Hide and Seek

[UwensBack]

(( Nice one))

[Ashval]

((WOW!!! This is turning into an amazing tale, Sezmra! I'm dying for more! ))

[vallikat]

((What they said ^^ Great job!!))

[UwensBack]

Originally posted by Braedon
((WOW!!! This is turning into an amazing tale, Sezmra! I'm dying for more! ))

((ditto Braedon always knows what to say ))

[Lauri]

((tiny bump More coming later today))

[Lauri]

"Something's wrong..."

Vash quickly brought up the transmission window to check for anomalies. Sure enough, there it was. She could even pin-point the exact spot on the connection route where the tap was located. A smirk crossed her face, they couldn't do it from here thanks to the fixer's stubborn ways at "re-wiring" her apartment so.

However, it was not the time to gloat just yet. Assuming they were listening, and it was almost guaranteed, Vash guessed their next move. It was fairly logical. Vashti raced from her terminal towards her bed, a small satchel lay on it, open to the world. She briefly checked the contents, all within the blink of an eye, before darting to the desk to grab a few things she hadn't packed yet. An outfit, comb, her spare hackers kit...Quickly, she tossed them in the bag then returned to her terminal.

"Vash!? Answer me!", Raquel had already begun to panic. Vash expected this was a rare sight, too. With the brush of her fingertip across her keypad, the conversation she'd been having with Raq swept itself aside to give way to a new view. Four individual windows glowed into appearance in a broad row before the fixer.

"Zoom 2.", the terminal obeyed, and the four security cams from the hallway just a series of meters away presented Vashti with a close up of her logical guess at work.

The keypad near the door was aglow with activity. Vash could sense the circuitry desperately trying to reject those outside her apartment door. She watched as their shadows danced outside the small frosted window of the entrance. Her fingertips brushed over the keypad again, a brief sequence entered into the terminal. Her eyes were locked on the second camera, the door entry glowed fiercely, and a small series of numbers materialized near the bottom of her terminal display. Longingly she observed this "dance"... the camera, the countdown, the intruders.. Omni-Pol? InternOps? AF? Who knew. It wouldn't matter.

00:01:05

"Raq, goodbye."

00:00:45

Vashti had no time, but she couldn't lose any "goodbyes" with Raq. Not after all these years. That simple of a gesture was taken for granted a decade ago, but no more. She glanced one last time at the terminal display, already reaching for her bag on the bed.

00:00:31

A single whisper into the evening was all she gave them before pressing a key on her comm-unit. She weaved the beginning program, beckoning it to take her to a world of raw data, so simple, so beautiful. Her body, her person, all was overcome by coursing notum. It was both painful and pleasant.

"Come on in boys."

00:00:08

The notum swirling across her view faded in this last instance, as she did. The bedroom was dark still, as the numbers making up the countdown melted into its progress, the figures outside still worked stubbornly.

00:00:00

A tiny bleep sounded in the hallway of the apartment, and instantly it was filled with a harrowing flash of notum. It billowed down the hallway, into the apartment, further and further. Intense pressure was carried along with it, like hands in all directions, pushing all in its path as far as it could. Those outside the door were both blinded and beaten by such a simply horrible split second. And as instantly as it had started, it ended. The pressure sucked the world around it back into itself, harsh amounts of notum consumed the air, sparking, hissing, pulling whatever it could inside the eye of the explosion. That which was pushed away violently was drug back inwardly. Wall sections, the door, plants outside, circuits, everything within fifteen meters or so, all forced to clash with one another. The bodies of the intruders rent and tore as they were hurled into the eye, each their consciousness long sent to reclaim even as their own physical shells suffered.

The apartment lay in ruins, a couple floors above and below also sizzled with destruction. A soft, local alarm shouted into the night. Perhaps it was pointless, crews would be by soon to repair the damage... Sure, those that died would be in tip top shape again tomorrow. Somewhere in the grid, a fixer raced along an elaborate notum path, data flowing all around. Her mind smiled, not at how little she accomplished with the blast, but the reaction it probably received from those hunched over her apartment door only moments ago.

