Episode 87
A lightly armored patrol cruiser rolls down the long, paved road between quiet businesses, the Perimeter Defense Force logos on the vehicle reflecting in the late morning sun. The car slows down to a stop outside a large, sparsely graveled lot. The older officer in the driver's seat narrows a stare over at the small, glassed walled building in the middle of the lot. Glancing over to his partner, he nods this head towards the location and laughs with derisive hints. "And, right THERE, is where you start when the reputable places are dead ends."
The woman's very long, fuzzy ears twitch towards the rusty metal sign in front of the chain link fence surrounding the property. She narrows her aquamarine eyes, reading the text, and sneers her upper lip, revealing a sharp canine. Grimacing her blue hinted, tan face, she uncertainly grumbles. "Trusty Tony's?! Are you sure about this? I've seen this fvalian's ads when filing out late night paperwork. I could smell the sleaze through the television screen."
Rolling his brown eyes, the older human man cracks a humored smirk, turns off the sedan, and releases his seat belt. "Yeah, I know... You could probably change the oil in this car by squeezing a picture of him into the spout."
He draws in a long breath and releases an unfortunate, accepting sigh. "If someone like what the Borderland Rangers and GAA described came into town, Tony either has dealt with him..."
Tugging at the corner of his mouth, he curls a brief frown. "Or knows who did."
Leveling an unconvinced gaze at the older officer, the younger woman furrows an examining brow, groaning. "Okay, Calvin. But... Do you honestly think he'll tell us anything? It's Trusty Tony."
Calvin laughs loudly, opening his car door, swings his legs out, and stands up next to the squad car. "Ah, don't worry about it, Treevianna. Trusty Tony and I go back. He doesn't give all the details. But, he gives just enough information to speed up our investigations. It's a bit of a balancing act with him."
Treevianna's long, pointed fuzzy ears droop, and she shakes her head of long, braided multi-color hair. Slipping out of her side of the sedan, she brushes off her plain clothes and starts affixing her Perimeter Defense Force badge at her waist. Calvin walks around the front of the vehicle, shakes his head at Treevianna, and steps towards the gateway in the fence. He motions subtly towards the displayed badge. "Keep the badge ready, but not out. If it's out, he'll go on the defensive."
Nodding slowly, Treevianna slips her badge wallet into her pants pocket, tightens the belt around her lithe figure, and rushes up next to Calvin. Her long ear twitching, and she glances down at Calvin's leg. "It sounds like that bearing is getting worse."
Calvin frowns his bearded face, drawing in a long breath, and grumbles out. "Yeah. I'm just going to get a whole new leg. This old thing has been rebuilt over three times, piece by piece, over the years. And... The Perimeter Health Department really would like me to get a new one. It's getting hard for them to find people to work on it and parts that don't need to be custom ordered."
Shaking her head, she sighs with a smile and muses wistfully. "That old cybernetic leg of yours has been the department mascot for years. Still won't forget when you detached it and dropped it on the table as a bet for the department card game."
The duo steps across the intermittent patches of gravel upon the mix of sand and dirt in the large lot. Calvin pulls a wide grin on his aged and tanned face, puffing up chest, and chuckles. "Glad I won that hand, too. Despite its future retirement, we'll still have it around for our fun."
He glances over with an eager smile. "Anyway, I'm saving up for a NICE realistic bionic like Lady Rhian's."
A spark of intrigue lights up Treevianna's eyes, and she glances over at Calvin with a delighted smirk. "Oh, THOSE are NICE. So realistic you can barely-"
Blinking blankly for a moment, she mentally picks through the last few seconds and furrows her brow in surprise. "Like Lady Rhian's?! Wait! She has a bionic limb? Which one?"
Calvin laughs lightly and grips hold of the glass door to the small building of window walls. "Her left forearm. You should see her shell pecans. Fuckin' humbling."
Treevianna follows behind Calvin through the doorway and surveys the age upon the furniture and interior, keeping next to Calvin. Strutting up to the counter, Calvin rests his muscled arms on the top. He leans his weight forward and eyes the area with a mischievous smirk. Spotting the bell on the counter top, he slides it over under his hand and pats out a jingle. "Trusty Tony's, trade your old way, and for a new ride today."
From behind a sun damaged, old cheap wooden door, sounds of activity muffle out. The door opens slowly. An older fvalian man steps out, straightening out his cheap business attire, and notices Calvin. Pulling a wide, chipped fang smile at the older man at the counter, Trusty Tony enthusiastically greets Calvin and stands pridefully across. "Ah! Calvin. That was a good ad run. Might have to bring that one back soon."
He narrows a curious gaze upon Calvin and combs his sharp claws through his graying, slicked back hair. "Am I so lucky today that I might have YOU as a proper customer? You've always been such a DEDICATED BROWSER of my wares."
Straightening the posture of his large frame, Calvin lifts a humored eyebrow at Tony and slowly shakes his head with a smirk. "Not today. Maybe after I get my new leg, we'll see what the money situation looks like."
Nodding respectfully, Tony maintains an entrepreneurial grin and eases out a slight sigh. "As long as the new leg keeps you coming here, I'll keep hoping."
