Crisscrossed - {Private}

[- Lord_Francois -]

All of them looked over at Cal when he spoke up, and none of them looked very impressed. “Oh, is that so. Well excuse me for not making that assumption through the Hannibal Lector grin you were giving. And yes, lets piss off the person who stole your brother, dumbass. Don’t you know better by now? And she is here because she can help, and we are going to need the help.”

--------

He was a bit surprised about what they were, but he separated the water and the rations from the clothes, pulling on the coat at least over his own coat, big enough to fit over it and the weapons. “I don’t think they feel or think the same and they were desperate enough to come to us to find you.” He looked back at him, meeting his eyes carefully.

[Maderu]

Alright that grin hadn't been intentional, it was excitement from the game with a tad bit of anger dashed in for the spice. This however was definitely not the time to lock him up. "I wasn't aware barbaric Wilma could gate to Tumulus. Maybe if she throws a big enough tantrum Darcy will come out of his hidey hole and apologize." Cal said in the most sarcastic way possible. "We don't need help Robin, you need to let me do what I have to to get Niko back. Each minute we don't get Niko back is a freakin day in Tumulus. Uncuff me Goodfellow."

~~~~~~~~

Not Darcy started to snicker which rapidly evolved into a heartless laugh. "Yes, and how perfectly that turned out. I've been stuck here for ages waiting for them to hurry that little plan along. You see I had to wait for just the right opening. I needed Caliban to know that I existed and wanted to play, otherwise it wouldn't have been as fun." There was more snickering before that at last subsided and not Darcy was calm again.

[- Lord_Francois -]

Robin looked at him still rather impressed. “Need I remind you…that he can gate as much as he wants and if he comes out here we are going to need help. Niko can take care of himself, unlike you…”

But he did walk over and un-cuff him from the chair and tucked the cuffs into his jacket pocket. Wilhelmina leaned against the bar and looked at Cal carefully. “You were my intended target for the hunt and yet there appears to be someone better then you. However…your brother was my biggest interest and someone stole him, drag this…Darcy? Out, and I’ll help you hunt him down. Or at least get your brother out of the way so you can do what you have too. I’ll give you your leash, unlike your brother or Goodfellow.”

Robin blinked and then frowned at her darkly.

- - - - -

Niko crouched on the other side of the fire from him, looking back up at the writing on the wall before he turned gray eyes back to him. “Using others to do your dirty work for you? From what I’ve seen that is not how the game is played. So you aren’t Darcy, or you don’t claim to be, but you are.”

[Maderu]

"Yeah thanks for bringing that up, it slipped my mind." Cal remarked sarcastically at Robin as he watched him go over to the chair and uncuff him. The second the handcuff was off, Cal was tempted to run and do what he thought he had to. He'd sacrifice anyone and everyone to get Niko back, even if his brother wasn't happy for him doing it. Nik could get mad all he wanted after he was safely back home, until then Cal would be the monster; and he didn't have a damn problem with it.

Cal stopped his exit as he heard Wilhelmina talked, giving her just as darkly a look as Robin. "If your the hunter you claim to be; would you let others help you hunt your prey? And there is no one in hell I'll let you take Niko out of the equation. So stay out of my way." Then he whipped his head back at Robin, the look softened but not as much as it should. "And if you won't help then you need to stay out of the way. In the meantime look after Jacky, I'm sure Darcy left another message with him." With one last glance towards the back room, Cal left the bar heading toward Promise's apartment.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not Darcy started into his gray eyes for a long time, taking his time looking into them and evaluating coming to a conclusion before smiling and giving him a casual shrug. "The game hasn't started yet, this is merely a test to see if he remembers how to play. And yes I suppose that would be the closest statement." Not Darcy frowned as if thinking really hard about something, his nails tapping on the solid wall; a constant noise to help him think.

"Think of me as an entity created specifically for the Auphe genes. I'm the Auphe that was dormant inside of Darcy for thirty sheep years. That's all you really need to know." The nail stopped its tapping and the cave became quiet except for the occasional crackle of wood from the fire.

[- Lord_Francois -]

Robin had moved to follow after him but stopped when Cal turned to look at him, frowning at him. “Caliban…”

Cal would have gotten out if Ish wasn’t standing in front of the door his sword drawn and wings out in full glory, his dark glare. “Niko wouldn’t let you do what you are thinking and out of respect for him I’m not going to let you either. Now sit your a** back down.”

[Maderu]

Cal wasn't expecting Ish to stop him and as much respect as he had for the guy, he was kind of in the way. Anger welled quickly inside and Cal reached for a weapon, and at the same time opened that place inside of him. Never would he gate Isaiah to Tumulus or someplace painful, but maybe out in the middle of nowhere at a rarely used gas station. The guy could fly, he'd be back in no time and he'd be out of the picture temporarily. "Move Isaiah, or I'll make you move." The words didn't sound desperate, just emotionless a cruel hard fact rather than a statement. If he was forced to gate here that meant he only had another one left in him for the day, oh well he could adapt.

[- Lord_Francois -]

Before Cal could even finish talking, even that short little sentence Ish’s sword was imbedded into the wood just between Cal’s feet and Ish frowned at him darkly for several minutes. “Caliban…I will not repeat myself, sit. Your. a**. Down. You don’t get to play by the same rules as this b*****d. Because you are better then he is. He attacked your brother to get a rise out of you. But this is also the same guy who attacked his own friend. What makes you think he’ll give a damn about that woman? She’s just a playing piece to him now, she doesn’t matter. In his eyes, you caring about your pawns makes you weak. Robin is right, Niko can take care of himself, and as long as he thinks you’ll come charging in after him he’ll leave Niko alive.”

[Maderu]

Cal took a step back from the sword the tension between Isaiah and him now thick enough to walk on. He wasn't going to be able to leave without a fight and explaining this to someone other than his brother was something he didn't have the patience for. Time wasn't on his side and sometimes that desperation could make you do things that you'd rather not do; or in this case really wanted to. "I know because she's his. The woman loves him and I suspect that he loved her. If I touch his toys he'll get mad. By taking Nik he was testing the waters, and now I have to. I have an advantage because Niko can take care of himself. This is a game Isaiah, and if I don't play it the right way he'll kill us all out of boredom."

[- Lord_Francois -]

“That’s just it Cal, he loved her. Did, it doesn’t mean that he thinks the same now.”

“And she doesn’t believe that Darcy is any different.” Robin said. “Even if it did work the way you wanted, a couple of locks of her hair aren’t going to make a difference to him. You would have to send her limb or something.”

[Maderu]

Cal was quickly becoming frustrated, this guy had managed to fluster him so easily, and Cal couldn't think of a single thing to come back at him with. "As long as Darcy is there, I can't touch him. The problem is I don't know how the hell to bait him out either. He wants me to go there and play, but I can't do that Robin." He'd never be able to come back from that, they'd probably end up killing each other with the victor eating Niko. "Sending him a part of Sorcha is the only thing that I can think of; the only attachment he might get mad at me for messing with."

[- Lord_Francois -]

Robin looked at him curiously for several minutes before he grabbed another bottle from behind the counter. “Come on, we are going to Promise’s…but not to use her as a message but to do recon. To get more information on Darcy. Maybe we can find another thing that will pull him out of his spider hole.”

“Robin…put the bottle back.”

Robin blinked looking at the bottle in his hand and then looking at Ish standing in front of the door. He sighed but then put the bottle back. “Take care of Jacky for me…Let’s go, Cal.”