Wayward Girl

@ian_idyll:

Shadow and Lillian

Shadow stood quietly, as his mind searched a way-point. His eyes shifted to the guard towers. Immediately, he started walking into the shadows of the night. Leaving the woman at his locked car, he left for the far right side of the wall. As he did, she suddenly stared at him, with a bit of anger, knowing that he wasn’t going to let her in on his plan. She had to find her own way, she realized as she strutted past him, “See ya inside…”.

With a smirk, her suit started to transcend into the invisibility of transparency. She was now undetectable to the human eye. Slyly sneaking straight to the gate, the spy however headed to a guard tower on the left side of the entrance. Using her heat detection, she evaluated how many guards were within the tower. “Alright big boy, how many pests do you harvest…”, she bouncily mumbled to herself.

Just on the right of the tower, Shadow lingered in the dark abyss of the night. Tall and sturdy, he hung within the shade. Clouded by blackness, the suited man stared up at the barbican directly right of the gate. He was going to take it, he thought. In a leap, he darted to the air, leaping onto the side of the post. Covered by the black sky, and his misty ink, he disseized himself in mid-air. Once he caught the tower, he moved to the shadowed side. Holding on, he climbed to the top. Stopping at the edge, he tried to peek at what was inside the station.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Lillian

Via heat detection, Lillian was able to see that only one guard was up within the tower. The figure appeared to be of heavy build and stood next to a searchlight that was nearly pointing at her.

In the distance, Lillian could hear another guard from below approaching the tower, as part of their patrol.

Shadow

Just as Shadow peeked his head over the edge, he could see a male guard facing away from him. The guard carried a submachine gun. The searchlight was also pointing away from Shadow.

The guard coughed, as he finished his cigarette. The guard then dropped the cigarette butt and used the sole of his feet to put it out completely.

Off in the distance inside, Shadow could see that the cargo boxes were almost finished with transporting them on to the plane.

The masked man shifted his head side to side and looked around the compound, while he stood guard over the young man. The young man was starting to become impatient but everyone ignore him.

@ian_idyll:

Shadow

Gripping the edge, the suited man prepared his nerves before he hopped up. Landing on the edge, he quickly grabbed the handle of the gun, causing ink to seal it from firing. With enforced strength, Shadow snatched the sub machine gun. Causing the guard to turn in worried shock, the detective gripped the barrel, before swinging at the man’s face, as if the gun was a thick club. With cold blood, he aimed for his left cheek.

Staying silent, Shadow pounced on the knocked out man, before he ducked into the corner of the room. As he did, he dragged the soldier against the wall. Positioning him to look as if he was sleeping, he sat his gun on his lap.

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Lillian

Still invisible, she held her BB1R, with the aim set for the roof. As a grappling hood ripped into the building, She was snapped up to the tower’s top, just as the light hovered over her location. In the blur of a instance, she glided over the edge, dragging the launching momentum. As she flew, she positioned a double-legged dropkick for the head of the hefty guard.

Knowing the momentum would create a large amount of force, she delivered the kick to the man. Knocking the man over, she landed on him. With her silenced pistol, she silenced him with two shots to the face. Immediately, she stood and leaped from the post. Flying through the air, her transparent cloak was gone. As she landed on a hanger, rolling onto her feet, Lillian crept her way to the edge of the hanger roof. In a moment of hurry, she looked for the cargo plane.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Shadow and Lillian

Shadow and Lillian were successful in taking out the guards at their post, with minimal resistance. The silencer echoed softly in the air, causing the guard below to look up.

Both, Shadow and Lillian, could easily spot the cargo plane, no farther than five hundred metres away. It was at the take off lanes, which were at the centre of the whole airport, sandwiched between hangars on either sides.

The masked man turned his head, as he surveyed the surrounding. His attention turned to the station tower that Shadow was at, staring at its occupant intensely. The masked man only turned away when the doors of a hangar opened and out came Morris and the woman.

Morris and the woman headed towards the young man. Neither men seemed to enjoy seeing the other. The woman then pointed at the plane that was in the process of closing its cargo doors and getting ready to leave. Workers, and Morris's men moved out of the way, as the plane started to walk down the lane before it would turn around and run for take off.

'Tower one, report.' The radio on the guard, beside Lillian, suddenly went off. Lillian could hear the guard below her talking into his radio, trying to contact the guard she was with. The man's voice sounded concerned. 'What was the noise? Tower one, report.'

Shadow was able to hear the radio call because of the guard he was with. All the radios on the guards were linked up to the same channel.

The masked man, who stood next to the young man, slowly looked up at the towers once he overheard a guard's radio about the same call.

@ian_idyll:

Shadow

Pulling out his phone, the suited man lied on a hanger. Staring at the plane, he called the A.I. member of his team. Hearing the guards’ radios, he became increasingly worried about them finding the man unconscious.

“Data…I need you to short circuit these radios…”, he requested the digital being to help him. “Yes sir…”, the bot plainly stated before hacking into the radios, via scape satellite. As he did, Shadow continued crawling to the end of the hanger’s roof. Coming upon the edge, he dropped to the floor, before immediately hopped behind whatever he could hide behind.

As he hid, Tin’Data spoke within the phone. “Sir, I took it upon myself to search the lady’s tech. And, I found that she is a spy for the DAS…”, the robot revealed her affiliations with the secret service of their home country. As the detective listened, he heard the android continue, “…she is one of the higher ranked field agents; Stacey Lillian, she’s has a bit on their files, about herself…I’ll send them to your phone, in case you wanted them.”, the voice stated as Shadow slowly started to move into the shadow abyss of the night. He was making his way to the plane.

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Lillian

Hearing the guards, Lillian signed in frustrated acknowledgement of her noisy amateur mess up. Before hopping onto the hanger, she set up a trap for anyone who entered the tower. Quickly, she placed sensors around the post’s interior walls. Then, she placed a silent electronic explosive on the body, in the middle of the room. So, if anyone entered, the room would be filled with a Taser wave; one that would fill the body with enough electricity to passively ground a normal man. Just then, Lillian leaped to the hanger roof.

The blonde spoke to her higher-ups, “…I’m near their plane…close to finding the top of this organization…”. As she watched the plane, she noticed Shadow was already on the ground. With a rising sense of envy, she wondered how he was besting her in this fiend. Immediately, she was brought out of her state of spite by the voice in her com piece. “…speaking of organizations, I have researched the individual that you’re with. And, while he has little on his file, there is a figure in the club of Stayler’te, who fits that description.”, her eyes grew tight as she listened. “All black, silent, fully suited like those urban myths of the Men in Black…Always in the shadows, always shows up in the midst of gang related cases…”, the voice connected the dots.

“You think it’s him?”, she asked before hearing a “I’m sure it is…” on the other side. As she snuck through the port, she activated her invisibility, while she cautiously ran up to the plane. Catching up to it, she looked for an entry point.

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Shadow

Seeing the plane start to move, the darkness covered figure called the android again. “Do you think you could stop that plane?”, Shadow asked. As he did, Tin’Data was already on it. Searching through the system, he looked for an easy point to shut the aircraft off, before it got off the ground.

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The Cautious Guard

Calling for conformation of the tower’s protection, stood under the tower station. 'Tower one, report.', the man ordered, as the night clouded him with the shadows of his location. The chill of the pale moon grimly hovered around him. As the silence of the area lingered, a figure soon crept in silence. 'What was the noise? Tower one, report.', the guard asked, to be greeted with a large kitchen’s knife to the back of the neck. A stab that would rip his windpipe and neck bone, the figure added extra force, to ground the man as well..

d^_^b

@superstay:

The Masked Man

A cold chill brushed against his finger through the glove. It was cold. Colder than he expected. He could feel the cold causing his hand to itch, as it slowly but painfully travelled up his arm to all over his body. The feeling of dry skin cracking, causing blood to congeal and then heal, only to break again made his whole body ache with pain. He would’ve thought that the many years of living like this, he would one day ignore the throbbing sensation his body was forced to endure, but it never ended. Pain is all he felt, ever.

The masked man discreetly scratched his itching hand as he monitored his surroundings. He had to make sure that his client was safe. ‘Well, what’s taking so long? I’ve got places to be and people to meet.’ The young man interjected over the silence to a stationary guard. Such an odd kid, the masked man thought, as he stared at his young client. The kid would sway from one extreme to the other. He was either terrified, quiet and seeking protection, or loud, arrogant and boorish. It was this type of dual personality that worried the masked man. He wanted to protect someone that was straight, not off-kilter. The kid oozed off false authority, he thought, and that never mixed well with those that could easily spot and take advantage of it.

Once the hangar doors opened again, Morris and the woman stepped out and headed towards them. The masked man bit his chapped lips, as he watched them draw closer to them. He could see his client’s face burning up with nervousness upon seeing Morris. Careful now, he thought, hoping to the God that his client would not do or say anything stupid. He was well aware of his client’s relationship with the older man, and knew that that they were both itching for a fight.

‘Well? Is everything now sorted out?’ The young man said with the intention of being supercilious. ‘What took you so long to do a simple task?’

The masked man watched Morris’ reaction, spotting a single vein manifesting under the eye. He could see that Morris was not a man who would let an insult slide. Morris was about to answer back when the woman spoke first. ‘Everything has been sorted,’ she said placidly.

The woman was wearing all white, except for her brown boots. She had a white floppy hat, white jacket over her white blouse, and white baggy trousers that ended just a bit below her knees. Her brown boots were flat and long, covered by the trousers, that reached her knees. She was in her early thirties with a lean, hourglass figure; pale skin and dark mousy brown hair to her shoulders, framing her childish looking face. The woman had big eyes and had on fake, black eyelashes and black mascara; and big lips with red lipstick. She looked young and older at the same time, the masked man thought. ‘Now, if we can talk about more pressing matters…’ The woman started to say, leading the three to talk about business.

While the three talked, the masked man’s attention was turned towards the radios belonging to the two guards next to them. He noticed that they were having a connection problem after the first transmission. This alarmed him, making him look at the tower that Shadow was at. The masked man could feel his stomach tingling with a itch, giving him a foreboding sensation. He always trusted when he had a gut feeling that told him that something wasn’t right. He shifted from one foot to the other and turned around to look at the plane that was already on the move. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but any tell tale sign that gave reason for him to pull his client out of there.

Three. Two. One. The plane had stopped moving. The masked man wasn’t sure if saw correctly, or his mind were playing tricks with him, but the plane appeared to have slowed down and stopped. He then immediately placed his hand on his client’s shoulder, interrupting their conversation, about to tell them about the plane when suddenly—

BOOM! BOOM!

The plane had exploded. It started from the rear but moved along the belly of the plane until it reached the cockpit. The explosion was loud, and scared the masked man’s client half to death. Smoke billowed from the engine as fire spewed untamed. Whatever was on that plane was surely dead or destroyed. The masked man stared at the destruction with dread. He knew what he had to do now and that was take his client away. He was about to move the kid when one of the guards raised his gun and shot the other guard. In another split second, the woman removed her hat and stabbed Morris in the neck with a knife. Everything had happened so quickly that the masked man only had seconds to react when the guard aimed his gun at the young man. Shots fire from the gun, but the masked man stepped in front and took the blow of the attack. The client screamed, running towards his car, while Morris choked on his own blood.

‘That wasn’t too hard, now was it?’ The woman said smiling to the guard. The guard simply ignored her and grumbled. This caused her to lose her smile, while he removed his hat and headed slowly towards the young man. The woman and the guard were the same people that had attacked Olli and Shadow in their car. The guard lifted his gun towards the young man who was squirming inside the car, but once he walked past the masked man, a long bone sword shot up and stabbed him in the hand.

The masked man placed his hand over where he got shot. Five times in the chest, but no where near his heart. Good, he thought. He knew that he could sustain much damage, but he wasn’t sure if he could come back from being shot in the heart. He kept his eyes closed as he listened to the woman and the guard. He now understood that they were working together and clearly wanted Morris and his client dead. There wasn’t much he could do for Morris but he was obliged to save his client no matter the situation. Plus, he wanted to receive his payment at the end of the day. Otherwise, he would have to beg for a recommendation from his client’s partner.

The masked man pushed the five bullets out from his flesh with his ability to manipulate his bones. He waited for the guard’s footsteps to come closer before he would react. One. Two. Three. From his arm, a bone sword protruded out and stabbed the guard’s hand. The masked man then tripped the man’s legs, forcing him to fall on to the ground. Through the eye holes in his mask, he stared at the woman, whose eyes expanded double in size. The masked man seethed with anger, as he stood with two bone swords in each arm.

@ian_idyll: @ian_idyll:

Shadow

Staring in silence, the suite man snuck up closer to Morris. Seeing him near death, he gripped the RB Revolver that had formed in his hand. As he watched the two figures, he ran out behind a group of barrels. Hearing the crackle of fire, she pulled out his phone. “Data, get me in contact with the agent…”, he whispered to the A.I. “Yes sir”, the robot stated with flat dryness, before the line was transferred to Lillian.

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Lillian

The blonde agent was thrown off by the exploding. As the entire left wing flew into the hangar that she was on, she quickly reacted with urgency. Running to the far end, which was out of the debris’ radios, she leaped off of the hangar’s roof. Her body catapulted onto a parked military truck. With a grunt of incoming force, she rolled onto her belly, as the red glow of flames impacted the air. Clouding out the moon, and set free a mass amount of wild fire, the explosion had Lillian mildly shook. Her eyes stared in intensity as she pulled out her BB1R. Modifying it into a sniper rifle, she stared down the scope.

“What the hell was that?”, she heard from her com-piece. “I don’t know, but it caused a fire fight”, she told her agency as she saw military men coming to the field. Armed and ready, she lied silently, not wanting to have to deal with them all. “Well-”, the voice was abruptly cut off and replaced by the shadowy voice. “I need cover, we have to get the Big Man…”, Shadow spoke.

“How did you get-”, her brows furrowed with the urge for an explanation. However, before she could get her question out, she interrupted her. “I need the cover…or our lead is gone…”, the line went flat with silence, as she aimed her rifle. Pointed at the two, she shot off four shots. One at the lady’s face, one at her partner’s chest, and two at the bone clawed individual.

Immediately, after the fourth shot, she rolled off of the army jeep. Before leaving, she shot a camera onto the closest building to the vehicle. Then, after placing a trigger-detonated mine under the truck, she ran for the building. Knowing that after four sniper shots, her vulnerable position was now too hot to remain at. So, Lillian charged the door of one of the military facilities. Staying low and silent, she opened the window, as quick as she could, and snuck in. Staying low, her invisibility was activated.

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Shadow

Hearing the four shots, sniper rounds, the dark man sped for the body. As he reached it, He got a glimpse of the two figures. Because of his sticky memory, he instantly remembered their faces. “The two that blew up my car…”, Shadow thought as he lifted Morris over his shoulder. Turning with perfection, she dashed back to his cover. As he did, pointed his powerful revolver at a full oil drum. With a clear shot, the drum exploded. Shadow’s ink blurred over him and the body, as he ran through the spreading fire and smoke disseize.

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Shadow’s Car

“I’ve always adored this vehicle”, Olli’s voice light the darkness, as he stepped out from it. His business at home was done, and he felt his friend’s need. So, returned to the spot that he left. As he gripped the handle to the black door, the muscle car unlocked for him. He immediately got in, with an excited grin on his face. Once his bum touched the leather seat, the vintagely strong car sped for the gate of the base. The Brit was surprised by how fast the car was, felling the drag of his skin of his face. As his hair flapped, he saw the gate guards.

His clear eyes smiled with the sight of a black figure appearing inside of attacking distance of the guards. Holding a cleaver, he used strength to rip at the necks of the two guards. Aiming with vicious precision, Fawkes chopped off the neck of one. Unnoticeably, the second riddled the gate station with bullets, from his semiautomatic machinegun. Slicing through Fawkes’ waist, the black being fell to the side, seeing the dark vehicle ram through the gate. With a bit of ink enforcement, the gate crumbled to the strengthful car, as it rushed to the defense of its owner.

d^_^b

@superstay:

The Masked man

Thoughts whirled around his head as he stared at the woman in white. Were they like him, he questioned.

'Scared, pretty boy?' The woman taunted. The masked man gritted his teeth and soon went to lunge at her. She was going to be ready for him and he knew it but he was busy being enraged. Be vicious now for the first attack and then calmly fight her afterwards, he convinced himself.

As soon as he moved and saw that the woman had flinched for a fraction of a second, a sniper shot passed through the woman's head. But it did exactly that. The bullet seemed to have phased through her head and shot the floor, instead of penetrating her body. The shot had forced the masked man to halt. When the second shot came, he immediately coated his arms with thick bones, and inside his suit he made the bone seep through his flesh to give him extra protection.

Unfortunately, the woman's partner was unlucky, as the second sniper shot pierced his right side of his chest. The bullet forced him to collapse on to the ground, once more. The third and fourth shot hit the masked man, but as he was prepared, the bullet simply rebounded off his suit. Although, the force of the bullets caused the masked man to stagger, which allowed the woman to charge at him with a knife and attempt to pierce him at the throat. He, however, managed to parry the knife but once he swung his his sword of bone at her, it simply phased right through her again. This gave the woman a chance to stab him above the hip.

'Dobby! Phase!!' The woman's partner yelled through gritted teeth. The guard's body started to glow faintly, and then he unleashed wave of light that was strong enough to cause the masked man to fly back on to the floor, and topple the car that the young man was in over on its back. The burst of solid light had the radius of one hundred metres. The woman, Dobby, was untouched, as she did as she was told and phased though the solid light. She immediately ran towards her partner and crouched next to him to see if he was all right. The man simply shrugged her hand away, as he tried to get up on his own.

Shadow

Shadow carefully and discreetly removed Morris' body that laid dying near the woman in white, the masked man and the guard; and without detection. Shadow could hear Morris gurgling and struggling for air, as the drug dealer swallowed his own blood, but the man soon died before Shadow arrived at his new destination.

Suddenly, the man that Shadow was holding had transformed into another man. A much shorter and plump man. The man appeared to be in his late forties, and he looked like a fat mouse with receding hair line--

Lillian

Once Lillian had escaped the hangar's roof and entered inside one of the military facilities, she found a single private jet inside a barren room. The room looked very typical and nothing seemed amiss, except that she could see something slumped beside the wheel of the plane. It was clearly Tom Morris. His throat was slit open.

Olli and Shadow's Car

As soon Shadow's car crashed through the gate, the car was met with the burst of light that was emitted from Dobby's partner. The solid light caused the car to swerve and change direction, which was now heading to collide with Shadow.

@ian_idyll:

Shadow

Kneeling before a dead man, the suited Italian was shaded by darkness. Bowing his head, he was stared at the portly man. With eyes of jarring shock, Shadow couldn’t comprehend what happened. What the hell just happened, he though with a mouth of confusion. “What was this think, and what happened to the Morris?”, the shadowy man wondered, while in the black abyss of shade.

However, in the midst of his confused wonder, he saw the rising glow of yellow headlights. The hideout was now lit with bright radiance. Shadow whipped his face over, to see the grill of his 69 GTO rushing for his face. In an instance of startling shock, Shadow was rammed by the forceful vehicle. With a roar, the car crashed through the entire hangar wall. Dragging the bloody body of Shadow onto the field, the black car sped into the burning flames of the ruined aircraft. As the detective burned on the hood of his ink constructed car, Olli was tossed from the vehicle, and thrown clear over the fire, onto the open runway.

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Lillian

Holding her silenced handgun, she crept through the building. Having shot cameras onto the walls facing both the door and the window, she entered a room. Baring a jet plane, the room was vast enough for aircrafts to sit roomy. As she examined the area, she moved as silent as she could. With her heat detecting glasses, the blonde noticed the heated glow from the jet’s cockpit. “Someone’s in there”, she thought, immediately raising her gun to it, preparing herself to fire. As she drew near, Lillian noticed that the body was cooling down, and becoming cold.

Knowing that meant that the body was dying, she rushed to the pit. Immediately opening it, she pulled the man out, to see if she could help. Quickly, she noticed the bloody slice on the unconscious man’s neck.

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Shadow and Olli

As the Italian stood, he grunted from his broken body. His boned were cracked and broken, with his ink enforced clothing keeping him together. As his skin and muscles healed, his willful mind kept his ink moving. “Olli…”, he called, as his legs reconnected themselves. Hearing the dazed moans of consciousness, the magician was lying in a pool of his blood. “…bloody hell…”, the Brit grunted, feeling his warm blood run down his face. As he saw shadowy figure behind a steamy red wall of smoke, the Italian walked over to him.

“…aye, mate…”, Olli tried to stand, “…Morris is in the bunker with the spy…”. Telling Shadow what he knew the man wanted to know, the magician finally got to his feet. Stumbling a bit, he licked up his bloody lips. Looking for the moon, he pulled an assault rifle from his jacket. Aiming at the battlefield, he turned to the healed Shadow, “I do believe you should hurry to the bunker, before the lad dies…”. As the Italian darted for the bunker, the Englishman started opening fire on the field. Chopping a furious line of bullets at everyone, the Brit wickedly laughed at the mayhem that now engulfed the base.

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Fawkes

Hearing people running around, the masked man stood high up on the remaining hangar. With the grin of his pursuant face, he stared at the moon, since he was high enough from the smoke to het a view. Grabbing a body, Fawkes bared three dead soldiers. Three of the men that he killed, the blackly man held a flamethrower. With ill intent, he tossed each of the bodies into the air. Spraying flames at them all, he chuckled as the burning corpses fell into the fray of the combat.

Smelling a reek of scorched death, the scent was enough to make the average man puke with a twisted stomach.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Dobby

Ever since Dobby was a little girl, she never shied away from the sight of blood. The smell and appearance of it made her feel awake. The concept of being scared of your own blood baffled her. How could you be scared of something that is part of you, she would question. Instead, her connection with her own blood allowed her to appreciate the importance of it. The importance of life. So, any time she would kill someone, the sight of their blood reminded her that their death was important. Their basic presence on earth was important, and their death and blood was a sacrificial symbol to the universe gods- whatever that meant or whoever they were. She wasn't religious, but she liked the idea that death and blood were honourable; and ultimately inevitable.

'Can you get up?' Dobby asked of her partner in a compassionate manner. Her hand, upon his chest, was soaked with his blood.

'Find the sniper!' The man demanded of Dobby. He was infuriated by her. The man took Dobby's hand away from his chest, and placed his hand over the wound. His hand started to glow, as he tried to remove the bullet and close the wound. ' I said, go! You stupid girl!!'

Despite the man's soft blue eyes, that gave the impression that they belonged to a young man, he was actually in his late forties. His rugged face looked tired, full of creases and appeared as if the skin had been pinched all over, displacing the skin over folds. His face was permanently angry. Dobby's smile morphed into a thin, emotionless one. Her partner always made her feel stupid. Never approved of her ways. She slowly got up and looked around to locate the sniper, just hearing her partner mutter: This is why our kind work alone. Those words echoed through her head, as she gradually moved away from him.

Dobby couldn't see anyone with a sniper, but when she instantly saw Shadow after being rammed with his car, she smiled. Dobby began to hover and fly towards Shadow, just as a ghost would do. As she fleeted through the air, Dobby pulled out her knife and went to stab Shadow in the chest.

Lillian

Tom Morris was clearly dead, unless she could magically put all his blood back into his body and seal his slit throat. There wasn't going to be a way to save him. Tom Morris had be slit in the throat that was reminiscent to the way that Lara Fox had been killed.

Then, Shadow's car crashed through her hangar, with Shadow being dragged with it. It then proceeded to leave the hangar, and continued its way towards the aircraft ruin, outside.

The Masked man

The masked man forced himself up again, after being thrown off his feet by the solid light. He watched Dobby who stayed close to her partner, whose clothing had tiny holes where the light had ripped through.

Ignoring them, his attention was drawn towards the screaming that came from his client. The masked man's client was still inside the upside down car, screaming and panicking, as flames and chaos erupted all around him. Shut up; I'll get you out, the masked man thought before he running towards the car.

By using his sword made out of bone, he broke the door off and helped the squirming boy out. 'Run!' He shouted at his client, as their best option was to quickly get out of the compound. They found a jeep, and the masked man started the engine. They were driving towards the gate, coming up to a black figure that was terrorising the guards like a black demon.

Fawkes

Once the multiple attacks started all over the compound, all the men and women in her team got ready. They grabbed their weapons of choice and flooded out from the hangar doors. Chaos. That is only the word she could think of when she stepped outside and looked around. A plane was destroyed. People were fighting one another. Chaos. Simply, chaos.

She clutched her weapon and headed out with her team in their rehearsed formation. But, once they came upon a strange black being, her team and and herself fired without prejudice. Suddenly, she noticed that her team was being picked off one by one, as the black demon spirited and killed. The smell of burnt corpse brought tears to her eyes and constricted her mind. Her mind went everywhere, as many of her friends died in front of her or were running, puking their guts out.

