RP: ISC Phoenix [Interlude 5] - The Making Of

Zeta flew, holding the heavy and explosive barrel in her hands. She was really angry. At herself, at the man that hurt Luca and at Mr. Smith. She hoped he was one of the people who actually realised she was no money hungry mercenary. Even if she would, she deserved no money tonight.

When Smith asked his question over the communicator, she just sighed. She had no strenght left to shout so she just said single word.

"Luca."

Robert stood awkwardly in his Power Armor with his helmet removed. He was standing in the hallway outside the medical bay. He was keeping an eye on Luca. He knew that it was entirely possible that someone might send another hitman after the "Boss." He knew that he'd already failed Luca by not being there faster and didn't intend on letting it happen again. He knew the others were disposing the explosives but he couldn't leave Luca alone.

Luca was watching the situation unfold. While he was delivering orders, he'd forgotten a track of how much time had passed, and consequently, how much time was left on those bombs.

A lot tends to happen in two minutes and thirty six seconds. Going to, going from, coming, going, delivering, retrieving and more. At a glance, the statue that nestled the Phoenix crew and their bomb-lobbing activites could've been mistaken for any hub of industrious activities - albeit with six deadly high explosives attached to a timer that only had fourty four seconds left.

Three of the explosives had been respectively lobbed, carted or defenestrated into the bay. The little Ernie Droid should've thanked its lucky stars that it didn't have the ability to perspire, or it would've been able to do double duty as a garden sprinkler.

However, the little Droid's program did prove clever enough to realise that while all of the wires were the same colour, their connections were not. The program that Echelon had downloaded seemed to overlay an infograph in the Droid's eye, informing him which wires were good to cut, which ones weren't, and if they were in order - what to do.

As explosives got hurled into the bay and subsequently disconnected from the rest of the system, the Droid started to notice that the pattern would shift with every bomb thrown. It could've been a double-failsafe to prevent tampering, but the program was able to look through it as it read the impulses of the circuitry and the currents of the wires before it. How they changed before him.

With that in mind, Ernie had a few swift motions to perform his duty as the counter got closer and closer to zero... It was almost as though its hand was being guided by an outside force.

Click. Snikt. Click. Clack. Snip. Click.
The timer froze with seven point two seconds to spare.

"Oh. Yes. This calls for drinks, and flash-step." Came a voice on Ernie's speaker by proxy of Echelon. The Ernie would find that the hands that guided it were now the hands that were playing it like a marionette, "Untz, Untz, Untz. Who the Spacer? I'm the Spacer."

"Ech, y'know I'm listening to you," Luca dryly commented from his bedside space, "Not that I don't appreciate what you did - but why didn't you come down there in a suit?"
"I can't be in two places at once, but the Droid is a wonderful proxy. I had to attend to the matter at the Crimson Kestrel anyway. Untz."

"Way to steal the show. Ech... what about the barrels in the bay anyway?"

BLOOOOSH!!

Three columns of water surged up from the bay where the barrels had sunk to the bottom of bay exploded on their timers. When they were disconnected, their individual failsafe timers continued and ticking and consequently blew up. Fortunately, the three disarmed barrels that were still linked did not explode.
Echelon, and consequently the Ernie were visibly unsettled by the explosion, and she relinquished control of the Ernie to let her consciousness head home and return to her normal body.

"What?" Luca groaned from his bedside position as he watched Echelon's point of view return to the Kestrel, "An explosion or two a day keeps the mind sharp."

The sound of shuttles could be heard after the water, and when Zeta, Aerin and Smith looked out onto the ocean, they could see police shuttles heading to clean up what was left of the carnage and chaos.
The first shuttle touched down on the area beside the statue, and the first person out was Beau, flanked by several other heavily armed policemen who looked as though they' just emerged from another pitched firefight.

Beau looked a bit different, he wasn't wearing armour; Instead he was wearing a practical grey overcoat with a shirt and tie. The weather was too warm to warrant wearing a hat, making him recognisable. "Hey!" He yelled from below, "Sorry we're late. We had an uprising of our own to deal with in town. Would you care to fill me in on what happened? Where's the Captain?"

