Living in the Shadows: IC, your run might be over... Options

[banditf50]

1205 January 6 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

The words were barely uttered by Dragon when Virgil's mind snapped upon a harsh reality that they had overlooked in the confusion to escape the ambush.

"Fraggin drek, Sybersnake's son is in Seattle! We'll need to get him now!"

[Sedna]

1205 January 6 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Sybersnake stretches comfortably within the soft healing aura, flinching and then trying to hide the flinch when she discovers a part that hadn't quite healed over yet. "Don' worry about Robbie," she says, her voice still sounding half-drugged. "Dragon's already got it all taken care of."

[WinterRat1]

1205 January 6 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Virgil shoots Dragon a look, but Dragon just shrugs a bit helplessly. "Uh...Sybersnake, I hate to be the doofus here, but what do you mean, I have it all taken care of? Can you elaborate a bit for me please?"

[Sedna]

1205 Saturday January 6 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

"Y'know," says Sybersnake, painstakingly reiterating the obvious, "when I called? an' you said you'd pick him up from th' daycare and take care of him f'r a few days?"

[WinterRat1]

1205 Saturday January 6 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Dragon's blood goes cold at her words. Slowly, he answers, "Syber, to the best of my knowledge and memory, I never got any such message from you. Who did you leave that message with, and what are you talking about? I think you'd better start from the beginning here. The very beginning. There's a lot of holes here, and I think you'd better start filling them in for us."

[Sedna]

1206 Saturday January 6 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Their eyes meet through the healing haze. "I left it with you," Sybersnake repeats again, in the tone of one who doesn't really believe what she's saying anymore, but is afraid to consider too closely what that might mean. Her speech is absolutely clear, now. "I talked to you. After the Johnson called that second time, I thought I'd better get him clear until I found the wolf and got everything sorted out. That's why Robbie wasn't in my apartment when that alarm went off."

[WinterRat1]

1206 Saturday January 6 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Looking first at Virgil and then back at Sybersnake with a cold pit in his gut, Dragon shakes his head slowly and firmly. "No. I never talked to you. At least, not personally. There's no way I would've forgotten something like that. I never picked him up. I never got any message from you saying I should pick him up, and I definitely never discussed with you picking him up."

Confusion and a growing sense of horror were written all over Sybersnake's face. "But...then who did I talk to? And who does have him?"

Softly, Virgil speaks up. "Two guesses off the top of my head. One, you did talk to Dragon himself, but he was under some sort of mental compulsion and that's why he didn't know about it or remember it."

They all knew what was coming next, but it was Dragon who finally broke the silence that had descended upon the group. "And two?"

With a deep breath, the shaman answers, "Two...that the person you talked to wasn't really Dragon, but someone disguised to look like him. And that means that we..."

"Be fragged." Dragon and Virgil both finished the shaman's sentence together, and the silence that followed was almost deafening as they all began to consider the implications of the situation that was rapidly spiraling out of control.

They were all aware that no one had answered the second question. No one needed to. No matter what the answer was, it was going to be a bad one.

Finally Dragon spoke up. "OK Sybersnake. Let's do this again. From the very beginning, and this time, you'd better include all the details."

[SentineloftheMou...]

1431 January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop


Andie listens to what Sara has to say and wonders about the coming meeting. In the mean time Andie checks the circulation to make sure everything is on schedule.

I hope Sara finds time to relax. She looks really stressed out at the moment...

[banditf50]

1206 January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Quickly interjecting before Sybersnake pushes strained words out, Virgil tries to apply a bit of reason to the situation to perhas console the team.

"Even if the people sending these hit teams have taken Roberto, it seems unlikely that they intend any immediate harm to him. Otherwise I would think they would have used him to reel you in already," Virgil tilts his head in Sybersnake's to accent the point. "Since even after their deception they have still mainted the illusion that Roberto was not taken, I'm inclined to believe that they were buying themselves time. Perhaps to move him somewhere."