'Let him go!' The female guard screamed at Fawkes. She stood behind him, pointing her gun at his head. Fawkes was in possession of another guard, moments from death. 'Move and I will shoot. Let him go!!' But whether it was out of fright or simply because this chaos had caused all her experience to be thrown out of the window, her finger pulled the trigger, releasing the bullet at Fawkes' head.

@ian_idyll: @ian_idyll:

Lillian

Dropping the man, the spy knew death was coming. Not being a doctor, he couldn’t help him. Immediately, she checked his pockets and body for information. As she did, she was surprised by the crashing sound of a black muscle car. It wrecked the wall before ripping through a close-standing wall, and exiting the building. The blonde’s eyes were held agape from heart-wrenching shock. Frozen in momentary fright, she just stared at the entry hole. As chucks of wall fell to the debris covered ground, she turned to look out the exit hole.

Coming to normality, she saw the activity commencing outside. Quickly, with a sense of urgency, she stood and ran out the wrecked building, Lillian called Shadow, to give the news, “…uh, Mr. Morris is dead…I’m on the move…”.

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Shadow

Closing his eyes in mild grief, the Italian instantaneously halted in his tracks. He held the phone, realizing he didn’t make it in time. In that moment, his ink started to cover his body in slickly black liquid. As he became a black being, misty darkness swarmed around him. He saw the lady out of his peripheral. He prepared for the sab, before feeling his chest being ripped into. His body recoiled in pain, as his ink splashed at the lady, as if it was water. It created a dark shadowy being out of him, as it shielded his blood from exiting his body, which lied deep within the layered ink shell.

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Olli

Seeing the speeding Jeep, the Brit hysterically laughed, as he sprayed bullets at the wheels and hood. Staring at each bullet as it travelled, he frantically shot the car up with fire. Olli was enjoying the utter chaos that had ensued. He was deeply happy and excited by the thought of sheer madness. The real way of the universe, his ideals were illustrated in the events that were play forth. Order may come out of chaos, and stand with great strength. But, it will always resolve beck into the pool of chaos, in which it came.

The magician’s eyes glowed with icy lust, as he twirled with his gun, which seemingly had limitless ammo. Turning to the lady, he noticed the figure of memory. Grinning with deep wickedness, Olli opened fire on her and Shadow, out of thoughtless joy. His laughs grew louder and louder, as his bullets blazed through the air with zest.

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Fawkes

Chuckling with cold joy, the masked man felt his heart race with excitement. Steel was pointed onto his head, and he felt the icy intent through his shaggy hair. His grinning face of shining white stared at the floored man. Fawkes was still holding the torch, as he basked in the chaos of the field.

Like his father, the ideals of the chaos theory lied within him. However, being birthed between the union of his father and mother, chaos lives more-so in him. Unlike his predecessor, he wasn’t a believer of chaos. They could be detoured away from the path, like his father, who chose to fight with his friends for good. Fawkes saw himself as chaos incarnated into a physical being. He laughed at his dad’s foolish belie-

As the mask of pale nothingness stared downwards, his thoughts were interrupted by the cold bullet of panicking righteousness. His body froze, as his head dropped in lifelessness. As it did, the torch went off, spray a piercing flame at the lying soldier, before falling to the ground. Chaos cared not about death, but the mayhem that ensued around it.

Eventually, the black head reprise its previous position of life. Fawkes turned to face his attacker. Staring deep into her eyes, with mere blackness lying behind the eye sockets that sat behind the grimly grinning mask, fresh blood was scattered upon his face.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Lillian

Lillian could see a poppy sticking out of his chest pocket. She also found Morris’ wallet and house keys in his trouser’s pockets. Along with lose coins, random fluff and phone, Lillian found a business card for a taxi company called, Iunti.

Olli and Shadow

The jeep, that the masked man and his client were in, had lost balance and toppled over due to Olli’s bullets.The masked man, surviving due to having a faster regenerative healing process, struggled to see over the smoke and fire for his client.

‘Where’s your pretty partner?’ Dobby said in a flirty manner to Shadow. She made herself intangible to Shadow, allowing Olli’s bullets to fly past her. Half hovering and half flying, Dobby put distance between herself and Shadow. ‘Ah, there he is,’ she said, upon seeing Olli off in the distance. She swooned.

Dobby’s partner then fired a concentrated beam of light at Olli. His right shoulder was sore from the bullet, but it wasn't completely healed.

Fawkes

The female guard's eyes looked upon the black demon with wide eyes. He died. She saw him get shot. He's a demon, she cried to herself.

The woman grabbed her christian cross necklace and kissed it, as she prayed to God; she prayed for her husband, and two small children: Darren and Michelle, five and three years old, respectively.

She could hardly do anything but pray. She was terrified.

@ian_idyll: @ian_idyll: @ian_idyll:

Shadow

“She must be some kind of ghost…”, the suited man though, as he buckled from the stab. With his ink still absorbing the ripping energy of her attack, he regained his footing, as she took a step away from him. As she did, he immediately saw the bright light of her partner. “…but, he seems very present.”, Shadow thought before sprinting towards the man. In a haze of black mist, the Italian leaped for the sky. Forming dark assault rifles, he unloaded a fury of bullets at the man.

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Olli

Seeing the lady, Olli continued grinning. With a silent sign of displeasure, the magician wasn’t too happy to notice the lady had finally noticed him. “I wonder if the madam knows of me wife?”, he thought, as his gun continued fire. Caring no amount about the fact halt his attack wasn’t fazing her, he continued. However, he halted once he saw a glowing beam of zipping energy aiming for him.

In that instance, he turned away from everyone. Kneeling over, he reached into his suit jacket and magically pulled out his helmet. One of magical bond, the gold face of metal was the façade of his exciting sorcery. As he placed the majestic mask on his head, the beam engulfed him with the heat of a vaporizing burn. Covering all of him, it shot through his poor body, until his power rose.

In that moment, a field of transparent energy shielded his body. The beam sprayed into a blinding light, which illuminated the entire pitch. As Olli stood, a faded purple glow surrounded him. His hand shined with light, as bright as that off his eyes. He turned to the lady, wondering what the source of her powers was. As he rose to the air, his laughter presented a rumble coming from the ground, beneath them.

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Fawkes

With a cooing chuckle of comfort, the masked man pulled the lady in for a hug. “No, no, no…it’s okay, everything will be fine…”, he comforted her with a warm embrace. Holding her closely, he held his head beside hers. So close, he could fell her heartbeat. He could smell the deepest levels of her breath. Holding her with the warmth of romance, but the subtly of friendship, her felt her pain. Hearing the prayers she so frightfully cried, Fawkes thought of his tried to sooth the lady.

Holding her so close him the smooth fabric of his lengthy figure, his arms concealed her. “I’m no demon…that would imply that I fight the forces of evil.”, he whispered into her hear. With a hand on her head, and another on her waist, his mask continued stared an empty stare of polarizing essence. “I hold no bonds to the wickedness of evil…”, he smoothly spoke, denouncing the ways of villainy. “…point me in the direction of a devil, and he will meet the eyes of chaos as well…chaos holds no side, it just is. The saints and the wicked will all reap from the hands of the universe’s nature…..no one gains any favor.”, he told her, as he start rocking like a nurturing relative.

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Lillian

Hidden behind the building, the spy looked through the wallet. Tucking away the keys and loose coins, she looked through the rest of his stuff. Staring at the taxi card, the blonde agent roamed through his phone. Taking a SD chip out of her belt, she plugged it into the devise, downloading everything off of it, as well as connecting it to her server.

Contacting her agency, she was surprised to find the line was disconnected. “…the hell?”, she though before hearing a unfamiliar voice. “Hello, miss Lillian…I’m Tin’Data of Stayler’te, and I apologize for the temporary problem you’re having.”, the calm android voice stated with artificial sympathy. As he spoke, he connected her to his server, in order for him to download all of her data, as well as the phone’s data.

(LOL, I don't know if you're from the UK. But, your writing is...when you said 'trouser pockets', I was like, "he got pockets in his drawers?")

d^_^b

@superstay: (Haha! Yeah, I'm British, Scottish. I should keep in mind of words that have different meanings. But yeah, definitely ask me about anything that doesn't make sense and I will clarify for you. "He turned to the lady, wondering what the source of her powers was." I wasn't sure if I had to reveal her source or whether that was metaphorical and such. Let me know and I will edit it in or add it in the next post)

Shadow and Olli

Shadow’s bullets raced through the man’s flesh, piercing Dobby’s partner in the thigh and arms. Dobby had jetted towards her partner and took the rest of the bullets, but they never pierced her. Instead the bullets rebounded off her, and they never penetrated her, before Olli’s light blinded the whole compound momentarily.

As Olli started to raise into the air, a black viscous-looking liquid shot upwards to wrap around Olli’s legs. The black liquid would then engulf Olli’s whole body, before suddenly hardening into crystal or metal, restricting movement and escape. Neither form being of common origin or even known to human science.

Black liquid started to secrete from Dobby’s fingers, hands and arms, as it made its way below Olli, before leaping at the man’s legs. The liquid was as hot as boiling oil, inducing third degree burns upon touch. Dobby’s clothes and hair melted off her body, leaving her naked. The liquid continued to run down her skin, without leaving her body.

In contrast, the metal itself that had been made from the liquid, was cold. The metal seemed to be very light but extremely tough- stronger than magnesium alloy.

Fawkes

The woman squirmed, as she tried to push Fawkes off her. She refused to listen the demon’s voice and continued to pray for help inside her head. She thought of her family and friends.

All the guards that were deployed laid dead. None alive, but one. The man’s eyes opened in a blurred state, as he half watched the demon around his fellow guard- Rochelle Burns. The man’s hearing had been dulled and everything sounded muffled. He reached for his weapon and slowly got up. Shoot him! Shoot him! The man shouted in his head. The man continued to walk until he was nearby the black demon and Rochelle, and went to take the shot, the exact moment Olli’s light blinded the whole compound momentarily.

Lillian

The wallet offered Morris' home address, and that he had a wife and one daughter. Otherwise, nothing substantial.

The mobile had the phone numbers of many known people from high positions at different professions. A recent call was made to: Donald Marcus, the current governor; some one called: Loraine; and: Jack Schafer.

Olli's light momentarily blinded the compound.

@ian_idyll:

(Awesome...the Scottish are the best of them...also, not the exact source. Just the origins of the source: Divine, Magical, Supernatural, Demonic, Heavenly, Other Worldly, ect...)

Shadow

As he landed, in front of the protective lady, Shadow immediately tried to get around her. With his biological body infused with his ink, the black substance started dematerializing. Atomically breaking into misty dust, his physical frame started doing the same. In an instant of a second, his misty ink rushed around the lady, as she shot at the magician.

As the suited man met close distance with the lady’s partner, he formed his physical figure. Coated in black, Shadow appeared behinds the man. Immediately, he attempted to grab the man, placing him in a backwards neck lock.

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Olli

“The strength of a man is his consort…”, the magician thought, as the scorching liquid wrapped around his leg. As it engulfed him, his body became filled with heat and steam. His mask glowed in reaction to the temperature, which was forced upon him. As it did, heat-forming rock sunk to the ground. The field rumbled more, before a crack of fire emerged. The boulder that now covered Olli fell through the crack, as hell’s fire rose in its demise.

“Me lady, I request ye…”, Olli called, as his mask kept his face from being covered in the black concealer. As he mentally channeled outward, he started to light up, inwardly. A flush of red light covered the already fiery base grounds. While the divine flames rose to the sky, the ground rumbles more and more.

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Fawkes

With his backing being riddled with bullets, the masked man quickly lifted the lady. Holding her over his shoulders, he felt a round of bullets rip though his stomach. Souring out of his front, they would have zipped into her, if Fawkes would not have lifted her. Steadily gripping her, his hole-riddled waist gave away, as his body soon collapsed.

Falling to the floor, the lady harmlessly fell over him. As he sunk into a puddle of black fabric, a presumable death by way of melting, the lady lied freely on the ground. Warm and smooth, the silky cotton lied like a messy rug. With his hair, mask, and body gone, the moon's pale glow was the only thing that was left with them.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Olli

As the hot, black liquid transformed into the cold, black metal that encased and trapped Olli inside, he could feel his powers waning as the metal appeared to be slowly damping his abilities. Olli could sense that Dobby’s source of power was genetics. Her genes were different; fluttering and changing constantly.

The surface layer of the metal started to secrete the black liquid, which was not hot, but it started to enter inside Olli’s body and system through the pores of his skin. The liquid inside Olli was poisoning him. The metal continued to grow, trying to affect the mask, as it formed a black metal cocoon to trap Olli inside.

Shadow

Shadow succeeded in grabbing the man, locking his neck from the back. The man struggled to set himself free.

In front of Shadow and the man was Dobby. Now completely covered in black; her skin rippled with black liquid, Dobby turned her attention towards her partner and Shadow.

A puddle of hot, black liquid was below Shadow’s feet; and in a sudden eruption, the black liquid transformed into the black metal in attempt to trap Shadow inside. As soon as the cold, black metal traps Shadow, the man would raise his hands and cup them close, or, on Shadow’s face and release a burst of light to remove Shadow’s head from its neck. Dobby smiled with exhilarating delight.

With Shadow and Olli both encased in solid metal; their powers waning; their body slowly poisoned, Dobby forced Olli out from the fiery pit through her control of the black metal. She made Olli and Shadow fly into each other, causing the metals to fuse; trapping the both of them together.

Fawkes

'Demons...They're all demons,' the male guard concluded. He stared at his colleague, who was on all fours on top of where Fawkes once stood. Her expression was of a frightened doe. Her movements were slow if not non-existent, as she half listened to the man. Her eyes were red as water formed around her pupils.

@ian_idyll:

Olli

Olli felt the rock stating to absorb his powers. He uncontrollably started laughing at the feeling. His stomach rumbled with the eruption of hysteria. As if laugh echoed through the base, his powers began to flow through the black mass. All of his combined power rain furiously into it. He allowed the source of his power to connect to the absorber. His smile intensified, as the many different types of power engulfed the rock. His parlor magic, his spiritual divinity, his demonic realm, the essence of Hell and his realms limitless mass started flowing.

Ages and ages and ages of vast abilities stuffed itself into the machine. He carelessly laughed, as he absorbs himself into the rock. His power was his mind, which have ran rampant though existence in the span of a short time. Since his untimely death, he had resurrected himself in a presence of omnificence. As power stuffed more and more power into the rock, without coming close to being done, the very potency of his realm surged through. A place built in magic that sat outside of this universe, because of how powerful it was, Olli’s force was starting to suck the black rock into a void of force, as the absorbed power began to pull back into itself. His laughter got loader as the overdosing outmatched the gravity of earth with enough power to wipe the rock from this plain of existence.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Shadow

Not having any powers, just biological advancements, Shadow felt the rock sucking away at nothing. But, he was utterly trapped inside the device. In an instance, he felt himself hurled at something. As he did, the feeling of extreme heat, he started drying out from it. Hot enough to cause him melt; he silently died within the capsule, as his ink kept his spirit from crossing over. He was still present, within the ink that was now their without a living body.

His ink flurried around, inside the rock, as they successfully avoided the power sucking metal. The Italian’s soul watched both rocks conjoin and begin to vanish into a void of Olli’s power. “…Jest…you’re going to destroy the city!”, Shadow thought, as he saw the floor of the base crumble with intensity. “Ow, poppycock…I won’t allow it…”, Olli playfully spoke to the spirit. Using mental connection to the paranormal, the magician talked to him through mental communication. “…how”, Shadow worried. With a chuckling exclaim, Olli answered, “…I do not believe know why I’m using me wife’s lingo…I never say bloody poppycock…”, he continued laughing his heart out. “Word to the wise, my good chap, do not get married…ye’ll only slowly adapt into ye lady…”.

"No, how are you not destroying the city...you're wrecking the base" the spirit asked the crazed magician. However, he got no answer. As the suited spirit watched, he saw Tabitha start to float out of the device. In ghostly form, she revealed that she had switched places with her husband. Inside the device was nothing but the light of magical energy. As the rock ripped apart, the metallic capsule was dragged into Olli’s realm, as Tabi hovered next to Shadow.

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Tabi

“Where is Olli?”, the suited spirit asked, as the lady floated. With a smile, she used her ability to help the force of the Jests’ magic to push the chambers into the white void of Olli’s power. While doing so, she knew that her husband what now in the absorption of power. He allowed his immediate mind to flow along with his power. He was deep within the device; mentally see all that was along the way.

Tabi looked at Shadow with soft eyes of wisdom. “Don’t worry, dear…your body with return to you”, she referred to his ink-infused body. With a smile she spoke, “…but, you might need to find the agent…she is leaving…”, the lady’s eyes stared into the direction of the gate.

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Fawkes

With the pale moon hovering above them, the wind blew calmly. Silence filled the air with the ambiance of the unusual. Cold and chilly, the ground was icy. The events that partook a few yards from them were now oddly silent and faint. Sitting in the distance, they felt like a scene from a movie. As the black smoke appeared to be succumbing to the light of the moon, and fading into white morning fog, which overtook the base. Fawkes blackly watched the two people, as the mist surrounded them and held blocked the visible path of knowing.

There were free and bondless. Yet, they did not move…he would make them move. They will run when he’s done with them, he thought. As the gritting scrape of knife against a rusty pipe whistled into the air, the sound of footsteps flooded the misty fog. As the blurry vision of a shadow walked for them, the scraping became louder and more prominent.

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Lillian

Ignoring what was happening in the fight, Agent 669 knew she had to escape and continue the mission. So, she made her way for the gate. Sneaking into an abandoned car, she sped for the exit. As she did, the road became foggy. Bypassing it, she reached the gate, and drove passed it. She was on her way to his home address. She kept his stuff, and she stared into his phone. Eyeing the governor's number, she wondered in if was a appropriate time to contact him. However, unknown to her, the spirit of Shadow was in her backseat.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Olli and Shadow

The metal did not appear to be absorbing the abilities, rather it was making them more dull or sedated. It was, in a way, turning a lion into a mouse; transforming a bite into a lick. The poison that the metal secreted and injected into Olli and Shadow, served to slow them down and eventually kill them.

Despite the metal’s dampening effect and poison, Olli’s immense power that was forged together through the amalgamation of his parlour magic, spiritual divinity, demonic realm, and the essences of Hell overwhelmed the usefulness of the metal, and continued to wreak havoc.

Dobby was in no doubt enjoying the performance. She treated the military airport as her theatre, and Olli and herself as the actors; the chaos as the consequence. Her depraved eyes stared with hunger at Olli’s raw strength. Dobby’s naked body fluttered with thrilling nervousness, as she became sexually aroused.

Olli’s actions came to pass, as the metal cocoon that he was in vanished into the void of force. Dobby knelt beside her partner, who had collapsed on the ground from sheer pain and exhaustion. Her partner’s hands trembled and he struggled to heal himself with his ability.

‘We have failed to take them out, again,’ the man grumbled, through gritted teeth.

‘They have failed too- haven’t they?’ She countered with a smile. ‘Do you know who they are?'

‘I have no idea. I don’t see their connection with anything.’

‘Maybe their mission is far more simpler than ours. Only here to stop petty gangsters.'

‘They were at the morgue to see the girl!’ the man argued back, getting irritated by his partner’s nonplussed attitude.

‘Like I said, they’re probably only interested in stopping petty crimes…’ The two watched from a distance as the floating Tabitha conversed with Shadow. Dobby’s partner winced with pain. ‘Gabriel,’ she said eyeing his shot thigh, ‘stop moving.’

Dobby’s attitude had changed into a serious one, as she placed her hand, covered with the black liquid, over Gabriel’s thigh. The black liquid ran along the thigh and entered the wound; energising the blood cells to work faster, and created a blood clot to stop the bleeding. Where the flesh would have been was now covered with congealed black liquid. This was done in seconds, and was done the same to the wounded arms. Gabriel was relieved of pain. ‘We’ve done our job,' Gabriel said quickly, grabbing Dobby’s wrist. 'So, we have to go, now!’ He demanded.

Dobby nodded, and proceeded to raise and float, holding on to her partner. The both of them left the airport.

Fawkes

The sound of Fawkes’ footsteps and rusty pipe started to distort, echoing in an environment that sounded like the bottom of a well. Fawkes could see the two guards talking to each other but he couldn’t hear them. Suddenly, there was no sound at all.

Surrounding Fawkes in a circle were ten identical figures, dressed in a black armour bodysuit. The black amour appeared to be made by the same black metal that Dobby had created from her black liquid. Each figure wore the same emblem and donned the same symbol of the capitalised letter “E”. They were armed.

Fawkes was experiencing the world exactly the same, except no one was paying attention to him or the black armoured figures. Stepping forward into the circle and towards Fawkes, was Fawkes' doppelgänger. Fawkes was face to face with an exact copy of him. The double walked with no sound and made no noise. The copy stared at Fawkes with the same intensity as Fawkes normally would. Fawkes should start to feel calm and sedated.

Lillian and Shadow

As Lillian drove down the road and away from the military airport, she could see a barricade up ahead. It suddenly started to rain heavily.

At the barricade, there were jeeps and barbed wires; and guarding them were unfamiliar security. They dressed like police officers but wore a different emblem. Standing at the forefront was a figure. The figure wore a black armour bodysuit. The metal appeared like Dobby’s black metal. The figure also wore the same emblem as the police officers but also donned a capitalised letter “H”. The figure’s black helmet visor popped open at the front, revealing a caucasian man inside.

The man appeared to have a face that seemed to always be either confused or smug. He gave a smug smile as he started to manipulate the weather. He made the clouds appear, the wind strong and controlled it so it would start raining heavily. He was forming a lightning storm. Thunder echoed through the sky, as he readied himself to generate a lightning bolt to hit Lillian’s car. Aiming to pierce the car’s wheels.

'Sir? Sir? Keep your visor on please, sir.' A faint voice begged inside the man's helmet.

Charlie Bennett and Edward Downe

Charlie Bennett and Edward Downe had not known each other until they started working for Tom Morris. In fact, they hardly spoke to each other, even then. Their mutual friendship extending no further than mumbling a “hello" to each other if they ever crossed one another's path. That was, however, in the past now. At this moment, during all the chaos that one could imagine, Charlie Bennett and Edward Downe, held each other tight, as they hid themselves under the van they arrived in.

Charlie Bennett, the flushed faced man, eagerly wished that he was back home, watching sports on his television. He wished that he had never taken up the job to work for Morris, in the expectation that he too could live a comfortable life. After all, he had no qualifications. No skills and no talent. He had, however, the kindness to earn money in order to not drive his parents into total depression. A goal, he believed, was a total waste of time. After all, once labelled as something; will always be labelled as such. A flushed faced loser. That was until he had met and saved Tom Morris’ life outside a carnival fair- well he was still a loser- but now he had secured himself a job with Tom Morris, AKA Big Man.

Edward Downe was different to his recent companion. He was from a well off family. He was fortunate to have an education and he was severely loved by his family. His down fall, if you pardon the pun, was that he was an ugly man. He wasn’t disfigured or produced unbearable odour- despite the reasonable assumption that he had worked for many years at a onion soup factory- but instead it was because he had an ugly presence about him. No one would hire him for a job. Even the onion soup factory position wasn’t given to him freely- nor was it given to him at all. He had tricked an existing worker to give him the position as long as Edward Downe promised to marry his ugly sister. Edward Downe may have had an ugly presence but he was no settler, either. In the end, Edward Downe did not marry the worker’s sister and killed the worker with an onion peeler. Edward Downe had worked there for three months, living off onion soup, until the manager of the company noticed him. He was soon kicked out. For many months, he lived with his parents until time and time again they failed to secure him a job. Instead, Edward Downe stole a taxi car and started to pick up customers, making his own money. His secretive and lucrative business was how he managed to land himself in the same vehicle as Tom Morris, who offered him the job to be his personal driver.

Charlie Bennett and Edward Downe stayed quiet under the van as they whimpered to themselves about their currently unfortunate circumstance. Praying that if they ever make it out alive, they would donate all their earnings to a charity. Or perhaps create their own charity. The Bennett Downe Syndrome. A charity that supported unfortunate souls such as those like Charlie Bennett and Edward Downe that were forced into crime because of unfortunate circumstances; and the charity would help those people to live happier and profitable lives. Nah! Doubt those lazy bastards would ever do that!

@ian_idyll: (Where's Charlie Bennett and Edward Downe?)

Tabi and Olli

“Should we follow them, Olli”, the brunette woman asked in wonder, as she gazed at the two figures. She mildly leered, while her body faded into full view. Not in ghost form, she stood in the middle of the burnt field, and she gazed at the sight of her husband floating down to the steaming floor of debris. “Aye…let them be, they mean little to the plan…”, he grinned, as he walked over to his wife. Holding his hand out, he gestured for her top hat. Seeming like he couldn’t find his, he politely smile as she gave him her black hat.

With a bow, he held the hat with delicacy. Turning it upside down, the magician playfully tapped the hat’s fuzzy rim. As he did, a pitch black substance poured from the inside. As black as the abyss of space, it moved like ash in the wind. Flowing in a current of its own control, the ash moved through the air with speed, as Olli stared at his lady. “Well, that’s that…”, the British man smirked, as Tabi wonderfully watched the flowing powdery substance.

