The Machine [Open/Accepting]

[snuggle89]

Saiyu sat cross legged with Mary nestled comfortably in her lap.

There was a small playing field set back not to far from the main body of St. Angelos. Thick, towering pine trees surrounded it from the back, cutting any source of enemy attack and several guards stood around the edges. Some serious in their duty and others playing with the children.

Mary held up her end of the flower chain that the pair had been working on and draped it over Saiyu's head, wrapping it in loose fitting circles through her hair
"I want to go and play with the others now!" she weaved the rest of the chain around Saiyu's ponytail.


~

Rafale grimaced and pulled his head back from Kyrell, standing at full hight.
"This was the face I was born with, you on the other hand could turn milk sour most nights, if your that worried about seeing your sister why not send her a letter?" He copied Kyrell's actions and mussed the former princes hair before turning his attention to the map once again serious.

"So any recent plans or are we still waiting for those scouts to come back"

~

Jay sat patiently in one of the armoured trucks that lined the streets. His head set hanging loosely around his neck. Catharsis was due to go underway in less the two hours and still they were waiting on Damien to make an appearance.

Without his permission they wouldn't start and every moment they spent in the streets only made suspicion grown amongst the citizens of the slum.  

[Ayame-Yuura]

"Well, I'm busy. You know how it is", Kyrell said in reply, letting the man muss his hair. It looked far less shiny than before now that no royal stylist was caring for it. It had grown a little longer than appropriate too but he had not the time to cut it himself. He then pointed at the map. "Here. There are some Helmshirish civilians here. Intel has it that Diethelm plans to arrest them unjustly. We need to evacuate them before the designated time arrives but first, we have to find out how many they are, what disguises and false names we can procure and whether we can switch them with Diethelmians. Whichever would be safer", he said, resting his chin on his hand in thought.

Zil had passed (or was simply planning to) Shadow's apartment, having been waiting the entire time to meet with Dustin. He didn't know what was wrong with him but after jamming the signal of the entire area for no reason, he sat back and relaxed in Shadow's place, using the key she had once given him. He couldn't believe his ears. Someone had triggered the trip wire he always avoided when going through the door (he often went through the window). His comm (this new one being a one-way communication device for jamming networks/signals and using his own input) was vibrating in his pocket. 'I know', he thought to himself, mentally hushing that blasted thing.

The now-feared assassin thought he was finally going mad. Shadow's voice, the busy moving about in the other room. This was all too much. Curiosity took him and he rose from his spot, opening the door to find a long-haired teen in his midst. He stopped, not knowing whether to ignore her and leave, asked why she had gone or anything like that. But now he had been seen. He remained nonchalant but the color had gone from his face as though he had seen a ghost.

A secret police officer had asked one of the passing military men what the commotion was all about and within minutes, he was back at base and were also mobilizing before Monica had even the chance to look at her phone (which was left on her table). Monica returned with a cup of coffee in her hands and checked her messages, now knowing that her troops are rallying themselves even without her expressed command. They were pretty much autonomous and had common sense so Monica didn't really worry about it. She was more concerned with what happened. She called Jian back. "Chief general. What's going on? Before I got back, an officer of mine said the absolute leader was sent to the hospital"

((OOC: ))  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

Damien got up off the examination table and began putting on his dress shirt. "I'll just need some help back to my office. I should be fine once I'm there" he said, buttoning up the shirt. After tucking it in, he then put on his shoes, tie, jacket, and gloves. They had all been taken off by the doctors to examine him.  

[lil_lollypop1]

"Alright then." Jian replied when suddenly, his phone started ringing. "Hello?" He asked, suddenly hearing it was Monica. "Yeah, one of our doctors went rogue and destroyed all of the vials as well as Shadow's tank. The chemicals got everywhere and people started getting numb and passing out, including our leader. He's recovering fine now, but Shadow escaped. The immortality... thing... can be made, but we need her. I need you to help with the search. We want to find her as soon as possible." Jian told her. "Also, have to go now. Talk to you later." He said before hanging up. He then turned back to Damien. "Lets get you back to the office."

Shadow got off the phone with a sigh as she hung up the land line. She then noticed the sound of footsteps as she quickly turned and saw Zil. "Oh... it's just you." She replied, looking at him with her still partly dilated eyes. And though she had taken a shower, she was still coated with the heavy stench of chemicals. "What do you want?" She snapped darkly as she began to pack everything.  

[Ayame-Yuura]

Zil almost looked hopeful at first but hearing what Shadow said, he remembered that this was business as usual for her and she would come and go whenever she pleased without needing to tell anyone, even him. He figured she just went somewhere and disappeared without leaving a trace one day and reasoned that she had no need to explain to him, who was nothing to her. "Nothing. I was just leaving", Zil said, stepping out the door, keeping his head down and his hands in the pockets of his black trench coat. He didn't need to embarrass himself by letting her know that he passed by almost everyday when there were no 'hits' just to check and see if she would come back or perhaps to reminisce older times.

"O...kay", Monica had said with hesitation between the syllables even though Jian had hung up. Her troops were already dispersing themselves and Monica suddenly felt a little left out. She sat back down on her chair, dejected. Everyone could work with or without her. And in this information, she had been late. She felt the signs of her age showing suddenly as she gripped the mug of coffee and took a sip.

((OOC: ))  

[lil_lollypop1]

((And he didn't realize something was wrong with her?))

As Zil had stepped out, a few officers walked over to him. In fact, military men were everywhere and searching everything. "Sir, we are looking for this woman. Any information you withhold will be considered an act of treason." He said, holding up Shadow's picture from when she was inside the large tank.

Shadow called the new apartment complex to make sure her lease was still valid. After discovering it was, the moving men arrived at her back door. Everything she wanted to keep was taken on the truck to be transferred to the new location.  

