[ QUOTE ]
But first things first. Gwen had shown her worth to Clarisa directly, and it was past time to pop the question.
"Clarisa... I have a favor to ask. And perhaps you'll see it as a benefit too. I'd like to have Lady Gwenivere brought on board as a security consultant, assigned to my project, to replace these Legion goons. She can manage security here, and also provide intel on Crey goings-on as part of her heroine missions. I think she'd fit in exceptionally well."
[/ QUOTE ]
For only the third time in her life, Clarisa smiled a genuine, caring smile. She looked directly at Lady Gwenivere, extended a hand, and said, "The job is yours Lady Gwenivere, if you would grace us with your acceptance." Clarisa was very impressed with her healing abilities and willingness to stand close in battle. She would not soon forget how good a mentor Lady Gwen had been these past few days.
Scanning the lab area and seeing the piles of scrap metal and broken equipment, she then said, "Looks like we got some work to do here. What do you need Ms. Parker?". It was hard to surpress a rising anger towards Legion. Their indiscretion was going to make life very difficult for her with the board and her objective of routing out the company traitor may not come to fruition. First things first though, must maintain order!
[url="http://celestialguardians.guildportal.com"]Celestial Guardians SG[/url]: Chris Mas Snow 50 Ice/Storm Ctl, Li Zhou 42 MA/Rgn Scrp, Dui Zhou 32 Ice/FF Ctl, TinyTaxi 35 Emp/Psi Def
[url="http://tinyurl.com/y66drr"]UnAlliance VG[/url]: Shar Chi 37 Nin/Drk MM, La Vida Loca 16 Pl/Psi Dom
[ QUOTE ]
Scanning the lab area and seeing the piles of scrap metal and broken equipment, she then said, "Looks like we got some work to do here. What do you need Ms. Parker?".
[/ QUOTE ]
Kashaye produced a company-owned PDA and started ticking off items. "First, we need to inventory everything here, both for replacement and for the insurance claims. We should be able to find the original requisition forms in the company databases, but I'd like a visual inventory just to make sure."
"But, the equipment is the easy part. Personnel... that's tricky. A thought... that Makavell kid was a bit clumsy, but he held his end up reasonably well for a beginner. I think I'm willing to give him a shot. Perhaps he can assist with some of the cleanup and rebuilding. As for Mallory, I'd like to get her back into working as much as her classes allow. That Kate friend of hers really pulled through too. Gwen, can you see possibly bringing her in, perhaps to assist with security? We can find out other talents of hers as we go along, but right now I'd like to get this place buttoned down and back up and running. Thank goodness most of the labs weren't damaged, just this testing bunker."
Gwen nodded. "Agreed, Shay. She sounds like a good choice, based on what I saw of her against Crey's troops."
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
After what felt like hours of waiting, one of the techies finally ceased his typing and spoke up, closing his laptop and disconnecting the myriad of cords. "Alright, we have everything."
"About damn time," Martel said in relief. "Everyone to the helicopters, prepare for demolition." The soldiers became serious again, raising their guns and charging out of the laboratory doors. The techies, after packing their equipment, made up the center, toting pistols. Everyone rushed back onto the rooftop where the helicopters were still waiting. They grabbed onto the lines dropped from the choopers and were pulled back up into the helicopters as they pulled away.
The helicopters rose over several tall office buildings and suddenly began to rattle violently. The charges in the Crey facility were detonated, engulfing the entire facility in a fireball and sending out a massive shockwave that shook the entire zone.
Martel called into headquarters from his headset. "Martel reporting. The data has been recovered and the facility destroyed."
"Well done. Head straight for the airport. You are to bring the data directly to Rome. Your flight will be waiting."
"May I ask why I must proceed directly to Rome?" Martel inquired.
"This information is still classified. We have confirmed nothing yet, but we have reason to believe there is a spy or some sort of double agent within Physiks. We cannot risk such valuable data it this situation."
"Understood. I will proceed to the airport and then to Rome. Are their escort fighters and soldiers prepared?"
"Of course. Security and escorts have already been assigned. All you need to do is guard the data with your life."
"Understood. Orders received, Martel out." Martel turned his head towards the pilots. "We have orders. Proceed to the airport."
The pilots nodded in affirmation and the helicopters passed over the Legion compound and the Physiks buildings, heading straight towards the airport.
=====
Matamoros fell back onto a bench, exhausted. The effect of the drugs he was given was wearing off. A dull pain was slowly building throughout every muscle in his body and he was beginning to feel the true strain he had put himself through. He grabbed onto his helmet and pulled it off, lowering it to his side onto the bench. His face was drenched with sweat and loose strands of hair was matted against it.
The crimson-cloaked man, the one known as Inquisidor, approached Matamoros. "There is no time to rest just yet. We must calm down the people at Physiks, lest they terminate our partnership. To them, we merely blundered. They must not learn that this was all orchestrated."
"It does not matter if they terminate the partnership. We have no further use for them. The prototype shielding was destroyed in the operation and we might have gotten better technology from Crey anyway."
"No, we have reason to believe there is a traitor among them. We need to find out who it is and what they know. Besides, not all of the shielding technology data was destroyed, only the testing facility. Even if we got our hands on the data Parker has come up with, it will be a great boon. Now go, 'Victor,' calm them. You have authorization to throw more money at them, if you must."
