Racing the Storm

[Pterano]

Oddly enough, the blue 1948 Delahaye 175 didn't seem out of place as it whizzed down the highway of one of Corona's busier circuits. Its rakish lines and exotic look seemed to match quite well with the surrounding digital cars that surrounded it and elegant skyscrapers that rose like monoliths around the vehicles.

The only thing that was off about it was the fact it was gliding on tires and not hovering over the ground. Its engine produced a throaty hum that was louder than the modern cars, but it made the ferret sitting behind the wheel relish the drive all the more. There was nothing like a drive on a beautiful day with the top down in a vintage car to make you truly appreciate life. The wind whipped the ferret's fur, blowing it back a bit as Tony Stracci cranked up the speed. He was still mostly obeying the speed laws, but going slightly faster than the limit. While the Delahaye may not have had the horsepower of some of his father's more powerful cars, it certainly looked exotic enough that it was turning more than a few heads as it drove on its way.

Tapping his paw on the steering wheel a tad, Tony thought about what he could do today. There were basically two choices. Well three, really, but he was already mostly doing the third. That third option was drive around aimlessly. But it was one of the other two that most appealed to him. He wanted to swing by Axel's place to see how the rat was getting on. It had been a bit since he'd last stopped in, mostly due to family business coming first, but he had a free day, and he wanted to use it. He was in the area, so he took the exit, and started heading in the proper direction.


On a high-speed train currently making its way to Corona, Vergil Speicher was sitting back in a comfortable chair studying some articles and tapping a pen on his chin thoughtfully. The white gecko had a look of deep concentration on his face. Articles on Rex Sardolemuel and Kalis were spread out all around him. The seating was vis-a-vis, but only the seat next to him was currently occupied by all his papers. The war, the two generals, their going rogue... it was all documented rather well. He was trying to find mention of himself in there, or some clue, but unfortunately, common soldiers were rarely named.

He'd found out some more, at least. Rex had been the brother of Mace Sardolemuel, the founder and current CEO of the Zaloga Corporation, one of the four main weapons' manufacturers in Corona. While Mace had the business brains, Rex was the military talent. He'd enlisted young, and had quickly proven himself as a military genius, if a bit unconventional. Then there was Kalis, Rex's gargoyle gecko second-in-command. But what was missing was the personal story. Why had these two decided to suddenly go rogue and attempt to conquer the planet? They were outcasts before, sure, but why take so extreme a measure?

Vergil sighed, and closed his eyes, settling back into his seat. He needed to talk with survivors... people who had known these two. If he could just learn more... he might be able to find out who he was as well, and if he'd indeed served them during their war of conquest. He would get to the bottom of this story if he could. Flashes from his past kept coming back to him, but nothing too solid. One memory was standing out however. It was of Rex and Kalis investigating some ancient ruins somewhere, and he was positive he was with them then. But what was it? What did it mean?

[Serris]

"Hey! Easy with the soldering iron!"

Soren used his free hand to wipe some sweat from his brow. The apartment he was working in was home to a dour looking Chow-Chow. The dog in question was wearing a basic t-shirt and track pants and leaning back on a battered easy chair. The apartment was simple, much like the cyberneticist's own apartment, which he shared with Rose, Marita, Anne and Marie.

There was however, an incongrous item: a very elegant looking ó and expensive ó Ming dynasty vase. A dramatic contrast to the plain and downright cheap apartment.

"Sorry, it's just that many of the components in your arm are severely damaged. What the fuck were you doing? I've already dug out two bullets!" Soren carefully unscrewed the mangled laser module from the arm and placed it aside.

The Chow-Chow growled at Soren. "That's none of your concern!"

Soren nodded and continued removing more debris from the arm.

[Nick22]

