Welcome to Gaia! ::

The club was not a dive.

It was a well-kept and exclusive place, open only to those with the kind of incomes that outclassed small kingdoms. And, as with so much else in modern Ashewood, it was owned by the famous - and famously reclusive - Carlyle Smith. It was an obvious pseudonym, since the same name had owned the largest tracts of town for years, but 'Carlyle Smith,' whoever he was, was much like his predecessor(s). He never went out except once in a blue moon, ran the club and other businesses through his intermediaries - all of them named Smith, Smythe, or a variation on same - and made annual and massive contributions to every animal rights group in this part of the States. There were rumors that PETA would go bankrupt if he ever withdrew his funding.

In a back room, another Smith was sitting in deep shadows, his impeccably tailored black suit the only visible portion of himself. It seemed to have a faint silver shine to it as the three men in less-expertly-tailored suits sat down across from him. They talked for a few minutes of inconsequential things, rumors here and gossip there, and there was perhaps a moment when something was dropped on the floor. After a while, the less-besuited men got up, their leader thanked Mr. Smith for his time, and they left. After making sure to bolt the door behind them, C.T. Smith picked up the well-pressed and crisp pack of hundred dollar bills and handed it to a man in the corner. The man had certainly not been visible a moment before, and he was not visible a moment later. A few minutes, possibly half an hour, passed before a single ragged man entered and sat down. He talked of sights and rumors, and Smith nodded. The man from the corner materialized again and placed a single hundred on the varnished wood. The vagrant picked the hundred up, nodded to the corner which was quite obviously unoccupied once again, bowed rather deeper to Smith, and left. These performances repeated themselves in one fashion or another for the rest of the night. When, at sunrise, the club closed its doors, C.T. Smith exited through the back way and vanished completely.

Within an hour, Carlyle Smith made one of his few public appearances. He was seen briefly walking from his mansion in uptown to his club, the Glittered Chameleon, then getting in an unremarkable car and driving off.

Within the car, Smith allowed C.T. and Carlyle to drop off his face and laughed for the first time in months. "Ah, sweet relief. Soon to have a deal with the Family. And maybe a few friends."

Hound turned and began to escort Hiccadu where ever she was going to go. He didn't want her dead or suffering.

A figure stepped out of the shadows near smoke and said, "Smoke, Is that you? I haven't seen you since before my escape. Looks like you helped the remaining to escape." The figure was a young man wearing a tattered overcoat and pants.

"How could I not? I watched the escape from outside the facility. Since then I have kept track of your movement, but stayed out of sight and out of mind," Fade said before he removed his over coat and unfolded his four other arms. "You must remember me somehow? You don't remember the white coats getting thrown around, the screams, the sounds of a cage being forced apart from the inside as I escaped? Surely you remember?" And his tail waved side to side behind him.

"The One Following your group is a youngster. His name is Pup. He's currently staring down at us from a structure above and behind you."

And Indeed Pup was. He was crouched on a fire escape, looking down at Smoke and Fade; panting from exhaustion.

"Target found..." Came a child's voice from behind smoke as he worked on John. If Smoke were to turn around, he'd see Pup crouching in the door way. Pup was still panting, but then a different set of words came from him. "Master won't t let me see my mommy. Do you know where she is?"

Fade put his over coat back on and went up to the roof where R.J stood. "Mind if I join you?"

R.J. didn't even answer vocally, instead he gestured with his left hand.

It was amazing that Hiccadu could stand, let alone walk.

"Show gratitude, ingrate."

She swallowed her pride and obeyed.

"Thank you..." she breathed weakly to Hound as she limped along, the two both keeping to the shadows and back alleyways. "Thank you for accepting me, even after all I've done." she sighed. "And I'm... sorry... for attacking you as you left the facility. I... wasn't exactly myself."

I still ******** hate you.

"Hush, brat."

She paused, looked around, and sighed as she realized she had no clue where she was going.

