[OOC: This is a parang knife.]

"Ch'. Finally all those annoying bugs are gone. Now I can take care of you two in peace." Momos cocked his head arrogantly as he snapped the parang knife off his staff and slammed it back into its sheath resting against his back. His feral eyes gleamed with anticipation as his gaze swept the room, finally landing on the asian pair. "In here or out? If we'll staying here, I won't hesitate to send all these idiots to hell. 'Sides, I don't think gorilla there will have enough space to move."

---

The short distance spent on walking towards the proposed safehouse was relatively quiet, especially after the girl called Vondaemia left the group soon after Deimos and Jason's split. Geras noticed that another from the group was missing, but he said nothing about it. He was only responsible for the Hades members involved, nothing more. Unlike their resident psychotic telepath, he could not keep track of everyone, so he simply did not try to.

"Geras-sama."

He blinked and turned to the clairvoyant, whom Deimos called Alcaedo, who had moved closer to him. "Yes?"

Frankly speaking, he was not sure of Deimos's habit of referring to the psychics he recruited from the previous triad war by their real name, instead of their Hades name, the one that really mattered to everyone in Hades. But when he asked, the telepath claimed that it was easier that way and refused to explain anymore, so he did not bother to continue that particular discussion.

"Deimos-sama will be late. I 'saw' them run into some trouble. He isn't contacting us because he suspects there are psychics around them."

Geras frowned. "How do you know?"

The other psychic tried to suppress a smile but was not particularly successful. "Deimos-sama is acting like he's on drugs."

"When Phobos prohibited him from taking any of those stuff? That's his code alright." Geras was not as polite and chuckled outright. But as quickly as his amusement came, it faded and was replaced by a very shrewd look in his eyes. "But they can handle themselves, so what else did you 'see'?"

Alcaedo caught on and reported in a very serious voice. "I 'saw' that we'll run into some trouble as well. At the safehouse."

[OOC: Just some prompt for activity on the other group's side. Sorry about how short Momos's part is. But it's not his nature to make the first physical move, so I gotta wait for you again, Vex.]

"Big words," Gorilla....er, I mean Rudis would respond, stepping forward to get further close to him until a hand moves across the front of the guy.

"I think we should let this go for now," she replies. "Looks like one of the Red Kaisers are here. If they see us, there will be more trouble to worry about than this guy here."

"Damn. And I was hoping to kick some a**, too. Let's go."

"Don't think we're letting you off the hook so easily," Jessie would say. "We will meet again, and next time you will surely hate to the day you spoke to us."

The two walks right past Momos and heads around the counter, moving through the door as their exit would be through the back way.

---------------------------------------------------

Seth just stared at the thing standing right in front of him, but Jason's hand was already aimed forward, two arches erected out of both sides of his forearm, a bow ready on his crossbow. As for Deimos, he kept silent and still like the calm person he was, though he wasn't happy to see an ambush, either.

Seth would look back at the two then forward as he would reply: "Er, no thanks. I'm fine, really."

"No thanks?" The stranger's head tilts to the left. "Do you understand how important this offer is. Instead of being a low member of the Dragon society, Dread is offering you a higher class than most common people here can even possess. Think about it: no more having to live in shabby apartments, when you'll be given your own suite. Money reaching amounts you've never seen before. And the very right to enter into the main HQ, where you will be able to soon visit the very founders of our society. So....with this more detailed explanation, what is your decision?"

Jason would look to Deimos as he lowers his arm then back toward Seth. An offer to enter into the HQ itself. That was something that can prove very vital to them. very vital, indeed. With such a status, Seth could actually prove a valuable asset to them all. This was mostly a one in a lifetime thing for them, and is a chance they shouldn't let go to waste.

"Seth," Jason says out to the cat boy, who turns around to look at him. "Don't worry about us. You go ahead. You have our number if you need anything."

"Number," he says in question. "But I don't..."

Jason tosses him a cellphone. "Use that. Just speed dial 1."

Seth would look at it then put it away, nodding. Looking back forward, he sighs. "Fine. I'll accept." He somehow wasn't feeling right about this. He didn't want to be a bother to anyone, but also he wasn't looking to have himself be recruited into some group. But, if it was to at least help the team in anyway, he might as well prove his worth and not screw up in any way. When he accepted the offer, the stranger would respond:" Follow me, and keep up."

The guy leaps right into the air, soaring higher than any normal leap and landing straight onto the top of a ten story building. He looks down then sprints off to the right, moving across the tops.

---------------------------------------------

Void steps off onto a high walkway as he looks down into a room filled with the sounds of running motors and other carzy machinery sounds. Stopping right there, he now peers into a very large place that was the main generator of the city's power, men stationed at various points to make sure everything was going well. What was amazing was the fact that water was streaming down from various tubes, showing that the electricity was somehow being fueled by hydro works. But this wasn't enough water, so there must have been something help assisting in it all. He would find it out, so that he can finally finish his job and send this city into a black out.

"F***ing cowards." Momos watched unhappily as the two left as abruptly as they came, and collapsed his staff back to its usual short portable length and slot it back into its holster near the blade sheaths. As he walked past the front counter of the shop and glanced at the shopkeeper cowering behind it, he paused to fish out a few notes from a plain looking wallet with no identification whatsoever and slammed it on the counter top.

The shopkeeper's eyes practically bulged out as his sight landed on the money. There were three zeroes and a one on each of the five pieces of paper. "S-sir... there's too muc-"

"That's for your kind hospitality." The corner of the psychic's mouth curved upwards wickedly and a single vertical finger touched his lips before slipping under his chin to make a sharp jerking motion across his throat. "So it is enough... right?"

"Y-yes! It's enough!"

Satisfied, Momos resumed his strides out towards where Deimos and Jason stood, waiting for him. Even though all the potential threats had left, the blue-haired telepath still shot him a stoned smile and spewed slurred words at his direction. "Didn't take ya too long... so... are ya gonna show us the good stuff ya was talking about?"

"Of course." Shifting so that his baseball cap was once again facing front, Momos let out a lazy grin. "It'll be so good you'll p*ss yourself."

[OOC: Vex, here's the short post I promised. I'm still thinking what Momos could have gotten them, but if you have some ideas yourself, go ahead and post it. I trust you to use the two of them well anyway. Anyway, let's shift the spotlight back onto the safehouse group?]

Down an alleyway Katrine leads the others, passing one corner and another, as if they were going through some maze, the corridor created by the neighboring buildings that were built in red brick, with black concrete under their feet. Rain still beat the ground, the clouds of the storm still overhead, casting the cold air against the group during occasional gusts. The only one not liking this downpour was the shapeshifter Mavis. Being a fox, she didn't like the rain that much, or at least when she would enter into her animal form. Her fur getting wet wasn't really one of those things she enjoyed. If it wasn't a shower, then she rather stay dry. But mainly no one weren't liking this because they weren't expecting a rain storm when they first came here.

Arriving at the rusty looking metal door, Katrine would stop and knock on it. The eye hole would slide open, someone peering out toward them. "Who is it," a gruff voice asks out, sounding of male origin.

"I'm here to deliver you a message," Katrine would reply. "And that message is that you got five seconds to open that door are you going to have a hole through your head."

Laughter follows from the other side of the door. "You still haven't lost it, Trine." He closes the slide, a few locks being heard unclasped as he opens the door. A large looking man would appear, probably about 6' 3", but weighing around 250 lbs. He had muscled arms, but a rounded stomach was apparent from its size against his shirt. His attire was a sleeveless black shirt underneath a brown vest, jeans of dark blue and boots of dark brown. His beard was black and rough looking, as was his face, showing age, but strength at the same time. His hair was short, but not too short to where the top of his skull could be seen.

He steps to the side, allowing them to enter into a large room. Standing there looking down over a good living room with couches, a television, a counter where a bar area lied, and other miscellaneous things. This looked like more of a hangout than a house, but it was well big enough for them.

Closing the door and locking it, the big man would cross his arms and look toward Katrine with a raised eyebrow. "These are your friends, huh? Tell me, what are you up to this time?"

While Katrine and her friend would converse, the others would get settled in, with Brute falling into a seat in one of the chairs, pulling back on the lever on the side as he is allowed to stretch his body. "Now this is more like it," the dwarf says in satisfaction, his female accomplice only staring at him not as pleased as him.

Geras would be approached by Mavis then after. "Tell me, where did your friend and Jason go?

"Don't worry about them. They should be here shortly. They just had to make a stop."

"Stop? For what?"

A knock at the door comes, the large man moving to it and opening the lookout.

"Looks like they're here already," Geras says in a smiling expression.

"Let them in, " Katrine would say, the large man opening it. In walks Jason, Deimos, and Momos. Jason would be carrying a large crate in front of him by both hands, Deimos rolling in another one, and Momos just carrying two suitcases. They would set their things down on the floor, giving the others a wave of sorts.

"What do you got there," Mavis asks, being the most curious. "I hope it's something productive to our situation."

"Well, you're in luck," Deimos says. "I believe this will be more than enough to take on the corporation now. Oh, and by the way, operation will start in thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes," some of them would shout. "Isn't that a bit too early," Boron would say from the counter, having gotten himself something to drink.

Jason would shake his head. "It looks like Void, Sam, and Cyril are already underway in setting up a distraction. After that, we'll have only a window of ten minutes to get into position. We're going to try to get into the HQ."

Deimos would then say: "So, let us reveal to you the things that will serve in making this mission a pleasing one. Momos, make yourself useful, you bastard, and tell the audience what they won today."

As Seth hopped from rooftop to roof top, the back of the strange man leading him towards the Dragon HQ, he sighed.
'I don't want to go back, but I don't want to let down my team..' he thought to himself. 'I don't know what to do...ah well..Might as well wing it!' he thought smiling to himself, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. After about 15 minutes, he finally changed direction, apparantly turning left.
"How long is this going to take?" He yelled ahead, but no answer was received. He sighed slightly once more, almost tripping as his left foot caught onto one of the barriers on the roofs, but prevailed, only making a slighty stumble. Everytime he jumped he felt the wind breeze past his face, and gravity pull down at him, though he managed to make to the other house before he fell to the ground below.


After a while, Seth finally saw a atleast 23 story building. On all four sides of the building there was a giant Dragon insignia, as well as smaller ones around it on different window.
"Is that it?" Once again no answer, but it was obvious it was. He continued to follow closley behind, about a rooftop behind the man in black, following him to the structure ahead. Finally they were there.

He looked up at the gynormus building as he walked in through the front door with the "ninja" dude.
"Woah..Pretty tall." Though he was ignored once again. As soon as he walked in, about 40 different giant brutes in black and gray camouflage had machineguns pointed at him, as well as a couple turrets and cameras, WITH turrets.

"...I..Er-" He was then cut off by the man in black who simply said,
"He's with me..." After that, the people cleared, the turrets dispersed, and the cameras continued their rounds of look out.
"Uh..Thanks.." Seth said in gratitude as he followed the ninja dude to the elevator (wich had the dragon insignia on the doors), but once again received no answer. The door closed infron of Seth and the man as he turned around, apparantly they didn't need to press a button as a camera zoomed in closely at Seth, his cat ears twitching slightly. On the walls was a design of the Dragon insignia all connecting repedeatly.