three streets across from where Soren was working stood the apartments where Rose was living with Him, Anne, Marie and Marita. Rose was coming home from her latest practice, a role named Cherie, based in 1930s new Orleans. She was now approaching three weeks being sober from biproxytol, which had been a very painful-and expensive- undertaking, if not for Marita and Marie she wouldnt have made it. Marie.. Rose smiled. the two of them had been co-workers at a rinky joint called the Black Sheep, Marie had been a waitress there, Rose had been a stripper and dancer. but the place had blown up and burned down  during the last adventure which had swept up her, Marie and her old girlfriend Marita in a devious and diabolical attempt by a group called the Purifiers to wipe out all Augments in the city of Lanthae, and topple its government. the attempts had failed thanks to a aerial bombardment by someone called "Lord Kalis"  which had reduced the city to rubble, killed millions, and nearly wiped the Purifiers out of existence. The three girls were among those lucky to escape and made their way here. Marita, who was a computers genius and master hacker had found a place for the three of them, and they had offered Anne and soren a place to live, and which helped lower the rent burden the three of them were carrying. Marie now worked at a casino, dealing cards, which made her quite a bit of money. The girls had made Rose go through detox upon settling in, as she was starting to go through withdrawal. after weeks and months of painful therapy, Rose was now sober. Her singing and dancing were greatly improving and drawing notice from the theater director and critics. She was hopeful about the future for the first time in a long time, since she had first met Marita several years ago. the recent crisis had forged strong bonds between the three of them, and Rose liked having someone around who was a match for her in bed. Marita was submissive in bed, a reverse from her outgoing personality, and Marie was the opposite, introspective in public but a take no prisoners sort in her chambers. Rose and her had made love for the first time shortly after her detox was complete, Rose got the sense Marie had wanted to have her for a long time, but never got around to asking management if she could have a fling with her, out of fear perhaps that they or Rose would turn her down.
_
Rose reached the floor where she lived and knocked on the door, which was opened by Marita. Rose and Marita were both Great Danes, Marie was a Golden Setter.'"How did rehearsal go?" Marita asked after greeting her with a kiss, her red lips locking with Rose's red lips. ' fine. we're about halfway through the play.. and the director says my singing is making  great strides" Rose said proudly. 'That's excellent. Maries still at the Flipped Card, she'll probably get home sometime around 7. Soren said hes got a client in the neighborhood and I don't know where Anne is..." Marita said. "Good thing about Computers is, you can work from home.. " she smirked. hopefully soon, we'll get a better apartment, once one of my current jobs is finished.. the payout for this job is 1 million credits Rose, enough to get us a better place.' Marita smirked. 'Does it involve your "special gifts" Rose asked ' Of course it does, especially in this town, with the Four Titans paying out big credits to undermine each other' Marita said as she brought Rose a cup of hot cocoa. "At least this place is better than Lanthae' Rose sighed, taking the cup "Rose, honey, Berlin in 1945 was better than that dump. We're out of there, you're sober now for the first time in what, 12 years?  We're back together and Marie makes a nice trinity. Once my current tasks are finished we'll have about 5.7 million credits in the till, enough to buy a very nice place and settle into a upper class lifestyle.' That's a ton of credits" Rose said as she set her stuff down.' yeah, but in order to truly hit the big time, we'll need 100 million. Marie has the Megastakes card tournament coming up. she gets picked to deal the last table, she gets a massive bonus. and if you sell out your show you'll get more money coming in too. we won't have to ask Soren or Anne for any rent.' So they'll just be freeloaders' Rose smirked.' Nah, they're friends we're doing them a solid. we might have enough to buy Soren a place for himself to restart his business, and Anne a place of her own too.'Marita said.

[bushwacked]

Axel swivelled in his office chair, spinning in a circle as the voice on the other end of his cell phone moaned on. A mess of various computer parts were strewn around the room, and on the desk in front of him was stacked a pile of papers – order forms for yet more parts. The voice paused to take a breath and Axel rubbed his nose, jumping in while he had the chance. “Mr Kramar, that’s… yeah, that’s a virus.” The rat shook his head. “No… no, that’s where you went wrong. Downloads that say they’ll give you five million credits… I mean, why would you even believe that?” He blinked and put his feet on the floor to stop himself spinning. “No, not even if they say they’ll make, ah… that bigger. Alright… look, just bring it in tomorrow, I’ll take care of it. Yeah. Okay, see you then.”

Hanging up, Axel tossed his cell phone onto the desk and sighed. Business had been slow lately. When he and Lily had moved into the small, single story house, Axel had set up his own computer repair business to try and provide for them. The neighborhood they lived in was nice enough, sure, and inexpensive… and at least it was outside of the slums that bordered the city of Corona. But it wasn’t good enough. Axel wanted the best for Lily, and the way things had been going lately, it looked like being able to relocate to the more upmarket region of the city would take longer than he’d hoped. There was a clunk. He looked across the room, and saw the air conditioning unit had broken down. Again.  Awesome… With a heatwave settling over the city, that was just what he needed. Sighing again, Axel got up and left his ëoffice’, making his way down the short hallway that lead to the small kitchen. The windows had been cranked open wide in an attempt to get a breeze blowing through. He opened up the fridge, twisting open a bottle of water. “Lily, air-con’s broken again,” Axel called out. He took a swig. “Jesus, this heat is killing me…”

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

Rio panted as he sprinted across the rooftop. His black hair, greasy with sweat, was plastered across his angular face, and perspiration covered his tan skin. The boy gritted his teeth as the edge of the rooftop approached. Picking up speed, he leaped over, his small body sailing through the air… and landed on the roof opposite, rolling into the landing to absorb the impact. The colourful Captain Super Man backpack slung over his shoulder, bulky and heavy from what was packed inside, made running hard. But Rio had no choice. If they caught up to him…