Luca blinked as he watched all this unfold from afar, and he had another mental blank as he tried to recant all the unlikely and improbable events that lead up to all of this, "There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this, I assure you Beau."

Yep. A perfectly reasonable explanation for a dead clone, three barrels of high explosives, one of Origin's flagships looming above, an entire vice casino in ruins, a street turned into a flaming warzone, the intervention of an outside gang to secure the town, and about a hundred dead Zeroes gang bangers with hundreds more across the city - the surviving Zeroes were not much better without a proper leader, and they dropped their flags quickly.

Yessiree-bob. There was a perfect explanation for all of this.

-

((Not sure if remove this part. I know the Crimson Kestrel has a private room in it. (Uriel has a room to himself), but is this where he would go first to absolve himself of his sins?))

When Uriel got back to the Crimson Kestrel, he found that the hangar bay and cargo bay had been invaded by Zeroes, but repelled by the resident force. As alleged by Echelon, the blood stains and carnage were immutable. Sebastian was amongst the dragnet, sitting on a storage crate with a smouldering cigar in one hand and an assault rifle in the other. At his feet were some empty magazines and shell casings.

"You're back early," Sebastian acknowledged the Elysian and gave him a nod, "Anything to give a preliminary report on?" He sized up the Elysian for a moment and measured his palpable distaste and looked down for a moment and produced a foil packet with cigars and offered one to the Patrician. He had a frown on his face as he watched the Elysian's body language carefully, "Something troubling you? Has my son done something stupid again?" He was wrong on that count, but he did want to touch base with the Elysian.

-

Meanwhile, Enzo and his quarry escaped unmolested, he did have to pass by a few passing police shuttles, but otherwise the unscrupulous freelancer was free to turn in the bounty: 100,000 KS, The same as his boss' first bounty. There was no 'pidgin'-ing, or negotiation, half the price for a corpse, full price for alive and 'well'. Enzo still had 50,000 KS burning a hole in his pocket when he was escorted out of the premises.

Wary Elysian eyes scoured the scene, mildly surprised. Seeing Sebastian so casual amidst the gore was even a little unsettling. The man had always struck Uriel as aloof and warmhearted. This was a stark contrast, and forced his mind to recalibrate a lot... things.

In the meanwhile, there were questions to be answered. "Early? I suppose. Matters were handled cleanly, your foolish son's injuries aside. Don't know what he did as I was handling other matters simultaneously, but I can only imagine it wasn't terribly bright. He's on the Origin ship." His gaze wandered back to the gore, and was there for some time when Sebastian attempted to "touch base."

"No, it's not him. It's... People. Most of them, anyways. I don't..." His eyes scrutinized a bloody patch of floor for the next words. "Do you believe in a Higher Power?"

The night still seemed young to Enzo, leaving the busy precinct with all that money in his dirty little fingers. Still, he was the paranoid sort, and so the conman started a slow ride back to the Kestrel with his grimy mind on other matters. Uriel had mentioned something to him earlier; about having enough wealth for a family of six and not being satisfied. Enzo pondered how to rectify this issue, which was to him as simple as spending some of it-- after all, why be dissatisfied with anything when you have wealth?

The skyline of Prime City slunk past underneath him, Enzo's recklessly unhelmeted hair flowing in the early evening wind coming off of the ocean. In the distance, the shape of the Crimson Kestrel was crawling closer to him as he made the last stretch of his trip home. Enzo could almost feel the warmth of his bed and his safe awaiting him. He could imagine a hearty victory celebration with Luca drinking in his splints and bandages from the day while Aerin Tast made toasts and sly comments. He could picture Zeta sitting quietly in the corner with an obedient reverie; suffering silently. Uriel was there too, in his head, coldly regarding the whole affair or perhaps trying to straighten Luca out with holy book.

