The Ashlanders - Chapter 6: The Blind Man's Last Gambit (Closed, Started)

[Daystar Clarion]

"Major Harel, do you know what time it is?" The night shift guard for the elevator to Liz's apartment was being condescening as ever.

"Yes Burke, I do, but I'm sure you're about to enlighten me regardless." An exasperated sigh escaped Asad's lips.

"You know we have strict rules in place in regards to night time entry into high security areas." The man droned nasally as he thumbed over the page in his magazine.

"Uhuh." Asad mumbled crossing his arms over his chest impatiently.

"It's for the safety if Lady Maribel."

"I know."

"I don't have to tell you tha-

"That's right, you don't have to fucking tell me!" Asad snapped at the man. "Open the goddamn elevator, you glorified mall cop!" At this point he was seething. "Before I bust your ass so fucking low, you'll be lucky if you manage to get a gig cleaning the fucking toilets!"

Staring at Asad for a few moments, wide-eyed and nervous. The guard quickly flicked the switch, disabling security on the elevator.

"Thank you." Asad mumbled quietly as entered the elevator.

Spoiler

Her will broken, Elizabeth had been sitting, shivering against door with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She'd managed to calm herself down and was no longer crying, but the pit in her stomach was deeper than ever. Asad was on his way though. He'd be here soon. She didn't have to be alone any longer.

Where are you?

She sprung to her feet as soon as she heard the knock at her door. Frantically, she pressed herself against the door and peeped through the hole. It was Asad.

"Thank God," she whispered before turning the knob. Holding her blanket together with her other hand, Elizabeth peaked her head through the door.With her sunken eyes, deep frown and smeared mascara, this was easily the most pathetic young noble Asad had ever seen. "C-come in." She pleaded in a quiet voice.

"Elizabeth..." Asad's eyes widened as he took in the girl's dishevelled appearance. Standing aside, she let him enter apartment. "What happened? Tell me what happened." The poor girl could barely stand.

'He fucking didn't, there's no goddamn way.' The Major clenched his jaw as he gently helped the girl across the room and onto the couch.

Elizabeth clutched his sleeve and shook her head. "I-I-It's not what you think," she stammered. "He hit me once, but that was it. H-h-he threatened me." Sitting down on the couch, she curled her legs up inside the blanket and bowed her head. "He just threatened me." She repeated.

"Oh well that's fine then, if he only hit you and threatened you." Asad grumbled sarcastically. There had to be more to it then that, the girl looked like she'd seen a damn ghost. Hesitating slightly, he took hold of her hand holding his his sleeve, and gently cupped it between both his. "Tell me what happened." He spoke softly as he tried to comfort her.

"Okay," Elizabeth said with a weak nod. Staring off into the darkness of the living room, she began her tale. "He did it. H-he actually, really killed her. I asked him and he admitted it. H-h-he... he murdered my sister. He almost seemed proud..."

She dropped her head into her free hand and sobbed. "Like an idiot, I-I-I attacked him," she told him. "I drew my sword and I charged him. It amused him more than anything else."

She went silent for a short while before continuing. "Asad," she whispered, "do you know what's going on beneath this tower? H-have you been down there?"

So it was true. The Cook wasn't lying. This didn't really change anything, but it was good to know the Maidens weren't trying to trick the girl.

"I know there's soom kind of research going on down there, but I've never seen it, I'm not authorised to enter that area." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his handkerchief, offering it to the girl. "It's clean, don't worry." He smiled.

"Thank you," Elizabeth said before taking the cloth. She wiped the rogue mascara from her eyes and handed it back to him. "He's experimenting on humans. H-he's replacing their entire bodies with artificial ones and somehow he's... he's controlling their minds. Cranston is down there. Th-they tried it on him, but it won't take. He's been fighting them all this time, an-an-and, oh God..." Taking the handkerchief back, she began sobbing into it. "H-h-h-he begged me to kill him!"

"What?" Asad whispered, straightening up. Experimenting on people? This was nothing new, he had heard stories are facilities in the middle of nowhere, but one right here in Feroxi? Under the damn city?

Getting to his feet, Asad began pacing around the room, running a hand over his head, he clenched his jaw as a million thought ran through his mind. Did Tsubaki know about this? Was she even high enough to know about it? How many 'prisoners' had been taken down there?

Walking back over to the sofa, he placed his hands on Elizabeth's shoulders. "Elizabeth look at me. You tell nobody about this, do you understand? Nobody."

'I'm not supposed to know this, what the fuck will happen if he finds out I know this?'

Concern written all over her face, Elizabeth nodded. "There's more," she told him. "Wh-when we were in the elevator he... I thought he was going to... you know." She broke eye contact and pursed her lips. "But he didn't. There wasn't enough sport in it." She sighed. "He... he asked me to struggle against him..."

"He what?" Asad's grip tightened on the girl's shoulders. "Not enough sport in it?!" He said the words with the utmost contempt.

'It's happening again, The Cook was right, he's gonna have his fun, and when he's bored he's going to kill her, just like her sister.'

For the first time time in recent memory, fear began to raise at the back of Asad's throat. "Elizabeth, I..."

'You can take her away, get her out of the city tonight, there's only one guy on guard duty, you can take him down easily, just grab a crawler and get her the hell out of the dome.'

Then what? Then where would she go?

'She'd be away from that sick fuck for starters.'

Asad's eyes softened as he looked at the girl. She was absolutely terrified, gone were the walls of defiance, the glint in her eye that suggested she might have some fight in her. All that talk, it was nothing now, she was just a scared child.

Her brow trembling, the young, defeated noble watched helplessly as Asad's world crumbled around him. In that moment, watching his pained expressions as he attempted to reconcile her situation, she realized she could finally commit to it. What other choice did she have at this point, anyway?

Grabbing hold of his hand very suddenly, Elizabeth held it close to her chest and looked him right in the eye. Where she was trembling a moment ago, she was now very calm. Completely still.

There is no turning back from this.

Elizabeth searched his eyes and made her decision. She would trust him. "Asad," she whispered, "listen very carefully to what I am about to say. I... no matter what he says..." She winced. "N-no matter what he does to me, you have to promise me that you won't step in. You're the only friend I have in all this, and the moment he realized that he'll reassign you... or worse. I need you to be strong, Asad... we both need to be strong." She nodded firmly. "We need to bide our time."

Furrowing his brow, the man remained silent as he searched Elizabeth's eyes. There it was again, that spark, that tiny spark.

Asad understood war, he understood combat, he understood what it meant to look another man in the eye and watch as his life was taken away from him.

Even then, the Major could stay very disconnected from what he was doing, cause and effect, or in the worst situations, out of sight, out of mind.

He couldn't ignore this, he didn't want to ignore this. He couldn't stand back and let this girl get murdered. Because that's what was going to happen, Dio would have his fun with this young, innocent woman, he'd chew her up and spit her out, and nobody would question it, nobody would dare to question it.

"What do you want me to do." He whispered, his voice cracking.

Elizabeth's lips trembled. It was one thing being weak herself, but to see Asad buckle as well...

"Be a loyal soldier," she began. "Do what he commands just like you were trained to do and don't question him. If whatever's going on may result in my death... well, you can try to stop it, but I can't have you throwing your life away for me. I don't know what will happen, but promise me that you will do whatever you can to deceive him until the time is right."

'Be loyal soldier.'

Even thinking those words brought a bad taste to his mouth.

'Basilio you sick fuck.' He clenched his jaw, how could he make that promise to her, how could he? How could she expect him to stand there, and look at the man, with that shit eating grin of his, and not put a fucking bullet in his head? Why did this had to happen? The experiments he could deal with, he could push that to the back of his mind and ignore it, like all shit he'd seen and done. Now this girl was looking up at him, with her big brown eyes, and telling him not to help her, not to put himself at risk for her. How could she say that?

Hesitantly, Asad slowly raised his free hand, cupping her cheek gently, he wiped away a stray tear with his thumb. "You're too good for this shithole." He smiled sadly.

She returned the smile and placed her hand on his. "Well, I guess we'll just have to make something more out of this 'shithole' then," she replied. "Will you come with me? When the opportunity presents itself... will you leave with me and help me bring light to this dark, twisted world?"

"There you go, with your flowery bullshit prose again." He chuckled. "Come here." He pulled the girl towards him and wrapped her in a comforting embrace. "Light to this dark, twisted world." He rolled his eyes, shaking his head slightly as he chuckled.

After a few moments, he opened his mouth to speak, hesitating. A few more quiet moments passed.

"That sounds good."

 

[Fappy]

"Just make sure to hurry back so I can soothe my man's battle wounds..."

Sprout grinned from ear-to-ear. "'Yer man', eh?" he said with a snicker.

"Last night was just the introduction. I've got a whole lot more still to show you that you really don't want to miss out on."

"Oh," Sprout chirped, his cheeks glowing red. "I don' reckon I'll be skippin' that class, ma'am!" Sprout leaned in closer, taking a lock of her hair between his fingers. He smiled mischievously. "Well, ya' know, I---" Sprout cut himself off and withdrew from Amy the moment he saw Bennie's massive form enter his peripheral vision.

Bennie did little more than cock an eyebrow at Sprout before taking his place at the front of the room. Sprout glanced over at Amy and made a mock gesture of embarrassment before turning his attention towards Bennie. It was time to get down to business.

The big man stood with his hands on his hips and waiting for the commotion in the room to die down before starting. "Hope y'all got a good night's rest," he said. "Up until now we've been training, preparing; making sure we've refined all the skills we need to do the job we've signed up to do. Well, the time for prep is over. We got our first assignment last night, and before I go into the details I want to reiterate a point I know I've made several times already." He scanned the room. All eyes were on him. This was his show.

"This is our first and last Wikes-Vines contract," he announced. "We have an obligation to them that we need to fulfill. Once we've completely our end of the bargain we're parting with them permanently. The Iron Maiden answers to no one. We are not anyone's lapdogs. After this operation we take whatever jobs we please, just as the Maidens always have." This point elicited nods of approval from Brock and Tallahassee who were stood on the opposite sides of the room.

Bennie smiled. "That said, we need to make sure we kick ass," he said. "No doubt most of the Rock is going to be skeptical of our capabilities after all that's happened. It's our job to show them they're wrong! It'll be on everyone of you to show the people of this shitball that we're the real deal! That the Iron Maiden will never die! That, no matter what comes our way, we'll press onward and be better for it!" He crossed his arms over his chest and grinned. "What do y'all say to that?"