Ding. Zffhht. The doors slid open as the man in black then walked foreward into a room where a man in a chair (The back turned to them) sat looking out a window, a desk infront of him. Around the room there were 23 cameras that Seth counted, 42 men were in different areas of the gigantic room, all armed and ready to attack, the dragon symbol on their outfits. The windows each had the dragon insignia.

"I've been waiting, Seth." Said a familiar voice. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"...Wha?" Seth's left eye brow fell as his right eye brow quirked, before seeing the guy in black kneel, he decided NOT to, being ..Seth, though that could cost him something.

"Don't you remember my voice?" The chair slightly turned making a squeeking sound, revealing a caucasian man, with black hair comedback (Kinda of like Phoenix Wright), wearing a black suit and tie.

"You know, I think I've heard it somewhere, you on any commercials or something?" Said Seth being somewhat quirky, as he was getting into his "cocky" mood.

"Ha ha ha," replied the man "You haven't changed at all." The man's chair squeeked slightly as he stood up now his hands clasping behind his back as he walked slowly and steadily around the desk. "Tell me, do you remember anything about the camp?" He said finally making it infront of Seth, looking to him with a smile.

"Camp? wait, don't tell me you're (Don't hate me here Vex)" But Seth was cut off by the man

"Climent O'donnel, or as you know me, Dread." Said the man smiling, looking to Seth as a long lost pawn.

"What....why have you requested to see me?" Seth asked now, well, wanting to know.

"Ha ha," the man chuckled some as he began pacing from left to right, tossing a pen that was in his hand up and down, "You see, I require your services in, many things. You've caused much trouble since your, 'escape'."

"Oh did I? I didn't seem to notice, I was too busy being free."

"Ha, that's what I love about you, you were the only one that had a mind of his own, we worked to hard on you, sad mistake."

"Oh yeah? You could have made me a bit smarter."

"That's just it Seth, you were created to be a genuis, yet before you were completed, the program was never fully activated. You see, your mind capability has the power to increase in anything, acknowledge all tactics, which is why your reflexes and tactis are so advanced."

"Oh, I thought it was that cat thing" he said pointing to his head, the blue cat ears twitching slightly.

"That was another thing, we were experimenting with animals."

"So wait wait wait," Seth said JUST realising something "you're saying I'm a genuis?"

"Would be."

"And..I'd be uber smart and stuff?"

"Correct."

"...." Now, Seth almost said "Screw this, you're a lieing peice of Sh*t!" and left. But, Remembering the team and his duty he simply said. "Alright, let's see this 'fully activation' thing."

"All in a matter of time Seth, before that, would you like anything?"

"..uh.." Seth put his hand on his stomach. "Some food if ya' got it?"

ooc: Wow, that was incredibly stupid. I think I just ruined the rp. ; I added a bad guy, made Seth realise what he was supposed to be (which is also what he doesn't want to become) and made a headquarters, if you want me to blank it all, please tell))

"Thirty minutes is plenty of time," stated Wilhelm, wiping the rainwater from his hair. "There goes my nicely styled hair. ****."

Alferei checked his ammunition and his weapons, ensuring they were not jammed. "It's plenty of time..."

"...because we've been through worse," finished Katrine. She shuddered as she remembered how they talked about Bosnia. She had only had a short stint in Chechnya with Wilhelm and Alferei, but it was bad enough. The war itself could not be described with any words that she knew. She checked her equipment again, before she took a seat. "Let's not waste time. Since we have now less than thirty minutes, we should start preparing."

"While you're preparing, refrain from destroying my beautiful Italian restaurant. I still have customers in the dining area, damn it," declared Stracci with a chuckle.

Current Party: Jason, Deimos, Momos, Geras, Alcaedo, Boron, Brute, Mavis, Alferei, Brandon, Katrine, Wilheim

A series of sounds spread throughout the safehouse as each member of the team prepared their weapons in different rooms, having already got distributed their "new" equipment from the things carried in. And it was safe to say that each of them were pretty happy with what they got, due to the fact that these upgrades were just what they needed to combat this particular mission.

Sitting on a bed in his room, Jason slides back the chamber of his gun before placing it away into one of the gun holsters on his body, his attire now that of a tight rubber-looking suit strapped in many holders for clips and other various devices, the headband around his head being something of a great importance. The accessory belonged to his father, the only significant thing his parent had ever given to him. With the insignia of a black star on its front, his father told him that it represented inner strength and the passion. In intention, it made Jason into what he was today, a peace fighter who used his justice-driven attitude to accomplish many goals in his life. Yeah, he had diverted over to a worthless gang through the middle of it, but he knew it was time to at least show some pride in his skills and return to what he loved doing best: protecting the ones he loved. And so, he stands to his feet, his eyes covered by black shades to complete his look. Scanning his hidden eyes over to the desk, he finds his "new" weapon sitting there.

Momos, Deimos, Geras, and Alcaedo were sitting in a closed room by themselves, no one knowing what they were up to. Being of Hades, however, it was understandable that they were having some top secret conversation.

Meanwhile, Boron would adjusting his sword strap around his white long cloak. Before, he carried only one sword, his trusty four foot long katana. Now, he possessed another addition to his arsenal, another sword, which looked just as thin as his katana, its design hidden into the sheath. However, the handle of this new weapon looked metallic and blue in color, hinting at some type of "advanced" weaponry that Boron now carried.

As for Brute and Mavis, who were present in another room, Brute straps on these bulky blue and black gauntlets that cover most of his forearms, his hands squeezing in and out to test the gloves' feel of these items between the coils of each finger. The smile on this midget's face showed satisfaction. Mavis herself would twirl her baton to the back of her waist, strapping the weapon here in a clatch. She next extends both blades from her own guantlets then retract them. They seemed to be working. And finally, she places on some visors onto her head, her own new equipment. The black headwear was a basic looking visor that connected in front of her eyes with round large attachments covering her ears. What it was capable of would eventually be revealed in time.

And finally, the four mercenaries who go nowhere without one another kept in the living room, strapping on their own equipment. However, they also had some new things to play with. Alferei possessed this bulky handgun with a laser-sight attachment but no chamber opening in its front. Looking at it, the common observer would wonder where the bullet comes out, but after the earlier explanation of it, it was clear to Alferei what it was and how to use it. And for someone with his skills, this weapon can as a great asset. Brandom was given this one-hand large bulky guantlet, which seemed to have about four barrels on the front of it. He would be unable to use the hand that would be fitted with this device since it'll be cupped up inside, but the sacriface would be well worth it. This guantlet had those barrels for a reason. Katrine wore this diagonal strap that went from over her left shoulder and down over the right of her abdominal. Attached to the front of it were seven oval looking objects which were dark green in color. Finally, Wilhelm....well, Wilhelm didn't look like he had nothing new, really. However, he had checked the spinning chamber of his revolver before putting it away, but so far, no signs of having anything new.

"Almost time," Katrine would say as each of them walked from the back, filling into the main room, looking ready to go.

"You know," Brute says. "I never got to tell you how much I love you guys. Hahaha!" Laughing in excitement, he would do a few shadow punches as Mavis gives a chuckle, looking to Jason with a glance.

Jason stares back before walking forward and standing in front of them like the leader he was designated to be. "This is it, guys. There's no turning back."

He clears his throat as he pauses, gathering some last words for them before the mission was to begin.

"I'll like to first tell you guys how proud I am for having you all here with me. To tell you the truth, I never thought I'll see the day when people would band together to do a task as difficult as this, even with this small of a group. Anyone else, they would just flee at the first notice of having to fight an entire corporation. But you guys," he says doing a pointing gesture at them. "You guys actually are standing up for what you believe in. Despite all odds, here you are, right here, ready to go and prove who's the strongest in this meaniless fight. I will go ahead and say this: I know we all have different views on things, but today....today, we all have one common goal. And I do not want any one of you to forget that."

He has his eyes move to each their own, wanting to see the very truth in their eyes, to see if they were feeling the same way as he was.

"And well.....thank you."

Deimos starts to chuckle, the group looking toward him. His laughter was calm, but soon grew louder.

Jason would respond: "Deimos?"

The blue haired man would shake his head as he steps forward toward Jason, his arms folded. "You worry too much, you know? Of course we won't forget." He looks to Jason with a confident face, actually showing some type of compassion in the rare times that he do. "And don't you forget, we're not dealing with 'innocents' here. These are people ready to kill just for the sake of their false beliefs. Don't hold back this time, Jason."

The LAW lieutenant would smirk then turn around, waving his hand toward the front of himself. "Let's go, everyone. It's time."

Without any other responses, they walk out the door, heading toward a storage truck now present in the alleyway, turned on. The large man who owned the place would hop out of the driver's side, walking up to Katrine, who meets him halfway.

"So," he says to her. "You're leaving, huh? Don't go dying on me."

Katrine just laughs. "You and Jason have a lot in common," she says, walking past him as she leaps into the back of the truck that contained various cases. "You worry too much."

The man chuckles. Walking past him, however, would be Alcaedo and Momos, both pulling on some green colored hats with the the words "L.C." on the front of them, hopping into the front with Alcaedo being the driver, the others jumping into the back, sitting down between the cases. Jason would end up having to close the door, giving a final wave to the large man as the double doors are shut. After locking them from the outside, he just watches the truck then pull off into the rainy streets, its red lights being the last thing to be seen before it takes off down the roar, heading through traffic toward the large building just a few blocks away.

((Basically, Seluna, you are free to designate later what "new" things the Hades characters got. As for Taltz and GSB, you guys can do the same thing unless you don't mind me making up what the new items are myself. I already gave a template for each, like Boron's new items being a sword that is special in some way. As for you Taltz, you can customize what these new items I gave your characters do, but if you can't come up with anything or have any questions, you can always PM me. Once I get a couple of responses, I'm moving on.))

"I don't need this nonsense," stated Brandon in thickly accented English with a shrug. "Terribly sorry if I cause any offence, but no, thank you. I'll stick to my lovely machinegun."

"Quiet," hissed Wilhelm as he put the revolver away. He hated revolvers, but as a collector of firearms, throwing such a nice one away was a waste. "Now is not the time to cause distractions."

"Don't be so tense. Relax, why don't you," replied Brandon with a raised eyebrow. Wilhelm said no more, resting his elbows on his thighs and lowering his head. His eyes shut, and he breathed deeply.

"It's not easy to relax when you've seen so much," muttered Wilhelm as the rain pelted the vehicle. "This reminds me... It reminds me of..."

"Chechnya," said Alferei, his arms freezing and his hands grasping his sniper rifle tightly as he looked at Wilhelm, who looked back at him. "My gut felt like this only in that hellhole."

"I remember... The former Yugoslavia," replied Wilhelm, resting his head on his hand as he felt a headache set in. "Kosovo." The screams of burning - and burnt - men, women and children resounded in his head. But as a member of a special forces group he could only do his job, and no more. He could help no one, and he could let no one know he was there. "It rained like this..."

"Are you two all right?" asked Katrine, shaking Wilhelm with a nudge and slapping Alferei hard on his thigh. Neither would respond to her despite her repeated attempts to get their attention. "Relax, the two of you. Everyone's looking."

"They've got a lot of f***ed up s*** in their heads right now," stated Deimos, leaning back nonchalantly. "You'd be better off waiting for them to snap out of it."

