lower. Your. Weapons." Jackdawl casually tossed his assault rifle to the side and looked up, locking eyes with the helicopter. He cocked his head to the side and lifted his arms up before a cloak of purple fire suddenly combusted into existence and surrounded his body. Two balls of fire twice Jackdawl's size burst from his palms and exploded into the helicopter, killing the pilot and tearing the helicopters tail from the main body. Both mercenaries and Jackdawl's soldiers opened fire and in a moments notice the library was a warzone. Shadow leaped from the spiraling helicopter, curled in a ball he spun several times before landing on the ground with grace and immediately sprinting towards Jackdawl with a pistol in one hand and a combat knife in the other. However, just as he leapt for the masked man Veezarus tackled into his body and the two rolled on the floor before recovering and simultaneously taking a fighting stance. Taking a moment to size eachother up, the two mercenaries collided into close combat. The helicopter crashed into the street and exploding on impact taking out a significant chunk of Aegius Security mercenaries.

Jackdawl walked through the battlefield, unfazed by the gunfire and death that began to surround him. Any bullets that came within inches of his body were blocked by the purple fire that had the ability to alter it's properties and shield him from gunfire. He hopped onto one of his military trucks and entered through the hatch. "Drive" he said as he took a seat and strapped in. The engine started and the truck was off, crashing through the Aegius trucks and clearing a path. Jackdawl's soldiers had gained the upper hand and took this advantage to pile into the other trucks and follow their leader back home.

Veezarus and Shadow were completely equal hand to hand wise, the fight was a stalemate. Veezarus had managed to body slam Shadow, who used the impact to bounce back up and onto his feet a couple yards from the assassin. He took this opportunity to fire his pistol, a bullet pierced Veezarus' stomach and he reeled over, grimacing in pain. Shadow took advantage, pulling out his combat knife he sprinted towards the lizard for a killing blow when Veezarus poofed into a cloud of green smoke. Shadow stopped in his place, and Veezarus' blade pierced him from behind. He ripped the blade from Shadow's back and slashed downward, causing the mercenary to shout in pain and fall to the floor. Veezarus gave a satisfied hiss and vanished into a cloud of green smoke. Within moments he reappeared in Jackdawl's truck, sitting beside him. By now, none of Jackdawl's soldiers remained at the library. Only about a handful had been killed. The Aegius Security mercenaries took no time to grieve in their loss and immediately charged into the library to liberate the hostages.

[SaraRPs]

Lucina Cobbs/ Benjamin Daniels/NPC Goons

Cheers and playful banter emanated out of the military trucks as they sped down the back roads of the city. Everyone was looking for them, the news anchors on the flat screen TV above Luci scrambled to be the first station to have news on the attack on the Library as the goons kept changing the channel each news station was the same; mass confusion, chaos, mobs forming in the streets asking about their loved ones, something that Luci couldn't bear to watch as she lowered her gaze to her lap. Blood speckled her hands and forearms making her want to gag for the millionth time that day, all around her the goons seemed content with their bloody appearances, some much more covered than her.

Their happiness and jolly left a strange feeling in her immerse awkwardness overcame her as she struggled to look as casual as she could. How could they feel such a way? They killed a dozen people in the blink of an eye? Wait…she was responsible as well. At the realization she took a sharp intake of breath and let out a shaky breath, ‘It’s all…my…fault…’ If she hadn’t of knocked the guards out and given the people the guns they wouldn’t be dead, she could of just snuck away! The guilt she felt spread pain all over her body as the flashback began;

Luci found herself bringing up the rear as the goons ran down the libraries corridor having found that Kennedy’s Manifest they were searching for, she had never heard of such a thing and could only assume that it is very bad that they had it in their possession. She had tried to stay in the vault and wait till everyone had left but she was ushered into the running leaving her trapped. Once they came to the entrance she felt relieved that Jackdawl promised to let them live but slowly that relieve turned to dread. Panic swept over her and she began hyperventilating it growing worse once they pointed the guns at the people and fired. Her screams were muffled and everything went blank…

And now she was here, in this military truck. Her hand reached into her vest and felt the think vanilla folder and she smiled slightly, she still had it. It was her ticket to freedom really, something to get Akira to get her out of here. She reached into her pocket to take out her cellphone, “Hey Angela you ok sugar?” She froze looking up from behind the visor to see a brunette elf like man looking down at her with confusion and worry in his features, she swallowed and nodded and in a tiny voice, “I’m just really tired.” He smiles and yawns, “Ya we all are been up since four in the morning and didn’t finish till now huh?” Someone throws a can at his head and he flips around punching the guy square in the jaw, laughter erupts again even the guy who got punched is laughing, this terrifies her further.

With the attention off her once again, she quickly reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone. The batteries low but she doesn’t care as she punches out the fastest long text she’s ever sent, ‘Akira I’m not in the library anymore the missionaries came and the terrorists left…and I’m with them. I had to disguise myself in order to get inside the vault to save someone, but I didn’t save him actually I have no idea where he is or if he’s alive but he saved my life today and I just wanted to repay the favor. I have official information on OF with me from the vault as well it’s pretty thick. The terrorists don’t expect a thing but that could change soon but don’t try and follow me it’s not safe. I’m…well im alive and I guess that’s all that matters, I’ll try to text you the address and go from there. Be safe.’ She sent the message and leaned her head back against the wall silent tears falling down her face.

[Thundercat]

Akira Takizawa / Shadow ID Whiskey 3424 / Victor Vladov / Kara Do'Vosho / Lillin Ifriel / Sláine 'Sloan' Sirona

By now the library was surrounded by press, public, and PMC's. Two terrorist attacks in one day, the city was becoming less civilized by the minute. News helicopters flew above the library covering the wreckage, mercenaries were tended too in medical tents along with Victor Vladov, a perimeter had been setup and everyone watched in curiosity and PMC's patrolled the area. However it wasn't the sight of a terrorist attack that caught their attention. As much as the police tried to keep quiet, numerous hostages had already uploaded photos of the libraries events to the social media and they spread like wildfire. For today all eyes were suddenly on Chicago. Every news station in Illinois as well as several across the globe all spoke of the same breaking news with the same, repeated headline. "The Jackdawl has Returned"

"Are you positive that was all they took?"
"Y-yes!" A shaking Lillin sat on the library steps, being interrogated by an Aegius mercenary. A few yards away all the civilians that had been held hostage sat on the library steps as well and had to go through a barrage of questioning, paperwork and medical checkups before being let go. The entire situation was very delicate. "I know every document, file, artifact, everything! I know about everything that e-enters the library, i've never seen that black book in my life, I swear"
"And you're saying he called it the Kennedy Manifest?"
"Yes sir"
"And that was all they took?"
"Yes!" the mercenary sighed. "I guess we're done here. Go find a medic, you may be suffering from post traumatic stress." Lillin stood up and walked off as the mercenary nodded to a nearby PMC who escorted another civilian towards him for questioning.

Victor lay on a stretcher inside a small, makeshift medical tent that kept only him and less than a handful of other mercenaries. He was given the most care and attention since being found on the floor inside the library, unconscious and without a significant amount of blood. His shirt had been ripped off and at some point his glasses were removed, a thick layer of bandages wrap around his abdomen as he lay still. Slowly his eyes opened as and immediately met those of Kara Do'Vosho. "Ugh, well, is this the part where you get up to go pour me some coffee?" Victor said, half grunting. Kara gave a small smirk. "We aren't lying in my bed this time, and even if we were I wouldn't be satisfied enough to bring you anything." Victor chuckled then grimaced in pain, and gently placed his hand on his abdomen. "Did the hostages get out alive?"
"Most of them, yes."
"Tell me those terrorists are lying in a pool of their own damn blood." Kara sighed "No, afraid not. Aegius Security showed up just as they were leaving and they managed to escape. Apparently the rumors about Jackdawl are true, all the men are saying they fired at him with perfect aim and he just strolled into a truck and drove off."
"What about that fucking lizard?"
"Lizard?"

"He escaped too." Both Kara and Victor turned to see Shadow, sitting upright in a nearby corner hooked up to some kind of machine that was pumping a bluish liquid into his body. "It seems you and I fell to the same blade, devil." Victor scoffed "I guarantee you if that gecko didn't gut me from behind, like a coward, we'd be fine." Victor sat up slowly, his hand still on his abdomen, and stood up from the stretcher. Kara stood up as well and approached him holding a police jacket, and proceeded to help him put it on as he was having difficulty moving. "I need a drink" he muttered.

"Kid, quit squirming!" Victor, Kara and Shadow all turned to see a PMC holding Akira's hands behind his back, leading him to a superior PMC. "Sir I found this kid sneaking into the perimeter and he claims his friend is with the Jackdawl." The PMC gave the boy a puzzled look. "Your friend works for Jackdawl?" Akira looked away from the PMC and wanted to keep his mouth shut about everything but at this point he had no choice, he wasn't prepared to deal with terrorists already. Reluctantly he responded "She disguised herself as one of them in the library and ended up having to leave with them. She has blonde hair and really light blue eyes, and she's in danger right now."

Victor turned to Kara "I think I know the girl that kid is yapping about, she was looking stuff up about some freedom fighters when Jackdawl showed up. The lizard almost chopped her head off but I shot the thing down before it could."
"Is that how you got stabbed?"
"Yeah, damn bullets didn't do a thing." Victor spoke to both Kara and Shadow "But that girl could be our only lead to finding the Jackdawl."
Kara looked at Victor with surprise, "Oh, Our lead huh? Is detective Vladov suddenly on the case?" Victor stopped himself from smiling. "Sergeant Muller!" Shadow shouted to the PMC that was speaking to Akira. "Bring that kid over here," the PMC grabbed Akira by the arm and lead him towards the medical tent. Victor was the first to speak. "What's your friends name?" Akira shrugged the PMC off of him and locked eyes with the detective. "Lucina Cobbs" he immediately regretted saying her full name. "How do you know she's with the Jackdawl?"
"She sent me a text, said she was in the library and some guy prevented her from getting killed. I guess that's when she disguised herself to try and save him but it sounds like he's already dead." Victor shot Kara a look, then turned back to Akira. "Why did she text you? Why not her parents or something?" Akira hesitated to answer. "We were supposed to get lunch after she returned some books."
"She told me she was doing research for her boss." Akira didn't know what to say but fortunately a PMC entered the medical tent before he could respond and spoke to his superior. "Sir, Nichols says that every hostage he's spoken too has mentioned a blonde girl taking out four of Jackdawl's soldiers before running off somewhere, apparently she's the one that told them to hide in the office. There's been no sign of her since."

"Luci did that?" Akira thought, he hadn't considered the girl to be a fighter. "That settles it than" Shadow unplugged himself from the machine and stood up "Take the phone and have somebody trace the message and put together a new unit asap, we don't know how much time the girl has before her cover is blown, keep this on the down low." both PMC's nodded and jogged off with Akira, both speaking into a radio. Kara turned to Shadow. "Could you get me and detective Vladov here some kevlar? We'll be joining your unit."
"And my guns" Victor added "Where are my guns?"

As Akira followed the PMC's through the crowd of mercenaries and medics he took the first chance he had and slipped away, heading in the opposite direction of the library he hopped over the perimeter and into the crowd of press, news anchors and by-standards. The PMC's were none the wiser but soon realized he was gone and frantically began searching for him. Moving down the street and through the crowd Akira eventually reached his motorcycle and hopped on. He wanted to avoid leading the military as well as a detective to Luci, in fear that she'd be interrogated and for some reason locked up. Tracing the text message hadn't crossed his mind though, mostly because he has no idea how to do something like that. Thankfully though, he knows somebody that does.