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Shadow and Lillian

Speeding towards the gate, the blonde driver noticed the troops of policemen with subtle ease. As she stared at them, her eyes soon glared at the rain drops falling to her windshield. Her mind began to fill with the confusing weather’s strange start. While her mind raced with the options that she had, the car aced for the gate. The sky lied empty of stars and the pale moonlight, but covered with storm clouds and shocking lightning. Staring in thought, the agent of secrecy had no clue that a spirit was in the backseat.

Quiet as the transparency that made up his body, the soul of pure energy watched with content. Wishing he could do something, Shadow sulked in the fact that he had no power…not even a physical presence for that matter. He was useless to this world, he thought with a nonchalant sense of disappointment. However, as he lured into the silence of the driver’s decision, they both heard the bust of the truck’s windshield. A black liquid mist sprayed into the vehicle, rushing for its host, as the substance grew dense and watery. Becoming a thick tendril of dark ink, it engulfed the surprised spirit of Shadow’s.

As Lillian stared in shock, the car started to steer off course, as she frantically let the wheel go. Paying no attention to the road, she was dead-set on the ‘thing’ that had erupted in her backseat. Shadow was absorbed by his ink, which immediately started recreating his biological frame. As it did, she noticed the appearance of his face. However, before she could say anything in realization, the black ink exploded towards the windows of the car. Busting them, it rushed to the rescue of the vehicle, fully covering the truck. With a shocked yell of fright, Shadow’s liquid ink took over the car, straightening it back out, and aiming it for the gate, again. Hearing the thunderously sudden sound, they both felt the jerk of the vehicle being thrown by a lightning strike.

As the car tumbled, the ink sealed it within a thick shell of itself. The popped wheels shook the vehicle, as it fell onto its flapping rims caps. The powerful electrical sure sent a wave of force rattling through the frame of the truck. As it nearly tipped over, Shadow’s free forming liquid kept the circular shape of the once-presence wheels. Steadying the vehicle, Shadow spoke, “Ram ‘em…”. With a stilled face of focus, Lillian confusingly turned from the Italian man, and back to the road, to see them hurling towards the wall of men. Honking the horn, she warned the policemen, as the large military jeep approached them with enough shaky momentum to crash through a wall of concrete.

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Fawkes

Staring into the foggy side streets, the masked man noticed the sound of footsteps. An echo of thumps, eventually fading into the nothing of silence, the area grew quiet, quickly. He could feel the air’s wind breezing past him, but as silent as it was clear. The image of many secure men should in an intimidating circle. Fawkes began to grip at his favored daggers of attack. However, he halted in his action as he witnessed the emergence of a slender framed being of darkness.

With the same blank gaze of his pale mask, Fawkes stared in confusion. “Well…”, he muttered, as his eyes bared witness to a copy of himself. Standing tall and lean, like his own figure, the being was as haunting as he was. With the abyss of nothing behind his eyes, and the framed mask of polarizing brightness, the man was as eerie as his original.

Fawkes glared in shocked wonder, as he drew into a trance of the figure’s eyes. In the black pool of smoke, he saw his father and mother. He saw Jest manor, his dog, his butler, his sister, and his prosperous upbringing. A childhood fantasy of magic, charm, adventure and mysticism, turned red with argument, fights, and ill habits. The sight of his father’s poisoned body lying on the kitchen floor, as his dear mother bludgeoned it with a shovel. The dark eyes of his father, who strangled him near-nightly, out of the horrid voices in his head…the bipolar fits of his mother, that lift him and his sister haunted with fear. As well as the drunken depression of his sister, which killed her.

Fawkes grew anger with the image of his father’s face staring at him. The memories of his father’s chaotic ideals beaten into him…the masked man silently stared in chilling memory. With heated intent, he launched himself at his doppelgänger. As the many unpleasant thought that normal rested behind the mask hurled through his fingertips. He attempted to grab the figure, and slice off his head.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Tabi & Olli

Thunder rumbled quietly off in the distance before the soft pitter-patter of rain fell on the ground. Tabi and Olli stood as witnesses to the aftermath of their fight. The earth had cracked, buildings battered; chaos had swept through the compound violently with impartial force.

Remarkably, no farther than fifty feet from where the two magicians stood, a van rested in complete amity to its surroundings. A safe haven, spared from the chaos-induced abscess, and for those who once commanded the world with a sense of security. Tabi and Olli would be thankful to know that creatures of hell were not hiding under the van, but instead a couple of untreated egomaniacs whimpering in fear of what tomorrow would bring. Charlie Bennett and Edward Downe jostled in tight proximity, as they hid their eyes from the outside world under the safety of their van.

The sounds of quick heavy footsteps on puddles of rain halted to an abrupt stop behind Tabi and Olli, as four unfamiliar police officers pointed their guns at the magicians. The officers had remained silent. They had made no noise of discouragement. No cries of misconduct or for unchartered felonies. The officers were different from ordinary police. That much was clear. They showed professional form as their presence elected the sense of a far worse judgement; maintaining their positions with cold stares they revealed nothing.

As if on cue, a lightning bolt struck; when the noise ended and the flash faded a woman came forward from behind the phalanx of officers. The woman had short, spikey silver hair and wore black armour with an emblem (that she shared with each officer) and the symbol for the capital letter “Sigma”.

The woman looked to be in her mid-forties. Her head was small with a fairly long neck, and she had big eyes along with a retroussé nose. Her face seemed too elegant or regal to belong to a soldier’s. The woman thinned out her lips as she approached closer to the magicians. ‘Right!’ She said with an assertive voice. Her tired eyes scanned the two vigilantes. If she had been pretty once, she had quickly lost it to age. ‘Arms out.’

The woman raised both arms, presenting in one hand her badge -which gave her name: Agent Sigma, Evelyn Ledocq; Agent for “Security for Top secret Affairs, Secret Intelligence Service” (S.T.A.S.I.S). The other hand held two handcuffs, ready to be used on Tabi and Olli.

Lillian and Shadow

The blaring horn from the jeep caused a few of the STASIS police officer’s to flinch, but they were restrained from moving out of the way by a single hand belonging to the Agent. His smug face and beaming eyes, wide with content for no particular reason, followed the jeep’s movement like a tractor beam. The officers readied their weapons, clutching them tightly.

‘Visor down -I insist,’ the voice from the Agent’s helmet harped on.

‘Capital!’ The Agent said excitedly, as he watched the jeep near him. The man’s visor suddenly slid back down, allowing him to see the world in more ways that could be done with regular eyes. The Agent raised his arms and commanded a gust of wind to build into a tornado. The tornado leapt through the air and sucked up grass, dirt, and as well as the jeep Lillian and Shadow were in; trapping objects inside and only letting a few out.

The Agent smirked at his own creation. The officers watched with caution.

Fawkes

The doppelgänger parried Fawkes’s attacks with considerable skill, as if he knew exactly what Fawkes were thinking. A final parry before the copy allowed Fawkes to strike it, but it soon evaporated before reappearing again.

The Agents that surrounded them in a boxing ring continued to look at Fawkes with reflective helmets that did not reveal their faces.

@ian_idyll:

Olli & Tabi

Standing still, the pair stared at the rainy skies with content wonder. As their eyes watched the black clouds of pressure, their brunette hair fell to the strength of the water. As still as stone, they watched the thunderous earth. “Hm…did ye suspect a windy shower?”, the Englishman muttered to his wife, who’s eyes lit with the sight of lightning. “I have foresight, dear…”, she sweetly stated to her confused husband. As he listened, he unnoticeably smirked. “Of course you did…”, he muttered before holding out his calmed fingers for her, the Brit took smiled at the feeling of her soft palm returning to him.

Lifting her hand to his face, Olli kissed her with great length. As she gazed at the sky without a flinch, he did the same, as his lips gave appreciation to her. Eventually letting go, Tabi’s eyes glanced to her corner, where she saw her husband out of her peripheral. “There’s coming…”, she thought to her love, as her mind saw them. With the magician seeing the image from her mind, Olli smiled with wicked glee. So, as they stood as still as ever, the Englishman started to turn towards them. On the heels of his feet, he swaggered into a standing position.

With a dashing smile, he threw his hand out, to send a gentlemanly cane shooting out of his sleeve. Avoiding the trickery of his magic, he immediately started leaning onto his staff. “A pleasure, young lady…how may I help you?”, the gentlemanly removed his top hat, to bow in greeting of the lady. With a shake of his hair, his head became dry, and refused the heavy rainfall that soaked everything else. As his eye excitedly watched the man, with ignorance towards the intimidating forces, Olli looked over at his wife.

=====================================================================================

Lillian and Shadow

Whipped up into the eye of the twister, the black truck was hurled circularly around the forceful inside. As the spy sat in the front seat, she was nearly sent through the windshield, by the force. But, with the inky liquid sealing her to her seat, Lillian was held in place. From her legs to her upper neck, her entire body was contained in pitch black substances. As her blue eyes pierced at the dark winds of speeding pressure, the blonde agent heard the detective.

“Boy, that annoying fighter is never around when he’s needed…”, the black suited man muttered to himself. Still holding the jeep together, Shadow grunted under the pressure of grand amounts of wind force bombarding him. With a bit more grunting, the ink covered man spoke. “Do you have a grenade on you?”, he asked while his ink searched her for weapons. And, before she could answer yes, he found one. With it surfacing from the ink, Shadow took the explosive as the black liquid started covering Lillian’s face.

Fully engulfing her, Shadow shielded her once he ripped the pin from the grenade. Causing a large explosion inside the car, the shadowy figure allowed the gasoline to be hit by the fiery blaze. And, with a loud boom, the entire car went up in fire. As flames were carried into the twister’s pulling winds, Shadow’s ink began to slither like a snake. Disconnecting itself from the flaming car, the densely travelling liquid swallowed both the spy and detective. Moving with intensity, it fought against the storm.

Shooting out of the tornado, it flung itself like a blurring ragdoll. Souring into a nearby building, the two shredded through with force, hitting the other side of the field. With a crying grunt, Shadow lied on the ground in pain, as Lillian was released from the substance.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

Hitting the cold floor, the masked figure felt as ill as a mad dog. With the pressure of anger fuming over him, the shining mask faced the ground. With rage within his chaotic makeup, he ripped from the ground. Aware of the ring of men, Fawkes longingly wanted chaos. So, the furious man pulled out the beastly device of his flamethrower. Ripping towards his treacherous copier, the masked man sprayed an enormous amount of fire around the group. Engulfing everyone in hellish flames of sadistic intent, he gushed over the men.

As the heat reached the temperature of a volcanic eruption, the magical flames quickly overtook the area. As the smell of burning flesh awaited, Fawkes engulfed the entire area in fire. With a wicked laugh, he lustfully basked in the hell he raised around the ring of men.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Tabi & Olli

‘I’m arresting you,’ Ledocq informed Olli. She had noted his nonchalant attitude, and made a further note to herself to already dislike the man. Ledocq also looked at Tabi with disapproving eyes, as the clothes the female magician wore reflected more in a way of a wayward, promiscuous, playgirl than a woman with self-respect. ‘I’m sure you have questions. Many. But we can talk all the shop you want back at home headquarters.’ Ledocq said in anticipating the usual “whys and wherefores”, as she retracted her badge, attaching it to a thin belt, before two other S.T.A.S.I.S officers entered her line of sight.

The two officers gave a tacit nod towards the Agent as they moved onwards with a couple of snivelling lowlifes they had found hiding under a van. Another officer passed with a squirming young man. The same young man who was accompanied by the masked man. His face was red and he was pinching his nose that seemed to be broken. His clothes were dirtied and he looked more like a refugee, who had been made to pose for a holiday brochure, than a local. The young man’s eyes fluttered uncontrollably before he caught sight of the two magicians and the silver haired woman.

‘You’ll hear from my lawyers! You will see!’

‘Yes, Mr. Price –I’m sure we will.’ She said dryly, before adding: ‘I would also look into finding yourself a funeral director. That, you will be needing soon...’

Mr. Price’s face had turned white and he had quickly muted himself upon hearing the woman’s final words. He was unclear whether that was a threat or a warning for something he was yet to know why. Mr. Price clumsily lost his footing and hit his face on the solid ground, adding more pain to his already broken nose. No sympathy from the soldier in charge of him.

Evelyn Ledocq turned her attention back from Mr. Price to Olli and Tabi. She looked like a lioness ready to pounce. The hand that held the handcuffs went limb as two out of the four officers from the phalanx left their positions to take a handcuff each to place on each magician.

The faint sound of a tornado and an explosion caught Agent Sigma’s attention. But only for a brief moment- ‘Stupid, man,’ she thought to herself--

Lillian & Shadow

The smug face of the Agent momentarily went from enjoyment to confusion in mere seconds; as the moment the explosion within the tornado occurred he had raised his visor up, disregarding positive instruction from the voice in his helmet to keep the visor on. But how could he when he took pleasure from experiencing little to big moments with his own eyes. Only then would the experience have felt real to him; and never with any sort of eyeglass, let alone a top organisation’s helmet visor. Then he could say that he was there.

‘Visor on-‘

‘Yes Eta. Of course Eta…Right away Eta.’ The Agent raised his arms and made the tornado disperse as quickly as he had conjured it. The Agent proceeded by placing his visor on, over his eyes; over the real world. ‘There’re gone,’ he said with a sad inflection.

‘Heat signatures detected. They are not dead, sir. If you had kept your visor up I could’ve calculated their movements faster.’

‘You’re just being tedious. You must stop seeing the world through rose-tinted visors.' He paused momentarily, before adding: 'She was cute, though.’

‘Sir?’

The Agent broke into a smile before pointing his fingers, and directing his personal officers towards the location of Shadow and Lillian.

Fawkes

Laughter rose over Fawkes’ wicked laugh. Matching it before exceeding his wickedness. The laughter was coming from the doppelgänger, as the figure walked through the flames unharmed. The flames seemed to have had no impact on the ring of men as well, as they maintained their positions without worry.

The Copy continued forward in a nonchalant manner, hand outstretched and ready to remove Fawkes’ mask off.

The laughter echoed despite there being no sound. Fawkes could hear it ringing inside his head.

@ian_idyll:

Olli and Tabi

Smirking, the amused magician watched the arriving men, accompanied by the officers. Slowly turning to them, Olli watched as his wife continued gazing at the lady. Raising her eyebrow in near-offense, she glanced down at her clothing. “…playgirl?...do I really appear to be a woman of promiscuity?”, she thought, before glancing at her husband for assurance. With his face slowly turning to face her, he looked over the figure he knew well. “Aye…maybe it’d be the top hat…respectable woman done with the once-high hat of old. It’s greatly flirtatious and immoral, these days”, he wonderingly thought with concern eyes.

As she grew at odds with the realization, she glanced at him again, Tabi noticed the absent hat on the officer’s head. “Ah, I see, I see…..so, should I get rid of it?”, she asked her love, via mental telepathy. Receiving a shrugging head shake, Olli replied, “Aye, damn the lot of them, we must hold some ounce of decency…”. Straightening his suit in pride, he eventually turned back to the lady. “Aye, young lady, you appear to be a appreciator of the finer things in life…”, he swaggered up to the officer who took away the kid. “…like those lips, heh?”, the magician joked, while shielding his clearly hearable voice. Nudging the officer with the punchline of his joke, the gentlemanly postured Brit noticed the still face that lied behind a cold helmet. Quickly glancing around, no one was laughing, but his wife’s regularly mild giggle, “Eh, tough crowd”.

“I know what could cheer that right up, dear…”, his lady grinned. “Yes, let’s see what we might find among these lovely gentlemen…”, he chuckled through a pallor routine. As his wife took the role of his trusty assistant, she pulled a large pastry sheet from her back. Far too big to have been hidden back there, she kept her welcoming smile as she held the plate. Immediately, her husband started dancing like a theatrical showman of old. Whistling the tune of ‘Barney and Friends’, he laughed. “You know, I am a man with a huge sweet-tooth. I could dare live without a love pasty…muffins, pies, cakes, candies, creams…I love them all”, he state before replacing his whistling with an endless call of desserts treats.

Calling them all in great detail, they appeared out of the thin air above them, as he did. As Tabi hustled around trying to catch all of them on the sheet, they foolishly tripped and tumbled over the floor-landing treats. Performing heavily crafted slap-stick, the duo tried to entertain the group.

=====================================================================================

Lillian and Shadow

Rushing to his feet, the suited man was flushed with the headache of the rambunctious explosion. Still ear-sensitive, he stood up and walked over to the lady. Pulling her to her feet, he watched her gain her footing and immediately look around. “I’m sure their looking for us”, she spoke with urgency, as she activated her suit’s cloaking device. Shadow turned to watch the perimeter, as the blonde disappeared into invisibility. With her suit cutting off the track of her thermal radiation, she looked around.

Grabbing her gun, she shot a few cameras up on the roof’s edge. Stepping into the shadows, the suited man hid himself with slickness, as Lillian snuck through the alley. Breaking a window, they rushed into the building, as they planned their next plan.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

Standing in the flames, the chaotic man started laughing harder and hard. Morphing out of a sadistic chuckle of angered rage, Fawkes’ laughter became a cackle of dark joy. Like a fist to iron, his attempts seemed useless. A crazed predator was now the helpless play…it sound like the type of stories his father would imagine. And, like his lively father, who’d easily enjoy anything that fit his theory, the masked man’s world grew darker and darker. The surrounding became blacker with a void of his distance.

Growing empty and hollow, Fawkes fell to his knees, hunched over his full belly. With a mask of stone cold motion, the younger Jest covered his stomach with intensity. As his father’s image continuously cackled throughout his mind, the son was forced to focus on it. His mind became more and more cluttered, scrambled by the visions of his ethical belief. Uncontrollably laughing, Fawkes started to roll around the misty floor of white light…

d^_^b

@superstay:

Tabi & Olli

Ledocq frowned and gritted her teeth when the two magicians began with their parlour tricks. The officers near Tabi and Olli stopped trying to handcuff them once the magicians zipped from side to side. ‘Handcuff the clowns,’ Ledocq demanded from the officers, quickly sighing because of their slow reactions.

Using her discretion, Ledocq activated her helmet on and raised her arms out; and using her ability to control water (H₂O) she restricted the magicians’ movements by manipulating their blood to immobilise them in place. Allowing the two officers to place the handcuffs on Tabi and Olli.

The constricting of their bodies would have made Tabi and Olli experience tightening pains, until another Agent with the symbol of a capital “M” walked past behind them. The new Agent was inducing a sedation effect on the magicians to relief some pain, while making them docile.

If successful, Tabi and Olli would have then found themselves not at the airport anymore but each one inside an enclosed interrogation room- not together, but in separate rooms. They were now able to move their body freely.

Standing across the room that Olli was in was Agent Sigma (Evelyn Ledocq) and two officers. In Tabi’s room, the Agent with the symbol of a capital “M” and two officers stood inside. Tabi and Olli had just teleported to a new, unknown location.

Lillian & Shadow

The Agent’s eyebrows rose high above his eyes once he had lost track on one of the heat signatures. ‘Where she go?’ He asked the voice in his helmet, albeit jumping to the assumption that it was indeed Lillian’s heat signature that he lost and not Shadow’s.

‘We don’t know who we have lost--’ The voice tried to breathe logical reasoning with the Agent’s question.

‘Doesn’t matter,’ he said, dismissing the voice’s argument. Then to the officers: ‘Chase the one with the heat signature. I’ll get the other one.’

The officers nodded. They moved away quickly. Then: the Agent heard the gunshots. He calculated the trajectory of where the bullets were released from via his helmet. He followed the sound trail until he heard a window glass break, leading him to a building.

‘I sense one heat signature,’ the voice informed the Agent.

From the corner of the Agent’s eye, he could see his officers quietly approaching the same building. Their target must have went inside too, he thought -but then where was the second one! The Agent clicked his tongue as he surmised that the other one was invisible, and clocking their heat signature. ‘We’re looking for ripples in the air, Eta.’

‘Understood.’

The Agent and the officers (six of them) entered the building quietly as they scanned for their enemies.

Fawkes

When the white light faded, Fawkes would then find himself alone in an enclosed interrogation room. He was no longer at the airport. He was now wearing handcuffs that jingled when he moved.

Fawkes sat at a simple table that had a voice recorder to its side. The door opened and in came the Agent with the capital letter “E” (from the ring of men) with two other officers.

‘How are we feeling?’ The Agent said to Fawkes. The Agent revealed his face to be a dark skinned male with short wiry dark hair.

@ian_idyll:

Tabi

Eyes closed, the lady of London was very content within her seat. Having closed her eyes after the insistence of her odd husband, she went along with him. Being brought to this location, she was still very much still. Not moving herself since the manipulation of her often helpless body, the gypsy was spiritually evaluating everything. Tabi knew the men were within the room, even though her graceful eyes haven’t bared witness to them. She saw their image with clarity, before expanding her view.

Not trying to see the presence near her, she watched her husband with wonder. Connected to his ill soul, the lady spoke through their long-lasted connection. “Olli…I don’t really like this place. It holds a weird energy to it…..”, she worried. As her body hung in an undead balance, her physical presence made no movement… no breath, no blink, no blood flow, she was not there. Though, while appearing to be a fresh corpse, she was still aware of the men in her room.

=====================================================================================

Olli

Staring deep into the eyes of his capturers, the magician’s glance was empty and cold. For a few minutes of it, the Brit was looking through the lady. Deep in thought, he felt a bigger presence approaching him. Hearing the beloved voice of his petite wife, he began to smirk. Muttering nonsense under his breathe, he continued looking at the woman. Having been brought here, he was previously awaiting the fun that could be had. However, because of his wife’s connection, Olli replied.

“How are ye, love?...”, the magician laughed at his lady’s worry, “Hold on, Tabi…have a bit of fun…”. In a content position, he reached into his suit jacket. With a grin of happiness, he pulled a small white teacup from his clothing. Placing it on the table, he started shaking his hand. And, like a nickel hidden in the palm, a white saucer plate appeared from in his hand. He placed the cup on the saucer, as his freehand balled into a fist. With enough space, Olli tipped his fist as steaming hot tea poured from his hand.

Smelling like sweet lemon, the liquid’s honey scent engulfed the room. Knowing his wife’s presence was near, the magician began to huff. Quickly covering his nose, he sneezed a spoon onto the table. Without a trace of it having been up his nose, the Brit took the utensil and started to slip the hot drink. Immediately pulling up a napkin, he tapped it across his lips before looking up at the lady. “Mind some tea?”, he asked, willing to make them a cup.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

Still chuckling, the masked man sat with an empty mind. Feeling the aftershock of his father’s blood-thick family trait, the black figure stared ahead. Continuing his snickering, his pale face was cupped by the abyss of a nightly outfit. With amusement in the void of his eyes, he intentionally raddled his cuffs. “And the world filled with doubt, is the strangler in prison, or still running about…”, he muttered under his humming breathe.

Witnessing the emergence of three men, Fawkes stared into hearts of these men. With silence condemning his presence, he continued muttering. “Bars of iron, bars of steel, will they able to made strong men yield. An order so brave, as order so old, could they see their fight is so old…”, his smiling mask was lit by the burn chuckles that became more and more false, as the men stepped closer. With a tilt of his head, the younger Jest heard the mentality of his forefather…

=====================================================================================

Lillian and Shadow

Moving through darkness, the blonde lady pulled out her customized rifle before silencing it. Hidden in a cloud of blackness, she knew Shadow was somewhere nearby. By the tech of her print-less boots, she covered her tracks as her gun shot a few cameras on the walls. Through her sunshades, she noticed the men stepping into their midst. “They’re here”, she whispered into her com-piece. Getting quiet, Lillian silently shot a few sensors onto the walls, as well.

“I know…”, he whispered with awareness, seeing them enter the room. With his ink filling the moonlit areas of the building, Shadow began to create even more darkness, making the building pitch black. As he travelled, she spoke again, “I’m heading upstairs”. Setting up turrets and sentry guns around first floor, she quickly made her way upstairs, to do the same. Planting mines and sensor-triggered grenades, the spy booby-trapped the building.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Olli

The room wasn’t very large. It owned one table, two chairs (one on either side of the table), a door and a large one-way mirror for others to watch without being seen by the prisoner.

Ledocq stood behind her chair as she watched Olli, while the two officers stood on either side of the door. Her earpiece buzzed: ‘They are communicating with each other,’ the voice on the other end informed Ledocq. ‘Should we terminate their connection?’

‘Yes. Please do.’ Ledocq said as she maintained close eye contact on the magician. Then to Olli: ‘It depends…’ in reference to Olli offering tea--

Tabi, Olli & Fawkes

Then: in each interrogation room, a red light in the room flickered on. Every room had become a power nullifier, negating anyone with abilities from using their powers; severing Olli, Tabi and Fawkes from using their powers, and from communicating with each other or anyone else. In these rooms everyone was equal.

