Frightened, Chimera? [Remake] (O / A)

[Wire_Colossus]

"About that...She's sleeping...and healing way too fast. You can actually watch it happen," Hound said as he turned to go back inside. "And by the way, I'll need to drink blood again soon. If this one causes too much trouble, I can't promise I won't give chase." Then he went back inside. He was no fool, he knew something was up.

R.J. and Fade watched smoke from the roof, both ready to provide back up just incase.  

[The Amazing Flying Circus]

[[Children, children; let's be nice and share the playground.

Also, where is everyone at this point?]]  

[SpokenSoftly]

Smith massaged his temples as the child, 'Hound,' walked back inside, holding back the desire to throw a similar Parthian shot at him and noting the presence of two more above. Smith was a good fighter, at least so far as 'kick them hard and run like hell' was defined as 'good,' but three-on-one was a bit much. He'd have to tread more carefully. "I do apologize for my irritability, sir. I am used to people who are as rational as myself, not escapees who are obviously under a great deal of stress. I will provide you with temporary and relatively secure shelter with food enough to last half a dozen persons ten days, if rationed at two meals per day. I have pressing business elsewhere, but will either send a trusted contact or come in person for your information within a week. Hopefully by then you and your companions will have acclimated to your circumstances and we may negotiate properly. What say you?"

He waited for Smoke's answer, sincerely hoping he would take it. Smith wanted to get going so he could get some of the stress out of his system. Smith's nose and eyes were slightly more sensitive than a normal human's, and the scents of stress from the motel was starting to curl his scales, what few he had. the sooner he got away from here the sooner he would be able to think like Smith again, and not like '1,' a young and stupid Chimera freshly out of the cage and exploring the world.  

[AninOnin]

Smoke nodded appreciation as Hound walked away, then turned his attention back on Smith.

"Your offer sounds... Wonderful, in all honesty. We've been camping out at all sorts of places. Somewhere relatively secure would be nice."

Smoke drew closer to Smith, trying his best to seem non-threatening, as he had something to tell him. Though Hiccadu was asleep, according to Hound, and rapidly on the mend, he didn't trust her completely. Either a camera was recording him in the alley or Hiccadu had incredible hearing, and Smoke wasn't going to be too carefree, whatever he had told her.

"We have another... super-chimerae. I've told you of TAIS already--this is her chimeran counterpart. She claims to have broken free of her programming, but I'm requesting a way to keep an eye on her as well as protect our chimerae, without isolating her. Is there a way to do that?" If not, he was sure the chimerae could fend for themselves, at least long enough until they could get Hiccadu contained. He wanted that to be only a back-up plan in case Smith's method, if he came up with any, failed.  

[SpokenSoftly]

It was with an extreme effort of will that Smith resisted gasping in surprise when he found out that he might have an outlet to TAIS, the supercomputer some of his associates had mentioned, within his grasp. A direct line to the Vents, who had given him this unaging body and perfect disguise. Suppressing all his thoughts of the Vents, who he'd hopefully be seeing soon in any case, Smith responded in the same monotone he'd used thus far. "We will negotiate when I return. For now, though, I must be going. There will be another man by the name of Jacobs along in a few minutes in an unmarked van. He will give a very bad imitation of a duck, which he appears incapable of improving. When he does so, ask one of your companions to bark twice, pause, and then bark three times. He will take you to your temporary residence. And now, goodbye, sir."

Smith faded completely from view and walked away, opening his phone and dialing Jacobs, one of his human contacts who ived in the neighborhood, and arranging the specified transportation. "They are a human and a few paranormals, a Chinese experiment. The human is selling them, but do not mention this to anyone. You will get a cut of the profits from the sale and any information I get."

"Good deal. Any of them shedding, Smith?"

"You're taking the van, Jacobs. It's metal plate, it'll sweep right off even if they are."

"Yeah, but the smell will never come out."

Smith laughed lightly at that last comment as he got in his car and started driving. "I'll pay for the car washes, then. It comes out of your commission, though. Risks incurred."

"Fair enough. Bye."

Jacobs hung up just as Smith pulled onto the highway. He glanced down at his GPS and keyed in the name of an obscure town not too far away, and the name of a warehouse within the town. "Now to go meet the closest thing to a 'father' I have in this world."  

