RP: ISC Phoenix [Prologue] - Just For Today

Luca buried his face in his palm as he watched his new recruits faff about. He clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. "Did I hire circus clowns or did I hire mercenaries?" He asked Bronzi and Makari in particular. Some of the question was directed towards Vita too. "Pack it in you two, we have shit to do."

He took a look at the Miner and asked: "You going to be alright staying here?" He looked back and gave an upwards nod while raising his beer.

"I'll send him to Dr. Shakes." Lina nodded. Luca hadn't been to Dr. Shakes before, since he was able to handle his own injuries with dogged persistence and regeneration. Mostly, he'd get shot a few times, walk it off, head to bed and wake up with the bullets out of his body the following morning - usually finding out by rolling onto them and leaping out of bed whilst screaming obscenities.

"Great. As for the rest of you, make your preparations. We'll head out on the morning three days from now to..." Luca then looked over to the Miner. He had forgotten to ask one very vital question: "Where is it?"

The miner had finished his beer and put it down on the table. "A town called Handler's Reach, on the other coast of Nepleslia Prime." The miner replied. It was about 200 miles away - you could drive there.

"Excellent. I'll bring it up." He got out his communicator and pressed buttons to make it appear on a map.

And then he felt a pain in his kidneys. It was a strange sensation, one he'd never felt aside from getting shot - but there was no blood, there was no puncture or wound. It was something on the inside. Something that was wearing out. He grabbed his side for a moment and grimmaced before continuing. "We'll drive in. Bringing the Kestrel will be too obvious. I trust that all of you can make your own preparations, so report to me two days from now with your equipment and we'll move at dawn."

TWO DAYS FROM NOW IN THE EVENING...

>ON!

After the major preparations for the mission were complete, the pain in Luca's abdomen was getting worse, and worse. He'd been shot and he'd pulled the bullets out with a survival knife - but a pain still remained that was playing hell on him, and bypassing his learned pain tolerance. He sat on the couch that afternoon lying down and tried to watch daytime television to take his mind off of it, but the pain kept getting harder to ignore.

Maybe this was his body's way of revenge for the past several years of misuse. It only had to catch up to him later on in life rather than immediately. Being able to do everything he was able to do had to come with some sort of catch later down the track. He didn't even think of going to Dr. Shake's place just yet. It hadn't crossed his mind.

Either way, he dismissed it for the sake of being a Yamataian - and they could ride out anything with their fancy bodies, right?

Right?

Something sounded at the front door. Quiet and sobering as a pair of footsteps tickled their way through the kitchen behind Luca. Unnanounced and almost certainly unwanted. Listening, he could hear them muttering to eachother - a child-like voice that croaked and grumbled with very little enthusiasm for life - the other deeper but still feminine which spoke only when spoken to while the other muttered and commented about everything around it. Thieves? Or assasins, maybe?

Luca's eyebrow raised as he heard the voices, and he looked over at the coffee table for his piece. He shifted his weight and put his legs to the floor, grabbing the signatre large-calibre revolver, finger off triger and thumb resting upon the hammer. He watched the door with the weapon pointed towards it. He just had that door replaced yesterday.

Zeta was not in the room currently, the only thing telling of her presence was a leather jacket thrown over Luca's bed and the sound of running water from the bathroom.

A quiet bang sounded in the kitchen, along with a tinkling of glass as the lower of the two voices tried to coax the smaller one from doing something. Naturally, the smaller of the two ignored her.

And that quiet bang was met with a much mightier report. Cracka-THOOM! The High Hybrid Handgun's mass driver technology combined with a chemical propellant made for some spectacular fireworks. It punched a hole about the size of a fist. He didn't have to say anything else - the message was fairly clear in Nepleslianese.

A loud metal 'thwunk' sounded in the chamber, as if he'd struck power-armour grade casing - followed by a quiet grumble and a soft hiss - and laughter from the smaller of the two voices which was almost hysterical. A soft 'blop' sounded as the round rolled out of whatever it had hit, landing on the kitchen tiles, cracking one. The laughing grew louder. "You really should see your stupid face... Hahh... Hah."

Luca blinked. That was not the normal reaction one had to being shot or watching their friend be shot. He rolled over on the couch and looked at who had decided to try and let themselves in.

He could only make out a single figure that was leaking orange fluid from its left shoulder where the round had struck. The figure was feminine, tall and thin - something you'd expect to see in a catalog - wrapped in a dark matte plastic or leather of some sort with very few visible seams. Tall boots rode up beneath its knees with long silvery hair. The jacket slung over its shoulder was Lorath.

