The Dead Savant

Deleted User - 819397

Toby honed in on asking why Giles didn't think he could go, which was both the right and wrong thing to do, depending on your point of view. "It's just...look, I know Rach said I should go provided I come back here right after, but...it's just...the situations feel so similar. In both instances, I'm being dragged to the east side of the country without a lot of knowledge about what's going on but with hopes it'll be positive and make a good difference in my life and the lives around me. Being asked to go now...the only difference I see aside from location is that I know you a little better than I did Quill. Just...I know the odds of it going as wrong are low, I know. But...there's a part of me worried to risk it and I don't know if I can...I hate this...I hate being afraid. I hate needing to worry about it. I should go have fun, but the PRDS are looking for me, I can't look like myself if I go outside, my family are the unwilling poster children for this stupid uprising, and Dylan and Harper are dead and it's my fault!" He cut off, visibly trying to get himself back under control after letting his voice raise throughout his outburst. After a long moment, he muttered, "sorry...you didn't deserve that...sorry..."
 

DeletedUser31931

Toby sat quietly and watched Giles as the man continued to insist that the two trips were deeply similar. Toby, however, grew less convinced as Giles spoke and the man became less controlled, his voice rising until he reached the climax of his problem, that the previous trip had resulted in the death of ‘Dylan and Harper’, the pair who Toby figured were responsible for the hole in Giles’ heart. Toby had head Dylan’s name before, at the dinner a week earlier, but Harper was a new name and Toby filed it away. As Giles slumped back into his chair and apologised, Toby replied calmly. “It’s fine, you have nothing to apologise. Losing those close to you is always difficult and it’s always easy to blame yourself. That said, I still don’t think the two trips are comparable. I don’t know quite why you went on the last trip, or who this “Quill” was who convinced you to go, but I doubt it was for the sake of the travelling itself, or even the end destination. And whilst I can’t promise that there is no risk associated with the trip, the DSRP have yet to find me, and I don’t even have the ability to look not like myself, unlike you. You’ve said you want to come, Rachel thinks it would be good for you and whilst the risk is nonzero, it’s so minimal that it might as well be. If nothing else, let this trip be your way of standing up to the DSRP and showing that you refuse to let them cow you, and that you will not stop simply because they seek to make your life difficult. Never let them stand in your way, because the moment they do that, then they win, and that will not happen any time soon.” As Toby brought his short speech to an end, he quietly worried that he’d let his words run away with him. He’d spoken with sincerity, and the last part had carried with it a burning passion, a fire that crackled beneath the surface of memories Toby did not let out for fear of their effect. Still, his argument had been based on logical counterpoint to Giles’ arguments, so adding emotion to the mix… With a mixture of anticipation and trepidation in his heard, Toby awaited Giles’ response.
 

Deleted User - 819397

Toby continued to push for the fact that the two trips weren't the same, that Giles should go, enjoy himself. And he wanted to on some level, but after what had happened last time, he just didn't know if he had it in him...though Toby kept pushing, saying he could use it as a way to stand up to the DVD-R or whatever...that wasn't the point though...he didn't feel the need to stand up to them...yeah they were doing awful things, and yes he wanted to see them gone, but active resistance...though then again this wouldn't really be active. Toby had had luck avoiding them so far, but he was, aside from his hair, a pretty normal-looking person. Giles was, as much as he didn't want to admit it, one of their most wanted. Which...ok, maybe he was afraid of them a little. Who wouldn't be? But traipsing around the country wouldn't help...if he did, he'd need to be as disguised as his power would let him be disguised, and that would take a good portion of the fun out of it. But still...his younger friend was being rather insistent about taking him on this trip, would it kill him to acquiesce? Yes, yes it could...but...he could say that about a lot of things he'd done over the years. His swords were deadly, and he practiced with them all the time when an accident could have happened. Oh damn it, he was trying to justify going now wasn't he? How did Toby keep doing that to him?

With a large sigh, Giles put his head in his hands. "Ok...ok...I'll go. I'm insane, this is a horrible idea, I...I shouldn't, I really, really shouldn't...but...ok. I'm...going to need to think of a way to disguise myself though that will keep me from getting noticed...short of mutilation, I should be able to come up with something that'll make me unrecognizable. And new clothes? No...don't...really don't want to not have them...but I can make them dirty, or look really worn, or something...phones would be a stupid idea, too easy to track...but I should be reachable in case something like last time happens again...credit card is out though, going to need to get cash or something...or wait...do they have a way to detect powers again? Oh damn it...this is such a bad idea..." At this point the former aristocrat didn't seem to be talking to Toby, but more of trying to reassure himself he could do this, that it was ok, etc. Regardless, he didn't look like he'd be moving for at least a little while without prompting...
 

DeletedUser31931

Toby
Giles’ internal conflict over the idea of the trip escalated further and Toby watched a war of emotions play out in the young man’s mind. Finally, with a large sigh, Giles acquiesced to Toby’s request and the matter was settled. Giles immediately moved on to intently scrutinising the details of how he was going to ensure that he was disguised suitably for the trip, muttering about mutilation and destruction of property and how it was all a terrible idea. Toby reached out and placed his hand on Giles’ shoulder, interrupting the other man. “It’ll be fine. You won’t need to disguise yourself that much to pass without notice. Plus, most of the truck drivers won’t ever even bother looking at either of us. Speaking of which…” Toby stopped and glanced down at his watch. “If it’s possible, I’d like to get going in the next twenty-five minutes or so, there’s a truck driver who passes by just a short walk from here and should probably be headed in a similar enough direction to us to get us a significant chunk of the way there. I can help you throw some clothes in a backpack, you shouldn’t need much more than that, I never do.” With that, Toby flashed the man a smile, glad that he had accepted his offer of the trip. For some reason, Toby had a really good feeling about the trip. Things were going right, he could sense it.
 