Brock, Tallahassee and Sprout all roared in approval, inspiring some of the timid newbies to chime in themselves. Despite the positive reception, Bennie couldn't shake the doubts from his mind.

Pixie should be the one doing this...

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Spoiler: First Meeting

"Thank you," Pixie croaked, taking the mug of warm milk the old man had offered her. The small, hand-knit blanket didn't do much to cover her up, but at least it offered some comfort. Holding it between her trembling hands, she brought it to her lips and blew on it before taking a sip. "Tastes like shit." Despite her words, the old man could tell she appreciated it.

The old man took the seat across from her and glanced around the small hovel before settling his gaze on the broken, teen. "Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"'Course," she replied. "Every fucker on the Rock knows who ya' ar'." She looked up at him from her mug. "'The Cook'."

The old man grinned. "Some people call me that," he said with a shrug. "I've never really been a fan of the name."

Pixie chuckled. "The best nicknames ain't ever the ones we pick fer ourselves," she told him. "Could be worse."

Cranston shared in the small laugh. "I suppose so," he agreed. He watched her drink in silence for a while before changing the topic. "What did they do to you?" He gestured towards her inconsistently shaved head of hair.

This man had been around the block. He knew damn well what it meant. "They beat me and fucked me," she said as if it were nothing. "But you already knew that."

"Not the first time?"

Pixie's narrowed her eye. "Whadda'ya think?" she snapped.

Cranston shrugged. "I think you've been through a lot," he offered her. "Anyone that frank about it must have."

"Yeah," the young redhead whispered, looking to the floor. "After awhile it all starts ta' blend together, ya' know?" Looking back at him, she furrowed her brow. "Why'd ya' help me?"

"You stole my mark," the old assassin said in a serious tone. And then, suddenly, he smiled. "Not that you had a choice. Your will to live is... impressive."

"That fuckface, Victor had it comin'," she said with a shrug. "As far as banditos go, he was one'a the worst."

Cranston nodded in agreement. "There's a reason he had a bounty on his head," he remarked. "Still, very impressive. Even if I hadn't shown up when I did, you'd have probably killed all his men on your own."

Pixie laughed cynically. "An' I'd 'ave bled out right there in the gutter with 'em," she argued. "I'm not so blind that I don' know when I'm done fer. I still 'ave one eye, ya' know." They both laughed. "I owe you my life. You should know I ain't the kind'a gal who likes ownin' people nothin'."

Cranston got up and walked to the sink in the back of small room. "I didn't think so," he said before turning on the faucet. "So tell me, Pixie... you've got an incredible knack for taking life. All I've been able to find out about you is that you're a single mother living off petty crime in the ghettos of Boomhower. There's no question how you've managed to keep the two of you alive, it's why? Why do you find it so easy to kill?"

Pixie stared into her mug in utterly silent for a long time. When she finally found the words, she spoke them. "Anyone one who ain't me 'er Sprout's fair game," she finally said. "I'd kill every last person in this shithole of a city if it meant he'd be safe an' happy."

Cranston returned to her side with a wet hand-towel. Kneeling before her, he began dabbing one of the cuts on her cheek. "And yet you hurt the very child you've sworn to protect," he pointed out.

The young redhead clutched his wrist, pulling his hand away from her cheek. "What did you say?" Pixie challenged.

"It doesn't take a doctor to diagnose those bruises, girl," he said, gesturing towards the small boy who was dozing off on the cot nearby. "You have a lot of potential, I'll give you that, but if you can't even stay your hand in the face of your kin you're useless to me."

Pixie didn't know what to say to that. He'd called her out, and no matter what she could say in her defense, she knew it wouldn't convince him otherwise. He'd hit the nail on the head. She was an animal. A loose cannon. An unstable chemical mixture, ready to explode at a moment's notice.

She searched his eyes as he began dabbing her wound once more. "I can teach you how to control, if you'd let me," he promised her. "You could be so much more."

There was a pathetic, desperate look in her eye. "Y-you'll 'elp me get better?" she asked, looking to Sprout. "I... I never wanted ta' hurt 'im... I swear, I n-never wanted to..."

Hanging her head in shame, she began to sob. Cranston cradled the back of the young woman's head as she cried into his shoulder and hushed her. "I know," he whispered in her ear. "I know."


Pixie woke to find Margaret's book on the floor beside her and an enormous puddle of drool and sweat on her t-shirt. Cam was still lying there, snuggled up close to Pixie, and it appeared their combined body heat had served to make the two of them rather sticky. Pixie rolled her eyes and kissed the sleeping woman on the top of the head. Cam's unconscious smile was infectious.

Pixie'd made a lot of mistakes in her life and she'd make many more before it was over. But in this moment, she knew... she'd come a long way. Maybe there was hope she'd come farther yet.

Then, she smelled her armpit.

I need a fuckin' shower.

And like that, the moment was ruined.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"I don' reckon I'll be skippin' that class, ma'am!"

Amy giggled. Ever so softly, she began to move her hand beneath Axel's shirt as he leaned in closer, and her leg travelled up to his knee.

"Well, ya' know, I---"

And then Bennie walked in, and Axel bolted like a startled gazelle. It was almost enough for Amy's head to his the table in front of her in frustration.

'That's twice in, what, three minutes!'

Nevertheless, she dutifully stood up and turned to face Bennie in anticipation for his briefing. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in response to Axel's schoolboy embarrassment. She was slightly, inwardly amused, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let him know that.

"What do y'all say to that?"

While Amy didn't join in the the cheers, she did nod firmly in approval, her jaw set. She had to admit, however begrudgingly, Bennie did at least do a passable interpretation of how Pixie would have rallied the troops. Beyond that, she assumed details of today's itinerary would be forthcoming, and didn't try to wrong-foot him with any wisecracks. She wasn't that petty (well, maybe she was a little bit, just not today).

 

[The Funslinger]

"be careful."

Owain caught the Geiger counter, and slipped it into one of the inside pockets of his coat. As he lifted it, the various overlapping straps of some of his knives, and his 9mm pistol could be seen. "Of course."

Affixing a sleek black breathing mask to his face, he lifted the hatch, and stepped out of the VTOL. "To business, then."

 

[Dogmatic99]

Ruffles went and took a seat at the table fancy free as you please, noting Allie an' all. Gale gave her ginger compadre a lopsided smirk as she failed utterly to hide from her master's smokey brown eyes.

"Hey Gale. First mission. You nervous?"

"Pfft, me? Never! Nothin' fazes this lady." She grinned pointing her thumb at her chest like some happy go luck hero from the comics. She'd get through this job, she knew that much for a certainty. how well she got through it was up to her and those around her though. 'I sure hope I don't get shot. that'd be great.' Getting some loot to call her own would be pretty fine too.

Bennie came into the mess hall not long after. He gave a pretty alright speech if Gale was any judge. Sharp and to the point, not how she'd do it but she wasn't in the business of making speeches so what'id she know?

"What do y'all say to that?"

"Yeah! Whooh!" Gale gave a brief shout out, just to join in more than anything. Maybe get herself hyped up, that'd be a good thing to do. Seemed to be a lot more history here for the chief on this job than there was for her or the other newbies. That was his story though, Gale had already learned more than she probably should have the night Lilith left. He could keep his other stories until he was ready, wasn't her place to pry.

 

[Fappy]

Spoiler: The Next Morning

Asad hadn't slept much, that seemed to be a running theme lately. He had managed to a couple of hours on Elizabeth's couch, but that was barely enough to take the edge off.

As the morning light began to creep into the apartment, Asad was sitting on the couch, leaning forward with his head in his hands. Running his fingers through his hair, he yawned deeply. He didn't know how long he had comforted Elizabeth, but at some point she fell asleep, and he had taken her to her bed. He didn't want to leave her alone, not after what had happened.

Getting to his feet, he wearily made his way to the bathroom. Splashing some water on his face, he looked up at the mirror, leaning forward slightly as he placed his hands on the side of the basin. Despite shaving the previous evening, his stubble was already coming in thick, the dark rings under his eyes did nothing to aleviate his general look of scrufiness.

Still wearing his pants and shirt from the previous evening, the man uncuffed the sleeves of his shirt, rolling the up to his elbows before splasing more water on his face.

Grabbing a towel, he dabbed himself dry before heading back out into the living room and through to the kitchen. Coffee. He needed coffee.

Her hair a tangled mess, Elizabeth stuck her head out from under the thick comforter and looked around the room. Despite her delirium, she remembered the previous night quite vividly. In fact, that was all she'd dreamt about. "Asad?" she murmured, not loud enough for him to hear her through the door. Her eyes blinked out of sync as she shook the comforter off her shoulders and proceeded to stretch her arms across the matress like a cat.

She felt stiff as a board. Clearly she hadn't slept very well.

Before she could question whether or not Asad was still in her apartment she heard the sound of the coffee maker turning on. Huddled inside the downfeather blanket, Elizabeth waddled out of her bedroom and headed towards the kitchen. "Asad? Is that you?" she asked, her voice dry and raspy.

Asad mumbled as he heard Elizabeth shuffle into the kitchen. "No talking. Coffee first." Pinched the bridge of his nose as he fumbled with the girl's top of the range coffee maker. After a few moments, he finally figured it out, and the machine began to gently hiss as the coffee brewed.

Elizabeth frowned at his command. Instead of speaking, she simply stood there, huddled in her giant mount of silk and linen, tapping her foot impatiently.

Turning around, Asad crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the counter, stifling a yawn as he rubbed at the stubble on his jaw. Glancing over at Elizabeth, he shook his head slightly. The comforter made her look even more childlike than she already was.

Ignoring her 'subtle' impatience, Asad move his neck to the side, cracking his neck. "Did you sleep okay." He asked, his voice cracking.

"Better than you, I imagine," she replied. "The sofa out there's what we call a 'sitting couch'. It's meant for rigid postures and drinking tea. I don't imagine it makes for a good bed." She chuckled. "Next time you should just sleep in my bed." She blushed. "We can make a wall of pillows to prevent any unfortunate misunderstandings."

Asad looked at the girl, his expression not changing. "That's a terrible idea, Elizabeth." He said plainly. "Do you know what would happen if someone caught me in your bed, despite how innocent the context?" His eyes didn't move from her's.