[Sedna]

1208 Saturday January 6 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Almost, she'd managed to put voice to wordlessness when Virgil spoke; and then she stared from one man to the other, not quite focusing on either. The sound of the shower muted to a soft trickle, and then to the drip drip drip intrinsic to the showerhead. She looks trapped, thought the shaman, as the healing aura, its purpose complete, faded and vanished.

"Start with everything about the Johnson, everything you can remember," suggested Dragon; and Virgil glanced at him in startled surprise: "Uhm, Sybersnake ... do you still meet all your Johnsons in the Matrix?"

She nodded, her gaze seeking out a neutral middle distance through the narrow window. "His personafile was a black, visored knight," she said; and both the men nodded in turn, a beat out of unison, with Dragon adding, "Obvious," and Virgil not having to supply the obvious extrapolation. "I did run the usual scans on it," said Sybersnake defensively. "You know the ones."

They did know the ones: nasty pieces of code that had begun as something Aztech and morphed in Sybersnake's hands into something that could molt a feathered serpent. Neither of them questioned that she had done just that, not once, but twice.

"Do you know for certain it's a he?" asked a dripping Tiffany from the doorway, flicking on the antique trid over the telecom with the remote she'd picked up from the table. All three sets of eyes startled in her direction: barefoot, clad only in a bathtowel wrapped around her to cover her from just over her breasts to just barely below the cleft of her long legs. Her eyes touched Dragon's for a moment, then dropped, before the smile touched the corner of her mouth and she vanished back into the bathroom.

"You do know she's waiting for the other shoe to drop?" said Sybersnake brutally into the sudden silence.

[banditf50]

1209 January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

"I think we have far more vital tasks at hand right now," Virgil lets the words roll out with an obvious stacatto. He could see that some sort of tension existed between Dragon and Sybersnake, a tension that was further catalyzed by the new presence of Tiffany. He also knew that Dragon had always been a sucker for a pretty face. However this was far from the appropriate time to bicker about such petty issues.

"Continute with your story please."

[Sedna]

1440 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

After a long silence interrupted by the kid only a couple of times, Sara finally sends the girl home, then turns the sign on the front of her store and locks up. "Don't forget to renew the wards, Andie," she says absently on her way up the back stairs to her apartment.

[Sedna]

1210 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

"Frag off," says Sybersnake, her voice empty. She isn't looking at Virgil. She isn't looking at anyone.

A strangled sound from the bathroom door draws attention back to Tiffany. Her face has gone deathly pale. She's staring at the trid.

[SentineloftheMou...]

1750 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

Andie continues watching the circulation and monitoring for any imperfections until the meeting with the prospective client.

I hope Sara at least gives me the person's name, so I know they are legit... I assume the meet will be here at the shop; even though she closed the shop early...I guess we will see.

[WinterRat1]

1210 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

With a sort of detached calm, Dragon deadpanned, "I take it this is the point where we are now involved in something serious, huh?"

With a deep sigh, he ran his hand through his hair and said, "OK, a few questions. One, what are the implications of that news report in regards to Tiffany? Two, can we break down what happened with Sybersnake and her supposed discussion with 'me'? Three, what's our next move from here?"

Virgil spoke up, "We're going to need some help. We're a little outgunned and outresourced right now, and I could really go for calling in the cavalry.Dragon, do you know if there's anyone you could call in to help us out?"

Dragon starts to shake his head, before pausing to think, then answering, "Well... I could see if Daedalus is back in town. He was supposed to come out here to help me with some stuff, but I don't know if he's arrived yet. I can check though. Even if he's around, I don't know if he's got himself together enough to be an active participant in all this, but I can ask."

Virgil nods. "You might want to do that. We're stretched thin enough as it is, and it's probably going to get worse before it gets better."

[Sedna]

1758 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

Several people have stopped by the shop since Sara turned the "Closed" sign. Most looked disappointed and left. A few peered through the leaded windowpane with their hands on either side of their eyes ... not that simple removal of light glare would overcome the distortion -- and other effects -- of the spells and wards anchored to that door. Two try knocking anyway: the first a polite, questing knock; the second a much more determined pounding that casts a momentary doubt even on that concealed bankvault of a door. Both eventually turn away.

Andie wonders each time if that was the person Sara had mentioned, and somehow forgotten to mention in their particulars: and that was something that was not like her at all.