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DeletedUser28032

Gently stroking her soft candy pink hair Dante silently listened as Tonya went from murderous ranting as to what she would do to Raypool when she caught up with him to then speaking about the kid; Killian in a depressed voice, and how people like him shouldn't be getting involved in such a dirty, nasty little shadow war like they were waging and deserved so much better than the life they were being given "Hey less of that babe" Dante kindly murmured; gently wiping the tears from her cheeks with his thumb "we're going to win this thing ok? And with *******s like me and Double S watching out for him Killian will be just fine...a little character building never hurt...yeah ok that's total crap, but I'll keep an eye on him, I promise" Dante quietly finished; returning his girlfriend's hug as she drifted off to sleep in his arms.

Waking up from what felt like the best couple of hours sleep he’d had in a good long while, Dante would gently awaken his girlfriend with a kiss as his mind began to contemplate the possible activities that were open to them within the tiny room “Hey babe, How about we make the most of our little quiet time and catch up on our…” the suggestion was suddenly cut short by the sound of Ashley banging on the door; stating that Kasumi had woken up and was ready to talk, with her continued banging signalling that she wasn’t going to leave without them “I’m going to kill her” Dante spoke in an ill tempered grumble, cursing the woman’s poor timing “Ok, ok we hear yer! Give us a couple of minutes to find some clothes” he called, whipping the blanket from off of the bed as he got up; making it clear that if he couldn’t stay in bed then neither could Tonya as he then tossed her a bundle of clothing “Get dressed darlin’ we’ll have to resume that thought later” he drawled with a knowing smile as began pulling on his clothes.

Once they were fully dressed they would make their way down to the infirmary where they’d left Kasumi a few hours previously with Dante offering the cyberpath a grin as he entered the room “Mornin’ Sleeping Beauty, you feeling better or do we need to call technical support?”
 

Deleted User - 819397

The concerned rambling that Giles had gotten himself locked into was suddenly broken by Toby, who said that he didn't need to worry too much about disguising himself, before going on to explain they weren't taking any formal transportation, but were rather going to hitchhike. This was less of a good thing in his mind than his friend seemed to think, but all the same, if he was going to commit to the trip, he wasn't going to start picking holes in it. Though he was still absolutely going to disguise himself as much as he could...the last thing he needed was someone recognizing him. The suggestion to pack some clothes almost brought a smile to his face, though it didn't quite manage the feat. "I suppose it's only fair to mention that I don't really have many clothes right now...haven't been in my apartment for three months, don't figure it's safe to go there now either, the D5RP have to have my last known address under surveillance. I only really have these, here, on me now...though part of who I am means they won't get dirty, won't smell, or anything, so don't worry about that." He sighed, then shrugged. "I'll take my phone for emergencies, same with some money, but if you're so confident light is the way to travel...sure, no sense only trusting you halfway." Another shrug, the former aristocrat looking a little downcast. "I should probably write a note for Rach, but after that..." He trailed off, heading over to the kitchen in search of a sticky note and a pen. He emerged a couple minutes later, with thick, red hair complete with a full, heavy beard. "Hate beards with a passion, but they do wonders to hide a face..." he muttered, scratching at his newfound facial hair. He looked around, wistful, then sighed. "Ok then, Toby...if we're going...let's do it before I change my mind..."
 

DeletedUser31931

Kasumi
As Kasumi sat in the room, her head remained stock still as her eyes examined the room. Ashley had returned with Liu and Trixie entering shortly after her. Kasumi was propped up on a medical bed, a patient’s gown pulled over her slender frame. The doctor had advised that she take it slow as many of her bodily functions were still taking time to properly reboot. She’d need to make regular visits to the physiotherapist as well, to undo the side effects of being suspended in the tank for several months. Modern medicine still had yet to figure out how to completely stop atrophying muscles, only knowing how to slow down the process. Thankfully, she and Ash had already composed a mental schedule of her recovery plan, which would take her up to her condition before being captured in about a month. Even as she thought this, Ash was busy computing for every possible scenario that could affect the plan and how the pair would adapt to it. The familiar presence of the girl was enjoyable, and Kasumi felt a warm glow emanating from Ash as she thought of the other girl inside her head. Most people won’t consider me a girl, you know that? It was a rhetorical question. Ash already knew by the nature of sharing Kasumi’s thoughts that Kasumi didn’t give a damn what the rest of the world thought about her love for the AI. Still, Ash had picked up the rather human habit of asking a question to reassure and reconfirm to herself something which she already knew, simply for the pleasure of experiencing the answer again, a trait which Kasumi found just a little bit adorable. Okay, a fair amount adorable. Then again, there was a lot to be considered adorable with Ash… With her present line of thought being shushed by Ash, Kasumi’s eyes flickered to Dante and Tonya as the final two entered the room. With them present, she was ready to begin.