“Little fucker jumped!” someone shouted behind him. Rio glanced back over his shoulder. Two large, roughly dressed men were standing on the edge of the rooftop he’d just jumped from. One looked down, saw the distance he’d fall if he messed up the jump, and paled. The other pulled out a cell phone. “He’s heading right for you!” the man yelled into it. Sucking in breath, Rio scrambled to his feet and kept running, vaulting nimbly over the ventilation units that were dotted around, making his way for the door that lead down. He was a few steps from it when the door slammed open, and a large bull burst through. Trainers skidding slightly, Rio quickly changed direction. The roof opposite was too high for him to reach – but he jumped anyway, and connected heavily against the wall, fingers scrabbling for purchase against the window ledge he’d aimed for. Groaning, he tightened his grip and quickly shimmied to the side, hopping over and grasping the metal drainpipe that ran down the side of the building. It shook for a moment, but seemed to hold. Rio wrapped his legs tightly around it and slid down. One floor from the ground, the drainpipe had broken off. Looking around, the boy looked for a something that could offer a soft landing, and saw a tramp sleeping in the alley just beneath him. Holding his breath, he let go and fell down, landing solidly on the man who awoke with a pained shriek. “You… piece of shit…” the tramp coughed, rolling onto his side and clutching his stomach where Rio had landed.

Flipping the man off over his shoulder, Rio darted through the trash, and emerged from the alley onto the main street. In this neighbourhood, the difference between the two wasn’t obvious. Looking around quickly, he couldn’t see anyone on him yet. Lowering his head, he started sprinting again. If he could just get escape this part of town, maybe he had a chance of hiding out…

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

http://gyazo.com/dfd333542c77b3d4f552200478b056e6

Lily returned to the kitchen from the bathroom, where she had laundered a fresh set of towels. "Oh no...I'll see what I can do," she offered, smiling as she always did when she saw her husband. Technically, they couldn't legally wed because she was listed as "missing presumed dead" by the Lanthae police records, plus she has evidence that she was once married to a lawyer in Cornova and never divorced, but all things considered they lived like it regardless.

She soaked one of the newly washed towels in the sink. "Here, try this." She wrapped the damp towel around Axel's neck. She was often fixing up household appliances and keeping the rooms clean while Axel worked in his den. This didn't bother her in the slightest; after the harrowing week where she first met Axel and endured incredible amounts of trauma, the thought of living a normal life in a middle class suburb was the closest thing she could imagine to paradise.

After applying the towel she started giving Axel a short backrub, guessing that his shoulders were still wound-up from hunching over the computer the last few hours. "Hey, maybe today, we can cheat a little and eat ice cream for dinner," she whispered with a tinge of humor. "I just restocked yesterday. Strawberry."

[Pterano]

Tony was now winding his way through the quieter suburbs of Corona. While Corona was a sprawling metropolis, it was also a plethora of neighborhoods. From towering skyscrapers to seedier districts to relatively pleasant areas like this, there was a bit of something for everyone. Driving down the streets of suburbia, Tony had no need for memory recall here, since he knew the way to Axel's by heart at this point.

Taking a right onto the street Axel and Lily resided on, Tony subconsciously counted the houses as they passed by, and finally slowed the Delahaye to a stop in front of the small home that had become rather familiar to him over the past few months. The ferret killed the engine, and stepped out. While he did lock the door, he saw no need to put the car's top up; it was a nice enough neighborhood that he wasn't worried about someone jumping into the driver's seat and attempting to hijack it.

There was a bounce in his steps as he bounded up the stairs, stopping in front of the door and giving out a few knocks that would be audible enough to those within.


As the train whizzed over a large lake on its track, Vergil frowned thoughtfully. "Hmmm..." he elicited the noise pensively, staring down at the papers strewn all about him. Where to go from here? He'd read all he could from these internet searches and articles, so where to next? Closing his eyes again, the gecko concentrated as hard as he could on the memory of Rex and Kalis in front of the ruins.

Yes... there it was... ancient stone structures that rose up around him like teeth, abandoned for thousands of years. But what about the voices? What were they like? What were they saying? Come on Vergil... focus...

"But this map is incomplete, Rex! It's worthless without the other components! We're still no closer to finding Torment's Cataract than we were when we started!" Kalis was saying, but his voice was far more normal, as he wasn't wearing that facial mask Vergil was used to seeing him in from the reports he'd read. Vergil could see Kalis was a gargoyle gecko, and a rather fierce looking one at that. He appeared very frustrated.

Rex, the fiery red gecko warlord stepped forward now, golden eyes narrowing. "Patience, Kalis. We ARE closer to finding Torment's Cataract. This map has shown us part of what we need. We find the others... we find the Cataract. It'll take time... but it will be worth it in the end."

Opening his eyes, Vergil took what he'd heard and decided to see if he could find anything further. Reaching over to his datapad, he quickly searched for "Torment's Cataract" but nothing came up in the search. Big surprise. Another dead end. Still... the details of those ruins... the way they were aligned and shaped... there could be something there. Perhaps it was time to make a trip to Corona's Archives to see what he could dig up.

"Attention please: we will be arriving at Corona in 15 minutes. All passengers debarking in Corona, please have your personal effects ready for departure. Once again..."

