RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 2] - Choke

"Well, she was weir-" Seiren began, turning around to see Rebeka pointing a gun at the door. And then the wall next to the door. And further on.

"Wh-what are you doing? She was a friend of Luca! Er. . . maybe not friend. . . but she's not an enemy! Well, I don't really know her that well either. . . But she's at least not tried to kill Luca. . . recently probably!" Seiren dissuaded, running over to Rebeka and gently pushing the aim of the gun away from the wall. "How did you smuggl- you know, I don't actually want to know. Box time!"

He made no mention of the snide insult Nostrovia made of Rebeka, and instead unwrapped the package and took a peek inside.

Landing in a less than graceful heap when he reached the ground, Reeves took a moment to compose himself before getting to his feet. Luckily he hadn't hurt himself from the maneuver. It did however take a moment for him to regain his footing. He was leaning against the wall trying to catch his breath when a cafe chair came crashing down in a rain of glass a little farther down the wall. Soon after the rental car came up alongside the newly broken window.

Ignoring the pinpricks of blood forming on his palm he retrieved the gun he had dropped and jumped into the back seat of the car on demand. "I'll keep that in mind, any more sagely advice sir?" He asked as he snapped the buckle on his seat-belt into place. Something told him that the upcoming ride w0uld be anything but smooth. He looked back up at the cafe and then at both the men in the front seat. At least he thought the Freespacer was male he was horrible at figuring out exotics just by looking at them. "Th That went splendidly wouldn't you agree?"

Shayla shook what was left of the Lmanel as her assault slowed to a stop. She was a horrible mess, although most of the blood and gore smeared across her face and the teal front of her uniform wasn't her own. She was still scratched and bitten all over, sleeves ragged and torn. The giantess just glanced to the side as the brief firefight went down, not even flinching. She did frown, though...seeming disappointed that the assassin had gone down so quickly. She grumbled and hissed something else in that alien language, with something that did sound roughly like 'shayla' being the only word most could pick out.

Her attention turned to the officer that approached her, even as others crowded around the girl in all the ruffles and lace. "Eh? Oh, yeah, I'm great. You should see the other guy!" She barked a laugh, grinning through her red mask. "...oh, right. I've still got 'em, don't I?" She looked down at the furry remains, hefting the beast up like he was a toy before laying him out across the nearest table. "Not sure you're gonna get anything out of him. You could throw 'em in a bus, but I don't think he's gonna make it..." McBelle looked over the Lmanel, but didn't have much hope for him, shrugging before turning back to the officer.

"These three slapped a waitress around, cleared everybody out, then tried to kidnap...uh..." She finally took a good look at the restaurant, realizing the self-proclaimed robot was the only person left standing. She'd been about to say 'some weirdo' but this seemed complicated. "...tried to kidnap that one in the dress, and her girlfriend. Owner. Whatever." She tried to leave as many people out of it as possible, but she hadn't really noticed the arrow that was left near the first fallen mercenary. Shayla glanced at the clearing smoke outside before moveing towards Echelon, scowling at her over the heads of the police, face still a mess. "That guy in the dumb jacket is probably outside, right? Do you guys always get killers after yah as soon as you leave your hotel?" She finally began to peel her uniform top off, sleeves in tatters. Shayla mopped at her face and arms with the ruined clothing, wearing just the standard issue black sports bra as her top now. The Yamataians would probably be more upset that she was using her ruined jacket as a rag than by the skin the officer was showing.

As soon as the car filled up, Enzo gunned it and let the city start whipping past them. The car's repulsors kicked into full tilt with a lurch as they burned onto the highway. From above, a dull whine signaled the arrival of The Lady of The Night, the gaping maw to her cargo hold opened wide as she drifted in low from behind.

"Alright, guys, hold on-- this shits gonna hoit a lil'." Warned the conman, not enough time before kicking up the repulsors again whilst simultaneously braking. The rental car hopped into the air, and twisted about forty-five degrees before being swept up by the small freighter. In the cargo hold, there was enough room for the car to flip twice before being lodged between a crate of stuffed giraffes and a shelving unit stuffed with freeze-dried food. Upside down, Enzo pressed a few buttons on his communicator and the hangar door began slowly drawing shut.

Then, the well-dressed criminal unclipped his seatbelt and gracelessly fell onto the ceiling of the car.

Soruk wasted no time disappearing into a side street as the police filled up the plaza, with their loud noises and yelling, Always so loud, should try being quiet sometime... . He had already removed his communicator, throwing it to some forlorn corner to waste away in solitude. Without anywhere better to be, he started moving in the direction of the hotel, refraining from rooftop running, lest he attract some attention to himself while the police scanned the area around the wrecked cafe. Then again, his attire was already rather odd, so perhaps it didn't matter. He hoped Sura had taken the police showing up as a cue to get back to the hotel, if not, then she had better smooth talk her way out of it.

He moved back onto the main street, keeping his hood pulled low, casting a shadow over his face. He ignored the looks he received from other pedestrians, just fast walking back to the hotel, so he could meditate on the days events.

"Box... Time?" her gaze settled on him now as she lowered the weapon to her side. The hammer carefully slid back into a less aggressive posture as she pressed the barrel to her belly. Within a few moments, it was nowhere to be seen.

Leaning upward like a curious house-cat she peered down at Seiren and his box.

"What's that?"

Penthouse Suite, Ishimura Heights Hotel
Seiren unwrapped the cover to the box and found that there was a shoebox. He pulled the lid off, and found the following items in the box. Wrapped individually in plastic were small pills, each about the size of a tooth. Enclosed was a little message saying "Tracking Bug - Remains in Mouth, Stomach, Elsewhere and transmits extra-long range for up to 128 hours. Activated by biting. Frequency Code printed on Plastic."

To one side of it seemed to be smartphone, but it had no logo, no branding, and no beauty in its visual design. It was utilitarian to the extreme, there was no software on it other than 'Gastrotrack', which was currently coming up empty for blips, and no frequencies were currently being tracked with it.

In addition, for Makari, there was a moon clip of eight BLACK rounds for his HHG, each bullet with a black band drawn on the brass near the primer, and a Nekovalkyrja's skull with a pair of crossbones crossing it. The implication was pretty clear what their intended targets were. Seiren would also spot a variety of other clandestine goods, including a pack of genuine cigarettes, addressed to Enzo.

For Seiren, there were some candies. They were wrapped in plastic, and they looked like the produce Seiren put out, but he could see the differences by eye - which direction the candy was poured and set, the 'grain' of it was different to his. The note that came with it said: "Share with your Enemies, not your Friends. Extra, extra, extra sour, extra deadly too. Keep away from Children under 3."

Rebeka could see the difference by looking through the candies too, seeing something that put her mind at unease, like, a pestilence residing within one of the candies. Peering through the rest of the box, there didn't seem to be any other foreign matter around the box, like trackers put between the layers of cardboard or hiding under the folds that made the lid.

Beneath some bales of disposable money meant to be distributed to all who needed it, there was a printed message:

"IPG will help you with Handler's Reach. Currently branching with local forces to get the situation under control. Luca, keep moving; I heard about the Freespacer - lever them to your side. Enjoy the Package."

