The Dead Savant

Deleted User - 819397

Sure enough, Giles hadn't been sitting too long when Toby came in. A small smile played about his face for a moment as he shook his head...well, it seemed he had been right about the guy not needing any sort of contact information to find him again. The former aristocrat watched with detached interest as he messed around with some sort of mental board, organizing notes and whatnot. Not that such a board was visible, but it did serve to cement the idea that he was harmless. After all, it was hard to think of the man, spinning his metaphorical wheels as he thought about whatever it was he was thinking about, as a dangerous person. Or at least not one in the conventional sense. Giles didn't have much reservation about believing that if he wanted to, Toby could scar someone for life with his uncanny ability to know things, using that knowledge maliciously. Though at the same time he didn't need to worry about it, seeing as he'd been rather clear about wanting to help Giles rather than harm, which was quite nice to know. He had enough enemies already, and more friends were never a bad thing.

Without ever actually looking at him, Toby slid in across from Giles, mumbling a good morning, sounding tired and commenting he was hoping the world made more sense to him. A slight smile played across his face for a moment as he replied, "Morning Toby...I'll agree, the world has a hard time making sense, but so long as you can do something with it..." It seemed Toby hadn't woken up to the extent to be able to deal with the world, as he kept mixing up his words while agreeing with Giles' unspoken comment that it would be good to work here, going so far as to tell himself out loud that he could speak in English, and needed to start doing that again. Another small smile as he considered the young man across from him. "I do understand that...the friend I'm staying with right now takes forever to wake up. I'm guessing she was late to her lab again..." Giles settled back in his seat with a sigh, stretching his legs. "Aside from being groggy, everything go well for you after we parted ways yesterday?" This conversation felt awkward to him, probably because he had a topic he really was hoping Toby wouldn't bring up. Still, with the guy still in the process of waking up, hair not even dried from out of the shower, words struggling to put themselves in order, it wasn't like he would be the most perceptive right now, and the open-ended question would probably keep the focus off him for the time being. He could always hope, right?
 

DeletedUser31931

(OOC: Timeskip discussed with Braet)

Tonya
Tonight it was the whispering. An event that had happened before, one of her regulars. It started with a low, soft moan. Then the words “no”, “please”, “sir”, and “I” all thrown together in an incoherent mess as she babbled to herself. The words barely audible over the sound of rustling sheets, Tonya would begin to toss and turn and struggle against Dante’s grip. There would be about half an hour of this before she’d finally mutter “I’m sorry” to the room, not even consciously aware of Dante’s presence by this point before should would eventually settle down and drift off, quietly snuffling.
The next morning, when Dante went to the pizza parlour, when he gave his codename, the pizza boy would stare at the machine for a second as he inputted the name. “Yep, one plain pizza with a side of fries. Already paid for.” He would disappear into a backroom before returning with two boxes. “Thank you for your business sir.” In the box of chips Dante would find a folded up piece of paper with a date, a time and a set of GPS co-ordinates printed it. in a side alley in downtown Chicago. As Tonya stared at the co-ordinates, she decided that for their next meeting she should trade in the dresses and put something more flexible on. Dresses were all well and good but they were generally a little hard to fight in. If, of course, it came to that.
When Monday morning rolled around, Dante and Tonya would be found standing in the appointed place. Tonya disliked how little they knew about the man they were supposed to be meeting but she agreed with Dante’s reasoning as to why they shouldn’t go looking. Didn’t want to inadvertently draw attention to themselves or Firework before the meeting. Well, she had the feeling that Dante wouldn’t mind that much about Firework being the brunt of their attention. Dressed in baggy tracksuit bottoms, sneakers, a vest, black t-shirt and dark blue hoodie, Tonya wished they’d been able to bring more with them. They’d dumped a stash just outside the city in an abandoned mine before they’d came, the idea being that they’d look unarmed (or relatively unarmed in Dante’s case) and if a fight went down, Tonya would jump out and grab something for her and Dante. As they stood there, the minutes ticked by to their meeting. A car rolled up and the back door opened. A man in a black suit stepped out. “Mr. Lynch plus guest?” When Dante nodded, the man would gesture to the car door. Our carriage, Tonya thought, awaits.