Maybe she was joking, but after last night, he wasn't in a particuarly joking mood.

"True," she admitted with a disappointed sigh. "There are no locks in this apartment, so it would be difficult to hide our sleeping arrangement. Well, next time I call for aid in the middle of the night make sure you have a sleeping bag handy or something." She grinned.

How was she this cheerful? After everything that she had seen, after everything Dio had done to her? Before she had even had any coffee?

As the coffee began filtering into the carafe, Asad blinked slowly. Without saying anything, he moved to an overheard cupboard and retrieved two cups.

Elizabeth pursed her lips. "I take it you're not much of a morning person, Major," she teased. "That's fine, we're not all born with that gift."

"An eleven year age difference tends to do that to you." Asad mumbled as he began pouring coffee into the two cups. "How do you have it?"

Elizabeth blushed. "Cream and sugar," she muttered.

"Cream and sugar." Asad shook his head, sighing with exasperation. "Are you kidding me?" A small chuckle escaped his throat. "Want cookies with that too?"

A few moments passed and he had finished preparing both drinks. "Now, you tell me if that's too strong, okay? Don't burn your lips, it's very hot." He took a sip from his own cup. Black, no sugar, no milk, the right way.

Elizabeth held the mug between her hands and pouted. "You don't have to treat me like a child, you know," she whined. "You're probably just drinking yours that way to make me look bad."

"Mhmm." The man mumbled, the hint of a smirk curling his lips. "In front of all those people you're trying to impress." He looked over the girl's shoulder.

"Oh wait."

Elizabeth scoffed. "Jerk," she spat as she gave the man a light shove. Looking down into her mug, she hesitated a moment before taking a sip. "Not bad. You know how to work a simple machine designed for house wives. Your skills both amaze and impress me."

"Nothing wrong with being a housewife." Asad said simply. "Or are you implying that a woman is somehow inferior for being one?" He smirked, his eyes never leaving her's as he took a sip of coffee. "That's not a very good attitude is it?"

Elizabeth giggled and took a sip of her coffee. "Is that mama Harel talking?" she mused. "Let me guess, you're mom made you sandwiches every morning with the crust cut off and told you you were her greatest creation? I can tell, you're a mama's boy. Admit it."

Pursing his lips, Asad averted his eyes. "Don't talk about my mom that way." He mumbled.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve?" she mused, nudging him with her elbow. "I get it, you're the knight in shining armor type, aren't you? Whenever there's a damsel who needs their honor defended, you're the man for the job. So noble."

Grunting as he took a sip of coffee, the man brushed by her as he moved into the living room. Sitting on the couch, he winced slightly as the bright morning sun hit his face. "I'm not a very good knight." He smiled sadly.

Elizabeth shrugged and followed him into the living room. "Well, you have come to my aid whenever I've called," she admitted. "If your not a good knight, you're at least a competent one. Besides, you remember what I told you before, right?" She sat down on the sofa next to him and smiled warmly. "I don't need anyone to save me."

"You still need someone to watch your back, I thought you'd be okay last night, I really did, I thought he'd take you for a meal and that would be that." He looked down at his cup. "I still can't believe it."

Elizabeth shrugged. "He's a maniac. You couldn't have known what he'd do," she told him. "Just give it some time. I'm not as stupid as I look. I'll figure out how to work around him."

"Well you better do it quickly." Asad clenched his jaw. "You know what's gonna happen when he gets bored, don't you?" He turned his head, his tired eyes fixed on her's. "I won't let that happen."

"Please," Elizabeth muttered, her tone suddenly very serious. "I'm trying my best to look at this in a positive light. Try to be a little more optimistic, will you? It's not your life on the line." Her charming attitude had all but evaporated.

"That's not how the world works, Elizabeth, believe me." He took a sip from his cup, grimacing slightly at the bitterness. "The man's a sociopath, you're only useful to him as long as he can get something from you." Asad looked out across the city. "I don't need to remind you what that something is."

'And there's nothing you can do to stop him.'

Elizabeth scowled and looked away from the man. "No, you don't," she agreed. Getting up from the sofa, she walked to the kitchen and dumped the rest of her coffee in the sink. "I'm going to get ready. We have a long day ahead of us."

"Okay." Asad said simply, blinking slowly. The man's eyes didn't move from the buildings below.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************************

At some point during her drunken stupor Tsubaki had found her way to her bed. To her relief, it did not appear Asad had shared her bed that night. It was awkward enough that the others had learned about their relationship, but to go off and fool around in the other room would have just been tacky. After splashing some water on her face to wake herself up she wandered out of her bathroom in search of the others.

Spoiler: Bryan be dreaming

"Keep your guard up," the old master snapped, lashing out with his lead weighted wooden stave, rapping Bryan hard on the forearm. "Remember your footwork!"

"Yeah, I fucken heard you the first time," Bryan muttered.

"If you heard me the first time, then damn well take it into your head." Another couple of blows. Bryan warded them off with his own weighted staves. They had been going at it for what felt like hours, and his arms were burning.

"If you can't learn to move fluidly, and react like water, then you'll be killed your first day in that arena, and all this will be for nothing."

Spoiler: Poor Brybry

The sound of footsteps woke him up. Sitting up on the sofa, he pushed the blanket off of him, muttering incomprehensibly.

Tsubaki stopped in the entrance to the living room. Resting a palm against the wall, she peered in reluctantly. "Bryan," she whispered. "Are you awake?"

It was dark, but Tsubaki's voice sent a bloom of lilac across Bryan's vision. Rubbing his eyes, he turned to look right at where he knew she was.

"Aye," he said with a yawn. "Just about."

"Where are the others?" she asked, stepping into the room. She didn't see any sign of Asad or Jun.

"Reckon I heard Asad sneaking out," he replied. "Something about his pager or whatever. I stuck Jun in the guest room. Hope that's alright."

"Oh," Tsubaki said in surprise. "Yeah, that's fine." She took a seat on the sofa next to him. "I guess Asad had to return to his duty. Hopefully he wasn't drunk still." She laughed nervously.

"He'll probably be fine," Bryan replied, looking at his feet. Then he sighed. "What's up, Tsubaki?"

"I should be asking you that," she corrected him. "I was a little... tipsy at the time, but I remember the night taking a rather sour turn. What's going on between you two?"

"It's nothing," said Bryan, still looking at his feet. He wished she'd just go back to bed.

Tsubaki furrowed her brow. "Nonsense," she told him. "You two... you're my friends. If there's something I've done wrong... if I've somehow gotten between you two, you should tell me."

Running a hand down his face, Bryan said, "you ain't done anything wrong. I just... yeah..."

"We're friends, Bryan," she said. "I know I may not be very good at it, but I've been... trying to change. I'm offering an ear if your willing to take it."

Bryan was silent for a while. Eventually, he said, "you know I always had a bit of a torch going for you, didn't ya?"

Tsubaki cocked an eyebrow. "A what?" she asked. She wasn't familiar with the term, but she had a feeling she knew what he meant. Still, she needed to be sure. "Wh-what... what exactly do you mean?" This is where her social graces really shined, it seemed.

Bryan gave a quiet chuckle. "I fell for ya, is what I'm saying," he replied. "Never expected anything to come of it, ya always seemed ready to punch me in the teeth. I never pushed it. I just... stuck around, because I... I care about you, and you just had so much shit to deal with, I guess I wanted you to have someone on your side." He shrugged. "Ended up turning a job I was gonna work for a few months into a fecking career."

"Oh," Tsubaki muttered, utterly dumbstruck. Slouching over on the sofa, she stared at the ground. "I, uh... an-and Asad knew this, didn't he?"

Another shrug. "I had to tell someone," he replied. "And you can imagine how Jun would react."

Tsubaki would have laughed at that under different circumstances. Instead, she just felt sick. "I-I'm sorry, Bryan," she stammered, looking at him now. "I-I don't know what to say."

"There's not much you can say, is there?" he replied. "Look, Tsu, I said I care about ya, and I mean it. If Asad makes you happy, then good for you."

This was too much. Tsubaki had read about these kinds of things in books and magazines, but to be in the center of it yourself? It was overwhelming. What did she actually feel for Asad anyway? Did she just sleep with him because it made her feel good or did she have feelings for him? Until now she hadn't really even thought about it. "I-I don't know, Bryan," she finally admitted. "I'm sorry, th-this is a very recent thing and I... I don't know what it means or where it's going." She was flushed and finding it difficult to maintain eye contact. "I'm sorry... I didn't know you felt that way..."

"Fair enough," said Bryan. He gave a bitter laugh. "Asad used to tease me for never saying anything, but I didn't want to put you in..." he gestured at her, "well... this position."

"Too late for that," Tsubaki said with a sigh. "I'm kind of... an idiot when it comes to this stuff. Was it really so obvious?"

"I don't know," he replied. "It's kinda hard to tell how obvious your feelings are to other people, y'know?"

Reaching forward, he picked up the glass of water he'd left himself on the coffee table, and took a drink. "I think Asad reckoned it were fairly obvious. Maybe that's why he went for it. Reckoned if something was gonna happen, it'd have happened, probably."

Tsubaki shrugged. "Maybe," she said. "We were, um, both of us were drunk the first time it happened, so... shit..." She winced, breaking eye contact again. "I'm sorry, you probably don't want to hear this."

Bryan smirked. "Not especially."

"Sorry," she repeated for the umpteenth time. She looked around the dark living room before gesturing towards the kitchen. "Hey, so I have to get ready. Make yourself at home with the kitchen, okay?"

"Yeah, no problem," he replied. "And quit apologizing."

Tsubaki got to her feet and offered the man a sad smile. "We'll, um... we'll talk about this more later, okay?" she whispered in a sympathetic tone.

"Sure," he said, finishing his water and lying back down.

That could have gone better , Tsubaki thought as she walked back into her bedroom.

How was she going to bring this up to Asad? Today was going to be stressful enough as it was.

How did I let this happen? This is a military outfit, not a fucking soap opera.

Maybe a shower would clear her head.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

After the commotion in the room had died down, Bennie continued the briefing, "So, I imagine y'all are curious as to what kind of job that scumbag Payton has for us." He grinned. "Lucky for us, it's sounding like a fun one. We're to commandeer an anti-grav ship; a decommissioned battleship to be more precise. Some pampered noble-fuck named Lord Chetwyn-Talbot's sending this artifact to Zephyr to get fixed up. It isn't going to make it there, however."