He slides his gaze over to Treevianna, perks an intrigued eyebrow, and bows politely. "Oh. Where are my manners? I am Trusty Tony. And, I am pleased that Calvin has brought you here to my fine business. What is your name?"
Treevianna stiffens her stance, slows the wags of her long, short-haired tail, and acknowledges the greeting. "Treevianna."
Smiling with a chuckle, Tony narrows an inquisitive stare. "A very lovely name, matching a very lovely lady."
He eyes Calvin briefly, darts his gaze around the room, and signals for the two plain clothes officers to follow. "Let's tour the lot. You might find something you might like."
Leading the duo out the back doors into the sand speckled, huge back lot, Tony gives a general tour and motions towards different vehicles. Near the mechanic shop at the corner of the property, Treevianna spots a green sedan on a lift inside a garage bay. She subtly taps Calvin on the shoulder and points him towards the vehicle, whispering. "I think that might be it."
Calvin nods in agreement and catches a brief glimpse of Tony's furry ear flicking back forward. Donning a sly smirk, he steps up to the side of Tony and points over to the green sedan on the lift. "That's an interesting car right there. When did you manage to get that nice ride?"
Tony's exterior cools, and he faintly stiffens his posture. "About three weeks ago. It was sold to me."
Narrowing an examining stare upon Tony, Calvin walks near the green sedan and studies the vehicle from a distance, twists his mouth in contemplation. He squints his eyes at the back window and trunk and frowns slightly at the intact glass and untouched metal surface. Tony eases behind the two, summoning up an uneasy smile, and observes. "Something you might be interested in?"
Calvin nods, scratching his bearded chin, and hums thoughtfully. "Maybe. It's similar to something I've been looking for."
Glancing down at her aetherphone, Treevianna quickly reads through a paragraph of description text and focuses her hard stare upon the back end of the car. Sniffing the air, she eyes the edges of the very clean back window and concentrates a comparing gaze between the trunk lid and surrounding body panels. Tony uncomfortably taps the claw tips of his hands together and politely inquires at Calvin. "So... Are you more interested in the vehicle, specifically?"
Calvin calmly elaborates, faintly chuckling. "No. Not really. Just curious about WHO would drive such a vehicle to Perimeter."
Hints of relief spreads through Tony, and he nods in agreement. "Yes. Certainly quandary. But still... A customer's business is their own."
Calvin nods respectfully. Treevianna searches her mind, furrowing her brow at the conversation, and questions Tony. "Did you have to do any work on this car?"
Pausing a moment, Tony cracks a wide, humored grin and chuckles lightly. "Well. Yes. I couldn't very well sell such a fine vehicle with blemishes on the backside. Things like HOLES are very unsightly even with the more understanding clients in Perimeter."
Glances over to Treevianna, a proud smirk appears on Calvin's face. He lifts an inquisitive eyebrow towards Tony. "You mind if we get a closer look at this fine vehicle? You'll probably sell it before I get a chance to buy it, but I'd like to get a feel for it."
Tony presents a prideful, chipped fang grin, combs back his slicked back hair, and laughs out his amusement. "Of course! Let me go in and get the key to unlock the lift."
Tony departs towards the central office, and Treevianna leans close to Calvin, sneaking a hushed tone. "So... What's the next step? Seizing the vehicle will take some legal paperwork..."
Calvin shakes his head, smiling satisfied. "Won't be needed. We need to figure out where this Isaac guy went. This vehicle just confirms he was here."
He tilts his head towards the road across the lot. "And, this long road only has two main outlets. Both happen to have?"
Treevianna thinks briefly and grins slyly. "Traffic cameras."
At the dining table, Aristespha, Sotalia, Bach, Dretphi, and Cideeda sit around a collection of cards, tiles, tokens, and chits. With a smug, toothy grin, Cideeda repeatedly stacks her collection of golden tokens between her claw tips and greedily eyes the assets in front of Aristespha, Sotalia, Bach, and Dretphi. Propping her head up with an arm on the tabletop, she flutters her emerald green eyes open,and flicks her furry ears between the other players. "Well, well, well... Look at all these wonderful things that require so much money to maintain. I'm sure someone might like a loan with a FAIR interest rate and the MANDATORY non-aggression pact."
Dretphi narrows her cool glare upon Cideeda and rearranges her military tokens neatly, silently waiting. Bach uneasily sorts the cards in hand, glancing down at the text upon different cardboard tiles, and rehearses through different scenarios via moving chits in front of him. Cideeda's gaze settles upon Bach, and he uncertainly meets her plotting stare. Glances between Dretphi, Sotalia, and Aristespha, he points over to Aristespha with a worried tone. "Go bother Aristespha, she's got all the research going. I'm just finally getting this process working right."
Aristespha flashes a frustrated glare towards Bach, rolls her violet eyes, and scrunches up nose. "Oh. Please. You have actually got something over there in that mess. I am barely able to get the funding to get these projects off the ground..."
Slowly pivots her head, she narrows her sarcastic glower towards Cideeda, dismissively snorting. "Because SOMEONE got lucky and hoarded every money producing tile in the game."