Trixie
Liu stood in place for a second and doubts began to flash through the girl’s mind. What if Liu just killed her? Or knocked her out and left her there? Used her as bait to get away herself. As Trixie began to panic, struggling to maintain control of her breathing, suddenly Liu spoke and Trixie’s attention snapped to her. Why wasn’t she going to… no, no, no! As Liu lifted her up, Trixie panicked and turned invisible, struggling to resist the urge to flail wildly. Liu set off at a run and she slumped down onto the girl’s shoulder, defeat seeping through her bones. She kept the cloak up, figuring it would help, especially since they seemed to be running across the rooftops. She just shut her eyes tight and clung on, praying the ordeal would be over soon.
Twenty minutes or so later, the pair arrived at Liu’s warehouse. The sirens had long since stopped and Trixie figured that they’d got away, for now at least. Certainly the DSRP agents would be long gone. Damon, on the other hand… she shuddered, just thinking about it. Liu began to speak and Trixie whimpered slightly at the other girl’s choice of wording, but she wasn’t to know. First the top came off, then the shoes, followed by the socks and the trousers, flung into a pile. She remained deadly silent as she did this, small tears beginning to form at the corner of her eyes in shame and embarrassment. Her bra was next, slowly pulled over her back, followed by her underwear, pink frilly things that she hated. It all sat in a pile on the floor of the warehouse and as Trixie got to her knees and placed her arms behind her back, tears began to stream down her face, smearing her eyeliner. “Please, like, tell me to, like, get dressed.” As she knelt there, tears streaming down her face, the finality of what she’d done hit her. Damon had no hold on her anymore, not unless he could lock eyes with her once again, but in return she had placed herself at the mercy of someone who had killed six innocent civilians, a professional assassin and now quite possibly the most wanted person by some very powerful people. She’d hoped to keep it hidden but there was no chance of avoiding that now. She was at Liu’s mercy and there was nothing she could do about it.
 

DeletedUser37114

Giles
Toby looked up blearily from his coffee as Giles responded, chatting about his friend and how she takes forever to wake up. Interesting, that was probably the one carrying a torch, then. The deflection wasn't really appreciated, though the words themselves were. It really was nice to be cared about, though, have someone there to ask how his day had gone. No wonder Toby had wanted to talk to him in that coffee shop the day before. He'd just have to answer the question and get things back into the good stuff once pleasantries were done. "Went good," he said. "Got some food, did a little shopping, caught some Z's, and came here for some brekkie. I'm guessing there's nothing worth talking about from yesterday for you, so I'll skip that bit of the conversation... Hm..." Toby narrowed his eyes, looking hard at Giles for a moment. "Your friend who's letting you stay with her for a little while. What's she like?" Hopefully that would get the ball rolling, everyone wanted to talk about their friends...
 

Deleted User - 819397

Well, Giles hadn't expected the conversation with Toby to be normal, and it was fulfilling his expectations. After a cursory summary of his day after they'd parted without any details whatsoever, the guy proceeded to dismiss anything Giles might have done and moved straight on to the topic of Rachel, which...ok, he'd glossed over the whole topic of him having failed to say anything to her last night, but...why was he focusing on her now? Something was up, but as usual, there didn't seem to be any malice in it. He was asking a legitimate question, and there wasn't any harm in answering. "Rach is a PhD student, going into...something psychology, forget the exact field. She's a character...cares a lot about her friends, isn't afraid to push for what she thinks is best for them but also isn't a hard-ass...willing to let me crash at her place despite being by and large out of contact for the last while..." He shrugged. "Just a nice person, you know?" He frowned, both wanting to pull the conversation away from his friend and wanting to know why Toby had mentioned her in the first place. Curiosity won out, and he took what was probably going to wind up being bait of some kind. "Why do you ask?" There wasn't any harm in asking about someone, and it's not like Toby knew much else about him to select as a topic of conversation...it was probably just a way to get past the somewhat awkward note they'd started on with the whole almost ignoring the question Giles had posed. Right...he could believe that...
 

DeletedUser

Liu started fitting on some of the extra equipment, expecting to hear answers from Trixie. Instead, all she got was the light rustling of clothes, before a muffled crying sound. Liu turned back, wondering what was wrong before quickly turning back in embarrassment as she saw that Trixie kneeling, naked. Embarrassment turned to confusion as Trixie voiced her request. “Just… get dressed.” Why did she need to be told to…

Confusion turned to realisation, then to rage, as everything clicked. Damon’s power was mind-control. Trixie was forced to do his bidding, abused and her brain programmed in some way by that sick… Liu cursed a few times under her breath, mad at the man for what he had done, but also fuming at the fact that she hadn’t killed him in the container when she had had the chance to. Liu shuddered as she thought about what sort of nightmares Trixie would have. Even after whatever Raypool pumped into her fixed most of her insomnia issues, Liu would still occasionally wake up at night in a cold sweat, remembering what had happened to her all those years ago. What Trixie had gone through must have been several times worse.

Liu turned back to the girl, who was now dressed, as she considered their options. “I’ve figured… most of it out... from what just happened” Liu said, quietly hoping that she wouldn’t accidentally cause Trixie to do something again. “So all I need now is details. Just tell me how his mind-control works, like if he needs to have eye-contact and any other specific things you know about.” Liu had decided that no matter what happened next, they had to kill Damon somehow. After Trixie’s reply, Liu stared into Trixie’s eyes and asked what she thought was the most important question. “I have a general plan, but there's just one thing I need you to decide on. If you want to run, that man has to die no matter what. All I need to know is, do you want to kill him yourself?”
 