Olli

‘You must have questions,’ Ledocq began as she took her seat, ‘and I suppose I should give you answers.’ Ledocq cleared her throat and then switched the tape recorder on before placing brown files on the table. ‘Just to remind you: I am--'

Tabi, Olli & Fawkes

‘Agent Sigma, Evelyn Ledocq. Working for S.T.A.S.I.S.’ Ledocq said to Olli.

‘Agent Mu, Helen Mellander. Working for S.T.A.S.I.S.’ Mellander said to Tabi, as soon as she removed her helmet to reveal a pale skin and blonde haired girl. Her eyes were grey and she had a button nose. She looked to be in her late twenties, early thirties.

‘Agent Epsilon, Aashay Dikoko. Working for S.T.A.S.I.S.’ Dikoko said to Fawkes.

‘And we have questions.’ Each Agent announced to their prisoners.

Olli

‘Let’s see, to confirm: you call yourself…?’ Ledocq asked of Olli.

The other two Agents had asked a similar question to Tabi and Fawkes for them to confirm their names.

Lillian & Shadow

The Agent listened carefully to his surroundings once he had stepped inside the building. Where’s Delta when you need him, he thought to himself once the building rapidly got darker, making it hard for the officers to see. The Agent made his officers halt in their places. Each officer then switched on their head torches.

‘I sense an ambush,’ he muttered to Eta.

‘On it, Sir.’

The Agent stood in his spot while he waited for Eta to inform him of any findings.

‘I’ve picked out turrets and sentry guns on the first floor,’ Eta shared, as the visor showed the locations of the traps with blurry red lines around them. ‘Mines and sensor-triggered grenades too. And possible positioning of the two targets.’

The Agent’s eyes went upwards on to the second floor. He sighed. ‘Are we allowed to kill them?’ He joked with a smile.

‘Sir?’

‘I know. I know.’ The Agent then turned to look at the six officers. ‘Turn back,’ he communicated via earpiece. ‘This place is ridden with traps. If we can’t get to them in here, we will have to lock this building down from outside. Barricading them inside. No one gets in or out.’ The officers nodded and slowly headed out.

The Agent then cleared his throat and raised his voice so Lillian and Shadow could hear him. ‘We are trapping you in here. There is no way out. I suggest you come out and come clean as quickly as possible, and I can assure you that you will be treated with fair hospitality. But only if you cooperate.’ The Agent waited for a moment or two for a response. If none, he would make his way outside and join his team that were now guarding the building.

‘Are you sure it was wise to approach them so openly?’ Eta queried.

The Agent simply shrugged.

@ian_idyll:

Tabi

Opening her eyes, the gypsy glanced into the eyes of her captives. Sensing a barrier on her abilities, she was still fairly dwelling within her mind. Wondering how powerful this nullifier was, Tabitha still thought about her previous thoughts. With an expression of blank movement, the lady was deep within her mind. A mind that stretched the bonds of life and death, space and time, the strong-minded brunette stared forward. With olive eyes of calmness, she lifted her top hat. And, with a tap of her hat’s tip, a group of tarot cards fell from the interior.

Looking back up at the officer, Tabi smiled with the wondering thought of her husband. Friendlily glancing at the figures, she started to shuffle her cards, as her head dropped to the old deck of medieval imagery. A man without his power, she knew her love was enjoying the helpless situation. Her cheeks flushed with the thought of his laughter drowning the room in annoying cackles.

=====================================================================================

Olli

Drowning the room in annoying cackles, the magician bared joy. Raddling his cup, his hardy chuckling caused tea to spill over the table. “HAHAHAHAHAHA”, he belted out you joy of his abilities being cut off. Nearly falling out of the chair, Olli couldn’t control himself.“HAHAHA, whow, wo..ow, hee he haha, HE HAHA…”, he slowed down, and eventually stopped. “Oh, that’s rich…”, he pulled out a napkin and whipped up the spilled liquid. Cleaning the table, he shook the rag dry, and snapped into the air. With it puffing into a harmless flame of fire, he leaned into his seat, as the napkin disappeared.

“Aye, me lady…I tend to reframe from searching for unserviceable inquiries.”, sipping his tea, he stared at her with a pleased giggle. Sipping another bit from his cup, which seemed to not empty, “Questions are useless I…unless their useless questions. My interest are further more of the responsive nature…”. Enjoying his smoothing tea, the scent of honey and sugar stuffed his nose. “So…let us finish this…..I believe you had questions…”, he looked at his pocket watch, knowing he would need to take his medication, soon.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

Cold and frozen, the smiling mask of crystal appearance shinned brightly, as the son sat quiet. Staring at the man, the Jest boy was surprised by the cutting of his power. Though, Fawkes often claims to have no powers, rather baring a heart of determination. He stayed relaxed and calm, “A suspendium serpens oculum pertingens fraudis intendunt inferre pounce down in hominis veritate conceptione ...”. With rolling whisper of Latin, the masked man’s lips continued to speak. With a deep voice of bass, which gradually became more distorted, the mask spoke in a baritone frequency that falsified himself. “Ferrum impedit oculum animae impedit lunam, sicut figura audeat. Animus meus mihi, m corpore non filius chaos exserit insidias ...”, tilting his head, he awaited.

=====================================================================================

Lillian and Shadow

Watching the soldiers exit the building, Shadow gave the blonde a hint of their exit. Still shielding the place, he was still in the main room. Shutting all of the doors and windows, the suited man’s ink closed the structure down, as he covered the spy. As he did, he used his ink to drill a hole in the earth. Far underneath the ground, the Italian knew of the sewer lines that ran through. “Hurry”, he muttered as he stared at the hole.

“Wait”, she whispered before shooting a few sensors on the entrances to the building. Covering the windows and doors with triggers, Lillian then leaped into the hole. With Shadow leaping down behind her, his ink left with him. And, as they hit the sewer floor, leaving the silently abandoned building, they looked around. “Follow me…”, the suited fellow stated as he began to sprint down the tunnel. Marching through water, the two made their way away from the base. “Tin’Data…I need assistance…”, Shadow muttered before turning to see Lillian planting sensors and cameras behind them.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Olli

Ledocq stared intensely at Olli, as someone would do to quiet an obnoxious child, whose annoying cackles reverberated throughout the room. Sitting cross-legged in her seat, drying her wet hair with a towel, she soon turned to look at the two officers by the door, but they equally gave her blank stares and remained in their positions just as a King’s guard would do.

Spilt tea over the table had prompted Ledocq to retract her files off the table with fervent seriousness. She hugged the files close to her chest, watching Olli and his apparent, unruly nature. The man was annoying her, but she had to stay calm and professional. Olli’s performance with the rag (vanishing it) caused her to stir in her seat. She had hoped that that trick was simply a trick and not magic or his supernatural powers. The nullifier should have supressed his ability as it had done to hers; she worried about this problem. This thought process reminded her to put on two earpieces, one for each ear, which would negate the effect of the nullifier on her alone.

‘Fine,’ she murmured, once Olli had delivered his lines. A clown. That is all Ledocq could see when she looked upon the magician. Magicians and clowns were nothing but the same to her. She then helped herself to a single piece of paper that she found inside one of the brown files. The paper was still warm out of the printer. Ledocq had asked Agent Epsilon to deliver all the information that he had obtained from inside his captive’s mind on to a piece of paper, no less than ten minutes ago. Agent Epsilon was efficient and quick-minded -she liked that about him. He would go far, she surmised, but only if he followed her directives.

Ledocq scanned the contents of the paper. ‘Interesting,’ she said, breaking into a thin smile. ‘It seems almost like a family get-together. With you, your wife and son all here; aside from your daughter and dog. Shall we begin, Oliver Jest?’ Rhetorical. Ledocq knew that it was unnecessary to use his name. It almost didn’t sit well in her mouth, and nor was it any better out. But, she allowed herself some slack. She deserved it.

Her sharp blue eyes jumped from one file to the next before they rested upon another. She then pulled out two sets of pictures and placed them in front of Olli. Ledocq’s olive arms and hands obscured the photos until she placed one hand on the tip of her roman nose, while the other hand rested on her knee. ‘Do you know these two?’ She asked of Olli. The first picture was of Dobby and the second was of Gabriel (the two that had attacked them in Shadow’s car, and fought with at the airport).

Tabi

Mellander watched the female magician with curious eyes once Tabi produced a group of tarot cards. The Agent was always fond of medieval imagery. She found them particularly mystical and pretty, something that she could not easily explain with words.

When the red light flickered on (indicating that the nullifier was active), Mellander immediately placed her two earpieces in her ears, so the nullifier would not affect her and her abilities. She was aware that the room negated their powers via intense (and specific) infrasound, which occasionally caused migraines if someone attempted to use their powers. Otherwise, the subject would simply feel a throbbing sensation throughout their body, often creating the sense of discomfort (removing any chance of using their powers).

Mellander had arranged for vomiting bags in case they were needed. It had happened before that the nullifier had made someone vomit. Not in her company, though, but nonetheless she wanted to avoid such events if possible. Thankfully, Mellander’s earpieces negated any of those issues for her.

‘You look distracted,’ Mellander said to Tabi, noticing that she looked flushed. ‘There are bags for you, if you wish to vomit. That’s caused by the nullifier and, or, you being teleported here. You won’t get used it. Tabitha Ruth Westchester-Jest…’ her words hung in the air as she read her colleague’s paper on the captives. Agent Epsilon was thorough, she noticed, as she skimmed through the rest of the paper. Tabi’s name proved to be a bit of a tongue twister for her, but she managed to say it without too much error.

‘Do you know who these are?’ Mellander said, placing the photos of Dobby and Gabriel in front of Tabi.

Fawkes

Dikoko remained silent, listening intently, hanging on every last word that came out of Fawkes’s mouth. He gently nodded once Fawkes had finished, as if acknowledging their meanings. Dikoko had intelligent eyes but his demeanour also showed that he was troubled. Maybe that is why he was drawn to the boy in front of him. Fawkes Son Jest, as he saw it, was a tormented soul. Broken without reason. A problem without a solution. And Dikoko understood –with visceral integrity. Fawkes’s chaotic being couldn’t be more corporeal to him than the concept that dogs bark, while cats meow.

When Dikoko saw that Fawkes was finished and had tilted his head in waiting, the Agent took his seat. ‘Corvus oculum corvi non eruit,’ he said without inflection, before adding: ‘We are the same. And equal.’

Dikoko ignored putting on his earpieces as he believed that in order to understand someone, he had to breathe the same air as them (so to speak). If Fawkes had to endure the throbbing sensation, migraine inducing nullifier, then he would too. It was only fair. Dikoko wanted to understand Fawkes, for he knew the boy was intelligent –and he craved his knowledge.

‘I have seen what you have seen. Tormented beyond words. Conflicted and angry,’ he said; his words and behaviour mimicking those emotions. When Dikoko had caught Fawkes and had controlled his mind; had access to his thoughts and memories, they seemed to have occupied more time than they really had. In real time, Dikoko had spent no more than a minute before being teleporting to the interrogation room with Fawkes where he had written up his findings and sent them to his colleagues to use during their interrogations. Except his findings proved to be more valuable to him than he ever anticipated.

Dikoko fetched handcuffs from under the table where he proceeded to put them on himself. Mirroring Fawkes’s predicament. ‘You’ve had a horrid life, mixed with small moments of jubilation…but the tormented one inside you, behind happy smiles is who I am interested in…Hannibal ad portas! I want to talk him. Will you let me talk to him?’

Lillian & Shadow

The air tasted salty and of dirt. It was already early morning when the Agent and the officers departed from the building. The sky was just shades away from being light as dawn crept behind the falling moon. From left to right officers either tended the wounded or stood on guard.

***

‘Demon…No they are all demons. Those crooked bastards!’ The male guard harped on, describing his encounter with Fawkes and about the others, to a couple of S.T.A.S.I.S paramedics that assisted him. Another paramedic helped the female guard (Rochelle Burns) who started to breathe irregularly. Her mind could only focus on one thing and that was Fawkes’s face. The two guards huddled inside the back of an ambulance van.

***

‘Two?’

‘No.’

‘Four, then?’

‘No.’

‘How many, then?’

‘Can’t say,’ the officer said to his partner with a coy smile.

‘Come on! You can’t do that. How many bonesman are in S.T.A.S.I.S?’ The second officer demanded.

The two officers stood outside the building that they were guarding, but very little was actually happening, which could only lead to conversation. First they gossiped about the event that had took place at the airport, which further descended to an proclamation that there have been more supernatural attacks lately than before; a conspiracy that supernatural people were going to wipe out non-powered people, which eventually digressed to the current debate about secret societies and how every organisation was simply run by one secret organisation (‘Inflation of titles. King of Kings’): the bonesmen- of course.

Dylan Cook claimed to know for a fact how many bonesman were in S.T.A.S.I.S, which, predictably prompted Cheryl Griffin to ask how many.

‘You can’t say because you’re full of shit.’

‘That’s what you think; but I couldn’t possibly comment.’ Cook countered. ‘But I do know for a fact how many…’

Then they heard a noise coming from inside the building.

‘You hear that?’ Griffin asked.

‘Yeah. What is that?’

‘It sounds like drilling…Is it?’ Her voice shrilled.

Both Cook and Griffin turned to look at the Agent, who served as their group leader. But, the Agent seemed occupied as he sat on the bonnet of a car, hunched over, with his helmet on and (at least from a distance) looked blankly ahead. In fact, the Agent was viewing the inside of the building through a camera that he left inside, via his visor. The Agent couldn’t see everything but he could see enough to know what was happening.

Cook headed slowly towards the door leading into the building, curious to open it and peek inside. This could be their chance to attack with the advantage of “surprise”. Although, the moment Cook attempted to place his hand on the door knob he heard his name being yelled.

‘Get away from the door!’ The Agent said through gritted teeth. He didn’t want to reveal anything to the officer but he needed the man away from the door.

‘Sir!’ Griffin quickly spoke. ‘We hear drilling.’ She soon regretted speaking up as the Agent soon informed her that he already knew, which made her feel small and stupid. ‘Right. Sir.’ Griffin recovered quickly to say.

The raise of alarm by his officers forced the Agent to stand up. His visor went up so he could see with his own two eyes, and then he promptly watched the building.

‘They’re getting away through the sewer lines,’ Eta said without a trace of sarcasm. ‘How do you want to proceed?’

The Agent smiled, emitting off smugness. He couldn’t help it but he was enjoying himself. ‘Pawn, E2 to E4.’ The Agent said, as his visor dropped in front of his face; and his eyes would see nothing else but of Lillian.

@ian_idyll: (I forgot to ask, how powerful are the 'power nullifiers? )

Olli

Staring at the lady, the magician had a grin of a comfortable person. Staring deep into the eyes of the older woman, the entertained figure looked through her. With a smile of amusement, Olli listened to the woman speak, as he watched her face. Every detail painted a vivid image in his head. But, while that happened, his eyes kept blinking over to the empty view behind her. Running out of time, his mind began to see the blood drawn words of his imagination. Continuing to keep his eerie grin, he closed his eyes, to bury his ill mind.

Watching the lady, he silently rumbled through his pocket. Staring deep into the face of a transparent jester that loomed around him, he is haunted visions started to come back. As he dug for his meds, he eventually found them. Pulling them out, he chuckled off his sign of relief. Opening the bottle, he popped a few pills into his mouth, as soon as he heard the voiced of his paranoid head. And, with a swallow, he smiled before replacing his medication with another. From large white pills to light yellow one, Olli hid them in his jacket pocket before his cup of tea met his lips.

“…I don’t have a daughter, lass”, he shuffled his eyes, trying to remember his daughter. He looked at the lady with a deep sense of confusion. Sipping his tea, he thought about his son. Then, quickly, he thought about the beloved lady. “Where I even get a son?”, he thoughtfully wondered with a crazed sense of misperception. Watching his schizophrenic episode fade, he mind was greatly hindered to protect himself. As well, his memory was also discarded by it. However, his wonder was cut off by the emergence of two pictures.

“Ow…I’ve never seen these rather obnoxious mugs, before…”, he loosened his collar. Staring at the photos, he hummed a tune to himself. “They may be toge-”, he halted in mid-word, before continuing. “-well, I suppose it’s rather wrong to assume a relationship, because of the common appearance of two people.”, he thought about what he was about to say. Glancing up at the woman, “…I don’t believe ye’d have any knowledge of their respective private lives?”. With a smiling daze, he stared at the pictures, “he looks kind of like a bloody prick, don’t ye think?”., Olli started speaking, “…ye’know, I once knew a gentleman name Robert…oh, he was a true fool…”, Olli continued rambling on about nothing…

=====================================================================================

Tabi

Deep in thought, the brunette had ignored all outside interactions, outside of her cards. Staring far into the imagery, the gentlewoman tried to access her powers. Beginning to tremble in gather vast headaches, Tabitha closed her eyes, to grasp the power that was being blocked from her. But, as she did so, she started to feel the rise of a long-passed presence. The mind irritation of having her abilities blocked became a great anger. Halting her from continuing to mentally try harder, she stopped. Huffing the breath of anxiety, the gypsy’s eyes popped open, as her hand dug into her suit jacket.

Digging around, a smile spread across her face, to hide the distress that went through her. Remember the last time she took her medication, her bipolar episodes started to reemerge. Building up the feeling of torturous agitation, Tabi felt the growing pain of frustration and feebleness. With her disorder quickly reaching its height, she pulled out two of her med bottles. Opening the body, her fight for controlling herself caused the shaking tremble in her hands. She immediately popped two red pills into her mouth, before taking a yellow pill from the second bottle.

Swallowing with intensity, the lady sat still for a few seconds. Closing her eyes, she entered a state of isolation, as she waited for the medication to start. Quiet and still, Tabi eventually glanced at the lady with empty eyes of condensed emotion, the British woman laughed. “Preposterous…a lady does not defecate herself, in such a way…..”, she spoke with a faint scent of sarcasm. Fixing her jacket, she smiled at the pictured that arose. And, with great ease, she answered the lady’s inquiry, “No, never…”.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

Staring at the officer, the son’s heart was as black as his outfit. With his mask’s passive smile, the chained one hid his disdain for the man. “We are not alike, or similar…”, Fawkes calmly spoke. Watching the man try to relate to his situation, the masked man knew that the officer could not feel what he felt. In a disseized fit of disgust, the young Jest hissed under his breath, “Vous cochon sale ... votre chair est aveuglément protégé par un uniforme de mensonges”.

A man of order and restrain, the officer was the very thing that Fawkes hated. Separated from humanity at infancy, the boy was never raised for to be mortal. He didn’t feel the same was this man felt. A symbol of his forefathers’ chaotic ideals, Fawkes knew he was more of an idea than anything…he was chaos personified. And, the order of this officer sickened him. The black figure calmly bit his tongue and time, however.

“I have never been conflicted…”, he spoke, remembering the terrific past that he endured as a child. The polarizing fits or love and hate that weighed on his spirit, he never showed any signs of clashing against his father’s goal for him. Fawkes happily let his creator turn him into the monster that he was today.

=====================================================================================

Lillian and Shadow

Running through the sewer, the suited man spoke to the android on the other end. “…Data, I don’t need an army…I just need some assistance with an army…”, he stated, as the blonde watched for any cautionary events. Seeing the cameras that were planted around the base, she was able to zoom in and listen to the conversations that went on, outside of the building. Still following the speeding Shadow, the agent halted when he did.

“Well, Shadow, sir…..I suppose you should come to my office”, the futuristic robot stated. As Lillian turned around, she froze when her eyes witness a blue line standing in front of them. With an illuminating glow, the line stretched into a threshold of light. The ink soaked being stepped in, as the blonde quickly followed. “Where are we going?”, she asked, as her head whipped around for the answer. As the portal closed behind them, she heard a voice. “You’re in the laboratory of Tin’Data”, a computerized voice informed.

As the blonde looked around, Shadow continued walking forward. “We have big trouble, Data…”, the Italian man told, as Lillian looked at the vast bit of technology. A futuristic lab of light and wonder, many holograms and screens stood around. “…Was the situation too enigmatic for your fondness, sir?”, the same electronic voice asked. The suited man sat down, as the girl followed, “No…apparently, there’s and organization behind this…”.

“Hm…let me see”, Tin’Data muttered, as he tapped into the two runners’ tech. Finding the surveillance footage of Lillian’s, he displayed the recording’s on the screen. As Shadow and the female spy stared at the camera footage, Tin’Data started using the tech scanning the men. Trying to find info on them or their tech, he searched through their voices, faces, and appearance.

d^_^b

@superstay:(That’s tricky to answer because I don’t want to undermine or overpower it. I would say that it is strong enough to suppress your characters’ abilities and that it would take a lot of sheer willpower to overcome nausea, headaches and constant pain (due to the nullifier) if they try and use it. Otherwise, it is up to you (story-wise) to judge your characters’ chances of success under their current situation.)

Olli

Once Olli had taken up the decision, on his own accord, to rifle through his pockets to remove a medicine bottle, he had attracted the attention of the two officers in the room. They had made a move to intercept the bottle but their plan was waived by Ledocq who had simply raised a hand to them. After their premature reaction, the two officers resumed back to their original positions.

Ledocq watched as Olli took his pills. Schizophrenia. That is what it said on the paper. Olli was probably having an episode, she thought, which was why she allowed the magician to take his medicine. They needed to form some sort of diplomacy, after all.

Olli’s apparent ignorance was unfortunate. Whether it was on purpose or caused by his psychosis. Ledocq had wished that things would go smoothly, but she did not react and kept a straight face. Until she broke into a slight chuckle when Olli had thought that Gabriel looked like a prick. ‘Well, he is,’ she finally conceded. ‘But you would too if your wife and child were being held captive by the very people you were working for.’ She informed with another chuckle.

‘Are you very sure that you don’t them?’ She had asked to cut Olli’s ramblings short. ‘Ok. How about him?’ Ledocq then followed through with showing Olli another photo, and this time of Tom Morris (AKA Big Man). She proceeded after a response with a new photo -after Morris it was Mr. Price (the young man from the airport). After Mr. Price it was another young man with side part ginger hair, glasses and (in the photo) wore an Italian made suit. The young man looked like an Ivy League from the nineteen-fifties. Very smart. ‘Do you know any of these people?’

Tabi

Mellander worried when she saw that Tabi was acting odd. Tabi, to her, looked anxious (not unusual as she had seen many people act this way in these rooms before) but giving off psychotic vibes too. Despite Tabi’s efforts to hide her distress, Mellander could read it loud and clear. Yet, she was unsure what to do, especially when the female magician brought out her medicine bottles.

Bi-polar. Mellander read the word on the page to herself. The Agent forced a thin smile. So thin that she hardly thought she smiled at all, but simply flexed her mouth muscles. Mellander wondered if the nullifier was causing Tabi more distress when she noticed the woman’s hands trembling. Tough. Because she wasn’t going to switch it off, but she had hoped that the medicines would help diffuse Tabi’s mental disorder.

One thing that Mellander could not put her finger on was the woman’s surrealistic…The Agent struggled to find the right word. Vibe? Being? Appearance? According to Agent Epsilon’s findings, the female magician was old. How old was uncertain, but old; and it showed with how she spoke and acted. Yet, why, Mellander asked herself. Surely, Tabi would have aged with the constant change of society. Surely she knew the new way of how to speak, and surely she would know that vomiting in a bag when feeling ill was not un-lady-like…Well, maybe…

Mellander recalled back to her memories of her time as a young teenager at the military school getting drunk and wasted on alcohol with her friends; looking back at those undignified photos of herself and friends asleep, hugging a toilet seat. And with puke on the floor. Fair enough, the Agent concluded. But the woman still sounded ancient for no real reason, and it confused her. Perhaps it was her humour, Mellander concluded once more.

‘Never?’ She said with surprise. Unsure how the female magician could claim such a thing; when they had saw her (and her husband according to Epsilon’s findings) fight them. ‘Ok. And what about them?’ Mellander quickly disposed of the photos of the Dobby and Gabriel and replaced them with photos of Tom Morris (Big Man), Mr. Price, and another young man with ginger hair who dressed smartly.

Fawkes

Agent Epsilon did not lose his temper or felt that he had been hurt when Fawkes had rejected his claim of knowing how the boy felt. Very few realised or cared to put together that Dikoko would spend several hours or days in another person’s mind; slowly having their personalities, dreams, memories and thoughts rubbed off on to him. If anyone understood Fawkes better than Fawkes knew himself then it would be Dikoko; for he had breathed the same air and shared the same thoughts as the boy.

‘Unfortunately,’ Dikoko began, as he maintained eye contact with Fawkes, ‘everything created is conflicted. Even existing is a conflict, as it is an affliction. Everything that is created will die in some form or another. That is why we are alike, and similar; and more.’ Dikoko stressed the last part, re-enforcing the fact that their minds were now metaphorically linked.

‘You know: I once knew a woman name Roberta…Oh, she was pure genius…’ He rambled on before revealing that he wasn’t sure if he had really remembered that or if it was someone else’s. Dikoko thought back to his family to readjust his train of thought. ‘I know that I am more of an idea than anything, just as you think you do, too.’