Pacing across the room, Bennie took his sunglasses off and eyeballed Sprout. "We're going to hit it while it's getting re-supplied," he told them. "Calico's a long way from Zephyr, but ships cross the ash fast, so we've got less than a week to intercept it. Sprout, you're coming with me to Pebblebrook. We're going to take a small team there to meet up with a Wilkes-Vines crew and pick up the flight logs as well as some extra supplies. After that, we'll plot our attack."

Sprout perked up. "Who're we takin' down there?" he asked. "Don' reckon we'll need'a big crew fer a meetin'."

Bennie shook his head. "No, under normal circumstances we wouldn't," he agreed. "But we came home with a casualty last time we met with those fuckers. We aren't about to make the same mistake twice." He looked to Whiskey and smiled. "Whiskey's our acting captain while I'm ashore. Be respectful or she'll snap you in-half." Then, his gaze settled on the group at large. "Jesse, Gale, Sandra and Tallahassee. Y'all are coming with us."

He let that sink in for a moment before adding, "Any questions?"

 

[Dogmatic99]

"Mr. Ablev I need to talk to you!"

Erik slowed to a halt and gave a warey look back at Lilith. He recognized her from the hotel. She hadn't done anything though. Maybe she was one of Irena's people. She was an outsider like Irena, that much was clear.

"Who are you?" He growled. His accent was possibly the thickest one Lilith had heard since arriving in the city.

Coming to a halt a few meters away from the man, she pushed her hair from eyes as she looked up at Erik. 'Oh bloody hell, he's huge isn't he?'

"Hi, Mr. Ablev, my name's Lilith." She began, trying her best to come across as friendly. "Mr. Ablev, I'm a friend of Flo-" She stopped mid sentence, glancing around. It was probably not a good idea to use that name in public, not if they wanted Florian to remain a secret. "I'm a friend of his." Her eyes locked with Erik's, as she nodded slowly.

"He has no friends." Erik grunted and carried on his way at a quick pace, his long stride easily outpacing the pedestrians in front of him.

"Mr. Ablev!" Lilith called out as she followed in the man's heels. She knew this wan't going to be easy. "Don't you want to know what he's been doing before you completely write him off?"

"NYET!" Erik yelled back at her, not bothering to look back at her. "He write himself off. He is lost cause!"

'Stop being so damn difficult.' Lilith caught up to the man, walking beside him as she struggled to keep up with his huge paces. "That's not fair, Mr. Ablev and you know it." She looked up at the man, her expression hardened. "I'm not going to try and convince you to do anything, and I'm not here to make excuses, I just want you to hear me out for a moment."

Erik took a deep breath and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. This was turning into a really crappy week. But he'd be lying if he said he wasn't some kind of curious.

"If I listen to you, do you go away?"

"I will go away." Lilith nodded, a small smirk curling her lips. 'You still got it, Valentine.'

"Is there anywhere we can go to talk? Somewhere we can't be overheard?"

Erik silently waved her on to follow him as he traipsed on in the direction of Alexie's bar. The place was pretty quiet this time of day and looked even more depressing than the place had before thanks to the darkness cast by the boarded up remains where one of the front windows had been. Erik still had to pay that damage off his tab, something that Alexie was quick to remind him when they got there.

Erik talked him down as he and Lilith found a table in the far corner. Erik exchanged a few quiet words and the bartender brought over a tall bottle of clear alcohol and made sure that the two of them wouldn't be disturbed.

"So you talk now." Erik started pouring. God, did he just feel tired.

Where would she start? "Thanks for hearing me out, I know this must all be one big shock for you, and I understand why you did what you did, hell, I know a woman who'd do exactly what you did, and she's one of my best friends." At this point, Lilith was just buying time so she could arrange her thoughts.

'You really should have thought this through first, Lily.'

"Do you know why he left? Do you have any suspicions? Why do you think he left?"

Erik brooded to himself for a moment, tapping away at his glass and ordering his thoughts. It had been so long since he'd had to speak the common language and now here was this girl trying to play therapist with him. Where did she think she was, Feroxi? This kind of thing didn't fly here!

"What does it matter why he left, girl?" That he was alive was enough to get his head around as it was, and Irena knew? Did Vasa know as well, was this just something they'd cut him out of all over again? "Maybe he lose it. Or mess up job. Does not matter, he ran away like coward and he leave us to fight his war!"

This was never supposed to be their war. That's what they'd kept saying. And now they'd fought it for nothing.

Lilith removed her hat and unbuttoned her coat before crossing her arms on the table. "Not everyone wants to fight, that doesn't make them a coward." Lilith started as she took in the man's pained expression. "Especially if they were never given a choice not to fight in the first place." She pulled out her pack of cigarettes and lit one up before holding the pack out to Erik. "Sometimes you see something from one perspective for so long, that when you finally catch it from another angle, it forces you to make a change."

"Florian want to fight. He always fight." Erik took her offered smoke and lit up. "He is Bejic, real blood son of family, this is what he is made for!" Erik threw back another shot. "You think other men have choices? They do not do crime because they like it." Well he did but she didn't need to know that. "But we make sure he is good, we teach him everything he needs. Because he is born Bejic, you think other families care what he choose? Not mater to anyone, so we make sure he is ready, is safe, we make him strong. Now he comes back saying this is not good enough?!"

Lilith listened carefully as she struggled to keep up with the man's disjointed speech and thick accent. "You never gave him a choice." Lilith reiterated, he expression softening. "He killed for the family, he did everything for the family, but he didn't know why he was doing it, he never thought to question why." She took a long drag, before helping herself to the bottle of booze on the table. Was it vodka? She didn't know. She poured herself a glass but decided against drinking it for the moment.

"He became a priest, and despite his recent actions, he's the most gentle man I know. Does that sound like your Florian?" She tilted her head slightly. "You're clearly a person of intelligence, so tell me, what can change the nature of a man?"

Erik rolled his eyes and took a long drag as the girl wheeled out her same tired argument about choice. She was a bleeding heart, even if he could explain to her properly she wouldn't budge. She wouldn't understand anyway, the boy was born into this, choice was never a part of the matter. He'd have been dragged into the family's affairs if he liked it or not, that was his lot in life. To leave Florian in the dark, to try and hide him away and keep him ignorant and weak... that would be the real cruelty. Better to do as they did, to be honest and clear so that he could face what would come on his own terms, as a man should. That was all Erik had ever done for him! He was about to let at her when something she said stopped him in his tracks.

A priest? Florian? "Nyeeeet." He looked at her in sheer disbelief. He must have misunderstood her. "Nyet, is... is not possible. You are wrong..."

"I'm not lying, in the two years I've known him, until recently, I've only ever known him as Father Florian." The girl shrugged as she tapped her cigarette against an ashtray. "He was a priest even before I met him."

Erik took his time. He didn't say anything at first, he just took another drink and gave a puff of his cigarette. Just turning the idea over in his mind and the array of strange mental images that followed it.His reaction started slow, a small force rising from his chest and up to his throat. Starting with a small chuckle, it all gathered momentum like an avalanche as he lost all control and was eventually left doubled over on the table, roaring with laughter.

He was like that for a good few minutes. Everyone in the bar shot them some weird glances but none of them dared say anything. Eventually Erik ran out of steam and gathered himself up.

"Ha! Then.. ha then you..." He had to wipe a tear from his eye as he struggled on through the aftershock of his outburst. "You do not know him, girl."

A tinge of annoyance ran through the girl, her expression hardening as she took a deep drag.

"I didn't know the old Florian." Lilith started, her eyes locked onto his. "Neither did you, if you didn't think he'd question his lot in life."

'Good job Lily, poke the bear, well you've done it now, better commit.'

Without moving her eyes, she lifted the glass of whatever it was, and tossed it back, her face not betraying the immediate regret she felt over such a decision.

'What the hell is this shit?'

Erik glared over at her and snatched the bottle up for himself, taking a swig without bothering to pour. "Was nothing to question!" He growled.

"Things were what they were. He was who he was. That was it, things were simple. He was family man. So he does what a family man does. If he want to go crazy and go fuck choir boys then that is him! He gets his choice and he choose wrong!" He poured himself another shot, a little calmer now. "He make selfish choice."

"It's selfish for him to not want to live a life of violence? It's selfish for him to see how much his actions were hurting innocent people?" Reaching forward, Lilith snatched the bottle from Erik's grasp, take a huge swig herself.

'Oh god, it's like drinking from Valhalla.'

This wasn't Lilith, this wasn't how she wanted to deal with things, but when in Rome...

"Is wrong of him to be like man in his life should? To protect work so many many die and bleed to make? To serve people he is given place over and EARN things he is given?"

Erik slammed his fist on the table. Around the same time the bar door opened far behind them as a small group of men made their way inside. Two of them broke off from the group and went over to where Alexie was cleaning glasses.

"You think there are not worse than him? That we not teach him honour and set lines a man should not cross? All world is violent, man who thinks he can out run it is just weak fool."

Lilith finished her cigarette, stubbing it unceremoniously out into the ashtray, sneering slightly as she blew smoke from the corner of her mouth. "You talk about honour." Lilith took another swig from the bottle, grimacing slightly, but managing to not immediately vomit her guts all over the floor. "Florian is trying to fix things, other people's mistakes, mistakes that aren't his to fix, but he's going to try and fix them anyway." The woman slammed the bottle on the table. "Not because he thinks he owes you, or anyone else, not because he's trying to restore his position, because he's not." Her expression hardened as she looked into the huge man's eyes. "You look me in the eye and you tell me what's happening to this city is a good thing." A small smirk curled the woman's lips.

Erik's jaw clenched as he pushed himself up in his chair, straightening his back but keeping his head low like some old cat that was considering whether or not to pounce at the thing that was hissing in its face.

"This... is his war, girl. This was from his plans, from work he did and from men he put in the ash. And when he turned his tail so he can play new game it was still for him. Because they kill him. Because they take him from us! Because when they take your blood, you take theirs. If he did not want fight then he should not have given people guns and he should not have thrown them blame at people's faces."

Everything about him seemed on edge now as a vein in his head began to pulse quite visibly. Meanwhile, behind them, the newcomers were getting more active and had started to look Erik's way.