Akira pulled out his phone, before he left his house he made sure to enter every name and phone number he had retrieved from his fathers office as well as Luci's. With the press of a button he was dialing Sloan who picked up immediately and didn't hesitate to speak. "Who is this? How did you get this number?" Akira hadn't expected Sloan to be a girl, she sounded rather young as well. "My name's Akira Takizawa, I work with the Yakuza and i'm calling you because i'd like to do business immediately." Sloan kept silent as she typed into her computer and within moments everything and anything that had to do with Akira was on her computer screen, sure enough he checked out. "You're Kaito's son, are you not?"
"Yes"
"I assume this is a personal matter and you're not calling me on behalf of the Yakuza"
"Yes" Sloan took a moment to chug down the rest of her energy drink. "You need to bring five grand to my apartment, until than we cannot do business together."
"I'll bring twenty if you let me do that later." Sloan hesitated to speak. "Twenty five"
"Deal, now can you help me?"
"Yes"
"About ten minutes ago Lucina Cobbs sent me a text message, can you trace that message and send the coordinates to my GPS?" Sloan was silent for about ten seconds. "Done"
"Huh?"
"Done"
"You did it already?"
"Yes" Akira checked his phone and indeed there were already directions to Luci's location. "I'll bring you the money tomorrow," with that Sloan hung up. "Fucking idiot" Akira said to himself, realizing he had given the detective from earlier Luci's full name. If they can find her, they can find the Jackdawl. "I'm on my way" was all he sent to Luci before strapping on his helmet once more and starting the bikes engine. No doubt they were already looking for her and it wouldn't be long before they found her. Akira would just have to get to her first.

[SaraRPs]

Lucina Cobbs/Benjamin Daniels/Sláine 'Sloan' Sirona/Veezarus

Lucina was not a happy camper. Her head was pounding from all the noise the constant cheering and laughter with no sign of stopping anytime soon. How could they be so happy about possibly ruining their nation or any other nation, with whatever the Kennedy Manifest Was? How could they become so morally corrupt and insane? Nausea and dread settled into her stomach as the truck took sharp turns and bumped along uneven terrain for what seemed like hours. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she eagerly pulled it out reading the painfully too short message. ‘At least he bothered to respond…wait a minute.’ She reread the message again, how could he already know where she was going? Could he have found out already? The thought of him chipping her phone made her feel uncomfortable but she tried not to dwell on it.

The truck came to a sudden halt, causing some of the standing goons to fall flat on their asses erupting more laughter out of the group. The door to the back swung open and everyone stood at attention Luci fumbled to put her phone in the breast pocket of her shirt and stood just as a commanding officer strolled in. “Listen up men! With the quick success of this mission, the Boss has granted you leave from your duties for the rest of the evening.” Whispers and chatter start up as the excitement in the room grew and the commander sighed and stomped his foot, gaining the attention once more, “Thank you. Now at 2000 hours the Boss is addressing the entire HQ about our next agenda so it must be very important, missing it is not an option we will be scanning your tablets upon arrival. Dismissed.” He left and the goons rose and filed out in a straight line with Luci mushed in the middle.

The HQ was nothing more but an old huge warehouse completely isolated from the city out in the middle of nowhere. A sinking feeling settled into Luci as she looked around at what seemed like miles of endless trees, escaping herself didn’t seem such a viable option anymore. Once they got inside, it was like she entered an alternate universe full of monitors escalators and elevators with all the latest technology. The group split and some of the men asked Luci/Anglea if she wanted to go to the display room with them, she lowered her face and mumbled about being tired and briskly walked away. Now she needed to find the commons or dorms, whatever the hell they had in this place but she was lost and didn’t know where to start looking. Everyone around her rushed by seemingly knowing where they were going when her mind remembered that everyone there had a tablet. She felt around in the large tool belt that she’d taken off of Angela and pulled out a mini tablet. Once she powered it on she was relieved there was no password involved and immediately pulled up the map app and typed in the search engine ‘my quarters’ and started following the directions completely oblivious to her surroundings.

Sloan sipped the Cherry Cola through her crazy straw as she spun around in her desktop chair having a mini powwow session with herself. “It’s odd that I got a call from Kaito’s kid instead of Kaito or one of his people…this must be personal not Yakuza.” She did not find it a bit strange that she was talking to herself, she pretty much lived a solitary lifestyle the only human interaction being conference calls and stalking peoples cellphones and other technogical devices. Kaito had her tracking his kid ages ago as she spun to face one of her many monitors as she accessed her Yakuza files and entered Kaito’s personal file that she created for him. “Akira hm? Let’s see what you’re doing.”

‘He has his smartphone with him… he’s moving very fast so he must be on that motorcycle that he put gas in this morning…he used his credit card 2 hours ago on a pack of gum….his heart rate and pulse are slightly elevated ensuing that he’s nervous or anxious about something. Hm, for a while he was very close to this Lucina person’s smartphone as well.’ Ah she loved smartphones, they emanate so much data that they intertwine with other data from other things and it was so easy to get into their cameras so you can practically see everything in another’s life. And people are always near their phones never separated from them. Akira must have had no idea who the hell she was or what exactly is usually expected of her when she tracks a person down. Sloan was bored and had nothing to do so she decided to throw the kid a bone and started tracking the girl…Sloan Style.

Her smartphone is very close to her…good. “Ooo! She has an Iphone!” Those were so easy to get into it was ridiculous. Plus the iphone had very…interesting features to it. The fact that it tracks your heartbeat, pulse, and brainwaves up to ten feet away and that once you put your blood signature in its data it’ll only find your body. They claimed it was for those with medical conditions but really they wanted to literally blend phone and person together as one. ’Pulse and heart rate are elevated and from the phones charts it’s been high for about two hours, and her blood pressure is slowly climbing. That’s not good. No credit or debit uses in the past week…odd for an 18 year old who got accepted into UC a few weeks ago. Has remained in the same place for several days just leaving it today, well this seems fun.’ Sloan smirks and hacks into her front camera only to be met by darkness she grumbles and goes to the back camera getting a clear image of some sort of office as she leaned back and watched the show.

Benjamin felt like he was dying a slow painful death. He’d left behind is love at the fucking library and couldn’t go back for her. The damn media was all over the place along with the mercenaries shadowing the hostages 24/7 according to the news. He was standing in the main lobby of Jackdawls lair his eyes glued to his tablet screen scanning the news looking for her blonde hair in the crowd. Nothing. She wasn’t there, he’d know if she was. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh as his anxiety grew by the second. He was like a bomb ready to explode. More so he couldn’t leave yet. Jack apparently was going to need him in their next mission or some shit. Looking for someone to blame he spotted Veezarus across the way and marched over and got up in his face, “Hey asshole. Jackdawl still hasn’t paid me for this job yet. I’m not doing another one until he does.”

The lizard glared at him and pushed him away from his face, the little shit was smart enough to not counter back.
“He didn’t pay you the twenty thousand yet?”
“No, we made another arrangement. He’d spare the blonde nymphs life and give her to me.”
“Did you get her as we left?”
“How could I?! You all just opened fire on the entire place and practically threw me into a truck and drove away before I could! I require my payment!”
“You didn’t do shit. You’re lucky we’re going to pay you-”
A familiar smell wafted past him and made him stop his sentence. The ocean, powder and lavender, he had smelled that before. Once when he was with Daniels, the shit was all over him and another when he was taking out Victor…the girl! He smirked and turned his head towards the source a little blonde in a female uniform.
“Well looks like you don’t know her as well as you think.”
“How dare you say that! I love her she is my everything and-”
“Well she sneaked on one of the trucks in a uniform and walked by you without you even knowing.”
“….What?”
“…Right there walking up the stairs. Holding a tablet in her hands.”
“How dare she run from me…Excuse me, I need to get her.”
“Allow me to assist you since we were late on our payment…”

Luci was almost to Angela’s room. She smiled in triumph that she was able to do it without getting lost once! A buzzing in her breast pocket startled her as she turned the corner and entered a long narrow hallway; her phone hadn’t lite up or anything so she tried her best to ignore it. As the buzzing persisted she found herself getting aroused by the vibration of her entire left breast. She felt her nipples tighten and brush against the fabric of her bra with every step she took quickening her breathing. It had been too long since she felt like this. Strangely enough Akira crossed her mind and his muscular body made her face grow even redder as she stumbled down the hall. The buzzing stopped leaving her flustered and slightly wet. Trying to maintain some sort of dignity she quickened her stride.

Luci’s world came smashing down for the third time that day when a rough hand painfully gripped her shoulder and threw her up against the wall and she slid down to the floor clutching her head. Through blurry vision she looked up at her attackers. A familiar blonde head and voice made her stomach sink, “How could you…leave me? My little nymph…” He flipped her over onto her back and grabbed her shoulders, surely bruising them and shook her violently shouting this time, “HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME!” Luci whimpered feeling tears pour into her eyes, “Please…stop…” He chuckled darkly, “Oh I’ll stop when I feel you learned your lesson.”
Veezarus yawned loudly and side stepped the two on the floor,
“Well Ben you got your payment.”
“Yes I did thank you.”
“Try not to leave too big of a mess in your quarters now, and remember Jackdawl’s speech, you got to be there too.”
“Fine fine fine.”
Luci looked at the man dead in the eye her body features pleading for him to help her but he just winked and walked away from the two, “Have fun…” Benjamin then lifted Luci up in his arms bridal style and began the walk to his room.

Sloan stared blankly at the screen as her cherry lollipop threatened to fall out of her gaping mouth, “And I will never stalk client’s phones again.” She was about to exit out of the camera when her guilt began to creep up on her. Her curiosity had already been banging on her head from the get go as she compiled the video feed into a message and she sent it to Akira with a message,
-Looks like your girlfriend is in trouble. Don’t let her die this is too good of a drama :D

[Thundercat]

Shadow ID Whiskey 3424 / Victor Vladov / Kara Do'Vosho / Sláine 'Sloan' Sirona

Shadow sat amongst a number of his operatives inside the compounds of the Aegius Security headquarters based in Chicago. Men and women of a variety of races began to gear up and brief themselves as much as possible on their opponent, all the while convincing themselves that this was not a suicide mission. The few operatives beside Shadow typed away at their computers attempting to locate Lucina Cobbs, but with only a name and a few features it was a difficult task. Capturing and killing terrorists was their job, finding kidnappers and rescuing their victims was not. "Blonde hair and blue eyes gentleman" Kara said aloud as they typed away. "We'd probably be there by now if that fucking kid hadn't run off." Victor added. He had accompanied Aegius back to base, along with Kara. Both preferred to be amongst mercenaries than PMC's, "Are the PMC's having any luck?" Shadow asked an operative beside him, "No sir, but they've used the hostages descriptions to develop a drawn image of her" Victor scoffed, "We need a location, not a damn picture."
"I agree detective. Playing hide and seek isn't our area of expertise" As the words left the operative's mouth Victor came to a sudden realization and quickly reached into his temporary police jacket, pulling out his cellphone and making sure to move away from the crowd of mercenaries. Victor had Sloan's number on speed dial and with the press of a button dialed her number.