Dikoko thought about his family again: remembering that his sister had gone to an asylum, his mother had gone to an asylum too, and his father had gone to an asylum as well. Many years ago, he wondered if he would have to go to one as well, but so far he hasn’t been caught yet. The Agent understood “chaos” because of his family. Even without the help of Fawkes, but he needed to know more. Not for job reasons but because he was deeply interested.

Dikoko stared at Fawkes, trying to unpeel his inner workings. ‘Dis moi, où est-tu caché?’

Lillian & Shadow

Eta had sensed that someone was controlling the cameras to spy on them, and so Eta swiftly had the cameras in the whole compound shut down. The Agent viewed the mess that the compound was in and further arranged for a bomb expert to diffuse the traps inside the building. He stuck around for a few hours, observing his team cleaning up and helping the injured; removing the dead, until it was six in the morning. He shortly decided to leave and report to his boss. It was a good day (after clearing the sky from rain) and his mission was hot to the touch.

***

At Tin’Data’s laboratory, while reviewing the footage that Lillian possessed, Tin’Data was able to find an assemblage of audio and visual recordings, from the very few that spoke, which showed them having casual conversations whenever picked up by a digital software. Recorded conversations on phones with friends, with insurance; buying a ticket or leaving messages; but nothing substantial or incriminating.

Tin’Data was able to focus on the emblem that the officers and the Agent wore. Very few references to the name, but not invisible. Rare mentions by even fewer government documents, which never go into further details about what they are or what they do. Vague confirmations that they are a branch of the government that deals with more secretive matters, and that it is currently headed by Jacob Webb. The research proved that S.T.A.S.I.S was an official government department, albeit less known or spoken about.

Upon further investigation on the organisation’s body and its team of officers and Agents would be met with “CLASSIFIED”, and would immediately be shut off from the page. Hacking into the system again would prove more difficult as the coding would undergo change, possibly raising alarm. This prevented information on their technology or other matters to be found. The system’s technology was not advanced by its years (relatively speaking), and would probably be upstaged by others in the next following years, but the team that most likely operated it were very tenacious and fast to react to an intruder.

The Agent didn’t seem to exist (or any of the Agents).

@ian_idyll:

Olli and Tabi

In their individual rooms, both of the Jests watched the figures. As the Lancashirian man sipped his tea, the Londoner continued staring at her cards. Looking up as the photos appeared; Tabi smiled and signed a ‘no’ at her captives. As her husband chuckled, seeing each face growing odder in appearance. He shook his head in a no, along with his wife. They were both as subdues as they could be, since they had took their medication.

With content faces, and coldly dulled bodies, both of the vastly powerful beings were empty inside. Just going through the motions, they were as dead as the living could be. Smiling and laughing out of the pumping of their living flesh, respectively, the Jest pair was now under the knife of their murderous pills. Killing their character, for good sake, the two were numb and hollow.

Two being of unimaginable power, they regularly hated the drugs that were proscribed to them. Feeling it took too much of them away, they usually didn’t take them. However, in a world that wasn’t the mind of their estate, they had to. Knowing that the reality twisting abilities that they bared was too dangerous to leave in the hands of their crazed illnesses, they agreed to take these dreaded pills, whenever they left for a reality that was not of their own creation. And now, they results of the meds were kicking in.

Two empty shells, moving and acting the same, they were at the weakest of themselves. Tabi and Olli now held the quiet nature of shy introverts. And, they remanded that way, until the drugs would soft upon them.

=====================================================================================

Tabi

After a few seconds of staring at fate that her cards laid before her, the long haired lady smiles. Collecting the message that the cards told, she looked up at the woman would interrogated her. Rather young in appearance, Tabitha’s eyes gently stared. “How old are you, dear?”, her calm voice smoke with clarity.

=====================================================================================

Olli

Sitting quietly in his seat, the magician chuckled a bit. Growing calmer with the fuzzy feeling of content, he looked at the woman. Remembering the comment she made about the man’s unfortunate situation, the wicked smile couldn’t help but form on Olli’s face. “Well…I’d love to witness the expression on his face, if he had to kill his wife and child…”, his accent muttered with blankness.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

The masked man laughed, as the black abyss of his pale sockets stared upon the man. “A figure of worthless flesh, he thinks he really is similar to me?”, the blackly dressed man thought. An empty vessel of darkness, Fawkes was the very magic that he so denied. His soul was nowhere, and his spirit was cold. The two of them were farther apart than the man thought. Like comparing a man to a rock, the officer was stretching for feelings that the masked figure didn’t possess.

An illusion of his creation, Fawkes felt no feelings, no connections, no love, no lost, and no pain. Never dying, his sole purpose was to resemble the very chaotic rage that the Jest family held. His mind was a collection of his parents’ demented thoughts. A flood of sadistic and mad images filled his head, in that instance. The son was growing tired of entertaining this confused being. Tilting his head, the figure stared forward into the eyes of the man.

Born of magic, Fawkes had no flesh to begin with, no mind, spirit, or humanity within him. He might as well have been just his pitch black suit, because there was nothing but darkness behind the mask. And, in that moment of stillness, the empty shell of black fabric waited. Feeling the strength of his chains, he stared deeply at the man.

=====================================================================================

The Lab of Tin’Data

“It appears they are on to us…”, the computer stated, as it watched the reaction of their tech. Witnessing the cameras being shut down, the futuristic A.I. utilized his personal power source and reactivated the cameras. Continuing to aim them at the officers, he spoke to the two beings within his compound. “It seems they have located me within their system…I’ll see what type of programming they hold”, the super computer stated. As the entail that he did receive presented itself to Shadow and Lillian, via hologramic screens, Tin’Data dug deeper.

A Strong A.I., with the composite of an Earthling super computer, the digital android was of the far future. While of an alternate universe that ran parallel to this one, Tin’Data held tech that was more than 2,000 years more advance. He figured he’d be able to trace the coding. So, at a powerful speed that would far outmatch the super computers of this time, he scanned and roamed through the system. He looked for an understanding of the programming, as he was sure that it was probably far better than anything on the open market.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Lillian & Shadow

The supercomputer that the government organisation were using was highly sophisticated for its century, but ultimately flawed in comparison to Tin’Data’s expertise on future (and better) technology. The system’s power was 22.8 MW (31 MW with cooling), its memory was 2, 276 TiB with a storage of 15.8 PB. The system’s speed was set for 55.006 PFLOPS (reaching its peak at 73.778 PFLOPS). The supercomputer’s purpose was for simulation, analysis, and for government security applications. It also used quantum key distribution for its encryption, which in theory would make quantum cryptography completely secure and impossible to intercept. Yet, there are loopholes to beat the unbeatable security system, such as the method of “man-in-the-middle attack”, which would allow an eavesdropper to learn the scrambled codes by pretending to be one of the receivers.

***

The taste of metallic air coming out of the air conditioner made his toes curl and teeth sensitive. He feared even to let his top set of teeth to touch the bottom in case they squeaked, causing him to want to throw up. Squeezing tightly on a stress ball, decorated to look like earth, Benjamin Carter focused his breathing and thoughts in order to forget the unbearable taste in his mouth.

‘We have a red flag,’ an officer called out to Carter.

‘Where?’ Carter said, furrowing his brows; and leaped off from his corner to meet with the officer.

‘Someone tried to access our files, and Agent Eta has sent a confirmation of a possible intruder.’ The officer had paused there as their eyes hovered over to the stress ball in Carter’s hand that was being aggressively squished and stretched by its owner. ‘Umm,’ they continued, clearing their throat. ‘We’ve shut them down.’

‘But?’

‘But?’ Carter was known to speak with grit, causing his officers to second guess their next words for next two years. He always sensed foul play and a “But” involved. ‘But, we think they have infiltrated our system. Their knowledge and skill is beyond any supercomputer in the world.’

‘And you want me to check it out?’ The officer nodded. Not a question. Carter knew exactly what they wanted from him. Head of security was his profession. Head of I.T was what it felt like. Carter had cursed his position. He wanted to be an Agent. Someone who went out on the field. Instead, he stayed inside filled with noisy clicking and clacking of keyboards; and infuriating smells from air conditioners. But alas, he was a technopath whose sole purpose was built around technology. Damn it! He had really hoped that he would become an Agent instead of a crew member.

Carter used his ability to find and trap the hacker. He knew the supercomputer’s system very well and knew when something was awry. Once he located the intruder (Tin’Data) he would attempt to poison the intruder’s system, slowing them down to embed a virus into them. Carter refused to have his files touched by unwelcomed guests.

Tabi

‘Umm…’ Mellander’s heart fluttered when Tabi had asked her question. It had made the Agent feel defensive and uncomfortable. Why did it matter, she thought (but she knew why). Looking at the tarot cards in the woman’s hands reminded her that those cards were used to foretell the future. Except, Mellander never believed in those stuff. Yet, she felt it best to act cautious. ‘Twenty-seven,’ she lied. Why did she feel nervous?

Mellander watched the female magician, trying to catch her game. She wondered if the woman was going to be predictable, aware that any time those cards were used they always showed “death” or “hanging from noose”. These tricks were obviously designed to instil false fears. Half of the pictures could be interpreted literally or metaphorically, anyway, allowing the fortune teller to give vague answers to half-baked pipe dreams. Will I find love? Sure, on the day you wear a specific red dress. Alright, I’ll end up wearing that dress every day. Then of course I will find love if I wear it frequently. Stupid.

‘Thirty-one,’ she corrected herself, gaining some needed bravado. ‘Let me guess: my future doesn’t look too good?’

Olli

Ledocq maintained a thin smile as she watched the man before her slowly crumble inside. She had one goal and that was to establish who these weird people were. So far it was clear: dangerous and destructive. She certainly couldn’t think about letting them free unless they had something to offer. ‘Why were you at the airport?’ Her words like daggers.

Fawkes

Dikoko stared back at Fawkes, sitting in silence for a total of two minutes, before giving off a loud sigh. He then shifted himself so his body was facing the side of the chair and proceeded to cross his legs. Dikoko sifted through his files before he found photos of Gabriel, Dobby, Mr. Price, Tom Morris and another young man with ginger hair. The Agent tossed the photos on the table without looking, making sure to put emphasis on the fact that he did not care.

‘I suppose I’m meant to show you these,’ he said, giving another puff of air. ‘I am supposed to ask you if you know who they are, but we both know I won’t be getting the answers that is needed.’ Dikoko refrained from looking at Fawkes. Instead he played with his handcuffs around his wrists.

Then: with an exaggerated sigh and turning back to face Fawkes, he quietly smacked his laps. ‘I understand you, even if you refuse to believe. I know what you are. I know we are different on the surface and perhaps inside, but I understand you. I have your demented thoughts. I know what you are thinking, constantly, I know what you are going to say and do, because…’ Dikoko started to chuckle loudly. ‘You can’t hurt me…’ Paused. Silent for thirty seconds, as the man laughed with his eyes.

Then: with sudden speed, Dikoko lunged forward to remove Fawkes’ mask off. He needed to know. Eyes laughing as he moved.

@ian_idyll:

Tin’Data

Knowing they could try to counteract his intruding system, the Comainian computer already had walls setups to combat them. Scanners and anti-virus programming from the years of the 5th millennium, they worked within the nanosecond range. Noticing the virus, the aware computer scanned it and started combatting the digital poison. Studying and educating himself on the tech, his programming created a counter virus to attempt to dig in and eliminate it.

Tin’Data continued his digital fight through their system, as he sent three main programs into their system. One digging straight forward, the other two took more hidden methods. Burying themselves under the surface, they attempted to disseize as the system, itself. Reading as files, while surging more and more data into their well-protected computer, the self-aware android planned to bombard their tech, and overload them into a blackout. If done, he would use his power to receive all their entail, while the system was down.

=====================================================================================

Tabi

A smile overtook her alluring eyes of wonder, as she flipped over the five cards that she laid down, across the table. With delicacy, she slowly placed her grace over them before turning them over. Listening to the lady, she spoke with caring thoughts. “Twenty seven…what a love age…”, Tabi watched the cards. With a straight face, she stared at the first being the Moon. Knowing what it meant, she continued. With a smirked, Tabitha smiled at the second being the card of Death. Slyly glancing at the young woman, the well-experienced magician knew that the grim appearance of the Death card usually always scared people. She had to explain that the cards were less literal and more symbolic in their meaning.

As she turned from the girl, she saw the third card was the Six of Cups. With a still hand, she drew the fourth card, which was the Four of Wands. A blushing smile shined across her rosy cheeks. The woman looked up at the lady, before proceeding to the fifth card. The Queen of Cups, The gypsy quickly grasped what they all meant in unison with each other. Fully aware of the fate they laid before her, Tabi suddenly heard the words of the lady.

Still thinking about the reading, the lady unfortunately didn’t hear the young woman’s true age. But, she remerged to hear the rest of the girl’s comments. “Hm?”, the reader looked up at the woman. With flustered brows of confusion, the brunette stared at her interrogator. “A bit of an arrogant assumption, wouldn’t you suppose?...”, Tabi stated with a hint of amusement in her tone.

=====================================================================================

Olli

With a deep smile of his lit face, the man noticed the shape worded question. As his brown hair showed the red tent of his Scottish roots, his accent illustrated his up-brings in the grimmer sides of Northern England. “Aye, lass…wonder what lovely new the Weekly might enlighten us to…”, he dug his jacket. And with glee, he pulled out an old newspaper. Unfolding it, the white pages held words of black. With a calm sip of his tea, he started reading the paper.

“…if appears that some quite unfortunate soul met a grim fate, awhile ago. A young lady-”, he paused in is reading, before turning to the woman. “Ow…I hate when these type of things happen to the fragile, like this lass.”, he stated his thoughts. With a large smile, he continued reading the small article. “Deep engulfed in the dreadful world of drugs and sexual sin. Badly bruised and battered-”, he stopped in silence. “I can’t help but get a wee bit chocked up by this…”, he softened his smile, before looking into the eyes of his friend. “Tell me, have ye ever had a love, lass?”, he thought aloud, as his voice spoke with the voice of intrusion.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

Staring in a dazing gaze, the son was as quiet as he’d ever been. He watched the fit-throwing man, as he continued feeling his restraints. Fawkes’ hair stared to shuffle with the feeling of a cold breeze meeting him. His crystal smile hung on his mask of pursuant. With the shine of the magical essence that made up his very being, the blackly dressed being knew the figured the man would do something sudden. So, the Jest readied himself, as his knees pressed against the table’s edge.

As soon as the man lunged over, Fawkes’ knees shot him from the center of the room. Throwing him against the walls, with force, the chaotic one stood. Immune to the nullifier's pain, the masked figure was able to calmly pop the chains that bonded him. Breaking his cuffs, nonchalantly, his hair blew without the need of wind. The figure stared at the anxious man, with eyes of ill intent. So, in a cold chill of anticipation, he stalkingly walked forward. Heading for the man, his smile glared with a crazed chuckle, under its breath.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Tin'Data

While the supercomputer stood very little chance in defending itself from the intruder, who easily educated itself on the supercomputer’s technology, Carter didn’t share the same limitations. Born to understand technology, and learn how newer and better systems worked, Carter also studied Tin’Data’s.

Confused at first, Carter tried to unravel Tin’Data’s technology, noting that it was far superior to anything he had seen or will ever see for centuries to come. But like all technology, they shared a common language. Tin’Data’s system may be advance, and while comparing it to a natural language it was clear that it had its own syntax, grammar, pronunciations and spelling. Yet, it was familiar, just as French and Italian are different but closely related, or, how all modern Indo-European languages descended from Proto-Indo-European. Carter would be able to learn and translate the language, and eventually counter the system.

Carter built a massive virtual dam so he could create several channels to divert Tin’Data’s attacks, reducing chances of the supercomputer from overloading. In order to stop the intruder from stealing important files, Carter made the supercomputer create near infinite false files and made them like matryoshka dolls where each time the intruder stole, opened or destroyed one file another would be waiting inside. This would allow Carter time to hide the important files, or even transfer them- but he’ll wait and see.

Tin’Data’s system was fast. Very fast. Which forced Carter to push the supercomputer to its limits, in attempt to match the speed, but ultimately he was actually in risk of slowing the system down. The combination of the supercomputer and Carter working together made them three times stronger than the system was on its own, but both could feel the pressure of Tin’Data’s secret attacks and viruses.

While the supercomputer remained vulnerable to the attacks and was unable to exceed its limits, Carter was able to re-rout the obvious viruses back to Tin’Data, so they would cause chaos in his enemy’s own field. Carter acted as the swift sword, while the supercomputer was his shield.

Is that what you want?

Carter sent those words to Tin’Data (something he was known to often say), while he built a fortress around his protected and false files to endure the bombardments. But he was quickly losing, as his virtual walls crumbled.

Tabi

Mellander was about to correct Tabi about her intentional lie, but instead allowed it to slide. Perhaps, this would skew the results, she thought. Why did she still care? The Agent remained silent as she watched the female magician explain the nature of the cards, while revealing each one. This made her smirk, especially when she saw the “death” card. Predictable, she thought, although not understanding its true connotation.

‘That wasn’t arrogance,’ she said, feeling the urge to correct the woman.

Mellander could feel heat leaving her body. Why did she feel she had no power over her? I’m losing her, she quickly thought. While trying to emotionally fight back, those words evoked a strong emotion as she had a flashback of a man in army uniform (someone she cared deeply about) dying. Mellander, shouting the words: I’m losing him, over and over again, as she tried her utmost best as a medic to keep him alive.

Mellander wasn’t an inexperienced Agent, she was good at what she did, but she rarely conducted interrogations. She was still learning. She needed to learn how to adapt to different people. Perhaps, she was too strong at the beginning, she thought. But, she can’t seem too weak, which she currently felt at the moment. Don’t pretend with her. She is playing you. She can see that you are not in control, Mellander argued with herself. She wished she could be as tough as Agent Sigma or quick-minded as Agent Epsilon, but for now she had to be patient. Stay calm, she told herself, and don’t lose sight of the purpose of this interrogation.

‘Tabitha, in truth,’ she begun to say, hoping to angle it as calmly but important. ‘I need to know why you were at the airport. Only then, will I be able to determine whether you are a threat. The faster you help me, the faster you help yourself with getting out of here.’

Mellander hoped that her message was loud and clear to the female magician. No tricks. No lies. She wanted to prove she could do this. ‘So, why were you at the airport?’ she reiterated.

Olli

‘It happens all the time,’ Ledocq said, dismissing the importance of a dead girl. ‘Nothing new.’ She spoke as if to suggest that another death meant very little to her because of her job. After all, they focused more on important matters.

Ledocq reduced her smile when Olli had asked her the intruding question. ‘No,’ she said firmly without hesitation. Why in the world would she reveal her relationship with her family to him? To even suggest that her ungrateful, cheating, ignorant, money-leeching husband who neglected everyone in the family, was still someone she loved or had loved- she laughed inside about how ridiculous that thought was. Her three daughters? Sweet when they wanted money and reassurance, but just as horrible, selfish and arrogant as her husband. They greatly depended on her and her money. She rarely loved them, and only when they had realised their mistakes. She had just wished they were less like their father.

‘So what does a dead girl got to do with anything? Or are you trying to confess to a crime?’ She asked, with her smile returning.

Fawkes

The suit of armour helped to take away any damage, as Dikoko eventually hit against the wall. He was down on one knee as he looked up at Fawkes with a smile. He couldn’t help but smile as the boy laughed. Dikoko pulled out a dingy machete (handcuffs off) and with agility he went to slice at Fawkes.

Having been in his mind, Dikoko knew what the boy was thinking and could predict his defence and offensive attacks. The room was relatively small, but he knew how to use surroundings. His main goal was to pull the mask off.

@ian_idyll: (I like the Georgey Boy Av...)

The Lab of Tin’Data

The two human beings watched the screens, which popped up to illustrate the many activities that the computer was performing. “What’s happening”, the Italian man asked, staring intensely at the screen, knowing his artificial team member was having difficulties. “It seems they have someone trying to hack into me…possibly a technopath…”, the intelligent voice informed the two watchers. Having knowledge of organic being with this ability, Tin’Data had ways of getting around their attempts at controlling him.

A futuristic race of A.I.s, the robotic mind bared the understanding of science. A grand being of paradoxical essence, Tin’Data was a Comainian. A strong A.I. race, from a universe far from here, he was both synthetic and organic. While not in origins, this state was out of biological and technological redesign. He held enough understanding to birth both organic flesh and life. An expert of cloning, building, and manipulating biological organisms, the intelligent mind knew he had to attempt to tap into the brainwaves of his opposing mind.

Upon hearing the voice of the man, the android began to shield himself from the viruses, knowing his computer was starting to experience more viruses. As his computer started to experience damage, he strengthen it with updates upon updates. Tin'Data even had his lab work on assisting computers, for power and space, to help strengthen his defenses. But, the main system was taking the effects of the technopath. Running his powerful foe through a string of computer programs and systems, the android tried to lose the man within a maze of data.

As he did, he stared attempting to tap into the man’s mind, in a way similar to telepathy. Continuing to build up the attack, the man’s words rung in the lab, as Tin’Data filled any and every hole he could with an overload of files. Trying to dig deeper, the artificial being started to go through the same link to stop the technopath. With a calculative level of understanding, the robotic one knew if he got in, he’d have to quickly eliminate the person.

=====================================================================================

Tabi

Gathering her cards, the gypsy began to put the cards away. Knowing how tired they usually got, after being used for too long, she was now done with them. So, she placed the deck back into her jacket, before straightening it. Once she finished, she returned to the conversation of the man. As she hand pulled away, she eyed the woman. With nurturing blue eyes, Tabitha was contently quiet as her streaming hair of waving blackness cupped her face.

Without a second thought, the mystic lady immediately knew the answer behind the lady’s question. Thinking of Olli’s colleagues, she remembered the reasoning for her being there. “I was there for my husband…”, Tabi’s accent strongly rung in her statement. “My husband is a bit of a fool. Leaving me to think for his…careless, negligent, thoughtless, I’ve been his brain since we’ve met…”, she smiled with the memories. “So, he often gets himself in trouble, on his many business trips, leaving me to dread and worry.”, she continued. With a moment of silent recollection, the Londoner thought, “’I’ll be fine’, he’ll say… ‘I’ll always return to you’, he’d tell me. And, he expects me not to worry.”. Tabi sat inward, as she looked down at her palms. “Mm, it’s only been of recent events that I’ve chosen to follow and watch over him. So, I was there watching over my husband”, she finished.

=====================================================================================

Olli

“Aye, all the time…that is a very true statement.”, the magician lightly agreed, as his hand reached back into his suit. He continued staring at the lady, with silent stared of curiosity, as his searched. “…through my time on the Earth, I’ve seen appalling things…see, lass, me parents birthed me on the obscure side of Blackburn. But-”, he paused and remembered their deaths. In the pause, he found what his rumbling hand was searching for. And, Olli pulled out a petite sack of little cookies, with a gleeful smile present. “Mm, I swear, me wife will ultimately fatten me…”, he ignored his leanly slim frame, as he spoke of the pack of cookies that his love always placed within his suit, whenever he left for work.

“But, anyway…”, he remembered to continue his conversation, “…me parents left me, after that. So, I grew up an orphan, in bloody Lancashire…”. Chuckling, he happily ate the small cookies and thought of his home, “See, I moved around for the lot of my adolescence. Blackburn, Blackpool, Liverpool, Southport, Stockport, Preston, Manchester, even Birmingham, I saw all of England north side, by the time I was a teen.”. Swallowing the treats, the Brit continued, “It was a wild time, for a lonely boy in the dark sides of town. Industrial building stretched to the sky, like needles, ejecting their poison into it. My can recall never seeing nothing but smoke across the atmosphere.”.

As the Brit continued munching he paused, with a confused look on his face, “Was I not leading somewhere with this?”. Glancing at the woman, he realized where his mind was heading. “Ah…so, I’ve witnessed many of these horrid situations…they never ended well, or resolved. Hell, I wa-”, he halted with his fingers hitting the bottom of the bag. With a grim expression, Olli quickly dug back into his outfit, knowing Tabi usually left two most in his suit. As he did, he noticed the lady’s odd face, “Ye had another question, lass?”.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

With an ill-fated smile, the mask grew colder and colder, as it sat planted on the black figure. Hovering inside of a coat of shadow, the room started to dark around the mysterious man. While the crazed aggressor rushed, Fawkes stood in silence. As the darkness ran up the wall, the sound of a howl pieced through the room. The pitch black frame of chaos combusted into a splash of tar-like liquid, Fawkes’ mask disappeared as the tar sprayed everywhere.

Immediately, the pale image of his mask appeared with in the abyss of shadow. Standing deep within the black side of the room, the figure watched his foe. With the same empty sockets of darkness’ void, the heavy breathing of a stalker echoed through the tightly condensed room. The chilling howl continued, as the son stood quietly.

d^_^b

@superstay: (Thanks! I thought you might.)