Matamoros looked up at him, his eyebrow raised. "Look at me, I feel and look like [censored]. I am in no condition for a business negotiation. They might notice something is wrong with me and grow suspicious."
"No matter. The last thing they will think is that YOU are Matamoros. Now go." Several other cloaked men approached, holding his business suit.
After about thirty minutes, Victor Jaramillo arrived at Physiks. He and his entourage entered the building and prepared for the possible hell that would ensue.
Lady Gwen stopped Victor and his entourage at the lobby. This she would enjoy.
"Gentlemen... I apologize... but in light of recent events, we request that you remain here until Ms. Feynman can arrange a suitable conference space for you. Also, all armaments on your persons must be checked in." She motioned to a Physiks security guard to bring a clipboard and a scanner. Several other guards in sharp-looking uniforms stood close.
Victor spluttered. "What??"
"As I stated, due to the violence both here and in the surrounding area, we have instituted a no-weapons policy. All weapons must be surrendered, powered down, or otherwise rendered inoperable, or you proceed no further than this room."
To emphasize her point, she gestured to the detention field emitter set into the drop-tile false ceiling.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Victor's eye twitched, but he couldn't really do anything without blowing everything, so he did as he was instructed. He reached into his coat and drew his pistol, his entourage doing the same. Victor handed the firearm to one of the security guard. His hand began to tremble violently, apparently another side effect of the drugs. Quickly, Victor handed the guard the gun and drew his hand back away from view.
"Now, how long will we be waiting, then, Ms...excuse me I don't know your name."
His eye twitched again...but he had no choice but to put up with all this...
"You may call me Lady Gwenivere. I have been appointed as Physiks Site Security and Asset Protection. One moment." She pulled out a bluetooth headset and affixed it to her ear. "Yes? Victor Jaramillo is here from Legion. He wishes to speak to Clarisa. ... I do not believe he is willing to wait long, no.... OK. We will complete signing them in, and send them up."
As each sidearm was surrendered, a tag was looped thru the trigger guard and holographic tape was looped across the slide and around the grip/magazine. Each man was handed a receipt. The tags would ensure that they were returned to the proper owners... and the holotape would ensure that the guns had not been tampered with while their owners were absent.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
"Is that it, Miss...Gwenivere?" Victor inquired, rather annoyed. The last of his men were taking their 'receipts.' "Will she see me now? Good." He didn't wait for a full response from Lady Gwenivere. Victor nodded towards the elevator to his men and they were on their way.
While in the elevator, Victor patted his coat, making sure he had his checkbook in his coat pocket. Legion was going to have to shell out a lot of money for this one, but he felt Clarisa and Physiks had a price at which they would break. "Money rules these heretics," he thought to himself.
The elevator hummed to a stop and a cheerful ding sounded. The doors opened, Victor put on his best 'public face,' nothing more than a slight smirk instead of an outright angry frown, and stepped out with his men.
The battle was over. Or at least, it was moving somewhere else. Mallory had watched from the rooftop, helping where she could and when she had the energy, but it wasn't long until she decided that she would be more useful somewhere else. Though her leg was still broken, Lady Gwenivere's healing magic had done wonders, and Mallory could almost put weight on the fracture. It would obviously still need to be set, but it didn't hurt too bad at the moment, and the swelling was starting to go down a little bit. She was also pretty sure that Heroes had access to better medical facilities than civilians, and she was pretty sure that after what had happened just today she met the requirements for being a Heroine.
Once she had gotten off of the roof of the building and was back on the now deserted street, she started working her way slowly back to the Physiks building. When she arrived, almost an hour later, Physiks was somewhat disorganized. There were fewer people there now, and almost no soldiers. It looked like the ones that were still there were the ones that had either been slightly wounded in the battle or had survived it but had missed the ride to wherever the battle went. Mallory was looking around for someone she recognized when Lady Gwenivere came up.
" Mallory! We're glad you got back. Are you okay?" Gwen was looking at her bluish-purple leg.
"I'm... okay. I guess... Is everyone else okay?" Mallory suddenly felt a wave of discomfort. That battle was pretty vicious.
"Yes, everyone made it back here fine. Right now, some people from Legion are talking to Ms. Feynman and Shay. Probably explaining what they were doing today." Gwen gave a slight smirk. "They've been in there for a little while now, I'm sure they'll be done soon."
"Okay. I'm just going to sit over here in this chair then." Mallory motioned toward one of the many chairs in the lobby. "Will you tell them I'm down here when they get done?"
"Sure." Gwen smiled and said something into a walkie-talkie device. She then said to Mallory, "Okay, they know you're down here. Until they get back, if you need anything, just let me know. I'll be right over there." Gwen smiled and pointed at the hastily set up security station near the door.
"Okay, thanks a lot." Mallory sat down and started thinking about what had happened. She was very excited about having powers, of course, but she was unsure if she'd be able to do what she did today ever again. She was TIRED. It wasn't long before she had drifted into a light sleep.
((WB Fletch! Oh BTW, Kashaye's down in the bunker, taking photographs of the damage... Clarisa is around... someplace....))
Gwen checked in with her team, confirming that the Legion group had been shown to Clarisa's office. She then sat down next to Mallory and laid a hand close to the young girl's injured leg. "You've been dealing with this all day, and through a battle too... let me see if I can't help ease it a little."