[AninOnin]

Bark? Really? Smoke thought as he walked away, back toward the apartment. He couldn't believe--well, as a matter of fact he could believe it, it was just that Smith seemed rational at first--how paranoid the man could be. What, did he think that they were going anywhere?

Smoke shrugged inwardly and figured, since Smith had been gone for some time and no one in the slaughterhouse seemed to realize he'd been alive and well for years, he probably had his reasons of being a little paranoid. He'd stayed alive this long, hadn't he?

When he returned to the motel room, the scene was as described. Hiccadu's skin had healed much in the time since Smoke had last seen her, and it made him anxious. It was one thing to take in a wild, but wounded animal and let it recover over time, enough time to let it trust you, enough time so it wouldn't hurt you. It was another thing entirely to bring in a wild, wounded animal and see it heal overnight. In the morning, it would be as though he had let her in purely without reason. He was starting to get a feeling of that now, himself.

--

Back at the slaughterhouse, Jared was cooped up in his room, arms folded behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Yani was in the room off his son's bedroom, listening to TAIS stream reports from Hiccadu, nodding in approval and admiration when she showed how fast Hiccadu's wounds were healing, even without TAIS's programming guidance.

"Amazing... Amazing," he would murmur.

The sound of a car broke him from his thoughts, and he stood up to peer at a screen that depicted a security camera's view. It was a nice car, no doubt belonging to a rich man... A man with contacts, it seemed. How did he find them?

Jared entered the room, thinking much the same thing. "It could be coincidence. We get wanderers every now and then."

Not rich ones, Yani thought, eyes clouded. He passed his son to grab his jacket and meet this intruder at the main entrance. Jared followed behind, expression reserved.  

[SpokenSoftly]

Smith stepped out of his car and put his top hat on. He was in his full suit at the moment, including the sunglasses and white gloves that he only wore when he was dealing with a very dangerous or very long-standing client. The glasses were bulletproofed, and the gloves were modified so that they were very, very good insulators. Smith smiled thinly as the two approached and held up a hand when they got within thirty feet. "Please, do not approach me closer than you have, sirs. I am... not a gregarious individual. you understand, I am sure. I will not mince words with you, Mister Vent and son. I know what you do in your 'factory,' and am prepared to offer you funding, any amount you desire up to one percent yearly of my available liquid assets, currently amounting to just over eighty billion. There are three small conditions, though. Do you wish to hear them?"  

[AninOnin]

Jared and Yani exchanged glances, and the son folded his arms. "What makes you think we need funding?" Forget about asking how he knew about them; Smoke had infiltrated their facility a few days ago. It was easy enough to put two and two together.

However, Mr. Galaway would have also known that the slaughterhouse wasn't exactly desperate for money--Jared had trashed a Bugatti not long ago, and there were no tears shed over the 1.2 million dollar car.

Yani's mind was on the same track as Jared's. However, neither of them were thinking about money at that point. Despite their cool exterior, they were wondering exactly how important this man was, to have almost as much of an empire built as the Vents, and to be as secretive as well. Wondered how important the man would be if he just so happened to go missing for a few decades. Before they would act, however, they needed to learn more.  

[SpokenSoftly]

Smith mentally adjusted his mindset to that of the Vents, remembering that for once he was talking to a pair of people that were quite his equals in finance, if not in information gathering. He'd need to sweeten the deal for them a bit, with something that thankfully cost him nothing. If they'd ever asked TAIS to run a simulation, they doubtless would already have a rough estimate on what the data would contain, but his firsthand experience couldn't be predicted. "I see my sources have underestimated your assets considerably, if 800 million a year is taken as a pittance. Allow me to rephrase: Name a price, and I will match it and throw in information on the long-term effects of human-animal crossbreeding, rather than the experimentation you are performing at present. I realize that military applications are high on the list for development, but I would wager that you have wondered at least once how a Chimera would fare out in the world for years, undiscovered. My name is Carlyle Smith, by the way. A pleasure."

Though his appearance would doubtlessly be vague to them, the name Carlyle Smith, combined with the peculiar color of his suit, not quite black and not quite dark purple, would surely tip them off. He was a big man in the financial sector, after all.  

[AninOnin]

As under-a-rock as they might have appeared, what with living in a slaughterhouse and all, the name rose a few eyebrows. Carlyle Smith, one of the bigger names to meet Yani's ears. Yani was actually surprised it took this long to meet him. The human-animal crossbreeding interested him deeply, however, and his mind soon turned back on that track.