"These are not Florian's mistakes." Erik spoke slowly as he measured out each word, making sure he had it right and that everything he meant was clear. "This happened because of things he did on purpose."

Lilith didn't say a word, she simply continued to look at him, her expression belying the anxiousness that was fluttering in her stomach. After a few silent moments, Lilith crossed her arms over her chest, sitting back in her chair. "When did I ever say what Florian did was a mistake?" The woman's expression hardened.

'Hi, brain here, I can't help but notice that you're poking the bear, maybe don't do that?'

"I'm not defending what Florian did. I'm just making sure you see why he did what he did. It's good to see a story from as many perspectives as possible, wouldn't you agree?"

The girl could stand her ground, he had to give her that. Back when he young he probably would have agreed with her. Tackle a problem from as many angles as possible, get all the facts and leave yourself with as many options as you could. Were they talking practically he would have even agreed with her now. But when it came to matters outside of the job, he found that empathy could only muddy the waters. Had the boy been stupid enough to let himself get dragged down there himself?

"You seem like nice girl." He admitted. "Like you look after your people." Measuring her up, she might have even been someone Erik would have been glad to have in his own crew. "But why are you here? Girl does not come to a place like this for her priest. You think you know him so much better than me but how do you know Florian at all? What is he to you?"

"He's my friend." Lilith said simply. 'He's more than just a friend though, isn't he, at least, you hope he is.'

"I help my friends, no matter how much they fuck up." A small smile curled her lips. "He's your friend too, Erik."

There was something she wasn't telling him. The look of this girl, the way she held herself, everything down to the way she walked. She wasn't a civilian. he'd met enough women like her in his time to know that for sure.

"You don't know what he is to me, girl." Erik sighed as the sheer weariness of it all started leaning heavy on him. "But friend does not do what he did." All he wanted right now was for everything to be quiet, for everyone to just disappear and leave him alone. Forever if possible.

The newcomers had started closing in now, their apparent leader was calling out to Erik in short barks of the native language. Other patrons seemed to be edging away.

"I thought I watched him burn. I say goodbye to him and... and I found people I think took him away." All the anger was draining out of him, his voice was beginning to waver. Not as if he might breakdown but as if he was about to just stop. When one of the newcomers clamped their hand down on his shoulder.

["Erik, what the hell is this I hear about you-"]

And it was as if Erik had never known sorrow a day in his life. Every ounce of defeat evaporated in a second and the fire that had faded from his eyes was back in a flash, blazing away.

"WE ARE HAVING A CONVERSATION!" He roared with all the power in his lungs. He only turned round to rise from his chair and smash the bottle in the interloper's face. After that the bar went crazy.

 

[The Funslinger]

"Pfft, me? Never! Nothin' fazes this lady."

"Well then, you're braver than me," Ruffles replied, grinning. With that, he listened to Bennie's speech, spooning cereal into his mouth all the while. The guy was better at this than he gave himself credit for, certainly.

"Yeah! Whooh!"

Ruffles laughed at this. When the rabble began to die down, he asked, "so hey, Gale, is Bennie letting you guys keep your own weapons yet? Like, keeping them in your room, taking them out of the armoury whenever you like."

=========================================

Backing out of the kitchen through the doors, Whiskey had two stacks of fresh made pancakes on a plate, drizzled with butter. In her other hand, she had a plastic bottle of apple juice. Millie's favourite. Seeing her pass by, Brock wandered over. "Hey, that smells good," he said, reaching out to pluck a pancake off of one of the stacks with his bare hands. Dropping the plastic bottle into the pouch of her apron, Whiskey slapped his hand away. "Back off, Brock. These are for my baby," she said, smiling.

"Just one, come on, she's tiny. She'll never eat all that!"

"*****, I'm acting Captain," Whiskey replied. "You touch those pancakes, and I'll keelhaul your ass." With that, she turned and walked away, rolling her eyes as she felt Brock's eyes on her ass. But she couldn't help sniggering as he wolf-whistled at her.

Setting the plate down in front of Millie, Whiskey passed her a fork before picking up her own. She had made a lie of omission to Brock, saying they were for Millie, but Whiskey would be damned if she wasn't going to sample her own cooking. Spearing a chunk of the top three pancakes with her fork, Whiskey put them in her mouth, and let the flavour take her away.

 

[Terratina.]

Spoiler: Echoes of the Past

The boy could hardly sleep, he tossed and turned and wriggled and squirmed inside his bed. He kept telling himself how tomorrow was an important day - one of the most important days of his life - and how he needed rest in order to face it.

His nervous excitement produced a cocktail of adrenaline, cortisol and other hormones which flowed through his blood stream; their wicked influence made sleep near impossible. The teenage Jun watched as the clock hands near ever closer to six o'clock, losing patience with every second until he tried to get some sleep again. He screwed his eyes shut and took deep breaths but to no avail. Six o'clock came all too quicky, well, ten to six - close enough. He got up, despite the lack of sleep he was wide awake.

As Jun combed his hair, creating a parting even Moses would be proud of, his family began to stir. They too knew the importance of this day, his father had gone through it before as well as his father's father and so on.

The atmosphere inside the flat was heavy and the silence was almost ceremonial, it wasn't completely sombre though. This was the day Jun had been looking forward to in a long while, the day he had particularly been born for and the day which would provide the chance to do his part in protecting Mugunghwa-i and, by extension, his family from the Kumiho or anyone who would dare try to harm them. Morning preparations complete, he was ready. Jun's family quickly followed suit and got up, ready to see him off.

Even though everything was rushed, the goodbyes weren't. Time seemed to freeze as they all stood in the doorway. To his chagrin, his mother got out a wet piece of cloth and wiped away a bit of rogue toothpaste by the corner of his lips before hugging him. As they embraced she said,

Afterwards, Jun turned towards his father and they both gave a small, solemn nod to one another. Before he walked back into the flat proper to get ready for his own job, his father gave a grunt of,

Last, but not least, was his sister. Like his mother had done, she hugged him.



With that, he descended down the stairs towards his destiny.

Jun slowly woke up and lazily looked upward towards the ceiling. No clock near there, but there was at least a fan to watch as it spun around and around. He shrunk back down inside the bed with a sigh and began the futile process of trying to sleep the day away. Some things never change.

***​

'Jesse' cheered all loudly when it was announced that the job would be the first and final one they would do for those scummy Wikes-Vines bastards however, he didn't really how much dastardly that bandit group could be. As long as a bandit group only doing one job for another bandit group was seen as a good thing, Astor was happy to follow suit and be happy to be happy.

"...Some pampered noble-fuck named Lord Chetwyn-Talbot..." - Strike number one.
"...Jesse, Gale, Sandra and Tallahassee. Y'all are coming with us." -Strike number two.

Before there was even a third, 'Jesse' was out. As soon as he heard his father's name, Astor grew pale. Praying that no-one had noticed, he began to laugh loudly in an attempt to cover up his nerves. A stupid smile tried to stick to his face as he smoothly strode over to Gale, "Isn't this just awesome? But not fret, I, Jesse, will protect you. I'm sure we'll make a great team."

 

[Fappy]

Spoiler: Three Women

Pixie stood there, hanging her head in silence as the frigid water rained down on her head; a habit she wouldn't soon forget, no matter how far she was from the Iron Maiden. From her home. Despite her best efforts to push her feelings aside, when she was alone with her thoughts like this, as scary as it was, she couldn't help but lose herself in them. As always, she was overwhelmed by a thousand worries, each of them like a needle pricking her underneath her skin. It was an itch she could never hope to scratch; not completely.

No matter how much meditation she committed herself to, she had never found the means to empty her mind completely. There was always something there. Something writhing in the darkness, vying for her attention. Whether it be a painful memory, a current worry or a self-destructive urge, Pixie was unable to simply... be. Sprout had said she had a weak heart, but in truth, a weak heart could never withstand what she had.

That isn't to say she was perfect, however.

She was far from it, and no one knew that better than she did.

These past few days had been a nice distraction, but 'midnight' was fast approaching. She would see him today. She would set her one good eye, the one eye she'd been allowed to keep, on the man that had taken everything from her. She didn't know what she would do. Would she blow the entire operation right then and there? Would she lose control and lash out like an animal, spilling his brains on the floor of his own home for all to see?

And if she'd be able to control herself... what then?

Do you really intend to die in this shithole?

Sure, it had made sense in the heat of the moment. With all the poor, young souls she'd committed to the grave in Yuteni, all the men and women over the years who had relied on her, even loved her, and had died in her name; died because of her, and of course, her children, her lovers and her closest friends. Wouldn't they all be safer if she was gone? If she took Dio down to the darkest depths of the pit with her, what would be left to threaten them?

Don' be stupid...

It was in that moment, with the freezing water chilling her bones and sharpening her mind, Pixie realized how stupid she'd been. As much as she wanted to die; as much as she wanted all the pain to end... she knew she couldn't give in. Even if she didn't deserve their love, there were people out there who loved her and cared about her. Some of them even relied on her. She couldn't let them down.

It ain't worth the risk.

Tears began to run down Pixie's face. She hated herself for being so weak all the time. For breaking into tears so easily. But at least this time she had a good reason. "I'm sorry, Margaret," she whimpered. "I'm so, so sorry..." Her thoughts went to Sprout and Lilith, and the last time she'd seen them. She could tell they were overjoyed to reunite with her and devastated to see her leave once more. They meant more to her than anyone. Anything.

Certainly more than any ghost did.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, fighting back the sobs. "Yer son, Cherry. He's the only one I can protect. I'm not strong enough... I can' avenge you. I can' save Elizabeth... I can' risk it."

She could just leave. She could just wake up Aesop and Cam and skip town, find the Maiden and everything would be as it should.

No, there's jus' one thin'...

Elizabeth. The least Pixie could do was make sure she got what was hers. She deserved it far more than Pixie did. And maybe... maybe it would even save her. Save her from that monster.

More than that...

Margaret's book was like a will. It was a blueprint for a future much brighter than than what the people of the Rock deserved. Pixie was not the person to carry it out, but perhaps Elizabeth was. Hope, it seemed, was all she had, but if she was anything like her sister, Pixie knew she could do it.

This is her mission, not mine.

Even though she'd chosen not to throw her life away for the ideals of a dead woman, somehow Pixie felt Cherry would approve of her decision. Sprout had already lost one mother. "I promised you I'd protect 'im," she whispered, her voice no longer wavering. "That's what I'm gonna do."