"Yeah." He said to himself. His already smoked cigarette butt tore from his mouth and went tumbling into the wind behind him, "I ain't really in the moods f' that t'nights. I thinks I'll just hang out in my room an' looks at my old pornos collection."

Ernie slowly took control of his chassis as Echelon made her exit, it hadn't really been switched off during her visit, just interfaced through. Its sensor cluster swiveled around to make sure no one had seen the embarrassing little episode Echelon had put it through before venturing outside to join the others.

It trotted up to the pair of Origin members lollygagging outside.

"Ernie thanks you for your assistance in disposing of unwanted explosive devices. The threat is now over." it said, bowing in mimicry of Yamataian fashion.

It wasn't clear if the droid understood sarcasm, but it had already lost interest in the pair and had begun visually scanning for Zeta. It seemed to be rather fond of her.

Zeta looked at last berrely flying into the water. She then moved back to where Smith and Ernie were waiting what woul happen. Explosion was quite spectacular as geyser of water was propelled into the air. Zeta's mind was on other things by then already. The work was doen now and she could worry about messing her work. She by herself decided to guard Luca and she did lousy job at it. Many time before she said herself she would keep eye on him but then did no do it. Maybe she was useless after all. She sighed deeply and walked to Ernie.

"Let's go little buddy," she said, picking him up and flying back to Origin ship where Luca was. She gently set Ernie on the ground in the hold and put assault pack she borrowed back where she took it. She then took her helmet down and stripped of her armour, slowly walking towards the med-bay where Luca was. She slowly walked in with grim expression on her face, looking at the hurt man. Hurt because of her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she pulled a chair next to his bed.

Smith was left scratching his head a little - the explosion cut off what Zeta was saying, and he could only hear the first consonant, "L -" and that was it. What would someone fight for that would start with an 'L'? The imagery of a young teenage girl dressed in what could only be described as a pink, magical looking dress materialized in his mind's eye. While holding up her fingers in a 'V' she cheered, going, "Love and Peace! Love and Peace!" with happy vigor.

Why do my younger brother and sisters watch that Yamataian junk?

As Smith came aboard the ship later than everyone else, the image altered, now with Zeta in the frilly dress and shouting the same words. "Love and Peace! Love and Peace!" went Zeta. The Origin Representative found his own imagination so utterly alien at this moment, his face looked like it was cast in stone as his hands mindlessly tossed the nearly suffocated baby Mishhu into the escape-proof cage.

Turmoil. His mindscape was full of it.

He decided one thing was for certain though - Zeta Five could not possibly be fighting for love or peace.

The Ernie waved silently to Zeta with sideways flicks of its mechanical hand before it was suddenly picked up. Before they took off little robot folded up into its case form for easy carrying, and folded back out again as it was gently set on the floor of the hangar.

Is it stood up its sensor cluster examined its surroundings intensely, again making a slight noise as it thought before the robot began passively trotting after Zeta. It stopped at the door to the medbay and folded into its case form, its sensor cluster peeking out of its slot suspiciously at anyone who approached.

It was in a strange merger of fiction and reality that Naoko entered the room.

Anyone not familiar with the habits or abilities of Nekovalkyrja – the old nekovalkyrja – would likely have avowed it impossible, but it happened nevertheless. She appeared out of thin air above the sickbed, first her feet and legs, knees biting the mattress, becomming gradually solid as the light bent and dappled her skin with mild pyrotechnical games before giving it up to the visible spectrum. Then her pale white, slender arms materialized, pressing against the sheets, and finally – butt to scalp – her dark hair, which appeared as if it had always been draping her naked form, even though it hadn’t visibly been.

The girl in the birthday suit sat straddling Luca Pavone, but very lightly, hardly actually touching his damaged ribs, a look of extreme mischief painted liberally over her expression. Naoko Aihara, in spite of having been lost during the firefight in a solitary but dangerous fight with several powered armor, did not look any worse for wear – if she had, it would have been impossible to hide. But she didn't pay attention to the others in the room. In fact, she ignored them completely, and examined the man beneath her critically.