Vergil sighed, and began packing up his papers and belongings. Right... time to see what more he could find out.

[Nick22]

across town at the Flipped  Card, Marie was in the middle of dealing a hand.  across from her were a human, a ferret and a green gecko, all wearing expensive clothes and jewelry . three cards lay in front of her: a 7 of diamonds, a queen of spades and a queen of clubs. bets are 40 thousand'; she said in a clear voice. the human looked at his cards then tossed in 40 thousand. the gecko raised to 60 thousand, and the ferret matched his bet. the human looked at his cards again then at his stack, he was the short stack ' all in'he said pushing in 110,000 chips, there was now 390000 chips in the pot, this soon rose to 610000 as the human and gecko threw in 110000. turn over your card  Mr Silur' Marie said ' Silur flipped his cards over and smirked he had a queen and a 7, a full house. the human named Marcus flipped over his hand, he had two 7s giving him a  full house  as  the gecko named Genki flipped over his cards he had a pair of kings. Mr Silur has a full house queens full of 7s, Mr Marcus has a full house 7s full of queens Mr  Genki has two pair. Marie flipped over the next card- called the turn- an ace of hearts, which was meaningless ' you need a king to knock me out Silur said to Genki, who took a swig from a martini. the last card was called the river and Marie turned over- the king of hearts, as Genki burst into a huge grin. ' time to hit the bar' Silur said getting up from his seat as marie pushed all the chips towards  Genki who was about 100000 chips from winning, which he did on the next hand. ' well that a good million for me' Genki said as he flipped a 100k chip to Marie ' nice work mam' he said feeling good about himself. ' thank you Mr Genki, business doing well i take it ' she said as she took the chip' good enough. allows me the freedom to play some cards ' Genki said as he took his drink and coat and headed off to collect his winnings. the floor manager came up to her ' i want to congratulate you Marie.  he said  giving her a note . ' You just earned herself a table at the Megastakes' the manager whose name was Mona said with a smile.' he added as a big grin grew over Maries face' you've earned it. you're one of the best  dealers i've ever seen and I've been doing this gig now for nearly 20 years. I cant believe that you've only been doing this for 2 months. , go home and party with your girlfriends ' Marie hugged him then blushed 'sorry, i'm just really excited ' its alright just get your things c and  go home. see you in a couple days' Mona said as marie headed towards the employee check out.

[bushwacked]

"Mmn." Axel leaned forwards, enjoying the backrub. After all this time, seeing Lily happy was still the best feeling in the world for him. It felt as though all the hardships they'd endured six months ago were just a bad dream. "Strawberry, huh? My favourite..."

Turning around, he lifted Lily up and sat her on the table then grinned and put on his best 'suave' voice - that was to say, not very suave at all. "Well, if we're having that for dinner, I know what I want for desert," he said, pressing forwards and starting to kiss her neck, his hands roaming down her body... then there was a knock at the door.

Axel groaned. "If that's a jehovah's witness, I'm gonna kill him," he said, pushing himself off from the table and keeping hold of her hand for a second longer as he made his way across to the hallway. "Just... keep thinking sexy thoughts! Sexy!" Axel called back as he made his way over to the door, smoothing out the front of his T-shirt. Opening it, his face broke into a smile when he recognised his friend. "Tony! How's it going?" Over the shoulder, he saw the vehicle the ferret had turned up in. "Ah, jeez, couldn't you have picked something fancier? This is a classy place, you know," he joked. "Oh, er... hang on." Axel turned his head slightly. "Honey, Tony's here! Abort the thoughts!"

Looking back at Tony, Axel stepped aside, holding the door open. "Come in. Want a beer? We've still got a few from last time, I think."

[Pterano]

Tony grinned as his friend opened the door. "Hey, Axel! Oh yeah... you like the wheels?" he asked, turning to show off the ride a bit more. "One of my father's Delahayes. Certainly love it, and he's got several all made by different coach builders." He nodded as Axel offered him a beer and to come inside.

Removing his flat cap and holding it down in front of him, the ferret stepped into the home he'd gotten used to over the past few months during his visits. "Beer sounds good! Things have been... well you know... about the same, I guess. I'm getting more responsibility, but still pretty luckless in my love life." he chuckled, shrugging. "My relationships still don't last very long. How are things going, anyway? I've got the day off, so I figured I'd swing by and see how you were doing. Was thinking of heading into the city center a bit later, but wanted to cool my heels a bit first." he explained.


Vergil gazed upwards at the ornate mosaic on the ceiling of the Corona Archives Building. It was a burnt orange and brown sun that was casting its rays into splashes of green gardens and blue streams. It was certainly one of the most beautiful works of art Vergil had ever seen.

Looking down, the gecko moved across the busy tile floor to the front desk, which was more like the middle desk, as it stood smack dab in the middle of the floor. "Um... ahem!" He cleared his throat, and one of the receptionists looked down to see his head just coming over the top of the desk. "Hi. Um... do you have a section on ancient ruins, and also, something called the Torment's Cataract?" he inquired in his deeper voice.