She released a wave of healing energy into the leg, causing the bone to begin knitting and the pain to fade. As long as she didn't strain it any further.. it'd be completely healed in a day or two.
She looked at Mallory. The poor girl was exhausted. Gwen found a cushion off of a nearby sofa, and then propped the girl's head so that she could sleep without getting a painful twinge in her neck.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
"Ms. Feynman....Victor Matamoros to see you in your office. It's urgent, or I would schedule a meeting later. Lady Gwenivere has done a wonderful job securing the area while they are here." said Jane over the intercom.
Is the day ever done? Thought Clarisa as she put on her spare suit and smoothed the wrinkles in the mirror on the back of her office-side lavatory door.
She took a moment more to think about what may transpire over the next few minutes. "Legion is sending over their best man, to what? Negotiate? To apologize...no not that I'm sure. Hmmm....", her forehead wrinkled and she tied her hair into the signature ponytail.
"Ah, to find the traitor! I see, they've finally figured out we have a traitor here and that could mean trouble for both of us. Should I act like I don't know? Or should I pretend I just found out. Yes, I think I'll mention that I just uncovered some evidence during this battle that confidential information is being leaked to Crey (and who knows who else)."
Clarisa started to walk into her office where he was waiting and allowed herself one more musing. "I don't intend to make this easy on Victor though...Legion has cost me at least two years in my climb to CEO...and this battle has ruined my best suit."
Out loud she said, "To what do I owe this visit Matamoros.", as she stood behind her desk arms crossed. Body language for, You are no longer a trusted ally".
[url="http://celestialguardians.guildportal.com"]Celestial Guardians SG[/url]: Chris Mas Snow 50 Ice/Storm Ctl, Li Zhou 42 MA/Rgn Scrp, Dui Zhou 32 Ice/FF Ctl, TinyTaxi 35 Emp/Psi Def
[url="http://tinyurl.com/y66drr"]UnAlliance VG[/url]: Shar Chi 37 Nin/Drk MM, La Vida Loca 16 Pl/Psi Dom
(( OOC: Starstruck got a bit mixed up -- no one knows Victor and Matamoros are one and the same. Victor's last name is Jaramillo, es verdad? So do a mental substitution, please...))
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Victor approached Clarisa and offered his hand for a shake, but she kept her arms crossed. After a few seconds he merely put his hand back down. "Yes, well, you are understadibly outraged by this whole, how shall I say, 'incident,' and I've come to make amends. I know your personal reputation has been harmed by this fiasco, but hear me out, I can repair everything, even make you look better than before." He noticed her expression change to the 'I'm listening...' kind.
"Alright," Victor said, taking a deep breath, "I can have Legion assume full responsibility for the disaster. You will be absolved of all wrong doing that anyone tries to place on you. Considering your success, I'm sure you have many rivals who would try to use this against you. I will halt that outright. Also, Legion's funding 'contributions' to Physiks will be tripled. Legion will also replace all of the equipment that was destroyed, compensate all staff that have been 'emotionally damaged,' and settle all lawsuits on behalf of Physiks. To put it simply, we will pay for everything and then some."
Victor's eyes shifted from side to side and he leaned towards Clarisa. "I also know that you want more power over this company. Make no mistake, a woman of your calibur deserves it." His eyes shifted around again. "I can personally see to it you shoot straight to the top. With Legion's help you can increase your power over the board exponentially." Victor shifted his stance, stepping slightly to her side, as if to make absolutely sure no one could hear but Clarisa. "Besides, you will NEED my help with a traitor among you..."
Kashaye strolled through the lobby on the way to her office, after spending hours inventorying all the busted lab equipment.
And there she saw Mallory, asleep.
"Gwen."
"Yes, Shay?"
"How long has she... "
"Been asleep? An hour, maybe more. Poor girl is exhausted. I think she used her power more today than most 'emergents' do in a week."
"I'm gonna take her home, 'k?"
"Yah. Oh by the way... that Victor character, the one that heads up Legion? He's up in Clarisa's office. They've been there for a long time. I hope she sees through all his venture-capitalist BS, because those guys are the whole reason we got into that scrap with Crey. Mally coulda been killed... and that Makavell kid... I saw him get taken down. Couldn't do a thing to stop it. Hope he's OK."
Kashaye nodded. She'd have to check up on Makavell at the hospital. And Kate was missing too... she'd survived the fight, but had vanished soon after. Too much fighting for kids, way too much.
"Hey Gwen? don't work too hard on your first day. I'll expect you home sometime tonight too... cos we both need a rest, just like Mally here."
So saying, she scooped Mallory up in her arms, and carried her outside... and then gleefully rose in the air, as she'd discovered she could fly again.
(( Thank you I6 respec! Teleporting was fun, but...))
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
(( My apologies, it was too late to edit the name by the time I found it. 
Wish they would lengthen that. The correct name is Victor Jaramillo...I'll be sure to use the right one in the future.))