By now Sláine had pieced together that this Lucina girl was involved in the library attack which peaked her interest tenfold. She had never associated herself with terrorists or politicians, but evidence from earlier proved that the girl was a victim in the situation, not a suspect. Her headset began to ring and simultaneously Victors name, face, location, information, address, everything was on her computer screen. She was delighted to see he was calling, they spoke about two hours ago and his location at the time was inside the Chicago Public Library. She thought him for dead and with pleasure tapped a button on her headset, answering the phone call. "Still alive are we?" Victor laughed and wasn't surprised Sloan was already up to date on the situation. "In a way I guess I am, but i've got a bit of a situation. What can you tell me about a girl by the name Lucina Cobbs? She was in the library with me." Sloan's eyes shot open with curiosity and she immediately twirled around in her chair to face another screen and began typing away. She remained silent for a moment and Victor turned around to meet Kara's gaze, he gave a smile and a small wave before turning back around. Footage from the Aegius HQ's security cameras appeared on all of Sloan's monitors and she grew uneasy.

"What are you doing with mercenaries Victor? This shouldn't be any of your business."
"I'm not going to give your name out if that's what your worried about. I'm not sure what it is, but watching that Jackdawl guy put a bullet into some helpless woman's brain, i'd give myself even more trouble sleeping at night if I didn't do something about it." Sloan perched her lips, she felt like a fool for not realizing that it wasn't the girl they were interested in, it was the terrorists. "She's with them right now Vic, i'll send you the address. Just know I wouldn't do something like this for anyone though, I know you're good for it and this whole situation's got my interest."
"You're a savior, you know that?"
"Stay safe detective" With the press of a button on her headset Sloan ended the call and began to silence all her phone lines, for the rest of the evening her attention would be on Victor and Akira, by far her hottest clients at the moment.

Victor approached Kara and spoke loud enough so only her and Shadow could hear. "Don't ask how, but i've got the girls location right now and she's with Jackdawl." Shadow instantly turned around in his seat and stood up "Where are they?" his voice was robotic and somewhat muffled due to his mask, it was hard to tell if he was human or not. Victor handed Shadow his cellphone who quickly grabbed it and took it to his computer, converting the address into a set of coordinates and opening the GPS image on the screen. "What is your source, detective?"
"I promised not to give out a name, but i've worked with them in the past and can only give you my word they're reliable." Shadow stared into the image of an abandoned warehouse surrounded by trees for what seemed like an eternity. This was their only lead. "Send these coordinates to the PMC's, tell them to prep for an assault immediately." He suddenly shouted and tossed the detective back his phone "Get a gun and a headset" With that he walked off passed Victor and Kara with haste, "GEAR UP" He shouted, and every operative jumped up, immediately preparing to assault Jackdawl's base of operations.

---

Jackdawl / Veezarus / Lucina Cobbs / Benjamin Daniels

"Send these coordinates to the PMC's, tell them to prep for an assault immediately."

The words echoed through a dark and seemingly empty room with no clear entrance or exit anywhere. The only light in the room came from several projected screens that looked as if they were floating in air. Each projected screen had live video feed from the many surveillance cameras within the Aegius Security HQ based in Chicago and surrounded Jackdawl who sat in a metal chair, his hands in his coat pockets and his head bowed, staring at the floor, listening to the whole situation in very deep thought. The darkness of the room was so intense it looked as if he could stand up from the chair and walk in any direction into an endless space of nothing. "GEAR UP!" Jackdawl cocked his head to the side at the sound of mercenaries preparing for battle. It was difficult to tell whether he was upset or not. The images floating around Jackdawl switched to the warehouse's surveillance cameras. Picking his head up Jackdawl slowly observed the video feed until he spotted his reptilian assassin walking throughout the compound. "Veezarus" he said aloud before looking towards the floor once more. About three seconds later Veezarus appeared from his cloud of green smoke. "It seems there's been a change of plans"

Benjamin practically marched down the hallway like a viking the way he carried Luci to his quarters, approaching his assigned room without haste he set her on her feet and grabbed her by the wrist as he turned the doorknob. The door swung open and Benjamin shoved Luci inside the room before quickly entering himself and slamming the door shut behind him. Benjamin turned and gave Luci a disturbing glare as he slowly began to walk towards her, "I know what we have is special I just know" Benjamin pulled Luci's mask off and tossed it to the side, pulling her in close he gently began to stroke her cheek with his right hand and placed his left on her hip, "My darling nymph, i'm so glad to have you back, I truly am, the whole way here I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the many things I want to do to you," Benjamin slowly began to move in for a kiss, where as Luci didn't hesitate to knee him with all her strength in the groin causing him to fall to his knees, out of breath.

"I'll die before satisfying your sick fantasies fucking pig," Luci tried running for the door but Benjamin grabbed her ankle as she moved past him and she fell to the ground, "You bitch!" he shouted gripping tightly onto her leg. He pulled her towards him and climbed onto her, placing his hands on her shoulders he greatly overpowered her, "You are MINE now you hear me?! MINE!" Luci spat into Benjamin's face and he immediately struck her with the back of his hand, which seemed to be enough to make her submissive. With that he ripped open her shirt to reveal the thick folder containing information on Operation Freedom. Benjamin paused for a moment, picking up the folder he tossed it to the side and turned his attention back towards Luci as well as her body. A sickening smile overcame his face as he frantically began to undo his belt, when suddenly Veezarus burst through the door causing Benjamin to jump. Veezarus simply stared at him as well as a sobbing Luci for a moment "Get the fuck out!" Benjamin shouted. "Jackdawl wants to see the girl." He said blankly. "Why?!"
"None of your concern,"
"She's mine!" Veezarus approached Benjamin, kicking him hard in the chest and off of Luci. He grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled her up, her shirt was still ripped open and her cheek a bright red. "Bring me with you!" Benjamin shouted as he stood up. "Get your things together, we're relocating within the hour." With that Veezarus vanished into a cloud of smoke, along with Luci.

Jackdawl hadn't moved from his position in the chair, the floating screens with live video feed from the surveillance cameras still shone onto him as he sit still awaiting Veezarus, who eventually reappeared holding Luci by the arm. "Give us a moment," Jackdawl ordered. Veezarus didn't hesitate to disappear back into smoke. Jackdawl stood up, his hands still in his coat pockets as he approached Luci. The floating screens surrounding Jackdawl followed him every step of the way as he walked towards Luci. He stopped in place a few inches away from her and the floating screens now surrounded the both of them. The live video feed cut to an image of Jackdawl's mask. Slowly and gently he removed his hands from his coat pockets and placed them on Luci, buttoning up her shirt as he spoke in a light tone.

"For a moment I was going to kill you and your friend Mr. Daniels, but after pondering the situation I came to realize you coming here has given me a marvelous opportunity. You have helped me far more than you realize and I must thank you for doing so," after doing the final button Jackdawl reached into Luci's shirt pocket and pulled out her cellphone, then placed both his hands back into his coat pockets. The floating images of Jackdawl's mask suddenly switched to a video of what seemed to be a birthday party. "Blow out the candles Luci!" cheering from the video could be heard as a younger Luci blew out her birthday candles. Jackdawl spoke blankly as the video played and stared at Luci, eager to witness her reaction.

"What are you afraid of, Lucina Cobbs?"

[SaraRPs]

Lucina Cobbs/Benjamin Daniels/Jackdawl/Carson Maxtor

Luci’s breath was coming out in short quick gasps, she was hyperventilating. ‘So this is what a panic attack feels like. ..’ She felt like her chest was going to explode, she was breathing but it was like no oxygen was coming into her body just burning a burning emptiness that was making her head swim. Luci had always thought they were bullshit excuses people made like her friend Katie from the second grade she had panic attacks all the time and would practically…The image on Jackdawls screens changed to Luci and Katie surrounded by their classmates, Luci trying to get Katie to breathe into a paper bag. Her hair was in braids wrapped in blue ribbons, that was the year her dad had showed her the Wizard of Oz and she was obsessed with….the screens changed again with Luci and a younger happier version of her father sitting watching the movie in the mansion they’d just lost to the bank….screen changes to Luci a few days after her high school graduation watching as the bank takes all the furniture and her father arguing with the movers.

“Stop it…STOP IT STOP IT!!” She screamed facing away from him clutching her aching head. She sobbed and bent over to try and stop the images of her past from coming up and onto the screen, they were all happy memories but now they were just a painful reminder of what was. Jackdawl chuckled and came close to her taking her gently by the shoulder. “You should sit down…you’re a little pale.” He led her over to a plush chair and sat her down. She curled up into it letting its strange warmth ingulf her still seizing body. He laughed again,

“Heated closed spaces are known to relief stress and panic something about the womb apparently our inner infant taking comfort in it.” Luci tried to ignore that comment, she never was in a heated warm space she couldn’t stand being wrapped up in blankets as a baby nor did she want to remember being a baby. “Well isn’t this a lovely image…” His screen showed her father looking younger than she’d ever seen him in a dirty shirt and what looked like her screaming in his arms. “Sulci I can’t do this…please…” Luci’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock, before Jackdawl could even open his mouth water formed around her hands as she shot an ice ball at his screen “I said STOP!” It exploded against the screen and the image went blank again. Luci shrank inside the seat in fear of what repercussions she was going to face for doing that, except he was silent until a sharp shrill of laughter echoed from across the room.

The man made his way over to them carting many worn out books behind him, trying to contain his excitement as he pulled to a stop right in front of her. He was breathing heavily as he pulled out a little stool from the cart placing it on the floor and he sat down in it taking out a paper and pad adjusting his glasses looking egerly at her,

“Incredible! Water formation and your only a Halfling? And you have a lot of control of your ice! Amazing. Do you have a tail?”
“No…I-”
“So no underwater breathing? Hm. Shame. How long can you hold your breath though?”
“…Last time I checked maybe five minutes?” He jotted something down on the pad nodding profusely.
“Astounding. To think how adaptable supernatural genes can just mold with humanoidic anatomy and adjust to their body structures to create…something so wonderful.”
Luci did not like the way this man was staring at her, it was like Daniels but it was something similar…a hunger but not for what Daniels wanted something eviler. Luci glanced up at Jackdawl as he had been completely silent this entire time as he settled into a plush chair of his own.
“What do you want from me?”
“What I want will be reviled in good time but for now, I want to know something else. What are you most afraid of, Lucina Cobbs?”

Benjamin paced his room as the green smoke started to clear. Hey took her from him liars liars liars liars liars liars their all liars. They said he could have her! So warm…so young…so sweet he hadn’t tasted her yet it wasn’t fair! Delicious…pure…MINE She was his not theirs yet they took her away from him just like that. To ravish her probably, to defile her, bet she’d like it too. Little whore, she needed to be taught a lesson. They would die for separating them from each other, he would make them pay. “Fuck…FUCK FUCK FUCK!!” He’d already destroyed his room, all his clothes lay on the floor, and the little gifts he had sent for her from Paris were ripped open out of the expensive silk wrapping paper and tossed all over the floor. Don’t even get him started on the furniture. They deserved it. He turned to the wall and banged his head against it releasing sighs of relief. When he did that the pain stopped and the annoying buzzing seized as well but only for a moment, it was a sign that he needed to get back to her.

Walking to his suitcase about to pack a few things and go to collect Luci he stepped over a vanilla envelope, he remembered that it fell from his sweet Lucina’s cleavage as he was about to ravish her. He took it into his hands and smelled it, her amazing scent was still on it. Operation Freedom he had no idea why his darling had that with her but from the way she was grabbing at it once he threw it away from her meant that she really cared about it. Ben’s mouth twisted into a statistic smile, what an amazing make up gift this will be! To say that he was sorry about being a rough with her, but still he wanted revenge. He had been holding out on Jack about his…talents he had a few tucked away for emergencies and this was one of them. He reached under his bed and pulled out a silver briefcase opening it as the plan began to form in his sick mind.