The receptionist pulled back and tapped away on her computer. "Nothing on the Cataract you mentioned, but the ancient ruins section is on the 15th floor." she informed him, adjusting her glasses slightly.

Smiling, the gecko nodded. "Thanks." Stepping away from the desk, he headed for the elevators, and a short time later asked the librarian who headed the 15th floor for advice on ruins that were black in coloration and resembled teeth. After being directed to several potential subjects, Vergil was sitting at a table and eagerly paging through one of the books. He soon found what he was looking for: the ruins of Narcosti. It was an older civilization that had been unearthed a few years ago. Frowning thoughtfully, the gecko flipped the page, and continued reading.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

"Hi Tony!" Lily called brightly from the kitchen. "So nice to see you again!"

She quickly grabbed and popped the caps off two beers, along with glasses of ice in case either wanted their beer that way, but politely waited in the kitchen for them to arrive. She knew that men tended to like some time to talk before being interrupted by womenfolk. Besides, this would give her a chance to look at that air conditioner; it was significantly hotter than acceptable when hosting respectable company.

[Nick22]

marie made it home right around 7:30 she was feeling very proud of herself and she entered the apartment with a spring in her step ' Helloo Girls!" she said going up to marita and kissing her. Marita held the kiss for a few seconds then pulled away, her tongue sliding out of Maries mouth ' so how was your day' Rose said as marie came up to greet her.'' Great! i earned a table at Megastakes!; Marie said and she kissed Rose tenderly ' great! so you're getting some good money? Marita said ' Good money? Marie said. ' i'm making more money than at any point in my life! we won;t be staying in our current apartment for much longer, once the month is up we'll move to a better place.' " those cost more than our current rent though...ROse said. ' we can talk this out with Soren and Anne when they get back' Marita said.

[bushwacked]

Axel shut the door behind him then led the way back down the hallway. "Hey, don't worry. I know that some day, you'll find the one girl who's as dangerously obsessed about cars as you are." He glanced over his shoulder at Tony and grinned to show he was just teasing. "And yeah, it's... it's the same old for us. I mean... I was thinking that maybe at the end of the year we'd be able to move out, maybe get a bigger place but... the way the business is going..." He shook his head. "Well, whatever. It'll turn out okay."

Reaching the kitchen, he saw that Lily had already opened up two bottles. "Aw, thanks hon," he smiled. Handing Tony his bottle, Axel poured half of his own into the glass and offered it to Lily. "Come on, join us. We can fix the air-con together later," he said, knowing glumly that with his negligible skills in fixing things around the house, he'd probably make things worse. It's the thought that counts though, right?

Taking a seat at the table, Axel took a gulp of beer. "Hey, I was thinking. It's been a while since I heard from Soren and the others. We should all get together sometime, like a, a big dinner or something." He looked at Tony. "Kind of like when we ate at your place that one time... except with, ah, you know... Less butlers. Has Soren not found his own place yet?"

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

Rio leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. The heat was sapping his energy, and he'd been running for about fifteen minutes now. Looking around to try and get his bearings, he could see that he'd left the dense, packed slums behind him and had emerged into one of the slightler nicer areas. Having grown up in the poorer regions, the sight of individual houses, backyards, cars parked on driveways... it always seemed uncomfortably alien to him.

Pushing himself on, Rio tried to consider his options. He wasn't a pushover, he knew that... but he knew he was still just a kid, and there was only so much he could do. There was no way he could go back to the slums now, Slate had men everywhere there. Sleeping out on the streets was always a choice, but out here, even in the slightly more upmarket areas, he knew the cops had a zero tolerance attitude to vagrancy. And if he got caught and taken in, and they saw what he had in his bag... questions were probably going to be asked. Rio swallowed. And that was another point. What was he going to do with it all? He supposed he could always...

There was a screeching of tires behind him. Rio turned, and his heart skipped a beat. Barreling down the road towards him was a dusty black SUV. Just behind the tinted windows, he could see arms gesturing wildly - gesturing at him. Godammit! Breaking into a run again, Rio cut across the road and ran up the driveway of the single story house facing him. Dashing around the side of the property, he found himself in the backyard where a family was having dinner. Rio jumped up on the table and used it to launch himself over the back fence, ignoring the crash of plates and the family's cries of outrage as their pudding splattered on the floor. Rolling on the other side, he jogged up to reach the road opposite, looking up and down the street. There were enough properties and branching roads that he should be able to lose them easily enough. He hoped.