Cideeda playful shrugs off the guilt with toothy grin. Seconds later, she narrows a suspicious stare towards Sotalia and sternly prompts. "Any more event cards you need to play?"
Sotalia finishes peeking at the top few cards of the deck, plucks a card from her hand, and rearranges the collection face down on top. Sliding the pile back to the center of the table, she smiles contentedly and eases back into her chair. "OH. I'm done. It's your turn Aristespha."
Sebastian hovers next to Aristespha, watching her quietly grumble over cards, and cranes his ethereal form over, gazing at her. "Uh, it's your turn, dear."
Aristespha glances up from studying a combination of tiles, chits, token, and cards in front of her, grimaces with a sharp breath through her teeth, and hisses out a sigh. "I know, Sebastian. Let's see the event card."
She reaches her arm over to the deck of face down cards, plucks one off, and reads it. Sebastian's ethereal form smirks, and he playfully narrates. "She's drawn the card. She has read it. What will the event for her be?"
Perking a surprised brow, Aristespha places the card down on the table, sighing out her relief, and picks up a small stack of golden tokens from the center reserve. "Small research grant. Not a lot of gold, BUT... That should pay off a few projects."
Quickly sorting through her cardboard accounting, Aristespha finishes up her turn, indicating the end to Cideeda. "Your turn."
Cideeda slowly pulls a card off the top with a confident smile. Her emerald green eyes sift through the text. Furrowing her brow, she lifts her stare up at Sotalia and cocks her head curiously to the side. She lays the card down and reaches back out towards the deck of cards, her confidence waning into uncertainty. "It comes in threes. Draw three more event cards and use them immediately in the order drawn..."
Blinking at a fresh memory, Sebastian coasts over behind Sotalia. With a tightly hidden smile, Sotalia fans out her cards for Sebastian's curiosity. Sebastian adopts a similarly humored expression, and the two wait in growing anticipation. Cideeda plucks the top card off the deck, studies the text, and sharply frowns into a twisting grit of her teeth. "Privateers Attack... Any player may sacrifice military units to attack you and capture gold equal to the difference between attacker and defender power..."
In the silence hanging from Cideeda, Dretphi perks an intrigued eyebrow, leaning closer, and attentively listens, expectantly. Cideeda draws in a breath, sighs with tinges of pain, and recites. "This attack is... NOT... affected by non-aggression pacts..."
Blinking at the reveal, Dretphi promptly glances down, her platinum blonde braids sliding free, and examines her ordered units. She starts to slide the entirety of her units over to Cideeda. With wide eyes, Cideeda grimaces and sputters out a protest. "Hold up! Um... You still NEED to keep enough to defend yourself from everyone else. Wouldn't want to leave yourself defenseless. right?"
Dretphi studies the desperate smile upon Cideeda's light brown face, ponders a moment, and nods in agreement, a hint of smirk creeping out. She compares the military units in front of Bach, Sotalia, and Aristespha, slides off a modest portion from the martial mass in front of her, and moves the rest towards Cideeda. Minutes of dice roll barrages and card flipping later, Cideeda finishes sliding over a few stacks of gold tokens over to Dretphi, easing uncomfortably into her chair, a few irritated tremors in her tail wagging. Sebastian hovers back down to the side of the table, examines the exchange, and nods. "Well... That was a fight. Now... You still have two more cards to draw."
Contorting the grimace on her light brown face, Cideeda glares at the event deck, a soft growl rumbling under her breath. She reluctantly draws another card and stares down at the title text. Her tail swiftly frays and fluffs out. Her stare widens. And, she grits her sharp teeth. She slaps the card face down on the table, hisses in a gulp of air, and forces out an uneasy sigh. "So... I'd REALLY like to take a quick break... To think what I need to do... Please?"
Sebastian glances between the rest of the group. With no objections, the team leaves the table for the bathroom, fridge, and couch. Minutes later, Bach, Aristespha, and Sotalia settle near the television. In between channel flipping spree, Bach leans over and whispers to Sotalia. "The hell did you do?"
Smiling slyly, Sotalia tosses back her fiery orange, wavy hair, and giggles to herself. "What the card said. Rearrange the top three cards of the deck, in addition to one of your own."
Bach grimaces at the thought and stops at a channel with a familiar show on the screen. "Oh yeah. It is Friday. I think this is the latest episode of The Next Adventurers of Nexus. I wonder how their mission went-"
The eerily recognizable forest seizes the full attention of Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia. The trio watching, Sebastian drifts over curiously, glancing over at the television, and freezes. Dretphi finishes preparing her snacks, deposits the plate at the dining table, and notices the looming discomfort across the room. The audio of the events breaks through the stunned silence surrounding the screen. Dretphi walks over and stares at the screen. Appearing from the hallway archway, Cideeda peeks at the events transpiring on the show and remains silent.
The team settles uneasily around television, staring at the immediate familiarity of the landscape, architecture, and the huge clearing surrounded by old, giant trees. Frowns appear on faces, and cringes briefly wince out in between fits of dismay and worry. Aristespha pulls out her aetherphone, quickly taps up a message, and waits. Glancing over at Aristespha, Sotalia finds her phone and types out a message to another recipient. Attention briefly shifts away from the events on the screen, and alert chimes ring out from both Aristespha and Sotalia's phones. Quickly reading through the responses, both nod reassuring smiles. A wave of relief deflates the tension in the room. During a cliffhanger commercial break, Sotalia pushes out a long sigh and flutters her golden eyes. "Tassilda said they're all okay. It was absolutely insane, but they pulled through."