[url="http://celestialguardians.guildportal.com"]Celestial Guardians SG[/url]: Chris Mas Snow 50 Ice/Storm Ctl, Li Zhou 42 MA/Rgn Scrp, Dui Zhou 32 Ice/FF Ctl, TinyTaxi 35 Emp/Psi Def
[url="http://tinyurl.com/y66drr"]UnAlliance VG[/url]: Shar Chi 37 Nin/Drk MM, La Vida Loca 16 Pl/Psi Dom
[ QUOTE ]
"Alright," Victor said, taking a deep breath, "I can have Legion assume full responsibility for the disaster. You will be absolved of all wrong doing that anyone tries to place on you. Considering your success, I'm sure you have many rivals who would try to use this against you. I will halt that outright. Also, Legion's funding 'contributions' to Physiks will be tripled. Legion will also replace all of the equipment that was destroyed, compensate all staff that have been 'emotionally damaged,' and settle all lawsuits on behalf of Physiks. To put it simply, we will pay for everything and then some."
Victor's eyes shifted from side to side and he leaned towards Clarisa. "I also know that you want more power over this company. Make no mistake, a woman of your calibur deserves it." His eyes shifted around again. "I can personally see to it you shoot straight to the top. With Legion's help you can increase your power over the board exponentially."
[/ QUOTE ]
As he was saying this, Clarisa was thinking. "Right, I had a feeling Legion would try to buy their way out of this. It's clever on his part, trying to use my ego to distract me." She supressed a grin. She liked how Victor Jaramillo operated...what a versatile agent, too bad he wasn't on her side.
[ QUOTE ]
Victor shifted his stance, stepping slightly to her side, as if to make absolutely sure no one could hear but Clarisa. "Besides, you will NEED my help with a traitor among you..."
[/ QUOTE ]
She walked around the desk so that it was no longer between her and Victor. Gently, she let her arms uncross in a non-hostile manner. She keeps it in the back of her mind that the inverse-square law applies here...the intensity of an assassin's aggressive reaction is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between a potential target and the assassin. In other words, don't get close and if you do, approach in non-threatening manner, because every step is increasingly more dangerous.
Clarisa got as close as she dared and one centimeter closer. She cocked her head to one side wihtout breaking eye contact and said, "I appreciate Legion's gesture and concern for my position. And you are correct, of course, Physik's does still NEED your help, however....", She blinked and shifted her line of sight to break eye contact. Then she paused to assess his receptiveness. He appeared just as calm and collected as a moment ago, was she successful at putting him on edge?
She continued, "...however, I would like one more small token." Again she paused and backed off two centimeters, body language for backing down. "I want all the data you found in the Crey cryo lab regarding Statesman and other hero projects, unabridged."
"Please don't try to deny that you cleaned out Crey's data repositories. I don't need any more proof of this, than *I* would have done it. I assume it is within your power to grant this insignificant request." She lowered her gaze and picked up her PDA, hoping to further defuse the threat level. "I can transmit the encryption keys to your Physiks account now if you like." With a glint in her eye and a light smile, she allowed herself a look at his face for some sign of expression.
((Basically, Clarisa is assuming that there is some data on the shielding technology in the huge glut of data that Legion extracted. She wants to provide it to Kashaye to speed up her time to results...the ROI would be phenomenal. She also doesn't want Legion to corner the market on that info since they have access to Kashaye's current research. Knowledge is power my friends!))
[url="http://celestialguardians.guildportal.com"]Celestial Guardians SG[/url]: Chris Mas Snow 50 Ice/Storm Ctl, Li Zhou 42 MA/Rgn Scrp, Dui Zhou 32 Ice/FF Ctl, TinyTaxi 35 Emp/Psi Def
[url="http://tinyurl.com/y66drr"]UnAlliance VG[/url]: Shar Chi 37 Nin/Drk MM, La Vida Loca 16 Pl/Psi Dom
Victor's outward appearance remained cool and collected, however mentally he was not. "Goddammit...goddammit..." kept running through his head. He had no clue how to resolve this situation. Victor had been authorized to pour money like it was water, but the data was an entire matter entirely. The 'recovered' data had such a high priority that it was sent back to Rome itself. He scrapped together a response.
"Clever. It appears you've deciphered the true nature of this entire 'operation,' and rather quickly at that." Victor paused and thought for a moment. "I'll trust you will not reveal it or anything related to this 'operation' to anyone, especially the public, for if you did I could just as easily reveal unpleasant aspects of your own 'projects.' About the Crey data, I cannot guarantee it to you. Paragon was deemed an unsafe environment to keep the data, especially with Crey crawling all over the city. All I know is that it is being transported to Europe as we speak."
Victor flashed a rare grin and placed his arms into the 'at ease' position. "In the meantime, consider my offers. I know you want power, you cannot deny it. I see it in your eyes. I can promise you that, but the data...I'll get back to you on that. I'm sure that if I pull a few strings, call a few friends, I can have much, if not all, of the data in your hands within the week." Victor extended his hand forward for a shake. "So, on those conditions do we have a deal?" Pausing for a moment he added, "You know, it would be very beneficial, for you especially, to quit thinking of me as an enemy and start thinking of me as an ally..."
[ QUOTE ]
Victor flashed a rare grin and placed his arms into the 'at ease' position. "In the meantime, consider my offers. I know you want power, you cannot deny it. I see it in your eyes. I can promise you that, but the data...I'll get back to you on that. I'm sure that if I pull a few strings, call a few friends, I can have much, if not all, of the data in your hands within the week." Victor extended his hand forward for a shake. "So, on those conditions do we have a deal?" Pausing for a moment he added, "You know, it would be very beneficial, for you especially, to quit thinking of me as an enemy and start thinking of me as an ally..."