DeletedUser31931

Trixie
Oh thank god… Liu had been understanding. Trixie sniffled as Liu told her to get dressed, murmuring a “thank you” in a hushed, semi-awed tone. She pulled the clothes on. They weren’t hers but they weren’t Damon’s and that was important. The sleeveless shirt was nice and the hoodie kept her warm, even if it was a bit baggy. The jeans were long enough, importantly, and they didn’t have any rips in them which was nice, she didn’t want to have to wear ripped jeans ever again. They were, however, a little tight around the back but she decided that this was something she could live with to have clothes that were relatively her own. Liu, it seemed, had wasted no time, already having formulated a plan. She requested details of Damon’s mind control and Trixie shuddered. She... she had to be brave, to do this. Damon had taken many things but he had not taken her bravery, her courage. That was hers and hers alone… She gathered together her strength and spoke. “He, like, needs, like, eye contact. He’s, like, pretty strong once he’s, like, got you. He, like, only had to re-brainwash me every, like, month or so. I think that, like, that was partly, like, because he’d been, like…” Trixie faltered. She wanted to say it but the words wouldn’t come. Her mouth opened and closed and she just breathed. Her chest felt really heavy and it felt like everything was suddenly much more impact. What she’d done slammed into her. She was telling someone Damon’s strengths and weaknesses. She’d managed to… Tears began to trickle from her face as Liu moved onto her next question. She stared up at the girl in confusion for a second as the suggestion took a few moments to sear itself into her brain. Did she… Did she? Could she? From inside her, a steely determination began to grow inside Trixie. She wanted to. She needed to. Her voice barely louder than a whisper, she responded. “Yes.”
 

DeletedUser28032

Tonight it was whispering, preferable to wake up and scream the place down, but only just "shhh, its ok Tonya, I've got you" Dante whispered soothingly as he pulled the thrashing woman close to him and gently stroking her hair. There was no point in waking her up, she couldn't stop herself and wouldn't remember anything about it anyway; all it resulted in was a guilty and tearful Tonya apologising for waking him up with neither of them getting any sleep that night.

They'd spent the weekend in LA doing the usual tourist stuff; seeing the sights, eating in restaurants and visiting the various clubs and bars, with Dante almost certain in the knowledge that both Corrado and Firework would probably be keeping tabs on them which meant no powers, and using their non-Savant names for the duration of the trip. If he was honest with himself Dante had enjoyed himself, it was wasn't often that he got to play the tourist, and this was closest that he and Tonya had been to being a real couple since that first night together; not that they'd actually done anything in the king size bed other than sleep, with Dante still struggling to overcome certain barriers in their relationship.

It was around five in the morning by the time Tonya finally fell to sleep with a muffled sorry signalling the end of her episode, though Dante was yet to determine who exactly it was she was apologising to...if anyone. Gently kissing the top of her head he'd carefully disentangle himself from her sleeping form and get ready for his collection. A bus ride later and he'd find himself standing in the alley next to the pizza place studying the contents of his fries box with the pizza going straight into the dumpster; he'd already eaten this morning and it was still a little early in the day for pizza. A quick detour to a disreputable looking pawn shop later and Dante was back at the hotel telling Tonya about the meeting place as he checked the cheap snub nosed .38 S&W he'd bought with him already missing the hand cannon that he'd lost after being captured. They had some better weapons bought from one of Corrado's men stashed in an old mine in case things got hot but Dante liked the reassuring weight of a handgun in his jacket, that and he had to keep up appearances. After all what self respecting bounty hunter would go to a meeting unarmed?

Climbing into the back of the nondescript black car the pair of them would be immediately handed a pair of black cotton bags to put over their heads "Its ok Amy, I'm right here next to you, just stay calm and remember to breath" Dante quietly spoke as he slipped the bag over Tonya's head before turning to face the goon that'd given them the bags and growling "PTSD" in way of explanation before placing the other bag over his head.

Deciding that there was no point in trying to count the corners and the direction of travel, as no doubt the driver would be taking the scenic route to the meeting place Dante simply tried his best to relax whilst keeping Tonya calm, with the pretty Asian girl holding his hand. Eventually the car would stop, followed by a voice saying "we're here" signalling that they could take the bags off of their heads and get out of the car. Upon doing so they would find themselves inside some kind of warehouse or perhaps even an old factory. Either way the place was empty and devoid of any distinguishing features meaning that it would be impossible for anyone that wasn't a jumper to find the place "Well boys, as much as I enjoyed the magical mystery tour I suppose you'd better take us to your boss then?"
 
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DeletedUser

A smile flashed across Liu’s face, impressed by Trixie’s quiet, yet determined, voice. “You’ll need this then.” Liu took out a knife, passing it sheathed to the other girl. “When the time comes, all you have to do is stab this into him and twist, preferably somewhere near an important organ or artery.”