"Someone..." said Wilhelm as he raised his head. "One of us..." The others in the vehicle looked at him.

Alferei looked up, and the rest focused their attention on him as he opened his mouth. "Is going to die today."

[OOC: Vex, I think you forgot Shin's char, that one (brother of another of Shin's char) delivered on the orders of a bastard. So I'm including him into my post. I'm sorry for taking so long. Was caught up with other things (namely, my new PS3 <3). Rean-ni, I'm sorry I didn't post when I said I would. ^^;]

Alcaedo reported softly as soon as the door was locked behind the newly joined Shade. "She's in, and she's downloading the name lists now."

"Good girl. With all the hacker training she took, I bet she got in within a minute." Deimos smirked as he sprawled as messily as he could on a chair. "Now we know the exact people to go for or avoid. That will heighten our success
rate, if anything."

"There are always things that they may not input into the system, or some may keep secrets. Like you did, back when you're being undercover in Phoenix." Geras frowned. "We shouldn't rely so much on it. It's not very reliable."

Deimos shrugged. "It's better than nothing. I'm more concerned about finding clues of any people we can recruit."

"Peh. Suit yourself, druggie." Momos unzipped the bag that he brought in with him. It was a normal looking sport bag like the other two that had contained the goodies, except those two were red in color and the one he was taking things out of at the moment was black. "Here, take this. You too, rookie."

The telepath took one look at the items the phaser dumped onto his and Shade's hands and sent a flat unfriendly look back. "It's a gun."

"It's a modified SIG SAUER P229R DAK™. Your weapons can't work on anything further than you can throw, and there are limitations to your telepathy." Momos shot him a smirk, one that had all the finality of 'this argument is over', before he dug into the bag again and produced a single item. "Geras, this one is yours."

The deceptive youth examined it closely and frowned. "Why would I need a tanto?"

"You may not need it, if you won't ever be out of ammo. Besides, it is also modified." Surrendering, Geras sighed and slipped the japanese short knife somewhere inconspicious even as Momos took the last object from the bag and handed it over to Alcaedo. "Though I'll love to see you and Dei there tearing s**t up at close distances, you also have a range problem."

When Deimos got a glimpse of the item, he immediately started yelling. "Why does he get such a beauty of a bladed boomerang when I get a measly gun?!"

Momos shot him a deadly glare. "Yours cost more, s**thead. If you don't like the gun, you can give it back to me."

"Bweh. It's mine now that you gave it to me." The telepath cradled the gun protectively against his chest. "What did you get yourself?"

"Hn. Why should I tell you?"

Deimos made a face and stuck his tongue out at the smirking phaser, much to the amusement of their newest, before he cocked his head in a obvious motion of listening to mental conversation. "Are we done here? They are about to go."

"Yeah, it's not like we can't make you our private telephone line." Momos rolled his eyes sarcastically. "I know you just don't want me to offend any of those a**holes out there."

The blue-haired psychic blew him a flying kiss as he sauntered past Shade towards the door. "Glad you understand my concern, Momo."

"Shut the f*** up and walk, ***."

Behind them, Geras and Alcaedo could only look at each other and sighed empathically as they followed the two bickering psychics out of the room. Just like Deimos had said, the others were indeed ready to leave and they joined them in the back in time to hear the 'damn cheesy speech that only pansies will say' as Momos mentally commented about it, causing the telepath to laugh out loudly.

As they settled on the truck at their respective places, Deimos raised an eyebrow after he heard Brandon's grumbling. /Looks like I'm not the only one not satisfied with your gift, Momo."/

Momos snorted in response. /I don't see the need to please everyone, unlike you, damn fairy./

/Love you too, Momo./ Deimos chuckled mentally, making Momos shiver at the strange feeling of having somebody else laugh at the back of his head. /Hmm... these mercs, they have been through some really rough times. They are going to give me a headache from prolonged exposure./

Geras's mental voice joined in from the front of the truck, sounding concerned. /You can damp it all down, can't you?/

/Don't wanna. Not when I'm so near having the fun of my life later./ The lazy curve of Deimos's lips indicated that he did not really mind. He was toying with one of his daggers, one that was not laced with poison, of course. /Oh hear, somebody's going to make a statement./

"Somebody..." Wilhelm started. "One of us..."

"Is going to die today."

"Hn. We can make a precog out of them." Momos sneered dryly from where he was seated beside Deimos in a totally relaxed manner, one of his parang knives out and tapping idly at his own thigh. His other hand slipped up to tug a pair of stylish red-tinted sunglasses up to reveal his feral eyes, and glanced around at everyone. "It'll be a miracle if everyone survive anyway. As long as it's not me doing the dying, I don't give a flying damn."

--------------------

"Does this hurt? Does it hurt as bad as my heart does when I found out that Deimos chose you over me? Hm? Does it hurt as bad as when I find that Moros is working with you to betray me?"

Enyalios gasped sharply as Dolos dragged the tip of the sharp knife deeper and lower down his abdomen across many other bleeding lines previously made, and his face folded in pain. He forced his eyes open to glare defiantly into the murky brown depths on the telekinetic's face, even though he knew that it would only encourage the other.

"My, you still have some spirit in you hm? How about I break you, your mind and your body and give you back to them like that? Would you like that?" Dolos giggled deliriously as he imagined the sight in his mind, his eyes reflecting the madness that consumed his heart. "Imagine their anguish and their helplessness, for being unable to save you."

The fiery-haired teen gritted his teeth to damp out the pain, trying to find the sign that meant that his ability was ready to wake up. "You will never break me."

"Oh?" The Hades traitor raised an eyebrow and smiled, before he drew his hand back and smack the dual psychics across the face with the back of his hand, snapping Enyalios's head to one side. A trinkle of blood made its way out of the corner of the dual psychic's mouth but he stayed perfectly silent. "Shall we try then? Come on come on, let me hear you scream, Enya-chan~."

Enyalios bit down on his lower lips to prevent his scream of pain from escaping and also, to hid his smile of victory.

He felt a flickering spark in his body.

--------------------

He stared at the list. His usually dead eyes flickering with a single flame as they were fixed on the picture being displayed by the computer screen. His already short fingernails dug into the flesh of his palm so deeply that crescent shaped marks would be visible once he let go, but he did not notice his action or the pain resulting from it at all.

All that he knew at the moment was the man he spent eight years hating was now one of the targets on the Phoenix Triad's blacklist. The man who put that bullet wound just above his heart, and nearly succeeded in killing him.

The man now known to others as Phobos of the equally hated Hades Organization.

[OOC: Alrighty, there's action of the Phoenix side now. ^^]

A scape goat? Oh, how the doctor's plans differed from Kaito's. The shinobi had grown soft: Orpheus, Yuri, both entities directly conflicted with Kaito's original purpose, yet if the situation played as Rauls believed, they would aid Yakuza's cause as no other precedent had. Inwardly, Rauls nearly giggled at the fruition of his labor, mentally striving not to display the pleasure on his outward countenance. Best of all, his fun with Kaito was only beginning.

"Poor Kaito-chan. Poor, poor Kaito-chan. You should know better than anyone what happens when you bargain with a devil." The doctor skipped ahead to the hospital wing. 'Oh, what you'll do for the mission and your love. Absolutely delicious!,' Rauls thought.

In response, Kaito did naught but cringe, believing the remark to be an illusion to the legendary musician of old, Orpheus. The devil from Yakuza. The shinobi was being toyed with, physically, psychologically. Before the two days were over, the shinobi realized he would have to kill the man or die himself.

A flicker of life. Not just any life. Enya's.

The circumstance was either a continuation of Dolos' torture, the beginning of the clan's downfall, or both. However the situation lay, Kaito thought this a sign to begin.

[OOC: Sorry.... it's not much... and Sel-chan, don't worry about it. =) ]

Amidst the morning sky, something floated ominously above the clouds, above the chirping birds, above the buildings and – to some – even above the sun itself. It was large…malignant…menacing in its slow but ceaseless movement above the pitiful cities and erections of man. It floated over Tewen, looming above the pitiful tiny ant-like beings upon Tewen, men, women and children killing each other in a whole plethora of unpleasant ways, some of them noticed the floating thing and pointed up to the sky before getting shot at with explosions. Those who were shooting explosions at them, they did not notice this great incomprehensible thing that loomed over them – blocking out the weak morning sun, like how a great floating balloon blocked a light bulb (before exploding).

This great menacing floating thing that floated greatly and menacingly was a blimp – a dirigible. And under the bloated up mass of tattered bullet-proof, air-proof and explosion-proof cloth, suspended by wires and cables and elephant-hair ropes, was a modest wooden ship with propulsion fans sticking from its backside, where there was also a rudder.

The passenger of this great floating ship-boat in the sky were racks upon racks of fellows named Avomat Kalashnikovs, of the class 1947. And accompanying them were an assortment of mixed ammunition of various calibers, boxes of potato-masher grenades, a big ZU-something-something anti-aircraft cannon, dial-up radios, flashlights, fake nightvision goggles from Taiwan, a North Korean hovercraft fan, a phased plasma rifle without any batteries, a rocket propelled grenade launcher with a rocket propelled grenade, boxes and tins of corned beef and baked beans. Hanging on a rope was the dehydrated body of an African man who had caught the zombie disease.

“We are nearing Matissi City,” the GPS navigation system said with a pleasant female voice. To which, the sole passenger and captain of the flying vessel grunted.

“Finally,” John Baylor, the sole passenger and captain of the flying vessel, grunted. He was seated on a reclining wooden chair covered in real leopard’s fur, stained in real leopard’s blood, and smeared with what he’d rather not believe was real baboon droppings. “Nothing like home sweet home.”

Indeed, for as they passed Tewen, the sounds of gunfire and angry people could be heard even high up in the air. It was nostalgic, for just a few years ago John was in fact a member of the Dragons, partaking in the first Triad War. As long as they weren’t the screams of child soldiers crapping their pants, or moaning zombies craving for human brains, John thought it was okay.

He sipped a bottle of fresh water. And then he noticed…something was not okay.

Crap.

He shot out of his creaking chair and looked at his instrument panel, which was a makeshift wooden board with switches that didn’t work, dials that didn’t make sense, speedometers taken from cars, and an altimeter that came from an old biplane. There was a pressure gauge right beside the wheel, which looked like a boat’s wheel, and the gauge’s reading was bad.

“Crap,” John cursed. “The gauge’s reading is bad!”

Which meant that the blimp was losing air, which meant that the blimp was losing altitude, which meant…

John ran to the side of the boat, looked over, and saw the ground rapidly approaching. Already, he could make out the ugly faces of screaming drug-addled gangers shooting the living crap out of each other while screaming constipatedly. A mob of them was pointing at the air and then, just like angry African militiamen under that guy Warlord Mambouti Magobo Jambuti Tootoo, they shot at the sky. Bullets started whizzing past, hitting the blimp and puncturing the tattered ‘bullet-proof’ balloon thingy.

“Stop that, you dicks!” John cursed. He wiped the saliva off his mouth and grabbed the machinegun mounted on the starboard side. He pointed it earthwards and began emptying prodigious amounts of bullets. “Gargh!”

The mob ran away under the hail of glowing lead.