Aristespha nods and blinks hard. "Deedri apologized for not contacting me sooner. But, she just finally got time to process it herself. She... thanked me for the spirit guide advice. Said it helped them stay safe."
Sebastian smiles comfortingly at Aristespha. From commercial break, the show drops back into the action. Rolling through the futile attempts from Veevi, clips showcase the rest of the Flames of Phoenix coordinating the efforts into a triumphant victory. The action wanes, and another commercial break slips in. The team breaks free from the hold of the television, and they migrate back to the tabletop. Gritting her teeth, Cideeda droops her furry ears and settles into her seat. "I'm glad they're okay. Gods. Appaland really fucked that place up."
Bach shudders at a thought in his mind. "Yeah... I'm glad we got that girl out of there. And, I hope all those others got clear."
Twisting his mouth uncomfortably, he manages a smile for a snack offering from Dretphi. Sebastian sighs with a ghostly reverb and dons a brighter smile. "Well. The team is okay. When things are better for all of us, we need to invite them to something."
Sotalia lifts a curious brow at Sebastian, crossing her arms. "Please tell me that doesn't include Veevi."
Squelching an ethereal snort, Sebastian shakes his head with a laugh. "HELL, NO. I'm nice. Not crazy."
Cideeda flexes her clawed fingers upon the table, rolling her shoulders into a stretch, and prepares herself. "Okay. Back to the game. Now, I'm supposed to draw all three of the cards first. So, before I do this one, let me see-"
Swiftly yanking the card off the top of the deck, she grits her teeth, grimacing in anticipation, and eyes the card. Cideeda's emerald green eyes spring wide open, and her tail frays out, wagging fast and erratically. Furiously plopping the card upon the table, she growls in frustration. Catching a glimpse of the title text, Sotalia struggles to contain her devilish glee. Her snorts break through into cackles of laughter, and she maniacally flexes her long, thick, black nailed fingers. "OH! That's too perfect! I didn't know what that card was going to be, but it turned out... SO GOOD."
Pointing a claw tip at Sotalia, Cideeda motions down at the collection of four drawn cards in front of her, her furry ears drawing back. "SOTALIA?! WHAT. THE. FUCK?! Which one of these is YOUR card?!"
Three figures slink away from an old van and into the brush along the side of the road. Each attempts some semblance of stealth to middling degrees of success in the dark. The trio approach a large metal hangar near a long brick house, the leader peeking his head above the clipped top of a large shrub. Marcus shakes off a few leaves in his slicked back hair and glances back at the young, dark gray skinned woman and emin man with chipped horns behind him. "Okay... This HAS to be the place. Big open area and that huge building, right around where we keep seeing the dragon drop altitude."
Lifting her dark knit cap covered head out of hiding, Cind peers out, glancing over to Marcus with her bright blue eyes. "That makes sense. And, this is one of the few houses on this road. So, what's the plan?"
She tucks a few stray braids of her red hair back under her hat and waits expectantly. Kell scratches his shaggy beard thoughtfully. He casually plucks off a spider from one of his horns and places it down on a tree trunk nearby. With a growing series of nods, a goofy smile appears on his face, and he narrows his purple on black eyes at Marcus. "Yeah... Shouldn't be too hard to get into that place. If they're expecting to keep a dragon that big in it, they probably don't worry about the small doors or windows."
Contorting his face contemplatively, Marcus raises his hand, signaling the other two. "Follow me. Let's check those doors and windows, first."
Leading the trio, Marcus navigates through the remaining brush, Cind and Kell filing behind. They keep a low profile, approaching the hangar at the end of the makeshift dirt runway near the long brick house. The small team investigates the side door carefully, finding no access. They quietly walk to a window and fail to get it to open from the outside. Checking around the back side of the large metal structure, they spot a shallow gravel ramp leading up to a garage door. Combining their efforts, the three strain to hoist up the gate. Seconds later, each surrenders to the locked entryway. Panting out his mild frustration, Marcus shakes his head. "Okay. Alright... So... They are pretty thorough with locking everything. Cind, you might have to do some of your magic on the locks."
Cind nods uneasily and sighs reluctantly. "Simple cage doors are one thing. These look like decent locks. I might have to try to cut them open."
Spacing out a moment, Kell scratches a notch in one of his horns, humming. "Hey, maybe... we should try, like, the big door in the front?"
Marcus narrows an incredulous stare at Kell and cocks his head. "I... Uh... I guess? We didn't try it... But, if they've locked everything else..."
Shrugging her shoulders in her black turtleneck shirt, Cind glances over hopefully. "It's worth checking. I mean, everything else about this dragon has been a little off."
Stepping forward around the corner to the side of the building, Marcus slinks down low and motions for the rest of the team to follow, keeping a low voice. "Sure. At least, we can say we tried... But..."
He grimaces and shakes his head. "Really?"