Going back through a mental checklist of the equipment she had, Liu realised she had a few more questions she needed answered. “Right, for this plan to work I need to know how powerful your invis is. I gathered that you shimmer slightly if you move too much, noticed that much while running across the rooftops, but can you be seen with things like infrared cameras? And is there a limit for how long it can last for?” Liu’s plan wasn’t likely to use Trixie’s powers for too long, but it was still better to be safe. “Also, do you have any clue how many men Damon is likely to bring along with him? And more importantly if any of them are Savants besides him?” Liu had heard that there were Savants working with the DSRP, but was completely in the dark about how many there were. Regardless of Trixie’s answers to those questions however, Liu was entirely certain that they were taking the fight in this warehouse. Being able to pick the battlefield was probably the single largest advantage they had in the upcoming fight. Presuming that Trixie’s clothes were tracked, they had enough time to set a few basic tripwires with piano wire and the palettes and boxes dotted around the warehouse. That and Liu had a fairly solid backup plan for the warehouse in case they needed to get out ASAP.
 

DeletedUser37114

Giles
Toby nodded as Giles described his friend. Apparently she was a student, willing to let him crash, and occupies a nice space between brave and obnoxious. Good for him, everyone deserved to have a friend like that. As for why he'd asked... Toby shrugged. "Curiosity. Had a feeling that someone was putting you up if you were job hunting, had a feeling it might've been a friend. Someone who you could confide in, bakes brownies, that sort of thing. You know, someone close, but not so close that you'd feel bad about not trying very hard to find a job for yourself." Maybe that one was a little too on the nose. Toby probably wasn't supposed to have picked up on that and it'd be inconvenient if Giles ran now. Who knew when they'd run into each other next? Though on that line of thought... "You doing anything the rest of the week? Or next week? Or maybe two weeks from now? Have a feeling that now might be a good time to get out of town, you know, meet new places, make old friends, find new memories. Not saying you really need to leave, but you should really get that thing off your chest just in case. Seems to be making it hard for you to breathe." Probably a little too direct, but it didn't really matter. Warning delivered, just in case.
 

Deleted User - 819397

The reason Toby gave for asking about Rachel was curiosity, which Giles could believe. The guy had been pretty consistent in approaching things from an innocent perspective, so it wasn't much of a stretch to consider this yet another of those. Of course, he then continued by being far too knowledgable on the subject, again mentioning brownies and that he could confide in her. Though him adding that he knew the whole job hunt was a front was a little...ok, he was able to discern a lot then. That was good to know. Though...now that the subject was brought up, the former aristocrat realized he did feel bad about what he was effectively making Rachel do...she was housing him for free for an indefinite period...that just wasn't fair to her...he'd need to make it up to her somehow...of course Toby had moved on by this point, asking what he was doing the next few weeks, mentioning he thought it might be a good idea to et out of town for a while, which brought a frown to Giles' face. That he should get 'that thing' off his chest as well, meaning he knew damn well there hadn't been the discussion he'd suggested the previous day. Which was unfortunate, though the guy wasn't making him feel bad about it, making a silver lining if nothing else...though he was breathing just fine, and while he considered it might be a metaphor that didn't really seem to fit either...

Time to hit the points in order then, seeing as Toby had rushed ahead in his usual way. Smiling a little, Giles began, "I don't really have plans for the next while, though I'd prefer not to leave if I could help it...have my friends here..." And my support system..."Besides...I keep telling you, I really don't want to burden people with what happened to me...Rach is a good friend, like you said...she'd be crushed if I told her everything...for all her assurances she'd crumble if she had to help a friend through something like this, almost PhD or not." Especially if that friend was me..."Same goes for...anyone, really...it's my burden to bear, I'm not going to hoist it on anyone else. I'll...get through it eventually..." That was the idea, anyway, though the former aristocrat did have to admit needing to avoid even thinking about...certain topics...was something he'd've thought he'd be farther along with by now. Toby was a good person...he wasn't going to throw his trauma on him, just like he wasn't going to for Rachel.
 

DeletedUser37114

Giles
Well, then... Giles didn't have any plans, which was a good thing. Unfortunately, he also didn't seem to want to "burden" anyone with what happened to him. His friend would apparently be crushed if he told her everything, just like anyone. Well, that was an especially heavy burden to bear alone. No wonder he wasn't doing great. In that case... "I get your friends are here, I'm not asking you to drop everything and leave them right now. But there might be reasons you'd want to skip town, better to be prepped than not. As for your friend... You might be underestimating her. People are tough, y'know?" Which was generally true, though you hit someone hard enough, they broke just like anything else. "Usually takes a bit more than a sad story to get me crying," he continued with a smile. "But if you're really sure she can't take it..." Toby reached into his pocket, pulling out a torn scrap of paper with a series of numbers written on it in green ink. "Knew this would come in handy," he muttered, sliding it over to Giles. "Call this number, use your friend's phone. We can have a chat where nobody can see any tears or set up a face-to-face or something. I know I'm not gonna break down over a couple of words, and I'm not going to judge anyone who might." That'd hopefully be enough to get something through, at least. Not like Giles seemed to be the type to unload on a stranger either. Still, every little scrap helped. If he'd learned anything over the past few months, it was that.
 