Everyone loves surprises, don't they?

[Tussa]

[ More, Sez, mooooooore!!!!! ]

Player of Lille

[Lauri]

"Alarm, off."

She stood there, cheeks damp but aflame with fading anger. The winds whipped around her, pulling at her clothing, desperately trying to hurl her below. Clinging to the edge of the wall, she peered down again. Far below, a slightly twisted chair dotted the ground. The world slowly re-materialized around her now, and she began to notice the small bit of glass upon her bedroom flooring, some lightly stuck to her clothing, and in some exposed areas of her calves. She hadn't noticed the sting or the light trickle of blood down her left leg, only the light buzz from the earlier alarm had remained registered to her senses.

With a frown, she peered out the window one more time before heading to sit down on her bed. After clearing away the glass with a shake of the bedding, she sat down and reached for the small nightstand next to the bed. Reaching into the drawer, she pulled out a small med kit.

"Lights on, low." The room illuminated softly as Raquel retrieved a first-aid stim and a small cleansing bandage from the kit. It was highly sterilized, highly potent... like most notum enhanced things on Rubi-Ka. She bent down to check the wound on her leg, a larger piece of glass had lodged itself in just right as to cause steady bleeding. Carefully, she got a firm grip on the glass and eased it out of the irritated skin. A light wince formed across her face and she threw the bloody glass to the floor. She glanced at her fingertips, now damp with warm blood. The stark contrast of her pale grey skin and deep red blood briefly fascinated her reeling mind. Eyes closed, mind focusing on that contrast, she brought her hand to her face, her fingertips to her lips, the blood to her tongue. The metallic taste was almost sweet to her corrupted palate. Seconds later, she realized what she was doing, what she was savoring and spat in disgust, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand... then her shirt... anything to rid her of the taste.

Hanging her head, she sighed, she didn't know what to do... the world seemed to be falling down all around her. Work had slowed down, she was barely at home these days in Omni-1, her cousin of all people had popped up, here parents were dead, and because of her. Because of what she technically "was". How could she gloss over that part.

Somewhere in the distance, a new sound invaded the night... a bustling interrupted the calm of the slumbering city of Rome. A few buildings down, a different Svancara had caused a ruckus.

[_______________Bliqz]

((Someone pass me the popcorn!))

[Lauri]

Panting, the stout opifex slipped inside The Cup. It was fairly devoid of patrons this late at night. "Morning" would be more accurate... time had gotten away from the Fixer as she wandered, and now the twin suns threatened to overtake the sky within a couple hours. She caught her breath finally, back still glued to the wall next to the door. Peeling herself from the wall, she slipped off her gloves and stretched her fingers.

Something told her she wasn't as resolute as her cousin. Her heart was still fluttery... it was just a few destroyed floors in one of the most popular apartment complexes in Rome Blue. She chuckled to herself, glad she could still be amused over it. In the end, though, she was still uneasy in a calm sort of way. A few moments later, she found herself sitting at a table, her hands lightly draped around a cup. Casually, she enjoyed a beer, the world around her practically blotted out. Spending so much time in the Rift lately was affecting her. No complaints came from her, though... the rush of data, notum, all coursing through her, around her was like a drug. In a way, it helped soothe her. Now, her mind used that effect to focus on the present, what to do, how to prepare herself for... anything. Because, that's precisely what could happen: anything

She took a long, final swig of the beer and set the empty can back on the table. Looking around calmly, she made sure no one con****ious had snuck in since she arrived. Without a sound, she lowered her wrist to her lap, and opened the display on her comm-unit. Bringing up a list of contacts, she found Mr. Demesa on the list and opened a comm-channel. Relunctantly, she activated it and tapped in a quick message to him.

>The Cup, ASAP. Can you make it?

[Ashval]

((*hits the pause button as RL moving is keeping him tied up a bit* YAY to more story goodness! ))

Braedon stares a moment at the message on his comm...but only a moment.