An Upscale Cafe, Kyoto CBD
"Oh this happens all the time," Echelon told Shayla matter-of-factly, smiling and shrugging, "I mean, even getting the groceries can be a life or death struggle because everyone wants a piece of us. Just how it is when you're friend with The Ultimate Badass."
"Hang on," one of the policewomen said, lowering her gun and looking at Echelon. Her eyes glanced outside towards Luca too, who still had two policewomen inspecting him, "Are you...?"
"ECH3L0N, 1SC PH03N1X," she proclaimed in her native and borderline indecipherable accent. "1'M 1N C0NTR0L. G0T TH4T?"

"Okay, this situation's gotten out of control," one of the Policewomen reported over her radio. "ISC Phoenix involved. Repeat, ISC Phoenix involved. Arrest them immediately!"

Outside, the man in the purple jacket grinned. "Ladies," Luca said to the two policewomen, who were still afraid of approaching him, "I'd love to stick around, but I didn't put my arms up for you." He extended his right arm fully and grabbed his wrist with his other hand and the sound of an electric whine could be heard as the Grapple Stunner powered up. "Now reach," he asked as the piton of the Grapple Stunner came flying out and hit the back of Enzo's getaway vehicle - the man suddenly becoming a purple blur as he was jerked away and reeling towards the getaway vehicle.

After a moment of surprise, the Neko leapt into the air after him, carried by their anti gravity. "Get him!"

Luca reeled through the air and grabbed onto the back of the vehicle, seeing it speeding towards the back of the Lady of the Night. Luca gave a nod to everyone before leaping up. "Hang on, you've got bogeys, I'll shake 'em," he told the passengers and pilot.
"I would like your autograph," the Freespacer sitting in the car said before Luca leapt onto the top of the Lady of the Night and assumed a combat stance, looking at the two Nekovalkyrja. Enzo's getaway vehicle tumbled into the back of his ship and the car came to a rolling stop inside the hangar. "That was what I am told to be fun."
"Let's never do that again," Allison groaned as she looked for a bucket and clutched her head.

Airspace, Kyoto
Luca, meanwhile was on top of the Lady as two Nekovalkyrja were flying towards him with their NSPs out. Golden streaks were going through the air as they fired at him, but their target was moving too quickly along the hull and around it too. He'd leap over one edge and grapple the side of it, swinging under the belly of the ship before slingshotting back up. One of the Nekovalkyrja landed on the hull to grab him by hand, running along each surface trying to follow Luca before they met on the top of the ship, finally right side up.

"You're coming with me!" she yelled over the rushing wind.
"Come get me," Luca dared. Suddenly, the sound of his personal communicator could be heard ringing. His mind's eye showed that it was from Iza. Iza, wasn't she from SAINT? Luca's line to them? He seemed to relax and sigh. "Yes, what is it?" He said to himself. The Nekovalkyrja tilted her head, but approached, ready to take him down.

"Luca, I've gotten wind of what's going on. I heard about Handler's Reach,"
"Everyone freakin' knows," he said, seemingly to himself as he deflected knife hand strikes. "What does SAINT want to do with it?"
"Who are you talking to?!" the officer demanded.
"SAINT, shush," he replied as he went on the offensive and inflicted a one-two to her head, deflecting her strikes with his elbows. The officer didn't buy it. "Iza, what's your angle on this? I don't want to piss off Yamatai too - if you know that's already too many people."

"I want what's right just as much as you do. SAINT is on your side for this," Iza said, "Didn't you hear? There was a deal for unity, we're to share what we can if it relates to the continued survival. You and your discovery at Handler's Reach is something that concerns all of us - we can't let it put peace into doubt!"
"Tell that to your police!" he yelled as the other one landed onto the shuttle, Luca turned around and grappled down the side of the ship and sent them on a chase. The two Neko split up and went down different sides of the ship. "They're clearly having a ball with me!"
"I have, why?" she asked.

He was standing on the underbelly of the ship, anchored with the Grapple Stunner as "Just surrender," one policewoman said as she stood upside down on the underbelly of the Lady of the Night.
"It'll suit all of us," the other echoed as she came up behind him with her NSP and distinctly unpolicelike.
"Who am I fighting then?!" he asked Iza again, furious.
"SAINT won't save you," one of the policewomen, words caught in the wind mocked him.

"Stop pulling punches, Luca! They're acting against orders!"
"Give me a break," Luca sighed to all parties. There was so much commentary he could've made about how fallible the Nekovalkyrja software was, but he decided against the verbal breakdown and moved right to the hands-on commentary. He laid down, hugging the underside of the ship in a star formation, and gave it a couple of knocks. "This is tiring me out."
"What are you talking about?" the not-Policewoman in front of him said.
"Let's get him," the other shrugged and they both moved in.

As Luca was lying down, the Lady of the Night skimmed over a building, its undercarriage only a couple of feet away from the edge of the building. Luca felt the rushing wind against him as he held fast. A second later, that building was gone and he felt the wind in his hair again. He gave a couple of knocks to the undercarriage. A foot lower and it would've collected Luca too. The Nekovalkyrja seemed to have disappeared, probably turned into something the consistency of Nekovalkyrja flavoured jam.
"So," Luca stood up and walked back up to the top of the ship.
"So what?" Iza asked.

"I dealt with my bogeys. You might need paint scrapers to collect them though," he clarified before sitting down. "Let's keep score here: Some of the Police or someone impersonating them are in someone's pocket on Yamatai and that someone is content to fuck up world peace. What happened to Utopia while I was gone?"
"You're looking at it. Its hard to keep," Iza sighed. "I have to clear the air with the police."

"Copy that," Luca sighed as he sat down on Enzo's ship and let it get to the warehouse. "Don't call me again on this device, please." He then snuck around the front and gave a couple of knocks on the front glass. "Hey, let me in please," he asked.

An Upscale Cafe, Kyoto CBD
"What do you mean two of our officers were disobeying orders?" came the radio chatter that was visible to Echelon.
"I checked their records - they do not exist," a voice different to the police could be heard.
"You mean to say they impersonated officers, and moved in while we were making legitimate arrests to try and kill our charges?"
"That's correct. You are to let anyone at that restaurant go, and keep them safe."

"But-"
"Those are your orders."

The policewoman keeping an "Er, understood," the policewoman looked at Shayla and Echelon. "I've been told by Top Women to stand down. Both of you, go. Just - go," the police officer seemed worried.
"Top Women?" Echelon asked, genuinely curious with the shift in tone and command. "Who do you mean?"
"Top. Women. I'm sorry to say ma'am, but you're not in control. Neither are we," the police started cordoning off the area in order to start repairing damage, and an ambulance crew had come in to account for all of the injured and shaken.

Echelon looked towards Shayla. "So, do you take cheques?" she asked, "I gotta reimburse you for helping us," she looked closer at Shayla and accessed her record as she fished through a pocket and looked through cash cards. "Says you're retiring. That must suck," she wasn't nearly as tactful when it came to recruiting or chatting up those who had the right stuff for the cause, but the idea was there. "If you like fighting I definitely think there'll be more here if you decide to roll with us. It's a neat retirement package if you ask me."

The other members of the Phoenix Team were scattered through the CBD, and the order was to head back to the Ishimura Heights Hotel to regroup. As far as they knew, Enzo was elsewhere with the package to lay low. Scattered and to the wind, they were spread all throughout the evening skyline of Kyoto, with one place to converge in once all the hype and buzz had died down, following the evening sun down the horizon.