“…Well little nymph, everything I’ve read about you kind is true! So exciting..” The man was now flipping through book after book stopping to read a few pages and putting slips of paper in to bookmark them. Luci was in disbelief, she looked up at Jackdawl in confusion, “
“Who is he and why is he here?”
“This is Dr. Maxtor the latest and up and coming researcher in supernatural beings.”
Maxtor snorts and looks up at Jackdawl, “This guy right here just scoops me up at Harvard and plops me here with all the toys I can think of to play with he’s a godsend.” Luci scoffed.
Jackdawl just smiles, “So Dr. Maxtor what are we looking at?”
Maxtor shuffles through his tablet and starts to read off of it, “She is a perfect specimen of a sup and human genetic product. She possesses all the abilities of a Nymph, given that they don’t all come as naturally as they do her kin. But training from another Halfling or full Nymph would fix that…now about the pheromones? Oh boy that is 100% Nymph right there.
The little blob got her attention there, “Pheromones? What is he talking about?!”
“Now now don’t get your little nonexistent fins in a twist. I can’t believe you haven’t noticed already…” Jack smiled and looked down at the man, “Perhaps she needs some education Doctor.”
“If you say so Boss. So I like to think that water Nymphs are basically mermaids on crack. They are faster, smarter, more civilized, and more cunning. Every creature whether human or sup secretes a scent, now usually that scent is only noticed by another of their kind but when it comes to mermaids their singing and pheromones lure sailors and regular men to their deaths, as you probably know from folklore, boring. But Nymphs they don’t have to sing. They don’t even have to try it just starts comes off of them by the time they reach sexual maturity and it’s noticeable to humans AND sups. Which is why I call them mermaids on crack. Haven’t you noticed that boys were always more attracted to you than other girls at first sight? That they tried to date you repeatedly?”
“…Well yes but it was never to the extreme they’d get over it after a while.”
Maxtor laughed, “Which meant they were all human, humans adapt well to Sup kind and once they've smelled your pheromones enough it wears off. Which is the difference between you and a mermaid, a mermaid can control humans forever. But never sups and humans.” Jack sighed and looked bored
“Get on with it Carson.”
“Right right. So your pheromones actually give off an actual smell to supernatural creatures, usually to the opposite gender, and they can’t get enough of it. It’s like an addiction that they can never sate or get rid of soon it starts to drive them a little nutty and then full on crazy and a hazard. Take Benjamin for example, that man lost his damn mind the moment he captured you and just keeps getting worse and worse the more he’s away from you. I’m curious as to how he’s acting right now after 10 minutes of separation.”
“What does this got to do with anything?” It was Jackdawl’s turn to speak,
“Well nothing at first but now we know that Carson’s hypothesis was correct your pheromones affect most supernatural creatures the same. We've scratched out women and homosexual men however as your scent has no affect whatsoever. ” His screens lit up again showing his goons as they fought with each other and banged their heads against the walls. “This is the screen of the men who were in th truck with you from the mission for only five minutes and this is fifteen minutes away from you.” His screen switched to something more horrifying and disturbing. Goons were another room masturbating profusely and fucking any female they could get their hands on, “We found your clothes next to our officers you knocked out and hid them in the room getting these results after ten minutes.”
Maxtor was looking at her with a sick look of pride on his face, “Now we test my next hypothesis. Do you have control over them?”

Luci stared at the screen in silent fear. This was not going to end well at all. “What are you going to do with me?”

[Thundercat]

Jackdawl / Veezarus / Benjamin Daniels / Carson Maxtor

"Carson" Jackdawl said boldly, and began to tap his watch. "We don't have time for anymore testing" Carson gave Jackdawl a look of desperation, almost pleading for more time, but knew better than to question his boss. "Very well than," He said disappointed "Would you like me to-" Jackdawl put a hand up, as to keep him from saying the rest out loud, and nodded. "Luci, Mr. Maxtor here is going to take some samples of your blood. Please cooperate." With that Carson wheeled his cart beside Luci as she sat still and pulled out a medical kit. Limping over to Luci with the support of a cane he proceeded to put on a pair of gloves, tie a rubber band around her upper arm and dab her forearm in alcohol, Jackdawl spoke as he did so, "Ms. Cobbs, you are a very interesting specimen and we look forward to exploring your potential. Unfortunately our headquarters has been compromised, and as a result our research will be prolonged for quite some time. I'm sorry to say, but until we relocate you will be under Mr. Daniels watch." Carson pulled out a syringe filled with a yellow liquid and began to inject it into Luci. "This should suppress your pheromones, we don't want the entire base going mad." with that he placed two bandages on Luci's forearm separated by a few inches, "You may be more prone to sweating" Carson remarked, half chuckling. Jackdawl stood up "Very well, we're done here."

The three walked down a long hallway on the second floor of the warehouse which lead to a balcony that overlooked the lobby of the building where all of Jackdawl's soldiers stood, crowding the area and awaiting his speech. Veezarus could be seen walking down the hallway approaching the group. "Preparations are in order,"
"You motherfucker!" suddenly an angry Benjamin stomped down the hallway approaching Jackdawl, Carson limped away from him and Veezarus gladly moved out of the man's way. "How dare you take my nymph from me! We had an agreement, she is mine!" The moment Benjamin came within range Jackdawl didn't hesitate to jab his neck with his right hand, his fingers practically stabbing Ben's throat. It happened in almost an instant and left Benjamin stunned and surprised, he grabbed onto his neck and began to cough roughly. Jackdawl gripped his throat muffling his coughs and making it difficult for him to breath, his face was instantly red. "Your nymph has already proven to be more useful than you with no effort on her part. Do not let your obsession blind you, do not forget who you are speaking to. I'm in a very good mood at the moment, consider yourself lucky," Jackdawl released Benjamin, his coughing returned and his face slowly began to fade to it's original color, he had to stop himself from collapsing. "Her name is Lucina, by the way," Jackdawl remarked with a hint of sarcasm before walking off. Veezarus approached Benjamin, "Do you have your things together?" he asked, Benjamin only nodded as he tried to regulate his breathing. "There's a car out back, keys are in the ignition. In about half an hour Jackdawl wants you to take the girl to Bloomington and wait there for further instructions. Drive on the freeway, do not take backroads." Veezarus placed his hand on Benjamin's shoulder, and moved in close, speaking in a silent and wicked tone, "Don't try to run,"

All of Jackdawl's soldiers waited with anticipation in the lobby for his speech, most talked amongst eachother, some merely stood in silence, other's couldn't handle the restlessness and began beating the crap out of eachother senselessly, unable to suppress their psychotic behavior. It was unethical to place so many criminals in one room amongst eachother, However as Jackdawl approached the balcony and stood still, overlooking everybody, they all slowly began to grow quiet as they realized he had arrived and eagerly looked up towards him. Jackdawl climbed over the balcony and casually sat on the ledge, in a few moments it seemed like the entire warehouse was dead silent. "Over the years, our numbers have dwindled, but you all continue to amaze me. I can't seem to find the words to show my appreciation for every single one of you. You handled today's assignment with grace and expertise, I am awfully proud to call you all my children. " Jackdawl slowly removed his hands from his coat pockets and began to clap. In earnest everybody follow and applauded as well. Jackdawl lifted a hand into the air and the clapping immediately ceased. "There has been a change of plans, however. Our home has been compromised, and at this very moment the military is making their way here to apprehend me."

The crowd was taken aback, worried murmurs erupted all over, "Do not panic, this is a good thing. This is absolutely a good thing. You will all relocate to a temporary home, in Bloomington, sadly I will not be joining you." Jackdawl dropped from the balcony and landed with ease onto the first floor, he stood up and began to walk amongst his soldiers. "They will claim that I have been caught, they will say my reign of terror has come to an end, they will say many things. My children, do not believe a word. It is all part of a plan, spare yourself the worry. Spend these next few weeks in the company of eachother, enjoy yourselves, and above all else behave, you all carry my will and goals within you. I will not be gone long, and we will return with a vengeance I assure you all." As he walked amongst the crowd of psychopaths, murderers, drug abusers, orphans, outcasts, they all looked to their leader with undying faith. One soldier couldn't keep silent as he walked by and spoke up, "J-Jackdawl!" He turned to face the young man, "Yes, my child?"
"....Have we started the fire?" Jackdawl approached the young man, and placed his hand on his arm as to reassure him and everybody else. "The fire burns with life and violence," he turned to face his soldiers that surrounded him. "Pack your things, we have less than an hour."

---

Shadow ID Whiskey 3424 / Victor Vladov / Kara Do'Vosho / Donald Kennedy

By now it was around seven o'clock and the sun was beginning to set as approximately a dozen Aegius trucks moved through the streets of Chicago and eventually out of the city and onto the freeway, accompanied by three attack helicopters. The mercenaries had severely underestimated Jackdawl before, and would make sure not to do so again. Sitting in one of the three were Shadow, along with Victor, Kara, and two other mercenaries, all wore headsets and body armor and overlooked the city as they flew past the towering buildings. "Sir" The voice came from Shadow's headset, "I just received word the council just deemed Jackdawl number one on the nations most wanted list, they've got half the military making their way towards that warehouse. If things go south they're on stand-by to bomb the place, no exceptions" Shadow sat, speechless, but understood what was at stake. "Keep quiet about this,"
"The entire crew is already aware, sir, they're aware of the risks and are willing to press on," Shadow was glad to hear he was among courageous soldiers. "ETA 45 minutes,"

Donald Kennedy sat amongst the rest of the council in their chamber, eagerly watching and listening to a live feed coming from their military helicopters and vehicles. He was the first to suggest Jackdawl be dealt with immediately and the first to suggest bombing the warehouse the moment they were informed that the building was a possible base of operations. He sat with courage, dignity and composure among the rest of the council members, showing no sign of fear whatsoever.

[SaraRPs]

Lucina Cobbs/Carson Maxtor/Benjamin Daniels/Veezarus /Sláine 'Sloan' Sirona

“I believe these belong to you.” Lucina looked down at the short balding man in front of her and then to the stoic goon that stood beside him holding out the clothes she left back in the library. Luci blinked and stuttered,
“H-How did you-”
The midget chuckled and wiped his glasses off of his lab coat, “Honey we send men back to our so called ‘crime scenes’ all the time to clean up anything we don’t want law enforcement to find.” The goon took a step closer to her holding out the clothes a bit more forcefully his face was also slowly turning pink by the second. Maxtor rubbed his temple and rolled his eyes, “Private Buckner, for the millionth time, her abilities will not affect you unless you’re around her for an extended period of time so you do not have to hold your breath.” The man glanced down at Maxtor then back at the wall still not breathing. Maxtor sighed looking at Luci, “Look he’s not going to breath around you so unless you wanna watch me give him oxygen when he passes out take the clothes.” Luci quickly took her clothes from his hands and he dropped her messenger bag by her feet, saluted then left quickly out of the room.

“Honestly people can be so ignorant. Am I right?” Luci gave him no response; a burning in her arm was bothering her. She absentmindedly rubbed her arm as she shuffled back and forth on her feet. Maxtor took quick note of this and began listing off the possible side effects, “From my gatherings and feedback since, I’m the genius who created this subjects had one or multiple symptoms, numbness or burning in the injection site, headache, small fever, rash etcetera etcetera. Now please go change. The female members would like that uniform back for…sentimental purposes.”
“Why?” Luci asked in a small voice.
“The members you knocked out and stripped naked were caught a few minutes ago and will probably go to jail for the rest of their lives. Bathrooms right over there.” Luci picked up her bag and headed into the restroom locking the door behind her. She walked up to the sink and looked in the mirror. Her flushed appearance and red eyes were tear breakers for her but she refused to cry as she filled up her water bottle and stuffed it into her bag and splashed water on her face.