Deleted User - 819397

This was weird...Toby was being insistent about being ready to leave at a moment's notice. The only other thing he'd been so dogged about was getting Giles to open up to somebody, which...was also something he didn't want to do. Strange then that the guy, who had otherwise been an amicable person, had such a penchant for getting stubborn on topics that were counter to the former aristocrat's own wishes. He sighed as Toby took a breath after mentioning it was better to be prepared to leave in case, frowning and shrugging. "Not like I have a lot of worldly possessions right now. I...have a more permanent residence, but I can't go back there and get anything now, and that's paid for until next July. If something that bad did come up, I could leave in a matter of minutes if I really had to." Which was depressing, but true. He had packed his backpack when he'd left his apartment behind for the time being with everything he'd need in an emergency. The thing was still packed, as it wasn't like he needed to change clothes...or wanted to, for that matter. No, if Toby was warning him that he'd need to be running soon, he could do so without worry of forgetting something critical. Though he'd be lying as well if he said he wasn't hoping the guy was wrong on that front...he didn't want to leave...he had friends here, the only people left who cared about him...and there he'd gone making himself sad again...dammit.

Giles forced himself away from the darker thoughts and returned to listening to Toby go back to his "tell Rachel everything" speech...why the hell did it matter so much to this guy? It wasn't going to happen. Rachel didn't deserve that pain, didn't deserve the shock and horror she'd feel if he told her what had happened to him...no, this was an area Toby was just wrong on. Though that didn't stop him from trying again, including a piece of paper with what the former aristocrat could only assume was his number on it, going on to say that if Giles wanted he could call and talk to him or arrange a meeting where they'd talk about what happened, that it took more than a sad story to make him cry. Giles looked at the man sitting across from him with a slight frown as he took the paper. He was younger than him, dammit...if you looked past the hair he looked really young. Too young to be telling this kind of stuff to...too young to burden with the knowledge that the man he'd taken a liking to was to blame for two deaths. No, he couldn't tell Toby either. Telling anyone would be unfair to them. This was his burden to bear, and staying now would only leave one of them hurting more.

So deciding, Giles stood, finishing off his coffee before smiling down at Toby, sadness evident in his expression. "Thanks...I appreciate it, and if I feel like talking about it I'll let you know...I should be going now though...I'll see you around, I'm sure...you seem to have a talent for running into me. I'll try not to be so morose next time." With that, he departed, wandering around the city without much purpose for a little while before heading back to Rachel's. He beat her home this time, and decided the least he could do for her hospitality was make her dinner. He avoided anything that looked like she'd been saving it for something specific, and wound up making a chicken salad with grilled chicken strips he'd found in a freezer bag and some fruit. She appreciated his thoughtfulness, and they enjoyed a pleasant meal before the atmosphere grew thick. Realizing that she was about to push for answers where he didn't want to give any, Giles seized on the first topic he could think of. "So I've run into this guy both days I've been out...nice person, seems to be a little loose in the head, but...I think he might be a Savant, he knows too much about things he couldn't have. As in I swear he's picked up on my thoughts a couple times, though he's not telepathic, I know what those feel like."


Rachel looked a little disappointed, but let it pass without comment, instead asking, "Is there any chance he's a plant to hunt out other Savants?"

Giles shook his head. "No, he's too obvious about his knowledge, they'd try to hide it at least a little. I think he's just someone who's trying to be nice and help...also seems to not have any real longterm plans for meals or anything, which is odd, but..."

His friend shrugged. "Well, if you trust him and like him enough to be talking about him in a complimentary manner for how short a time you've known him, I wouldn't mind having him over for dinner..." She smirked. "Might be interesting seeing what he can guess about me, if nothing else."

Giles couldn't help but snort. "Careful, that's a double-edged sword there, his social skills are lacking a bit, he won't sugar coat anything...but if you're sure, I'll ask him if the situation arises." He was a little uncomfortable about how her eyes looked...she was thinking something she wasn't telling him about, especially if she had jumped as fast as she did to have him to bring Toby for dinner off of a couple off-handed comments...that alone might be good enough reason to not bring it up with the guy if they did indeed cross paths again...

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The rest of the evening passed without incident, with Rachel seeming to take the topic change as a sign that pushing wouldn't get answers out of Giles, which he appreciated, even if he still felt bad...he reminded himself he was doing this for her own good, she didn't really want to get involved in his pain...she knew that he was responsible for two deaths, but...if he told her about...then she'd be all sorts of conflicted, and he didn't want that for her. Regardless, it was another day, another time to head out and pretend to look for a job, not that he'd gotten around to fake-applying before he'd left the bakery yesterday, seeing as Toby's visit had caught him off-guard and resulted in him taking off. He didn't have a real plan, but the former aristocrat knew he had to keep up appearances. Just as well then, he'd wander down the street and see what kind of place he could spend some time in today...
 