"On my way," is his simple reply.

The Clan Leader executes Free Movement in his NCU right as the final keystroke on his comm was completed. Then, he starts out in a dead sprint, before his yalmaha activates and he becomes a
blur of speed zipping through Old Athen, narrowly missing a few pedestrian's.

There was no sign of Sezmra last night when he visited Reet's, which always set him off to worrying. The SPARTA agent's talk of danger for the both of them during their last discussion didn't help matters any.

Whatever this is, she won't face it alone...

[Lauri]

((tiny bump - waiting for a certain someone to finish moving :P ))

[Demenzia]

Stiffling another long yawn, Jen quietly walked down the stairway leading from Reets' roof to the open door on the first floor. The roof was after all the only place she could properly park her Yalm, apart of offering her a wonderful view, depending on the moment of the day. The moment of the day. That was such a nice word, deliciously sounding. Such a nice word. And there was a party again, one she could finally attend, after these awful weeks... at last.

For the first time in a long period, she was feeling confident again. In herself, in her skills, in her memories, in the warm and invisible presence in her mind, forever linked to her... in the love she shared, stronger and stronger with each passing day, the love she wouldn't let die. Confident, really, in her plans. She had been very careful not to force herself too much the past two weeks, although she had felt so awful during the first one that wanting to move or not, she wouldn't have been able to. But now the pain had dissipatd, leaving her with muscles and joints that were aching more and more seldom, she could think more clearly. She could get back to work, sticking to her portable term even in her bed, the schemes and codings in her mind whirling like the wind, asembling with each other, a string here, a string there, modifying the algorithms once again, according to the new scheme that had to be followed from now on.

For it had worked. It had worked!... The situation wasn't perfect, and she was still expecting side-effects, yet for the main part, she was feeling 'herself' again, and this feeling was linked to a sort of growing hope...the hope she was certain of having forgotten. Damn the reporter and his arogant certainties!... She would save Malcom. She would save her sister. She would... go on... until all trace of this living nightmare would have drowned into oblivion, if that could ever be. This was the only solution she could see, anyways, and she would fight until the end for this.

It was way past midnight, but the party was still going on pretty joyfully. Jen was sure she'd find Raquel in, as usual when GSP was hosting in Reets, and even though the circumstances wouldn't exactly be what she'd have preferred... maybe she'd find a moment, if only a short one, to tell her about her hopes, and about the nightmare that was going to end for her too. Raquel never showed it, but it was as hard for her as it had been for Jen... more, perhaps. Thus, the Fixer would tell her... let her know that there still was a solution. But when she finally spotted Raquel, near the bar behind the couch, and come closer, her instincts immediately told her that something was wrong, so very wrong.

Of course, Raquel was doing her best not to show it, saying hello, smiling, inviting her to sit next to her. Well.. that was the problem. Raquel, sitting at a GSP party? Looking so down? So uninterested, even?... During the whole time she had known the Agent, Jen had never seen her behave this way. Look so... absent. Hesitant. Worried. A very slight frown, a very discrete expression in her eyes, that wouldn't have been noticed by someone not knowing Raquel too well. Yet...

The Fixer accepted the invitation without a word, greeting the people that were around, flashing an amused smile to Lazaro, who was sitting nearby too - no matter the words they had exchanged in the past, she had quite a liking for the young Opifex, and teasing him was always a pleasure. They chatted a little, before Raquel asked privately about a certain "Ayedan", quickly explaining what she thought was about him. There was more than a story about a man getting himself in trouble, though, and she didn't let Raquel dodge her questions. Having been at home, almost without any contacts, for more than two weeks was already making her feel guilty enough, so she wouldn't let her 'escape' if she could help with any problem - not this time. And Raquel admitted. After having turned around the spot for a moment, saying that it was nothing, that she was tired, that she was feeling bad about the sloed-down work, and other reasons that couldn't be all the reasons, the Agent let something out about her family.