Tin'Data

The maze came as a sudden shock for Carter as he quickly found himself trapped. In the virtual world, data whizzed back and forth, creating a labyrinth where a desperate Carter tried to translate the information with little success. I don’t understand! Carter thought to himself into abject alarm.

Carter could feel that the supercomputer was in trouble. His walls were bleeding information from Tin’Data’s attacks and he was unable to patch it up quick enough without losing control of another position. His system was slowing down as the intruder’s virus teared through false data to reveal protected government information.

Carter walked aimlessly around inside the virtual maze, reading the walls that had untranslatable data on them. He couldn’t read them anymore. Their grammar had changed or had become more complex and irregular. Carter was unable to give definite translation without having a digital Rosetta stone on him, and because of this he was stuck in his intruder’s trap.

‘Who are you?’ Carter sent his question to Tin’Data.

Carter was forced to contact the hacker in hopes to figure out who he was dealing with. He needed to see him (virtually). ‘This is a private government database, and hacking into here is breaking the law. Tell me, what do you suppose you think you’re doing?’ Carter had to stall his attacker while he studied the new, advanced data.

Carter

While his mind was traversing the digital world, his physical body had collapsed on to the floor from Tin’Data’s maze trap. Colleagues of Carter huddled around the man as they murmured among one another in disbelief of what had happened to their superior.

‘He’s still breathing,’ one yelled out to the crowd of workers. ‘He’s…He’s in there. Fighting off the intruder….’ They said pointing at the supercomputer.

Carter’s body laid on the office floor, occasionally muttering while convulsing as if he were having an epilepsy attack. A medic was called in to make ensure that the man’s health remained stable while his internal war waged on inside.

Tabi

As Mellander listened to the woman she couldn’t help but feel empathy. Without reaching too far into her memories of loved ones, the Agent could relate to worrying about their safety as well.

Nodding, Mellander almost graced Tabi with a smile at her fondness of her husband but instead remained poker-faced. Tabi’s husband and his words echoed familiarity as Mellander, again, suppressed the memory of her dying soldier.

‘So,’ she begun, speaking sympathetically, ‘did you worry for his safety? Is that why you were with him at the airport, because you knew he was in danger?’

Mellander watched Tabi for changes in expression. ‘Do you know why he was there and who he was meeting?’

Olli

Ledocq raised an eyebrow once Olli started talking about his childhood. She was waiting for the man to cut to the point but it dragged on, and it almost seemed like she was watching his whole life story in one sitting at the cinema.

‘You were…’ Ledocq conceded, when Olli had questioned the direction and relevance to his past childhood chronicles. Yet, it soon became clear to her that Olli had tried to liken his past experiences with the experiences of today, highlighting the fact that he would never find out who killed the girl. She smiled at this thought. She knew what he was.

‘So, you thought you could change that, huh? Honour the girl’s death this time -by being her voice?’ Ledocq chuckled silently. ‘How noble. And, so, you find yourself at the airport…To do what? Confront the killers and pass judgement?’

The Agent proceeded to pass four new photos towards Olli. ‘And him?’ she said pointing at one of them. Each photo was of Shadow in his many different identities. The first was when he posed as a FBI Special Agent Antony Brombal. The second was him as FBI Detective Denial Finnisky. Another when he was at the Diamond Sky club; and at the airport. Each photo had looked like they were taken from a security camera.

‘Is he your date, or…’ She begun to scrutinise in a sardonic manner. ‘Or, perhaps the killer of the girl? Because I am starting to think: why would someone impersonate a federal agent, agents, just to see a dead girl’s body; and then make it all the way to the airport for a gang war? Unless, the way I see it, they were trying to dispose of evidence; later regrouping with their associates. Or you were…Am I wrong?’

Ledocq stared at Olli intently, as she examined him.

Fawkes

Dikoko steadied himself as he searched for the “heart” of Fawkes. The boy’s heavy breathing echoed throughout the Agent’s body, acting as the bass to the piercing howling sounds.

‘Are you hiding?’ He said as he scoured each darken corner, looking for the mask. Dikoko held his breath while trying to control himself from revealing a secret, but the dark void and black tar-like liquid made him laugh inside as he suppressed the urge to challenge its effectiveness.

‘Papa, où t'es? Maman, où t'es? Soeur, où t'es?’ He asked the abyss. ‘Le garçon qui a violé ton maman, où t’es!’ Dikoko shouted, tauting, with immense joy. He revelled in the idea that the boy, a being made of nothing but chaos, could find compassion, rage and vengeance within itself in order to avenge his mother. Not conflicted, the boy said- the Agent laughed.

Once the pale image of the mask appeared, the Agent jerked his body and threw his machete at it.

@ian_idyll:

Tin’Data

Gaining information, the android started to try and access as many files as he could. He started attempting to scan and download the data. Scanning for any hidden viruses, he searched for entail on the organization. As his foe was ran trapped within a maze of data, the Comainian continued updating the walls, and further making the codes unreadable. As he did, he heard the technopath’s question.

“I am Tin’Data, of Comto’Iania…..to my people I’m a high member of a synthetically organic species called Comainians. Third of the five originals alpha A.I.s, descendants of the Ultra A.I…”, his communicational program spoke, as the rest of the computers continued upgrading the system. A race of robotic life forms, they spent many years creating their own data and coding. Separate from human programming, the encoding was beyond simple human understanding. Only another strong A.I. would be able to understand it, since it had been set and created by them, It was the language of artificial intelligence.

They held together, to create a stronger hold. “I am an energy, beyond the physical presence. I do not fear your human repercussions, or your laws…”, Tin’Data finished, as he tightened the hold. He started to try to tap into the brain of the man. If he did, he would try to locate the side of the man’s brain that controlled his powers, and attempt to shut it off.

=====================================================================================

Tabi

The wife gently laughed, as she thought of her worry for her husband. “…I would have to admit that my worries are needless. My husband and I have lived through many events, and most of them terrific and painful. So, I deep within my mind, I know he will be perfectly fine.”, Tabi paused in her soft words. “I guess I’m still not use to the world that he welcomed me into, when we married…”, she laughed, as she thought about the immortality of his, which he also gave to her.

She sat in silence for a bit, thinking about the many long years they have lived. Remembering the whole lifetimes they’ve spent alive, Tabi knew he was not in danger, and her worry was just her natural human emotions not catching up to her omni-powerful presence. But, her thoughts were stopped by the question of the interrogator. The gypsy smiled with a elegant eye, “…I don’t dig much into his business. My job, as his wife, is to keep track of what he doesn’t…”.

=====================================================================================

Olli

Happily eating the moistly hot cookies that his wife made for him, the magician almost looked like a child in the hot seat. “Ow, lass…I’m a gentleman, yes…a nobleman, maybe…”, he chuckled, before politely offering the officers some of the steaming treats. Radiating the scent of sweet vanilla cream, Olli waved the bag towards all of them, before returning to his snack. “…but, I’m no avenger of the deceased”, he laughed at the thought of his hypocritically crusading after the honor of the dead. “In my life, I have done too much wrong, to decide to voice the right. Though, I have done too much right to assert the wrong…so, I’m in the middle.”, he munched on the delicious treats, before washing them down with his tea.

“See, lassie, the universe is full of chaos. I’m just a figure in the midst of it, like everyone else. I’m just not daft enough to fight it…I enjoy it, I relish in it. Whether victory lies in the hands of the lawful or the lawless, I happily go along for the journey.”, Olli soon finished the bag, before starting to dig for the next one.

However, he stopped when he witnessed the emergence of the pictures. Sitting still, he glared at them, and then started to listen to the lady’s words. With a grin on his delighted face, he turned away from them, with a nonchalant shrug. “Bloody hell…do ye suppose I’m Father Christmas, eh?”, his thick burly accent presented itself.“Lass, I don’t know everything…I’m just a parlor magician, ye’know?”, he leaned back.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

Fawkes answered none, as his abysmal darkness swallowed the man. He watched him from all angels, with predatory intent. He stalked like a hunter in the night, and the officer was his prey. Fighting for a stand against him, the man was begging for a sign of reply. Fawkes drew the man into his illusion, as he tried his hardest to get some humanity out of the figure’s empty core. As the attacker threw his weapon, a misty fog thickened around the flying machete, and the mask; the darkness engulfed them both.

As the white moisture became thicker and thicker, a slight cackle started to ring in the background. It hovered behind the man, as the shadow drew near. Fawkes was closer to him, and prepared him attack. “Instead of searching for humanity, you might want to search for your foe. Because, you’re leaving yourself open…”, the black figure of darkness stated, as his heated breath lingered on the back of man’s neck. This was a game of chess…one piece, against many.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Tin'Data

The viruses had breached the walls and the dam had crumbled, allowing a flood of data to escape into the enemy’s hands. The intruder had won; that much was clear to Carter, and he was panicking. Not so much for the reasons of losing to a highly sophisticated A.I specie (something that he did not think challenging its existence was necessary), but because he had lost the very files he had sworn to protect. If this were a test he would sulk for a bit before he inevitably acknowledged his opponent’s strength; and learn from it. Yet, he very much doubted that this was a test. This was real. He could not sulk and then learn. He could only lose and lose some more. Staying in the maze would be better than returning to the real world as a failure- this he regarded truthfully.

‘The law…’ Carter had begun to say. ‘The law is there for a reason…’ His words weak and faded, as they arced across the digital space and reaching no one. Carter doubted that he could negotiate with a person, let alone a specie, who cared little about rules and regulations. The only authority he ever held was on technology, and even now he didn’t have that. He was nothing. No one.

‘I will make it my life’s mission to beat you!’ He sent his message to Tin’Data. ‘Tin’Data of Comto’lania, I will beat you. I’ll surpass your technology and show you that humans of this world are not to be underestimated…Especially me!’ He wasn’t sure where that came from, but he felt he had to say that.

Carter then stared at the newly developed data that surrounded him. The more complex language that he had just promised himself he would study until his death—

Carter

Carter’s slim physique, thin face, which struggled to even grow any facial hair, and his unruly brown hair that was tied in a ponytail, curled and expanded as his body suffered faux neurological attacks. The medic continued to stay close to him.

‘Hard drive…’he garbled.

‘What he say?’ Someone asked the medic.

‘Hard…Drive…Get…’ Carter continued.

‘He’s saying something about a hard drive,’ the medic assisted, but shrugged, unsure what Carter meant by it.

Tin'Data

‘HARD DRIVE! GET THE HARD DRIVE!’ Carter yelled through the digital space. Although he couldn’t get back to his body without losing his connection with Tin’Data, he could vaguely reach out by shouting loudly at himself. At least he hoped so. It felt like it was working.

Carter had transferred all the untranslatable data from the maze back to his own personal hard drive, so he could study it in depth when back in the real world. He knew he could do it. With enough time and money he was sure he could out best his new enemy. Now, all that was needed to be done was for someone upstairs to pull his hard drive out of the computer.

Ouch! His head had suddenly felt like it had been stabbed by a sword.

Carter

A few of Carter’s colleagues had randomly moved around the room, as they vaguely looked for a hard drive. Picking and turning over several, but not knowing which one or why—

Suddenly, Carter’s health had become unstable and he shortly went into a coma. Tin’Data had forced his technopathy to switch off, and he was no longer inside the supercomputer. The intruder had won, beating Carter.

‘Quickly, delete everything!’ One person yelled across the room, once Carter went into a coma. ‘Make sure the intruder doesn’t get anything.’ It was clear to everyone that Carter had failed to protect the files.

Many of Carter’s colleagues scrambled to their computers as they inserted the codes to abort the whole system, which would wipe every file on the supercomputer. Once that had been done, one person went to check what percentage of information Tin’Data had manage to steal and what those information were; while Carter’s body was carefully taken away by two more medics.

His stress ball rolling out of his hand and under the table.

Tabi

‘Right.’ Mellander finally said once Tabi had finished. She had hoped that the female magician would have been more helpful, but, she supposed she was only protecting her husband. Not necessarily the best reason to turn a blind eye to a possible killer, though.

‘I’m guessing you won’t recognise these men, then?’ Mellander showed Tabi the photos of Shadow and his different personas, and as well as a picture of Ian Idyll, the journalist. ‘Let me ask you: are you aware of the recent death of a girl called Larissa Fox, and the name “The Coquelicot killer”?’

Olli

Ledocq watched the man and stayed silent for a few seconds after Olli had finished. She understood that the magician was not going to give her anything substantial. He was refusing to cooperate, and whether it was because he was heavily involved or some random freak who decided to get involved, it didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to let him leave, or his family.

‘I’ll make this very clear to you,’ she begun to say with a half-smile. ‘You have landed yourself with a one way ticket of no return. You made a huge mistake of going to that airport when you did; and you can keep all the right thoughts and answers to yourself if it pleases you, but, you’re only making your stay far more unbearable then it should be. So, let’s try this one more time and see how we fare better: Why were you at the airport? And where is your partner?’

Ledocq was getting ready to end this session but only after these questions. She then showed Olli a new photo of: Olli and Shadow in their car at the morgue before they were attacked.

Fawkes

The heated breath caused Dikoko to shut his eyes; and he started to laugh. ‘Oh God!’ He exclaimed in between laughter. He couldn’t hold his secret in any longer, a flaw he gladly admitted. ‘Oh God, you think—you actually think we are in YOUR illusion! Ha! HA! HA!’

Dikoko opened his eyes again and turned his head to face the two officers in the room. As if they had just woken up, the officers started reacting to the darkness that surrounded them. They had taken their guns out and randomly pointed at nothing.

‘You silly child! You are in MY illusion! In MY mind.’ Dikoko was very powerful with his ability, but he did have numerous tell-tale signs that usually gave his illusions away.

One major factor of his illusions that he had difficulty was making the background, which wasn’t in his focus, animated. Trees, animals and humans stopped moving and remained still. He would have to focus on them in order for them to become active. Another factor was that all his illusions were simple or lacked any detail. Easy designs with the bare minimum, such as the interrogation rooms, were the typical scenes he created. It put less pressure on him.

‘I hate to break it to you, but you are playing the wrong game. This is not chess but backgammon and you are losing the race.’

Dikoko then forced the darkness to recede to reveal the unspoiled interrogation room, and bring Fawkes out into the open. The officers would then point their guns at Fawkes.

‘Give me what I want!’ Dikoko demanded of Fawkes, throwing white chains around him. He wanted to see Fawkes’ true nature. Chaos itself. And he wasn’t going to stop until he did.

Carter's Home

The sound of constant beeping rung throughout the sleeping household. A small group of young adults slept in a huddle on the floor of the study room, among beer cans and food, signs of a finished house party. The air was thick and musky with cigarette smoke, and the smell of alcohol dominated the olfactory senses.

It was still early morning and the sound of beeping was met with only groans from hungover party-goers. Tanya Laird, twenty-five year old, shot upright, from sleeping on floor, as if she were the dead coming back to life. She stayed sitting as she picked food out of her braces and gripped her hair, while she swivelled her head in confusion due to the noise. Her throat felt dry and she knew if she spoke no sound would come out, so she took a sip of the first beer she found; and proceeded to spit it right out again, grimacing from the taste.

‘Shut that off…’ someone hungover garbled.

‘OK. OK,’ Laird quickly said, as she got up.

Laird wobbled over to Carter’s desk and saw his personal computer sitting there. It was beeping and flashing the same words over and over again: Get the hard drive!

The young woman scratched her head as she hovered her eyes over the hard drive attached to the computer. Written on the hard drive with a blue marker was the words: Ben Carter’s Hard Drive. Laird pulled it off the computer and watched the flashing words stop, and listened to the lack of beeping. Now what? She thought. But, she never got an answer. With a yawn, Laird left the hard drive on the table and went back to sleep on the floor.

@ian_idyll:

Tin’Data

Immediately, the Comainian started pulling all of the information he could, about the organization. He searched for all he could about them, aiming to learn as much as he could. Moving as fast as he could, Tin’Data knew they would try to shut down the system. So, he had his defenses try to hold them off. With another computer attempting to counteract their whipping of the system, the main computer checked and downloaded every file. Using a separate storage of space, he began to lift as much as he could, within the quickest span of time.

Noticing his data was copied and sent to a hard drive, the robotic man tried to receive it. But, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to catch it. And, the data was transferred to the private hard drive, leaving Tin’Data in a state of worry. Doubting that anyone on this planet could begin to understand the coding that made up his language, he was still very cautious of the possibility that someone could. So, in that instance, he ordered an android to retrieve it.

=====================================================================================

The Lab

As the suited man watched the holographic screen, the blonde lady roamed the base of technological advances. Amazed by the glowing graphs and exhibits of Comainian knowing, he mind marveled at the science that was present. As she returned, she halted to see a figure of futuristic mystery. Dressed in green armor, with a mask of intimidation of his person, he stood next to Shadow, as the Tin’Data spoke.

“The technopath was able to transfer my coding onto a private hard drive. So, I have to retrieve it…”, the computer’s artificial voice stated, as the robot stepped towards the middle of the room. Looking at a screen within his wrist controller, Tin’Data began to try and track the hard drive. Using a scanner, he used an electromagnetic frequency to find the presence of Comainian coding.

=====================================================================================

Tabi

Lightly shaking her head, the wifely Jest stared at the photos. Unable to recognize the figures, she looked up with silence. As the woman asked another question about the death of a woman, Tabitha sat still. “Sorry, but, I was not aware of that…how terrible…”, she spoke with condolences in her soft voice. Although, the gypsy wife of the chaotic family of Jests could say she was deeply saddened. Being in a family like them, she’s witnessed and done am things, which were far worse than a girl’s simple death.

So, she faked enough sympathy to still seem ethically humane. Hoping that her many years of theater, and fooling the average street folks, Tabi’s eyes drew close, as she thought about her husband’s possible involvement in this. But, her thoughts were stopped by the mention of the Coquelicot killer. “I have read about that lad…so mindlessly inane what some blokes will do…”, she stated, as she remembered reading about the killer. Initially, thought of the killer being her son, crossed he mind. But, it was subdued by the realization of her son was a bit more cryptic in his acts of chaos. But, she quickly giggled her way out of her thoughts, “…I feel so obnoxiously erroneous for assuming the figure to be a male…”.With a glance at the interrogator, lady Jest whipped her thick hair out of her face. “Has the killer been cause, yet? I really would hate to hear that they were still out there…”, she finished as she leaned into her seat.

=====================================================================================

Olli

Grinning with grim eyes of amusement, the Brit listened to the woman’s words. Laughing at her belief in containing him; he knew she was wrong. He chuckled in a deep tone of mocking laughter, as the lady condemned him. With a question be asked again, he stared at her attempt to scare him into complying. And, with a lick of his lips, Olli began to think of something to say. “…ye seem dreadfully stressed, lass…”, he muttered, as he leaned into the table. Rocking in his seat, he smiled, “…you seem like you need some flowers”.

With a twist of his wrist, a bouquet of freshly picked flowers appeared within his hand. With a flirtatiously wicked look, the beautiful flowers were colorful and delicate. Then with a chuckle, he pulled a golden package of chocolate into his other hand. Laying them on the table, Olli pulled a deck of cards from his pocket. But, as he pulled them up, he accidentally squeezed them, causing them to shoot everywhere. So, with an embarrassed expression, the magician charmingly smiled in a bashful way.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

As the shadow start to recede, the blackly dressed figure stayed silent. No speaking a word, he watched his foe with eyes of darkness. As the room recollected its past image, Fawkes was nowhere to be seen. Fully gone, he had vanished in thin air. Leaving the room to the three men, the mask was nowhere to be seen. With the cold chill eliminated, and the foggy atmosphere gone, the room regained its dull and quiet origins.

Using his full power, Fawkes freely left the room to the illusionist. But, he instead took to the outside of the room. Using his teleportation abilities, he tried to silently pull the entire interrogation room into his mind, the home of his family's power. Trying to use the power itself to drag at the room, he quickly attempted to pull the room into the merciless woodland of the Jests.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Carter's Home

The ringing of the mobile phone had prompted Tanya Laird to leave her sleeping cave; she headed out from the study-room and into the reception where she followed the ringing to the cluster of mobile phones, inside the basket, that hung on the doorknob of the front door.

Carter’s house was spacious, to say the least. It had high ceilings and wide hallways that were all painted stark white, which reflected the light that shone through the numerous windows, bouncing off the many mirrors. This made the house look very big, and always bright with little need of house lights. The house was occupied with antique furniture from different European countries; some mixed, which made good marriages. Paintings were dotted around the walls that helped to give life to the house. Despite this grandness, Carter’s home was modest and didn’t seek attention. If there was a single word that would describe Carter and his living standards, it would be: well-off. Neither affluent nor poor.

Oddly enough, there was very little to do with technology, but that was due to Carter’s dislike of the romantic image of what a technopath’s life should entail: surrounded by heaps of technobabble equipment. Carter regarded being a technopath, or even a techno-enthusiast, to be something sophisticated, for gentlemen-like people, and not for the common rift-raft, street-technophiles.

Laird hobbled towards the basket of phones, as she tried to recollect her bearings. She yawned and rubbed hers eyes with a close fist, which made a squishy noise, while she rummaged through the pile of phones to find the one ringing. The clock on the wall showed that it was seven-thirty-three in the morning.

‘Hello?’ she said once she found the right one. ‘Yes, this is me—what problem?’

Laird’s hungover was hitting her hard as she could feel herself falling asleep mid-call, but the worry of her learning that it was something to do with Carter finding out that she was at his house; having had organised a party without informing him; or even simply breaking into his house to organise a party, helped her to stay awake to hear what the caller wanted from her.

‘His hard drive?’ she said with surprise. ‘Yeah, I think I have it. Why? What’s going on…Attacked? What? How do you mean? Hold on, let me find that hard drive…’ Laird was now fully awake. The news that the supercomputer had been attacked by a powerful hacker caused a chill to run down her spine. ‘Where’s Ben?’ She said as her hurried back into the room to fetch Carter’s hard drive.

As Laird hopped and twisted past her drunk and asleep friends on the floor, she reached for the hard drive. Instantly, upon touching the hard drive, she received a shock, seeing flashes of colour, and then dropped it on to the floor. ‘What? What happened to him?’

Laird’s heart momentarily stopped as she thought she had misheard the caller. But, she didn’t. She heard exactly what had happened to Carter, and that he was currently in a coma after being attacked by the hacker. Laird had no personal relationship with Carter, and he was hardly someone she called a friend, but, closer to an acquaintance; yet, his incident had caused her to feel sick inside. He was her mentor; someone she wanted to know if they were all right.

Her movements slowed down as she spent more time listening to the caller than breathing. She slowly crouched down to pick up the hard drive. ‘How much information have they stolen? Ninety-eight percent? You’re kidding? What’s the two percent that we still got? “Why JFK really died”?’ she repeated, before shutting her eyes in disbelief. ‘I guess asking you now about the real reasons behind JFK’s death is not the right time…Shit.’ She had to make a small joke in order to cope, otherwise, she didn’t think she would be able to function with her new information.

The young woman slowly headed back out into the reception room where she stared at a painting of a group of French, hard-boiled men talking to each other in an old bar. ‘Yeah, I’ve got the hard drive,’ she had said with little power in her voice. ‘You need me, don’t you?’ She said, nodding at the answer. ‘I’ll be there soon with the hard drive…’

As soon as she ended the call, her phone malfunctioned and blew up in her hand: ‘Shit…!’

Tin'Data

Tin’Data had located the Comainian coding within the city of Inbhirwick. The coding was found in the residential areas near the port and cliffs; named Frank’s Cliff-side. The number of the house was twenty-seven. It was about eight miles away from the centre of the city.

***

Tin’Data was able to download ninety-eight percent of all the information off the supercomputer. The information revealed the locations of their several bases, including the one in the city (the city being called, Inbhirwick; nicknamed the “Grey City”).

The organisation was listed as an official government branch that served as the guardian of all super powered/supernatural threats, domestic affairs in America, and occasional for foreign affairs. It was said to be headed by a man called Jacob Webb.

Also, it had named Stanley Falbs: the overall inventor of the armour and the specially designed A.I within the armour that their Agents wore. Each A.I (and Agent) was named after the twenty-four letters of the Greek Alphabet. These Agents would serve as group leaders for their unit, or, as well as codes for independent missions.

The armour was made from a special black metal (if it was actually metal) that was extracted from Subject 0092, created by Apotheosis, or, also named: Aingeal Draidubh (named by Stanley Falbs). The A.I was designed to help control or temper the user’s powers, to avoid unwanted outbursts. The A.I offered logical reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning and natural language processing, and even more sophisticated applications to aid the user. The A.I would help the Agent to efficiently solve any threat in the shortest time, maximising the chances of success.

The information showed all the names and bios of the people, and Agents, that worked there.

There were several files that were starred as important.

One file was called: The Wych Alley Murder (Larissa Fox), which briefly gave importance of finding her body in order to win the War. The secrets of Apotheosis that had been lost can only be retrieved with Larissa Fox.

Another file dedicated to Valkyrie; the alleged international super hero team.

Another file named: Agent Beta.