The trio sneak around the side, dart quickly around the corner, and scurry to the front of the tall, wide hangar door sections. Marcus quickly surveys the front, steps up to the middle divide, and grabs hold of a handle. He glances over to Cind and Kell, shrugs his shoulders, and pulls. The door segment slides effortlessly to the side, rolling smoothly along a metal track above and supportive wheels below. Kell grabs the other half of the setup, gliding it along. Remaining in the middle of the gateway, Cind's bright blue eyes widen. A mix of exterior night lamps and faint moonlight cast upon the blue and black scales of a particularly large dragon. Lagi's maw opens into a quiet yawn, and he stirs upon a bed of blankets and bulk cloth. The dim moonlight creeps upon his face, and he curls his neck away, tucking his head under an arm and wing.
Cind's initial worry fades, and she watches Lagi faintly snore, whispering towards Marcus. "Aww... He's asleep."
Cracking a smirk, Marcus puffs up his chest and sighs. "Well. I guess we're going to have to wake him up. You have the berries?"
Slipping off a worn, kitsch-adorned backpack, Cind searches through the contents and retrieves a burlap sack with spots of purple staining. "Yes. I'll wake him up and lead him out."
Kell walks up next to Marcus, squinting, and cranes his head around. Inspecting the interior of the hangar, he lifts a questioning eyebrow at Marcus. "Man... I don't know. There's nothing here that looks like he's being restrained or even locked up. Like, a lot of places usually have at least a collar and chains. I don't see any of that here."
Marcus crosses his arms, humming to himself, and grumbles. "I don't know. Maybe he's just been so indoctrinated that he doesn't know anything better yet."
Scratching his beard, Kell nods a little, frowning with a sigh. "Yeah. I could see that. That's pretty rough to be raised to believe he can't leave and all that."
Cind tiptoes near the sleeping Lagi and stops meters away, opening up the burlap sack. Swinging the bag side to the side, she fans the surrounding air around and towards the slumbering dragon. Moments later, Lagi's nostrils flare open, and he sniffs the aroma into his nose. His head sluggishly traces the scent back. His consciousness catches up with the rest of him, and he drowsily opens his bright green eyes and stares at Cind and the bag. Cind tenses up. Lagi's awareness grows, and he focuses his attention upon her. Studying her for a moment, he sniffs the air, wandering his gaze back to the sack of berries, and crawls forward, stretching his open maw towards the bag. Cind steps back, motioning with her other hand, and encourages Lagi. "Come on. Follow me. And, I'll give you this whole bag of berries."
Groggily, Lagi crawls up into a slow walk and follows Cind's backpedaling through the hangar doorway. Peeking his head out, Lagi blinks out enough sleep from his eyes and notices Kell, AND Marcus. Narrowing a halfhearted stare upon Marcus, a low growl reverberates from Lagi's throat. Cind grits her teeth briefly, reaches into the bag, and pulls out a handful of berries. "Hey! Here you go. You've done really good so far."
Lagi diverts over to the distracting offering and lowers his open maw in anticipation. Kell pats the stiffly postured Marcus on the back. "It's okay, man. Probably just a little defensive from last time. I'm sure he'll warm up to us."
Cind tosses a handful of berries into Lagi's mouth and watches the dragon enjoy the brief snack. Purring out softly, Lagi munches on the treat and sneakily eyes the burlap sack. Cind glances over towards Marcus and Kell with a smile wide on her face. "I think we just need to take it slow and-"
In a sudden blur of motion, Lagi leans his head out towards the bag, wraps tongue around the sack, and yanks it clear from Cind's grasp. Pausing a moment, he chirps appreciatively at Cind and swiftly retreats back into the hangar. He lifts up on his hind quarters and leans with a clawed hand out to one section of the sliding doors. He guides the panel along and repeats the same motions on the other side panel. The trio watch dumbfounded, and the hangar doors close shut, a mechanical clank sounding out.
Marcus, Cind, and Kell blink blankly, gawking in utter bewilderment. Marcus steps forward, grabs hold of the door handles, and pulls. The doors do not move. Turning away from the doors, he stares in a near daze at Cind and Kell. "He... Locked the doors."
The trio exchange confused gazes, furrowing brows and grimacing dumbfounded. Seconds later, Marcus plods off towards the van in defeat, Cind and Kell offering comforting words along the trip back.
Gerald narrows his glare at the television from the couch in the clutter strewn living room. He plucks a beer can off a stack of equipment cases and pours the last remnants into his mouth. With an over arm fling, he tosses the can across the room into a large, trash filled garbage can and belches loudly. Lifting the remote off the equipment covered coffee table, he aims it at the screen. The channels flip on the screen through a wasteland of entertainment. Samantha slowly steps down the stairs, leaning down to peek under the ceiling join, and aims her voice to her phone. "I found him, Howie. But, I don't think he's in a very talkative mood... Right now..."
Squinting his dark brown eyes at Samantha, Gerald concentrates the brunt of his attention at the aetherphone in her hand. "OH. Hi, HOWIE."
A brief swell of silence later, and Howard sounds out over the speakerphone with a reluctant tinge. "Oh gods... He's calling me Howie... He's not happy..."