Benjamin sighed loudly as the goons continued their annoying squawking at each other. They were trying to gather together all the things Jackdawl wanted him to have for his ‘mission’ as they called it. It wasn’t a mission he was only putting his love and himself in more danger and further away from their happiness by staying in this mess. And it really irritated him. They loved torturing him; as soon as they were reunited they were separated again making the headache and buzzing come back tenfold. And these…teenagers, not even old enough to be called me were running around too much and it was making him nervous. Finally fed up with it he slammed his hand on the counter in front of him making all movement seize and them looking at him like he was crazy, “If you three don’t give me the fucking stuff in the next ten seconds…I…will…kill…you.” The stayed still for a moment before one shakingly approached him. He weakly saluted to him and laid out his things.

“This is the chip that goes into your GPS Sir; just put it in the SIM drive, when you get to our compound destroy it immediately though.” The boy then produced him with a police like gun and handcuffs, “This is to be used if you’re attacked and these are to restraint the cargo-” Ben reached across the counter and pulled the boy by his collar up in his face, “She.Is.Not.Cargo. She is my special someone, I love her and will not put handcuffs on her.” The boy shook in fear and swallowed opening his cracked lips, “Orders from the Boss Sir. Can’t violate them..” Ben let out a huff and pushed the guy to the ground grabbing everything and putting it in his leather jacket pockets. “Car’s gonna be in the front of the building with the key in it!” One called back to him. He just gave them the middle finger.

Carson hummed a happy tune as he studied an anatomical sketch of a male sphinx his old college professor gave to him a few years ago. A full note pad he had done on this creature and had still not civilized one successfully at the end of his career and well into his retirement. Carson smiled at the thought of bringing on to her as a pet, yes this will be his next project after the Nymph business is done and Jackdawl pays him his fees. The door swung open and he reluctantly brought his gaze from the sketch and to a frazzled Mr. Daniels Carson smiled and pulled out his recorder thinking about how fun this was going to be,
“Hello Ben Daniels. What seems to be the matter?”
“Where is she doc? She was here last time I was here…”
“She’s in the bathroom changing, now would you look at this marvelous sketch here? I know you would appreciate its craftmensh-”
“I don’t give a fuck about your stupid drawing just where is my Lucina?!” Carson wasn’t surprised many of the affected were not susceptible to think of anything else but their catalyst. He was at a stage of obsession that he’d never seen before, and Carson found it…curious.

Lucina opened the door of the bathroom now changed in her old clothes and looking slightly fresher than she did before. She had a stoic face on as she walked up to Maxtor and handed him the clothes, he jumped back and pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and put all of it into a medical plastic bag, probably for more experiments. He removed the gloves and clapped his hands together, “Well I’ll see you kids at the compound then huh? Great? Great. Miss Cobbs you and I are going to have fun in that lab.” This earned a growl from Daniels but Maxtor ignored him and started pushing his cart, that seemed to go everywhere with him into a door disappearing from their sight.

Lucina and Daniels stared at each other for a moment, she resisting the urge to fall to pieces out of her intense fear of him and the memory of all the vial acts he’d done to her, as he began to walk towards her the desires and insanity clear in his blue eyes. He revealed a pair of handcuffs and looked at her apologetically, “I’m so sorry about this but Jackdawl is insisting on these things.” Surprisingly gentle he placed them both firmly on her wrists constricting their movement, “Does it hurt?” He was expecting an answer, so Luci just shook her head. He gave her a crooked smile that would make any naive girl swoon but behind it was just a sick façade, a mask. Suddenly he grabs her hair, it doesn’t cause her any pain, and in fact he began to stroke it, “I’m so sorry… about everything I’ve done. I don’t know what’s wrong with me it’s like I’m just so protective and I’m so in love with you just please forgive me...” He placed his cold lips against her forehead and she winced at the contact. He didn’t notice. Daniels took her by the arm and goes through the front door of the place where a black Mercedes was waiting for them.

Naturally he got her into the car first and buckled her seat belt. After he got in and started it he locked all the doors. She looked at him and he looked as if he regretted it again, “I’m so sorry baby, part of his rules.” Daniels pulled out of the lot speeding down the road after placing the GPS SIM card in. They sat in silence, him keeping a tight grip on the steering wheel taking glances at her every once in a while and her just staring out the window. ‘Is this what giving up feels like? It just feels like emptiness and nothing.’ She’s merely just accepted her fate. That she was a slave to a terrorist organization and their leader had taken her only form of communication to the outside world but mainly from him. He could of only liked her because of her so called ‘scent’ anyway. She didn’t know nor did she care. It was not like she was going to see him again, ‘I’ve officially disappeared.’ That was the thought that ran through her mind as the car hit the interstate only ten minutes till she was gone forever.

[Thundercat]

Akira Takizawa / Sláine 'Sloan' Sirona

"You're about two miles away,"
"How do I know which car?"
"There are barely any vehicles on this road, but you're looking for a Black Mercedes." Akira looked around the area with a determined look as he sped down a rather empty freeway. Bright green plains and trees surrounded the road in every direction along with a sunset that turned the sky orange. He was a nervous wreck earlier and the video Sloan sent only amplified his anxiety tenfold. She was better off in the hands of that maid. As bad as the situation was, the long drive somewhat calmed Akira down. The weather was mildly warm and his open-faced helmet allowed Akira to feel the cool wind as it rushed into his face. In another context the drive could have been relaxing. "Oh, she's alive by the way. Probably kinda mad though," Sloan remarked sarcastically as she sat in her room, legs propped onto her chair and a small bowl of cherries in her arms. "Yeah, probably.." Akira tightly gripped onto his cellphone as he increased his speed. "Hey, Sloan, who's in the car with her? Is it that guy from the video?"
"Yeah, his names Mr. Daniels I believe. I don't know if he's a magic user but there's a high probability he's armed, and he's totally got the hots for your girl," Akira frowned, "He likes Luci?"
"He's obsessed, and even that's an understatement, something about the girl's pheromones or something,"
"Phero..mones? What's a phero-"
"You're closing in on the vehicle,"

Looking up Akira could see a vehicle in the distance, "You said Black Mercedes right?"
"Roger" As he was closing in on the car Akira took a deep breath, he wasn't really sure what he was going to do but first he wanted to actually see Luci for himself. He didn't doubt Sloan when she said she was alive but he wanted to believe his eyes as well, it had been almost six hours since he last saw the blood bathed maid. "Talk to you soon," Akira hung up the phone and placed it in his pocket before gripping the handle bars of the motorcycle. He was right behind the car at this point. Moving into the lane on the right of the vehicle he accelerated for a moment until he was right beside the passenger window.

He paced the speed of the motorcycle with that of the vehicle and turned his head to the left, looking into the passenger window and directly at Luci. For a moment he thought this was the wrong vehicle, Akira didn't recognize her at all, but then it clicked that this was the first time he saw face clearly, when they met she was practically covered in blood. Akira caught her eye and gave a big smile to hide how nervous he was, she looked completely fine though, as far as he could tell. His anxiety drained away at her reaction to seeing him. He took a moment to inspect the man that kept her hostage, he was focused on driving and didn't seem to notice him driving beside the car. Looking back at Luci he gave a reassuring smile and placed his finger on his lips, gesturing her to keep silent. Akira lifted his hand outwards towards Luci and using his telekinesis rolled her window down. The vehicles keys shot out of the ignition and into his hands

Akira accelerated in front of the car and slowed down along with it as it came to an inevitable stop. He unstrapped his helmet and dismounted from his motorcycle. Casually leaning on his bike, Akira held his helmet under his left arm and the car keys dangling in his right, awaiting the drivers reaction.

[SaraRPs]

Lucina Cobbs / Akira Takizawa / Benjamin Daniels

He was actually there. He...actually came for her. He was right there on his motorcycle like they were just casually passing by on the freeway. She straightened her posture from practically laying on the window to facing her entire body towards him her shackled hands on the pane as a small smile crossed her entire face.
Ben looked towards her not expecting to see his angel with her seat belt off almost crawling out the window, "Lucina please put on your seat belt- wait...what?"

Luci gasped as Akira's hand reached out and the window magically rolled down. This was the first time Luci had ever witnessed his powers before and she was shocked. The wind rushed in the vehicle filling it with fresh piney air of the forest surrounding the highway causing Luci's hair to come out of its bun and whip around her face.
Ben, still not noticing the Japanese guy on the motorcycle chuckled, "Honey I know its stuffy in here but you must let-" His words trailed off as a motorcyclist suddenly hit the gas and sped off right in front of him, he moved to shift the car but nothing worked. It was then he realized that the keys were gone.

Luci had to admit she was scared when Akria took the keys out but she actually felt alive again, well more so than she had in the past few hours, plus she did plan on ripping him a new one for getting her into this mess, which was a bonus. She yelped as the car swiveled sharply to the right and left as Ben let out some unexpected curses then finally slammed the breaks causing Luci to jolt forward, slamming her head on the dashboard making the world fuzzy for a minute though she could see the image of Akira in front of the car.
Ben slammed his hands down on the steering wheel, "Damnnit! So this is your little squeeze huh?! Well you get to watch me end him." He then reached back and grabbed the gun from the backseat and hooked a still dazed Luci's cuffs over the emergency break, locking her into place. He got out of the car and cocked the weapon raising it to the cocky Jap twirling the keys around his hand and fired three shots to his chest, ignoring Luci's screams at him to stop.

Akira slightly jumped at the sound of gunshots but kept his casual posture. It looked as if the bullets hadn't done a thing, Akira's powers kicked in on instinct and the bullets floated inches from his chest, even he was surprised but you couldn't see it on his face. Smirking he decided to use this to his advantage.

"Hey, why so upset?" Akira shouted to Benjamin, "If you don't mind, i'd like my friend back," After trying to catch her eye for a moment, he waved at Luci once more.

"...The fuck..." Ben was at a loss for words, the bullets didn't hit him. No matter, he had more tricks up his sleeve. Without lowering his gun he walked to the back of the car and pressed the button to automatically open the trunk.

Luci saw Akira's eyes meet hers and she smiled and lifted her hand to wave back but was only met with a loud jerking sound and a painful pull at her wrists, her vision was clear enough to see that the bastard had put her cuffs around the emergency break. She worked to move them off but seeing Benjamin at the trunk set her into a panic. "Not that..." She pulled against the cuffs and shouted back at Ben, "HEY! No! Please don't do this! Ben...baby you don't have to do that please!" Saying baby in his direction churned her already sick stomach.

Ben didn't listen to her, this had to be done. He reached in and grunted as he lifted the heavy bazooka over his shoulder and walked towards Akira, "Shut up Lucina! Now you...won't take her away from me..." He pressed a button and was knocked on his ass as a large missile type thing launched at Akria.

Seriously?

The keys and helmet fell to the floor as Akira threw his hands up guiding the missile into the air. I guess i'll have to actually deal with this guy. Akira kicked his helmet, using his telekinesis to guide it straight into Benjamin's head. He wasn't sure if he was underestimating the guy and he didn't want to find out. Akira equipped his pistol from his coat pocket and approached the momentarily stunned Benjamin. He shot his hand towards the man launching him away from the car. With haste he ripped open the passenger door and at the flick of a wrist tore the cuffs from Luci's wrist's.

Akira backed away from the car to give Luci room to get out and kept his pistol trained on Benjamin with his left hand the entire time.