Another: Chimera file.

Another: Taxi

Another: Water bridge scandal.

And many more files of past and current cases.

Tabi

Mellander had nodded in an agreement to Tabi’s reaction, believing her sympathy to be completely genuine. The Agent couldn’t shake off the feeling that talking to this woman wouldn’t help her in figuring out her husband’s involvement. The female magician seemed to be as clueless about her husband’s role as them. There was always the chance that Tabi could be lying, but, she seemed like the type who would do exactly what her husband told her to do without involving too many questions. Or someone who even accepted very vague answers.

She later smiled at Tabi’s comment about the possible gender of the “The Coquelicot killer”. ‘That’s smart of you to not assume the killer’s gender,’ she said, pleased with the woman’s intelligence; causing her to question herself again on whether the woman knew anything at all, or whether she was pretending. ‘Unfortunately, the killer is still out there, which is why your cooperation is needed. Finding that girl’s killer is priority. But, seeing as you have nothing else to share that can help us stop the killer, we should end this here.’ The Agent said in attempt to guilt-trip the female magician to talk some more, perhaps confess.

Mellander ended the tape and stood up, collecting her files from the table. She nodded at the two officers by the door. ‘You’ll be taken to your cell, shortly…’ Mellander said to Tabi, before she left the room.

Fawkes/Dikoko

Dikoko was surprised to see that Fawkes had disappeared. He watched the four corners of the room for signs, but Fawkes was nowhere to found. Suddenly, the whole room was brought into a new scenery, causing Dikoko to yell out: ‘Where have you taken us?’

Dikoko scanned the space, as he hoped it would give him the answer he needed, until he foolishly remembered exactly where he was: the woodland of the Jests. The Agent was neither afraid but nor was he happy. He now knew that he was going to be in a constant fight with his new roommate--

Dikoko

In the real world, Dikoko was sweating from his forehead, as he watched Fawkes inside the transparent chamber. The real Fawkes was bounded by the black metal (Aingeal Draidubh) and was put into permanent sleep, with the nullifier constantly on.

Once Dikoko had entered inside Fawkes’ mind back at the airport, he had learnt many things about the boy. He realised that Fawkes had possessed some mild affinity for reality warping, so (knowing that illusion was powerful to counter reality warping), he had the boy instantly suspended in deep sleep, unable to reach others or for others to reach him. Yet, Fawkes now lived inside him too.

Dikoko’s powers were hard to explain if anyone had asked him. He could enter inside someone’s mind and learn everything about them, and in a sense become them; stealing their personalities and memories. He could cast illusions inside their minds and have them experience them in real time or give the impression that it had lasted much longer than it really had; in which case, he could have created the illusion in real time to last only a minute for him, but, his opponent would still be experiencing it for the next ten minutes.

Fawkes, the one that Dikoko watched through a transparent chamber, was out of commission. But, Fawkes still lived in him and could now, regrettably, control and influence his mood and thoughts. He had to learn how to control him. In comparison to the real one, there was little difference. The Fawkes that now lived in him was just as real as the one in the chamber. A memory of the original; yet fully formed, and in a way in itself it was the original as well. Dikoko wiped his forehead with a tissue and smiled at the sleeping boy.

‘Auribus teneo lupum…’ He said to the boy before he left the guarded room. The room was secured with guards and had officers maintaining the chamber. The Agent was pleased with his success.

Olli

Ledocq was getting very annoyed with the man doing magic tricks; and when Olli had failed to handle the deck of cards properly, Ledocq pressed a button beneath the table that forcefully attracted the handcuffs on Olli to magnetically stay stuck on the table- preventing Olli to use his hands.

‘You understand very little of what is going on,’ she said, as she tidied her files on the table. ‘And if you think you do, you have only scratched the surface; actually made less than a dent. You are getting involved with a war that you couldn’t possibly fathom or fight…This is just the prelude. The first act has yet to come. You are nothing important, just like that dead girl. A common casualty.’

Ledocq had made a start on getting up from her seat. She was ready to end this interrogation for now. The magician was being difficult, and perhaps a few days in the cell would encourage him to talk. ‘Don’t think you can protect your friend. We’ll find him with or without your help…You should’ve stuck with your parlour tricks.’

The Agent had reached the door, nodding at the two officers before turning back to face Olli, who looked more like a small child than a man. ‘Welcome to your new home: HMS Wayward Girl.’

Pacific Ocean

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean there are two massive supercarriers, both six hundred metres long (nearly two thousand feet long). One is called the HMS Wayward Girl and the other is named, Harbinger.

HMS Wayward Girl

Both Tabi and Olli were taken away and put into their own separate cells with new clothes. The old clothes are kept locked away.

Their cells were transparent and made out of thick bullet proof glass with tiny holes for air. Outside their cells they could see that they were inside a massive prison with other prisoners in their own cells. The whole ship on this floor was constantly nullifying their powers, and making everyone feel weak.

Tabi and Olli wouldn’t be able to communicate with each other via their powers, nor would they be able to sense Fawkes, who was locked away elsewhere.

Agent Eta

‘So, what have we miss?’ The Agent, or Agent Eta, said as soon as he entered STASIS’s headquarters in Inbhirwick. He had just returned back from the airport and was feeling smug about his mission; ready to start chasing after Lillian and her partner. But, the only thing he was met with were the faces of distraught men and women. ‘Who was the medic for?’ The Agent continued to say, as he neglected to register the atmosphere in the room.

‘We’re sailing blind. We’ve been hacked.’ Someone quickly informed the Agent.

‘What do you mean?’

‘We have lost everything!’

‘What about the woman I asked you to do a data search on…and her partner, and tracking their movements.’

‘Everything! We have nothing…’

The Agent’s face went pale as soon as he realised that he had overplayed his chess hand. He now had to track Lillian himself. Shit! He cursed to himself.

(You and I can now control/influence Agent Epsilon: Aashay Dikoko. Fawkes is living in him now.)

@ian_idyll: (You gave me Water Gate, over JFK's death...I'd far rather have that...LOL)

The Lab

“Oh my…this is U.S. government…”, the blonde spy read the information, as she looked at the stern face of the suited Italian. As he read more entail, as it popped onto the screen, he stared at the holographic images of blue lights. Watching him, the agent didn’t know his he heard her, so she spoke again…“we might be ought of our league…he should quit, while we’re ahead…”. Turning to eye her, Shadow spoke, “Tin’Data…how much can be learned from your coding, if someone was to be able to read it?”. As the computer continued scanning and saving the files that it had received, the armored android looked at him. With the A.I.’s voice coming from it, the Comainian used it to speak.

“If read and put into works, one would have all of my capabilities within their tech…they’ll be able to create entire star systems, if they pleased…”, the droid spoke, finally finding the location. As Lillian grew wide-eyed at the ability that the robot spoke of, it vanished in a blur of blue light. “Which is why we aren’t dropping this…We are getting that drive back, and the Jests”, the suited man instructed. But, the lady was still cautious. “What do the Jests have to do with this…we are dealing with the might of a country. We should leave them, or bring ourselves down…”, she revealed her covertly trained mentality of sacrifice for the mission.

“We don’t fear the government of any source…we do what we have to keep people safe. And, I don’t trust anyone in control of Tin’Data or Olli’s power.”, Shadow dryly explained. “Should we bring the Chief into this…”, the computer asked before the Italian denied their commander’s need for being involved. “See if you could find the Jest’s whereabouts…”, he insisted the Comainian to search for a way. So, the super machine started looking for a way to tap into the organization’s controls. He would attempt to get into the system of the technology. “…sh!t, I barely trust the Jest with their own power. I will not let the corruption of any government get command over them…”, he gritted, as he watched. The lady stood in silence, before deciding to give up her fight, “how much power do ‘we’ have?”.

=====================================================================================

At the Carter’s House

A blue light lit the front lawn, as the android suit stepped out of the teleporting rays of light. Starring at the house, he knew his coding was somewhere inside. So, stepping up to the door, he pressed a few buttons on his wrist. A strip of white shot into the sky with silence around it, hitting the heavens, it activated a temporary mobile satellite.

Staring through his visor, Tin’Data watched his surroundings. His suit immediately scanned the area for any threats, also using the satellite, as he stopped at the door. Using his helmet’s other sources of vision; he looked for thermal and electrical currents. As well, he searched for life lines, as he scanned the house before entering. With a glance at the visor, he received an architectural layout of the premises. He stood in quiet stillness, and scanned for alarms or traps.

=====================================================================================

Tabi and Olli

Both of the Jests passively led to the chambers and quietly sat within them. Well, the introverted mental lady did. Her amused husband was still too extrovertedly happy to remain silent. He spat laughter, as he stared into the thought of containment. He relished in the thought of this order’s downfall. “We will all fall one day, and I would not want to miss the lot of ye's…”, Olli thought repeatedly, as he hysterically spewed imaginably loud. A man who has live life billions of times, and saw trillions of mighty orders come and go, he knew this was like the others. It was no different…it will crumble under something greater than it, or weaker; who knows…but, he joyfully wanted to see.

Tabi quietly calmed herself, as she thought of her home. Now alone, the gypsy of vast ability, tried to reconnect to hers. Her eyes started twitching with the ache that her head was experiencing. Her head quickly started throbbing with the pain of the nullifier. She remained strong and bared through, still trying to gain power. The lady was not going to allow herself to lose everything, she thought with intensity. Fighting the pain, the British woman fought back, as tears started to illustrate the pain she felt.

As her body trembled with extreme levels of pain, her determination was the only thing keeping her from falling unconscious. She was determined to beat this man-made device. A mind that rivaled gods, she silently fought for control of her abilities. In a physically still state, she calmly cry through the struggle.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

The howl of night filled the senses with the feeling of chill. Grim skies of cloudy gloom blanketed the foggy woodlands. With the moon’s unusually glowing brighter than anything, it pieced the land with haunting rays of paleness, as the hollow trees stretched into knifing needles. The dirt smelled of fresh blood, and the air smelled of ash. The three men stood in the middle of a moistly cold field of trees. With the masked man nowhere to be seen, he lingered in the essence of the environment. But, the three men would find themselves trapped within the dark forest.

A realm that lied beyond the physical, it connected to the mental presence of Fawkes. The true power of the Jest basked in the land, and the son of the land basked within it. Reuniting with the estate, the masked figure was able to fully drag himself into the domain. With that, the boy had recreated the physical presence of his chaotic frame. Leaving the chained him as a hollow suit of air, the only presence Fawkes had outside of Jest Manor grounds was now his hand in the officer's head.

=====================================================================================

Dikoko

The masked figure still linked himself to the illusionist, though he was now in the estate’s ground. Holding a presence in the officer’s mind, Fawkes started playing with the delusional man. The officer could notice the voices filling his hear. Deep and faint, they spoke to him with alarming tones. As he walked from the guard station, the Jest that was linked to him started to dig into his mind. Looking through his memories, the chaotic one started flooding him mind with grim thoughts.

As he did that, he tried to dig deep into Dikoko’s body, as well; picking around, the dark figure watched what the man did. A piecing whistle drowned the man’s ears, as Fawkes tried to cause a pain in the stomach of the man. Deep within the pit of his gut, the Jest attempted to implant the feeling of a blade’s drive.

d^_^b

@superstay: (I gave you Water Bridge not Watergate, although, the similarity in the names was done on purpose but they are not the same case. However, debatably you could actually have Watergate within the 98% files, or not :P)

The Lab

Searching through the organisation’s system would prove difficult in finding Tabi, Olli & Fawkes since Tin’Data had stolen most of their files, and that the organisation were now currently offline. STASIS had not updated the location of their new prisoners or what information they had found about them.

Tin’Data recovered files, revealing that the organisation had three-hundred-and-ninety-nine possible bases and prisons around the world that would be holding Tabi, Olli and Fawkes. One of them did include the city of Inbhirwick.

Carter's House

Carter’s home was quite large with four balconies, indicating it had three other floors (minus the ground floor). The building was bright orange-yellow, was of old German design; and it was believed at one time to have belonged to the King of Corsica, before it was given to the navy, who then sold it to make it into smaller flats; and then eventually STASIS (who gave it to Carter) made it back into one full house again.

The building had little security, aside for a relatively difficult keypad to open the gate; and a burglary alarm inside. The latter having been deactivated already. There was absolutely no sign of any threat. Tin’Data would be able to detect seven life lines all huddled up in the same room up in the second floor.

The inside of the house was spacious and it had many rooms on each floor. It had wide hallways and high ceilings. Each floor were cut in similar ways so the layout was easy to map out.

Tabi & Olli

‘You’re the type that are dangerous,’ an officer said, pointing at Olli like a specimen, as they made sure he went into his correct cell. ‘You better hope we stick around because we’re the only goddamn thing that is keeping this country- this world safe from you lots.’ The officer continued to say, as if he was lecturing or wilfully giving advice about the state of the world. ‘Yup…Without us, you lot would be making chaos…And getting away with it, too.’ The officer tutted as he walked away, leaving Olli inside his new home; his prison cell.

From their prison cells, Tabi and Olli could see multiple television screens that hung in the centre of the ship from the ceiling like disco balls. It was showing the news: stating that since the discovery of Larissa Fox in Wych Alley, graffito of the words, “Who put Lara in Wych Alley?” had soon started appearing all over the city.

Both of them could also see the other prisoners and how they all looked tired and weak from the nullifier. And while Tabi concentrated, walking past her prison cell were two officers escorting a man whose face seemed to be permanently scarred or burnt, with some bone just visible through the damaged skin. The man stared at her, as if he knew her.

But, as Tabi continued to use her power she heard a voice in her cell, and could feel the part of her brain that controlled her powers shut off (preventing her from using her powers).

‘I cannot allow you to use your powers, ma’am,’ a voice said with a slight robotic inflection. ‘I have momentarily disabled the function of your brain that you normally use to access your powers.’

Dikoko's head/Fawkes

Dikoko walked further into the forest before he made the two officers he was with disappear into thin air. The Agent was somewhat amazed that this new realm was inside his head. The power that flowed out of it was thrilling.

Dikoko raised his head towards the trees and made half of the forest bright, removing the gloominess with sunrays and clouds; smelling of flowers instead of blood. Half of the realm was light while the other half was dark.

The Agent sat down on the green grass and waited--

Dikoko

As the real Dikoko walked away from Fawkes’ coffin and out into the hallways of the prison, he started to hear voices, and images of grotesque nature begun to emerge at the forefront of his mind. He thought of his family that were locked in an asylum, and how he had achieved greatness in his life, rising to high status in his work places before joining STASIS- where he had continued to excel.

Dikoko could feel Fawkes in his head clawing at him, trying to dig a blade into his stomach. His forehead sweated from pain, but he was able to eventually suppress Fawkes and ease the pain away. The Agent staggered for a bit before he composed himself, briefly panting for a bit, until he knew he was better and ready to continue on.

He had a meeting with the boss to organise.

@ian_idyll:

(Nah, I'l leave Watergate alone...)

Carter’s House

Walking up to the door, the armored figure used his teleporter to warp him inside of the main entrance. AS he stood into the grand building of wonder, the android was focused on his drive. Stepping with lightness, Tin’Data scanned the area for it whereabouts. While doing so, he stood in a stillness of silence. Seeming like a statue, the metallic figure kept his movements to a bare minimum, as he scanned.

Deciding to step up to the second floor, the android had himself duplicated. As he stood still, a blue ray vertically stretched six feet off the ground before a second suited figure stepped out of it. And, with the second android standing near the door, the first headed upstairs. Heading to the second floor, Tin’Data moved on to see the room full of sleeping beings. As he stood in silence, two small devices of aerial movement departed from the suit’s shoulders.

Hovering around the room without a sound, they scanned the beings with rays of unnoticeable infrared light. One by one, they scanned finger prints, facial features, hair particles, eyes makeup (if they could get to them), or anything that would give a potent DNA sample. Tin’Data tried to get info on them all. As he individually searched for the hard drive, the android knew someone had it.

=====================================================================================

Jest Manor

As the light glowed, the man sat in a field of green grass. He could see an endless stretch of forest. With trees scratching into the sky, mountains, hills, and valleys rested in the distance. But, as soon as the flowers scented the land with a rich smell, the land was soon awakened to the reality that they were born into.

The very far distance of gave way to many industrial clouds of smoke. Heated and steaming, the black vapors rushed high into the sky, from behind the mountain. Quick and sudden, the freshly green grass sharped into chilling blades, under the man’s bum. With the wooden trees becoming darker and hollow, their wood base disported the smell of death. And, an echoing church bell banged in the near distance. Ringing with intensity, it chimed the work of a graveyard-side church.

The blessing sun quick extinguished into a damming moon, as the warm yellow rays of embrace became cold blue rays of condemning terror; A faint whistle could he heard as clear as the screams lost souls filled the Dikoko’s ears. The screams and cries of his loved ones, he could feel their dying presence near him.

=====================================================================================

Dikoko

Heading to his meeting, the officer could feel the heaviness of grief awaking within him. Walking down the hall, he smelled the presence of death looming behind him. The sharp pain rushed back, while the screams continued in his ear. So much so, he started to get a throbbing headache. On his way to the meeting, Dikoko could see a ghostly image of Fawkes’ mask on the walls.

A headless body stood before him, pointing the way to the meeting room. As the cries for help continued, the faces stared with intensity. The officer would see every person who passed him death-staring at him. He could even hear faint voices discarding his statues and importance to the organization. He got closer and closer.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Dikoko's head

Dikoko was awaken by the sudden disappearance of gentle heat from the sun hitting his eyes and only to be substituted with cold and dull darkness that manipulated the images behind his soft thin eyelids. The world that he had recently birthed had soon vanished as quickly as he had conjured it. The sweet air turned into industrial ash in his mouth, and the cool sounds of the idyllic forest had transformed into haunting screams.

The grass beneath him had sharpened, changing its nature from soft and docile to pain-inducing intent. The bed of grass had quickly become a bed of upright knives, pressing against his armour, and lifting him ever so slightly off the ground. Dikoko’s head turned to the sound of bells and shrills of lost souls that lingered around his ears. He was no longer enjoying his moment of peace. A few grass, that had become knives to the touch, stabbed through Dikoko’s hands, causing him to stare at his throbbing and bleeding hand.

Dikoko proceeded to stand as he watched the crude changes envelop his creation. Dark red blood dripped from his hand on to the ground before a sharp flash of light covered his eyes. The cries reminded him of his family. The family that had abandoned him. The family that cared little about their little boy’s safety and opinions; or value. No, the screams of his family did not leave him sad and powerless. Instead, the man revelled in their pains and suffering. He enjoyed that thought very much. He had only wished that he had tied the hangman’s noose around their necks before the asylum had tied their own first.

Filled with anger of being disturbed, Dikoko placed his bleeding hand upon the bed of knives and soon the ground had erupted with black goo. The ominous goo bubbled and stretched black, venomous red and poisonous green colours, as it grew in size, and danced while it formed objects from the shadow. As the goo rose up into the sky, so did the shape of multiple zeppelins that were moulded from the mysterious entity. The black goo licked the air and excitedly reacted with its surroundings, forever growing bigger and growing bolder with its design. Attached to the zeppelins by black tendril ropes, four towers from a gothic fortress elevated upwards before revealing the entire stronghold. The fortress oozed with nightmarish designs of mystical creatures such as gargoyles and goblins, and medieval imagery pertaining to kings and queens, and nobles, as well as a moat that was surrounded with the black bubbling goo; and with tendrils reaching out for its prey. The portcullis was sculpted into the shape of the front plough of a steam locomotive and the draw bridge looked like it was made of coal. While the zeppelins above lifted the fortress, so it hovered slightly off the ground, they also shone a red light that rotated three-sixty, as if it were a lighthouse.

Dikoko stood on the top of his fortress, upon a large arch-bridge, that was designed to look like a three-dimensional backgammon board. The bridge divided the centre of the board, and dancing below were men and women. They waltzed as the music played in the faery’s key. The men wore black and venomous red suits with etchings of a specific number from one to six, while the women wore black and poisonous green costume dresses, and as well with etchings of their own specific number. Each black and venomous red pillar that dotted around the board had faces chiselled on them. Faces of all the people that Dikoko had the privilege of pilfering through their minds; stealing their memories and personalities. They bickered among one another, presenting their personalities and sharing their memories to whoever cared to listen; and guarding each pillar was a noble knight, wearing either black and venomous red, or, black and poisonous green goo armour.

The fortress board was very well lit with floating candle chandeliers, and the light stretched far into the land, making its presence known to everyone, as the music did the same. Dikoko examined a large emblem on the floor of the bridge and the image was of a hare, arched in a semi-circle, and its hind legs stretched out until it was the shape of a key.

Dikoko understood that this fight with Fawkes, here of all places, would last forever, and turn into a stalemate if all they did was change their surroundings. So, building this unchangeable fortress would serve as his home. He would invite Fawkes to meet him and challenge the boy to a faery dual face to face. Each would present their skills, just as a lancing tournament would do the same. Only the victor would be able to take control of this realm without challenge.

‘Will you accept my invitation?’ he said with a smile. ‘You can decline, but it really isn’t in your interest.’

Carter's House

The two small devices had scanned the people in the room without detection or difficulty. There were seven of them, and they were all fast asleep. There were three females and four males, and all in their twenties:

Ariel Horsup: a twenty-five year old American from California, San Francisco. She had just graduated, this year, from Inbhirwick’s College studying Law. Unemployed.

Patrick Kelly: a twenty-three year old American from New York City. Last year of Computer Science at Inbhirwick’s College. Student.

Elio Gradante: a twenty-five year old Italian from Rome. He had just graduated, this year, from Inbhirwick’s College studying Computer Science. He was working for a photography company called Snapz.

Victoria Lee: a twenty-three year old from Hong Kong. She had just graduated, this year, from Inbhirwick’s College studying Computer Science. Unemployed. She had booked a plane ticket back home for the following week.

Aleksandra Peneș: a twenty-four year old Croatian from Osijek. She had just graduated, this year, from Inbhirwick’s College studying Law. She was currently working for a local bank.

Mark Tull: a twenty-five year old New Zealander from Auckland. He had dropped out from the University of Music during his second year. Unemployed. Visiting the country visa-free; he had overstayed longer than ninety days by four days.

Jonathan Wain: a twenty-three year old American from Missouri, St. Louis. He had just graduated, this year, from Inbhirwick’s College studying Law. Unemployed.

As the devices scanned the room they counted seven people but there were eight sleeping bags (that each person slept in). One of the devices would have found hair strands on the empty sleeping bag. The hair belonged to:

Tanya Laird: a twenty-five year old New Zealander from Auckland. Carrying dual citizenships- New Zealander and American (the latter had been accepted very recently via naturalisation). She had dropped out of Inbhirwick’s College during her second year of studying Computer Science; and she proceeded to acquire a job as a Federal government civil servant, computer engineer.

Tanya Laird was nowhere to be found. She was not even in the house. Quickly after scanning the house, Tin’Data had detected the location of the Comainian coding. It was coming from the reception room on the second floor.

Dikoko

‘What are you looking at?’

Dikoko’s eyes watered uncontrollably, making his eyes red and sting, as he wobbled along the hallway. He muttered to himself and verbally attacked anyone who stared at him. Since leaving Fawkes’ prison, he suffered from headaches and heard constant screaming in his ears. Everywhere he went he saw Fawkes’ mask on the walls, and when he turned a corner he had to stop abruptly in front a headless body that made a point of having to direct him where he was headed. The ambiguity of what was real and what was fake, at times, became unclear. The line was blurred, and he needed to control it.

Dikoko quickly rushed towards the small medical room on his floor, wading through multiple workers and fictitious happenings. Once he saw that the nurse was not in the room, he rummaged through all the medicine cabinets in order to find any headache relievers. He soon found some pills and drowned it down with water; slowly feeling the effects working on him, as they clamped down on the faint voices of self-doubt.

‘What are you doing?’ the nurse asked once coming into the room.

Dikoko lunged at the nurse and pinned him against the wall. ‘I said shut up. Shut up! I said shut up…’ The Agent hissed through gritted teeth. The nurse was too shocked to speak.

Dikoko left the room after he had pushed the nurse against the wall another three times, in order to illustrate his status of power.

***

The inside of the meeting room was large and decorated with black and white wallpaper of iconic people and events in history. It had a massive table that looked about five metres long with a large television screen at the end. The television was on, and onscreen was Director Jacob Webb. Inside the room and sitting down were Helen Mellander (Agent Mu), Evelyn Ledocq (Agent Sigma) and another (who Dikoko would recognise) as being Amy Alise (Agent Zeta). All four were talking when Dikoko entered inside the room.

‘Are you OK?’ Mellander asked Dikoko when she saw him.

Dikoko’s eyes were dry but they looked red, and his forehead throbbed with an oncoming headache. ‘Sorry, I’m late,’ he finally said, nodding to Mellander’s question. Once again, Dikoko had momentarily suppressed the noise in his head and stopped seeing images of Fawkes. But he still felt tired and heavy inside. ‘I’ll begin with the meeting.’