Setting off, his pace slowed when he came across a large, expensive blue car parked in front of one of the smaller houses that he'd seen so far. It was a convertible - and the roof was down. The boy grinned, and vaulted himself into the driver's seat. The grin faded when he saw the keys weren't left in the ignition. Rio quickly checked under the seat, in the glove compartment. Nothing. He punched the steering wheel in frustration, then looked up sharply at the sound of a rumbling engine, growing closer. Sweat dripping from him now, he pulled himself out and looked around desperately. His legs were exhausted, and he didn't think he had much much left in him. Then he noticed that the windows of the small house he was in front of were open. As quietly as he could, he made his way along the side of the house. From one of the windows, he could hear voices. Moving past it, Rio stopped at one of the windows further back, and jumped up, silently pulling himself through and landing stealthily in what turned out to be a bedroom. From outside, the noise of the engine droned on, incessantly. They were still looking. Crouching down, Rio took off his backpack and waited.

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

"A white gecko? Yes, he just went up to the 15th floor. Ancient Ruins section."

The green coloured spider gecko nodded quickly, almost dismissively at the receptionist. "Thank you." She started to head towards the elevator.

"Are you helping him look for... for Torment's Cataract? I'm sorry, I tried looking for it in the system, but nothing was there. Maybe you'll have more luck."

Triste Acyle's mouth set firmly. She didn't acknowledge that the receptionist had continued talking, and kept heading to the lift. Damn it... at least I found him in time... She hammered the button for the 15th floor, and clenched her fist as the lift shot up, her short, slender body tensed. I've located him. About to make contact.

Good. Hurry. We need him as soon as possible

Triste narrowed her eyes. Affirmative. The elevator made a ding noise, and the doors slid open. Stepping out, her thin legs carried her along the corridor, to the section marked 'Ancient Ruins'. Turning off, she walked the isles, looking up and down... then stopped dead. There you are... Vergil. The gecko was bent over a table, his back to her, pouring over a large book. Triste gritted her teeth, then rearranged her features into something resembling a sympathetic expression. "Vergil?" she whispered, her voice disbelieving. She took a step towards him. "Is... is it really you?"

[Serris]

Soren entered the shared apartment a while later. He placed a stack of cred on the table. "Not bad, I made about 15,000 today. Not bad for eight hour's work. Granted, I made more in Lanthae but it's not like I can be picky."

He got up and helped himself to a cup of tea from the fridge. "Anyways, how was your day?"

[Nick22]

Marie got picked for the Megastakes gambling tournament . Rose 's training for her role in the play is going well, and my jobs are progressing nicely. how would you like to move to a better apartment ? and have you seen Anne lately? Marita said, as she took the credit and swiped them into a credit counter ' total creds 6.1 million ' it read ' we have over 6 million creds now' Soren. enough to buy a better place

[Pterano]

Tony grinned as he took the beer and swigged gratefully. "Hey Lily! Good to see you!" He offered her a big wave as he drank. Now that beer was refreshing! "Yeah well... I can only dream, right?" he asked in response to Axel's comment about finding a girl who'd be into vintage cars. Speaking of the Delahaye, he was totally unaware that there was some kid currently in the driver's seat looking for the keys he had in his pocket.

Tony sat down at the same table Axel was at. "Your AC's busted?" he asked, swiveling to look at it with a raised brow. "Maybe I could get it running again... I work on my dad's cars after all." the ferret offered thoughtfully. "And hey, yeah! That sounds like a great idea! We should all have dinner! What are you doing tonight? I could make arrangements... uh nothing too fancy, of course!" he quickly added, knowing they couldn't afford some of the nicer places he dined at.

"And yeah..." The ferret nodded here, looking down at the table. "He uh... yeah he's still looking... but he's not doing too badly for himself though, relatively speaking." He wasn't aware that the little intruder outside was now in the house, and Tony casually leaned back in the chair, tilting it onto two legs as he took another swig.


A distance behind Agent Acyle, riding the next elevator up to the 15th floor, several nonchalantly clad individuals stood waiting patiently for the elevator to complete its journey. "We have her." a black and white tapir said into a small headset. "She's going up to the 15th floor."

"Right... remember, we need her alive. She's useless to us dead." The voice replying on the other end was only audible to the tapir, who nodded once.

"I know, I know. What about the white gecko?" he asked.

"Who?" came the response.

"She's following some white gecko. He important?"

A moment's hesitation and then "No. He's incidental. Kill him if he intervenes, but make sure you take her in one piece."

"Got it." the tapir murmured, and shifted his attention back to the numbers as they continued counting up.


Vergil looked up as he heard a female voice addressing him. Yes... him. His name! She had said "Vergil" and had even asked if it was really him. His big orange eyes moved upward until they were resting upon the spider gecko. He displayed no emotion except passive surprise, his wide eyes blinking as suddenly, he was hit by the memory again.