Ben's head clocked back at the impact of the assholes helmet. His left temple throbbed as he fell to the ground, bazooka forgotten as it dropped on the solid concrete. To make matters worse that fucking buzzing was back as he held his head in agony trying to get the world to stop spinning.

Luci stared at Akira in utter shock when her cuffs were removed instantly. This was something she'd have to get used to, and the look in Akira's eyes as he just attacked Ben, even though he was an insane asswipe, scared her a little. She just silently got out taking her messagner bag with her and practically bolted towards Akira's motorcycle not looking at the moaning Ben calling out to her. She straddled it looking at Akira nervously to follow suit.

Akira walked backwards momentarily, his gun still focused on Benjamin. He stayed on the floor though, moaning. Akira pointed his hand towards his helmet and pulled it towards him, it flew through the air and he caught with his free hand before turning his attention towards Luci and his bike. He handed the helmet to Luci and mustered up a smile for a quick second before hopping onto the motorcycle. Earlier when Akira approached the car it clicked that the guy on the floor was the guy from the video that Sloan sent. He wanted to leave as soon as possible before Benjamin provoked him more. "Come on" He muttered, keeping his attention on Benjamin. Akira looked around as Luci strapped on her helmet and spotted the car keys he had dropped earlier. He swatted his hand making the keys fly off into the forest.

Luci didn't return the smile this time her eyes kept dashing back and forth between the open road ahead and back at the crumpled up form that is Ben. She adjusted the helmet as she scooted closer to Akira's warm body, wrapping her arms around his toned stomach and resting her head upon his shoulder, still not feeling any less tense than she had been all day.

Ben's vision was clearing enough to see Akira's smug face smiling at his beloved. His blood boiled to see her snake her dirty arms around his middle and snuggle up to him. That should be him. Depression came over Ben as hot tears ran down his face at the sight of it, well if he couldn't have her no one could. If she wanted to live without him, then she didn't get to live. Numbly he reached over and picked up the bazooka once more and began forming a second missile out of the leftover pieces from the last one. He would end his life after he ended hers, life would be too painful without her.

Luci glanced back at Ben once more and her eyes widened as she saw him load the missile into the barrel and she shook Akira's arm yelling, "Go go go!" Ben whipped his head up and glared at the two when the missile was finally in place.

Akira jumped and turned to see Benjamin firing his bazooka. Without thinking he turned his body and shoved his hand hard into Luci's chest launching her off the bike as far as possible. In one motion he turned and tried to guide the missile past him, but it there wasn't enough time to properly adjust himself and was only able to guide it into the road about five yards from him, the missile exploded on impact and shoved Akira to the floor along with his bike. He couldn't help but chuckle in delight that Benjamin gave him an excuse.

Akira sat up onto his knees and swatted his hand even harder than before, ripping the bazooka from Benjamin's hands into the distance then slammed his fist into the pavement, causing the ground beneath Benjamin to shoot up in the shape of a spike, lifting him into the air. Quickly he stood up and approached Benjamin before attempting to punch him in the gut.

Luci yelped as Akira's palm slammed into her chest, sending her back a few feet towards the ground. She rolled a few feet before knocking against the railing of the highway. She groaned and slowly got up to see bits and pieces of metal falling out of the sky and Akira up on Ben about to attack him. That look in Akira's eyes would kill him and be OK with it, she had to stop him.

She got up and ran towards him grabbing his fist and yanking it away from Ben, "Stop! You don't have to do this Akira.."

The sight of Ben's love protecting him brought tears to his eyes. He whimpered and reached up to her only to have her boot hit him straight in his groin. He let out a chocked breath and rolled over to the side crying out as her leg hit his side, hard. Luci grabbed Akira's hand pulling him over to the bike and forced him onto it.

Akira almost retaliated when Luci grabbed his wrist and was in shock, but you couldn't see it. He said nothing and watched in surprise as Luci kicked him in the groin. Reluctantly he obeyed Luci as she pulled him towards the bike, while Luci strapped on her helmet Akira eyed Benjamin who remained on the floor in pain. He was confused but didn't want to avoid the opportunity to finally escape, without hesitating he revved the engine and drove onto the appropriate street before speeding down the freeway towards Chicago.

Luci kept her eyes shut as Akira started his bike and sped down the highway. She reveled the smell of the wind, a mixture of the upcoming city and nature, and Akira's distinctive smell emanating from his jacket. She didn't even both ignoring the way being pressed up against him made her feel. Warm and fuzzy, she didn't know what it meant but for now she would let herself feel it without guilt. She made it and was free. Taking a deep breath she let it out relaxing more against Akira as they sped down the freeway.

Ben looked at the flying bike get further and further away, he felt nothing. Cared about nothing, his pocket began to vibrate and roboticly he picked it up "Hello?....Package was lost, yes...Yakuza....i'm positive...alright i'll wait for the car." He hung up and continued to lay amungst the metal and wiring, feeling it give him some sort of comfort in his tragic state.

[Thundercat]

Akira Takizawa / Lucina Cobbs

By now it was around 8:00PM, Akira wasn't sure how far he had driven but it took an hour to reach Luci and by now the sun had set and the two were driving down the freeway in darkness, the only light provided from the motorycycle's one headlight. The entire drive back to Chicago was in complete silence, granted it was difficult to speak whilst on the motorcycle (which relieved Akira) but even so there wasn't any form of communication, only sounds of a loud engine and roaring winds were heard. The bike wasn't designed for long distance travel and by now the gas was almost depleted. The thought of having to call somebody for a ride was unpleasant, the only person he thought would keep quiet as to why he was so far out of the city was Shuya but-

Shuya!

Akira cursed under his breath, he immediatley rushed to the library when Luci called him and the following events completely took his mind off of the assignment Takiko had given him. He was sure Shuya could take on two bikers but Akira hadn't spoken to anybody since he was separated with his partner, he would have to explain where he had been. The sight of a gas station illuminating the dark freeway took Akira's mind off of the Yakuza, and he quickly turned to the right lane moments before turning into the gas station itself. He was sure Luci would infer why they had stopped here. He honestly wasn't looking forward to getting off the bike, he would have to say something to Luci. Anything really, he put the girl through hell. The feeling of her arms around his waist reminded him of how guilty he should be. The whole drive he couldn't muster up an appropiate apology, anything that came out of his mouth would basically come down to "Hey, sorry for getting you kidnapped and everything!" What an asshole. He wasn't going to avoid it though, his dumbass caused this mess so he was at least going to own up to it, it wasn't even the least he could do.

Inevitably Akira came to a stop beside a gas pump and switched off the engine. Instinctively he reached for his neck, but realized halfway the one helmet he owned was on Luci, so he couldn't unstrap his helmet after switching off the engine of the motorcycle, as was procedure. The immediate silence that followed the engine turning off drove Akira mad. He sucked it up though, putting on a straight face he dismounted the motorcycle and awkwardly glanced at Luci, "We're low on gas," was all he said before turning and walking into the convenient store. Halfway towards the door he realized he didn't ask her if she wanted something, or if she was hungry, or anything. No doubt he had never felt so guilty in his life, this was probably the worst thing he had ever put somebody through.

Well, somebody he cared about at least.

He walked through the store almost aimlessly, trying to ignore the fact he was avoiding Luci. He grabbed a candy bar he wasn't even sure if she'd like along with a small can of tea before approaching the counter and paid with a 20$ bill. "Put the rest on uh, I think 3?" The reptilian nodded and punched in some numbers on the register. Akira sighed heavily as he walked out of the convenient store, approaching Luci.

The girl was no longer there, she was on autopilot going through the motions. She kept a firm grip on the man's waist to not fall off the vehicle and hung her head low staring with unblinking eyes at the pavement below them. They pulled into a gas station and she let go of the man her eyes never leaving from their fixed gaze on the ground. The man's deep voice came out like hollow static to her not registering what he said in her mind to give back a response. Nothing was there but a dark void of numbness. Red. More red. Too much red. The halfling's blood all over the room and on her father's hands, the blood of the dead woman on the library floor. Her running away from him and...what he did to her. Having to pretend to be a terrorist, so much violence.

Luci blinked a few times as her consciousness came roaring back to life, all she saw was red. It was his fault that everything fucking happened to her, all because of some dipshit money debt to some fucking Asians! Why her of all people? Why her father? How dare he put her all through that delibratly and just walk away? Not say anything or acknowledge the events that led up to them being in the middle of nowhere? All Luci wanted to do was scream. She wanted to scream at him so much and cry and beat on him, but she couldn't. Not till they drew up a contract and then sign it, then she'll slap him.

Her head shot up as footsteps came into her field of vision, if course it was him seeing as they only people here. She got off the bike and removed the helmet fluffing up her wind whipped hair on instinct, her face remained stoic as she spoke to him with a hard voice, "We need to hurry and get back to my appartment. I want to get that contract done as soon as fucking possible..."

Akira stared at Luci blankly. He didn't know what kind of reaction to expect from her, considering the fact he didn't even know her, but this seemed appropiate. He was speechless for a moment, and merely held out the candy and drink. "This is for you,"

Luci's nostrils flared as a sharp breath came out of them. Again with the avoidance. The fucking avoidance and density was getting on her nerves and intensifying her headache. She reached back around her head and felt the goose egg developing releasing a little whimper as she lowered her hands. She dug around in her purse for a moment grunting and searching with more vigor when she couldn't find what she was looking for growing her already monsterous frustration. Luci sighed when she finally found the bottle of extra strength Ibuprofen. As she opened the cap she glanced at his offering, the candy bar would of looked tempting if she wasn't afraid that she'd throw it all back up, "I hate tea." Luci mumbled as she popped three pills in her mouth, swallowing them dry. She let the helmet fall to the ground as she leaned up against a pillar, crossing her arms her steely eyes still dead on Akira.

He couldn't find the words. Trying to ignore Luci's cold stare, Akira awkwardly placed the offering on top of the gas pump and proceeded to fill the bike with gas. It was terribly awkward but he knew he deserved any unpleasant or uncomfortable feelings. He wanted the gas to continue flowing forever, regret wasn't a strong enough word to describe how he felt. What the fuck is he doing, looking up terrorist organizations? He had even given some detective Luci's full name. He doubted they were still interested in her but who knows, the military nowadays are insane. Akira realized Luci was now a potential leak, if she were interrogated it would be the perfect lead that could do quite the amount of damage to the Yakuza. He had dealt with leaks and rats before, and it never ended in their favor. He wasn't looking at Luci but Akira turned his head further away from her, ashamed that the thought crossed his mind.

The nozzle made a clicking noise and Akira removed it from the tank and inserted it back into the pump. He kept his hand tightly on the grip and stared at the gas prices plastered on the pump. He could see Luci in his peripheral and wasn't sure if she was still staring at him but assumed she was. He bit his lip, the whole situation was uncomfortable. "Um," he muttered before releasing his grip and turning towards her, staring at the ground beneath her. Eventually his eyes lifted and met hers, his expression was probably identical to an ashamed house pet or something. "I'm sorry," He practically forced the words out and it only made his stomach turn, after the entire drive I'm sorry was all he could muster up.

Luci couldn't control the laughter that spewed out of her mouth at his apology. She laughed deep into her stomach and bent over trying to keep herself together, her chuckles echoing throughout the entire station, "Y-You're sorry?! HAHA Oh..my...oh my god HAHA!' She took some deep breaths and finally calmed her breathing and wiped a small tear from her cheek as her smiling face fell back into a face that could kill twice over, "How can you say that?" She whispered. "How can you FUCKING SAY THAT!!" Her voice picked up two octives instantly as she began to pace back and forth, "Oh is that all you can say since you had to drag your ass out here for some worthless girl who couldn't finish a simple job for you and got herself captured? Daddy would be very mad if you got her killed huh?"