That wasn't much. Just a few words, almost whispered - "I talked to my cousin a couple weeks ago" - whispered in a voice that in itself was already meaning it all. It would take more than a few questions for her Sis to go deeper than that, but it was already sounding so... worrying. It was so desperating, also, to be here... sitting with her... badly wanting to help... and not being able to do anything else than simply lending an ear and a shoulder. Jen knew very well that in spite of what most people were claiming, simply 'talking' could never completely solve a problem or ease a mind. But she wouldn't force all of that out of Raquel, not if the latter wasn't ready, or not willing, to talk. It was still hard.

Damn... I didn't even know she had a cousin... She never, never talked about her family anyways... But also... it's the first time I see her so worried. Looks like... bad. Very bad...

Jen didn't voice these thoughts though. instead, she simply did her best to smile, and told Raquel that if she needed to talk, or needed help... she could come to her. Whatever the day or hour. Whatever.

"Yeah... we'll.. have a chat or something..." It was sounding like another attempt at escaping, though, but Raquel's eyes, for a brief moment, flashed a whole other feeling, a feeling that convinced Jen even more of the necessity to stay nearby.

"Well, y'know I'm here if ya need ta talk. Or whatevah", the Fixer slightly smiled in turn, before they both dropped this conversation, knowing that it was neither the right place nor the right time.

Yet whatever would happen, she wouldn't let her Sis down.



((And that's another bump for you ))

[Ashval]

((BUMP - A certain somebody is back from moving ))

[Lauri]

Within a fading bit of notum, the fixer materialized once more from the grid. Fresh air assaulted her, and as she looked around, she slowly began to recognize the place. She hadn't been here much lately, and it always seemed foreign to her for some strange reason.

Old Athen.

At the Valor Eternal hang out..., she thought. That's where she was to meet him. Trotting swiftly throughout the city, she spotted the center hill. It rose up high and acted as a level platform for various terminals, a building, and a few people here and there. All that kept the city illuminated was the few city lamps and what heavenly points of light not yet hidden by the cloudy sky.

Strolling now, her eyes scanned the darkness. Vash might be in clan territory, but after the small incident at The Cup...

Her eyes spotted a few figures sitting near a tree atop the platform. Slowly, she walked up the rampway and over to them. It was easy enough to recognize Braedon, a pair of swords decorating his person. Vashti gave him a nod and smile as she approached and he greeted her in turn with his own smile.

"Braedon... thank you for letting me come by on such short notice. My apologies about missing you at The Cup a few days back, too.. 'cuz I had some.. business pop up." Business? Good enough.

"Of course, I imagine this has to do with a.. mutual friend of ours?"

She merely nodded and scooted closer to join him, sitting in the grass. Vash could be brash sometimes, but she politely let Braedon finish his current clan business before she rambled on about her.

He was happy to see her, in a way, because of their topic of discussion, and soon after his clan ordeals were over with, he settled nearer to speak with the fixer. Vash lowered her voice quickly however as she related the events of almost one week ago. Omni-Tek don' like their apartment buildings blown up it seems...

The young opifex spoke in whispers and low tones to this solitus she trusted so much now. She told him about what she'd found out about Raquel, about her being some loose end to a horrible project meant to absorb neutrals, hell, anyone that got in its path. Braedon's eyes grew wide, not at the horror of such a project, but at the horror of knowing Raquel was involved, perhaps a victim to it all.

Braedon was quite saddened by all of this news, angered too, Vash expected. He admitted to her that Raquel had.. somehow... affected him, and she knew in her heart somewhere that this man really cared about her ol' cousin's future.

Vash left him there with a sense that he'd confront Raquel. Someone had to make sure she wasn't burying herself in denial... the time for denial had past, it was time to face the facts and face the ugly truth.

[Lauri]

Time seemed to have stopped entirely as the agent studied his face. He sat to her right, close and heavily concerned.

"I seem to have this alarming pattern of spending all day worrying about you of late..."

She squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, looking away from him.

"I spoke to your cousin, Sez..."

She sighed.