Yes... the memory of watching Rex battle that other reptile on the bridge of his flagship... it was her... standing before him right now... in the flesh. Gasping, he slowly stood up, fixing his gaze on her as if he were looking at a ghost hovering before him. "You..." he breathed. "You were... you were there..." he said slowly, fingers resting on the table top. "You... do you know who I am?" he asked softly. "I remember you... you fought Rex Sardolemuel onboard his ship... I witnessed it... I can't... I can't fully remember what happened but... it IS you!" he insisted. "What's going on? Who am I? Who are you? Do you... do you know?" His words rattled out like a machine gun, rapid and quickfire. He then blinked again, and shook his head. "Sorry I... I didn't mean to be rude it's just... you're the first person I've seen that I can CLEARLY remember! My mind's been all... hazy and... I have no idea who I am or what I was doing until before six months ago." he explained, holding his head a bit.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

"You wanna have a look, go ahead," chuckled Lily. She acquiescently poured herself a small glass of beer, but someone who knew her well enough might be able to detect a slight tightness to her smile once the topic of a reunion was brought up. She's not a superstitious woman, but she suspected that a meeting with the old crew had a high chance of drawing undue danger or adventure on them, and she had quite enough of that from before. Plus they had never seen her as a regular human being, only as the psychotic grey-skinned creature that had hijacked and mutatsd her body beyonfld her control. This made her slightly embarrassed to consider seeing them again.

[bushwacked]

Rio sat back and leaned against the wall, listening to the rumble of the SUV as it roamed around. Then he cocked his head as it grew quieter. They were going away! He knew he couldn’t assume they’d given up, but... at least he was safe for now.

Breathing a sigh of relief he closed his eyes, the exhaustion of running for most of the day catching up with him. The muted sounds of the voices coming from further in the house were almost comforting. Rio knew he should move, or at least find a place to hide, but his limbs suddenly felt as though they were made of lead. His head slowly leaning forwards, he drifted asleep.

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

Axel nodded when he heard how Soren was doing. “Well, that’s good. I’m glad. He deserves it.” Looking across at Lily, he noted the slight look of apprehension on her face. Reaching out a hand, he touched the top of her fingers and gave a small smile. “We might be busy tonight, but next time we’re free we’ll definitely let you know. It’ll be good to see everyone again.” He knew the idea made her slightly uncomfortable, but he thought that maybe if she saw everyone again, as her normal self, it might stop her from feeling ashamed of what happened to her before, as if it were her fault. Deciding to drop the idea of a reunion for the moment, he turned his attention back to Tony.

“Yeah… I mean, if you want to give it a go, we’d really appreciate it. Thing keeps dying on us no matter how many times we try to fix it.” Draining the last of his bottle, Axel stood up. “I’ll go get the toolbox. Thanks Tony.” He started to head out into the hall, and called back over his shoulder, “Hey, if you ever want help fixing a car I’ll, ah... try and give it a go, I guess.” He started to head for the storage cupboard, then remembered they’d left it in the bedroom after repairing a broken drawer that had fallen on Axel’s foot. Turning, he made his way down the end of the hallway to the bedroom and opened the door. The bed was arranged lengthways in front of him as he stepped in. To his right, adjacent to the headboard, was the set of drawers with the toolbox placed on top. Axel made his way over then stopped, sensing another presence in the room. He turned, and his eyes widened when he saw the small shape leaning against the wall beneath the open window, facing the foot of the bed. The figure didn’t move, and appeared to be out cold. What the hell… “Ah… guys? There’s someone in the bedroom…”

Making his way further in, Axel approached the figure cautiously. It still didn’t stir. Is that a kid?! Standing over him, he noticed a colourful backpack lying just next to him. He bent to pick it up, and was surprised by how heavy it was. Narrowing his eyes, Axel turned and placed in on the bed behind him, then crouched down and slowly reached out a hand to the sleeping kid. “Hey, are… are you okay?”

Rio’s eyes flew open, and he jerked his head up in shock as he took in the lanky rat crouching over him. “Fuck off!” he yelled, kicking his foot out by reflex and landing Axel a mighty blow in the crotch. All the strength left the rat and, with an Oof, he collapsed back, cupping the afflicted area and groaning.

Rio jumped to his feet and looked down for his backpack, the colour leaving his face when he saw it was gone. What the fuck?! Where is it?! In his panicked state, he didn’t notice that it was on the bed right in front of him.

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

“No, don’t… don’t worry about it,” Triste said, stepping closer. “I’d heard you were back in Corona, Vergil, but actually seeing you again, in person, it’s… it’s a shock for me too.” Her yellow eyes looked him up and down. “You really don’t remember? Anything? Our squad? The attack on Rex Sardolemuel’s ship? When Kalis fired on us, we all… I thought you were dead…” Triste said softly, reaching out and touching his shoulder as if to confirm he was really there. “My name’s Triste Acyle. We’re members of the Ivitz Federation. I don’t know what’s happened to you since the assault on Sardolemuel but…” She swallowed. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this here. Vergil… come with me. I know where you can get answers.” I’ve got him. His memories… they’re shattered.

A pause. Bring him in. Quickly.

From somewhere behind, there was another quiet electronic beep as the second lift arrived.