Luca, meanwhile wondered where Enzo was headed with the Lady of the Night and that rental car. He knew that he probably wasn't going to get a good driver discount with the vehicle. He didn't want to be a hood ornament for the ship either, exhilarating as that would be as he looked through the cockpit windows of the vessel.

"So. Mr. Bortelli, Ms. Kelly, Mr. Reeves and Mr. Pavone," the Freespacer asked as the ship kept on flying. "What happens now?" Allison looked at Enzo and shrugged, it was his ship. She looked at Luca and couldn't help but giggle at his deadpan expression and windswept hair. "I still want his signature while we are at it."

"Which one's the Badass? The little girl, or the blue guy with the tail?" Shayla had mopped up as best she could, an implausibly undisturbed glass of water making the task a bit easier. The bites and slashes peppering her face and arms had already ceased bleeding, that Neko hemosynth working quickly to seal up her wounds. She let out a hearty guffaw at the idea of arresting anyone, but the officers never even got to attempt it. Only a few confused moments passed before they'd changed their minds.

The gynoid's offer of payment got another loud bark of a laugh out of her. "I had more KS waitin' for me when I got back than I knew what to do with. I sent most of it back home." Shayla shrugged as her retirement was brought up. "I couldn't go back to followin' a lot of rules and regulations every day of my life. That's not me anymore." The following offer put a huge grin on her temporarily lacerated face. "Me? Like fighting? How'd you get that impression?" The giantess held up her tattered jacket for inspection, a few splotches of teal still visible despite all of the blood. "I'm a doctor. See?" She even tapped the gold band on the cuff for emphasis. "I thought I might take a job in the private sector, on a new settlement, somewhere untamed. You know, a little less..." She glanced around. "Sterilized."

The remains of her jacket tied to her belt, Shayla grinned down at the strange thing in the fancy outfit. "I guess I could listen to your offer in more detail back at the hotel, if you're in need of a genuine medical professional. Who handles the negotiations, the cowboy?" Without any warning, the giant Neko scooped Echelon up and flopped the robot over her shoulder like a sack of grain, taking a moment to adjust the load into a comfortable position, big hand firmly on her rump to hold her in place. Her free hand gave the nervous officers a farewell salute, as she crunched her way over shattered glass and broken plates towards the exit, turning back towards the hotel. "I noticed all your friends disappeared in a hurry, so I think I'll keep a tight grip on ya for now." She snickered, casually carting the EGL-bot away from the crime scene. "From what I looked up, I thought the mascot robot was supposed to be some clunky junker with a scarf. You're a little softer than that~"

Enzo walked onto the bridge of his small freighter with a wild smirk across his face. He tossed his suit jacket over the back of the Engineering Station and wormed his way into his typical greasy 'it-can-hold-several-kilos-of-drugs-and-a-few-guns' baggy duster. A balled fist struck the cargo hatch release button just long enough to push the door beneath Luca open to about twice his width, before Enzo plopped into his chair and spun around a few times just to make sure everything was as he left it.

The conman took a hit from electronic cigarette and then absentmindedly pressed it unnecessarily down into the ashtray (which, due to Yamataian tobacco laws had been extensively cleaned to a mirror sheen for the duration of this mission) on the arm of his chair. With a fingernail, Enzo picked at some of the latex scabs of concealer and false jawline that'd stood in as Glen Stapleton's face. His other hand worked the console in front of him as Enzo mused, "Do yous guys think the hotel is safe at dis point? Since we gots coppers and whatnot afters us, see? Maybe we should cwall Pipsqueak an' ask if he an' the Sourcian seen anthing suspicious..."

Luca said:

Penthouse Suite, Ishimura Heights Hotel
Seiren unwrapped the cover to the box and found that there was a shoebox. He pulled the lid off, and found the following items in the box. Wrapped individually in plastic were small pills, each about the size of a tooth. Enclosed was a little message saying "Tracking Bug - Remains in Mouth, Stomach, Elsewhere and transmits extra-long range for up to 128 hours. Activated by biting. Frequency Code printed on Plastic."

To one side of it seemed to be smartphone, but it had no logo, no branding, and no beauty in its visual design. It was utilitarian to the extreme, there was no software on it other than 'Gastrotrack', which was currently coming up empty for blips, and no frequencies were currently being tracked with it.

In addition, for Makari, there was a moon clip of eight BLACK rounds for his HHG, each bullet with a black band drawn on the brass near the primer, and a Nekovalkyrja's skull with a pair of crossbones crossing it. The implication was pretty clear what their intended targets were. Seiren would also spot a variety of other clandestine goods, including a pack of genuine cigarettes, addressed to Enzo.

For Seiren, there were some candies. They were wrapped in plastic, and they looked like the produce Seiren put out, but he could see the differences by eye - which direction the candy was poured and set, the 'grain' of it was different to his. The note that came with it said: "Share with your Enemies, not your Friends. Extra, extra, extra sour, extra deadly too. Keep away from Children under 3."

Rebeka could see the difference by looking through the candies too, seeing something that put her mind at unease, like, a pestilence residing within one of the candies. Peering through the rest of the box, there didn't seem to be any other foreign matter around the box, like trackers put between the layers of cardboard or hiding under the folds that made the lid.

Beneath some bales of disposable money meant to be distributed to all who needed it, there was a printed message:

"IPG will help you with Handler's Reach. Currently branching with local forces to get the situation under control. Luca, keep moving; I heard about the Freespacer - lever them to your side. Enjoy the Package."

Click to expand...

Firstly, Seiren retrieved the pills and eyed them up close.

"Huuh. . . Luca has weird friends, huh?" he mumbled considering the applications and uses of a tracking-device-tooth-thing.

"What's that?" Rebeka uttered, carefully tipping her head as a riblet of sweat tickled off her cheek against the sheets. Those long leaf-shaped ears accentuated the motion. Out of her suit, she was unusually cold: the water from her recent shower not absorbed or slipping from her body with her lack of pores - as if the droplettes had been spread across rubber.

"Uh, it's like a small tracking beacon, except it. . . actually, wait - You can eat anything right? Is it possible for you to NOT eat something?

Her expression became serious now. Seiren could see the cogs slowly turning as she stared at the floor in deep thought -- unpainted lips furrowing, as did her brow.

"I'm just asking 'cuz these things are meant to be eaten- but not actually eaten. Like. . . chewing gum. Except you can't bite these unless you want people to find you. And if you can eat everything, well, that might mean that I can't give one to you because it'll just get dissolved or something," Seiren asked, taking his eyes off her for a moment before pulling out the clearly dangerous candy and eyeing it closely.

"You," she finally said after taking a deep breath.

"H-huh?" He asked, the candy slipping out of his hand and back into the box.

"You," Her voice was dull. Heavy. Somber. Almost sleepy. Her hand was on his shoulder now. "I can't eat you".

"O-oh. . . w-well that's a start then," he mumbled, blushing sheepishly. "W-why don't you take a look at these candies and tell me what you think? Don't eat 'em though."

Rebeka gave a subtle nod, leaning to get a better view.

"What is it you want to know?"

"Like, if you can see what they're made of or something. I'm still trying to figure out how your senses work, yanno?"

Reaching out, she rolled the things over her bare fingertips: the skin sticking as she shifted them along.