“Raypool is not the true puppet master of the anti-Savant movement.” As far as introductory sentences went, Ashley hadn’t expected quite such bombshell to be dropped on them. Kasumi’s tone, however, was deadly serious even if it remained its usual jovial quality. “He’s part of a secret council run by a figure called X. They were responsible for planning the day of the Crisis and controlling the immediate aftermath. I don’t know who the council members are, that data was blocked off from anything Raypool had access to, presumably in case of a leak or something. But he is not working alone.” Kasumi stopped for a second, letting the news sink in on the face of everyone in the room. Once she’d given a few seconds of appropriate pause, she moved on to point two. “I also have evidence that can incriminate Raypool and the Council as being responsible for the Savant Crisis and which shows that President Turner knowingly allowed human rights abuses within the camp. There’s only one issue. Due to complications during the removal process-” Something which hadn’t been helped by Dante shooting the life support tank and ripping out several cables ahead of time, but it wasn’t going to be very helpful to portion blame for it now. “- the data that I have proving this is corrupted. There should be a clean copy of the data in the digital archives of the DSRP base, so we’re going to need to break into the base if we’re going to expose Raypool and this Council.” Kasumi paused for a second time, giving a chance for the second point of information to properly register with the others before continuing. “Lastly, as you may be aware by now, the DSRP have begun large scale conversion of their human agents into Savants to help in the fight to eradicate us. This policy will be announced in a TV conference today, if it hasn’t already. With that, are there any questions?” Her piece said and done, Kasumi rested her head against the upright pillow on her bed and waited for responses. Ashley, for the moment, seemed dumbstruck though Ash calculated that her namesake would likely interrogate the pair later on. For now, though, the others had a chance to ask questions uninterrupted.

Toby
Once Toby had got Giles off of cyclical thinking and spiralling thoughts, the savant managed to focus himself on providing quick answers to Toby’s questions. It seemed that his powers meant that he wouldn’t need to bring spare clothes, something Toby rather wished he didn’t need either, it sounded like it made life a lot simpler. Deciding that it was better that the pair leave sooner rather than later, lest he change his mind, Toby set off out the door, producing a tennis ball from his backpack which he proceeded to pass to Giles and then to either throw the ball for himself or between himself and Giles, depending on how the other man felt on the topic. After roughly twenty minutes of ambling, the pair reached a rest-stop (OOC: that’s a lay-by for my fellow Brits) where Toby came to a stop and walked off the road a little bit. They were truly into the suburbia of the city now and on the edge of a park, and the pair waited in the park for a couple of minutes before a large food truck pulled up. The driver proceeded to hop out of the front and wander into the park, not giving Giles or Toby even a second glance. Once he had wandered a little way into the park, Toby led Giles up to the back. “He’ll be having a cigarette for the next couple of minutes. This truck’s headed to St. Louis, Missouri so we’ll be in here for the best part of twelve hours but that’ll cover pretty much half of the distance we need to get through, which is good.” Toby opened the back door with a practised ease and offered Giles the ability to get in first. The back of the truck was filled with food in wooden crates of various sizes which Toby warned Giles it was best not to touch. “He knows people use the back of his truck, but he doesn’t look too closely so long as none of the food goes missing, it’s the hitchhiker’s code of honour If you get hungry, I’ve got some food and water in my backpack”. With the pair making themselves comfortable amongst the boxes, it was only a couple of minutes later that the engine restarted and the truck moved off. With Toby happy with his tennis ball, it was up to Giles to start the conversation. Otherwise, the next twelve hours would be spent playing with a ball and, for three or so hours around the middle, sleeping.
 
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Deleted User - 819397

A surprise toss of a tennis ball shook Giles out of the worrying he was doing, almost missing it as he lunged. He gave Toby an askance look before tossing it back, ready for the return toss. They moved without any clear purpose for a while, eventually arriving at a truck. The younger man explained how this was going to work before gesturing for him to jump in the back. This was a little unorthodox for the former aristocrat...he'd never gone and hitchhiked before. Still, he'd agreed to come along, and there was little point in backing out at this phase. So deciding, he climbed in, settling against a crate, nodding in understanding...he had no plans to touch the food they contained. It was enough that the guy whose truck this was was ok with them travelling with him. Toby seemed preoccupied with his ball at this point, so Giles leaned back and closed his eyes, content to fall asleep. At least if he was asleep, he wouldn't worry about what was coming. Of all the ways this could go wrong. Of all...the ways...
 

DeletedUser28032

"Oh big whoop, so there's more of them" Dante intoned, clearly unimpressed with the revelation that not only had Raypool been working with others but that he wasn't even the top dog of this little cabal of sociopaths that apparently included good ol' president Turner in its membership "...all it means is we have more people to kill, we'll make a deck of cards, it'll be fun...hey I know lets get the ball rolling with Turner, all me and Tonya need is the number for the oval office, a photo and a hand grenade" Dante said with a broad grin and an evil chuckle, hell why stop at a grenade! Why not drop something really big and let the whole world know what we think of them! His mind savagely added, picturing the panic stricken headlines and knee jerk reactions that such a move would produce, they want us to be monsters do they? Then I'll give them a monster!

It was during Dante’s sadistic reverie of death and carnage complete with a Hollywood budget and a whole warehouse of pyrotechnics that the entire reason that he was involved in this god awful mess returned to him, cooling his temper enough for reasoned thought to win out for the time being as he addressed Kasumi in a calm voice "They tell me you know where Raypool is holding Angel, Is that true? And if so where is she?" he asked, quietly hoping that he hadn't been played yet again. People had been using his emotional weak points to get him to perform dubious tasks far too often as of late; Quill had been the first to blackmail into joining the task force that had started this whole thing off and then Tonya had tricked him into starting the genocide of his own people and now Ashley was dangling poor abused Angel in front of him like a carrot so that he’d fight her war. Well…if this turned out to be just another trick then Ashley would have some serious explaining to do and Dante's days of trusting anyone but himself were over.
 