“Good to see you alive, An-chan,” she then stated, blithely. “Sorry you got hurt, ne?”

Luca could feel something in the air, a very subtle and unanticipated shift in the winds in an otherwise still environment. It was something he'd learned to anticipate through an edge over the competition. Cheeky... He thought - he only knew a few people who had the ability to completely cloak themselves.

One left the crew recently and took the technology with her, another was a mercenary that was thwarted with liquid LCD, another was an unknown Ninja and wild card who turned an antagonist into a sixteen piece puzzle, and the other....

...had her legs on top of his, and she pressing down on his chest, ever so lightly, "Nice of you to drop in," Luca gave Naoko a nod. He had a frown on his face, but he didn't seem that bothered by the pressure on his beleaguered ribs. He gave a glance around the room to the others and raised an eyebrow - and looked Naoko up and down - especially down, "I don't think now's a good time - if you wanted you could've asked anytime earlier, ne?"

He grinned at the Nekovalkyrja and sighed, "besides, there's a queue," He gave a nod to Zeta. Using his un-broken right arm, he pointed off of the bed and pointed his index finger towards the floor, "This'll have to wait, neko-chaaaan~."

He then looked over to Zeta, "You did great out there - don't beat yourself up about it. I did something stupid, I paid the price, and its none of your fault, mmmkay? 'sides, these ribs will heal in a week, tops. C'mere and let me kiss you."

Naoko’s ears fluttered rapidly at the long, drawn-out honorific. Then, she pressed them back, gently displacing some of the long strands of her hair, and gave Luca a very feline smile.

Without argument, Naoko scooted down, resting her midsection – and most of her weight – over his abdomen and crotch, instead of his ribs. Here she folded her arms over his stomach and rested her chin, drew her legs up sideways and settled down on the foot of his bed between his legs for what appeared to be the long wait.

“Made wa ii. Dozo, An-chan.”

It was amazing, how Aerin's Impulse did not make the same loud clomping noise that most other Impulse armors made when walking around inside a ship, and therefore, the diminutive CEO was able to make her way into the med bay, quietly, while everyone else was distracted by Luca and Naoko.

Speaking of the Neko, she would feel the black gauntlet of Aerin's armor grabbing the scruff of her neck, before being lifted bodily by the similar sized Yamataian's augmented grip, swinging her around off the bed and putting her down on the floor. This action came with a disapproving cluck or two, and then the comment "Now now, Girlie. We gotta be gentle so he can heal, alright? My ship, my rules, nobody touches patients unless they're a doctor, got it?"

As though to flaunt her authority, Aerin went and did just the opposite of the rule- she touched Luca, despite not being a doctor, though, it wasn't more than a quick peck on the lips before she too backed off. "Anything you need, Luca, just ask. If I'm not here, Roke can help - He's the ship's computer."

The suitcase outside the door had completely escaped detection, but did nothing to hinder Aerin coming into the room. Determining her to be no threat to Luca Pavone, but a possible antagonist to other members in the room. By now Echelon had tapped into the robots visual feed and was watching all this unfold with some amusement, Ernie itself did not find it so entertaining.

As Aerin broke her own rule Ernie spoke up quietly, almost to itself. "Ernie predicts an eighty-five percent chance of physical altercation."

“Hyaku pecento. Korega ichi-maru-maru, bolt-box.”

There was a sort of pop and crackle in the air that signified something very, very bad about to happen. Naoko had gained a sudden, remarkably feral aspect that highlighted, among other things, the faint lines of muscle that were slowly defining the neko's body - not bulking it, but something was definitely happening beneath the skin, almost imperceptibly. It was difficult to pinpoint - and it would have been impossible to see if Naoko had been dressed in more than her long hair - but it was definitely present, eerie, and unsettling.

More unsettling was her sudden too-toothy smile. The wild card had flipped. And it turned out, the face on the other side carried a reaper’s scythe.