"I don't know the names of these things. I know there's sugar but there are some really complicated chains I usually only see in medicine or toilet-cleaner... And... Engine grease, I think?"

"Well, that's good enough," he assurred her, taking the other faux-candies left in the box and slipping them into his jacket pocket.

"Are you sure I can't have one?"

"I don't want to accidentally like. . . kill your or something with bad candy, yanno? But um, what kind of chains? Like carbohydrate chains? Chemical chains?"

"I don't know the names for them. The one that goes to lots of others that's in people and pencils is with the one that's in water. There are lots of rings of the pencil one." she said, glancing down at her fingertips now: calloused skin where the candy had been dropping off. "Cell death... Whatever's in them isn't very nice."

"Huh. . . Carbon, you mean? And yeah, I really don't think you should put these in your mouth."

"The one that has four joins is in a ring. There's four of these and then some of the really light one and some in between like fingers."

"Auuuugh, why didn't I pay attention in chemistry class. . . Well, we can definitely say for now that these are really, really dangerous."

"Aiesu would know. She's a doctor. Doctors know about all the things that make people die."

"Well, it depends on the kind of doctor. . . but that sounds kinda, y'know, morbid. Like she's a killer or somethin'."

"She works for the consortium making things to hurt people. She is a killer. We. Are killers. Its how your kind do things: If nobody dies, nothing happened."

"I know she works for it. That's how I first met you. . ." He said. He didn't normally think of that sort of thing as killing. Especially after spending so much time with Neplesians. Guns don't kill people, they say. And besides, all those times he's shot-and-fired in the past, it's been up against Mishuu and gangs and pirates. Those were bad guys!

"She says I'm better behaved around you. That I do as I'm told."

"Well, I don't tell you to do much, so that's not much of a compliment, anyhow," Seiren shrugged, patting Rebeka on the head before continuing to rummage through the box.

"She said its what you don't have to tell me to do that matters. I don't really know what she means by that."

Seiren mused for a moment, then shrugged and returned to his work. "BLACK rounds? Bankable, man. These things are extra, extra deadly! Ah, well. Gotta get these to Luca eventually. . . wanna call this in? I've been doing most of the talking for both of us, and you gotta talk with him more eventually."

"I don't know how to use the..." she said, repeating the word a few times before getting it right. "Phone."

"Well, all you gotta do i- oh wait. Touch screen interfaces. Yeah, that put a hamper on things. Buuut I'll dial him up and you can just hold the phone after it connects," he said cheerfully, pulling out his communicator and punching in Luca's contact, then passing it to Rebeka. "Antennae-end to ear, and other side next to your mouth."

She did as she was asked, holding the thing by the mouthpiece by her chin between her index and thumb-fingers: the communicator very small to her.

"Luca? Luca? Its making a noise."

"That's a connection tone. It's the phone telling you, nonverbally, that it's trying to connect. Just give it a minute."

"Aaah?" she said in curiously deadpan surprise as the tone came to a stop. "Luca? Can you hear me?"

Airspace, Kyoto
Luca clambered inside the Lady of the Night, finally free from the wind in his ears and his hair, breathing raggedly. He straightened his hair back down and dusted himself off, black marks of dirt and grime sticking to his jacket. "Do you ever clean this thing?" he asked as he realised that the scorch marks and grime were now stuck to his fingers and in his hair too. "Don't worry about the cops, they've been called off of us apparently. SAINT is keeping them off our asses."

"Them? Oh, shit don't tell me they've gotten wind of this." Allison rubbed her temples. The Freespacer seemed to be put on edge by this news.
"They're on our side for this," Luca said. "It's just another log on the bonfire at this point - point is, someone tried going after you," he looked at the Freespacer, "because you know something that puts the security of Yamatai at risk if it doesn't come to light, so they tried to silence you, blah blah blah. They feel it best that I work with you rather than them."

"I am a security technician. I merely did my job," the Freespacer admitted. "I feel more secure here than in an interrogation room run by SAINT, even if you are acting with their interests."
"Well what about Seiren and Rebeka?" Allison asked as the Freespacer got a small notepad out and approached Luca with a pen.

"I haven't heard anything from them," Luca replied as he saw the Freespacer coming, grabbed the pen and scrawled his signature on it. The words were a little unclear thanks to the adrenaline still in his system, "Last I heard, Seiren's built our little distraction grenades and-"

His phone started ringing again. Luca sighed and pulled it out to look at who was ringing. The sugary sweet picture of Seiren was on screen, smiling ear to ear as he was taking a selfie with his idol, and putting his fingers into the corners of his mouth to try and make him smile. A small spat meant that it had to be their contact picture or else no candy for a week for the Captain. "Oh, speak of the devil," he said as he pressed connect. "Hey Seiren, I was just about to- oh,"

Allison looked over to the Freespacer, "So, what do you know?"
"The paper trail for the resources that were bought to infect Handler's Reach," he explained. "I know who it can lead to."
"Go on..." Allison said, nudging Enzo to help talk to them before leaning in.

Penthouse Suite, Ishimura Heights Hotel
On Rebeka's end, the rectangle she was holding was now producing the sound of Luca's voice, albeit digitised and being produced by a small speaker in the telephone held to her ear. "I hear you Rebeka, what's going on?" Meanwhile Luca imagined that Seiren was responsible for getting this set up for her, being blind and all since he recalled that Seiren's phone was a touchscreen-phone rather than a flip-type like Luca's.

Lobby, Ishimura Heights Hotel
Echelon nodded at Shayla, "Nah, the Cowboy doesn't like Neko much. You wanna speak to-" she found herself swept up off of her feet, "Whoa whoa easy there I'm anatomically incorrect!" Echelon protested as she was scooped up by the Nekohulk and thrown over her shoulder. The officer that Shayla saluted to saluted back nervously.

Echelon rocked back and forth, hoping that her skirt was keeping her rump covered, or at least Shayla's hand was keeping it covered - either prospect seemed quite embarrassing despite not having any functioning primary sexual physiology in the Mimicom robot body. "Well you see, the good thing about being me is that there are a few of me," Echelon explained to Shayla as they strode towards the Hotel. Echelon didn't seem to mind, "I came down here in the R34L M3 look," seguing into her native voice for a moment, "I'd probably get arrested on sight because that 'me' has a railgun attached to its shoulder.

She sighed gently as she watched the reactions of the evening walkers watch the two walk back to the Hotel, including "I could've come here as a car or a computer for all I wanted." As she explained this, they entered the lobby of the Ishimura Heights Hotel, unimpeded.

The lady at the desk bowed at them and asked without flinching, "Good evening Ma'am, room for two?" The hotel was known to have stranger guests with weirder indulgences, just this morning there was a Fyunnen and a Nepleslian carried in the same way - probably up for a one day stand.
"Actually I already have a room," Echelon said as she held up her keycard from behind Shayla and waved it in the air. It was for the Penthouse Suite.

"Wonderful. Have a nice evening then."
"By the way, did you see a little blue guy come through here?" Echelon asked, looking at the clerk from behind Shayla's bicep.
"I am afraid not, why?" she tilted her head and grinned at Echelon, who rolled her eyes.
"I-it's not what you think..." Echelon sighed, cheeks flushing red like horseradishes.

Penthouse Suite, Ishimura Heights Hotel
"Rebeka, did it connect?" Seiren asked, realizing he had turned down the phone's volume too far last time he'd used it so that it wasn't exactly audible from two feet away.