John ran back to his instrument panel and then ran out. Sticking out of the ship’s side was this spinny thing that measured air-speed. It was spinning very fast. B ran back to the control panel, saw the various wildly spinning dials and doohickeys. They were picking up speed, cause of the wind and cause of their descent. John cringed and began pulling at his hair.

Drop anchor! Yes! That’s a smart idea John! John said to himself inside his brain.

He ran outside and released the rope that had the anchor. It fell to the ground and, well, he looked down and saw that the anchor was gone. The zombie trying to climb up the rope gnawed it off!

“Holy crap!”

Indeed, as ropes started snapping off for no reason at all, causing the ship-boat to decline sideways, further causing all sorts of stuff to fall off – nuts and bolts, ammunition boxes, carburetors, batteries, tea cups, silverware, elephant tusks, pygmy memorabilia, a boxful of pineapple hand grenades!


****


Deimos stuck his head out of the truck’s window and looked at the particularly queer sight in the sky. “What the hell is that?”


****


More cords and wires and elephant-hair ropes were breaking. Even the helium was leaking from the balloon blimp dirigible thing!

“Eeeee!” John squeaked. “Waat theee fuuuck iiis….eeeeee!”

John closed his mouth. He sounded stupid. He hated that. He looked out, and saw that the blimp was probably gonna crash into something and explode – because everything, even inflammable unflammable things exploded, no thanks to his crappy luck. He hated that too.

A steel boxful of bullets slammed on his head.

“Eeeeeouch!”

Okay, contingency plan. Just like when Zimbabwean helicopters were trying to shoot him down and he had to resort to a flamethrower to kill them off his tail.

John began grabbing every ammo magazine he could and began stuffing them into the sown-on patches of pockets on his tattered crappy Hawaiian polo that was smeared with…

He grabbed his AK, and holstered his pistol on his belt, belted on his belt so his pants won’t fall down. He grabbed a giant kitbag, which was full of his supplies. It was padlocked, so pygmies couldn’t steal his stuff.

He hauled it and grabbed a parachute. He strapped on the parachute, which he had used several times before. And then he made for the edge of the boat, teetering over a hundred thousand miles above the certainly deathly ground.

Loudly, John screamed: “I hope there are hot chicks down there!”

And then he jumped. His positively huge kitbag strapped on his front, parachute at the back. He pulled the ripcord. The parachute went up.

Floating in the air, blimp far away. Ground nearing fast.

“Crap.”

Alcaedo and Momos, the driver's of the truck, would also notice the huge blimp heading down from the sky, Deimos sticking his head out of the opening between the front of the truck and the back of it, his eyes taking in the sight of the peculiar sight moving lower and lower through the speckling rain from above. Ever since John Baylor had arrived in Matissi, the atmosphere of the place was surprisingly more quiet than it was in Tewen. To tell the truth, out of all three cities, this one seemed the most peaceful, no shooting anywhere, no violence, no anything. Order was sustained, even with the battles over in the city of Tewen. But now, with a large blimp heading down onto the city, disturbance was sure to follow, for the vehicle was about to crash into the area just near the center district of Matissi.

Everyone who was within the target area ran either down the streets or into the false protection of their houses, to at least get away from the descending doom in the sky. Alcaedo and Momos would just be staring, seemingly out of range to not worry about the thing.

"You think it's an attack by Phoenix," Alcaedo asks.

Momos would shake his head. "I wouldn't know, but whatever it is, it's sure going to ruin the situation. Because if Dragon believes its an attack, what do you think they'll do. They'll go into a lockdown, and that will not be favorable. Let's hurry to the headquarters. It's just a couple more blocks away."

Indeed, it was, for the large hovering skyscraper was right in range, that twisting emblem of a dragon present on the side of it. Deimos would just glare at this thing like it was saying something to him before pulling back into the back, giving a small laughter as he points behind himself. "You guys wouldn't believe this. We got a blimp heading down onto the city."

"A blimp," Jason says confusedly, standing to his feet, trying not to fall from the vehicle moving, and heading to that little window to look out, too. Removing his shades, he couldn't believe his sight, the blimp looking rather large with little distance to go. And then suddenly....

Explosion!

The front end of the large balloon released its flammable gas that kept it in the air for so long, ignited by some random source and now spreading a TNT-like explosion outward from where it lands, the aircraft engulfed in high degree heat and flames as a radius of fifty feet is caught in the destruction. Some buildings would survive, but many would have their tops and sides blown off, windows shooting out glass and fire, and caught victims being struck into a conflagration that they could not escape. This was chaos at its best so far, maybe even matching the gruesome violence going on in various parts of Tewen right now.

"My God," Jason would say slowly, not able to turn his sight from the flames and large smoke rising from the distance. "Let's hurry."

As John made touchdown, he was nearly deafened by a very loud sound of something that sounded very much like an explosion. Bits and pieces of wood, metal, and various burning things rained down, confirming the fact that it was an explosion. For some reason, his airship filled with un-burnable inflammable helium caught fire and blew up, just like the f*cking Hindenburg.

"Exploderized!" John said to himself.

He looked up and saw the plume of fire and smoke, and saw what looked like fireworks. Detonating rockets and grenades and bullets, white phosphorus filling the sky with bright sparkles. Just like New Year, and the Fourth of July. It wouldn't take long for the bullets to make their way back to Earth, and when that happened, it was probably best to be indoors.

There was a ripping sound as burning shrapnel on fire tore his parachute, setting it on fire in the process. John cursed. And then the parachute broke.

"Shi-!" He landed belly first, his weapon-filled kitbag breaking his fall. And his lungs. Touchdown. "Oooff!'

It took him a moment to catch his breath. He unstrapped and unfastened everything, except his belt, took 'em off and kicked the burning parachute away. He checked whatever he had on him. AK-47 strapped on tight, holstered pistol, ammo and a belt full of grenades.

John then went to his ginormous kitbag and began fumbling with it. It was full of nasties, boom-booms, bang-bangs, stuff that could potentially make big explosions. It was padlocked, so stupid pygmies couldn't open it and steal his stuff. John searched for the keys...and found out he lost 'em.

"Crap!" he cursed, and then noticed something. "Hey, a truck!"

Despite the situation's potential to endanger the situation, Deimos burst out into laughter even as the only passenger of the blimp touched down. "Oh, he's such a treasure. Thank the gods he didn't die the last time round."

Momos glanced at the manic gleam in the telepath's eyes and raised an eyebrow. "You know that moron?"

"Yeah, of course I do." The ice-blue orbs slipped half-close and a fox-like smile crept up his face as he ran a finger down the edge of his dagger, very nearly slicing a thin bloody path on it. "He and I had lots of fun during the last Triad War. He's a Dragon, you see."

One of the mercenary deduced quickly. "So this is not a Phoenix attack then?"

"Gee, where did you come to that conclusion?" Momos drawled sarcastically before he looked out of the window. "Oh look, he found something attractive with this junk."

"Great, I'm thinking of having a little chat with him anyway." Deimos smiled brilliantly. "Stop the truck, Geras. I'm going down."

Jason stared at the telepath who started pushing himself up and slipping on a pair of stylish sunglasses he had gotten some time earlier. "Deimos!? But the door..."

"Don't worry about it. And I won't cause too much trouble, Dinguard." The blue-haired man smirked as he moved to the rear of the stationary vehicle. "I can't say for Momo though."

Momos rolled his eyes and nudged Deimos out of the way and pressed a hand against the door at the back, the one locked from outside. Then, the orange shade in his feral eyes swirled and brightened into molten gold as he stepped down the truck as though the door was just a holographic image, which it was not. A moment later, the door opened and Deimos leaped off with a grin on his face, fingers wriggling his farewell before Momos shut the door again.

"Hello there." Deimos twirled around and faced the gaping John Baylor, his sunglasses low enough to reveal his eyes to the man he once fought. /John J. Claymore./

[OOC: Tag, Shroom! Vex, I'm sorry if this spoils any plans of yours, but this gives more action.]

Baylor struggled to open his padlocked kitbag, but the key was nowhere to be found. He didn't consider just tearing the thing open with his knife, since, well, he just didn't. It would be wise to haul the kitbag to somewhere with a roof, as pretty soon the exploding ammunition from his blown up blimp would be coming down to Earth.

The truck he spotted, and kept an eye on, stopped and two people went off it.

No. Scratch that.

One of them, spiky haired in white, stepped through the door, walking through it as if it wasn't there. And then, like a chauffeur, he opened the door for another. Long haired, dressed in all black.

With a face John would never forget.

The man greeted him, saying hi, and then a voice in John's head, a voice that wasn't his own brain-voice, called him by an old name he hadn't used in years.

John gritted his teeth. He knew the guy. His name was...

He knew him but forgot his name! Typical.

"Hey," John replied. "And the name's John Baylor."

With that pronouncement, John brought up his Kalashnikov and fired a deafening burst of gunfire. The bangs echoed through the abandoned streets, devoid of sound since the sky exploded, and spent casing trickled down the pavement.

The two of them dodged the burst, which was primarily aimed at the one who didn't phase through doors. The guy moved with inhuman speed and agility, like as if he knew what was going to happen a second in advance. Which, John figured, wasn't much of a surprise considering how the guy could speak inside his head.

The man threw a wicked looking knife that, despite the distance between them, neared John's beating cholesterol-clogged heart with unnatural speed as it sailed through the air with grace and true aim. John yelped and staggered from the path of the blade, which glinted evily, showing its serrated and lacerated sharp pointy parts.

If the thrower was just a bit closer, there wouldn'tve been any time to dodge or react at all.

John realized just who he was dealing with. It was that freak, Deimos.

/Yes, that's right John, it's me. Deimos/

"Aw, you f*ck!" John cursed. He aimed proper and fired another burst, but Deimos preempted this by leaping behind cover.

The spiky haired kid in white (xcept for the black trenchcoat) suddenly popped out of nowhere, coming at him with two knives. On a stick. It was uncomfortably close, and the kid, just like Deimos, went for John's heart - trying to poke through his ribs with the pointy stick.

"You'd look better in red, your shirt makes you look like a dumbass!"

John growled. He had experience with these kinds of things. The kid was fast, but not as fast as a crazed cannibalistic Zulu tribesman with a spear, half-naked and smeared in motor oil that substituted warpaint, chewing khat and high on brown-brown, that lovely mixture of crack cocaine and gunpowder those crazy guys liked to inhale while they chewed raw meat. John did now what he did then, stepping back and parrying the spear thrust with his rifle butt. The pointy stick came uncomfortably close though, tearing through his sh*t-stained Hawaiian. But, no harm, and John promptly elbowed the kid's face. The kid leapt back, intent on making another run.

Hah, phase through that! John said in his brain, hoping Deimos could hear it. But he wouldn't tempt fate (that bitch) and immediately backpedalled quickly, before anyone could throw knives or sharp sticks at him, establishing at least some distance. "Never bring a knife to a gunfight, kid. Even if it's two knives, on a pointy stick."

There was an amused laugh. But it did not echo through the empty air of the street. Rather, it echoed through the recesses of John's empty brain. It was an amused, clearly entertained, clearly arrogant laugh. That made John grit his teeth in pissed offery.

Deimos emerged from his shadowy cover, smiling smugly, looking as if he was going to clap his hands at any moment. He extended an arm to the side and, like a magician trick, an obscene black scythe - Grim f*cking Reaper style - snapped out of nowhere.