**********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Tsubaki was still a bit light-headed from the warm shower when she started on her hair. Though she'd dressed up a few times recently, she'd never in all her life attended a noble gathering as anything but a chaperone. She couldn't help but wonder... why? What angle had Dio been playing that night? Did he really, truly find her so fascinating or was he just toying with her?

As she started on her make-up, she thought back on that night. Dio had always treated her differently. He'd always given her more than was appropriate. Had he thought to share his new world with her from the very beginning? Had he been grooming her for more than just Chimera squad?

And then there was Asad.

He knew about their relationship, and yet he wasn't at all upset. If it wasn't some twisted love that Dio had for her then what was it?

Twisted love?

Tsubaki sighed. She truly did not know what to think of the man anymore. There were so many signs telling her to run. He was a dangerous megalomaniac, clearly, but then, had he ever truly intended to hurt her? He abused his power the night he took her into his bed, of that there is no doubt, but wasn't that... wasn't that just what nobles did? Perhaps from his perspective, he didn't see how unfairly he had pressured her.

"Sure," Tsubaki told herself with a scoff. "Try telling Asad that." It was nothing but wishful thinking. He'd hurt her and helped her in equal measure, and what exactly was this invitation intended to be? With Elizabeth now in the picture, where did Tsubaki stand in Dio's grand plans? Did he still want her to be by his side when he went to war with the world?

Did she even want to be by his side when he did it?

Enough about that man...

Then she realized why she'd thought about Dio in the first place. As odd as it was, her woes over the eccentric noble were but a distraction from her current dilemma.

She felt a knot form in her throat, but refused to give into her emotions. She couldn't risk ruining her mascara after just putting it on, after all.



How could she have been so senseless last night? Sure, she could blame the booze all she wanted, but she had to admit to herself how easily she could have avoided the entire disaster. She couldn't let things with Bryan fall apart. No, she didn't have the same feelings for him as she did Asad, but he was still irreplaceable, wasn't he?

Is he?

Everything from Tsubaki's childhood that wasn't filled with pain had long since disappeared. She had no one from her past left save for Dio, who at the present time was not someone she felt she could rely on. No, Asad and Bryan... even Jun... they were her only friends... her only family. She couldn't let it all fall apart because she was having a fling with Asad. It just wasn't worth it.

Maybe we should end it...

By the time Tsubaki had slipped into her red dress she was still miles from an answer, and knew it would take time yet to figure out. It had taken her long enough to realize just how important to her they all were as it was, so she'd make sure to give this the proper attention it needed. She couldn't stand by and let them fade into memories like everyone else from her past.

She would fix this somehow.

I promise you all.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Elizabeth, dressed in an extravagant white dress, marched down the enormous, marble halls of Basilio Tower. Everyone was waiting for her in the ballroom. Everyone was waiting to celebrate hers and Dio's farce of an engagement, but then, how many similar arrangements between nobles were ever so clear-cut or pure? Elizabeth was simply following the role she'd been given. She was born to marry her sister's widower, be used by him and then killed by his hands.

It was a good thing then that Elizabeth no longer valued her birthright. Though she wouldn't tell a soul at this gathering, there was not a shred of honor or pride she had left for her station or her title. She wouldn't shed a single tear if the the Maribel name fell to ruin. After everything she'd seen and done these past several weeks, she could honestly say she viewed the world from a completely different perspective now.

And she did not like what she saw.

It was a pathetic, selfish and ruthless world. It was not a just place, nor could anyone hope to achieve any amount of true happiness without blinding themselves to harsh realities it so tirelessly insisted upon. This was not the kind of place Elizabeth had read about in her storybooks as a child. No, those fantastical worlds were just that... a fantasy. Altruism, and pacifism were nothing but ideals that fools too weak to fight relied on.

But am I strong enough to fight?

Dio had destroyed her sister, someone she could never hope to rival. But then, perhaps she didn't have to. She didn't know what kind of people her sister had relied on or the kind of forces she commanded, but whatever they were, they were not enough. Elizabeth would not make the same mistake. She started with Asad, but she had no intention of stopping there.

Elizabeth smiled and offered a gathering of her family's acquaintances a friendly nod as she continued onward, towards the ballroom. She would be seeing many false smiles today.

She glanced over at Asad who had been by her side the entire trip, all the way from her apartment. He had been silent the entire time, staring straight ahead. He was troubled, and she didn't blame him. She would have to learn to understand men like him, to listen to them and command them. She didn't know what the future held, but whatever it turned out to be, she'd be ready for it, and it would be because she had people like Asad at her side.

She would not be a victim of this world. No longer would she be carried here and there by the tides, incapable of finding her own way back to shore. No, before she drew her last breath, this terrible, heartless husk of a world would bend to her will. She had to believe that.

It was the only thing she had keeping her sane.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Some pampered noble-fuck named Lord Chetwyn-Talbot's sending this artifact to Zephyr to get fixed up. It isn't going to make it there, however."

Now, that got Amy's attention, though on the surface she displayed only the subtlest of sideways glances towards Jesse. The boy must have been on the verge of shitting himself. She supposed he did an admirable job of covering it up, at least, he wasn't coming off as any less of a creep than usual. Like father like son, she supposed (Lord Chetwyn was not a fondly remembered client).

Besides that, Amy wasn't sure she approved of Bennie's choice of acting captain. It wasn't that she had anything against Whiskey personally. From what she could tell so far, the woman was both friendly and capable. However, she was still a newcomer. Beyond even that (for it could be argued that Bennie was lacking much choice in that regard), she wasn't even really a Maiden, not officially, and worse, she had close ties to Payton Wilkes Vine! Amy had no problem breaking bread with the woman, but she would have certainly thought twice before leaving the Iron Maiden and it's fledgling crew under her care. Either Bennie knew something about the woman that Amy didn't, or there just some particular... credentials, about her that Bennie rated more highly than was wise.

"Jesse, Gale, Sandra and Tallahassee. Y'all are coming with us."

While she didn't openly object, inside, Amy fumed at this announcement. They may have both been on the Maiden, and by Amy's own request, no less, but Sandra was still her sister! Where the hell did Bennie get off just plucking her out of the bunch without Amy's permission?! Hell, the very reason Sandra was here was so that Amy could keep an eye on her, so that she could make sure that she could keep at least one of the girls she'd taken under her wing safe, until she knew what to do with all of them. For taking that away, Amy hated Bennie in that moment more than she had ever done previously.

"Any questions?"

There were none from Amy. Publicly objecting would be futile. Bennie could just pull rank, and trying to make the man understand how Amy approached her responsibility towards her Sisters was laughable even to her. Nothing about him suggested to Amy that her new captain was mentally capable of interpreting that sort of nuance. Instead, she settled for giving him the filthiest look she could contort her face into making.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Spoiler

The bar took a gasp for a collective second as those that weren't hurt yet recoiled in shock. Not that much though, this was just a quick jump scare, no need to get overdramatic about things. The rest of the crew recovered themselves quick enough and were rushing in to help their battered friend. Erik charged in like a battering ram, dropping the shattered remains of the bottle and slamming anyone foolish enough to charge him aside like heavy ragdolls.

The rest of the bar exploded as others leaped to Erik's defence. Afterall, he'd done the same for them over the past few weeks. Any clear lines of sides dissolved in seconds though and soon the whole place was one writhing mass of drunken brawlers.

["Aw not again!"] Alexei cried, taking cover behind the bar.

Lilith froze in place, blinking a few times as chaos erupted all around her. Narrowing her eyes, she pursed her lips. "Okaaaaaaay. Well, it was great talking with you, Erik." Lilith called out over the sound of the fighting. "I'll be sure to-oh hey, watch out." She chuckled nervously as she ducked to avoid a bottle, shattering against the wall behind her. "I'll just, you know, head off now." She cautiously pushed herself to her feet and began heading for the door. Slowly moving between several brawls, she had almost made it, before swearing under her breath. "Shit, forgot my hat." Retracing her steps back towards the table, she was within arms reach, when the hat was plucked from just beyond her grasp.

Slowly looking up at the brute, his face covered in pockmarks and scars, he was almost as big as Erik. "Err, excuse me, that's my ha-" Before she could finish, the man mercilessly tore the hat in half, before unceremoniously dropping the pieces to the ground.

Lilith stared at the man, a look of disbelief marking her face. The man chuckled as he crossed his arms over his barrel chest. Standing over the poor girl as she looked down at the remains of her most beloved floppy dog-eared hat.

In an instant her expression changed from one of loss, to one of rage. "You son of a *****." She whispered, her eyes wide with fury.

Erik set about his charges with wild abandon. This was how you worked out your issues! Misery loved company, so pass it onto some other unlucky bum. He grabbed the nearest guy by the scruff of his shirt and held him still as he punched him hard enough to send their head reeling back. Then again. Then again. Then he let his punching hand take rest and picked up a bottle of beer and helped himself to a couple of gulps.

Then he punched the guy again.

A Erik continued to introduce several men to his fist, a woman's voice broke through the manly cacophony, glancing to his side, a man came staggering past him, with what appeared to be a woman hanging from the back of his neck.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Lilith roared as she mercilessly banged her fists against the back of the hat murderer's head and shoulders. "Do you know how cute I looked in that hat? DO YOU?!"

Trying his best to dislodge the girl hanging onto him, the man turned around and started moving backwards. "My hat, that was MY. FUCKING. H-DAMMIT!" Lilith grunted in pain as the pair went crashing into a wall.

Refusing to let go off the man, he bashed himself against the wall three more times before Lilith loosened her grasp. As he moved away from Lilith, rubbing at his neck, he turned to look at the girl as she slid down the wall, coughing.

"Cyka." The man spat as he went to kick Lilith in the chest. Snapping her hands up, Lilith grabbed the murderer's boot, twisting his ankle as she quickly pushed his leg aside and got to her feet.

As the man swore painfully, stumbling slightly as he got to his feet, he was greeted with a fierce kick to the face, falling onto his back before Lilith straddled the man's chest, punching him across the jaw. "Say you're sorry!" Lilith roared as she continued to pummel the man's face.