Rolling his eyes with a disgusted sneer, Gerald growls out his boiling irritation and rips another fresh beer from a cardboard case. "OH! What brilliant fucking insight gave you THAT idea? You have so MANY possible things to choose from. The murder drone, the night running for our lives, the creepy, blood-spattered ruins... Or, the pink bitch nearly taking MY head off."
Samantha freezes in place, a wave of tension stiffening her, and glances down at her phone. A long breath distantly sounds out from the other side of the call, and an uneasy sigh emanates from Howard. "Yeah... First... I'm glad everyone is okay. REALLY. I am. Second. I just thought it would be a simple retrieval mission. Monsters and sites of bloody battles were NOT part of that plan."
A sharp cracking hiss echoes into the large living room from Gerald's beer can, and he quaffs defiantly. Samantha slowly steps down to the landing of the staircase and slowly approaches the couch Gerald rests upon. "We know that, Howie. We're all on edge at the moment. And, a lot of us are not in the mood to record that much."
Groaning through the speakerphone, Howard takes in a deep, audible breath, and relays an understanding tone. "I get it. I was thinking of an easy episode or two. Domestic stuff, aftermath, and that kind of thing. Maybe a small local mission doing real routine stuff. Or, just a short notice appearance nearby."
Samantha grits her teeth, thinking through tinges of worry. "An appearance? We usually need more time to prep those. But... We might be able to do something..."
From the other end of the call, Howard ponders out loud. "Now, the criminal alter ego poll results came back, and we got some interesting info from Modoran's fan club. There might be something we can arrange. But, we'll have to see."
Gerald rolls his eyes, flipping through a few more channels, and tips back his beer. "Whatever you say. But, I'm using the telephoto lens for that confrontation. I'm NOT getting close to that shit show."
Donning a bright smile, Samantha leans forward, tilting her head of shoulder-length brown hair to intercept Gerald's stare, and nicely begs. "Um, I REALLY need you to coordinate recording reactions this afternoon when we release those poll results."
She twists her mouth, uncomfortably squirms, and sighs sadly, gazing at Gerald with her hazel eyes. "No one is listening to Howie... Or me... for that matter right now."
Narrowing stern glare at Samantha, Gerald tries to maintain the intensity upon her. Seconds later, his resolve weakens from growing apathy, and he groans demandingly. "FINE. AND, that's all we're doing today. Nothing extra. We got a movie night planned tonight, and we ain't skipping it."
Howard's voice rises appreciatively from Samantha's phone. "Thank you, Gerald!"
Snorting out his cooling anger, Gerald growls out. "Go fuck a hornet's nest, HOWIE."
With a loud sigh, Howard bargains, pleading for peace. "Would a gracious expense account authorization for your movie night even things out?"
Gerald searches his thoughts, mulls over the possibilities, and gradually nods with a tentative smirk towards Samantha. "A very good start... Howard."
A wave of relief radiates out from Samantha's phone, and Howard eases out a long breath. "Good. I'll arrange for some easy episodes for you all. Before I go, anything interesting happen lately?"
Samantha blinks, recent memory jumping to the front of her mind. "Yes, actually. One team was following Deedri, who somehow lost them."
Nodding, Gerald remembers out loud. "Yeah... And then they chased after one of Modoran's phantoms going the opposite direction."
A long pause later, a slow chuckle resonates from the speakerphone, and Howard's amusement fills his voice. "SO... Deedri AND Modoran were off in the forest together? Oh... THAT is... INTERESTING. Please, keep an eye on them. I think we might have something happening now, but I want a little confirming evidence."
Widening his stance upon the sunlit grass, behind the two story house, Modoran rolls his shoulders and tightens his grip around the finely crafted bow. Raising the bow up, he takes aim at a large shrub towards the corner of the property, drawing the tight, strong string back, and holds the weapon at the ready. Moments later, he carefully eases the bowstring forward and adjusts his handling of the bow. Smiling warmly at Modoran, Deedri calls out to him from her seat at the patio table. "Learn anything else about it?"
Resting his arms at his sides, Modoran glances over his shoulder with a happy smirk and shrugs. "Maybe. It is REALLY well made. I am trying to figure out who may have made it. I swear I have used something similar before, but I cannot remember where."
Tassilda slides her observant light blue on black eyes between Deedri and Modoran, blinks at a chime from her aetherphone, and taps through a prompt. Sorting through the menus, she uses a link, opening an aethernet site, and a sly smile grows. "Well... They've released the results of that what our criminal alter egos would be poll."
Pulling her attention away from watching Modoran, Deedri blinks back to awareness, picks up her aetherphone off the table top, and explores a similar alert. "Oh, yeah. Um, let me get there. I'm actually kind of curious."
Modoran directs his voice back towards Tassilda and Deedri sitting at the metal mesh patio table and nocks a wooden practice arrow. "What are the results?"
Tassilda taps her long, thick black nails on the screen to a result graph and brushes a lock of her raven black hair over her spiraling horn, lifting an intrigued eyebrow. "Well. First is Chad. Bank Heist Leader. That actually makes some sense. And, people really think Trakenthin would be some kind of hitman?"