"Now then, young man." the smaller voice sounded. It didn't belong to the figure he was looking at, that much was certain - though the accent was Lorath - speaking Trade as well as it could.

"Listen, if you're another bloody assassin after my bounty, take a number and wait in line." Luca replied in deadpan as he put the revolver down and shuffled back down to watch television. His expression was indignant, but somewhat pained. He grunted as he finally got back into the rut he'd worked in the couch.

"Actually, we're here to talk." the voice sounded again, lilting and sweeter this time.

"Won't you come out, Mr. Palvone~?" He could be heard sighing across the room, and pointed to an arm chair that was once a pile of fluff and matchwood, now a fully assembled armchair. As he was pointing, he could be heard grunting again and retracted his arm to his side posthaste.

"We're waiting."

From the doors to bathroom a single person emerged. It was Zeta Five wearing a bathrobe over a wet body, her hair was pushed back to not be in the way. In her metalic hand was large SiZi 30 condensed plasma revolver. Her new toy. She aimed it at the taller person.

"Having any trouble Luca dear?" she asked with her typically serious voice.

"Nah." Luca replied before getting up off the couch and standing up. His right arm was wrapped across his waist in pain while his left hand was on his hip, indignantly. "I can't get a day off, can I?" He started moving, slowly, towards the kitchen. His gait was clearly clipped by some unseen pain.

"Hurry it up, Palvone" the older of the two grumbled.

Luca rolled his eyes as he finally got to the kitchen. "Suit yourself." Zeta moved along with him, her revolver still raised and making sure Luca won't get into her aim.

One of the two figures stood where he could see her in plain sight. There was a crack in her bodysuit, where the round had hit her - though she didn't seem incredibly phased in any outwardly obvious way - though the orange puddle at her feet said otherwise. Her features were slim, her body like that of a grayhound, standing at a surprising 6'3 for someone with a face like that - any skin shown strangely pale.

The smaller figure, who sat on the counter-top, legs kicking wasn't too different - her own hair shorter, messy and somewhat unkept - eyes a burning cerise to contrast the deep dark red of the other though her skin had the same pale quality about it. Unlike the other, she didn't take the same drastic measures to hide her small child-like form - her feet bare, shoes at the ground beneath her - wrapped merely in what would appear to be a set of spats, a shirt and tie with a loose jacket.

The smaller of the two adjusted her glasses.

"Nice to finally see you. Are you feeling alright?"

"You're in my kitchen." Luca observed dryly whilst trying to stave off pain. "What are you doing in my kitchen?"

The shorter hopped off the counter and began delving through the fridge, whistling at the chilled pharmasuticals intersped with the alcohol and half eaten take away food. "You really need all this?" she said, taking out a silvery tray with a set of chopsticks and a tall thin can. She soon sat back up on the counter, pulling the lid off the silvery container.

"I'm wondering if we can do you any favours, Mr. Palvone."

"So this is the part where I ask who you are, who your backer is and I ask politely if you have any ulterior motives?" Luca raised his left palm before sitting down and leaning over the counter.

"Kalopsia" the smaller figure said, having trouble with the chopsticks at first before picking at noodles and a small piece of meat in a deep rich sauce. "Aiesu Kal... Hey, is all Nepleslian food this good?"

"Rebeka," the other figure stated, almost stoically - almost unwilling to play her part in this ordeal. She felt like a babysitter.

"Did we ever meet anyone without ulterior motives?" Zeta asked with sarcasm in her voice. She grunted, looking at both the taller and smaller person. "Better ask what their ulterior motives are and see what their lies will be."

"I dunno. Yuki was never dishonest to me, and that's where the danger lied." Luca replied offhandedly before returning his attention back to the duo: "Aaaand your backer-agh." He jerked in pain.

"Back-agh?" Aiesu mirrored his voice, a delicate calm in her voice as she tilted her head. The manner in which she did so made it clear she couldn't empathize with him on any level, cerise sunset eyes wide and curious but detatched. Luca's head tilted with her. "From what I can tell, your back is the least of your problems."

"Backers." Luca clarified.

"A popular communications network" she said, lifting the ringpull on a can of PHOENIX! energy beverage. She held the tin to her lips, taking a sip, expecting to cough or grimace but soon found herself emptying the can in a single go - tipping it up as her head fell back. It was almost as if she'd never actually eaten before.

Luca put his not-detective skills to use. "Lazarus Network?" He asked, drumming his fingers across the table.

"Huah... Good boy~!" Aiesu grinned back. She turn returned to picking at the takeout. Luca tried to reach for the errant takeaway meal.