"I can hear him speaking." she said, her tone sober. A long silence clung in the air like fog before. "He's asking something, I think? There's too much talking. I can't make it out."

"Huh? Rebeka?" Luca asked again over the phone, concerned. In the background there was the sound of the beleagured ship rattling all around.

"Oh, gosh darnit. . ." Seiren mumbled, pulling himself over to Rebeka's side and pressing the volume buttons higher. "Now is it loud enough?"

"What's going on?" he asked as he rubbed his temple before realising that his hands were dirty and stopping, "Seiren, Rebeka, you there?"

"He said my name, right?" she pondered quietly, instead just handing the phone to Seiren. Her expression said she wanted nothing to do with the device.

"How on earth does THAT work? It's not even the same thing as light. . . vocal ranges are almost exactly the same coming out of a phone as they are in person. . ." Seiren mumbled, taking the phone back.

Luca overheard the back-and-forth and the sounds of the phone being handled and stared at his own phone incredulously before putting it back to his ear and awaiting further input.

Seiren sighed and began talking. "So, your weird friend from Neplesia showed up with a package."

"Oh, her? Yeah," Luca replied. "I thought she'd drop something like that off sooner or later. Any goodies?"

"Plenty. Got a few special rounds for an HHG, a bunch of things what I think are tracking tooth devices, and something called a gastrotrack or something. I think that last one works with the teeth."

"I don't like this rectangle," Rebeka huffed quietly.

"A gastric tract?" Luca asked, the sounds of the Lady of the Night clattering muddling Seiren's incoming message.

"Nonono, it's like a little handheld device - a TRACK-ER - to work with the teeth, I think," the inventor replied, trying to clarify.

"Oh, right. That sounds very useful," Luca nodded, as he looked for a quiet place to stand somewhere in the Lady of the Night. "How are you two doing at the hotel? Anything interesting crop up?"

"Who's with Luca?" Rebeka pondered, carefully setting her hands posessively on Seiren's shoulders as she leaned over, listening carefully again.

"Judging by the noise, he's probably traveling with somebody," Seiren told her, placing his hand over the receiver.

"It sounds like two people talking. Having their own conversation. Where they are its very quiet compared to where Luca is..."

"Huh? I don't get it. You sure you aren't hearing like, feedback or something?"

"Kidding? It's noisy as hell here," Luca said as he turned around to look at the others on the ship, doing a headcount, "Its just me, Enzo, Reeves, Ally and the Freespacer here."

"When someone speaks in a noisy place, the vibrations are changed. The vibrations -- the 'sounds'" she said, not particularly liking the word "are very clean. The only noise is clicking. Typing, I think. Or fingernails on a desk."

"I'm guessing Luca's traveling in Enzo's ship, so. . . there isn't a desk in there," Seiren paused a minute, beginning to piece things together.

"I don't know what anyone on either end is saying - its all noise to me - but they sound impatient. And excited. Hello to you too."

"Let's just leave all the talking-to for in-person, yeah? I suddenly get the feeling this isn't a safe line."

The phone gave a particularly conspicuous click.

"Well that was particularly conspicuous."

Luca heard the click too and expected that someone had hung up, but instead found that he was still on with Seiren and Rebeka. Shrugging, he resumed talking. "What are you two talking about?"

"I think Rebeka could pick out specific detail in the audio signal. . . somebody was probably listening in."

"Fuck," Luca sighed, rubbing his temples and disregarding his grimy fingers as he looked at the Freespacer behind him and frowned. They seemed to be none the wiser to the phone conversation. "Best case, its just someone doing 'market research'. Worst case..." he let that hang in the air.

"This is my personal phone, too. I'm gonna check it for physical things, and then if I don't catch anything here, I'm gonna search the room just in case."

"Gotcha. I'm assuming this line is bugged too. Not sure if SAINT is keeping me honest or a third party."

"Bugged?" This was a new concept to some of those present.

"It means somebody intentionally spied on our communications using some form of tracking or hacking tool."

"If something seems off then, I should tell you?"

"Ye-"
"Yeah."

"We've been watched since we got here. Yamatai watch everything though. So what we're really looking for is... Watching that's different?"

She sounded like a fiveyearold trying to piece together a simple puzzle that she couldn't wrap her head around.

"Yes. Anything that's different. Things that don't belong. One of these things is not like the others~" Seiren began humming.

Knowing the song, she soon joined in, pressing her chin atop his head.

"So - all safe at the Hotel then?" Luca asked, trying to find a ray of good news in this transmission.

"People keep avoiding our door. They go in all the rooms but not ours. This is one that is not like the others."

"We have a do-not-disturb sign up. It tells them to keep away. But speaking of door, I think it's high time I ordered room service. Will you be around for it soon, Luca? Just wanna know how much I should order."

"Room... Servicing?"

"I need to give Enzo the go-to, we should be there soonish otherwise," Luca nodded. It was his ship.

"Great, great!" Seiren replied, before turning back to the Sourcian. "Process by which the hotel delivers things like food and bathroom supplies to your room. It's very handy."

"They. Will bring things. To us?"
Luca was snickering at Rebeka's need for explaining, but then he realised something a little too late and his grin faded. "Wait-"

"Yep! And then we pay them - or they just add it to our bill."

"The first thing we did when we got here was steal everything before we even took our coats off. And now they're going to give us more things? Are they not upset? Who is Bill? Is he upset?"

"I wouldn't exactly say we've been stealing everything. Most of the stuff missing will be tacked onto the bill at the end."

"You took the little book and the soap. And you were looking at those curtains really hard. Why would a little boy look at curtains? What are you hiding?"
"-now hang on a moment-" Luca tried to interject.

"I suppose you could make them into a little cape."

"I'm not that little!"

♫ Spongebob Squarepants Production Music - Tomfoolery ♫

"Luca. I'm going to make a cape for him." Throughout this entire affair, Rebeka's voice was oddly deadpan. It didn't suit the enthusiasm of her words. "He needs a cape."

"but, why," he replied, rolling his eyes and shaking his head and audiably grasping for an explanation.

"The people with the masks in the thing he watches have capes. And belts. It isn't right for him not to have a cape."

"I don't need a ca-" -- "You need a cape." Rebeka cut off Seiren. "You kept talking about how much you liked capes when you watched that thing on the box I couldn't see. Why are you being fascitious infront of Luca? I'm sorry for Seiren's behavior, Luca." Was that... Mischief?

The sound of Luca mouthing something could be heard as he tried to figure out the black box that was Rebeka's train of thought, which was probably carrying even weirder materials than he first imagined. "Buh... wh... er... ehm..."

"That's because I like the looks of it! But I don't wanna wear a cape, it wouldn't suit me! I'm not Phoenix Man!"

"Look, I'll be the monster -- I'm good at that. I have 'the credentials' for it" she said, mimicing Enzo's voice. "You can be the hero. The hero is always smaller than the monster. We can fight on the bed. It'll be great." The default stoic tone of boredom really didn't match the speed of her words or the warmth in their choice. It almost sounded sarcastic. "Please?"

Hero... Monster... 'fight' on the bed? Are they going to... no, they're biologically incompat - ugh why do I even bother? Luca's palm met his forehead with an audible plop over the phone accompanied by the sound of air rushing out of his nose. "Oooookay, whatever works. Jus-just don't tire yourselves out. I'll be at the hotel soonish."