DeletedUser37114

Giles
Apparently Giles was ready to go pretty quickly, which was a good thing. Better to be able to run at a moment's notice than be caught with your shoes off. Though the question had made Giles sad, which wasn't as good of a thing. Happy was better than sad if he had a choice, after all. Giles did take the scrap of paper, which was really nice, though from his expression, he didn't intend to call. Unfortunate, but not a lost cause. Besides, he had a way to contact Toby now, just in case he needed to. Giles left not long after that, obliquely apologizing for being so "morose" as if people really still used that word and walking out. Wasn't like they weren't going to meet again eventually, so Toby just watched him go without saying anything, sipping at his coffee until it was done. Slow and steady, then. No need to rush for a few days, at least.

As Giles walked down the street the next morning, it wouldn't take long for him to find Toby walking next to him, licking at an ice cream cone in one hand, carrying another in his other hand. "Morning," he said cheerfully, offering the other cone to Giles. If Giles took it, he'd find that it was buttercream flavor, slightly melted, but still good and relatively fresh. "Hope you slept well, know I did," he continued without much of a pause. "Any ideas on how you'll kill time today?"
 

Deleted User - 819397

Toby's Giles Radar...Gilesdar? Radiles? Eh, whatever you wanted to call it, it was getting better. The guy'd been able to find him within minutes of him leaving Rachel's house this time, and had at some point gotten ice cream...one of the cones being held out to him. The former aristocrat took it with a surprised "thank you," and upon tasting it smiled. Of course he'd know his favorite flavor, why wouldn't he? Sweet and delicious without being overbearing, perfect. "I slept well, yeah..." he responded to the question, focusing more on making up for lost time with his ice cream...it wouldn't do to have it melt without enjoying it, after all. He shook his head at Toby's inquiry to how he planned to spend his day. "Can't say I got that far yet. Probably gonna spend it in another bakery or coffeeshop...have to keep up the appearances even if I'm not actually looking to land a job." There wasn't any need to elaborate further...Toby knew Giles wasn't going to any effort in his search, there wasn't a point in lying. The former aristocrat sent a slight frown Toby's way as he continued to work at his ice cream. "Why, did you have something in mind if I didn't have concrete plans?" Their meeting like this wasn't a coincidence...it seemed that where Toby was concerned such a word didn't exist. That meant there was a reason they had ran into each other like this, and since Giles had been telling the truth about his lack of plans, so long as they were reasonable he doubted he'd have much of an issue agreeing to whatever was proposed. Not like he had a better idea...
 

DeletedUser37114

Giles
It was nice to be out and walking with someone. It wasn't like Toby had never been out and about with a friend before, but after a number of weeks, it was just... nice. Plus, ice cream made everything more delicious. For his part, Giles seemed to be focused on making sure the cone didn't go to waste, getting a remark about having slept well and going to another shop, insisting that he should keep up appearances. With no concrete plans on his end, it sounded like he'd go with whatever Toby was planning, which was pretty refreshing. And if he was willing... Toby smiled at Giles, taking a big lick of his cone. "I've got an idea, if you'd just follow me..." If Giles accepted, Toby would lead them down into a small park, sliding onto a bench, patting a spot next to him and smiling at Giles. With any luck...
 

Deleted User - 819397

Toby's plan for the day was to give Giles a plan for the day, it seemed. Which was nice and all, but he could come up with something on his own without too much trouble...though then again, they guy'd gotten him ice cream...the least he could do was hear him out. "Yeah, sure, not like I've got anything better to do..." he responded to the inquiry, following and enjoying his cone as they went. If it weren't for the fact Toby had shown himself to be anything but normal the former aristocrat might have been able to imagine this as a simple excursion between friends. As is there was the question of what the goal was here to answer. It wasn't that Giles didn't trust or otherwise not want to spend time with Toby, it was pragmatism. He seemed to have a purpose for their meetings, and it wasn't a stretch to assume that for this one as well. It wasn't a problem, really, especially when he considered the fact that he had yet to not enjoy time spent in his company, but all the same it was something to consider. These musings took him to a park bench, where Toby sat and gestured for him to do the same, which he did. Working on the remnants of his ice cream, Giles was content to sit for a moment or two before asking, "So...did you have a plan for coming here, or just wanting to spend time outdoors?" It was as good a way to break the ice as any, and he doubted it was anything as simple as personal preference, but for whatever reason he'd been hesitating to speak up, and if there was one thing the former aristocrat was good at, it was drawing people into conversations.
 