Another woman comes by and hesitates before the "Closed" sign, just a minute before the specified time, and Andie is so certain that this must be the person at last that he's already moving toward the door to open it; when the dry, familiar voice which was just about the last thing he had expected to hear at that moment, coming from the stairs behind him, just about makes him lose several years of his life: "Sara said 'he', remember?"

When he manages to get his racing heart to return to something of a more normal rhythm, Andie turns to face Jack Solomon, who is sitting on one of the stairs a few steps up, watching him with amused interest.

[Sedna]

1211 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

At that particular moment, Sybersnake looks like she's given up caring about anything related to her own personal survival. Both Virgil and Dragon have seen that look in her once before: when they originally tried to extract her from Aztechnology. The consequences she'd landed them in, then, were not something either preferred to think about too much, now.

But Tiffany shrugs, blank-faced, absently snagging the end of the towel that almost gave way: "The implications with regard to me are simple. I acknowledge that report, my sources abandon me, because I'm no longer 'reliable'. I deny that report, my career is toast."

[banditf50]

1212 January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

I doubt that story will cover Sybersnake's arse, but maybe . .

"This mishap may have bought us some time, but let's handle everything in turn. Dragon get on the phone with your sis and see about those spare clothes and maybe some food. No where we have to move we aren't going to do it with one blood-soaked, and one half-naked companion." Virgil manages a quick smile at the towel-clad Tiffany to try and lighten the mood.

Kneeling next down next to bed Virgil speaks as calmy as he can to the still drugged and now terriefied mother. "Robbie is the immediate priority and we managed to keep him safe before without anyone dying, and we will get him back now. You just try to remember all that you can and Dragon and I will plan our move."

With that Virgil shoots a glance at Dragon who was just going for his phone. Your probably the better once to console her friend.

[Sedna]

1212 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Virgil's words tease a quick, involuntary quirk of a smile from the corner of Tiffany's mouth and a slight deepening of the light scattering of laugh lines at the corners of Tiffany's eyes. Colour begins to slowly leech again into her face; with only the barest reddening just below the mascara darkening the rim of her eyes hinting at the strong emotions tightly held beneath the iron control.

She's a reporter.

She must have grown up in the Barrens. Like me. Her job means to her what my magic means to me ... what Carlos Whitefeather opened to me. But thanks to him and to my family, I've always had support for the path I've taken. They didn't always understand it, but they accepted it. I'm starting to think Tiffany doesn't have anyone.

How often had he seen it before? He'd worked closely enough with Father O'Grady at St. Margaret Mary, and with Juliette and Galina and Trank and the rest of the gang at that Puyallup street clinic; hell, he'd felt it himself when Jeremiah had died. Let the rest of the world go frag itself, he'd deal, he'd lash out or blindly laugh or whatever, he'd give as good as he got: but he'd deal and keep right on dealing.

But kindness, especially in an unkind world: that was deadly.

[WinterRat1]

1213 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Mentally dialing up Susan, Dragon double checked the encryption on the channel. By the time she picked up, he was confident in the security, at least for a few minutes. "Hey bro, what's happening?" she answered in a relaxed, casual voice.

"Susan. We're on encryption. Scan me?" Immediately realizing this was no social call, she switched over to the professional tone she had grown up learning to use in Combat Inc. "I scan. Go."

"Things are deep and getting deeper. I'm going to need you to do some stuff for me. Ready?"

"Go for it." Although she sounded tense, Dragon knew she was handling things just fine. "One. I need you to pick up food, non-perishables, think field ration types, enough to last for a few days. Can't be showing my head too often. Two. I need clothes. Stylish, appropriate for a public figure, namely a reporter."

"That Tiffany reporter?" She's quick, all that college education wasn't wasted at least. "How'd you know?"

"I saw the report on the news. Saw Sybersnake's picture as well. Figured you were mixed up in all that. I can guess her size pretty well, and I'll know what kind of clothes to get. Anything else?"

"Yeah, clothes for me and Sybersnake, think street casual, but stylish for her." His mental clock told him the timer on the security assurance was running down. "I gotta go. Call me when you've got the stuff and we'll set up a meet."