"A-alright, I'll see you then. . ." Seiren sighed, closing the call with a finger-press. "And no capes! Those curtains are way more expensive than the soap and your biscuits. Speaking of which. . ."

The woman who until now had largely been stoic sat with a slump, chin still upon Seiren's crown. Her expression in the opposite mirror was deadly calm like a doll but somewhere in her body language and the occasional fidget was a pout of impish disappointment.

Seiren tried to ignore this as he dialed up room service and asked for several plates of food an two stacks more "biscuits" for Rebeka. The ignoring didn't work. And thus he was bullied into ordering a large towel as she stripped the belt from a complimentary evening gown, fastening a belt about Seiren's waist: Careful knots fastening the phone she took from Seiren's hands as the belt-buckle as she hummed a bastardized version of the opening theme to Star Constable Govon.

Airspace, Kyoto
Luca closed his phone with a clap and his eyes threatened to roll out of his skull before they settled back on his resident rogue. "Enzo, situation at Hotel is all good, perhaps better. Those two are getting on like a..." He searched for an appropriate metaphor because 'house on fire' didn't fit at all, rapping a knuckle against his skull before shaking his head and giving up.

"like... ahh... I-I dunno how Sourcians express their like for things, I'm getting a headache just thinking about it."
There didn't seem to be a section in the Sourcian Operating Manual Aiesu had given him for telling when the Sourcian was happy. Seiren seemed to have something to do with it, but why?

"Yeah, yeah, the kid makes her smooth spot wet." Enzo testified, waving a hand side to side before him in the navigation chair. His other hand was lazily keying in the coordinates for the hotel rooftop. Although it wasn't really spec'd to handle ships of The Lady's weight class, Enzo chose to interpret the 'Accomadations for all classes of shuttles!' feature of the brochure as loosely as possible.

"I'll admits, he'd look nice's tits in a cute skoit, yeah?"

Soruk had arrived at the hotel with little more than questioning glances from other pedestrians. His kind was seen little, and even fewer of his clan. The gartagen avoided approaching the hotel from the front, not wanting to enter the lobby and announce his arrival to the staff. Maybe they had discovered his broken door lock, and wanted to ask him about it, Probably should have left it alone. They'll catch me someday... actually... they won't . Instead, he decided to practice his climbing skills some more, going to the abandoned loading dock, climbing atop one of the trucks and starting to work his way up the building. The shadow of the building, coupled with his black cloak, made him relatively hard to spot from a quick glance at the building.

Some time later, after climbing, jumping, and occasional grapple hooking, the blue blade master found himself at the very top of the building. He casually sat down cross-legged, his hands in his lap. He looked up to the sky and closed his eyes, mediating on the days happenings. What a strange turn of events he had found himself in, from searching for any shred of information on his parents, to 'joining' some band of apparent heroes to completely destroy some cafe. Not all that bad, perhaps I'll find something along the way.

He let a small smile touch his lips as he sat atop that tall building; the wind forcing his cloak tails to flap slowly.

Lobby, Ishimura Heights Hotel

"Yeah, guess your friends aren't as good at blending in as you." Shayla snorted at the idea of Echelon the car. "You guys with computers for brains are so weird. I mean, I've met a few nice MEGAMI over the years, sure. I've worked plenty of Soul Transfers. Seen ships turned into Neko or Neko turned into computers. But it's still kinda weird." This was obviously a strange attitude for a Neko to have, although the reason was obvious, if Echelon had already researched the giantess. "Although I'll admit, if you were a talking hoverbike or shuttle, this trip back wouldn't have taken nearly as long." She snickered at the idea, before they finally walked into the front lobby.

"Hey, I've got a room too. What, ya don't recognize me?" She grumbled something about the media moving on fast as she turned to let her precious cargo speak with the employee. "Can't believe you guys are more famous than me." She hadn't been thrilled about being a celebrity, but seemed to be somewhat disappointed that her fame had faded so quickly. A few moments later, they were in the elevator. Shayla finally tipped over to deposit Echelon back onto her feet, keeping a big hand on her shoulder. "Now, I guess I should get cleaned up and dressed up nice to meet your boss, right?" She punched the button for her floor, which was a few below the others' suite. "I'm still not sure you won't just scurry off like the others...it might be best to just take you into the shower with me, keep an eye on ya~" She grinned as the doors opened onto her floor. "Just in case."

Once she'd guided Echelon into her room by the shoulder, she finally released her grip. The place was an odd mixture of wild mess and Star Army organization. A stack of alien pelts draped across one chair. Plush bed with quality sheets topped with one large, tattered, fur blanket. Several ragged cloth or hide bags, right next to pristine standard issue equipment. A four foot chunk of starship metal sporting a makeshift handle that seemed to be a large pipe was leaned against one corner of the room. "They wouldn't let me keep the guns we built, but they were pretty nice. For what we had to work with." The robot was left behind as Shayla began rapidly shedding clothing, tossing the ruined outfit to the floor without much care, heading straight for the shower. She didn't seem to be following through on her little 'threat' after all, although she did glance back with a smirk. "Alright, don't go anywhere. Unless you're gonna come help me wash my back." She disappeared into the bathroom with a guffaw, soon muffled by running water. It wouldn't take her long to get ready for the meeting, although she would need to pack.

Reeves hung upside down in his seat a lot longer than Enzo had. The unexpected maneuver they had just performed had left him unwilling to move for fear of losing his non existent lunch. On top of that he didn't want to fall badly and injure himself, so he wanted to wait until he had composed himself again. He pinned his legs against the front seat to keep from falling and unclipped his seatbelt. Once his arms were free he pressed them against the roof of the vehicle before lowering his legs carefully as well.

From there he exited the car and took a moment to get a better sense of his surroundings. Not wanting to be a slackard he found his way to where the others were and lingered in the entrance. W what are you?... Never mind I don't want to know. Is there anything you need me to do Enzo?"

Makari made his way back to the hotel without any trouble. Of course, he kept to the alleyways and shadows when possible even after the police were reigned in. He didn't feel comfortable on this planet and it wasn't the multitude of Nekos. It was the attitude of the populace, the lack of self defense options, and the façade of a utopian world. Even as Makari approached the hotel doors, he couldn't shake the feeling that he should head back to the ship and get the hell out of dodge. At least to an ex-bounty hunter who grew up in Nep space, this planet was suffocating and alien. He pushed these thoughts out of his mind as he sauntered to his room to clean his Peashooter until the boss's next play.

Airspace, Kyoto
Luca rolled his eyes at Enzo, "It's all too slippery to me." He sighed and looked at his communicator again, "Allison, talk to the Freespacer, I have to make another phone call."

"Sure," Allison said as she looked over to the Freespacer. It seemed that Enzo was too busy flying the shuttle to talk back aside from commentary. "So, you were just doing your job?" Allison said.

"That's correct," the Freespacer replied, nodding as he looked around the shuttle for something to eat. "Even though I must keep my client's dealings separate from mine to preserve the security of the company. Yesterday morning however I noticed an anomaly. Something had been deleted, but it wasn't properly so. I restored what was deleted and bought it to the attention of my coworker, who agreed to bring it to my superiors."