[/ QUOTE ]
She nodded to concede the verbal match to Victor. "I would like nothing more than to call you ally. It's not my habit to let my guard down around a competitor. I will work on it." she said with a blink and curt smile.
"I graciously accept your offers and appreciate your efforts to provide the data. I give you my word that this arrangement stays between us. Although, you must know the data itself is meant for Ms. Parker. Only in her hands, can it come to fruition. I can refrain from informing her until the data arrives, if you like."
In the background Clarisa had called up a cost estimate to restore the lab. Now she walked over to the printer to retrieve it for Victor.
"Here's the cost of repairing the damage. I will ask for nothing extra. Regarding the traitor though, who will you assign to start working on that? Or do we have the pleasure of your continued company?".
[url="http://celestialguardians.guildportal.com"]Celestial Guardians SG[/url]: Chris Mas Snow 50 Ice/Storm Ctl, Li Zhou 42 MA/Rgn Scrp, Dui Zhou 32 Ice/FF Ctl, TinyTaxi 35 Emp/Psi Def
[url="http://tinyurl.com/y66drr"]UnAlliance VG[/url]: Shar Chi 37 Nin/Drk MM, La Vida Loca 16 Pl/Psi Dom
[ QUOTE ]
She nodded to concede the verbal match to Victor. "I would like nothing more than to call you ally. It's not my habit to let my guard down around a competitor. I will work on it." she said with a blink and curt smile.
"I graciously accept your offers and appreciate your efforts to provide the data. I give you my word that this arrangement stays between us. Although, you must know the data itself is meant for Ms. Parker. Only in her hands, can it come to fruition. I can refrain from informing her until the data arrives, if you like."
In the background Clarisa had called up a cost estimate to restore the lab. Now she walked over to the printer to retrieve it for Victor.
"Here's the cost of repairing the damage. I will ask for nothing extra. Regarding the traitor though, who will you assign to start working on that? Or do we have the pleasure of your continued company?".
[/ QUOTE ]
"I assure you, Legion has many intelligence units ready and willing to begin investigating immediately. Well, actually, to be honest, they began quite some time ago. At any rate, it would serve us both if you could provide me with whatever information Physiks has already gathered on the subject and send over some people to Legion so that our units could coordinate a unified strategy."
Victor took the printout into his hands. "I will have the proper funds transferred immediately. In the meantime, do not inform Ms. Parker about this deal, for your own sake. You'd never hear the end of it. I'm sure Legion is on the top of her 'to-hate' list." Victor walked to the door and grasped the knob. "I will get whatever bits of the recovered data I can and send them here as I get them. I will also drift around the background of Physiks myself. I don't want any screw ups in finding that enemy agent." He gave a slight bow, "Until we meet again, which I'm sure will be very soon..." and exited the office room.
[ QUOTE ]
He gave a slight bow, "Until we meet again, which I'm sure will be very soon..." and exited the office room.
[/ QUOTE ]
Clarisa noded respectfully as Victor left her office. She stepped outside its threshold to watch Victor board the elevator. Jane looked up from her computer screen with anticipation. "How did it go Ms. Feynman?"
"Well enough Jane, well enough. In this town circumstances can change at the drop of a hat though, so I won't celebrate just yet." Clarisa winked at Jane and started to return to her office.
"Uh...Ms. Feynman? The board has been waiting for your report, don't forget." Jane pointed an index figure at the ceiling. "They are waiting for you to deliver it personally."
"Oh Damn" She thought, then said outloud, "Of course, I'll head right up. I trust you gave them some plausible excuse why I was delayed?".
Jane said reassuringly, "Yes indeed, if there is one thing I've learned working for you, it's how to keep the executives at bay." Jane's turn to wink.
"Thank you." Clarisa said as she turned on her heels toward the elevator. "Remind me to give you another raise."
Jane returned to her work on the computer and smiled to herself.
Clarisa's journey up the elevator was spent mentally composing her report. She drew a deep breath as she entered the board room. Somehow she had to keep the truth from the board, yet calm their fears about Legion. They had to still be allowed access to Physiks. This was going to take some business finesse. "Good evening gentlemen..." She began to spin the story and managed to emphasize and exaggerate, advantages Physiks had gained in this scirmish. The executives slowly started to come around and by the end of the meeting they were patting each other on the back. No doubt they would go home tonight believing they were kings of Paragon City. Clarisa hoped when she got to their level, that she would not be so easily fooled. To guard against that she would have to keep her mind and her claws sharp.
Tomorrow was another day...tonight, she would head home, but not before sending an encrypted message to her best agent, Agent Rosalyn. She instructed her to contact Victor Jaramillo and arrange to personally deliver all intel on the traitor to Legion's office. Clarisa also suggested she ask Lady Gwenivere to accompany her for safety's sake.
--------------------------------
The next morning, Agent Rosalyn sent two voice messages. One to Victor and one to Lady Gwen, as Clarisa had instructed. She patroled Steel Canyon as she waited for their replies.