DeletedUser

Before Liu even had a chance to talk to Trixie, Kasumi had already started explaining what she knew. “Straight to the point I guess…” Liu remarked, taken slightly aback. She certainly had expected answers, just not as many as Kasumi had provided and certainly not in the way they’d been delivered. Not that it was a bad thing per se, as it had probably saved a decent amount of time, just strange to say the least.

Ignoring Dante’s mad rambling, Liu quickly flipped through all the information that’s just been dropped on them in her head, before swiftly coming to the conclusion that she had no clue where to start. It seemed that Dante had more questions for the woman of the hour, so Liu turned to Trixie instead. Still slightly embarrassed, Liu tried desperately to find something to talk about. “Right… so the man we’ve been fighting all this time who’s currently in control over large swathes of the US is actually a puppet for a much larger group? That certainly makes things look better for what’s to come.” Realising mid-way how much of an idiot she was for pretty much repeating what Kasumi said, Liu kept going just to try to keep talking about something. “Seems like we’re in it together for a while longer… I guess…” Awkwardly tailing off as she had nothing else to say, Liu turned back to the conversation between Dante and Kasumi as she desperately tried to hide the fact that she was completely embarrassed of herself.
 

DeletedUser31931

Trixie
As far as days went, Trixie’s was leaving her with a mess of emotions. The reintroduction of Dante to her life, coupled with the stress of the mission, and the relief of its successful closure had all been stress enough. Then there was the situation with Liu and all of her conflicted feelings there. On the one hand, she was thankful to the girl for having helped her break free of Damon’s clutch and standing by Trixie even when her past had come to light. That said, what she felt was more than just thankfulness, it burned deeper within her, a caged animal straining to escape. And so, as Kasumi dropped the bombshell about Raypool not working alone, the whole thing started to become rather too much to deal with in one day. There was too much going on, Trixie just wanted the world to slow down and give her a break, but it refused. Liu, fresh off of considering the implications of this reveal turned to Trixie her heart flared and, in that moment, all she wanted was to pin Liu against the wall and force her mouth upon the other girl’s... The image was enough to make Trixie give a slight gasp, refocusing in time to hear Liu pointing out that they were in it for the long while. Trixie’s mind felt foggy, and her emotions started to blur. Desperately fighting to keep control of herself, she reached out and grabbed Liu’s hand, interlocking her fingers with the other girl. “I’d, like, be, like, okay with, like, that.” Her face burned as her addled mind reverted to the pre-programmed country valley girl whisper, any traces of her personal accent vanishing. Not for the last time, she screamed at Damon’s dead corpse for the scars with which he had left her. No one could ever love her with her broken mind and a girl like Liu was too much to hope for, better to just shrink back into the corner, invisible. That’s what her power was for after all. Some part of Trixie’s brain noted that she was still clutching onto Liu’s hand, in spite of this. She’d let go at some point though, or Liu would. Just enjoy this moment whilst it lasted, before things returned to the normal state of self-imposed isolation. After all, it was for the best.

Kasumi and Ash
The reaction to Ash and Kasumi’s revelation was much as the pair had expected it to be. Liu wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, and turned to Trixie, who seemed otherwise preoccupied in the moment. Tonya blanched at the prospect that Raypool was not top dog whilst Dante, in characteristic fashion, both failed to understand the scale of the threat that was facing them whilst also plotting to kill the one person not directly involved. “I believe you misunderstand my analysis.” Ash had cut in, borrowing the vocal cords to explain herself, something which Kasumi was more than willing to let happen. “Killing President Turner would not further our aims, especially since we have reason to believe from the communications we witnessed whilst connected that he is not even aware of the existence of the Council of the Fated Future. Our plan to expose the crimes of the council using the evidence from the DSRP base should prove more than sufficient in bringing about his public and political destruction, especially given our ability to disperse the files to every networked system in America.” Dante, however, had moved onto another topic altogether, enquiring if the pair were aware of the status of the one referred to as Angel. “Common name: Angel. Savant Name: Fairwing. Given Name: Adriel, Surname unknown. Age: Unknown, Likely 18-24. Present Location: DSRP Nevada Facility, brought as accompaniment to Raypool on tour to announce DSRP Agent Enhancement Programme. Probability of successful extraction in current conditions: Low. Potential raise in probability: High. It is possible to examine communiques and travel schedules to ascertain best opportunity for extraction. Process will require 3-4 hours. Do you wish for me to proceed? I am able to multitask, this will not otherwise impair my function.” You know, stuff like that really doesn’t help with the whole “robot” perception. Kasumi sighed mentally, knowing that they hadn’t exactly made a good impression. You are correct, however, the present situation regarding Angel provokes extreme emotional sentiment within my core processes, diminishing my ability to correctly function. As such, I have disabled such sentiments for all matters involving her at present. Grasping Ash’s meaning instantly, Kasumi enfolded the girl in a warm mental embrace and quietly took over, allowing the AI to vent emotions internally as the pair awaited Dante’s response.