Jared, however, as usual, was disgusted. "Breeding? With humans."

Yani could sense the situation was getting a little out of control. He spoke in a normal tone. "TAIS, set up my room for a guest. Make sure we are not disturbed." Since no scientist would dare disturb him, it was evident that Yani meant his son. Jared was no idiot, so he simply narrowed his eyes and walked away.

"You'll have to excuse him. He doesn't share my fascination with the living creatures." Yani held open a door for his guest graciously, though with a certain expression one couldn't quite name. "You will join me in my private quarters. It's comfortable, and we can talk without being overheard by any unwelcome listeners." It was clear; Yani wouldn't take no for an answer.  

[SpokenSoftly]

Smith paused before he entered, just out of Yani's lunging reach. "Before I enter, you will kindly ensure that the artificial intelligence you refer to as TAIS is temporarily cut off from our conversation. Computer systems are insecure and can be hacked, even sentient ones. I know of three living persons that could hack your systems. None of them hold a fondness for myself."  

[Wire_Colossus]

There was a sound of a struggle and a yell coming from one of the cages inside. A 18yearold of 6ft 6 height was fighting against scientists as they drugged him. He pretended to struggle, and pretended to fall asleep, his heart rate slowing as he calmed himself. He was waiting for them to open that cage door...  

[AninOnin]

A sound came from behind the older Vent, though he ignored it as Luke, one of the scientists, rushed past in order to help other scientists.

Yani smiled at Smith, though the smile was laced with the tracest amount of venom. While he took no offense to being underestimated, TAIS was his creation, and he wouldn't tolerate the presumptuous Carlyle Smith from making what he must have thought was only a cautious comment.

"TAIS, find me the names of these three genii as well as their location." Yani's private chambers had a huge screen that had replaced an entire wall. TAIS would display the names and locations there, as well as other, more basic information as displayed on their drivers' licenses, passports, or other government information. However, the information would differ slightly from government records, because TAIS's methods of gathering information were more reliable and exact than using a simple tape measurer and scale.

"I see no reason to disable my own program, on my own grounds, when TAIS has never been hacked before nor given me cause to question her security." The reason he said "her", rather than "its" would become apparent to Smith once they entered his room. "In fact, I'd love to give you a simple demonstration of her abilities. I'm sure you will enjoy it immensely."  

[SpokenSoftly]

Smith had smiled inwardly as Yani told TAIS to track down the three men. That was three fewer business rivals he'd have to worry about in the electronic side of the information gathering business. Yani had just saved him fifteen years and untold millions of dollars in labor and equipment by locating them for him. "There is no reasonable objection from me, provided my person is neither touched nor violated. I am, as I have said, not a gregarious individual."

Smith decided not to tell him about the failsafes. Not quite yet. They'd been set up by a 'Friend' of his, Eriksson, so that if they were tampered with, or if they didn't receive a code from him each day - a code consisting of a retina scan, fingerprint, DNA scan, and heartbeat, to be provided on the spot with live video feed - they would report his whereabouts to all his contacts and organizations, terminate all his proxy identities, and generally remove all information about him from the world, save for whichever identity the programs determined was best suited for 'death' rather than 'disappearance.' In this case, Carlyle Smith would be the one who was killed or kidnapped if Smith failed to report in.

The really sublime part about the programs was that they operated on a closed circuit. Eriksson knew all about TAIS, having escaped himself just before she was fully online, and he'd set it up so that the programs were outside her sphere of influence. There was no way on Earth she could penetrate Smith's failsafe system.

But he would only mention it as a last resort. No sense turning a potential ally into an enemy.  

[Wire_Colossus]

As soon as that cage door was open, Crusha burst out through itand knocked a couple scientists to the floor. He then increased his size to double and picked up his cage; holding it above his head. "Back! Off! Filthy Stinking White Coats!" His voice bellowing as he roared his anger and triumph to the entirety of the slaughterhouse. Without Hiccadu there to bully him back into place, he was confident. He looked around and then threw his cage at a wall, a wall that was near Yani's location. He did this because He was trying to get the man's attention. "I want to talk to the Old man! Now! Don't make me start throwing these ragdolls in white coats around!"