Allison nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"Well, my superior simply told me to keep it under my hat, and that he'd get it sorted out. There was one problem though - I had seen it, and now that it was ... 'under my hat' it was my information and mine alone. I kept it close to me, but didn't remove it. I made a local copy and erased the log properly. This morning I found that my co-worker wasn't in today - we usually work together."

Strings of concern begun to flitter into their voice. "I asked where they were and I was just told 'maintenance' - but their maintenance cycle happened last week. I suspected something odd was up when I saw a new staff member walking around too. I decided to go for lunch early, checking Fauxsentience for their whereabouts," Fauxsentience was the name the Freespacers had bestowed upon the mickeyed version of Polysentience that was offered to refugees. "They had fallen off the grid, gone, flatlined."

"So, you think they were killed?"

"This is Yamatai, they'd do it with a smile to us like they did before," The Freespacer narrowed their eyes and huffed, nostrils flaring as the ship begun to slow down, approaching the penthouse tennis court that would be temporarily re purposed as Enzo's landing pad. "I went for lunch by myself and I put my feelers out for an assist, I believe Echelon was the first to answer."

"Eh-Echelon?" Allison asked. The Freespacer smiled. "You mean my friend?"
"She gave me the other pieces of this puzzle, when I put it all together I knew what sort of danger I was in and nudged her to assist me with you and the rest. She is a good friend."

"That magnificent bitch..." Allison rubbed her temple with a smile - it was a ball in her court that'd left her cockeyed and with a tennis ball shaped mark on her ego.

-

While Allison was talking to the Freespacer, Luca decided to make another call. This time, it was to someone else, and this was a call that he had the gall to do reverse-charge on because he was in a hurry - and he'd pay her back in person: Aiesu Kalopsia. Or, at least one of them, but he didn't know that.

"Y-Yess, Kalopsia speaking?" the phone said. There was a rustle of what sounded like ice and her breath was tight.

"Hey Aiesu, Luca here," he introduced himself.

Part 1 of Luca's phone call to Aiesu said:

"A-Ah..." she sat in awkward silence, waiting for him to continue. The sound of her breathing tickled over the earpiece: She obviously wasn't used to using a telephone.

"Just giving you an update of things before it hits the evening news," he said.
"Wwww...What did you break this time?"
"What did I break? Nothing!"
"T-Then why would it make the newss?"

"Because someone broke something around me, and I'm probably going to be blamed because of proximity."

"Rebeka? Damnit not again..."

Luca shook his head at the phone, "Quite the opposite. I have the feeling someone's pulling Lagrange's strings, or at least a small element of 'em."
"That... Is interesting. I-I'm not even sure they have employees: They don't talk to us at all. We go months and months and they just pull something out of their backsidessss t-that we've been working on for m-months."

"They probably have more catspaws than a kitten farm in the middle of Kyoto's Kawaiisa district," he shrugged.
"...I hate cats" her voice said through clenched teeth. Again the rustling of ice.

Luca was tempted to ask what was going on, but bit his lip. Probably strange Lorath things. "Anyway, about Rebeka..." his tone of voice sounded a little lost as the words he overheard in the previous phone call played in his ear.
"I have a question, there's something missing in that manual of yours."
"Go on."

"Well..." Luca said, before stopping and sighing, rubbing the bridge of his nose after evaluating what he was going to say next. "I think she's, er, happy."
He let that sit in the air. The stoic killing machine that was older than anyone combined on the ship was, as far as he knew, happy and playful.
"What?"

"I'm not making this up, Aiesu. She's legitimately happy right now. I just got off the phone with her and Seiren and she sounded... a lot faster than usual and," he tried to remember what else she'd said, "she seemed kind of buddy-buddy with Seiren."

"Huh... Seiren's sort of small, isn't he?" she said, something about her words disingenuous making her rhetorical question obvious.

"Yeah, four foot nine... Why?"

"She used to dote on a Lorath by the name of Dico. Short. Sweet looking. She had a habit of pulling his feathers out though. She was very very clingy."
"Did she ever try to play dressups with him?" Luca asked, completely earnest.
"Never. And what do you mean by dressup? We're talking about Seiren's looks, right?" A kind of laughter that in Nepleslian terms should have belonged to a dirty old man rocked her throat quietly.

Luca realised the thread he'd pulled. "That could be one part of the equation, but. Hang on, let me send you a thing," he said as he pulled his phone away from his ear and sent something over.
"A-Ah?"

"Look, I'll be the monster -- I'm good at that. I have 'the credentials' for it. You can be the hero. The hero is always smaller than the monster. We can fight on the bed. It'll be great. Please?"

Click to expand...

She played the recording over a few times, rather deliberate about the way she did it, listening to Rebeka's voice.

"Wow."
"Wow," Luca echoed. "So,"

"She was very protective of Dico. He was her anchor, since she had no one to care for."

"She never lets Seiren out of her sight either, given that he helps explain everything around her to her." Luca relayed. "Though, she eats the marble coasters in our hotel room as biscuits, diet in all," he shrugged. "High in marble, rocks or something."

"She's known to eat things we wouldn't consider appetising. Her palette is quite diverse. Has she shown you the doughnut thing yet?"

"I know, I know, the guide. What doughnut?"

"Well, she's very very partial to sugar. Very processed sugar. Complex stabilising agents... Artificial flavours... Essentially things that are used to keep sweet foods from falling apart that often show up in things like yoga-mats, cleaning agents, fuel agents, stuff like that. If there's a sweet that can be sold on Nepleslia but not on Yamatai, odds are she's go gaga for it.""

"Wait wait wait-" Luca opened his mouth and his eyes rolled. "Hang on a tick," he paused as gears in his brain started turning.

"Sugar?" he said.

"The more processed, the better. The effect on her reward centres is mechanically similar to the routes we see with many drugs in normal humanoids. Cocaine for example."

The sound of something unwrapping could be heard on Luca's end along with the phone being handled. "That explains everything then, Seiren's practically dusted in sugar twenty four seven."

As he put the candy in his mouth and chewed on it, he asked: "What happened to the doughnut?"

"Donuts. She squeezed the jam out, filled it with tooth-paste, basted them in hazelnut spread then poured what I think were fruity pebbles and Captain Bran Brunch into the middle then basted the entire thing in powdered sugar."
"Oh bloody hell- Please don't tell me she's going to do that to Seiren."

The laughter on the other side of the line was once again particularly adult.
"You have something against seeing a little pale Yamataian draped in sugar?"
"He's my little pale Yamataian draped in sugar, and he's part of my team..." the concern was in his voice.

Click to expand...

Shayla's Room, Ishimura Heights Hotel
As Echelon kept getting chauferred around by Shayla, she sighed gently and sent a message to Luca: 'I'm back at the hotel. The big Neko bought me along. Her room's just a floor beneath the penthouse so I'll be out soon. They seem a little... clingy.'

Echelon had wondered if she'd been carted into one of those theme rooms for the couples who'd wanted to spice things up once Shayla had deposited her.
"I'll pass," Echelon said as she took in the sights and sounds of the room. She wondered just what sort of aliens Shalya had been rubbing shoulders with as she examined the pelts, feeling them and blinking. "So you said you were stranded on another planet and that's why you're a six foot tall muscle Neko?"