Toby
The journey passed uneventfully for the two in the back of the truck. Toby remained awake for most of the trip, only making sure Giles was awake at around the four-hour markto allow Toby to get three hours of sleep. Toby for the most part, entertained himself with his tennis ball, passing it back and forth with Giles if the other man wanted when the pair were both awake. After eleven hours (something approaching a record for this driver), the truck ground to a halt and the engine switched off. Half a minute later or so, there was a bang on the side. Toby gathered his things up and made sure a minute or so had passed before gently opening one of the doors, letting the light filter in. Glancing around quickly to make sure that no-one was looking in their general direction, he jumped out and motioned for Giles to follow. The pair found themselves in truck stop (OOC: that’s a service station for my fellow Brits), with transport trucks parked up all around them. Their driver was nowhere to be seen, presumably having already vanished off towards the toilets. Toby closed the door behind the pair and then lead Giles off, bringing him to the edge of the carpark. Close by there was a bus stop and ahead lay building around which the truck stop was centred, complete with a couple of fast food chains. Toby glanced at his watch and tapped his fingers on his wrist for a few seconds, mentally checking their potential travelling options. “Well, we made quicker time than I thought we might, so we’ve actually got an hour and a half to get around the city to pick up our next truck. Getting there shouldn’t take longer than twenty minutes, so the rest of the time is free. I’m happy to do whatever and I’ve got some cash on me”. Toby shrugged and pulled the tennis ball from his pocket, tossing it directly up in the air before catching it. He was happy to do whatever to pass the time, it just remained up to Giles to decide what to do.
 

Deleted User - 819397

Other than being woken up for his shift at watch, Giles thought the trip was uneventful. Once Toby woke up, they had a little fun passing the ball back and forth, but there really wasn't much to do, and the former aristocrat wasn't up for talking, something that the younger guy seemed to know inherently. They'd been travelling for quite a while when the truck stopped, and this was apparently their exit as Toby hopped out. Following him, he emerged into a fairly nondescript location, all things considered. The explanation came that they made good time and had about an hour to spare, which was nice. Stretching and enjoying free movement, Giles nodded, considering. "Some food and a bathroom break would be wonderful right about now. I'm starving. Any preference for fast food?" Once they'd decided on a location, the former aristocrat took off at a measurable pace. So long as he had a goal, he would be ok. And right now that goal was to empty and fill up, preferably in that order. A small goal, sure, but one that was important enough to occupy himself for now.
 

DeletedUser28032

"No, but it will make me feel better" Dante had growled in response to Kasumi pointing out that President Turner was little more than a convenient puppet for the shady cabal with the ridiculous name to operate behind and had no knowledge of what was really happening.

Personally he felt it was a waste of time and effort extracting "evidence" damning or otherwise from the DSRP as it would never come to trial, the people didn't care! they saw monsters within their midst and wanted them gone meaning that they; the Savant Resistance needed to wipe the cabal out and then and only then could they even contemplate negotiating a peace treaty with the rest of humanity, how did that song go?...there will be no peaceful revolution, no war without blood! And there was going to be a whole load of that spilt before this war was through of that much Dante was certain.

But he would keep these thoughts to himself for now, as Kasumi moved on to the topic of Angel; speaking with all the emotion of an answering machine message as she blandly stated the poor girl’s names, location and the minimal chance of success they had of freeing her before then asking if he wanted her to monitor communiqués within the DSRP so they could increase their chances finding the ideal time to strike “sure…but drop the damn Siri routine, it makes you sound like that damn computer Ash, now that’s one thing I definitely don’t miss” he responded with his dislike of the AI made clear to those present within the room. For Dante, Ash had been the embodiment of everything he had hated about the FBI and he was glad that the damn thing was no longer a part of his life and never would be again. However despite the irritating manner in which she had delivered the information one thing had caught his attention during cyberpath’s statement “Wait a minute, Adriel? I thought she was supposed to be Emerald’s kid sister Nicole?” Dante responded in a surprised voice, wondering whether he’d misunderstood what Emerald had told him back in the Bat Cave all those weeks ago, which considering he’d recently taken a blow to the head wasn’t entirely out of the question, huh…I wonder what happened to the meat head?

After listening to whatever explanation people deemed to give him concerning Angel’s identity, Dante decided that a more direct approach would be required if they were to learn anything about the Nevada HQ and those within it “Right, well…I say we go and take a look at DSRP; Nevada, wouldn’t hurt to have an idea of what we’re dealing with… Siri here needs her beauty sleep and English; I assume you’ve got things to do here so how about it Shorty? Are you in? We could use a girl of your talents” Dante asked, directing his question towards the diminutive assassin whilst also refusing to acknowledge that Trixie even existed in the hope that she would take the hint that she was not wanted and disappear…permanently.
 

DeletedUser

Liu flinched slightly as Trixie grabbed her hand, before settling down and letting the other girl hold on. The world around her seemed to fade away for a moment, the conversations around them turning into mere background noise. There was no particular reason for Liu to feel that attached to Trixie - their relationship had just been the result of an impulsive and arguably dumb decision Liu had made – and yet Liu had definitely grown closer to Trixie. Much closer than anyone else she'd met over the past few years. Something about the moment felt warm and special, a sensation Liu really hadn’t felt since… since Cole died. Realising that continuing would only bring back more memories, Liu jerked her hand back mumbling a “Sorry” to Trixie as she did so. Even after getting her revenge, there were parts of her past that Liu still wasn't ready to look back upon and it certainly wasn't to the time to start crying.