He grinned, and his eyes looked like it had that sick perverted mix of malice and lust. One that permeated through the mind and the very soul of his victims, right before he eviscerated them, still alive, him still grinning.

John met those eyes with a blank look - a look some would say was like that of the face of a sheep to the slaughter. Others would say it was the eyes of those who saw every second of the butchery - and got tired with it.

John blinked. And noticed that Deimos was looking at him.

"What?"

"What what? You don't like my welcome? I remember you were very trigger happy back then." Deimos frowned and pouted like a child, yet he still remained intimidating as the long handle of his weapon tapped the back of his thigh lightly. "Ch. And I thought I could get some fun out here. If I knew that you're not at your hundred percent, I would have waited until you're properly rested to play."

"What the hell are you doing here, Phoenix freak?"

"Like I said," The telepath began with a mockingly patient tone of voice, "I 'heard' that you're around and came to play. We never did end our fight properly that time in Tewen. Want to have a go again? Before I join your side and can't fight you anymore?"

Momos glanced around them and broke one of the blades off to hold it casually in his empty hand. "Hurry the f*** up and kick ass, fairy. You're attracting attentions from those pesky flies around."

"Good idea." Without waiting for a reply from John, Deimos pushed himself forward with speed trained into him since young and when he established enough distance, he produced two daggers seemingly out of nowhere and sent them heading towards the recently returned Dragon while simultaneously altering his course slightly, approaching from another angle with his scythe out for blood.

---------------------

"What is he thinking?!"

The truck did not go far before the imminent outburst came. Seated at the wheel, Geras let out a deep sigh and cursed his luck for being chosen to work with the unpredictable telepath and not his less excitable partner. "Like he said, don't worry. He's putting the two of them into a situation more advantageous to us."

Then he paused and continued. "Deimos says that it's better if we scout for cover and good spot for sniping and things like that, should things backfire and blow up in his face. Until we can determine if there are psychics in the Dragon's ranks and what abilities they have so we can be prepared for them, there's a high chance that things will go wrong."

[OOC: Tal, here's your chance to post. And tag you again, Shroom.]

"If you need a sniper, you've got him right here," said Alferei, scratching the back of his neck. "Just give me a target."

"He's not going alone, either. I'm with him," stated Brandon, patting the stock of the machinegun, which was pointed upwards, its butt on the floor of the vehicle.

"Where do you want them to go, and who do you want them to kill?" Wilhelm asked, leaning forward and facing the driver's seat.

"Dragons. And more Dragons. Preferably the higher-ups, but there will be the others." Geras actually grinned viciously for a moment, which looked completely out of place on his seraphic face. "It may not happen, but knowing Deimos, trouble is his uninvited pet. It'll just swing by and make things... in his words, 'fun'.

"As for locations... anywhere near or in that Dragon building. It makes things easier if you can cover both, just in case. I think Dinguard would know where best, or your lady merc there. The question here is when to do it, right Dinguard?"

[OOC: I'm not sure if our chars are supposed to be gathering information or getting into action, so it's your call, Vex.]

Adrenalin coursed through John's veins, the liquid head circulating throughout his limbs as he threw himself away from the knives' path. Too late, one of the knives embedded itself into his chest - a crunching sound as the sharp knife point sank itself into something hard in John's breast.

John didn't notice the slight discomfort, though he did let out a grunt. The adrenalin was still burning through him. What he did notice, however, was how utterly stupid he was.

He threw himself directly into Deimos' angle of attack. Right into his scythe, as dark as night, as black as hell.

The long-haired, black-garbed androgyne swung his blade of death as if he were the Reaper himself. He grinned, savoring the coming kill. Those dark malicious eyes longing for the taking of another eyes, every facet of his body lusting for the upcoming deathgasm. He was the Reaper. He chose who lived and who died. And even those who lived, those who survived alive but wounded, would slowly die - and the speed with which they forfeited their lives would be governed by his will.

It was going to be quick. He still had other things to do.

John's eyes widened, looking into the blackness of the scythe whose darkness swallowed every glimmer of light. He screamed incoherently and brought up his rifle in a feeble attempt to shield himself.

The blade and the gun struck, but there was no resonating clang of steel against steel. But there was also no smooth hiss of sharpened blade shearing through gunmetal.

This disappointed Deimos. Tsk.

Against the Grim Reaper's scythe, John's weapon, the Avomat Kalashnikov model 1947 survived intact. This was because the gun itself had survived intact for more than half a century. Some would say this was because of it's ridiculously robust design, it could survive being beaten, it could be fired forever and never jam, it did not need maintenance, it could be used in the hottest of Saharan desert or coldest of Siberian wasteland. If one had to, one could lubricate the rifle with human urine.

But others would say that it was not because of the gun's robustability, Deimos' deathscythe had sliced through the metals and armors of his prey, who were feeble and cowering in the face of the death he wrought - his venomous blade which sharpened itself with each and every kill. No, the Avomat Kalashnikov withstood the blow of the deathbringer scythe because it too brought death. It was the single most proliferate weapon in the planet, its sister and brother firearms had killed millions in more than half a century's service. The gun, which John got second hand from some dead guy in an African street, probably killed more people than the scythe, passing through the hands of countless gunmen in that godforsaken continent where life was less than currency. Contrastingly, against the sleekness and sharpness of the scythe, the gun looked ugly - made out of stamped steel and wood, with lots of scratches and bumps and nicks.

The blade had embedded itself into the gun's wood.

This elated John, and he grinned like the dick that he was.

Deimos tried to pull the scythe off, he grunted and pulled, but it was stuck.

John grinned. "I win!"

With a clenched fist, he struck the beautiful face of Deimos hard, sending the androgynous assassin staggering backwards, detaching the scythe from the gun.

"You dead!" John shouted as he brought his gun to bear. He squeezed the trigger -

The gun was swatted to the side as Deimos swung his spear in an attempt to amputate the limb that punched him in the face. "Not quite!" he hissed with reptilian malice, his eyes looking really evil. "Not quite. This time, we're going to finish our little game. No leftovers."

Deimos was uncomfortably near, a few steps short of scythe-reach. John moved backwards, but trained his weapon on Deimos. He was too close to miss. "Oh no," John said. "This time, I'm going to kill you first." He pointed to Deimos, and then pointed to Momos. "You second."

Momos sneered at that, and John gave him a look. He returned his glance to Deimos.

John had forgotten that Deimos was a telepath, a psyker. But Deimos was quick to remind him when his eyes, his dreadful soulless eyes, dug deep into John's hollow cranium. It was a painful experience, like being poked in the eyes by cold clammy fingers. The fingers went through John's eyes and into his brain, and they began scooping around and fondling his mind in a twisted massage.

John screamed in rage, but before Deimos could take advantage of the situation and lop John's head off with one clean swing, John grasped his gun with both hands and began blasting away at the general direction of his nemesis. He roared in fury, like Rambo, and began emptying vast amounts of ammunition, like Rambo, spewing spent casing everywhere and sending bullets flying at every direction, like Rambo. He screamed and cursed in rage, and both Deimos and Momos ducked behind random objects to hide themselves. Momos hid behind an unusually large and ornate vase, which looked really out of place. Deimos jumped behind something...else. He was ready to pounce again, but didn't and stayed where he was instead.

Just in time, as stray bullets began raining down from the sky - courtesy of the exploded blimp filled with ammunition. Hissing and whizzing sounds accompanied the descending fusillade of projectiles, and popping sounds too as they began making tiny holes in the ground. It wasn't safe.

John staggered backwards, to a shaded area, and leaned on a lamp post. He banged his head against the lamp post twice, defeating the telepathy, and glared at Deimos, who sneered back at him.

"It doesn't matter John, you're still dead," Deimos pointed to the knife sticking out of John's chest. "I still got you."

John growled and looked at where Deimos was pointing at. "Oh, this?"

Deimos did a double-take. 'Oh, this?' wasn't exactly the answer he was expecting. It was a stupid answer. "Yes," he sighed. "That."

John pulled the knife out, tearing a chunk of his shirt in the process. It was a bloodless process, however, as the tip of the knife was firmly connected to a spherical hand grenade. "Ah...this," he pulled out the grenade and threw it at Deimos.

"That f*cker!" Momos cursed as the grenade sailed its way through the air towards them. "Screw this! Don't we have other things to do, Fairy? Other more important things?"

"Good idea."

When the destructive projectile exploded behind them, Deimos hissed as the impact knocked him forward mid-roll and caused him to be sprawled awkwardly on his side, his weapon's deadly curve dangerously near his own legs. As he hastily pushed himself up, he glanced in Momos's direction to find the other psychic already collecting himself, his two knives on each hand without the staff in sight. Orange eyes narrowed at the people who were gathered around them with guns pointing at them, now that no stray debris and bullets could accidentally forward them to their grave.

Vicious words spewed from the pissed off phaser's mouth, his face twisted like an enraged beast. "You dragged too f***ing long, a**hole. I bet you do the same with sex because you don't have any stamina, stupid bitch."

"Ch. You agreed to letting me play, f***er." Deimos touched his face and sulked, even as his ice colored eyes scanning their surrounding with a calculative gleam. "I almost forgot how irritating it is to be punched in the face. It's been too long."

"What, your boyfriend lock you in your room all day because you're too much of a whore?"

"Now that I'm out, wanna give me a go?" The telepath threw the other a flirtatious look, which he received a sharp glare in response to, and chuckled. "I know I know, now is not the time. Yo, John Baylor! Are ya still alive?"

The answer came, though it sounded rather disgruntled. "What do you want, you homosexual bastard?"

"Except for your death?" The familiar smirk decorated the telepath's face. "I want you to bring us to your higher-ups. I want to make a deal with the Dragon Clan, and destroy the damn Phoenix Triad."

[OOC: Vex, again it's your call. I mean somebody on Dragon Clan to make things more interesting.]

Jason watches, keeping the door open as the truck sped away, already seeing Momos, Deimos, and this new fellow already going at one another. This made the officer really agitated because of the simple fact that this isn't what he had in mind for them taking down the Dragons. They continued further and further, yet catching the sight of debris from the blimp raining down onto the place. The truck begins swerving to avoid every destruction that was hitting into random cars and the concrete itself, causing Jason to stumble back and fall onto his behind. The others inside kept a hold on the crates already within to keep from being moved around until Jason finally takes hold of the latch and pulls, closing the door and locking it in place.

"Just great..."

"Right, Dinguard," Geras says back to Jason as the truck advances closer to the building.

"Huh?" He turns around, showing he wasn't exactly listening to the conversation they were having.

"I said, how should we do this?"

"Oh. Well, apparently, we're going to need to get inside first. Hopefully, your guises work."

"Oh, they will," Alcaedo would say, smiling for some odd reason.

Katrine would stand to her feet as she finishes tapping her labtop.

"Okay, finally done." Jason looks over to her. She would look to them with a smile. "You guys going to love this. I just got the blueprints to the headquarters."

"What," Jason exclaims. "But how?"

"Don't underestimate my connections. The Dragons were open to me the moment they were created in the first place. I can access just about ever infrastructure in this city thanks to an insider."