DeletedUser31931

Tonya
As she climbed into the back of the car, her breath caught as she saw the black bags. Dante attempted to reassure her as he handed her the bag and she heard him growl the single word summation of her current life at their chauffer. As it settled over her head, she started to breathe deeply, in and out, focus on the breathing. In and out, don’t teleport, sit right here, focus on the breathing, in and out. In her distracted state Tonya failed to notice most of the car ride and it was only when the door opened and the pair were helped out of the car that she realised that they were at their destination. A short walk later and the bags had been pulled off, to reveal a warehouse. Boxes and crates were stacked around the building, meaning that it gave the open space a cramped feeling, though the lack of any distinctive markings made it near impossible to hazard a location. Dante spat out his question and the guard merely shifted the assault rifle, grunting. “Now then! Time to meet the guests.” The voice cut through the silence of the warehouse and a figure walked out from behind a crate. He was pristinely dressed, his elegant white suit and white gloves displaying a hint of the red lining on their inside. His hair was a ginger red colour and it sat long down the back of his head, covered by his black bowler hat. “Dante! Face to face at last.” He smiled a million-dollar smile, a row of white teeth flashing out as he twirled the long black cane he held in his right hand. “No need for formalities, we’re all friends here.” He had come to a stop a metre or so in front of Dante and Tonya though Tonya had no doubts what would happen if Dante made any moves against the man. “I know who and what you are my little friends. Before Ashley sees you, she wants to know you aren’t Raypool’s puppets and she’s asked me to do that for her. That’s expensive and time-consuming and my empire doesn’t run itself. So, I’ve had a lovely little idea. The DSRP are planning a raid on one of my warehouses, one of the ones I use to supply the Resistance. They got the info through a rat, a pestilent little creature, and that’s where you two come in. He will betray the location in about ten minutes or so and lead the DSRP into my warehouse where they will attempt to secure my goods. If you two help defend my property, then I’ll consider us settled and you can meet Ashley. So, what do we say my little Savants friends in disguise, do we have a deal?” Tonya was uncertain. She didn’t like the fact that Firework knew but they had to get to Ashley somehow, she leant over to Dante and whispered into his ear.
“I’m… I’m fine to fight if we have to. In fact, I’d love to stick it to those DSRP pigs.” It was Dante who was doing the negotiating though and it was his choice. Her hand twitched nervously as she steeled herself for the thought of her first proper fight in a while. She’d be fine, of course she would. This wasn’t any different to anything her and Dante had done before. They’d go in, take down the DSRP, and meet up with the Resistance. Simple.

Trixie
Trixie stared at the knife and chuckled grimly as Liu instructed her on how to use it. “Believe it or not, I do know how to kill people”. As Liu didn’t snap back at her, the simple act of talking back and not being punished for it brought a weird pleasure to her. “My invis, like, disguises me from, like, infrared and if it’s just me, I’m like fully cloaked, even when, like, moving. Keeping it up, like, over two people is, like, much harder for, like, obvious reasons, especially when I’ve not, like, bonded with that person, like, properly. So long as I’ve, like, got energy it’ll last and I can keep up my energy for, like, a couple of hours.” She paused and let Liu ask her next question and her mouth slowly widened as she realised that Liu didn’t know. “He’ll… um… He’ll probably bring, like, not very many. Maybe, like, five or six? That’s… um… That’s, like, because they’re all Savants.” Trixie paused, deciding to let Liu process this fact before continuing. “It’s, like, not public I guess but, like, every DSRP agent is, like, a Savant. It’s called, like, Project Upgrade. They’re, like, regular people who Raypool, like, makes into Savants and he, like, brainwashes them.” She trailed off and stared at the other girl, no idea how she’d take the revelation. One thing was certain though, things were going to get interesting.
 

DeletedUser28032

"What in gods name are you supposed to be?" Dante drawled irritably as the man they were supposed to meet emerged from in amongst the crates filling the warehouse, though his concerns over the guys attire and whether or not he was the real deal were quickly quashed as the well dressed Firework revealed that not only did he know they were Savants, but that he also knew their real names. The fact that he knew they wanted to contact Ashley and the resistance didn't worry him, after all they'd shown Ashley's photo to Corrado in order to arrange this meeting, though the fact that he knew their real names was a little... unsettling.

The white coated dandy of an arms dealer then went on to lay out the terms of their agreement in a somewhat flowery way; he and Tonya would deal with the DSRP that were descending upon one of his warehouses and in return he would make the introductions to Ashley and the resistance.

Dante was about to tell the guy to get Ashley to foot the bill as she was normally more than eager to play soldier in his experience, only to have Tonya say that she was more than happy to get stuck in against the DSRP. Unsurprisingly Dante found himself feeling more than a little sceptical over the idea of having a girl who regularly suffered from night terrors, amongst other things getting into a fire fight with the very people that had caused them "Are you sure? I'm more than happy to tell this guy to ram it" and then burn a couple of his warehouse myself Dante asked, raising a single questioning eyebrow at the petite Asian girl.