"See you in a few hours." Then she disconnected.

Man oh man, when it rains...it fragging well pours. Thank God Susan isn't some helpless little sister. Hell, one of these days I might be using her for my medic.

Dragon walked up to the reporter, who was holding the towel closely to her body. Close enough to establish intimacy and trust, far enough to not be suggestive and inappropriate, especially in front of Sybersnake.

"We'll take care of that false report too. It's on our list of things to do. We won't let anyone take your career down and make you a fall guy." She looks at him and nods slightly, in appreciation and acceptance. "I knew you would." At his questioning gaze, she said simply, "Because if you didn't, you'd be a liar. And I get the feeling that for whatever else you are, when it comes to your friends at least, you aren't that kind of guy."

Raising an eyebrow, he smiled gently and teased her, "So we're friends now?" She lowered her head to the floor, looking down, but her eyes were looking up, straight at him. Tiffany smiled back, perhaps a little suggestively, and replied, "Maybe." Then she turned and walked back into the bathroom. At the doorway, she paused, looked back over her shoulder, and ran her eyes up and down him in an obvious, half-teasing, half-serious way. "Maybe not." Closing the door behind her, the lock clicked into place.

"At least she isn't making it too easy for you. Now you have to break down the door to get in there." Sybersnake's comment that broke her silence was low enough to not be heard by Tiffany, but easily discernable to Dragon's enhanced hearing. Mentally kicking himself for getting drawn into yet another bad looking situation, he walked over to Sybersnake and sat down.

"Look, Sybersnake..." He didn't even finish the thought before the Latina got up and practically stormed off into the kitchenette. Rolling his eyes, Virgil motioned for Dragon to follow, signalling that he'd keep Tiffany busy if she came back out when she was finished changing.

Walking into the kitchen, he said, "We'll get Roberto back. I promise." Without looking at him, she snapped, "What do you care anyway? About him or me?"

"Don't be silly. Of course I care. We're..." She cut him off, the bitterness in her voice harsh and biting. "We're what? Friends? Lovers? Working acquaintances?" He was silent, and she continued, "What is with you? Is it really about 'two different worlds', and all that bulldrek? Or can you just not keep your hands off the ladies?"

"Come on. There's no way I'm that smooth. There's nothing going on between me and her. I just met her yesterday." She snorted. "That's not what it looks like from where I'm sitting."

"Look," he said soothingly, "I understand you're upset about Roberto, but we'll get him back. Everything's going to be ok. We did it before, we can do it again."

"You still don't get it exactly, do you Vincent? You still don't understand how this all works."

Throwing his hands up in the air, he answered, "You're right Selina, I don't. How does what work? What are we talking about here?"

Glaring at him with equal parts hurt, anger, bitterness, sorrow, and love, she turned from him to look out the window over the sink, her arms wrapped tightly around herself.

"I'm sorry Selina, I don't understand. Please. Explain it to me." Dragon's voice was soft and gentle, but firm. "We need to talk, I know that. We probably can't resolve everything here and now, but let's at least get started."

Silence descended on the kitchenette as he waited for her to respond.

[SentineloftheMou...]

1758 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

Andie turns to Jack and says, "A little dramatic don't you think, Jack."

He walks over to the stairs and says, "So, are the prospect I am supposed to meet for Sara or someone you are representing?"

Andie waves Jack towards the back of the shop, so he can monitor the circulation while they talk.

[Sedna]

1759 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

"No," says Jack Solomon, who hasn't moved from the step, "it is not me, although --" he waves his hand in the direction of the small window "-- it probably is that dwarf heading up the sidewalk. His name is Durin, and -- well, you will meet him soon enough. But Sara called me in to watch the shop for her tonight and through tomorrow, and to make sure you would keep an eye on that circulation while you talked to him. That is one thing I cannot do for you." He shrugged. "That does not seem necessary, though," he said slowly, almost as if listening to his own words, in a tone that suggested a slight surprise which was not directed at Andie in the slightest.