[url="http://celestialguardians.guildportal.com"]Celestial Guardians SG[/url]: Chris Mas Snow 50 Ice/Storm Ctl, Li Zhou 42 MA/Rgn Scrp, Dui Zhou 32 Ice/FF Ctl, TinyTaxi 35 Emp/Psi Def
[url="http://tinyurl.com/y66drr"]UnAlliance VG[/url]: Shar Chi 37 Nin/Drk MM, La Vida Loca 16 Pl/Psi Dom
Mallory awoke to a slight breeze. As she slowly regained consciousness, she could feel herself swaying slowly from side to side. It was very relaxing, and she was reluctant to open her eyes. She was very comfortable. When she did open her eyes, she was no longer comfortable.
The first thing she saw was Ms. Parker. That made her feel good. The second thing she saw was the bluish glow of the war walls behind Ms. Parker. The familiarity of them also made her feel good. The third thing she saw was the fact that she could see the top of the war walls, but not the bottom. This is when she realized that she was flying, or at least being flown. She nearly jumped out of her skin, and indeed out of Ms. Parker's arms at that realization.
"We're flying!" Mallory exclaimed, half in wonder, half in fear.
"Yes, we are. Just stay calm. We're almost home. Trust me, you're safe now." Ms. Parker replied.
Mallory, though still afraid, tried to relax. It was getting dark, the sun sinking behind some hills to the west. The Valor Bridge was sillhouetted in front of the orange glow at the horizon.
"Ms. Parker, could we stop by my apartment? I'd like to let Kate know that I'm okay. Also, there are some things there that I'd like to pick up." Mallory asked, scanning the skyline for her apartment building.
"Of course." Ms. Parker stopped moving forward and slowed to a hover. "Where do you live?"
Mallory couldn't see her building, which wasn't surprising since she wasn't completely sure where Physiks was in relation to her home, and she hadn't been awake to know where they'd flown so far. "I'm... not really sure. It's in the eastern part of Steel Canyon. Just two blocks from the statue in Blyde Square."
"Oh, okay." They started off in another direction. "That's not too far from where I live. Only a mile or so." Ms. Parker said after a moment of thought. "Should be right over here."
Several minutes later, they arrived at the massive apartment building. Ms. Parker offered to take her up to the fire escape window, but Mallory preferred to take the door. When Ms. Parker set her back on the ground in front of the door, Mallory was surprised to find out that her leg didn't hurt at all. She hadn't noticed it in the waning light, but the large bruise midway down her calf was going down too. Very quickly. It wasn't sore, either.
Mallory raced up the stairs to her room on the third floor. She didn't knock as she pulled the key from her pocket and let herself in. When she opened her door, she was surprised to see Kate sitting on the couch in a bathrobe, watching TV and eating a microwave dinner.
Kate looked up and said, "Hey, how was your day?" As though nothing were amiss.
"Um... it was... okay. First day at work, you know. What about you? Did you just get out of the shower?"
Kate's smile flickered for a moment. She'd hid her abilities from Mallory since day one. "Yeah. I went out earlier and got a little dirty. I decided to take a bath. You weren't here when I got out, so I figured I'd go ahead and eat something. If I'd have known you'd be back so soon, I'd have waited and we could have cooked together."
"Don't worry about it." Mallory replied. A moment later, she added, "Hey. I guess that I'm going to go stay at a friend's house tonight. I'll be in class tomorrow, so don't worry about that, but I've got a... project... that I'm going to work on."
Kate nodded. "Okay, but be careful. You know how this city gets after dark. In fact, do you want me to walk over there with you? It'd be no problem."
"No thanks. I've got a ride. Anyway, then you'd have to make the walk twice, and like you said, this is a dangerous city."
Kate seemed satisfied, so Mallory went into her room and started collecting the things she'd need. She got two sets of clothing, unsure of how long Ms. Parker would want her to stay. She also got all of her school books. As she was about to walk back into the living room, she decided to take her bow. She'd been a fan of archery since her Freshman P.E. class in high school. Now, she hoped that all that practice would come in handy if she got into trouble like she had today.
Kate stopped her on her way out the front door, asking about the bow. Mallory, never good at lying, made up a story about going to practice after classes the next day. Kate gave her a sidelong glance at the excuse, but didn't say anything about it.
When she got back out on the sidewalk, she found Ms. Parker talking to a guy. Mallory didn't catch any of the conversation, but as she watched, the man disappeared into thin air.
"What was that?" Mallory asked as she came to Ms. Parker.
"Oh, nothing. It was nobody." Kashaye decided not to tell Mallory that she had just been the target of a rather pathetic mugging attempt. Really, these guys should think about what they were doing.
"But he just... disappeared..." Mallory said, slightly skeptically.
"Um... yeah. I guess he can teleport." Kashaye replied slowly, with a shrug.
Mallory didn't like the answer, but decided not to push it farther.
"Oh, you have a bow?" Ms. Parker asked.
"Yeah, I figured I might need it, if people expect me to be a heroine."
"That great!" Ms. Parker replied. "Lady Gwen is quite good with the bow. I"ll bet she'll give you lessons or pointers... if you want, of course."
Mallory was getting pretty tired, and gave only a nod in reply.