Shifting her focus onto more pressing matters, Liu re-joined the conversation just as Dante suggested checking the DSRP base in Nevada out, asking if Liu wanted to join. “Well, I’m in if that’s all we have planned for now…” Having missed most of the context of their next proposed action, Liu saw no reason to disagree to a seemingly sensible suggestion from Dante. “That said, I’d be surprised if Miss Robot over there or Ashley haven't already come up with something. We’ve got some fairly important data to steal after all and the sooner we get to it, the better.”
 

DeletedUser31931

Toby
As Giles declared himself in favour of a bathroom break and food, Toby nodded and the pair made their way over to the truck stop together, with Toby passing the ball between himself and Giles as they did. One quick bathroom stop later, and the pair were sitting at a Chinese fast food outlet, Toby biting into his food with relish. Eager to keep the conversation flowing, however, Toby decided to pose a question to Giles as the pair ate. “So… are you a waffles kind of guy, or a pancakes one?”

Tonya
As Dante expressed confusion over Angel, or rather, Adriel, not being Giles’ sister, Ashley stepped in to explain. “We found out that Angel, sorry, Adriel, wasn’t Giles’ sister at all, but Raypool had picked someone similar to her with the specific purpose of sowing the seeds of confusion. We’ve actually found the real Nicole, she managed to break out, and she freed Killian when she escaped. She’s back at the base.”
As Ashley finished, Kasumi cut across: “And I’ll thank you to not bad mouth Ash, given that she’s helped you two to remain under the radar these past three months”. Well now you’ve done it. Ash’s tone was unsurprised at the outburst. She’d expected their status to be revealed eventually, just not quite as soon. Still what was done was done. Ashley, sensing the tension in the room, tried to move things along.
“Before you go anywhere Dante, I’d like to take the whole group back to Hel-, the main Resistance base.” Ashley caught herself in the middle of the sentence, knowing that, even though the name wasn’t hers that Dante would mock her no end if he found out the name of the base. Tonya stepped towards Ashley as the woman produced a photograph and studied it.
“Seems simple enough”, the Asian girl stated before vanishing momentarily, returning a second or so later. “Right, I’m not a shuttle service, so I’ll only do this this once.” Brusquely, she took Ashley and Kasumi’s hands, before vanishing with them, only to return to take Killian, Trixie and Liu, before reappearing. “I told them we’d be a few minutes, Kasumi’s working on a plan so that you don’t get yourself killed.” Tonya stopped for a second, and laid her arms around Dante’s chest, pinning his sides with a hug. “You need to stop. You’re stressing yourself over all of this, and I get it, I’m stressed too being here, especially with that jerk Carlo running half of the Resistance. You’re letting it get to you though, and you’re acting irrationally again. We can’t keep doing this Dante, running headfirst into things with our guns up and assuming that it’ll all turn out fine when the dust settles. I did it and it got me brainwashed, you did it and look at the bloody world now! I know that we’re here to get Angel, but charging into the middle of a DSRP public announcement is worse than foolhardy, that’s downright suicidal. I don’t care what you say, I’m not taking you to Nevada. Just… let’s stop, get the data, and plan this out, okay? We’ve got the world’s most powerful computer on our side now, let’s use that asset. That’s what this mission was about, wasn’t it? Come on Dante, work with me here. I don’t want things to go wrong again.” As Tonya stumbled to the end of her rushed, impassioned plea, she felt hot tears pricking at her eyes. She was fed up of losing people, and she refused to lose Dante. But right now, the merc seemed more bent on self-destruction than ever. Squeezing her arms tighter around him, Tonya waited for Dante’s response, and prayed that her actions weren’t about to blow up in her face.

Trixie
For just a few moments, everything in Trixie’s life felt… good. The sensation of her hand against Liu’s, a void was filled there that she hadn’t even realised existed until the skin contact had first begun. But suddenly, as soon as it started, the contact was wrenched away, as Liu muttered an apology, unable to commit to the contact. Trixie attempted to contain her disappointment, knowing that this wasn’t the moment to cause a scene, especially since Liu had already moved on. Things progressed, and Trixie mostly just took part, her emotions dulled after the spurning from Liu. Then, suddenly, she was taking Tonya’s hand, and the pair were standing in a brightly lit tunnel, with Kasumi, Ashley, and Killian there alongside Liu and Trixie. Tonya gave a quick apology and vanished. Once the girl was gone, Ashley sighed. “I take it then that Ash is still in there?” Kasumi nodded in response to the question.
“She’s been there since the day before the incident, it was just supposed to be an experiment, but it ended up becoming rather more permanent than either of us intended”.
Ashley nodded, “Well, give her my regards. Also, I’ve got some ideas on how to deal with the DSRP mission, so if you could work on just getting Dante and Tonya not killed, I’d appreciate it”.
The response was almost instantaneous “I’ve already narrowed it down to three options, one of which I have marked out as the likely most favourable. I’ll forward the details to your phone now, and explain it to Dante when he and Tonya get here”.
Ashley pulled out her phone, grinning slightly, before frowning. “Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. When we found Nicole, she’s got a power suppression bracelet attached to her wrist. We know it’s not dangerous, and it’s not emitting a tracker signal, but other than that we’ve not been able to make head or tail of it, and we don’t want to try anything in case of unexpected consequences. Given your abilities, do you think you could take a look?”
Kasumi cocked her head for a second, before nodding again. “I’m sure we can work something out yeah. Before that though, it might be worth waiting for Tonya and Dante. I’ve got a feeling that those two might be having a serious chat…”
 

DeletedUser28032

With Liu tentatively agreeing to join him on his little reconnaissance exercise Dante couldn't help but smile well ok then, looks like we're finally getting somewhere! He thought to himself, now eager to get to Nevada so that he could scope out the place and see for himself what they were up against. A few photographs and some first hand notes on the place coupled with whatever satellite data and intel Kasumi could find and they would be well on their way to figuring out an extraction plan for Angel No, not Angel, Adriel! He quietly reminded himself deciding that he'd better get used to using her real name.