Assuming of course that Tonya didn't back out of the proposal, Dante would reluctantly accept. They needed to find Ashley and this guy was the quickest and easiest way of achieving that aim, and if that meant busting a few more than deserving heads, then so be it "Tonya, be a doll and fetch our guns please" Dante requested in the same tone of voice that others would use to ask for a cup of coffee "Alright Sparkler, you win...where's this damn warehouse of yours? And how many are we dealing with?"
 

DeletedUser

Right, five or six would be easy, as long as not all of them are… Oh…

Liu buried her face into her hands, cursing repeatedly under her breath as she did so while Trixie continued. Project Upgrade, whatever it was, didn’t seem to add up with the goal of the DSRP and the brainwashing bit explained what had happened to Lenard, but that wasn’t relevant for now. “Right… That makes things a little harder…” Liu said. “Thankfully my plan doesn’t change too much, but there’s definitely a much larger chance of us getting captured or killed if they have the right powers against us.”

“As for the plan itself... I’m presuming they know for certain that we’re here and that they’re probably taking the main entrance. If they do, we can easily drop a box on top of them – there’s piano wire and rope around so that should be easy to set up. That’s probably all we realistically have time for in terms of traps. We’ll start off both invis in clear view of the trap, that’ll take out… 2 or 3 if we’re lucky I guess. Once the box drops, I’ll leave you to find a way to get to Damon by yourself, and I’ll try and take on the rest without getting myself killed.” The best case scenario would be Liu herself being enough to take on the entire DSRP group. Realistically though, 4 or more well-equipped Savant opponents would be difficult to deal with alone.

“If worst comes to worst or if I screw up, get out of here as fast as possible by the back exit. Anything I missed?” Liu thought that was everything, but best to ask anyways. “If not, let’s get this trap set up and you can get some sleep, it’s getting fairly late and we have a big day tomorrow.”
 

DeletedUser31931

Dante
As Dante agreed, Firework flashed a smile. “First I’ll be needing a blood sample, so that I can fulfil my side of the deal and make sure you really aren’t under Raypool’s spell.” He produced two sets of tubes with pricks set at the top. Tonya was across the room in a flash, taking the tubes from his hand and reappearing at Dante’s side. She stabbed the needle in her own finger, non-trigger finger, of course, and watched as the blood dripped through into the tube. Once Dante had done the same, she flashed back and handed them to him. “Thank you very much poppet. Here’s your photo.” As Firework spoke, his gloved hand slid into his pocket and handed a picture to her. Tonya stared at it for a second before tossing it to one side. Reappearing at Dante’s side she took his hand. “Ready?” As was customary between them now, she waited for his assent to jump before they appeared in their weapon’s stash. Tonya grabbed a bowie knife and stuck it in her belt before taking four pistols, strapping two to her waist and the other two to her ankles. In the chaos of a firefight, she doubted she’d have much time to reload, this was faster. Once Dante had picked out his selection, she’d take his hand. “Right then babe, show time.”

The warehouse was large, and they’d appeared in a foreman’s office overlooking the main floor. It seemed the building was usually some form of storage for crates of guns but now they were stacked up to form a maze. Their position gave them a view over the warehouse and the ladder that led out of the office appeared to be the only way out, short of jumping from the window. “We don’t have long so I hope you’re prepared.” A man with a shaved head and a sniper rifle was also standing in the box and he lazily sauntered over to the window where Tonya and Dante stood watching. “I’ll be providing sniper fire once the bullets get flying so you two just do your crazy thing.” He flicked out a bipod stand and set the rifle on a small table before sitting in a chair. Ignoring the pair, he set his ammo out beside him, ready for the battle to come.


Trixie
Trixie listened to Liu’s plan with growing confidence. As the girl finished, she nodded. It wasn’t much but it was the best that they had to go on and it gave Trixie her shot at revenge. The next eighteen hours or so passed in a blur as the pair rigged up the trap, made sure they were ready, and Trixie let Liu practise operating whilst invisible. It was a hard skill to master but Trixie did her best to give Liu a crash course on the basics of self-awareness when unable to, like, see one’s self. Trixie thought she’d done a reasonable job and now, as they were well rested, all that remained was to sit around and pass the time until Damon and his merry men finally showed.

It was late afternoon by the time they arrived. The first sign was the warehouse door being thrown open and a group of men in suits running through, followed by Damon who sauntered through the door. The men consisted of two white men and two black, all of them wearing black suits and their pistols already drawn. One of the two white men lead the way and as his foot connected with the wire, he went tumbling forwards. As the box came towards the heads of the group, the other white man smashed the box to the side and it crashed into the wall. Quickly scanning what he saw as an empty room, he bent over and began to help up his comrade. The other two agents moved in front of Damon with their guns scanning the room, intent on protecting him from any potential further traps. With no clear line on the mercenary, it seemed they’d have to fight their way through.
 
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