"Well, are you ready?" Ms. Parker asked. Mallory nodded again, and Ms. Parker picked her up as before and they started their flight back to her apartment. Though still slightly scared, Mallory looked around at the scenery, having never seen it from above like this. It was just a few minutes before the two landed on Ms. Parker's balcony. The lights inside were off, but the sliding glass door was unlocked. When they went in, Ms. Parker turned on the lights and said, "Make yourself at home, dear. There are only two bedrooms, but we have a cot, or there's the couch. The bathroom is through here," Ms. Parker pointed down the hall, "and you are welcome to anything in the kitchen. I regret to say it, but there's not much in there right now. Gwen and I have been pretty busy lately, and we haven't done much shopping."
Mallory heard everything Ms. Parker said, but she was suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion. The events of the day were really starting to weigh on her now, and she was barely able to make it to the bathroom to change and back to the couch before she fell asleep. She forgot to set an alarm clock or to let Ms. Parker know that she had classes tomorrow, or what time they were. She didn't even get a blanket. She just fell asleep where she lay.
Kashaye regarded her assistant, completely blotto on the couch. She then fetched a blanket and a pillow, and, carefully propping Mally's head up, got her comfortable and covered with the blanket. She also removed Mally's boots, and set out a towel and a robe for when the girl woke up in the morning. While doing so, she noticed a loose sheet of paper with a schedule written on it. Hrm.. Looked like a class schedule. She saw that the first class was fairly early.. but since Kashaye had to get up to go to work at around the same time, she didn't see a problem with waking Mallory up when she got up.
She then spent a few minutes just watching the girl.
Gwen walked in, and saw Mally asleep on the couch, and Kashaye sitting in a lounge chair.
"Oh she IS exhausted. Are you sure she'll be comfortable on the couch?"
"Not sure. Why? Should we put her in one of our beds?"
"Three people, two beds. We'd have to double up someplace."
"Gwen, I have the largest bed known to mankind. I doubt it'd be a problem. But... we'll let her stay on the couch for now, and ask her in the morning."
"OK. How was work?" The two moved into the kitchen to talk, to keep from waking Mallory up.
"Well... I got everything inventoried. We lost both emitters, the matrix control computer, a backup control processor or two, and the telemetry readings from when Makavell caused his suit to be shielded. So we don't know what parameters were used to make a shield that wouldn't collapse. I'd hoped we'd have that... it was actually better than the one-shot version I'd come up with."
"You'll figure it out."
"Yeah. How about you?"
Gwen sighed. "Well... I'd accepted the job less than 10 minutes, JUST met my team, still was holding a map of the place and a cheat sheet for the radio codes in my hand.. and in walks Jaramillo and his yes-men. I really hope Clarisa showed them the door. But... the soldiers all disappeared. So now it's just our people."
She paused to get a glass of juice from the fridge. "Hrm. We need groceries. Anyway, yeah, Clarisa asked me into her office after Victor left. Said she has an assignment for me. I'll find out more about what it's about tomorrow."
"So.. what you think of Clarisa?"
"I like her. No-nonsense. Direct. But.. she's also classy. REAL classy. Like she knows she's going places. She smiles a lot, but something tells me it's a display a lot of times. Not with you, though. She likes you a lot, Shay."
"Yeah. I know. Which is why I'm gonna bust my [censored] to get that lab back in operation. Woman like that deserves to succeed, especially when she backs people like you and me. She's not like Crey. That outfit is all about balance sheets and corporate profits. They'd like nothing better than to set themselves up as corporate kings over the rest of us, raking in our money for stuff we take for granted. Clarisa... she's not like that. Yeah, she needs to show a profit... but she's not out to own everything and everybody."
"Uh huh. Plus.. she's a registered heroine. Did you SEE her take on those Protectors? I was like.. this is Shay's boss? Wow."
"Pretty amazing, huh? We should take her out on some missions, Gwen. Shoot... maybe we should see if she wants to join the Stilettos. She'd look damned good in spike-heeled boots, and she's got the right attitude too."
Kashaye grabbed a pretzel and nibbled on it. "What about Victor? What you think of him?"
"HE's wierd. Definite agenda going on. Plus he didn't look well at all. Like he's got Parkinsons or palsy or something. Couldn't keep his hands still, face had a nervous tic... really impatient when we asked them to check their guns in."
"Gwen... how old would you say Victor is?"
"Um.. I dunno, late 30's early 40's maybe. Why?"
"Ever know anyone that age with those problems?"
"Yeah.. see 'em all the time with ... oh. Wow. you don't think...?"
"He shows all the signs. Victor's on Rage, or something like it. He was probably coming down from a hit."
"Wow. OK. I'll have to REALLy watch him if he comes back... man's got that whole aristocratic thing going on.. but Rage withdrawal will strip that away real quick."
(( OOC : I have no idea what concoctions Victor is taking to provide him with his abilities... but Gwen and Shay are speculating based on what they've seen on the street. ))
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
[ QUOTE ]
Tomorrow was another day...tonight, she would head home, but not before sending an encrypted message to her best agent, Agent Rosalyn. She instructed her to contact Victor Jaramillo and arrange to personally deliver all intel on the traitor to Legion's office. Clarisa also suggested she ask Lady Gwenivere to accompany her for safety's sake.