Erik took a breather from handing out beatings as the puny blonde girl let rip on a man like some raging harpy. he couldn't catch what she said properly, not over the noise or while she was talking all that jibberish. Damned if she didn't have some fire in her though! He was right. She wasn't just some little girl in over her head. She started rough, sure, but she recovered well. She didn't know how to fight a larger opponent properly he bet, she treated him too much like someone her own size.

Erik was left staggering as a broken chair leg got broken even more as it snapped on his back. He turned slowly to see the fool he thought to try and blindside him, eyes full of fury.

'OH! Oh no you didn't! Because if you did, then I'm going to have to do this!'

Alexei looked on in dismay as the place he'd saved for so many years to afford, that he'd worked so hard to keep safe just so he and maybe others like him would have a place to call their own get torn a new one for the fifth time this week. It was enough to make him cry. He didn't have time for that though, he had to duck as Erik sent some guy flying over the counter and smashing into the liquor shelf lining the far wall.

After she had concluded that the man was truly sorry by way of being unconscious, Lilith pushed herself to her feet, taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly through her nose as she brushed her hands through her hair. Moving her head to the side, she cracked her neck as she began walking over to the bar, ducking under several thrown items, and a couple of thrown people. Grabbing a stool she sat at the bar, Peering over the top as she looked down at the owner. "Whiskey please."

"Whah? Buh? I... aw." Alexei sagged in defeat. Why was it always like this? He searched for an unbroken bottle and poured Lilith a glass of whiskey and a double for himself. This was shaping up to be a crappy day... an he was pretty sure his makeup was smudged now too.

Erik was roaring away like some wild animal in the background, enjoying himself like crazy. By the end he was left standing in the middle of the carnage, grinning from ear to ear with only a few other men left standing and looking much worse for wear than he did.

As the man went about pouring her drink, Lilith reached into her pocket and pulled out her smokes. Crossing her arms on the bar, she pulled a cigarette from the pack with her teeth. "Cheers" She mumbled as the barman placed her drink in front of her. Lighting the cigarette, she took a deep drag, sighing in relief as a small smile curled her lips.

Reaching for her drink, she glanced around the bar as she took a small sip of her whiskey. "Who's gonna pay for all this?" She chuckled.


"This fucker!" Alexie yelled, pointing accusingly at Erik. "Your tab is going so far fucking up right now!"

["I know! I knoooow!"] Erik moaned as the buzz wore off and scavenged himself up an intact chair and joined them at the bar. Alexei still poured him a drink. "This one..." He looked over to Lilith. "This one is fighter." He clinked her glass. "Who are you? Truth."

"I'm Florian's friend." She smiled at the man, but she thought it best to actually answer his question. "I'm an Iron Maiden, small bandit group in the South." She blew smoke from the corner of her mouth. Ever heard of Meredith Monroe?" She looked at the man over her glass as she took a sip.

"Aaaahh." Erik nodded knowingly. Yes, this was a name he knew. Word had travelled to them, even here, of the bandit queen and her brood. "So how does bandit girl know priest? Bandit does not need man who does not fight."

"Florian is an Iron Maiden too." Lilith grinned. "Not everyone on the ship is a fighter, and it turns out the man can cook." She furrowed her brow as she asked the man a question. "Tell me, have you tried his eggs?"

Eggs? Was that a sex thing? he knew they were into weird stuff but- nevermind, there was a bigger point to make!

"And you make him join crew? Some crews do this. But if he join himself, then you see this, yes?" He finished his drink with a sigh, draining the glass dry as he tipped it all back. "You ask him why he join. I tell you why... is because he cannot help what he is. He is this." Erik spread his arms wide to the bar and the bloodless carnage around him.


The woman shrugged. "Maybe he is, but all that just now? That was fun, nobody got hurt." As she said the words, a long painful moan grumbled from one of the men as he began to rouse from unconsciousness. Lilith pursed her lips. "Well, not real hurt anyway."

Lilith blew smoke from her nostrils. "Florian didn't do any fighting, sure he came with us on job, but he was the mediator, the diplomacy before everything inevitably went to shit and the fighting started." She finished her drink. "He knows he can't escape, he already tried that, he tried that for two years before he ended up on our crew, he's drawn to it, like me and you are, it's a part of what he is." The woman smiled sadly as smoke curled from her lips. "There are your Iron Maidens." She rested a hand on her chest. "And there are your Bejics." She placed her hand on Erik's arm. "We're both bandits, but we aren't the same." She shook her head gently.

The woman returned her hands to the counter. "Too much blood being a Beijic, and I've only been in this city a couple of days."


Erik's victim crawled up from behind the counter and wordlessly slumped himself over it. Alexei poured him a glass too and he gave a dazed thanks before joining them. Erik repressed the urge to start another fight. Lilith's words had rankled him more than he was willing to show. "Then you and him can go back to your Iron Maiden." He said simply.

Lilith chuckled as she tapped the bar for another drink. "Not gonna happen." She turned on the stool to face Erik, propping up her head as she placed her elbow on the counter. "You're big, and you're angry, and you'd probably snap me in half like a twig, but I know your type." A small smirk curled her lips. "I saw your face back there, before you started throwing punches at him. You love that man, and as much as he hurt you, as much as you think he abandoned you, which he did, there's no two ways about it." Her face softened. "He needs your help."

Hmph. Erik turned away and leaned over the counter, nursing his drink and looking even more the miserable drunk. After all that was happening these days, he couldn't deny that the tide was turning against him. The change he'd been promised wasn't happening. It was like everyone was at a loss for what to do now and his friends had left him to fend for himself.

Florian had done him wrong, his mind was made up there but he came back when he could have just stayed away forever and live it up in the warmer domes with this puny blonde girl to keep him company. And he did always have one stupid plan or another on the go...

"I think about it." He grunted.

"Wonderful" Lilith chirped as she downed the drink the barman had just poured for her.

'You owe me for this Florian, you owe me big.'

 

[Dogmatic99]

"So hey, Gale, is Bennie letting you guys keep your own weapons yet? Like, keeping them in your room, taking them out of the armoury whenever you like."

"He should be, right?" Gale went all indignant. "I mean I brought my own! Partin' a lady from the truest man in her life, that's just cruel." At least she got some good practice in with Barker, a chance to freshen up her skills after getting a little rusty on the lonesome road.

She wasn't that hurt about it. The chief's reasoning for it made sense at least and Gale had never thought of herself as a hugely violent person. That might have to change if things went sour while they were out though, fingers crossed. She didn't have any questions as it was, anyway. seemed like those making the calls had thought stuff through much as one could. All that was left was to keep their eyes open and their guts knotted in case anyone decided to play the bastard at this meeting. Knowing most of Gale's big encounters with shadier domers someone would.

Jesse may have been having his own frets on that front too. "Isn't this just awesome? But not fret, I, Jesse, will protect you. I'm sure we'll make a great team."

"We sure will, buddy, we sure will." Gale said, all the calming tone of a wise woman as she clamped her hand down on Jesse's shoulder. pat-pat...pat-pat...pat-pat.

 

[Fappy]

Bennie met Amy's death stare with a neutral, almost passive expression. To most it wouldn't mean much, but Amy had a better sense for body language than most. She knew what he was saying.

'This is how it is. Get used to it.'

With no questions to answer, Bennie stuffed one hand in his pocket and gestured towards his small team. "Get ready to head out in ten minutes," he told them. Then, he smiled. "Don't worry, it'll be fun."

Sprout looked around at the others before grinning himself.

Finally, some action.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Spoiler: On the Road Again...

To Bennie, there was nothing like driving out on the open ashlands. Sure, it was desolate, empty and even a little depressing, but there was a certain charm to it. 'Romantic' would be the word he used.

Though the breathing mask heavily filtered the air he breathed, he could still make out the stale scent of Pixie on her old bandanna. Times like these always made him think of her, so adding her sent into the mix only made her absence harder to swallow. Still, he hadn't felt like a real Maiden in quite awhile, so he wouldn't let it bother him too much.

Naturally, Bennie was behind the wheel of the crawler with Sandra riding shotgun. Gale was wedged between Sprout and Jesse, and Tallahassee sat in the truck bed, technically manning the mounted machine-gun. It was a hot day, but given their speed, the wind took good care of them.

Well, maybe Gale was a bit sweaty crammed between the two Casanovas, but Bennie figured the girl could use some face time with them. She'd have to get used to dealing with men far worse than either of them soon enough.

After about an hour of riding in silence, Bennie decided to finally break the ice with Sandra. "So," he started, looking at her in the corner of his eye, "how are the other's treating you? You satisfied with how things have been going so far?"

Sprout ignored the boring conversation happening at the front of the vehicle and turned around in his seat, almost elbowing poor Gale as he did. "Hey, Tallahassee. I, uh... I 'ave a question," he said sheepishly.

"Oh," the man perked up from his nap. "Lay it on me, kid."

"Well, uh," he muttered, his face glowing under his bandanna, "H-h-how was it yer first time. Y-you know... how long did ya' l---"

"No shit," the man interrupted the boy, his jaw left hanging. He just stared at Sprout for a moment before suddenly exploding into a fit of laughter. "Sprout, you fuckin' animal! No way!"

"K-keep it down!" Sprout pleaded. Then he looked over to Jesse from over Gale's head and winked.

That's right mother fucker, I got game.

Tallahassee shook off the laughter and shrugged. "I don't know man," he admitted. "A few minutes?"

Sprout nodded as if that sounded spot on to him. Fortunately for him, his bandanna concealed his true feelings.

The operative feeling being shame.

That's jus'... a few more than me...

"D-don' tell Bennie," he begged, suddenly realizing what it would mean if he found out.

Tallahassee patted the boy on the shoulder and slumped back beside the machine-gun. "You got it kid," he assured him. "Ol' Tallahassee's the most trust worthy man on the Rock. Your secret's safe with me."

Sprout furrowed his brow.

Somehow I doubt that...

 

[Terratina.]

'Jesse' managed to calm down a little as the group packed up and started their drive and the damn mission.

The runaway noble in hiding constantly told himself that there was no way the staff on the so-called 'antique' would recognise the third son who decided to live with his hedonistic uncle and had disappeared since. There was no way. At least that ***** wasn't in the crawler, but the other half of the counterfeit couple was: Sprout. The wink was just the cherry on the cake. 'Like getting with a whore is a big achievement.' Astor internally grumbled. Outwardly, it was all smiles and rainbows, had to put on a brave face for the ladies after all. 'Jesse' sighed and shook his head dismissively, "Give the lady a break, Sprout. No doubt you're making a very awkward situation worse for her. An amateur mistake."