[snuggle89]

Rafael glanced at Kyrell with a raise eyebrow but didn't press the man any further, he was right they had a job to do.

Leaving closer to the map the former rebels communication officer pointed at a small series of intersecting streets along the Diethelm border. Fishing a pen from his pocket he dotted a few crosses along the border. "If your going to do a fake name run you'll want to avoid these places. They have the highest concentration of Helmsherian citizens. security has been increasing around these areas for a while and even with high quality fake documents it's almost certain you'll get caught.

One advantage Raf had form working as a military dog for a brief stint was that he had picked up a fair amount of information. Not enough to make an substantial move on the Dithelm but enough to aid the HERO campaign.

"Your best bet would be to come in a low guarded area" He tapped the map at a small outpost border near St.Angelos "They aren't worried that the holy city will make a move any time soon so its less guarded in this stretch, It's still guarded but you'll have a higher chance of getting in this way. Only thing then is travel time the other side will be greater before you reach the city"

~

Saiyu swatted Mary away and laughed "For someone desperate to run off with their friends your taking a long time about it" reaching up she began to untangle the mess of flowers from her hair "Go on, pester someone else for a while. I'll be back later ok?"

The young girl nodded before running off to join a small gaggle of children that had started a game of tag. Tugging the last of the flower chain free Saiyu placed it neatly on the grass before heading back inside.

True to her word the red headed woman had taken care of the princess and whilst she was no great medic Saiyu had done her best as far as the young ladies health was concerned.

((Is the princess awake, still in the land of living nod or dead??))  

[Ayame-Yuura]

(( Awake, awake. Probably just slept a few days =3= ))  

[Ayame-Yuura]

Kyrell nodded at what Rafael said. He knew this too. Operations had been ongoing for most of half a year now and the organization already existed before Kyrell even tagged along. He looked over the map once more and noted, "But we just did three rescues and relocations in that area over the past month. I'm sure they've raised their guard and we're running out of donors and protectors in that area." He then moved his pointer finger over to an area closer to Verillia and Montinagua. "However, in this area, we've done several surveillances and the security seems rather lax except on the border. Some Verillians and Montinaguans are still going at it with the gang wars, so it seems. The Montinaguans especially are warm-hearted and brotherly folk. I'm sure more than a few will step up to become benefactors. Though it hasn't been done yet, I think it's worth a shot." He looked up to Rafael again.

"Never seen her", Zil said, showing him his fake ID and they let him through. He breathed a heavy sigh. This was all pointless after all. All for nothing. He was secretly glad that she was fine and his head repeated 'Good riddance' but his heart ached. He ignored it. It always did. He slowly began unjamming the signals as he stepped out, watching the chaos of soldiers and secret police officers going about, looking here and there. He took the back streets to avoid them, as usual.


((OOC: Probably did but like I mentioned, he doesn't feel it his place to ask. After all, there's nothing between them. They're not even workmates anymore ))  

[lil_lollypop1]

As the movers finished, Shadow went through the back door just as the officers had walked in.

Spotting her, they called for backup. "We've got her!" They said. "Wait, s***! She's getting away on a motorcycle, black model and turning on Luther Street." They reported in. Knowing Zil had lie, they also called in a few units to come and arrest him.

Shadow swore as herds of military men in cars began to swamp the roads around her. "How many of them are there?!" She yelled. "Did they go and call in the whole army?!" She said, quickly turning into the back roads to try and loose them.  

[Ayame-Yuura]

In the backstreets, some of the officers from earlier found Zil who walked at a leisurely pace even as they blocked the path in front of him. "You're under arrest", they called, coming forward to arrest him as he slowed to a stop. Just as they drew close and formed a circle around him, Zil had unbuttoned his black trench coat and drew out a long dagger akin in features to a katana except substantially shorter. The battle was quick and fairly one-sided with Zil maximizing the use of the blade, blunt side and hilt of his weapon with efficiency and speed. When he finished, his right hand was on the hilt and the other holding the back side of the dagger level with his eyes. With a quick motion, he flicked the blade to his side, shaking off the excess blood. "Fair enough", he said to himself, walking away, sheathing his weapon. It would soon get really bloody so he was heading towards the warehouses -- safehouses as some would call them.


((OOC: ))  

[lil_lollypop1]

((About to be on the road. Will be on late tonight!))

Shadow felt cornered. She was being swarmed by people on all sides, and she only had a few smoke grenades. Quickly, they began firing more tranquilizers at her, but they were far less effective then they used to be.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

Damien nodded and allowed Jian to help him down to his office, though feeling a little embarrassed. Once there, he said "You can go. I need to make a call". Once the Chief General was gone, Damien dialed Jay to give him the go.  

[lil_lollypop1]

"Ok. Call me if you need me." he replied before turning to leave the room.  

[snuggle89]

There was a light tap at the princess's door as Saiyu fidgeted nervously from foot to foot waiting for a response. She really hoped that she had caught the young woman in the middle of something important.

She should have been used to Saiyu checking up on her every few hours by this point in time. She had been doing it for roughly a year now.

~

Rafael tutted and turned away, crossing his arms like a sulking child. One year hadn't made the man any more mature when it came to matters that involved Montinagua. He had a begrudged respect for Zil and that was about it.

Even if the war between the two countries was all a concoction by the military state there had been bad blood between the two for a while. Admittedly they fell between two warring and petty groups but it was hard to be raised in a country and not pick up some of its bad points.

"I'm sure you could go that way but it will take more then hope to get those back stabbing bastards will help you" Ok so maybe some of it was bitterness for Zil's vanishing act.

"The previous leaders left this mission in your hands, it's up to you really on the final rout, I'll just follow what ever plan you come up with"