OOC: Yike, this got way farther out than intended. Oh well. I'll roll with it. /OOC
Kitsune leaned on the table, his eyes lighting up rapidly. "Have you ever heard of a defense project called Hyperspace?"
"Maybe," Mad said smoothly.
"I need to know what you know."
"Heh. Easier said than done. What have you got to pay me?"
Kitsune licked his lips, dry from anbticipation. "What do you need?"
"How much information do you want?"
"All of it."
"3 mil. Give or take a few thousand, of course."
Kitsune stared. "What?! That's extortion!"
"Okay, two."
"900 thousand."
"1.5 mil."
"900K."
"1 mil. Final offer . . ."
"Fine." Kitsune held his hand flat on the table, and spread it out like a card dealer. Crisp, clean 100 dollar bills, laid out in a fan shape, and he kept laying them down till he reached the right amount--give or take a 100 or two.
"Impressive. You take magic courses?"
"No," Kit said, flipping his hand to the side and revealing a glint of tempered steel that extended FAR beyond his arm's reach. Mad felt a gust of air by his throat, and inhaled in surprise. "I play a more dangerous game, whoever you are. You might end up playing it too, if you aren't already. You have the money. Tell me the information and you get your life."
Mad put his hands up good-naturedly. "No need to get angry. I'll tell you what I know."
"Good."
-----
Elsewhere in the Neon Lover, Nicodemus Printz found himself stymied for the first time in his life.
"One fucking reference, in three supposedly related files, and the rest of the government's database--empty?!" He hmphed. His fingers flew across the keyboard. "There has to be SOMETHING on it. It can't just not BE there."
"Oh, yes it can . . ." came a low, guttural voice from behind him. Nico stiffened. That was no natural voice . . . he had nightmares sometimes, and he also remembered his terrors when he first heard his brother's ghost stories, and the haunted feeling he'd get when he tried to sleep by the campfire afterwards . . . there was a little bit of that in this voice, plus something cold, like hard tempered steel.
"It can no longer be listed in the government's files. It can be nonexistent in the electronic existence of computers. As far as the United States Government is concerned, Project Hyperspace officially never existed after the year 1993. You will find no files on it anywhere, save his, hers, and MINE."
Nico gulped, his mind racing. "Kitsune I'd assume is the him, this Gadget character is marked female, and you must be--"
Nico yelped as he felt cold damascus steel wipe against his throat. He looked down, and noted--in the kind of horrified fascination you get when sure you're going to die--that there were three full-length blades simultaneously pressing against his throat and yet not.
"I am the Beast who stands at the End of the World and waits for humanity to come and be judged," the voice hissed.
"Whuh-what do you want from me?"
"Tell this--Stigmund--that no matter what happens tonight, Kitsune must not be harmed until he leaves the club."
"Sh-shouldn't be too hard to do that," Nico said tremulously.
"Good." The voice vanished, and suddenly the blades were gone, and Nico knew he was alone once more. He didn't know what the hell that was all about . . . However, he called his uncle up immediately and filled him in.
----
Up in the club area of the Neon Lover, a young, twentyish or so boy began to move about among the natives, standing out because of his outfit instantly . . .
Three white streaks ran through his hair like a skunk, but anyone who saw him wouldn't laugh at it. He wore simple black slacks and shoes, and a white collared shirt tucked neatly into the beltless slacks. Over top of this he wore a Mao-style jacket, deep black with two gold straps to tie the two sides together. The jacket was unbuttoned.
This seemed simple enough. But then, you missed the two triple-bladed swords he had strapped to his back. And they were obviously not for show; the boy carried himself like he could use them. He also seemed quite unconcerned with anyone else's opinion of his dress.
Stig, of course, immediately took offense to him, and said so.
"You better haul out of here, buster," he growled. "People here don't like the kinda signals you're makin'."
"I don't care what 'signals' they think I'm making," the boy replied, in clipped, proper tones. However, something underscored the voice, that Stig found vaguely familiar and chilling at the same time . . . "I am here to make sure certain things take place, and I could care less if people find that a problem."
"Now, listen here, boy. You can't just walk in here and expect to get away with this."
"Yet I do, <b>youngster</b>, because there is not one person here who can take me."
"Why don't we test that."
<font color=darkred size=8><i><b>"Why don't we NOT?"</b></i></font> the boy said suddenly, and Stig found himself very afraid. Nico began yelling in his ear rapidly.
"Motherofgodhe'stheonehe'stheBeasthe'sthe . . ."
"Silence," Beast said, and Nico shut up, muttering something that sounded distinctly like a prayer.
"Now, Stigmund, you have what nico told you to do, and now I have something to tell you. <font color=darkred><b>Avoid me.</b></font> Unless you wish to lose your life in a very unpleasant manner."
Stigmund nodded. He almost took his head off.
Most of the club, however, completely missed this exchange, it actually having been done completely below the normal hearing level of the club. Astonishingly, the participants in the conversation could hear themselves as clearly as if they were shouting.
Beast turned and melted into the crowd. As well as he could, anyway.
OOC: And so sorry for having now three characters running around. Nico can be messed with by anyone. He's just a kid who's a hacker/decker/computer cracker. Beast is a mystery, even to me sometimes. So I'd like to keep him under wraps.
The conversation between Kit and Mad needs to be gone over between him and myself, so don't mess with that. Mad, PM me with what you think the convo will consist of (like you did with Stig) and I'll fill you in on what should and should not be said at this point.
Sorry for the long post everybody, just moving things along. Despite our lack of a real coherent plot, I like non-plotted stuff to still have a story to it somewhere, even if it's a little unplanned ^^;; /OOC
_________________ I'm too damn pretty to die.
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