[Pterano]

"Yeah! I'll give ya a call sometime! We like to fix 'em on good days with lots of sun!" Tony called back to Axel. "Cause we'll usually take 'em out for a spin after the work's done." Closing his eyes, he continued leaning back in the seat. It wasn't so unusual that Lily would turn down an offer to dine together as a group. Far as he knew, they still didn't have much contact with the others, and Tony typically saw them separately when he visited.

But then, an unfamiliar voice yelled out for Axel to "fuck off" shortly after Axel said someone was in the bedroom, and the ferret's eyes shot open. "What the hell?" he asked, springing forward as he launched himself out of the seat. Tony no longer traveled unarmed, but the small laser pistol he carried for self-defense was currently concealed up his sleeve along a drawer slider. Racing to where he thought he heard the voice, he skidded to a stop as he saw Axel doubled over. "Axel!" he exclaimed, going wide-eyed as he assessed the situation and saw the kid.

"What the hell... who are you?" he demanded, not moving from the entrance of the bedroom for the moment.


Triste Acyle worked to reassure him, and keep him calm. In spite of himself, Vergil did indeed feel himself relaxing as she approached him. There was something very pleasing about her voice to him... she was trying to make him feel at ease, and it was certainly working. He seemed to freeze as she reached out to touch his shoulder as he glanced down at her hand. So... he was part of her squad... amongst a friend, in that case. Yes, that made sense! He was former military, after all!

He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but something about her put him at ease, and made him feel safe. Realizing he was just staring at her hand, he blinked and shook his head, looking back up at her now. "Er, yes! Of course!" he quickly stated, nodding. "I'll go if it means I can find out who I am! For sure!"

The elevator doors opened behind them now, but Vergil could see who was getting out. It was five people: three humans, a tapir, and a serious looking tayra. Well, they all looked pretty serious in fact. The tayra hung back and moved around one of the bookcases while the other four approached Triste from behind, the tapir leading the way.

"Ms. Acyle! There you are!" the tapir spoke up now, smirking a bit as he came to a stop behind her. "New orders. You're to come with us at once as you're needed urgently on another project. So if you don't mind..." The three humans stood in a semi-circle around her with hands clasped in front of them. The tapir had a small but powerful taser concealed in his right hand, which he kept hidden by making a fist around it.

Vergil tried to catch her gaze to let her know something was off about this, and that while he couldn't read minds, this group was definitely not being sincere.

[Serris]

Soren got out some crab dip from the fridge and soy/algae crackers from the pantry. "Snack?" He offered the tray around.

He then turned to Marita. "Good call. To be frank, I'm not exactly comfortable in this area. A lot of my clients are people of...shall we say, questionable repute. And let's not forget those goons dressed in full battle gear we sometimes see outside."

The Human stole a glance at his rifle, ballistic vest and combat helmet in the corner of the cramped kitchen/living room. He never had to use it, thankfully. But he was glad it was there when some corporate thugs rampaged through the housing complex a few weeks ago, looking for some poor Augment who fell behind on payments for their upgrade.

"As for Anne, I haven't see her since this morning."

Soren looked at the picture of Axel and him enjoying a pint at The Electric Sheep back on Axel's birthday a year ago. "You know, I wonder what happened to Axel and Tony?"

---------

Anne looked around as she darted into an alleyway. Even in the business district, there were a few alleyways that were less than pristine. An antique 2012 Lamborghini RevËnton thundered past her. She scowled as the scent of the exhaust trailed behind. The vehicle definitely belonged to some rich stuffed suit; no one else could afford a burner like that.

The mare scowled. Her contact was supposed to be here. And sure enough, a messenger drone flitted down from one of the many elevated walkways crisscrossing the area. Despite that, sunlight was in no short supply as mirrors were carefully positioned so light reached all levels of the Business District.

The drone hovered and a voice with a soft Hong Kong accent came out of the speaker. "Here you are."

Anne swiped her cred chit on the drone's reader. It was a quarter of her day's wages at the warehouse she worked with. It was only a part-time job and she would have preferred working in one of the oil farms at the city borders. Unfortunately, her drug test came back positive. The drone beeped and a finger sized packet came out of the drone's cargo hatch.

She pocketed the package and looked around to make sure there weren't any cops around. Unlike Lanthae, bribing a Corona police officer was more than likely to result in an immediate arrest. Not to mention, they didn't take too kindly to public drug use or purchases.

(OOC - "burner" – slang for a combustion powered vehicle)
(OOC - If y'all are wondering, that drone belongs to the Bak Long Triads.)

[Nick22]

Broadstreet sat at his computer at his corner office. with the destruction of Lanthae, the surviving members of the opolice dep0rtment had been absorbed into Coronas, with broadstreet maintaining his rank and being placed in charge of nearly half the cir\ty's forces. the pay was beter, and the police under him here werent completely on the take as in lanthae. ' things were doing well for him at least.
-
Hopefully she'll get in soon.' Rose said we'll be moving out at the end of the month and moving into the inner part of the city" this was where the richer part of Corona lived, it was safer and cleaner there.