[/ QUOTE ]
((While I'm waiting for instructions from Victor on visiting Legion to deliver the intel...here are some pics:
Matamoros
Clarisa
Clarisa In Action
))
[url="http://celestialguardians.guildportal.com"]Celestial Guardians SG[/url]: Chris Mas Snow 50 Ice/Storm Ctl, Li Zhou 42 MA/Rgn Scrp, Dui Zhou 32 Ice/FF Ctl, TinyTaxi 35 Emp/Psi Def
[url="http://tinyurl.com/y66drr"]UnAlliance VG[/url]: Shar Chi 37 Nin/Drk MM, La Vida Loca 16 Pl/Psi Dom
"Good morning Mallory!" Kashaye strolled into the living room in her robe, hair still wet from her shower. She started making coffee.
Mallory stirred... where was she? She saw the scene sideways... a living room... a nice living room.. but not her own.
She sat bolt upright. "What? Where..."
"You're in Kashaye Parker's apartment, want coffee?"
"Um...." Mallory tossed off the blanket, realizing she'd not bothered to undress. She did find her boots placed next to the couch. "What time is it?"
"It's 6 am dear. There's a towel laid out for you if you need to take a shower, and I hung your clothes in the spare closet in the hallway."
Kashaye sipped her coffee and read the paper as Mallory, still a bit groggy from sleep, ducked into the bathroom and started the shower.
"Morning Shay." Gwen leaned close to give her friend a hug from behind.
"Hi Gwen. Ready for your second day at work?"
"Yah. Mallory up?"
"Yep. She's in the shower."
"Oh. Hope she doesn't take too long or use all the hot water."
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Victor sat at his desk in his high office. He had spent the majority of the night calling agents in Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, and Rome in attempts to find out what was done with the 'recovered' data. Apparently Agent Martel had arrived in Rome and delivered the data, but what was done with it was information apparently reserved for high-ranking intelligence people. As he hung up the phone he sighed and looked around his massive, rather dark office. In one corner stood a massive replica of the statue of Santiago Matamoros that stood in Spain. The saint was clad in armor, sitting atop a horse, striking down upon Moorish soldiers. Victor began to drift off in thought, but was startled by a phone call. He picked up and answered "Victor."
"Sir, we have two...ladies...here to see you. They claim their names are Agent Rosalyn and a Lady Gwenivere. They also claim to be sent by a Ms. Feynman."
"Send them up." Victor replied.
"Yes, sir."
Victor hung up and awaited their arrival. It was most likely the intel on the Physiks traitor. This would be interesting. As a small, amusing thought, he wondered how they were enjoying the greatly different environment of the Legion building compared to the Physiks building. The gothic architecture, various Spanish-Moorish designs within the interior of the building (including Victor's office), the realtively dim golden lighting, halls lined with historical weapons and armor, shady looking employees...all was probably a sharp smack to the face to the Physiks employees. Victor actually chuckled to himself a bit. "This will be interesting."
Matamoros was running down the street at an incredible speed, his legs and feet casting a red, fiery glow on the pavement below him. "I must thank the good doctor for these implants," he said to himself, "and ask for more. With this power I can defeat anyone!" He heard the Crey units behind him, yelling and screaming insults. He felt the air rushing about him, tracer rounds also shooting past him, some reflecting off of his upgraded armor.
"Almost there," he thought as he looked at the data on his visor HUD. "Couple hundred yards left." A message came over his comm.
"Martel has reached the enemy facility. Keep the enemy distracted."
"I'm almost there. Prepare the men." Matamoros responded.
=====
Black attack helicopters bombarded the scattered guard units around the Crey facility. Hundreds of rockets bursted forward towards the building destroying the various light units that were left behind. Their chainguns mowed down anything that the rockets missed.
Above the main building black troop helicopters were hovering, men rapelling down to the rooftop. From their they rushed inside, gunning down security and scientists alike. Eventually, the shock troops, led by pistol wielding Martel, reached a large laboratory full of computers and various pieces of advanced equipment.
"You know what to do." Martel said. "Get into those computers and get the data we need. Several...out of place...soldiers rushed forward, wielding not guns, but laptops and hard drives. They immediately got to work, essentially stealing all of Crey's technology and knowledge (all that was accessible from this point, at any rate).
Martel kept glancing down at his watch every few seconds. They were all on a strict time-table. "It would've been easier to just take the damn computers ourselves." Martel groaned.
An officer laughed "Do you want to haul all this to the choppers? I sure as hell don't. You let me know when you want to." he said sarcastically.
The minutes were ticking by, but they felt like hours. Martel didn't exactly feel secure...as usual...this could all be a trap. "Alright, start setting the explosives. When the 'techies' are done we're getting the hell out of here. We have orders to destroy everything after we get what we need." A demolition unit stepped forward with a large sack and started pulling explosives out, setting them in strategic areas.
"How long is this going to take?" Martel barked at the 'techies.'
"This takes time. I can bark orders at the computer all I want, but it won't make it any faster." one techie responded, typing away furiously.
Martel received a message over his headset. "The Crey forces have engaged our defensive line," the voice said, heavy gunfire and explosions heard in the background, "you have time, be we cannot say how much. They are confused and without leadership, so they may panic and flee. Get the data and destroy the facility as fast as possible."
"Understood." Martel responded. He looked towards the techies again, still furiously typing. He shook his head. He didn't exactly think he could get them to somehow go 'faster' than they already were.