"And no," added the fixer, "I am not representing him unless he asks me to." He took off his spectacles and polished them, and then put them back on. "And I am not representing you here even if you do ask me to," and Andie glanced back sharply from the window at that hint of amusement which had crept into his voice and which showed nowhere else. "Sara wants you to deal with this one on your own."

[Sedna]

1216 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

Sybersnake sighed and turned back from the window, ignoring the ancient nagahide and steel-frame chairs, to settle to a cross-legged position on the floor. At least that terrifying empty look had faded from her eyes. "No, you really don't," she said finally. "And it's not really your fault. It's just part of who you are. But if I were in Tiffany's shoes --" a brief, pained smile flashes across her face as she suddenly registers her own words "-- I'd be wondering why you're bothering to look like you're caring." She hooks over the remains of the deck to her side of the floor and, after wiping her hands on the dishcloth, begins picking at it. "There's one really obvious answer, and Tiffany knows it too. Maybe there's a bunch of other answers that aren't so obvious, but I'm not sure I know you well enough to guess at them."

[WinterRat1]

1216 Saturday January 6, 2063 - Virgil's Redmond Safehouse

"What are you talking about? You know me as well as anyone. We spent a year together, down in that hellhole called Aztlan. Maybe Tiffany doesn’t know me well enough to guess, and I can follow that. But you?”

She looked up at him, sadness in her eyes, and shook her head. Kneeling down, Dragon cupped her chin in his right hand, and absently brushed aside a stray lock of hair that had fallen in front of her face with his left. “Hey…listen…I know things are rough right now, but we’ll get everything sorted out. Everything’s going to be ok. We’ll find Roberto , get this mess straightened out for you, set things right for Tiffany , everything will be ok. Trust me, all right?”

Pushing his hand aside, Sybersnake caught his hand and held it fast. “And what about us? When it’s all said and done, what about us?”

Momentarily taken aback, Dragon just looked at her. Continuing on, she pressed, “You don’t know, do you? You don’t know what you feel, don’t know what you want. You don’t even know who you really are, deep down inside, do you?”

Rising to his feet and stepping back slightly, he answered, “I know who I am. I’ve…got some things to work out, yeah. But I know that much, at least.”

Offering her hands to him, he instinctively helped her to her feet. Smiling up at him, a sad smile, tinged with a bitter sweetness, Sybersnake whispered, so Virgil couldn’t hear, “No, you don’t.” She moved suddenly, swiftly, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him firmly, and passionately, on the lips. Shocked, he tensed up at first, but then relaxed in her embrace, giving in to the moment. After a few seconds, she stepped back and whispered, “Tell me you didn’t feel it. Tell me it wasn’t electric. Tell me you didn’t want it.”

He didn’t respond for a moment, and she let him go. “You know you do. But you won’t admit it. You don’t want to believe that this life is what there is, all there is. Why? Is it so very bad? You have your family, friends you can trust…why do you have to chase a hopeless dream? You aren’t like her, and you never will be.”

Holding up a hand to stop her, Dragon answered softly, “OK, so you know so much about me. You’ve got me figured ten ways to Tuesday, so answer my question. Why do you feel you don’t know me well enough to guess at why I might show Tiffany I care? If you want us to be together so much, why do you have to question my motives with her? Why do you think I’m trying to show her that I care? And honestly, why can’t you just trust me?”

Even as he asked that question, the irony of it settled thick into the air. Sybersnake eyed him and asked, “Are you sure you want to hear this? Right here? Right now?”

Although he was wincing inside, Dragon couldn’t help but think, Ah, frag it all. May as well get all this out in the open. It’s better than dancing around the issue endlessly. At least we can talk about it now…I hope? And then it hit him, that old saying. ‘Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.’

In the main room, despite trying very hard to look like he wasn't listening, Virgil couldn’t help but smack his palm against his head. Quietly, of course.

[SentineloftheMou...]

1800 Monday January 8, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

"Huh", Andie says aloud. He walks over to the front door and opens it as Durin the dwarf knocks on the shop's front door.

"Come in. Please come. We've been expecting you."

Andie sizes up the dwarf; wondering what he has in store for Andie.