The pale figure bared her teeth, tesselated and shark-like as she hissed. That alone told him she was Lmanel.

"Forgive her manners" Rebeka sighed. "She... Doesn't get out much."

"Hoey!" Aiesu exclaimed, crushing the can in her hand - trying quite hard to do so, indicating Rebeka was almost certainly hired muscle of some sort. "Do you have any more of those? Anyway!"

"Are you here to shill me and my shitty brand or talk?" Luca requested, increasingly impatient.

"Right. Right, of course." Aiesu stated, putting the takeout to one side as she flopped off the counter and began fishing through the refridgerator again. "Actually, I have something of a proposition for you."

"Here we go," Zeta said to herself, still watching both women. Or rather s girl and a woman. Zeta made sure to not give all her attentiont to woman named Rebeka, that Aiesu might be dangerous too. Underestimating is a bad thing and Zeta was not about to do it.

"I see you take your vitamins, Mr. Palvone. How long have you been on this stuff?" she said, one by one placing various medications on the counter alongside the take-out - fishing specifically for various enhancers and modifiers. Soon sat on the counter were Prime, Pink and White Kaserine, Focus, Azorean HP potion, Dr. Fixit, Niskord, Endurance and Cloqual.

"I take it when I need it - which is pretty much constantly since everyone who isn't talking me to death or with me is trying to shoot me to death."

"Hard life." she smiled, holding up the kaserine in particular, shaking the bottle. "I bet you're a bad girl~ But seriously." she tried not to laugh. "How long now?"

"Five years, at least once a week."

"Huh... And you never thought to look up what the interactions between them were? In all seriousness, its a wonder you're still alive."

Luca pursed his lips and rolled his eyes. "SAINT couldn't believe it either when I tore down an NMX Cruiser in Delsauria - by myself."

"Yes, yes, that's all fun and games but... " she said, stuffing a pink kaserine or two into her own pocket as she pulled the ringpull on another can of PHOENIX!. She took a slow sip and soon stood before Luca. Were the two standing, her eyes would probably be level with his belly-button, making the experience odd when even sitting down, his eyes were the same height as hers.

She extended a pale hand, holding his jaw to turn his head over, looking over his skin. Setting the drink down, she soon reached for a medical torch - a pencil thin pen in her shirt.

"I need you to look into this light for me so I can see inside your eye, alright?" she said, holding down the back of the pen - a bright light shone into Luca's right eye.

"It's working." He said. She watched as his pupil began dilating, staring deeply into his right eye now, uncomfortably close.

"The dis-coloration is caused by the build-up of urea... Not unlike... Jaundice." she commented, then moving over to check the opposing eye. "Mhmm... I see."

"Jaun-what?" He replied. He never had to worry about these things before, since he was Yamataian. Everything sorted itself out - but something had decided to cack out on him.

"Mr. Palvone, I need you to open your mouth." she said, handing the torch to Zeta with a condescending smile. "You can keep that."

Zeta simply ignored the girl, still holding her revolver. Right try to lure her closer and then do things. Zeta was pretty sure those two took her revolver very seriously.

"Ahhh." Luca replied, eyes almost threatening to roll out of his skull at this point.

Seeing Zeta's disinterest, she shone the light into Luca's mouth - holding it between her own teeth now as she took out a small rod with a mirror upon its end and a small flat of smooth wood. "Alright... I'm going to depress your tongue now. Don't be alarmed" she said, pressing the wood down as she bent over, peeking inward. "Say 'aah' for me. I need to see what your throat does." He complied, mimicking what he said before.

"I have to say, you're an avid brusher. But I'm not a dentist." she sighed. "The same pattern is present on the interior of your throat." she said, forgetting to remove the tongue-depressor as she continued talking. "I didn't think you'd be this far ahead." His brow furrowed, and he put his hand beneath hers and pushed the tongue depressor off of his tongue. She laughed, putting the depressor onto the table. She pulled the torch from her teeth, stuffing it back into her shirt pocket and took another sip of PHOENIX!, eyeing the ingredients list while she rinsed her mouth quietly with it, through her cheeks.

"Makes sense. You're actually in the advanced stages of kidney and liver failure, risking metabolic cascade failure if you don't do anything about it. My prognosis? ... At best I'd give you... A year, maybe eight months at best before your healing factor begins working against you. After which, you have about six months to live."

"I what?" Luca asked incredulously.

"Its the interaction of the drugs with your metabolism. Specifically, the Elysian stuff and that Mr. Fixit, but that was really just the trigger. Your body is working so hard it isn't working well any more. Its... Not unlike a sort of cancer, or poisoning."