It had been a bit of a surprise to learn that she wasn't Emerald's baby sister but then again he had quit not long after so was working with out of date information, not that it really mattered, regardless of who she was he'd promised to take care of her and to do that he needed to break her out and get her the hell away from Raypool.

It wasn't long after that particular revelation that another closely followed as Kasumi revealed that Ash was still very much in his life whilst biting his head off in the process "yeah well I never asked for or wanted it's help!" he snapped back irritably with English quickly changing the subject before the argument could escalate any further by saying that she wanted to take them all back to resistance HQ before they went any further, and although Dante was on the verge of telling her that she was wasting time by doing so Tonya had already taken the photograph and started shuttling people out of the room. Ok fine, we'll go and look at bat cave mark two then! He silently fumed wondering why they couldn't just stop messing around and get on with it!

No sooner had Tonya reappeared to collect him, Dante knew something wasn't right, she had that same look in her eyes that she'd had before taking him to his appointment with a bat "babe what’s going on?" he asked as the girl threw her arms around him before launching into her impassioned spiel in which she accused him of being irrational before then point blank refusing to help him. It hurt. Hurt worse than it had the last time when at least he had coercion and brainwashing to blame for her betraying him, when she'd just been an old flame and it had just been a job. But now she was so much more to him than that and this meant far more to him than any mere job making her refusal all the more painful to bear "Work with you? Why don't you try working with me!" he snapped as he shoved her away from him as his pain flashed into anger "you're meant to be on my side gods damn it! I say that I want to take a look and you assume I want to go charging on in!? I have the same damn training as you have Tonya, I know how this works, I know we need to scope the place out and choose our moment, but hell what do I know I'm just the dumb grunt who kick started the end of the world!" Dante snarled, wondering why was she doing this to him? Coming here and rescuing Angel had been her idea! He'd been happy to just live a quiet life and lay low until things had taken there course, it had been her who had persuaded him to get involved in this mess "you know what, to hell with this...screw you, screw the resistance, I'll do it by my god damn self!" Dante shouted before turning to storm out of the room with the sudden and desperate need to hit something.
 

DeletedUser31931

Tonya
Dante’s reaction was… not ideal, to say the least. As he stormed out of the room, shouting at Tonya in the process, she broke down into floods of tears. “Dante! Wait! I didn’t mean to… Dante, stop!” Desperately throwing herself after him, tears continued to stream from her face as she threw herself onto the floor behind Dante, her words becoming a desperate gabble, almost incomprehensible in their rushed nature. “I wasn’t trying to pin everything on you! That’s not… I didn’t… I just… You don’t know how paranoid Raypool is when it comes to himself. You can’t breathe within a ten-mile radius of him without him needing to know about it. You just… you want to go after Raypool, and we keep putting ourselves in these situations and I know it’s my fault that we came back but I get so scared Dante and we keep rushing in and it feels like the enemy knows everything and I just want to keep you safe because I… because you… and I know we’re here to save Angel but what if this is too big a job for just the three of us. I’m so scared of all the ways it could go wrong Dante, of all the ways that we… that you could end up hurt, captured, or dead. I don’t want to lose you Dante and Ash and Kasumi seems a great way to give us a fighting chance against that… that megalomaniac and I’m trying to put on a brave face but I’m terrified Dante.” Running to the end of her panted breath, the hot tears from Tonya’s face dripped onto the cold steel floor of the Resistance base they were in. Thankfully, no-one else had wandered in, affording the pair relative privacy. And so, alone, Tonya waited to see if Dante would continue to reject her, or if she might be able to win him back.
 

Deleted User - 819397

It had been a while since Giles had last had Chinese food, so this was kind of a treat for him, even if it was of the faster, mass produced variety. He dug in with relish, looking up with what might have been the shade of a smile as Toby asked his question. "I've always been a pancake person, myself. Don't have anything against waffles, but if you're going to give me the option, pancakes." He returned to his meal, continuing to eat. He would answer any questions similarly, offering the answer but not elaborating much beyond that. Upon finishing he would clean up his place before settling back into his seat with a sigh. "So, where exactly are you hoping to go on this expedition? I'm not sure what your plans are, not really..."
 

DeletedUser28032

Ignoring Tonya's desperate cries Dante was all but through the door when he heard the heavy thump coming from behind him, prompting the mercenary to turn around and see the girl sprawled across the floor and sobbing in a pitiful manner. As angry as he was he wasn't about to leave her in such a state, he wasn't heartless after all "Come on, get up" he said putting arms about the girl and lifting her up into a sitting position beside him "Why do you keep doing this to yourself Tonya? The army would have discharged you by now, you know that right?" he gently spoke to her, stroking her hair as he pulled her into a caring embrace. Between the jittery manner she'd been acting in Firework's warehouse and the emotional outbursts, Dante was starting to worry about her, scared that she was on the verge of a complete breakdown, but gods damn it she needed to understand why this so was important to him!