She held up one of the hide bags - the construction was primitive but it did its job. She could feel something inside it, and it maintained its structural integrity even from planet to planet. "You made and bought all of this home yourself?" She turned around to look at Shayla through the bathroom doors. Her eyes widened and she turned back around, unable to blush due to technical limitations. There was no debating that with muscles and assets like that, there was no doubt that she had done this all herself.

'She's completely crazy.' Echelon sent to Luca, exasperated. 'She'd fit like a glove on your team.'
She then sent a message to Allison: 'I'm near the penthouse. I'm cornered by Shayla. I'll be up soonish. ETA?'

"Uh, my boss is closeby, so are my friends," she said as she planted her bottom down on the bed. "I think we'll be calling another meeting soonish once we lick our wounds."

Penthouse Suite, Ishimura Heights Hotel
"I-I should probably buy her dinner, you too," Allison blushed, realising that her sometimes squeeze was more than just that when the chips were down. They'd been idling together too long to see that happen. Today was just another one of those happy reminders.

"I look forward to us meeting up again," the Freespacer said.

"Hang on, you never told me your name if you know Echelon so well," Allison said, looking left and right. "I'm certain you two are like, friends or something."

"Argyle Oh Seven Two, Firewall Starter," the Freespacer said. "I got my job through my skills via Lazarus at first. When the company split, I had to head to the Lagrange side. Echelon and I, well, we just met." Allison's communicator got a message, but before she could flick it open to see who it was, Argyle already knew. "Ah, there she is." He leaned back and smiled.

Allison looked at her communicator. Had it already been hacked or did Echelon put a backdoor in for them? She looked up at Argyle, who grinned at her.

-

Luca peeled his phone away from his ear to examine Echelon's message before getting back to the call with Aiesu and exiting Enzo's shuttle and standing there in the tennis court to finish the call.

Part 2 of Luca's phone call to Aiesu said:

"She's not going to hurt him. If he makes sweets, he's essentially the closest thing to a trainer you're going to get. If he thinks about telling her to jump, she's already asking how high."

"'On the bed', though?" he asked, twirling an imaginary phone line.

"That's troubling. Though if I'm honest, her experience of our world is pretty childish. Have you seen what happens when you give her UV-reactive crayons or clay?"

He let silence hang in the air, having never considered such a things since he thought she'd eat them.

"She once spent six weeks decorating every s-surface in the room she was staying in without sleep. Though to be fair, I don't think she does sleep. She just.. Sits there in silence."

"She's gifted!" Luca threw his hands up as the conversation begun to turn increasingly ridiculous. "Give her a scholarship!"

"We took photos. Lots of photos. About a year later, we learned they were star-charts when we built a telescope powerful enough to look at what she was drawing."

Luca flailed on the other end of the line. "How?"

"She knows things, but she has no idea what any of it means or what to do with it. Do you ask a fish how it swims? Or a bird how it flies?"

"Er... no?"

"That's right, you don't. Same as you're born to fix other people's problems, she's born to ... ... Do ... Whatever it is she does. Which seems to be your little Yamataian pal."

Luca nodded. "Do, huh. Well. I'm just concerned that her 'doing' might hurt Seiren, that's all."

"His safety is her greatest priority from the sounds of it. I think she operated on a basis like hired muscle or an escort of some sort. She only seems happy when she's protecting something small that makes decisions."

"In that case I'll be sure to supply her with extra doughnuts, Captain Bran Brunch, hazelnut spread, fruity pebbles and toothpaste. Powdered sugar's on the house."

"Be sure to document her behaviour."

"I'll see what Seiren has to say when I see him."

"Was there anything else you wanted?"

"Get anything from the Modem we extracted?"

"It leads to an exit-node. Basically, any modem can only talk to one other source. So we put lots of them together, like a switch. The switch acts as a relay and sits in the middle. Unfortunately, I don't have the dialling codes or the OPSCURUS code needed to get access to the node. What I do know is that its Lagrange. And something else."

"I think the Freespacer we extracted who gave us our leads could set things out," Luca mentioned as he looked back at the Freespacer. "They said they found a paper trail, managed security, was due to be retired this afternoon - last part didn't quite happen."

Meanwhile, wherever Aiesu was, a news report broadcast the the Upscale Cafe in the Kyoto CBD had been razed following reports of two rogue Llmanel, one dead and one in a coma; and a rogue Nekovalkyrja, pronounced dead at the scene, kill confirmed by police. It made a particular mention of how Luca Pavone was identified as being at the scene, and getting away despite no evidence or involvement of him directly interfering with anything.

Carefully, she turned the volume up, listening to the details.

"You can hear that, right? Your name's all overt he news."

"I was in it."

"What happened? I need specifics. Ideally, I'd like you to compile an account -- and for anyone else present to do the same confidentially without sharing details with each other."

"I'll get Ech to do it. She was handling Information Control this mission and she knows which line to send it to."

"Right. Worst comes to worst, I can always fudge the news and say someone tried to frame you -- but that only works once."

The news report mentioned that there was a cloud of suspicion over the incident when two police officers broke orders specifically to chase Luca, who once identified were not Police or SAINT, but unknown-party mercenaries.
"Oh, yeah, I think they scraped those two off the building by now," Luca chuckled.

"Sounds like SAINT. Another member of the consortium recently had her familiar abducted. I'm wondering if they're involved. I'm still waiting for a description of the missing-person. As soon as we've got the details, we'll keep you posted."

"I'll get Ech to send 'em over ASAP."

"Thanks. Is there anything else you need? Money? Resources? A tank, maybe?"

"I'll negotiate."

"Right. I ah... I h-have a question myself."

"Shoot." Luca said.

"Well... You're from Nepleslia. The summers here are different since moon-fall. Its much hotter. What do you do to keep cool? I'm really vexed by the weather: Its supposed to be rain and storms and the pavements are melting."

"Well, uh," the question blindsided him. "Can I call you back and get Ech to include it? I'm not far from the Hotel. Ishimura Heights."

A sigh tickled through the ear-piece in fustration.

"Fine, fine. Keep me informed." Click. Her manners were poor but not even a goodbye?

Click to expand...

"Hrm, a fair weather friend already?" he sighed as he put his phone away and watched Allison head over to her room with Argyle.

With the events that'd happened so far, Luca didn't feel like calling a meeting immediately, and gave everyone a couple of hours notice until the meeting started to eat, relax, clean themselves up and such. It'd been a stressful day as he watched the last of the manicured sunset heading for the horizon. Luca entered the hall as he clicked a message to Zeta.

'All under control at Jim's?' he asked.
A moment later, the reply came. 'Yes boss. The body transfer should be ready tomorrow morning.'
'Great. Head on back to the hotel and unwind a little. All of us need a break.'
'Roger that.'

There were so many balls to juggle: Argyle and what they knew, his body transfer, the identity of the Third Party and the three Nekovalkyrja aligned to them who'd tried to take his life. He was thankful that Vita wasn't involved in any of this in any shape or form. Luca threw off his jacket and left it on the penthouse lounge's couch, sighing contentedly and turning on the TV.

Shayla's Room, Ishimura Heights Hotel
Echelon got Luca's message that there'd be some downtime prior to the meeting. She pursed her lips and looked back at Shayla, but chose to remain sitting on the bed, still clothed in that elegant gothic lolita, which was all creased and crumpled with today's events.

Gene Wilder - "Pure Imagination"