Zeta finally frowned and it seemed like her solid composure showed cracks as she heard about Luca being ill. "Can't his body be repaired or something? He has Yamataian body." She said.

"His healing factor is actually the cause of the disorder." the Lorath smiled, still cheerful and detached. "Guess you really were a naughty girl, after all!"

Elsewhere out of boredom, Rebeka had began doing the dishes - to occupy herself.

Zeta slowly let her hand go down, but she did not put the revolver away. "I- I meant..." she started wrapping her head around this. She just got Luca back and now this girl tells her he is about to die within months? "But.. In some Yamataian hospital? Couldn't they heal his body there?"

"Sadly no. This is actually a rare disorder Yamataian medical technicians aren't used to dealing with. They'll differential diagnose you to the blood moons and back before they actually know whats happening, and even then, it'd still be too late."

"I think I know why. A civilian body isn't made to put up with this shit." Luca finally spoke up. "Once a civilian, always so they can never shine above the glorious Neko race, right?"

"Untrue. The truth is that any complex function always has its faults. If you had one or two... Or even twenty encounters with this stuff, you'd be fine. Its very resiliant. The problem is that you've been on it for so long that your body's chemical environment has changed and your body is adapting, growing used to it. " she still smiled, like a student voicing her opinion on something utterly detatched from the severity of the situation.

"Unfortunately, under this climate, you're working your healing factor too hard. It'll eventually become malignant."

"Well, that sucks." Luca replied soberly. "So you're here with Mrs. Orangeblood to tell me I have a year to live and to go cold turkey, or?"

"You'll be fine, if you play well with others" Aiesu grinned now, tweaking her glasses. "There... Are a few procedures we can perform. It'd take ... Maybe a few days to a week, but you'd be right as rain again, as you Nepleslians say."

"And he would be in your hands the whole time for you to do whatever you want to him eh?" Zeta said and looked at Luca. "She might lie you know. You might be perfectly fine."

"Mmm?" the Lorath smiled, her expression mulling some - less playful now as she seriously began considering silencing Zeta - stunguns and piano-wire coming to mind. The Sourcian figure in the corner whom she was networked with glanced back over her shoulder, giving Zeta a look that said she was still a viable target before returning to the dishes.

"I don't want any funny business." Luca clarified. "I don't want you turn me into a Lazarus puppet because I know, somehow, that you aren't just a communications group. I work for me at the end of the day." He decided to go on. "If you steal my heart and I need to chase your ass around town using a battery powered one, I can and will do it."

"Oh, no no, on the contrary!" Aiesu's polite demeanour returned, cheerful once more. "You're much more useful to us independent and wily as always." she said, reaching out to tickle under Luca's chin as if he were some favoured pet. Luca tried to bite her finger. She didn't flinch. In fact, her expression hadn't even changed - pale fluid dripping over his lower lip where his teeth had violated her fingertip.

"Exactly my point" Aiesu simply smiled - completely unfeeling. Luca had tasted blood before but something was different about it. It was positively saccharine, sickeningly so. He blinked before spitting it out on the counter and wiping his mouth. He made a sound of disgust as he looked at her up and down - trying not to wretch as his guts tightened. His body instinctively thought it was some sort of poison or something unclean, like excrement or rotting meat - inspiring the same putrid reaction.

Aiesu milked her fingertip of a few more drops before she suckled her index finger without a second thought. "I'm not to everyone's taste, Mr. Palvone."

"His name is Pavone," Zeta reminded that girl. "Not PaLvone.

"That's what I said." Aiesu said. "Palvone."

"Lorath accent quirk." Luca clarified, having picked some of the language up - mostly insults, curse words and trade pidgin. "And you taste wrong!"

"I always do after transit." Aiesu stated. "Stasis isn't perfect."

"I see," Zeta answered. "Luca, if you want you can go with them. I will have your back and won't leave your side. I can take Wesley with me." Luca knew that Wesley was not a person, but those two women did not.

"That... Probably won't be nessesary." Aiesu smiled again. "At the very furthest, he'd be at the docks. We have a ship with the nessesary facilities. No need to pull you away from your home."

"I am going where he is going," Zeta simply stated. Her voice was cold and resolute.

"You have Mrs. Orange Blood Does-Dishes I-Am-Immune-To-Bullets over there," Luca pointed to Rebeka, "I have Zeta. Speaking of which... why are you doing my dishes?" He leaned over.