"She told me...pretty much everything. And, that you were in a great deal of danger. I can't imagine your...employers...are very happy about you finding out what you have."

"I really can't tell you how they feel...", she gave in.

"And you? How do you feel?", his eyes scanned her face, compassion for her slipping across his features.

Frustration overtook her, and she pleaded with him on what he thought she should do. How could she move on so easily, stay so easily, what road would she take? Would she allow herself to spiral into despair, or would she throw her life away?

"They betrayed you, tried to strip you of your humanity. What should you do? Let us protect you, put that behind you, and reclaim what they took."

She fumbled in a sea of doubt, her brow knitted with confusion at his words. He simply took her hand in his, so gently that her mind barely registered it.

"Sez, what else will you do? Can you believe, truly, in Omni-Tek after all of this? You know me... what I'm about. I'm what you were supposed to hate, but you don't. Why?"

Raquel tried to push away the thoughts invading her head. Quietly, she growled at herself, at her predicament.

"Brae, I'm scared. For the first time, in a long time, I'm scared," she paused to gather her words, now scattered figments she fought to make real, ".. what will happen to me... to Vashti, now that she had to stick her nose into it."

Raquel curled her lip in annoyance as she mentioned her cousin. Braedon ignored it, however, and met her with a riposte. Vashti had found a "family". Apparently, a good one. Raquel had dared not even check her cousin's citizen status, her employment, anything, all for fear she'd put her in more danger. Eyes were everywhere.

"She deserves that, at least. I'm happy for her."

"So do you, Sez. You deserve much better than what you've had." How could he think such, she was an Omni agent, an Omni InternOps agent.. a killer, a thief, a liar. All for the Corporation.

The doubt clouding her face didn't stop the clanner. "I've seen what they couldn't take from you," he placed a hand on her chest, her heart, to emphasize, "and it rests in there. You are capable of loving, of healing."

The agent looked away, a long moment of silence growing between them. With realisation, almost like a frightened child, she looked up at him suddenly.

"You would, even give me that chance...?"

"I would. How could I not?"

She didn't know, perhaps she rather be rejected, hated.. it was easier to deal with. He reminded her that she couldn't hide forever, and shouldn't, that she would be protected from them, that she'd have a new family.

Smugly, she smirked, recalling the fantasies she'd had about making someone pay, anyone. But, in reality, she was no terrorist. She would never forget what the Corporation had given her, both bad and good.

"Listen...I know what it is I'm asking of you. I don't expect you to give me your answer now. I just...I had to offer."

She smiled at him, in thanks. Soon, the pair was studying the crowd of dancers in Reet's, and Raquel noticed again that life continued on.

It always did.

[_________NightJacked]

bump

[Ashval]

Braedon sat on the rooftop of a building in Old Athen...a favorite spot of his lately. The wind whipped his long hair about relentlessly as the Adventurer peered down at the small figures below. His gaze settled on the tree that had become known as the "VE tree"...and then on the org members who sat there talking and laughing together. Usually when he came here, he would look down and count his blessings that this family was so much a part of his life. He would find a few moments of solace and reflect on his good fortune.

This time, however...his thoughts were elsewhere...

Braedon's mind was filled with the image of an opifex agent affiliated with Omni-Tek. A woman who should be his enemy. Yet, a woman that had seen the evil that Omni-Tek was in its purest form. They had taken so much from her.

He wondered if Sezmra realized just how much she represented everything he and his family valued. Valor Eternal believed in second chances. They believed in looking at the individual over affiliation. In Sezmra's case, they would know the courage it would take for her to make the step he had placed in front of her.

Yes, they'd welcome her...of that he had no doubt.

Politics and beliefs aside, Braedon also knew quite well this was personal for him. Sezmra had...somehow...found a place in his heart. She had found a place in Kirasha's heart. And, this bizarre relationship had taken a dangerous twist. Sezmra's life was in danger. There was no question that she'd be hunted for what she now knew.