Luci scoffed at him, "Poor little Akira didn't get what he wanted..." She reached into her bag and pulled out the vanilla file and with a straight face walked over to him and tossed it at his chest, "Oh I got media coverage too!" She reached into her bra and let the flash drive fall to the ground, "Ya. Your not gonna believe what I had to do to get this one. Its a doozy. Some beat cop detective grabbed me and put a gun to my head, demading for me to tell him if I was a terrorist or not."

Akira stood still and watched awkwardly as Luci released the tension. It was only a matter of time, even so he was ashamed of himself, and didn't stop her. Her shouting made his stomach turn once more and he merely looked back to the ground. This was the complete opposite of what he wanted.

I guess this is what happens when I try to do something good.

Not for a moment did he feel like he was dragging his ass out here though, he was worried sick. His father hadn't crossed his mind until now, but he wouldn't dare correct her. Not now. Akira prepared himself when he heard Luci approaching him, he assumed she was going to slap him or something, but as he looked up he was taken aback at the sight of a thick folder and caught it as it was thrown at him. He recalled her message from a couple of hours ago, about breaking into the vault or something like that. Akira looked towards Luci, he felt like throwing up. He had no idea where she was or where she was taken, he had no idea what she was feeling their entire time apart but even after everything she made sure to bring him this stupid folder. It meant nothing to him as he held it in his hands, at least not now. The biggest wave of guilt Akira had ever felt overcame him. There was no set of words he could think of that would make things okay. He set the folder on the bikes seat, the whole time keeping his eyes on Luci's, and took a step forward. Her anger was almost palpable, if she wanted to hit him or something Akira wouldn't stop her. Gently he placed his hand on her arm and gripped it lightly.

Luci jerked back at the feeling of Akira's large warm hand on her arm, she acted as though it burned her, even though she was in desprite need of some comforting right about now. That was the worst part about moving here, she had no one. Her only someone had been ripped away from her forcefully forbbidened to have contact with her, leaving Luci alone. She cringed at the pain in her chest at the thought of her father, as idiotic as he was he is a good dad and friend. 'All their fault.' She gave Akira a cruel smile as she mocked him, "Your pathetic." "To much of a pussy to fight for yourself? Huh? Well I don't give a fuck. All I want you to do is take me to my appartment and make up a contract relieving my father of his debts." She pondered for a moment and looked back at him, "...Money. I want some money too...I deserve it."

"First thing we're going to do is the get hell out of this 'country'." She put air quotes around the word country, clearly it wasn't. "This place is really sad, horrible place filled with horrible people. Can't wait to get back to the states...back to Texas." Home. She missed it so much. Her friends, her aunts and grandfather, hell even her ex, Tom. [i]'I so thought Tom was gay when we made out,he was so gentle and loving felt nothing like-" She stopped herself, she wasn't going there. She wouldn't remember or give him the satisfaction.

But little by little the memory played in her head; the darkness, his hands all over her body groping all of her parts and laughing cruely in her ear. Tears flooded into her eyes and she turned away from Akira, "Damnnit.." she managed to wimper out before she fell apart. Her wails choked by her uneven breathing. She wrapped her arms around her middle to try and preserve what was left of her sanity.

Akira bit his lip once more, and avoided eye contact with Luci as she cursed at him. Everything in him wanted to yell at her, he didn't have to save her. Nobody would've figured what happened, at least he didn't think so. It wasn't even true, the entire military knew what happened, along with a detective. Akira just wasn't thinking clearly.

"I don't need your help," He said aloud, boldly. "I don't have to write a stupid contract, and I don't have to give you money. I can just leave you at the hands of the Yakuza, you'll be at their mercy." Akira refered to his family as "The Yakuza," something he had never actually done before. It felt strange to say so. He paused briefly, standing in silence, pondering what he was even saying. Nobody had ever spoken to him the way Luci had, at least not without meeting his fist. The whole situation made him feel weird. Approaching Luci he placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her around, "But... i'm not going to do that. I mean, I can. But I won't. All of this wasn't my fault, I was trying to fight those fucking guys! I'm trying to do good but it only put somebody in danger, and yeah i'm sorry. But, whatever. Fuck it." He sighed, and turned away from her, approaching the bike and regretting they were going to spend another half hour so close together on the vehicle. Akira hopped onto the motorcyle, placing his hands on the handles. "You'll get your contract,"

"Thank you." Was all she said as she wiped her the back of her hands under her eyes not even caring about the wrinkles she could cause. She could of said so much more, how sorry she felt about basically tooling him around, the only reason she was acting like this was because of how scared she was, but it wouldn't have mattered. She couldn't say it the way it needed to be said anyway,Luci was way to prideful.

Instead she just pulled out a peice of paper from her bag with her address already prewritten and handed it to Akira, "You don't wanna know why I wrote that down..." She mumbled as she picked up the disgarded helmet and hopped on the back of his bike, once again wrapping her arms around his middle almost snuggling into his body heat, "Lets go."

[SaraRPs]

Lucina Cobbs / Akira Takizawa

As the motorcycle pulled up into Luci's tiny apartment complex, she got off the back of the bike and rubbed her sore back. She reached into her bag and fumbled around for her key chain. Akira turned off the motor and sighed as he got off the vehicle as well, running a hand through his dark hair looking around at the very under developed area Luci had guided him too.

Luci looked towards the apartment they had parked in front of, which was her landlords and she was happy that the lights were off. "Come on up for a minute?" She didn't have time to wait for a response because a light turned on in the landlords home causing Luci's eyes to widen as she grabbed for Akira's hand and quickly pulled him up the long flight of stairs to her place, apartment 203. Luci turned the key in the door and ushered him inside, locking it as soon as the door was shut. She glanced at Akira before looking down in shame, "I-I'm a little behind in rent. Yakuza don't pay indentured servants well."

Akira looked straight at Luci beneath the darkness as he leaned on her front door with a perplexed look. He felt bad for her situation, but pretended to ignore her comment about the rent. "Why did you bring me inside?" He said blankly.

"You don't want to meet my landlord. He's what you would think about if you imagined tv landlords, all mean, old and fat. Bald too its kinda funny..." She laughed a little before looking away awkwardly. She forgot for a moment that she and him had a huge argument and she berated him for every little thing possible.

Luci reached over behind Akira and flipped on the light to her tiny apartment. It was barley 2 rooms with her living area space consisting of a small lopsided sofa and stained coffee table which was connected to a small kitchen with just a fridge,stove and sink. She placed her keys on a counter and shrugged off her jacket and ruined shirt leaving her in a small tank top. She looked at Akira straight in the eye before grasping his shoulders pulling him into a tight hug, "I'm sorry. For what I said. I didn't mean it....I just couldn't deal with everything...i'm so sorry."

"Oh,"

Akira stood still, doing nothing to reject Luci's hug. For a brief moment he was even more confused but that faded away, he was happy she was apologizing. He didn't want to awkwardly pretend the yelling and what not earlier hadn't happened and was glad to wrap his arms around her, although you couldn't see it on his still blank face. "It's okay, I get it." he said quietly. Whilst hugging Luci Akira observed the tiny apartment, and once again felt pity for the girl. She seemed to live alone, which was interesting. From the state of her apartment and comment about rent earlier, he quickly came to the assumption that she was in debt to the Yakuza.

In debt to him.

He released Luci and looked away, ignoring the truth before him. "Was that all you wanted to say?"

"Ya. I think so, I just hope you don't harbor any anger towards me. It seems like I got all of my emotions out on you and i'm a lot better now. So thanks." She stepped back and looked around before feeling very weird and needing something to do. "I have some tequila...i'm going to have some." She went to her freezer and pulled out the half empty bottle, "Can you actually believe I used to be wealthy? My aunt who lived with my dad used to have dozens of aged liquors in our bar area and gave me my first shot when I was ten."

She pulled out two shot glasses and placed them on the counter separating her and Akira pouring some in her own glass and downing it quickly before going for another, "Help yourself."

"Heh, I actually don't drink," he said, mustering a smile. Akira approached Luci, leaning on the counter, opposite from her and watched as she downed another shot. "Do you still want to write a contract?" The words felt bitter coming from his mouth, but he didn't want it to seem like he was avoiding the subject.

"How can you not drink.." The question was more like a statement but still she was in pure wonderment. She didn't want to bring up the Mafia steryotype she was thinking of and just downed the next shot. She could go up to five before she began slurring but she didn't want to risk being drunk around Akira. She might not do right things. "Right the contract. Well I need to get out of debt with the Yakuza so hell yes." She reached into a drawer and pulled out a notepad and a pen. "My father owes your father three million dollars just for clarity reasons.." She said as she looked down into the empty shot glass in shame.

"Clarity?" he said confused, unfazed by the amount. "What do you mean? My father doesn't give out loans." Three million dollars is such a large amount. "Why did your dad borrow so much money?"

"Well aparently he does. He and my father worked together longer than both of us have been alive, and my father saved his life a few times so he gave him a loan. Not to mention a very generious salary." This was the part that saddened her the most, "Um...my father invested all that money and his own savings in starting his own hospital. He took in basket cases, patients no one wanted to treat, did many surgeries probono. He wanted to save the lives of the innocent and poor. The people who didn't matter. Was what he always said." Luci smirked and poured herself a third shot. "But he didn't know how to run a business and soon it went belly up in debt and your dad took it as collateral."

Akira looked away once more, unable to look Luci in the eye. He knew who her father was. "Dr. Cobbs" he muttered under his breath. He has distorted memories of meeting the young doctor several times as a child. Kaito called him a good man on more than one occasion. Akira's fists clenched at the thought of his own father, who claimed Luci's dad was a good man, is now holding him against a measly debt. "I don't think I have the authority to make this contract," he looked at Luci once more, unsure how the situation was going to play out. "I can't tell my dad what I had you doing today. I can't tell anybody. If we're going to do this, we need an excuse,"

As Akira stared at Luci he suddenly realized she was the only one that knew of his interest in Operation Freedom. She was the only one he could talk to about it all, and the only one that could help. He had yet to even explain why he was looking into a terrorist organization. Thinking of it all made Akira appreciate Luci even more, but this whole cliche attempt at trying to fight terrorists was stupid and only got her kidnapped, along with who knows what else.

Then again, working for the Yakuza was just as stupid.

"I think we should just....forget about this," Akira spoke in a defeated tone.

Luci didn't look at Akira. She picked up the shot glass and knocked it back, slamming the glass down on the counter, "I think you might want to rethink my offer of a drink." She swallowed then looked back at him, "You said before you could do it. Now you’re saying you can't. After all I did, you did too, and nothing can be done?"

She rubbed her face with both of her hands, "You didn't see my father there. He may be stupid sometimes but no one deserves the things they make him do. He may be treated like a king there but he has to save near death people and then sometimes kill them...with all sorts of drugs." Luci could not believe this, she felt in complete despair and hopelessness like she did as she walked out that door this morning. "What the hell am I supposed to do then?"

Akira ignored her comment about the drink, looking down and staring at the counter he kept quiet in thought. "I just don't want to get you killed," he said blankly. "And I don't want to bring shame to my family. But something needs to be done. This city is going to destroy itself. That's why I want to join Operation Freedom. I feel so helpless by myself but among their ranks, I don't know. Maybe i'll actually be able to do some damage y'know."

He locked eyes with Luci's shot glass, actually contemplating having a drink, but brushed it off. He stood up from the counter and looked to Luci with a somewhat determined look on his face. "You'll get your money, but this is going to take time. Leave it to me."