“You. Don’t. Touch. Me.” Naoko’s voice had gained a jagged edge. “Apologize.”

In the city, Enzo felt his face twitch in a very sudden and unexpected way. This wasn't the first time this had happened. He immediately stopped and descended to street-level and looked around. His eyes surveyed the surrounding area. The streets might as well had been dead. One man was standing on the corner in a garish cowboy outfit smoking a pipe. When Enzo's glance crossed over him, the buffoon smiled and waved. Enzo displayed his middle finger and kept looking around. After a pair of minutes scanning the intersection around the frowning cowboy, Enzo shrugged and took off again.

In the air, he muttered to himself, "Weird. I coulda sworn there was somethin's awesome about to happen... But, wheres?"

"Ernie concurs with that probability." the robot replied in Yamataian "However, Ernie's construction does not feature 'bolts'." The orange LED lights peeking from the box slid away almost in apprehension as it mentally prepared itself for what ever was about to occur.

Zeta looked at injured, bandaged Luca and felt bad again. She messed up and he paid. If she would be with him, he would not get hurt so much. It was just a fact. She sighed and moved close to him, when something started appearing on him. Zeta'S hand landed on hilt of her knife, but it was soon clear to see that it was just Naoko.

Luca's reaction to Naoko was something Zeta expected. Fact was that he really took his injury well. Luckily it was just few broken ribs, but it could be worse. But then it happens. Luca talked to Zeta and tried to comfrot her. It really helped, even though she still knew that what happned to him was her own mistake, it was really nice to hear him say he messed up. Perhaps they both messed up. What came next she could not expect though.

Luca told her to kiss him. Zeta blushed and freezed for a moment, repeating his words in her head. How did he mean it? Was it supposed to be just friendly kiss on the cheek or kiss-kiss? She was not sure, but she just wished it to be the second thing. In her mind she wished nothing more then to hug him and kiss him. She made a step forward.

Suddenly Aerin bolted in. First she disposed of Naoko in way that was highly rude and impolite. That would not be the biggest problem though. Aerin then leaned to Luca and stole Zeta's kiss. That set the fuse. Zeta felt blood rushing into her head as she went red with fury.Zeta moved in.

"BOTH OF YOU CALM DOWN." She said rather loudly. "Nao why don'T you go pested Smith. He looked rather happy about himself for last hour or so." Zeta said to Nao and moved to Aerin. She stopped right in front of the woman, looking her from eye to eye.

"As for you, I had just enough of you and your bloody hijincks. Apologize to Naoko and then get the fuck out of here or I will throw you out. You are causing trouble and I won't have it when Boss is hurt." Zeta voice has a tone of threat in it. It would not be a plain threat too as Aerin was now just in range of quick headbutt.

Did he have the best timing? Or the worst?

Smith wasn't so sure which was the case when he quietly strode into the medical room unnoticed - he was here to check up on Luca himself, but the Ori-Rep was still scratching his head over Zeta's earlier words that were swept away by the wind. Whatever it was started with an 'L' - Smith had kept on trying to figure out which item or object started with such and 'fit' Zeta as something she'd fight for.

So far, nothing.

And it didn't matter either - a fuse was burning down in the room he just entered, and Smith was well within range of the blast. It seemed like both Aerin and Naoko were fighting over Luca! Aerin, he had already known she liked the man, but Naoko?! Normally, if it were just himself and Luca in the room, he may just have considered handing the man a polite golf clap for being pursued after by two women, but this was dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

Luca was caught between a pincer of the combined desires of a powerful CEO and an older type Nekovalkyrja, both deadly in their own way. Smith knew he needed to get out, and fast - even if he was here on a side job to protect the man, well, he was well out of his league here!

Just as Smith began to backpedal , Zeta spoke his name.

"Yes?" he instinctively asked.

Damn.

"Goddamnit," Enzo muttered on his bike, far away, "Why does I get the idea the something I wouldn't wants to miss is goin' on somewheres?"