"Please...not her," he softly whispered to the wind, remembering the countless loved ones that had been taken from him.

Looking down, he checked his comm for a message from her...and realized he had done that more times than he could count since their meeting at Reet's.

Take the step Sezmra...they'll never hurt you again...

[Tussa]

[ I love your story, it's exciting and well written....but....please, please, please tell me you're not turning clanner, Sez... *cries*

I play a clanner myself, but what fun is there if all the good omni players change sides to clan? You play one helluva good omni chick... ]

Player of Lille

[Lauri]

The night sky. Points of light floated on blackness, like diamond shards trapped in coal. Her vision, even while blurred, could almost discern each one clearly. From time to time, she could even see a pattern to them, haunting constellations formed by her mind's eye.

She shifted in the seat of her yalm, almost slumping, in an effort to find a position where her neck wouldn't scream in pain. Still, her gaze was locked to the outside, to the sky, as her plane flew on its course. Her eyes threatened to drift shut, but they simply stared dreamily at the stars. As if drugged on a mixture of intoxication and emotion, she smiled.

Raquel smiled over many things at that moment. She smiled over her 'sis'... Jen. How they'd gotten drunk together in Rompa just a few hours ago, how they ended up just falling asleep in the booth. The opifex had woken up alone, a few strangers staring at her oddly. Jen must have gone wandering.

She smiled over memories.. of her department, her friends. Of him. Her smile wore a veil of sadness, then, as she remembered for a split second, that her department was closed now. She was jobless, indeed. The sadness involved much more than just losing her department... her friends. She lost him, too. Raquel's eyes watered at the thought, blurring her already drunken vision even more.

The agent merely closed her eyes now, and soon, sleep carried her down to a soothing blackness of her own. Memories, worries, hates, loves, followed her to this dark corner of her world. They chased her, loved her, caressed her with their tendrils of familiarity. Restless, she struggled with them, merely wanting rest. To be lost, alone, if just for a short while.

Deeper she fell into the darkness, floating rapidly to the bottom.. drowning in a well of... everything. Down. Down....

Suddenly, the world stopped. A noise. Where? Blindly, she sought it out, hands roaming. The beeping noise melted into muffled voices.

"Miss?"

Raquel blinked back to reality, and found she'd arrived in Rome Blue already. An attendant who approved her landing was gazing at her through the comm display.

"Miss... Svancara?"

She quickly shook off the grogginess as best she could and reached for the comm-light.

"Y..yes.. I'm here. I dozed off, pardon me."

"Quite alright ma'am. You may proceed."

She thanked him then set a course for her apartment as the yalmaha took flight again. Only a few minutes passed, and she was home. The skyscrapers of Rome Blue greeted her sorely, a combination of mockery and welcome. She parked her vehicle on a nearby pad at Highrise 3. After a long moment, just sitting there, she rubbed her face tiredly. Finally, she slipped from the plane, stumbling a bit as she predicted she would do. Whether or not she should be, she was certainly still quite under the influence.

After clicking a few buttons on her comm, she carefully ambled towards the Highrise lift. It took a great deal of strength to keep her footing, but she managed, stepping inside the lift, ready to be whisked to her apartment. Leaning against the rail, she gazed out the windowed lift, watching Rome Blue fall from beneath her, the skyscrapers suddenly didn't seem so tall, everything below shrinking.

A ding resounded in her ears and the lift stopped. Doors swooshed open and her next adventure began. Slowly, she crept from the lift, crisp night air filled her lungs. Time seemed to blur again, and she found herself standing in the foyer of her apartment. Oddly, she studied the small hallway, noticing how darkly lit it was, the small light blinking on the wall-comm unit.

She grumbled, knowing that Omni Admin was likely still flooding her with notices. With a deep breath, she made her way to the living area, fingertips occasionally brushing across pieces of furniture. The agent headed straight to her bedroom. As always, it was engulfed in darkness, the city landscape being the only illumination. Leaning against the doorway, she studied the room. Everything was so still, so quiet. Much like her life had been... before.