Rebeka glanced over her shoulder, grimacing. It took her a few moments to work out she was being spoken about.

"Idle hands." Aiesu stated.

The tall figure by the sink sighed, shoulders rolling. There was a crack of what sounded like bone yet also suspiciously like unoiled metal before a second snap and the sound became smooth again. Obviously she just wanted to be left alone to do the dishes - and wasn't happy to be here in Aiesu's company.

"She might seem calm, but she fidgets. You would too, if you'd just had a new central nervous-system installed." the small Lorath continued, picking at the takeout again now. "You look hungry, Mr. Palvone."

"For answers mostly, but..." Luca said.

"Care to order something? I'll front the bill if you'd like. My treat." Aiesu smiled. In truth, her intentions were quite selfish: she wanted to sample more of Nepleslia's various delights.

"Why the fuck not? I've got to head somewhere tomorrow and figure out what the hell's going on with this town."

"Oh? Well... Oh, that's right. There is a catch, naturally." To which, Luca replied with a knowing nod.

"The tall one over there monitors you as a subordinate. You avoid any of our own operations and we specify targets of interest... Which you can take into account whether or not you'll actually engage. I do value your autonomy, Mr. Palvone." Aiesu smiled, those cerise eyes almost glowing like those of a cat in the dead of night as a car passed outside - headlights catching the back of her eyes. Her smile grew. "I think that's... Perfectly agreeable."

"So you are saying, scout's honour and all, that you aren't going to stick a probe up my arse to make me a Lazarus fuckpuppet?"

"If you had blue kaserine, I might have considered it," Aiesu grinned, soon emptying the silvery tray of takeout. Whether or not she was serious, neither of them could tell. "You are quite a catch by Lorath standards, as ragged as you are."

"That is too bad," Zeta said, looking at the woman with fiery eyes. Luca was her man now. Zeta accepted the fact that he might sleep with other women, but she would at least want those women to be someone she would not hate.

"There's nothing for you to worry about, Miss Zeta. There's a reason I wasn't issued with genitals." Aiesu grumbled, tapping at the tray with her chopsticks. "Are we ordering out or not?"

Rebeka glanced back again. Admittedly, she was curious.

"1720 445 523," Luca said. It was the number for the local takeaway place - the one that always made the good stuff.

"Anything you'd recommend?" Aiesu said, emptying her third can of PHOENIX! now. Her fingers were visibly jittery as she began entering the number into an address-book in her memory.

"Lemon chicken, beef and black bean, vegetables in oyster sauce - and some rice." Luca said.

Rebeka paused for a moment. "What is an oyster?"

"Lou mein," offered Vitalia, from the area of the apartment's main door. She shut it behind her as she came in, and unshouldered her messenger bag onto the couch as she examined their visitors from beneath curly brown bangs.

Aiesu's smile grew now. "Huaaa~ I get to meet the whole family, is that it?" It was a strange earnest style of cynicism that threw all of them - something innate to the Lorath alone that most foreigners took years to wrap their heads around - usually done in parody of Yamataians particularly.

Finished with the dishes, Rebeka soon sat at the table with the others, growing weary of standing. Her long legs unfortunately meant her high knees almost lifted the table over, meaning she had to sit with her ankles behind her backside.

Zeta simply stood aside holding her massive revolver and watching Aiesu and Rebeka. She still did not trust them. Luca was caught glancing between his daughter, Zeta, who was still wearing a bath robe and dripping wet and the two arrivals. Between them all, he was in beyond his head.

Glancing to Luca, Vitalia folded her arms and leaned against the back of the couch. "I'm not going to complain," she joked, "Usually when I come home late I get the look. Today, I get you. What's your name?"

"Mine?" both Rebeka and Aiesu spoke. Aiesu held a crisp enthusiasm with a twist of incredulousness. Rebeka on the other hand sounded more like some beaten animal dragged along for the ride that didn't want to participate.

After some careful, cheek-scratching thought, Vitalia decided, "Yes."

"Aiesu Kalopsia," the Lorath said - her name the John Smith of all Lorath names.

"Rebeka, Retena" the other spoke reluctantly. Vitalia couldn't place what she was or where she came from.

So she smiled.

And with Luca Pavone, that was just fine.

>OFF!

PROLOGUE - COMPLETE!!

What happens now? If you've written any [Side Job]s with me or between you to show preparation, post them and put this bracket of code in them on the top line. This is for chronology purposes: When I start [Mission 1] in a few days time, it starts en-route to the location, so it makes sense that the side jobs happened, everyone has unspokenly agreed upon what they're bringing in advance and they're on their way.