Yeah, Astor actually knew things about women, unlike the horndog hick.

 

[The Funslinger]

With the ground team off, that left Whiskey in charge. Ruffles had dragged a rather forlorn looking Allie away to learn about the wonders of plumbing, Brock had head off for a workout, and the various younger Maidens had drifted to the four winds. Whiskey would set about finding them soon, but first there was something else. She wasn't sure where Amy had gone after breakfast had wound down, so she decided to try her room. Eventually arriving at Amy's door, Whiskey knocked.

=======================================

"So when the septic tank gets full, obviously you have to empty it," said Ruffles. "But remember if you wanna empty it, the first thing you have to do is flood the pipes with water to blast everything into the tank. That's what that lever is for, over there." He pointed to a tiny cubbyhole in the wall of the engine room. A large brown handled lever could be seen, stuck upright. "Slam that down, count out ten seconds and push it back up. You don't wanna leave it too long, or... well, you'll see. You getting this, Allie?"

 

[Daystar Clarion]

While Elizabeth had gotten herself ready, Asad had made a quick visit to the barracks to shave, shower, and change into a clean suit. Upon returning to the girl's apartment, he said very little as he escorted her to the ball. Despite his best efforts to wash away his fatigue.

With sullen eyes and stony expression, he stood by Elizabeth's side, her arm on his as the pair walked into the ballroom. Despite his sour mood, the girl was a vision of young beauty.

She could certainly wear the mask a lot better than he could.

The Major hoped Tsubaki had talked things through with Bryan, or at least cleared the air a little. If nothing else, he could at least have some company during this entire of an event. He probably wouldn't be very good company, but that wasn't anything a bit of wine couldn't fix. They were guests after all.

Asad was more worries about Dio, and how he'd go about not trying to kill the fucker where he stood. Something else for the alcohol to deal with.

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

You getting this, Allie?"

"Aye." The girl mumbled. She lied. She wasn't really paying attention, she was more worried about the others. This was their first time away from the Maiden, on a mission no less, the closest people she had to family now. it didn't help that plumbing was probably the most boring subject in the history of ever.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" She blurted out to Ruffles, a look of concern creasing her brow. "The others, I mean." She averted her eyes. "Sorry, I just... I dunno." The girl laughed nervously.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

After going to the training gym to punch things for a little bit after breakfast, Amy had returned to her room, where she had been quietly sulking since. It wasn't often that somebody got one over on her, but no matter how she reviewed the situation in her head, Bennie had won this round. Not that Amy was lacking in imagination. There were plenty of ways, just of the top of her head, she could think of to make Bennie's life that much more of a headache... just none in her current situation that wouldn't also be just as damaging to her. She was a pro at this game though. In the end, Amy knew all she had to do for now was bide her time, and reinforce her position while waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

Still, the thought of that man taking Sandra away from her, to keep under his smug, sanctimonious little wing, couldn't help but burn beneath her skin, turning her sister against her. Why? For all his talk about wanting things to go smoothly, why was he systematically dismantling everything that was important to her? Wasn't stealing Pixie enough?!

Upon hearing the knock at her door, Amy clapped her hands to her face and rubbed her eyes, clearing her head. She didn't know quite what she was going to do about this new transgression, not yet. Sure enough, somehow and at some point, Bennie would get his in full. You never fucked with Amy Turner. That was the rule, and Amy had learned a long time ago that she must always find a way of enforcing it. She'd chalked up her quota of losses too early in life. If she did't want the whole world to be lining up to walk all over her, one at a time, then from now on, she must always find a way to get on top. However, right now she wasn't helping herself by shutting herself away and wallowing. In the meantime, she might as well take comfort in whatever distractions the day had in store for her. Getting up of the bed, Amy went to the door, and was greeted on the other side by Whiskey.

"Oh, hello Captain." she said pleasantly. "Did you need me for something?"

===========================================================================================================================

Sandra had been sitting in silence, her chin resting on her fist as she looked out of the window. She wasn't particularly comfortable, acutely aware of her company. As far as the Maiden's went, at least, she was just a grunt, barely a handful of them even knew her name at this point, and yet she was now riding shotgun with the Captain? This wasn't a position she had earned. Sandra had been placed here. It wasn't so much that she was scared of Bennie (for even what little she knew so far, she was sure he was already a big step up from Austin), however, he was a game-player. It came with the territory of rank and responsibility, she supposed, but nevertheless; he had brought Sandra out on this mission, away from Amy, for a reason. He had sat her up front with him, apart from all the others, for a reason...

"how are the other's treating you? You satisfied with how things have been going so far?"

... And now she was being interrogated for a reason. It was his prerogative, she supposed, but Sandra was guarded nonetheless, furtively glancing in Bennie's direction, like a small animal trapped in his cage.

"Dunno." she mumbled, shrugging her shoulders. "Not really done much to be dissatisfied about yet, have we. 'Suppose everyone's still finding their feet, coming to terms with how much things have changed, y'know? Everyone's been alright to me, I guess. Been getting a few looks from some of the boys, but nobody's tried nothing."

 

[The Funslinger]

"Oh, hello Captain."

Whiskey couldn't help but chuckle at this. "Oh man, 'Captain.' I'm loving it already."

"Did you need me for something?"

"Uh, kind of," said Whiskey. "See, I figure since nothing's most likely gonna happen here while Bennie's meeting the WV guys, I might as well run some combat drills. Make sure the next generation are up to speed, and all that shit."

And now, the awkward request. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favour, and watch Millie for a couple of hours. She's no trouble, really!"

====================================================

"Sorry, I just... I dunno."

Ruffles sighed. "Hey, don't worry about it," he said kindly. "If Wilkes-Vines were gonna pull some shit on us, they'd have done it by now, and taking ships is our specialty. Besides, even if something goes wrong, they'll be with Bennie. I can't think of a safer pair of hands."

 

[Dogmatic99]

Erik had spent the last few hours moaning and griping in Alexei's general direction while trying to drown himself in any alcohol that hadn't been spilled all over the floor. When it became clear that he wasn't going to try and make a dent in his tab or clean up any of his damages the toyboy barkeep sent him packing, shooing him out with the business end of a mop. After that he just wandered around, nowhere felt like a good place to go right now. How was he supposed to deal with all this in just one day? It wasn't fair, but then fair had never been a factor in his life.

After a while he found himself at the tower compound. The place seemed a lot larger now than it did during the attack. Most of the outside had gone by in a blur for him, his arm of the attack had focused on the tower itself. The rest seemed massive, like a tiny city all of its own. That was how the others were treating it. Their own private hive of scum and villainy. Erik found his way to one of the smaller manors, he saw the name Carthage scattered about the place - why did that sound so familiar?

He found something that looked like a smoking lounge and pilfered himself what meager scraps remained. It was quiet enough at least, just him and a handful of named men playing at being fancy folk. He found a high backed chair and brooded. Erik managed to lose himself for a while until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

["I haven't seen you around here in a while."] It was Vasa, he awkwardly walked around the small table and lowered himself into the chair opposite. ["I thought you didn't care for these kind of places."]

Erik had to remind himself to breath again as he almost jumped straight out of the chair. {"I... I felt like a change."]

{"And what a time to try it."] Vasa cheered, helping himself to a cigarette. He was being uncharacteristically chirpy today. ["Have you heard the good news?"]

{"What?"] Erik froze. Could he know as well?

["Research is making progress. With luck we'll be able to find out what makes those plasma weapons tick. God willing we'll even be able to engineer our own. It's not really my interest but you know... after my moment of weakness I think... I think I lost myself for a time. Everything done, a world at my feet and no one to leave it to."] Vasa blew smoke from the corner of his mouth with lazy ease.

Erik just wanted to scream out. 'You do, Vasa! He's back, our boy is back! God or Satan or whatever blessed bastard that runs the world has given us a second chance! We don't have to consign ourselves to fading anymore, we can have it all back! Things can be just like they were, all we have to do is put our pride down for five goddamn minutes!'

That wouldn't work though. Florian had rejected his birthright, he'd said as much straight to Erik's face. He wouldn't come back easily. And if he knew Vasa he wouldn't be a barrel of laughs about this either. The two of them were always so damn difficult about everything, not like Erik at all. Florian did want to talk though, he had a way in. If he could just find out what was going on with him and Irena, whatever they were planning, if Erik could make himself a part of it then maybe he could steer them in a better direction. Florian listened to him once, he could do it again. If Erik played this right... then everybody could win.

["Is everything okay with you? I hear you got into some trouble downtown today."]

Erik woke from his musing and couldn't help but grin to himself. ["I had my own moment of weakness too but... I think I'm better now."]
===============================================================================================

Gale sat, quietly caving in on herself as she played the reluctant filling in this testosterone sandwich, her hand idly rubbing at the metal fox that now rested against her chest. Her own little silent travelling companion. She hadn't been able to wipe the quiet smile off her face since they set off as she spent most of the trip just examining him in all his little details. Easier said then done mind you, if she wanted to keep him safe from a bad bump or lumbering man flesh. She'd keep him safe though.

No one had given her a gift just because since she got Martin the guitar and never anything this sweet. Stuff she needed, stuff she could use, sure. This little guy was a special entity though. now what to name him?

The fellas were busy hollering over some super manly gossip. Something about Sprout busting his cherry wide open, all in all it was pretty tame compared to how the boys back in the caravan used to talk when it came to bumping uglies.

"Give the lady a break, Sprout. No doubt you're making a very awkward situation worse for her. An amateur mistake."

Well wasn't this one just the little gentleman? Gale tucked her fox back into the folds of her clothes, something to give him a little extra padding for the trip. She'd dressed pretty reserved compared to her usual loose fit for this trip. Mostly it was her usual kind of attire, jeans, shirt, psychedelic scarf (long enough to double as a head scarf or bandanna should she need it) but added with a thick jacket and a pair of tattered fingerless gloves she'd gotten spare on the maiden. At least she assumed they were spare. No one claimed them when she took them. All in all it helped to make her seem a little bulkier and hid the bulge of her vest well enough. Fingers crossed she wouldn't need it. gale knew she was going to walk away from this job but she still didn't fancy the thought of taking a hit from anything.

"No need to be squeamish for me dears. What we doing, comparing notes?"