------------------------

Inside some office, a man in a white casual shirt with a Dragon emblem on the front as a badge, wearing a black tie, and looking a bit slim sat at a computer. His hair was a good brown, cut short, while he wore glasses on his peach-colored face. As he taps at his own computer, he sneezes, rubbing his nose.

"Where they come from," he says, sniffing a bit.

------------------------

"Let me see the floor plans," Jason requests as he walks over, Katrine handing him her computer, yet warning him: "Be careful with that or someone's going to have to pay."

He generally just ignores the remark as he scrolls across all the information on the building, including a few surrounding ones as he sits onto one of the crates. "Hm.....I see now."

"Anytime," Geras says. "We're about to head in. Though there are a lot of people fleeing about." He was watching as people ran for cover from the hailing fires of the destruction, firetrucks already on their way to tend to the district that was hit, while these black cars sped along with them.

"Who are they," Boron would question, having decided to come from the back.

"The Dragon police force," Alcaedo responds. "Even in their territory, things can sometimes get hectic. But wityh a big impact like this, it's surely going to have the Dragons getting on this prompto."

The truck turns into this long down slopping driveway that existed in the back of the HQ, heading down to closed doors with a guard post stationing a few Dragons. They were dressed in black swat-like wear with the Dragon emblem of course on their front and the bicep of their tops, while wielding these AK look alikes in their hands. But to a gun expert, they will see that the modifications on the barrel and the body of these weapons themselves, such as the bulky design of the barrel, made the gun appear more than what it seemed.

The vehicle comes to a stop, one of the men walking up to the side. As soon as Alcaedo stuck his head out, a smile comes upon the guard face. "Well, if it isn't Hicks."

"Hey, there, Steven," Alcaedo replies, smiling cheerfully.

"I see you have another delivery for us. Hurry on in, though. After that large blimp struck into the buildings, we haven't been able to tell if it's a Phoenix attack or if some ass decided to go Pearl Harbor on us."

"Oh, I really hope it isn't either. Well, take care." The doors are open, the truck going on inside into the garage were many of the same type of vehicles were placed. Once the doors closed, Geras looks to Alcaedo, smiling a bit.

"Hicks," he jokes.

Alaedo would turn the wheel as he brings the truck up a sloping path to the upper level of this garage. "Don't worry on it. Either way, he's only a tool. It's funny that he doesn't know that our little 'friendship' will be the downfall of his little corporation."

The truck parks into a space between two of the same looking trucks, the engine soon turned off.

Jason stands to his feet, handing the computer back over to Katrine, placing some sheets of paper onto the crates in front of him. On them were sketched designs of some of the important blueprints he wanted to get, smiling a bit in joy as his right index finger touches against one.

"We're right here in the garage at the moment. However, from what I could tell from the blueprints, the HQ has a level five security system, the most complex design yet. It's this reason why we cannot get to the upper floors without manipulating a few things. However, another troublesome thing is that we need Level A ID cards to even get into some of the most important places, and Level S to get access to all areas. Katrine, do you think you can at least alter our ID data to Level A at least?"

Katrine would respond: "I'll see if my friend can help us there. But why do A when we can get S?"

"Can you really do that?"

She gives a confident smile. "Give me ten minutes."

------------------

The same glasses-wearing guy suddenly receives a notification on his computer screen of an email arriving. Opening it with a few clicks of the mouse in his dimly lit laboratory, his eyes catch a message from a friend of his: Katrine Filipkowski.

------------------

Back at the scene between John and the other two psychis, they will find themselves surrounded by many other Dragons, all wielding guns of many types. Even John was one of the targets, as neither of the Dragons even knew he was one of them.

"#####," he would say, still holding onto his weapon, just in case things decided to get hectic.

As for Deimos, he awaited the answer from John.

"If there's anyone capable of getting through anywhere without suspicion, it's Wilhelm," declared Katrine. "But now, if you need some support, we can get Alferei out of this building first, so that he can find a good spot to snipe from. Brandon can make a good distraction for us if need be, and also cover our dear sniper."

Alferei chuckled, and shrugged. "Just give me a target," he said. "That's all I need."

"Clearance will not be a problem. What are our objectives here, again?" asked Wilhelm with a raised eyebrow. "That's all that we need. Katrine will handle the rest."

Finding himself suddenly surrounded by an outnumbering amount of Dragons, all of whom were pointing guns at Deimos and the phaser, John felt really relieved. Support, at last. At least they mistook his giant exploding blimp for a signal flare, rather than some kind of attack or something...

John cleared his throat, and then the Dragons cordially reacted by pointing their guns at him also.

"Hey, I'm one of you guys!" he protested. "I'm a Dragon!"

Momo snickered. And chuckled. And laughed out loud. "You fucktard!"

His fuckbuddy, Deimos, smiled coolly and turned to face the other Dragons. "Take me to your leader."

"Don't trust him!" John screamed in protest. "He's Phoenix! Crucify him!"

"Was a Phoenix. There's a fine difference there, my old friend." The widening grin on Deimos's face was vicious, though the agitated tapping of his weapon was definitely a sign of how unhappy he was about it. "Betrayal seems to always turn things sour. So I'm anti-Phoenix now."

Momos licked his lips with a hungry look. "Come on, pansy, take us to your f***ing leader. If I'll get thirsty for blood, if all these wimps keep staring at me."

"Keep a lid on it, Momo. We don't really want to make negotiations too difficult. Bloodbath does that sometimes, doesn't it, Mr. Higher-up?"

[OOC: The 'Mr. Higher-up' is somebody from the higher ranks of Dragon Clan. So yeah, basically I'm directing things towards Vex. ^^ Here's your cue, friend.]

The surrounding Dragons would lower their guns, catching sight of someone who now stood to the side, leaning against the wall of the building.

The Higher-Up Deimos had just made note of pushes off, walking toward the scene with little fear. "Anti-Phoenix, huh," he man says, stopping in between John and the two others, facing Deimos. "Well, it's always nice to have a few Phoenix defect over to our side. After all, we are the dominant ones if you think about it. But anyway, if you wish to join, we find no problem with that."

John would say loudly: "Are you ##### kidding me?! How do you know they aren't here to try something under our noses?!"

The dragon Higher-Up would look toward John. "I said they can join us...as long as they get pass the initiation process."

"Initiation," Momos says.

"We're not exactly here for membership," Deimos says as he gives a carefree gesture with his hand. "We only want an temporary alliance between us and the you guys. That way, we can go ahead and take out the Phoenix in one swipe."

"Oh," the Higher Up would say. "So, a mutual relationship. I would gladly give interest to that, but I'm not the one you should be talking to. I believe our leaders will be better judges. If you will, follow me." He turns, walking forward as he heads for the building, which was only a block away. John would lower his weapon, only to be ticked off that these two were allowed to roam free. As they walk past him, John would say to them: "This ain't over. The moment I get the go ahead, and splattering your brains all over this concrete."

Deimos would chuckle as he continues on. "If you are capable of that."

In front of the massive building, the guards dressed in their swat-like green uniforms would stand at attention as the glass doors slide open to reveal a large lobby. Within, the floor was marbled in white stone, pillars of this material lining the side of a long green carpet with yellow lining pointing toward wide stairs that led up to another floor that contained the elevators. Occupying this place was many Dragon employees, all looking toward the three that had just entered as they walk forward toward the stairs, ascending them. Following them would be four Dragon guards, to make sure nothing happens along the way. Then into an elevator they go, the doors closing, the gravity being increased as the shaft shoots upward to the two hundredth floor. On one side stood the Higher Up, and on the other, Deimos and Momos.

Deimos breaks the silence: "So, what is your name?"

"Glad you asked," the man replies. "Call me Quado Millister. I am one of the Dragon Oracles."

"Dragon Oracles? What are you guys, some kind of prophets?"

Quado chuckles. "No, my friend. The Dragon Oracles are the top ten Dragon members in the clan, under the league of the leaders themselves. In short..."

The elevator "dings."

"We are the strongest of our clan. Follow me." He steps out, Deimos and Momos only grinning to that fact as they walk out after him. Another green carpet they follow until they come to these large double doors, graved with a golden dragon over green pavement. The guards here looked a lot different than the ones down below. These were attired in long coats of green with dragons as designs along them. Their hair styles varied, but each wore shades over their eyes, with a black top and pants underneath, and a chain that linked from one side of their coat to the other over the front opening of their coats.

"The doors open into the room, revealing a much larger room. In here, large desks lined the back of the room, with eleven people seated behind them. But lining the carpet that continued in the room, standing to the sides, were the remaining nine members of the Dragon Oracles.

((Will draw this scene in my next post.))


"We're done and ready," Kristen says.

Jason nods as he looks to Alcaedo. "Take Alferei and his friend to a designated place. Remember, only fire when we say so, understand?"

"Yeah, we got ya," Alferei responds. "Just make sure you give the right coordinates. We'll do the rest."

"Okay then," the officer responds. Let's go."

Alcaedo would return to the truck, the other two of the mercenaries keeping inside. Kristen and Wilheim would keep out as the truck is pulled out of its parking space and drives off back down toward the lower gate where they came in.

Boron would be looking around before speaking: "So, how do you guys think we're going to do this? I mean, we're right here out in the open. Not to mention, the inside is probably worse."

Jason would nod as he looks toward them. "Looks like Void is doing his job."



Void's sword slashes through the array of wires placed within some turbines in the generator area underground. That was when the lights would flicker in the building before the power turns off, red light illuminating the parking garage as a result. Not only the power in the building go off....but the entire city was now suffering from a blackout.

"Let's go," Jason says, now pulling out his pistol and rushing the nearest door. "Remember, nothing too distracting. Remain silent, get rid of any obstacles, and continue on. The top floor is our designation."

He kicks open the door and aims inside....

Deimos's demeanor was relaxed, the perpetual smirk on his face easy and hinted of promised violence even though none of his weapons were in sight. But that did not matter to a telepath, for the most dangerous of his arsenal was not his mastery of any, even all, weapons, but his formidable mind manipulation ability. Under normal circumstances, he had every reason to be relaxed.

But he was not. The fine tension in his muscles on his lean frame was an indication that he was not as at ease as he looked. Even as he prowled into the room like a panther on the loose, there was an almost undetectable air of a cornered prey. Everyone else would have missed it, but not Momos. Not another member of Hades who have played such a dangerous game dozen times over.

What could Deimos have sensed to make him react like that?

Momos did not get the chance to find out, because the blue-haired telepath casually weaved his hand through his hair, sweeping them to reveal his icy blue eyes and the amusement in them. "Well well, what a reception we have here. I feel so honored. Aren't we going to get introduced, Mr. Quado Millister?"

[OOC: I don't know how far to advance, so I just foreshadowed a few things that may happen. ^^;]

John Baylor sighed. He couldn't believe the Dragons were this dumb. And that was saying something. Really, they didn't even listen to him when he told The Higher-Up that Deimos was a telepath who could mess with their minds. Actually, now that John thought about it, he never really told them that Deimos was a telepath at all.

The guards brought him to the lobby of the big building. John wondered if he could run to The Higher-Up and tell him that the androgynous sociopath bisexual he was escorting happened to be an androgynous sociopath bisexual psyker. He decided against that. If he ran up to the guy, he'd no doubt get riddled by a hundred bullets from the guards, and Deimos and his little runt f*ckbuddy would just laugh their asses off.