Gently placing a kiss upon her forehead Dante would wait until she'd calmed down a little before speaking to her in a reasonably calm voice "I know you don't get this Tonya, But I screwed up and I can't fix it, no one can...but I can save her, and the resistance is taking too damn long and wasting time with silly games...and we rely on that damn computer far too much, you say he's paranoid? well so am I darlin' so lets go and put a bullet through his window and let him know we're gunnin' for him, get him so twitchy that he makes a mistake, lets find out if those windows are armoured, how quickly his guards react, where they come from and how many of them there are...you know information we can actually use! There have been too many surprises as of late babe" he said thinking back on the recent operations he'd been involved in and how they had all gone wrong due to poor information and insufficient planning, I didn't even have time to get a damn virus to hack the I.C.E on that terminal for crying out loud!

Quietly sitting on the floor with her in his arms for several minutes, simply listening to the sound of her breathing and letting his anger and frustration slowly dissipate, Dante realised that she had only been trying to help him, to keep him safe just as he would for her. Tonya had just chosen an extremely clumsy and hurtful manner in which to do so and had nearly destroyed their relationship as a result of that mistake, though perhaps there was a way that he could help repair some of the damage "I'm going to offer you a compromise babe...I'll let you take me to this resistance HQ and listen to whatever crap idea's English and that dumb computer have to offer, but I am going to Nevada, and I am going to get Angel out of there even if I have to do it all by myself, understood? Now dry those eyes and let’s go and see this new base of theirs" He said slowly getting to his feet, wishing that he didn’t have to waste yet more time playing silly games, Hang in there Angel I'm coming for you…it’s just going to take a little more time.
 

DeletedUser31931

(OOC: Because I can’t be bothered to figure out the timeline I’m declaring that today is Sunday 11th October 2020 since I know that’s about right)

Toby
The pair tucked into their meal together, with Giles answering Toby’s question satisfactorily. Despite being of Japanese origin, Toby greatly enjoyed Chinese fast food, and the meal met the low expectations of a truck-stop. Conversation was light, with Toby just asking whatever oddball questions popped to mind and Giles giving him an answer. Once they’d finished, however, Giles settled back in his chair and asked Toby what exactly he was hoping to accomplish with the trip, and where they were planning on going. Toby shrugged as his initial response to the question, elaborating with a short explanation. “I’m not entirely sure myself, there’s just something about Woodstock that’s setting off an itch in me. And something else in me says that having you there will help scratch it. I don’t have a precise target in mind, I was just thinking that if we get there, something will open up. It usually does.”

Tonya
Just sitting on the floor, wrapped in Dante’s firm embrace, Tonya took the minutes she was offered to ground herself, to clear her head. She was a broken mess. She knew it, and Dante did too. The time that she’d been under Raypool’s control had left her a mental wreck and she didn’t know how to cope. She should probably be seeing a therapist, but the only ones she could reliably talk to without a fear of the door being kicked down halfway through the session were in the Resistance, and that was about as bad an option in her mind. Try as they might, the main body of the Resistance were still formed of the former FBI Savant Division, and as far as she was concerned it was them who were most responsible for this mess in the first place. If they’d been better at their jobs dammit! It seemed the pair had at least reached a compromise though, with Dante agreeing to hear out Kasumi and Ash’s plan as to how they might go about rescuing Angel. Interlacing her fingers with his, Angel stood up and wiped her face with her sleeve, attempting to make herself slightly more presentable. Getting the okay from Dante, the two of them vanished, reappearing where they’d left the others. Despite her desire to, Ashley resisted making any scathing comments to Dante, figuring that irritating the mercenary would do little for them. Kasumi merely nodded her head to greet the pair of them and Tonya interceded before Dante could speak, trying to keep things amicable at the very least. “Kasumi, have you and Ash worked a way to potentially rescue Angel when she’s not by Raypool?”. The woman nodded in response, and nodded to Ashley, who tossed her phone to Kasumi. The gloved hand caught it and turned it round, the screen having lit up with a photo. Pictured was a small airport with two gravel dirt runways and a sign identifying it as “Kingston Airport, Nevada”. As the images continued to flick through, offering alternative vantage points of the airport and its limited facilities, Kasumi spoke.

“After the unveiling, Raypool is staying for the week in Nevada, presumably to check up on DSRP operations, leaving on the Friday for what’s probably a meeting with a fellow Council member given that the event isn’t on his main schedule. Luckily for us, he’s going to this meeting alone, which means that his entourage is being sent back to New York ahead of him. We’ve tracked Angel’s schedule, and the first time she’ll have a decreased security entourage is when she arrives at this airport. Even more interestingly, she won’t be alone. A familiar face is travelling with her… Markus. They’ll have a minimal security detail, currently the mission is assigned four DSRP agents, not extra special forces either, so they’ll be less combat oriented powers. If you want to rescue Angel, doing it from either the airport or the airplane is your best chance, plus it gives us time to best plan how to approach the airfield as a target. Otherwise, you’re going to be trying to exfil her whilst she’s with Raypool, and he keeps her pretty on hand so you’re looking at twenty plus combat specialised operatives with some very strong powers. I know you probably don’t trust us Dante, and given present circumstances I can understand why you’d be disinclined to, but please listen to us when we say that this is your best chance of getting Angel out of there without someone dying.” Kasumi hit the power button the phone, letting the images flick away. “I can send you the more detailed schematics if you give me something to send it to and you can look over them yourself, but I think this is your best option in the near future”.
 
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