With that, he showed himself out the door and into the night of Chicago.

Luci stood there for a while after Akira left. Staring at the empty shot glass, she was tempted to just drown herself in liquor and forget who she was for the next few hours and have a hangover to distract her with tomorrow. Anything to forget him...even though she didn't want to forget him, she just...wanted to be near him. Luci couldn't explain the drive she felt to run out that door and follow him. Nor did she really want an explanation.

She picked up the shot glass and hopped onto her counter staring off into space as she fiddled with it in her hand. He was right, Chicago was falling apart at the seams, and it had been for a while. She had only lived here for a year when she was ten, but she remembered it all vividly, the crime, the anguish, how her teachers and adults spoke about sups, Halflings, even the human population itself. It had all started here and now it was spreading throughout America. Next it'll be the world, in complete turmoil and chaos.

Akira was talking about change. Doing something radical to make a semblance of a difference. Luci wanted things to be different. She dropped the shot glass onto the floor ignoring the glass shattering as she ran out the door freezing as she saw Akira's back to her heading down the stairs, she opened her mouth but no words came out at first. She found her voice and uttered out her thoughts,

"I-I want things to be different. I want to be able to walk down the street and be proud of who I am and not have to have my head down and my guard up because people hate what I am. I don't want to have to pick sides, I want a foot in each world and to be able to say that I am a Halfling to all I know; I want all Halflings to be proud. I want Illinois to rejoin the United States and have jobs specifically made for Supernatural beings...I want to meet my mother and not have her fear for my life of what her people would do if they found out about me. Tell me how I can do that?"

Gripping the railing of the staircase, Akira stood in silence as Luci began to speak. On the inside he was beyond happy to hear her words and was glad he had bumped into someone like her. What were the odds? On the outside though, he kept quiet, his face blank. His lips curved into a light smile as he turned around looking up to the girl. "I can't tell you how to do that. Something like that should be up to you,"

He wasn't sure if his initiative to join Operation Freedom is what inspired these thoughts or she had already felt like this, either way Akira was happy someone like Luci was on his side. He was overcome with purpose. Still doubtful, but full of ambition. "Stick with me. I think together, you and I could do some damage." It was quiet for a brief moment. Akira looked down, hiding the excitement from his face before looking back up to the girl.

"Goodnight, Luci" Akira turned back around, continuing down the stairs.

A wide smile over came Luci's lips as Akira walked down the steps, "....Night." She whispered as a blush overcame her cheeks.

[Thundercat]

September 5th
2034
7:41pm
2 hours ago...

Military grade vehicles sped down several dirt roads filled with both the Army and Aegius Security Operatives all at the ready for combat. Helicopters roared through the sky as the sun slowly descended. Every vehicle, helicopter and solider were all on high alert and had one destination; the warehouse. As the building came within sight a cloud of smoke could be seen rising into the sunset sky. Shadow gestured towards the pilots, ordering them to hover near the target location. Victor and Kara watched as the Aegius Operatives moved with haste, attaching a latch to themselves before quickly repelling out of the helicopters and safely towards the floor where they immediately readied their weapons and awaited further instructions. The detective was much too injured to join in on the skirmish and the police chief too inexperienced, this was more of a S.W.A.T. procedure to her, something she wasn't familiar with.

Shadow was the last to repel onto the ground merely 200 or so yards from the warehouse. Every military truck came to a halt, surrounding the building. Tension was in the air to the point where it was almost palpable. The Armies Soldiers tried their best to hide the doubt and uncertainty from their faces, the Aegius Operatives were the only one's that knew what to expect considering their swift defeat hours ago at the library, but even so they still weren't sure. Extreme caution was no doubt a necessity. There were four separate units surrounding the vicinity of the warehouse. Each was placed North, South, East and West of the warehouse's position. During the commotion Shadow was somehow appointed commander of the operation. Even veterans and officers weren't reluctant to let the Aegius Commander take charge.

"Move!" The Android shouted, all units could hear Shadow and obeyed without question. Each unit moved in unison, gripping their rifles and keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble. As each unit made their way to the warehouse the air around them started to become thick. The sound of cackling, similar to what one might hear at a campfire, increasingly became louder and louder. These days it was difficult to tell if situations like these were due to magic or not. Soon enough the trees that polluted the area cleared away and the warehouse was in clear sight, fully ablaze from the bottom floor to the top. Jackdawl stood some distance from the burning building, which was most likely his doing. Shadow's unit approached the front of the building where the terrorist stood, "Jackdawl!" The android shouted, pointing his rifle at his back. The other units soon convened on Jackdawl's position, aiming their weapons from a safe distance. Some soldiers and mercenaries even had bazooka's and missiles at the ready, however nobody fired their weapons. Nobody was instructed not to fire, they merely used common sense. Jackdawl seems impervious to the likes of simple ammunition, along with the fact that he was only standing still and appeared to be harmless. Basically, nobody wanted to provoke him.

"Ah. You found me." The masked man said with sarcasm as he marveled in the sight of the burning building. "Hold your positions," Shadow ordered quietly into a radio. Even the mercenary wasn't sure how to deal with the situation, they approached the warehouse from all sides to ensure an ambush was impossible but there weren't even any criminals around to ambush them in the first place. Only Jackdawl. "The scent of fear lingers amongst each and every one of you" He turned around slowly, as to show he isn't a threat. Or, to show that he isn't a threat at this particular moment. "You can all relax, i'm going to surrender."

Slowly, Jackdawl placed his hands behind his head and dropped to his knees before placing his face on the floor. The soldiers began to murmur amongst eachother where as the mercenaries kept quiet, remaining cold and calculated. For the first time in quite a while Shadow felt uneasy, the whole thing was far too sketchy. He gestured two of his operatives to bind Jackdawl and they didn't hesitate to follow the order. As sensitive as the situation currently was, their only method to subdue Jackdawl at the moment was to cuff him. Everybody was under the impression they would be attempting to kill the terrorist, not subdue him.

Every gun was pointed at the now subdued Jackdawl who lay handcuffed on the ground. They would not hesitate to fire their weapons if provoked. Shadow stood up straight, his assault rifle dangled on his hip as he spoke into a radio. "HQ This is Whiskey 3424, Jackdawl is subdued and in our custody requesting immediate extraction" The words felt strange coming out of the androids mouth. In no way shape or form did it feel like Jackdawl was in their custody.

Two hundred yards away Victor and Kara remained seated in the now grounded helicopter. Shadow's voice could be heard coming from the cockpits radio. The pilot began speaking into his headset, "Roger your extraction request Whiskey, on route," The helicopter was on stand-by and within a moments notice began rising into the air. The detective and the police chief gave eachother a look of worry. Victor and Kara, along with every single soldier and mercenary knew they were doing exactly what Jackdawl wanted them to do

And they were helpless to do anything about it.

---

September 6th
2034
12:04pm
The Following Afternoon

"At who's hand did they fall? That's what I want to know. That's what matters to me right now. Dare no burēdo?"

Kaito stood up straight, his hands behind his back as he overlooked Chicago from the very same conference room he was confined to yesterday. However instead of a table with seats occupied by bickering old criminals, Akira and Shuya sat at the table instead, side by side. A vanilla folder lay on the table before them, beside it were pictures of two dead bikers.

"My hand, father." Akira said out loud in a mature tone. Both he and Shuya sat up straight, both fully aware they not only failed in their mission but potentially started a war. "Were you in danger?"
"Yes,"
"Were they making an attempt at ending your life?"
"Yes,"
"Could you have spared them?"
Akira's mouth opened to speak, but he held his tongue. As much as he wanted to say no, he knew that was a lie.
"Yes..." he muttered in a less mature tone.

Kaito remained silent, taking in the fact his son chose to kill on his own will. The oyabun was contemplating whether or not this was the time to be a parent. He turned and approached the table, taking a seat across the two Yakuza prodigies. His eyes slowly went back and forth between the two as he rubbed his beard in thought. "They were expecting you two," Kaito stated before placing his hands together and setting them gently on the table. "Our attack at Orc-way served as a warning, an act of aggression. Two more deaths will be taken as a declaration of war." The Yakuza boss sighed. "It was my mistake to have Takiko order you both to spy on their leader. The council clouded my judgement." A generic ringtone began to play. Kaito reached into his coat pocket, retrieving his smartphone to answer a phone call.

"Moshimoshi?" Akira and Shuya sat patiently as a voice could be heard speaking quickly from the phone.
"Dokode?"
"Takiko wa arimasu ka? Hai? Arigatō." Kaito pressed a button, ending the call and placing the phone back into his coat pocket.

"As I expected, they've already attacked." The Yakuza Boss placed a briefcase on the table and began to pile the various folders and pictures inside. "Both of you meet Takiko at our Elf Haven stronghold and assess the situation." He bid no goodbye, the man only grabbed his briefcase and walked out the door leaving Akira and Shuya by themselves. Akira couldn't help but sigh in relief. He was beyond glad his father was oblivious to yesterdays events. Shuya stood up and began to stretch.

The two walked out of the conference room together. The two walked in a mutual silence down the hallway for a brief moment until they approached Luci, whom Akira had instructed to sit beside a window on an oriental decorated bench and wait for him and Shuya to speak to his father. There was no reason why he told her to wait in this particular spot, he just thought maybe she'd enjoy the view.

"Come on, there's something we have to go and take care of."

Akira lead the two towards the elevators. With the press of a button the doors swung open and were fortunately empty. There were many times Akira and Shuya would move about together in silence, not out of spite, only because of how much time they had spent together. Sometimes words weren't necessary for the two, however with Luci joining them it made things somewhat awkward. As the three stood inside the descending and decorated elevator, Akira felt somewhat, uncomfortable with the quiet mood. He was the first to break the silence and turned to Luci,

"It might not be safe where we're going. If you want I can drop you back off at your apartment?"

[SaraRPs]

September 6th
2034
The Following Afternoon

Luci gazed out the window trying to ignore the throbbing behind her eyes that were covered by her clearly useless large sunglasses. She knew it was rude to have them on inside but the light was just too much for her eyes to handle. Even though she did not get fully drunk last night, drinking three or four shots of Tequila and not eating or drinking anything else takes its toll still. Her stomach flipped and she groaned quietly trying to focus on the beautiful garden outside the window Akira had sat her by.

He seemed to not notice her indisposed state when he came banging on her door that morning. She answered the door with wild hair, bloodshot eyes, and clammy skin even, almost let out a string of profanities before realizing that it was him. Either he was ignoring it or he really didn’t notice it was hard to tell from the stoic mask he had on. Luci sighed crossing her jeaned legs continuing with her staring out at the perfectly red roses a scantily clad maid was watering, she had been hesitant to come back to this place, so many horrid memories. The fact that her father or that head maid could walk around the corner at any moment terrified her. She was a little bundle of nerves as Akira escorted her through the front door but she tried her best to hide it from him.

Having this meeting with his father could not be easy and she worried for him, especially when his friend walked up to them in the entryway. He didn’t smile or greet Akira in a friendly way, didn’t even respond when Akira introduced them just a slight nod in her direction. And now she was here sitting in a dead silent hallway while they talked.
That had been five maybe ten minutes ago, and sat as still as she could without squirming, as soon as they came out she rose to her feet looking at Akira expectantly with wide eyes. She simply nodded at his quick statement while they entered in the elevator and Luci was once again met with silence. She shuffled her feet to try and appease the suffocating quiet when Akira spoke. She tried to hide the small smile that dominated her lips and looked Akira dead in the eye, “Well I think I can handle ‘not safe’ Akira. I’m with you through this entirely.”