Deedri furrows her brow, frowning. "Oh. He's too nice for that."
Nodding in agreement, Tassilda scrolls the listing up and continues reading. "I know. But, I guess no one thought about putting up a librarian barbarian option. OH. Here I am..."
She furrows her gray brow and narrows her stare. "Blackmailer and Extortioner?!"
Twisting her mouth into a defiant scrunch of her nose, she mulls over the concept, the distaste waning over the seconds, and sighs. "Well. Gods. I guess I have to admit it's more likely than not."
Deedri's furry, tufted ears droop, and she grits her teeth with an indignant grumble. "Illegal medical experimenter?! These results make it sound like I'm some kind of mad mage."
Covering a reflexive snort, Tassilda draws a wide, evil grin across her face, giggling. "OH. I think we can agree on the next one. Veevi... Prostitute. Not even a Mistress or Madam."
Biting her lower lip and cocking her head to the side, Deedri slowly nods and agrees with the sentiment. Modoran steadies his footing, readies the bow, and levels his aim towards the overgrown section at the corner of the plot. He stretches his arms, draws the practice arrow back, and feels out the bow, calling back with a smirk. "Okay. I got to know now. What are they saying about me?"
Tassilda's eyes read the entry, and she tilts her head to the side, perks up an intrigued eyebrow. "Huh. Not quite what I thought it would be. But, I could see it..."
She glances over at Modoran and recites. "Artifact Thief."
Deedri's auburn eyes spring wide open, Modoran briefly startles, and the bow launches the arrow on a high, long trajectory towards a ranch style house. The nonchalant exterior dissipating quickly on Modoran, he grits his teeth, watching the arrow sail away towards a ranch style house. "Shit!"
He quickly rushes off, hurdles over an overgrowth covered fence, and disappears in a sprint into the woods. Tassilda snickers at Modoran's folly, and Deedri covers her mouth with her hands in surprise. The two sit quietly a moment and exchange sympathetic glances. Tassilda leans over the patio table top, propping her arm up, and guides a whisper with her hand. "So... What's happened between you and..."
Spooking her a moment, Deedri darts her eyes around and subtly leads Tassilda's attention towards a camera crew with recording equipment pointed at them. She draws in a careful breath, donning a concerned grimace, and purposefully projects her voice slightly louder. "Yes, Tassilda, that could be muscle strain in your forearm. Why don't we go upstairs to my room, and I'll examine it closer?"
Tassilda blinks, darts her eyes over to the crew, and massages her wrist, sliding back in her chair. "Yes. Let's do that. Gods. I think I may have strained it during our escape and stumbling through the woods. Better safe than sorry."
The two quickly depart the back yard and venture into the two-story house through the sliding glass door, a few members of the recording team watching suspiciously. Veevi's irate shriek muffles out from an upstairs window. "PROSTITUTE?!" Comparative apathy wins out, and the record crews rush towards the fresh drama.
A patch of brush parts and reforms. Boot indentations form one after another into the grass plot on the side of the ranch style house. The lengthening path leads towards a wooden practice arrow laying on the dirt. A section of the lawn flattens out, and the arrow rises up from the ground with a transparent shimmer wrapped around the shaft. A disembodied sigh of relief escapes, and faint distortions outline a transparent figure kneeling, and holding the arrow. A loud hem startles the man.
Narrowing her violet glowing eyes, Aristespha crosses her arms, lifting her chin sternly. "Why, hello. I guess that is your arrow I heard hitting the roof."
Modoran stands up into a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders and smiles awkwardly, the transparent coating around him fades away. "Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. Testing out a new bow. And, it turns out it is a little more powerful than I expected."
He chuckles lightly and sighs. "Also, I do apologize for sneaking around. But, if I had known, I would have called and asked you to throw the arrow back over."
Cracking a mildly amused smirk, Aristespha steps forward towards Modoran and trains her curious stare to the finely crafted bow slung on his back. "You are right. That bow is an odd thing for you to have found."
Modoran slides the bow free, holds it with both hands, and shows it to Aristespha. "That it is. I can not shake the feeling I have used something similar before. But... THIS feels different. Really different."
He cracks a sly smile, quirking an eyebrow, and levels an intrigued gaze at Aristespha. "You are probably the best person around here to ask about it, Lady Aristespha."
Rolling her eyes at the honorific, Aristespha shakes her head and examines the bow closer. "Truthfully, my skills are not what they used to be for certain. But... I have learned far more about history and magic over the years, since my archery competition days."
She squints her violet glowing eyes and lifts the bow out of Modoran's hands, cocking her head of long silvery blue hair. Twisting her perplexing face, she furrows a puzzled brow at the finely crafted weapon and ponders out loud. "This IS a strange thing to have found, especially out there. Even the physical construction is... Odd. And how the enchantment was integrated..."
Overtaken by interest, she deftly handles the bow, moves into a well rehearsed stance, and draws the string back into a ready position. She showcases well aged expertise and performs a number of practice maneuvers with drilled ease, contemplating how the bow handles with each step. Modoran cracks a smile, crossing his arms, and laughs amused. "Well. I think you could match your old records, if you wanted to. Probably, even break them."