"Please, lead me to wherever you see fit," she told Hound. "I don't know this city. I don't care to know. I'm too tired to care enough." She looked over at Hound, and swallowed the bitter taste of loathing on her tongue. Her face, however, was oblivious to the taste. "Wherever you think I could lay without your fellows attacking me to finish the job, that would be lovely." She told him in grim amusement. Then she swallowed. "I may feel guilty, but I'm still an animal. I still want to live."

As soon as Hiccadu limped through the doorway--or rather, as soon as John realized the heap of meat and blood that entered the room was Hiccadu--John sat up rapidly, ignoring the stitches that were threatening to pull out of his skin, ignoring the pain. "What the ******** is SHE doing here?!" he practically shrieked. It could've been either reassuring that he had enough strength left to yell so loudly, or surprising he could sit up at all anymore.

As for John, all he could feel was fury, disbelief--betrayal. That Smoke would let her anywhere near them without seeming too disturbed, that Hound had taken her side and was helping her. "Are you ******** insane?" Oh yes. During his brief time among humans, he had learned to cuss rather vehemently. "Do you have any idea what she is?" Of course they did. Why did they let her in there? "Why are you letting her in here?"

Smoke rubbed his temples, but decided against answering what his reasons were, exactly. "She's overridden TAIS, and needs help. She's just another chimera now."

"That, that..." freak, he wanted to say. But didn't. They had been called freaks too often by any "normal" human, and he didn't want any word placing them in the same category. Instead, he turned to Smoke. "If she stays with us, then I'm leaving." His eye twitched, and the wounds in his stomach throbbed painfully. "As soon as I'm healed, I'm gone. That... thing... got Panther killed." His voice was too angry to break at the mention of Panther, but his throat grew tight, and he opened his mouth several times to speak but decided against it each time.

Eventually, Smoke left the room, leaving Hound, Apsalar, Tobart, Lonomia, John, and Hiccadu alone, the air tense and glances suspicious.

((John would welcome you back on my behalf, but he's a bit preoccupied and not in the mood xD

So, welcome back biggrin ))

Well, not like she expected a warm welcome. She knew that if John would try to kill her Hound would stop him, and she felt a grudging sense of gratitude towards the other Chimera.

John wanted to kill her. He wanted to ******** murder her.

"That girl's death was not my fault."

The words were out before she realized she had made that mental connection, and she cursed at herself. But it was the truth. There was so much power in those words - so simple yet so strong.

Yeah, he wanted to kill her. She didn't care.

"Despite all I've done to the Chimerae that were trapped, that girl's death was not my doing."

The only thing she could do was continue.

"I simply assisted in catching her. Did I control the wand that burned her gums and sliced her tongue? Did I hire the twisted, sadistic man who strapped her down and watched her die? Was I the creator of the project that made her a prisoner, subject to every whim of the humans in that place? Was I who made her what she was? A poor, helpless infant in the hands of caretakers who sought only to torture? Was it I that stopped her heart and ceased her breathing?"

She could feel herself getting worked up; the fur along her spine was standing on end and her voice began to rise, becoming more and more powerful- more and more driven- with each word.

Then she realized she was steadily advancing, and stopped herself, limping a few steps back.

She took some breaths to calm herself, and didn't say anything until the armor had settled back down. Then, sighing, she sat down, simply gazing at John through her current one good eye.

"The fact is that I didn't cause any of that," she stated simply. "As much as you would like to use me as the scapegoat to push your problems and your pain onto, the fact is I am not the one you should truly be angry at." Her gaze hardened. "That vicious creation TAIS. And it's creator, Yani. They are the ones you should hate. They are the ones you should loathe." She sighed again. "I was just a tool. An experiment. Just like you. Just like that poor girl."

And for the final blow-

"The fact is that you're free because of me."

She could feel TAIS' pleased purr at the back of her mind.

"Very good my pet."

For one instant Hiccadu hated herself.