‘No need,’ Webb interjected from the television screen. ‘Sit. We have other important things to discuss.’

Dikoko eyed Alise as he took his seat, but all he could think about was that his purpose of organising a meeting had been cancelled. Why? Was he not good enough? He stared again at Alise. Did she say something bad about him, he thought.

Alise had short blonde hair, stopping at her jawline, with pinkish-purple highlights; gaunt face, grey eyes and wore a nose ring that was shaped like a horse shoe. She always looked severe and reserved. ‘How come you’re here?’ Dikoko asked Alise.

‘Because,’ she stressed, ‘Kylestewert had a break-in yesterday. And guess who broke in?’ Alise stared back at Dikoko, awaiting for an answer. ‘I’ll give you a hint: old friends.’

After a moment of silence from the room. ‘Valkyrie.’

‘Bingo!’ A smile momentarily stretched across Alise’s face. ‘Golden boy ain’t half bad,’ she sneered.

But Dikoko took those words personally. She was ridiculing his position and importance. He was a much better Agent than she was, he thought, but somehow she was not afraid to talk badly about him, and in front of him. He grinded his teeth.

‘Listen!’ Webb commanded the room. ‘WCC has been hacked today. We are on high red alert; and now we are sailing blind. We have no eyes or ears.’

‘But how?’ Mellander spoke up. ‘Valkyrie, too? Since when could they hacked into our systems?’

‘It is unclear whether Valkryie was involved in attacking WCC, or how they gained the knowledge to do so, but the timing is far too coincidental. But Rupert Drake is a possibility and must be watched.’

‘You suspect a mole?’ Ledocq said.

‘I suspect everything.’

Jacob Webb was a man of many talents, whose knowledge of espionage and defence outmatched anyone in his business due to his experience. Webb was in his late sixties but looked to be in his forties; with dark chestnut brown hair (no white hair present yet), oval face and healthy body. The only defect he had was that he had to wear glasses. He disliked most people, except for his wife.

‘Did they take anything, or, was it a distraction?’ Dikoko then asked Alise about the Kylestewert break in, in order to stay relevant.

‘Unknown on both accounts,’ she conceded. ‘Amelia was taken, but who stole her was only previously connected with Valkyrie. As in: they are not friends anymore.’ Alise had a way of talking down to Dikoko despite his high intelligence. ‘So, whether this was a group effort or independent is unknown. As for distraction, again, if the hacking was due to Valkyrie, then yes- most likely. If not- we may have more players.’

’The magicians?’ Ledocq questioned. ’No, I don’t think so.’

‘I don’t either,’ Dikoko agreed. ‘They are not the type to orchestrate anything, but simply go along as they come. But their partner, maybe.’

‘Their interrogations proved fruitless. And tiring. We will continue to interrogate them tomorrow at zero-six-hundred-hours.’ Ledocq added.

‘They could still be involved,’ Mellander said. ‘Clearly taking them in was meant to be a distraction. Sleight of hand?’

‘No. That idiot was meant to capture that woman and man; not play chess!’ Ledocq interjected.

‘That “idiot” is your son-in-law,’ Alise quipped.

Ledocq didn’t return a comment. It wasn’t common knowledge that Agent Eta had married her eldest daughter, but a few knew due to Agent Eta constantly calling her “mother” or on-the-nose approach: “mother-in-law”. Ledocq stayed quiet. It was always best to let them have the last laugh aloud, because it would be their last.

‘Agent Eta will continue his search of those two. It has become imperative that we find them. And if they are the same people: we cannot allow them to walk around with our information. Prevent anyone with any hint of our info from talking to the media, police or to the public; or anyone for that matter. We need leverage on them. We then need to uncover Rupert Drake and his Valkyrie plans; and find Amelia.’ Webb said, informing the group.

‘Who actually stole Amelia?’ Mellander asked Alise.

‘A teleporter. He’s called Ian Idyll; and he’s also journalist.’ She answered.

‘Why the hell would he take her? What is he going to do, put her on paper?’

Alise simply shook her head. ‘He’s a teleporting journalist, that’s why…Because he could. I don’t know why, yet. However, he’s popped up a few times, even involving himself with the dead girl- Lara Fox.’

‘Same as the magician’s partner.’ Mellander rubbed her eyes out of confusion. ‘Could be the Coquelicot Killer?’

‘Thomas Bain and Rebecca Dobson must be found!’ Webb continued, without answering Mellander. Dikoko thought about Bain (AKA Gabriel) and Dobson (otherwise known as Dobby) who were at the airport as well, and who had killed Tom Morris. ‘Killing Morris and attacking Price will incite a civil war between gangs. We must diffuse this before it happens. And, we must make a deal with Bain. If we can’t, kill him; Dobson must be captured. We need her if we cannot get the information from Lara Fox.’

There was silence among the group before Mellander spoke up again. ‘You know: it could be “The Sandman” who is stirring trouble. Maybe he’s making his move early.’

‘Don’t call him by that stupid name,’ Webb hissed. He had suddenly became very defensive. ‘We don’t know if he is involved. He is Japan and docile for the moment. He hasn’t made a move.’

‘Oh come on!’ Alise shouted out. ‘He was obviously involved with the murder of Rupert Drake’s wife. They left a papaver somniferum, opium poppy, not a common poppy. A clear hint to the one behind it; not the Coquelicot killer, who they tried to make it look like.’

‘Quiet! I won’t listen to any more speculations. It is not him until you give me real proof. Solid proof.’

Silence had entered the room once more. Dikoko listened as he pressed his thumb against his temple. He needed to keep the visions and sounds away, but the tension in the room had distracted him. ‘The supercomputer is down; so is the teleporter, then?’ Dikoko asked Webb.

‘Yup!’ Alise replied, instead. ‘Which is why I’m stuck here.’

‘Yes,’ Webb spoke calmly once more. ‘We have organised a computer engineer to take over in place of Benjamin Carter, who has fallen into a coma. The teleporter and the supercomputer are planned to be functional at eleven o’clock today. I have informed the other Agents of their new missions. You four are dismissed for the weekend, but you are all on-call.’

Every Agent in the room assented to the Director’s instructions. Then: Director Jacob Webb signed off, leaving the Agents alone in the room. Agent Zeta was the first to make their leave, while Dikoko concentrated hard on his thoughts in order to keep Fawkes from manipulating his mind. It was eight-thirty in the morning. Another two hours and a half before he could teleport back to Inbirwick- or anywhere.

‘So what do you plan to do tonight?’ Mellander suddenly asked Dikoko (simply because she was too afraid to ask Ledocq). ‘Are you celebrating tonight?’

@ian_idyll:

Tin’Data

Noticing the missing woman, the android figured she had something to do with the drive. So, as his system detected the coding, he sent out a request to his satellite. Holding a sample of her DNA, he searched a 10 mile radius for any signs of her. But, as it did, Tin’Data stepped into the reception room. With one hand on his belt, and the other on his gun holster, the armored man was fully prepared for an attack.

=====================================================================================

The Lab

The two figures were searching through the data, as they watched headed the computer. With a side monitor recording the activities that took place at Carter’s mansion, they looked through the files. Starting with the Wych Alley Murder, Shadow want to know what information they had on the case. Then afterwards, he looked into the technological advantages of their armor and A.I systems. Wanting to know how strong they were, he tried to dig into how powerful their organization was.

As he did, Lillian searched the opposing group known as Valkyrie. Intrigued by this ‘international superhero team’, she wondered what that could be about. Afterwards, the agent looked into whatever she could find on the agents that worked at the group. Seeing the chart of the three hundred plus prisons they possessed, she looked over at Shadow, “Where do you think they could be holding the pair?”.

“If they know of their power, they would keep them heavily protected. So, I would only image them being held in one of their main base…..so, search for their most protected or important prisons…”, he stated while digging through data. As he did, she searched what he asked.

=====================================================================================

Fawkes

Leaving the illusionist in the plain forest, the masked being focused on the being whose mind he lingered in. Knowing that the man’s fortress would be surrounded by near infinite amount of dark forest, Fawkes left the man to his portion of the dark abyss of his own creation. He disconnected them from Jest manor, before parting from the man’s mind. Parting from Dikoko’s subconscious, he entered the officer’s immediate state of thought, to continue tormenting his physical state.

=====================================================================================

Dikoko

After the meeting had ended, the focused man began to feel the same knifing jabs at his stomach. Though the thoughts were subdued, so far, the faint pain was real. Starting as a mild pinch, equivalent to a stomach ache, it slowly grew to an extreme level of throbbing jabs. As if something was stabbing at his gut, Dikoko could feel his innards being badly harmed. Hearing the woman’s question, he would find his nerves too shaken to focus to his thoughts.

Holding his composure, the officer’s ill mind soon crept back into his mind. “You’re not worthy, you’re not worthy…they don’t believe in you…..”, a voice snuck into his ear, as a high pitch whistle squeezed behinds it; a growling sound of tinnitus, it rung loader that usual, while it stayed behind the voices. But, as the sound did begin, it was drowned out by the sight of the screen popping on. As the light of a red background graces the eyes, a masked face stared back at him.

With eyes of empty abysmal darkness, the pale mask stared into the heart of the man, “…they’re trying to poison you, lad…..you’ve been pretty foolish, mate. A blinded fellow…”, his cryptic voice separated from his stalking mask. He watched the officer, before continuing, “…you trust these people. They ridicule you, berate you, lack confidence and belief in your ability…yet, you take their drugs and sit in the mist of these weasels. You think they didn’t taint those drugs….they’re poisoning you, mate.”, Fawkes spoke.

As the room began to throb with the rising heartbeat of the officer, time seemed to have slowed down, as the vision in his mind continued. A clear as day, the mask man talked to him. Smiling with the chilling tenseness, Fawkes’ accent poked at the brain of the man. “…Lady Alise is jealous of you, Ledocq will never respect you. She doesn’t even see her family as worthy of her level. She loathes her family…you can be sure that she does not see you as anybody of value….and Mellander, oh poor Helen…..”, he signed in cackling enlightenment. “…poor lass is a plant by Webb to watch you…An informant, she is here to spy on you, and make you the villain of this.”.

“…‘what do you plan to do tonight?’, they are planning to make you the fall guy. They speak on inside moles, and outside players…..they believe you are the mole, and they are setting you up as the fall man……….watch your back, mate…they are watching”, Fawkes finished and the screen went off air, leaving a snowy image of static. Immediately, a colorful bar screen blipped before the ‘Please Stand By’ screen popped up. Leaving the man to his throbbing headache awakening, the room started to spin with intensity.

d^_^b

@superstay:

Dikoko

Dikoko’s legs felt weak and shook uncontrollably while his head felt light, making him feel dizzy. He could feel his body losing heat as the pain returned and the voices in his head addressed him. It’s not true! It’s not true! Dikoko shouted at the voice in his head. Dikoko’s head turned to the screen when it switched on and onscreen was the pale mask. He had no choice but to listen as he tried to breathe through the aching pains.

When Fawkes spoke about his colleagues and them poisoning him, Dikoko stared frantically at medicine bottle as he squeezed tightly on it, feeling himself about to burst the bottle with his bare hand. ‘They are not poisoning me!’ He screamed at Fawkes on the screen.

Dikoko could feel time slow down as he struggled to open the safety lock. His hand shook, and his body trembled with fear. He couldn’t lose himself to him, he thought. He could not lose to him! ‘Shut up!’ he shouted again. ‘Ledocq does care…She values my skills. That stupid bitch, Amy! She’s nothing. But I am someone! Nemo me impune lacessit!’

***

As Dikoko stayed seated in his chair, he could hear, over Fawkes, a flustered Alise walking back into the room:

‘Just for the record,’ she begun to say, ignoring any situation in the room, ‘I do know that Mary Wallis is not Rupert Drake’s wife…I just got…I do know that, though.’

Alise had rushed back into the room, after hurrying outside, once she realised she had made an error during her outburst with Jacob Webb. It was common for her to muddle things up when she was upset or angered, but she couldn’t allow those slip ups to ruin her reputation, as being a well-trained Agent. She just needed to be more careful. She knew the woman who was killed was Paul Wallis’s wife.

Alise watched as Mellander, Ledocq and Dikoko remained silent. She didn’t even notice that Dikoko was sweating profusely, as Mellander stood next to him. ‘Well…So you know. I did know.’ She finally said before she turned around and left again.

***

Dikoko’s head was spinning. She’s no traitor, Dikoko thought, as he blindly defended Mellander. No! She can’t be! He said through gritted teeth, but he was starting doubt himself; and once the idea was planted in him, it would be difficult to remove. He believed every word Fawkes told him, despite him not wanting to. Maybe they did think he was useless. Maybe Ledocq does not value him, but simply uses him; and Webb is trying to trap him. Trying to make him the fall guy. How could he be so foolish to believe that he was better than them? They have been laughing at him from behind his back this whole time, he finally concluded.

Once the screen had switched off, Dikoko violently shot up from his seat, scaring Mellander, who stood next to him.

‘What happened?’ Mellander said, concerned. Ledocq watched Dikoko with cautious eyes, but she didn’t move from her seat.

Dikoko panted heavily as he slowly regained his balance. His vertigo was waning, but he could still hear the vestiges of Fawkes’ words in his head. Dikoko quickly popped two pills in his mouth.

‘I have to go,’ He said quickly.

‘But…?’ Mellander was left hanging. She couldn’t understand what had just happened. She had simply asked him a question.

Dikoko had reached the door when Ledocq called out to him from her seat. ‘We still have work to finish later on. I expect to see you then.’ Ledocq said with little emotion. Her attitude was serious and professional. Dikoko simply nodded his head before he left the room. He would be meeting Ledocq later in the evening for work. He knew she still valued him for his skill. Fawkes lied to him.

Tin' Data

As Tin’Data headed inside the reception room, he could hear that the room was quiet; only the subtle breeze coming from the sea. When he turned inside, Tin’Data was suddenly hit in the face by a dracaena plant. Flanking him were two big pots of plants, moving with the aid of the wind coming from the open balcony. Yet, the reception room was empty.

Further ahead at the end, Tin’Data could see a broken phone lying on the floor in pieces. Tin’Data could detect that the Comainian coding was coming from the phone chip, but only less than one percent was actually stored in it.

Tin’Data was able to receive the location of Tanya Laird. She was three miles away from the house. Then: her location vanished before returning once again, and finally her location was completely lost, never to be reached again, as if Tin’Data had lost total signal. The distance between the first detection and the second suggested that she was in a moving vehicle.

Then: the door to the study opened. Jonathan Wain suddenly stopped at the door as he stared at Tin’Data in confusion. The boy wasn’t sure who the person in the suit was, and he was still too hungover to think properly. Wain either wanted to say something or close the door and go back to bed.

The Lab

There were a lot files to go through, and the words that were in bold were hyperlinks to their main source page.

The Wych Alley Murder file showcased the time and place when Larissa Fox was found in Wych Alley. It went into great detail of what position she was found in, what was around her, how she died (from a slit throat), who was recorded to be there, and where the body was taken. A poppy was found near the body.

According to autopsy, she had been dead for forty-eight hours before she was found. She had died around eleven in the evening. However, the killer was still registered as unknown and the case was still considered ongoing.

The officers that were on the scene were: Marcelo Capristo (deceased), Sebastian So, Edward Pike, and Carol Jankoski. Ambulance and paramedics: Rachel Low, Giulia Hibbert, Marcus Lorena, John MacKinlay.

The three suspects had been unidentified and had later been retracted. This was because Mr. So was found to have been intoxicated at the time (same as his partner). This made his account unreliable. It was now believed that the three unidentified men were wearing masks to disguise themselves. The three men were listed as insignificant to the death of Larissa Fox, unless further evidence suggested otherwise, and their presence would be considered annulled.

STASIS had considered the possibility that the killer could have been the Coquelicot Killer because the poppy was found near her body. This theory was only up in the air because it would not be the original but a copy-cat. This was because the original, who was still unknown and was also called Jack Poppy and Poppy-Jack, would be far too old at this time, due to the fact that the original killer operated during nineteen-fifty to nineteen-fifty-three; killing over twelve people, and who was already predicted to be in their late thirties at the time. Larissa’s killer was currently unknown; currently not a threat, but the recovery of Larissa Fox was consider more important than the identity of the killer.

When PC Edward Pike had arrived at the scene, he had called for an ambulance. It was recorded that when the ambulance had arrived, PC Pike had ordered the paramedics to take Fox to the hospital, despite being advised to wait for a coroner to arrive at the scene, as the girl was clearly dead. PC Pike had demanded them to take her to the morgue, instead.

In PC Pike’s words: “I thought they would come back. I thought they would surely take the body if she stayed there…I tho—I wanted her to be safe! I wanted them to take the girl away to the mortuary because I knew she would be safe from those grave-diggers.”

His error was noted by STASIS, who desperately wanted to retrieve the body immediately but PC Pike’s defiance made the wait longer. The body was made to go through the proper channels (the mortuary) before an Agent from STASIS could collect her. STASIS planned to shut down the police investigation on the girl, having them write it off as a petty crime (whether it was true or not).

Larissa Fox’s body was taken to the mortuary, and was looked after by Doctor Charles Curtis. Inside, with the Doctor and Larissa Fox were two journalists: Ian Idyll and Saorise Mooney; and a mystery person (yet to be confirmed), currently code-named as Zanzara. Their presence would make the collection of the girl’s body harder, but the possibility of bribing them was considered, otherwise, they would have to silence them somehow.

The file reiterated many times that Larissa Fox was still an asset due to being in possession of one of the codes to Apotheosis. It was stated that the recovery of Apotheosis was what really matter to them and not the actual girl. It was the serum-like invention by Doctor Ira Fox (Larissa Fox’s father), a geneticists and also an unlicensed (back-alley) surgeon, STASIS really wanted. It was unclear to the organisation whether her death was because someone wanted to steal the Apotheosis too (in that case the identity of the killer mattered) or whether it was a petty murder by a lowlife.

There was speculation that Fox’s death was connected with Forge Elm Asylum (which was where Larissa spent her time after the court-case had considered her unfit to join society), where the possible killer may live; murdering her because of their illness, and because how carefully Larissa was put down (a sign that they either cared for her or knew her), before the scuffle between three unidentified men and the policemen occurred.

***

The technological advantages of the armour (Aingeal Draidubh) proved to be very efficient and effective during battle. Its purpose was to control the user’s use of their powers via the brain, and defend against any powered opponents (able to absorb most damages). Stanley Falbs Sr., creator of the A.I, had pioneered Artificial Intelligence technology, making it able to learn from mistakes or other people’s achievements; adapting themselves to any opponent. Internationally, it was considered to be one of the most advanced A.I. to exist.

The Alpha A.I was considered the father of all the other twenty-three A.Is. It functioned as the warden of STASIS, and it was more powerful than its children.

***

The armour was a technological advancement due to being an unknown metal with very strong properties and lightness in weight. Aingeal Draidubh was made from Apotheosis via Subject 0092 (Amelia Luxford). Apotheosis was a serum-like invention by Doctor Ira Fox, and when injected into Subject 0092, who was dead at the time from a gun wound, she was resurrected back to life.

Apotheosis had the ability to bring people back to life from death. There was still a debate on how long the person had to be dead for it to work or fail. It was believed that as long as the body had not reached major decomposition or begun to skeletonise, then it would work; but according to Doctor Fox, he had allegedly brought back a near skeletal mouse back to life.

Any patient injected with Apotheosis (if dead) would be brought to life, (but dead or alive) and would be given control over a black liquid substance that could harden and liquefy at will. It could heat up and cool down within seconds, and could be used to dampen powers, poison and heal. Killing and resurrecting others. Its many applications have yet to be recorded, but the numerous potential was outstanding. Commercial potential. It could cure most, if not, all diseases. STASIS needed to have it before it fell into the wrong hands- terrorists and criminals alike.

Doctor Fox refused the idea that Apotheosis would be used commercially and wanted it to be free. This could not be allowed for obvious reasons. Rebecca Dobson was an example of that mistake.

Subject 0092 had difficulty controlling her ability which permanently harden into the shape of wings on her shoulder blades. Apotheosis was able to resist near control from the A.I (an issue which would prompt more research into improving the effectiveness of the A.I, and require more funding).

The A.I (or any artificial intelligence) was unable to copy or replicate the serum, as Apotheosis had the ability to camouflage its genetic sequence. This would mean that everyone were reliant on Doctor Ira’s notes.

There was another problem: Subject 0092 was dying. It seemed apparent that those that “carried” Apotheosis would eventually die after three to five years after resurrection. Apotheosis was killing them. Apotheosis refused to heal itself, other than superficial wounds. The Subjects were able to heal others, but if they brought someone back to life (giving them the abilities as well) they would not be able to sustain life any longer than a butterfly would live after it had gone through metamorphosis. But, this was currently the only way to replicate Apotheosis.

***

The organisation, STASIS, was a powerful branch of the government. It was highly respected and feared among other government branches. It had good relations with the President, and it could easily persuade another government branches to close if they disagreed with their views (three branches of the government had closed over the past six months because STASIS had reported their inappropriate actions; therefore removing their funding).

Their influence on political matters were strong, and their tenacity to protect their country was even stronger. If attacked, most other branches would step in to protect them out of their own interest, as STASIS was considered too important to fall. Very few, if none at all, could rival them.

***

Valkyrie was a group created by the Hong Kong business man, and gangster, Rupert Drake of Drake & Co. (no one, but a few top government officials, were aware that he was the head of it). STASIS had them pegged as an extremist group that wished to unite the world by acting as the international intervention group- a superhero team.

STASIS had kept Valkyrie on a short leash, allowing them to intervene within United States of America, as long as they submitted to STASIS’s demands, otherwise, Valkyrie would be shut down by force. This deal had proven to be successful, but tension between the two have risen since the attacks by Theodore Rankin (AKA Sandman) on Valkyrie, especially since the death of Mary Wallis- wife of Paul Wallis, who was the founder of the water company BonShuǐ, and very good friends with Rupert Drake.

The organisation made emphasis on the fact that they worried Valkyrie would organise a terrorist attack in retaliation.

Brief information on the members of the group:

Rupert Drake “Odin” (The Boss), Chinese & British- Fire generation. He had lost his parents when he was a baby in a train accident in Sichuan province. His father was English (Alexander Drake) and his mother was Chinese. He went to an orphanage home. He married a woman from Hong Kong called Bianca Kwan. They had one biological son called Derek. Derek was born with haemophilia.

Eva Åsebø, Norwegian- Shapeshifter.

Nadia Tomé, Argentine- Emotion manipulation.

Ross Pearson, Australian- Sound nullifier/absorber.

Pyotr Drake/Owusu, Russian, ethnically Ghanaian- Rock mimicry. The adoptive son of Rupert Drake. He was found around the debris of a plane crash site in Russia. The sole survivor. His parents were originally from Ghana. Pyotr was put in an orphanage home in Russia before he was found by Rupert Drake. Drake helped him locate his extended family back in Ghana, learning who his parents were and his real family name: Owusu.

Clement Piras (deceased), French- Flight.

Karl Nordegg, German- Sonic boom generation.

Skyler Johnson, American- Curse Inducement.

Xiong Minnie (Minnie Xiong)/Xiong Ju 熊菊, Chinese- Amorphous physiology.

***

There was five major bases that were used first to interrogate and then determine which prison to take them to. It seemed where they went after made no difference as every base had the same facilities. The decision was based on space or preference on the Agent or Director.

All these five bases were in places of great isolation: out-in-sea, desert, or in the middle of nowhere. There was a rota between two to four Agents at each base, where they would always bring their captives to that specific base, until they were stationed at another. The rest would either be on a mission or on their routine break.

The five were called:

Columbus (Sonoran Desert), Agent Pi, Agent Xi

Vidocq Station (Marie Byrd Land), Agent Delta, Agent Tau

Harbinger (Pacific Ocean), Agent Sigma, Agent Epsilon, Agent Mu

Bluewater Stone (Great Basin Desert), Agent Lambda, Agent Rho, Agent Upsilon, Agent Nu

Triskelion (St. Matthew Island), Agent Iota, Agent Chi

Data was always recorded when Agents left from or arrived at any base. These were the last forty-five minutes data before the system went offline:

Agent Sigma (Harbinger), Agent Epsilon (Harbinger), Agent Mu (Harbinger), Agent Lambda (Bluewater Stone), Agent Zeta (Harbinger), Agent Omicron (Braemar Station), Agent Rho (Bluewater Stone), Agent Eta (WCC).

Laird

Tanya Laird sat on the bus as she watched the view from the window. Her hand tightly clutched the hard drive in her hand. All her mind could think about was what had happened to WCC and Benjamin Carter. What was going on that she was needed so urgently?

Laird bit her nails as she waited to reach her destination.

(The DAS is not connected to Earth, is it? It is in Awekam, which is in its own realm? Would the government that I am writing about know about your Awekam secret service, or no? I am curious to know whether my government branch, STASIS, can contact the DAS-or even know of their existence- as if it was part of the main government, or is it that to everyone else Awekam does not exist?)