From a distance, John watched the elevator doors close, and hope that on its way up, it'd break and plummet, sending The Higher-Up, Deimos and Momos to their respective dooms. Wishful thinking.

John Baylor sighed. As soon as whatever villainous scheme Deimos cooked up had transpired, he'd pull out a scythe from his butthole and murderize the Dragon head honchos. Not John's problem, but still. Hopefully he'd be alive then, so after Deimos murderized those coke-sniffing bastards, John'd have a chance at exploderizing him in turn as well.

"Well, are you guys just gonna let me stand here like an idiot?" John asked to his escorts.

A cute female Dragon receptionist with glasses walked up to him and told him to sit down on a comfy chair. John sat down on the comfy chair. He presented his certification, a decoder ring with a Dragon emblem on it. The receptionist chick nodded and took his ring for some verification, John winked at her. She went off away, disappearing behind some ornamental indoor potted palm trees, and John sighed.

There was a SWAT-ish looking Dragon guy with an MP5 beside John.

"Hey," John said. "Got a smoke?"

"Yeah, sure," SWAT replied. He got out a cigarette and lit it, and handed it over to John. "Here."

"Sorry, I don't smoke," John apologized, grinning dumbly as he did.

The SWAT guy shook his head. "Dick." And walked off.

John sighed. They took his weapons and explosives and kit-bag, probably had it in a storage place somewhere in the building. If sh*t hit the fan, he'd have to pry that MP5 from that SWAT guy's cold dead fingers.

John pondered.

Where can I pee?

Enyalios breathed as deeply as he could without disturbing any of his injuries and concentrated on the fizzling spark he felt in his body. With sheer willpower, he had fought not to touch it instinctively when Dolos was attempting, and failing, to make him beg, all the while praying fervently that he could choose a better timing to start his part of the plan. Much as he wanted to, frying Dolos on spot was not, so he had endured until, thank the entire Greek pantheon, Dolos had to leave to for some secret Phoenix business.

Offering a prayer to the gods he used to worship along with his traditional Japanese family, and he reached out to his flickering power with his mind. Now was the time, while his torturer was away, and he willed for his ability to wake up, to wreck havoc under his control.

It did not work.

Biting down on his already very swollen lips, Enyalios exhaled deeply and took a long breath in. Deimos warned him that he may not have the choice of dealing with his power the usual gentle way as it was overloaded and locked down, and much as he wanted it otherwise, he knew he would have to resort to the alternative method.

Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes and stretched his senses outwards to find the nearest electricity source, reaching at it to pull a thread of current towards him. Normally, it would be as easy as reciting his ABCs and he could pull such a thread from nearly a hundred metres away. But now, with his ability unstable and barely usable, it was a chore that left him sweating profusely even before the current reached him.

And when it nearly did, his gift jumped to life. Electricity surged like a sudden tidal wave from within his lean frame, catching him by complete surprise and almost got away from his roused ability. Screams tore out of his throat as hot searing pain lashed through his veins and every part of his skin, all caused by the electrical charge he had absorbed and was holding back to build its power. Only when he could no longer hold on anymore then did he direct all of it towards the nearest power outlet and pushed it all the way to any and all power supplies of the building, frying everything it reached.

Limp and totally spent from his effort, he barely had the strength to force his eyes open to see the lights go off. A smile curved his bruised lips as he succumbed to the allure of blissful unconsciousness.

If he had stayed awake longer, Enyalios would have heard the soft voice of a person beside him, speaking the words, "The stars here have gone out. It's time to fish."

[OOC: Yes, action on Phoenix side has officially commenced. The other three towers should have their power cut right after the report reached them (which is the words, being said by Draenaria). If anyone wants to take a Phoenix member side role and fight my characters (no plot needed, seriously), now is the chance. And tag ya, Rean-ni!]

Quado nods and extends his arm toward the center where the eleven men awaited on their high thrones. The Dragon Oracle himself steps himself to the side to complete the equal lining of five men on each side. Unlike Quado, the other nine members had their heads covered by the hoods of their black cloaks with a green dragon design raveling itself around it, and a zipper in the front of each coat. They all varied in size, with two of the Oracles possessing the evidence of women among them. The two Hades members do not hesitate to walk down the aisle toward the ones who were apparently the leaders of this entire gang. The Oracles were watching the duo as they approached the desk, their ambitions, intentions, and thoughts hidden within the mystery of their cloaks. It was like stepping through a hallway of statues that stared with still-life attention, neither paying attention or "not" paying attention. By the time they stop at the end of the carpet, the middle man looks down onto the two. He was described as someone of his 60's, balding in hair, and growing a white beard upon his pale face. His eyes, however, showed strength in their look, as he looks at the visitors with a raised brow.

Not just him, but the rest of the ten that sat before them. They varied in ages, with one looking rather young on the far right end. Their descriptions were similar to common buisiness men with the exception of the variety of Dragon designs on their clothing, too, all in their own unique styles. For now, the distinction of each was not of concern.

"It is not everyday," the middle man finally spoke with his hands clasped together and resting in front of him upon his desk. "That we meet others from another organization. Please, repeat who you two are again? We require to hear of everything that has brought such persistent men into our home. After all, I'm sure you did not crash a blimp into our city for no reason."

They were oblivious that their own John Baylor had landed his air vehicle into the city as if it was a giant parking lot. And with so much destruction caused by that chaotic event alone, it was only questionable why they had yet to subdue and kill Deimos and Momos now where they stood.

Deimos raised any eyebrow, his expression amused. "Just to clear the record, we did not crash that floating balloon ship into your city. Your own man did. By the name of John Baylor, once upon a time, John J. Claymore. I bet his name is in your books. Your Dragon Oracle here saw me having some fun with him downstairs, by the way."

The man who spoke up glanced at Quado and received the confirmation that Deimos was speaking the truth. "Well, then, my apologies. But we still don't know who you are."

"I'm surprised that none of you have attacked me on sight yet, but my name's Deimos." Deimos paused when he heard a sharp intake of breath, before grinning. "Yes, that Deimos. The Phoenix member who disappeared during the last Triad War. But my true allegiance lies elsewhere, and Momos here is a fellow member of the organization we belong in. We are here, primarily, to take out the Phoenix, after an ex-member of ours by the name of Dolos, betrayed us and took control of the Phoenix Triad."

Momos looked bored. "I received confirmation earlier from our people in Vincellio that Deimos has made it onto the Triad's black list, if you want to check if he's lying. And unless situation has changed recently, Deimos's prized student is in Dolos's hands. The kid is responsible for the destruction of Phoenix HQ in Tewen, so some of your people may have seen him."

"Let's say I believe you, for now, about your identities and situation. That does not tell us why you're in our city instead of the Phoenix's. And standing before us."

The corners of Deimos's mouth lifted easily. "That's simple. We infiltrated this city with the aim to destroy your clan, since you may end up being a nuisance to us. But after seeing how your clan may be worth allying with, I changed my mind. That way, not only can we not step on each other's toes when we both go after Phoenix, but we can help each other too."

The man's eyes narrowed contemplatively, but nothing could be read from his expression. "What sort of help can we get from you that we don't already have? We can just kill the two of you here and continue on without you, can't we?"

"Well, you can." Deimos shrugged nonchalantly. "But we won't just stand there and let you kill us, and you don't know how much damage we can deal before you take us down. Plus, I have two interesting piece of information that I'm willing to share only if we have a deal, though I do have a hint for one of it."

A grin crept up his face fast and vicious. "So... how well do you want to know who and where the people who helped us infiltrate this city are? They are getting closer by the minute and unlike us, they only want to destroy you."

[OOC: Surprise, Vex! =P]

~Igami's quarters~

"How beautiful," Rauls noted, glancing down at the being laying before him half-naked, if not for the bed sheet. Being able to manipulate a person's senses had it's advantages. No matter the darkness, the doctor could always feel his companion with an undeniable closeness.

"Now, now, pet, wake up. We have work to do, and I can't have you sleeping on the job," Igami sing-songed, planting a light kiss on the tip of his companion's nose. As the being's eyes fluttered slightly, indicating a slow awakening, Igami giddly replied with "It's playtime, pet. Go be a good boy and bring me Kaito-chan, won't you?"

~Post Black Out: Kaito's room~

Before the shinobi, a number of factors lay obvious. First and foremost, Igami had yet to reveal Kaito's connection with Hades and the Enya incident, although for what purpose, per se, remained unknown. Despite the good doctor's blatant envy of Kaito's previous love-life, Igami always held the notion imperative of keeping Kaito in the close vicinity, normally to hinder any further development between the shinobi and Orpheus, yet now... far too many possibilities lay open as to why the doctor failed to reveal this fact.

The second factor, Hades' plot to establish a massive power-outage, also remained unknown to Dolos until now. Raul's reasoning behind keeping this a secret, potentially, more so threatened the completion of Kaito's mission, in so far as Igami mastered in twisting situations to his own advantage. Not revealing this information, however, also listed him as a potential traitor. While memory manipulation was an incredibly complex art, Dolos was never one to take failure lightly. Playing on Dolos' fear would make Hades' objective all the easier to fulfill.

In essence, a bluff would be the best course of action. Kaito’s intelligence web far surpassed Dolos’ on a general basis and exposing Igami as a traitor and member of Hades’ would prevent any further course of action on Rauls’ part.

Removing the hood, Kaito closed his eyes and focused on probing the aura in the vicinity. With the number of individuals nearby slightly lessened by Dolos' command, the shinobi located Raul's in the hospital wing a small distance away, and Dolos near Enya. At that moment, Igami's life energy split into two, one slightly different, though incredibly similiar.

One headed toward Kaito's quarters, the other to Dolos.

Comparatively, Kaito found these no circumstances to chance a brawl--especially with one able to control his/her aura this well. The fight would not only draw a great deal of attention, but indefinitely stall the shinobi's success.

Kaito left, progressing as quickly as possible toward Dolos. The fastest means, being blocked off by Igami's counter-part, the shinobi could do naught to prevent Igami from contacting Dolos.

~~Igami~~

"Dolos-san, it seems like you have a bit of a problem. Why don't you let me help you with that?" Igami questioned quasi-innocently, as Dolos' hand reached for the door concealing Enya.

"Dr. Jacob Rauls. Why yes. I do have a problem. I minute detail you've so kindly left out in your report. May I ask why?" A shiver ran down Rauls' spine, as the implications of what Dolos stated sat in: 'Leave, or I'll happily deal with you before I move on to Enya.'

With a pleasant smile, Igami happily noted that in his line of work, mistakes may be made.

"If you're of no use to me, leave," Dolos smirked, decreasing the available space in which Igami could freely move.

"With all do respect, and I do mean, with all do respect, I fear my elder's far more than I fear you." While the doctor failed to fear them in the least, the remark served it's purpose. Dolos' curiousity peaked as his control over the space around Igami relaxed.

"And just who are these elders?"

"Yakuza."

[OOC: Please disregard my last post.... It has hence been deleted. I’ll explain Igami's pet's powers in the next couple posts. Tag, Sel-chan!]

Some of the Oracles stirred when Deimos spoke about the damage he could cause before they would be able to take him down. Only a couple, however, as the others remained stoic in their stance, including Quado. Heknew enough already about them to know that they were just cockily teasing them.