Aristespha halts her practice motions, contorting her mouth into a grimace, and returns the bow to Modoran. "Maybe. But, my competition years are long done. I will admit, it was fun when I was much younger. Do not quite have that desire anymore."
Modoran shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly and inspects the bow closer. "Fair enough. But, you are more than welcome to just fire it for fun, if you want."
Scratching his head of grayish white hair, he tugs at the corner of his mouth and sighs hopefully. "So, you have any idea what the deal with it is? There is SOMETHING more to this thing."
Aristespha blinks out the glow of her eyes and rests her hands on her hips, nodding. "Yes. I have a few possible theories about it. But... There is a question you can answer for me, first. It is something I have been curious about."
Modoran receptively awaits. A curious smirk cracks from the corner of Aristespha's mouth, and she narrows an inquisitive stare upon Modoran. "Do you actually have any real lineage to the Dark Evuukians... Or did you say that for show drama?"
Blinking at the prompt, Modoran snorts into a chuckle and averts his eyes. "Well. Yes AND no. My ancestors were the people that got out when everyone that started believing that crap moved in. So, from that area? Yes."
He recites an elaborate flavor of Evuukian. Aristespha widens her intrigued gaze, nodding understandingly. "I have not run into many native speakers of that dialect."
Modoran bows playfully and wrestles a grimace upon his dusky bluish gray face. "Now... As for being part of that crazy cult? NO. My ancestors helped get other people out before it got REALLY bad around that area."
Furrowing her ivory brow contemplatively, Aristespha searches her mind. "That is right... There were a few exodus waves before the Dark Evuukians secured their power in that region. Interesting."
She shifts her focus towards the bow in Modoran's hand, drawing in a long breath, and grits her teeth uncomfortably. "Before I go into too much detail about that bow... I really need to tell you what I know about those ruins you found in that forest."
Modoran settles his full attention upon Aristespha, expectant. "Yeah. What was going on there?"
Captain Hackle leans back into a simple office chair and stares at the monitor on the desk, status indicators showing the progress of a call connection. Settling into the utilitarian seat, Captain Hackle adjusts his posture and allows his tall, thin frame to find a comfortable position. The screen flickers, and a pixelated video plays through fits of distortion. Furrowing his brow, Hackle narrows his brown-eyed gaze at the image of Captain Hays, smirking underneath his graying mustache. "Hays."
Nodding his wide brimmed hat, Captain Hays returns a similar greeting with a twist of his bearded mouth. "Hackle."
Hackle glances around the small office space and perks a humored eyebrow at the screen. "I got your message. Apologize about the delay, but it took a while to find a secure enough room for this call."
Nodding understandingly, Hays angles his camera's view slightly, showcasing the surrounding wilderness, and shrugs his shoulders. "Not a problem. Took my team a while to find a place where I could get a decent signal."
Squinting at the video fidelity increasing slightly, Hackle watches the reddish purple sky of a finishing sunset in between the framing of two forest sections. With a jealous hint, he smiles and sighs longingly. "Very nice. Send me pictures, if you could. Gods. It's been a while since I've had the luxury to observe a peaceful sunset."
Hays shifts the aim of the camera back to him and draws in a breath. "Well, I'll cut to the chase, then we can both enjoy the view. Isaac was definitely in Perimeter. Perimeter Defense Force investigators located his green sedan."
Hackle leans forward with intrigue and thoughtfully rests his chin against his propped up hands. "We all suspected as such. But, it is good to get some actual confirmation of such. I assume he's no longer using that vehicle?"
With a quick nod, Hays grimaces and grumbles. "Yeah. Unfortunately, he traded the thing out three weeks ago. So, he could have gone many places. BUT, I suspect the PWZ. The PDF investigators are checking traffic cameras to try to get anything more telling. Once I get information one way or another, I'll tap a few contacts I have."
Hackle searches his mind, twisting his face in thought, and hums contemplatively. "If nothing else, I think we need to inform our mutual friends that they might want to go to Perimeter in earnest now."
Hays nods simply in agreement. "Makes sense. At this point, he's either operating out of Perimeter, or he's in the zone. Either way, Perimeter is close to their target now. It'll at least put them in a position to respond when any of us gets more information."
Easing back into the chair with a slight squirm against the spartan padding, Hackle sighs with a tinge of frustration. "I do hope we get something actionable. Thankfully, with the Grand Library cooperating fully now, I can authorize more upfront and actually provide proper support. Don't have to go through the guild as a proxy anymore."
With a slight grumbling tone, he shakes his head and frowns. "One less annoyance I have to deal with."
Hays narrows a curious stare through the video call and tilts his head to the side. "What are they having you deal with now?"
Twisting his mouth between different grimaces, Hackle ponders out loud. "Strange reports of activity in a forest around an old ruin site. Along with odd radio transmissions. Very strange since that site should be locked down and off records."
Focusing a scrutinizing gaze, Hays hums thoughtfully. "It's not unheard of for sites like that to get stirred up. But... What's bugging you about this one?"
Hackle leans close to the monitor and directs a calm, cool whisper. "I'm worried that there's a common thread between recent events. I wonder if there's a single agitator behind these incidents..."