"So... how well do you want to know who and where the people who helped us infiltrate this city are? They are getting closer by the minute and unlike us, they only want to destroy you."

The elder man turns to his partners, each chattering low as they discuss something amongst one another. Deimos would just keep staring with that grin of his as they talked before silence comes to them again with the man in the middle hunched forward once more.

"Even willing to betray your own allies? As much as a help that will be, we cannot help but continue to wander if that is the same thing you will do to us if this....alliance is instated. There is no guarantee that you will keep up your end of the bargain."

"I expected this," Deimos replies. "So let's make it so you aren't as worried in us doing the same to you all. Our alliance will only last once the Phoenix are completely destroyed. And once that is done, we will part of our ways. We will leave you guys alone and you will not interfere with any of our other endevours. Agreed?"

The elder man did not trust the face of a jester, so he was having trouble trusting the words of Deimos. He brings his hands up and makes a gesture. One of the Oracles, one of the women one, walks forward and stands behind Momos and Deimos, who couldn't help but look at the person then back to the council.

"And what's this," Deimos asks.

"If you live by your word, then you will not hesitate to allow one of our friends to create a sort of 'pact' between us."

The Oracle brings out her right hand, a paintbrush shown in her grip.

"Let her create a seal upon your hand called the 'Intertwining Snakes'. The concept behind this 'pact' is that as long as you wear it, you stand by the promise that you speak from your mouth before the seal is created. The circumstances of when the seal is destroyed is next spoken, and that is when the seal is painted. If you break your promise, however.....the seal will crumble your body into ash by a power you have never experienced before. Now then....if you accept, say the promise, and then the circumstances."

They stood there in silence, awaiting Deimos's response.

((Double surprise. ))

[OOC: You guys leave me a lot to work with eh?]

- Dolos side -

Dolos narrowed his eyes and let them roam over Igami's face, trying to detect any hint of deception through what he could see with the limited light. The good doctor had concealed information from him, and now claimed to have allegiance elsewhere, which spoke everything of the man's trustworthiness. However, while he was more inclined to dismiss Igami and send him far away from anywhere he could do any sort of mischief, Dolos happened to know of the yakuza's interest in Phoenix. He learned of it quite accidentally, when he was stalking Deimos in Tewen during the first Triad Wars.

Instead of going along with the urge to just tear the deceitful man away from his sight, Dolos forced himself to release his power further after giving Rauls a single warning squeeze. "Go on, tell me more. What do your elders want?"


- Phobos side -

The relief Phobos felt when Draenaria reported in that he had managed to get Enyalios out of Dolos or the doctor's immediate reach was immense, despite the report also saying that Enya was in a pretty bad shape physically. Hygeia had already set off to find the young man, so he was not too worried about it. The others had already reported back that the plan had gone off successfully so far, almost without any problems. The power in the four towers were all down, and it would take some time for the Phoenix Triad to find a way to get electricity, especially amidst the confusion.

Even though things were going well, the dark-haired psychic had a prickling feeling that there was something big that could happen that would not be part of the plan. Since he had no precognitive abilities, he could not pinpoint the source of the feeling, or if it was a good or a bad one. He just hoped that it had nothing to do with his dear partner, although he trusted the telepath's judgment where Hades's official matters were concerned.

Keeping a mental ear out for Vengreche's telepathic alerts, he moved swiftly towards where he could best create a chaotic situation that could divert all attention away from his pupil that Dolos would no doubt be trying to find once the traitor discovers that his captive had escaped.

Little did he expect to find a familiar face blocking his path, with hatred so strong and sharp that his limited empathy could almost bring the taste onto his tongue and the feeling against his skin. While he had expected to meet the person again at least once more, he was not prepared to find him there.

Feeling for his weapon, Phobos met the man's eyes calmly. "Hello there, Xielong."


- Deimos side -

"Ch'. I didn't say anything about this being a deal of mutual trust, just one of mutual benefits. If you want to play it this way, then fine." The blue-haired assassin's expression went cold within seconds, the icy shade of his eyes gaining a glacial shine and his previously mischievous grin twisting into an arrogant smirk. "While I can promise to be nice for once, I don't trust you guys. And how do I know that you will not betray us in the end? You don't exactly have a good track record, considering what you did to your own psychics two years ago."

"So what are you suggesting?" The elder man did not seem the least bit affected by Deimos's reminder. "Or are you going to drop the deal because you cannot abide to your promise?"

Deimos paused, then answered in a freezing tone that was radically different from his flippant manner from before. "Don't tempt me. Let me set this straight. My people and I don't need this deal. It can make things better for us, but we can continue without it if we so chooses. I merely offer both of us this chance of collaboration so that things will go more smoothly towards Phoenix's complete destruction. If you wish not to take it, fine by me. But if you wish to hinder us, be warned, we will not take it passively."

"Old man," Momos, who had been quietly so far, finally spoke up. His head was tilted at a slanted angle and his eyes half-lidded, but his lips were curled with amusement. "Deimos means his words. Every one of it. You asked for proof of our sincerity, you must provide one yourself. Or we'll walk out. Blood will shed if you stop us. It's as simple as that."

Deimos glanced at him with a cocked eyebrow. "So you can be civil."

The phaser retaliated with a vicious grin. "When it suits me."

"What's your answer then?" The telepath lowered his glance to meet the man, silver flickering in its light blue depths. "If you are willing to have the same pact created on your person, I'll gladly do the same."

[OOC: My brain is dying on me from over-multitasking, so this is really the best I can do for now. Phobos is getting into his mini side-story development but it won't affect much, except that he'll be a little preoccupied for a little time now. I'm sorry for making things difficult on Deimos's side, but it would be so un-Deimos if he doesn't try to get rid of any disadvantage towards himself. He's a little *beep*, I know.]

The man stood slowly to his feet, eyeing down at the duo with an expression between anger and frustration, yet to keep his professional tone and posture, his face was not so furrowed in expression. The others were whispering to one another once again, a few finding this simply stupid. However, one wearing glasses on the left side with a very slicked back hairstyle with a long single bang in front of his face would reply: "Do they really believe we will do such a thing?"

The middle man steps from behind the high desk, the council watching him in some shock. He moves to in front of Deimos, showing he aas a bit taller than the blue-haired psychic. His shoulders were broad and he didn't seem to be bent over, though a cane was in his right hand. His left is extended toward the cloaked woman next to him as he says: "Proceed. I will accept the same pact."

The woman removes another paintbrush, having the tip of each hovering over both of their hands.

The council member starts first: "I, representative of the Dragons, swear on our behalf to not break the 'mutual' relationship between the Dragons and Hades. That is, until the Phoenix's headquarters are destroyed."

His eyes continued to stare at Deimos as he spoke each word, showing no twinkle of lying within his pupils. "Your turn, Mr. Deimos."

Everyone just stood around and watched, one person on the council above sneering in opposition. This man was slim in shape, having hair that trailed down his back in black with silver streaks. His mustache made him look sort of sly, due to the nature of the groomed curves at the edges. He rather look at the time on his diamond-embeded watch than pay attention to what he thought was disgust.

"I like the way you think." The telepath's face softened with what seemed to be respect, and he smiled sincerely for the first time since he had entered the building. Fixing his eyes on the council member, he began speaking the words loud and clear for all to hear. "I, representative of the Hades Organization, swears on the behalf of all the other members that we will not break the alliance between us and the Dragon Clan. The alliance will last until the pact is fulfilled by the destruction of the Phoenix's headquarters."

Momos rolled his eyes. "Oh hell, pansy, you told them."

"It's not like we can hide it for long, you ass." Deimos poked him with an elbow, an easy grin appearing briefly before he turned back to the man, totally serious again. "One of ours should be contacting us soon with the location of the group of people we came here with, so I'll tell you their identities later when it comes. But before all that, I don't have a name to call you, mister."

[OOC: Muahaha. Ph3ar my fast response. xD And oh yesh, Deimos only revealed that he and the others are from Hades in this post.]

"Later won't do. If you do not mind, we will like to know who they are now."

As they spoke, the woman was already applying the snake-design onto their hands. The feeling of the paint would feel chilling, with the effect of somemagic causing any hairs on the skin to rise up before a magical gleam moves over the seals, etching the power into the very essence of their soul. If Deimos was able to recognize how deep this magic went, he would come to understand the sample of power one of the Oracles held alone. As for the council member, he did not seem to mind, responding with his name: "And you may call me Zeus."



Suddenly at the door, two of the men that were guarding it soon fall to their faces as the team of Jason, Boron, Wilheim, and Shade bust in with their weapons drawn.

"FREEZE," Jason says, his large crossbow aimed forward into the room. His eyes behind his shades shift from one person to the other. "You're all under arrest by L.A.W., aka LAW. Make any sudden moves and I'll promise you all an arrow to the head. Huh?"

He looks closer... "Deimos! Let him go this instance," he demands, aiming the crossbow right at the two near Deimos and Momos. "It's good to see you here. I wouldn't figure they would catch you so easily," Jason continues. He was relieved to see the guy fine and well, yet not knowing of the deal that just went down between him and the Dragons. But Zeus would start laughing, chuckling.

"What's so funny, old man?"

"So, these are the ones you are talking about? They're really talented to have made it up this far."

((And yet, another surprise.))

Amidst the darkness, Igami made a mental note of how tense Dolos' body appeared, the effects visible with a minimalistic light and a slight mind link. Any massive intrusion, the doctor feared, would thereby label Rauls' as a far greater threat then first imagined, limiting any possibility of what he hoped to come. Feeling one last healthy squeeze, which sent shivers down the telepath's spine, Igami further noted had the situation been different, he would happily relieve the tension through any means necessary.

"Go on, tell me more. What do your elders want?" Despite Igami's cool exterior, inwardly, he felt rather pleased the light barely revealed Dolos' facade.

"To make things clear, Dolos-san, we bear a mutual enemy in Hades. Most recognize the Yakuza as an exclusively above ground organization, although my existence proves to the contrary. We are.... interested in discovering what is causing Hades to involve themselves here and now. Pure revenge runs contrary to such an organization's purpose." While several flippant hand gestures further articulated Rauls' inflection, his voice carried a rather calculated undertone. For all extensive purposes, most would take the transition from playful to calculated as proof of sincerity, although with Dolos, Rauls believed further good will proved necessary.

"You honestly expect me to believe that what you want, what they want, poses mutual benefit?" Dolos flared, his body tension increasing slightly as the space around Igami once more dwindled. "Tell me doctor, do you fear death?"

"Now, now, lets not be rash. What would Yakuza gain from a hostile take over? Power? But at what cost? We've managed to maintain an underground status so far, but a pre-empted take over would ruin everything--for both of us. At our current levels, neither the Phoenix or the Yakuza here pose any threat to Hades as a whole. But together--

"Tell me Dolos-san. Are you willing to lose that chance?"

Deimos's grin was sly as his blue eyes slided sidewards to peer at the lieutenant. "Yeah, they are good, or I wouldn't have joined forces with them. And when I said soon, I didn't mean this soon. Still, they're saving me a lot of trouble anyway. Don't you recognize at least one of them, Mister Zeus?"

At this point, Jason sounded confused and cautious all at once. &