Welcome to Gaia! ::

Take the red pill; see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Or at least, see how deep the crazy went right? ‘Morpheus’ and all his odd notes about the terrorists at large in the city, and his claim to have met one of them waited, or should be waiting for you at the given time and the set place. The conspiratorial napkin didn’t have a very good shelf life; it was flimsy and wanted to tear given the slightest provocation. Maybe that’s why paranoid delusional people wrote on them all the time in the movies.

He was waiting at least; the address was no more terrifying than the bench outside a small Greek Restaurant. Specifically the address was the Restaurant but he was waiting outside on the bench with a satchel and a bored expression as he jotted things into another notebook. He looked up at the sound of your shoes over the concrete and gave a small nod before slipping the notebook he’d been writing in into his bag and pulling out a sheaf of notes. A few notes that looked like excerpts from larger descriptions, just something about them said he had more that he hadn’t written out in full.

“I noticed they seem to be consistent about what they call themselves. At least the ones in the video are, not sure about the rest. That was what started my little project. Trying to pin down as much information as I could about any who made a repeat appearance. But what’s the most interesting is what you don’t see on the news.”

“To the point.” Zac nodded, approvingly of all things like you just passed some unwritten exam. “Excellent, follow me, I’ll talk while we walk, alright?” He said standing and shouldering his own bag. He headed towards the park, quiet at this time of night but well lit for the better part of it. People sometimes said that the ‘crazy teens in monster costumes’ liked to hang out there but Zac didn’t seem phased by that bit of gossip.

Then again they said the ‘crazy teens in monster costumes’ showed up just about everywhere.

“Well, think on this.” He said waving his hand to encompass all that lay before them. “The senshi, they’re fighting someone, something more than ‘crazy kids in monster suits’. He said quiet seriously. “Something organized enough to stay out of the way, stay quiet and keep people from panicking more than the senshi already want them to, maybe even keeping them from panicking as MUCH as the senshi want them to.”

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, casual as anything, even a slight slouch that diminished the already small differences in height between you.

Zac laughed, “Say it is a recruitment drive. Do you really think that there wouldn’t be some kind of advantage or edge they have against freaks running around with what you might as well call magical power in mini skirts?”

“And, I certainly wouldn’t do that alone, fighting senshi I mean. No you’d need a good and diverse crew of people who knew what they were up against. Like finding out that the terrorists are trying to bring some kind of “Moon Princess” back to rule. Not really my idea of a good time. And I wouldn’t be too sure that the ‘Counter terrorists’ are without resources of their own, skills given for the purpose of keeping the senshi from taking over.”

The transition was seamless, the small shadow between streetlights encompassed it, one moment a civilian, the next, Morpheus indeed. A long dark coat marred only with Smokey designs that crawled and curled up from the hem. As familiar as what you could see of his face was, it was like he became another person. Had you not just –seen- the change you might never have associated the two young men. He shrugged looking casually amused.

“Say it is a recruitment drive, Red pill or blue Pill ‘Neo’.”

“I should warn you.” The man said approaching. “This will hurt.” He stated it, a fact, inescapable and direct. It was a good thing his face was covered because he still had little taste for reaching into the chest of another. The power it gave him over their life was tainted by the small shudder that he was being intimate with someone who was fundamentally a stranger, but he wasn’t going to leave this open for questions or doubt.

“But pain brings clarity.” He said just before he pushed his hand forward, and through Levi’s chest to curl his hand around the star seed within. Human, finally another human…after stumbling on the last two Senshi whom had been recruited with outside help he’d started to doubt his ability to recruit anyone that was ‘from’ earth. He pushed the dark power into the fragile warmth in his hand, a smoldering darkness that changed something about the young man in his grasp. Something important that spilled outward into more visible changes.

“Welcome to the Negaverse Lieutenant Domeykite.” He said un-phased as he withdrew his hand and flexed his fingers to shake off the last of the feelings of corrupting another from his own hand. “At least you didn’t say ‘Woah’ I suppose.” He glanced you over with a critical eye, pausing to arch an eyebrow at the Megaphone.

“Welcome to what stands between civilians and being taken over by the senshi Matriarchy. Your weapon for the time being is your Megaphone, it will get better when you earn a higher rank with our organization.” He nodded and looked pleased.

“You’ll find you’re strong than you are as a civilian, you can jump a good deal higher as well so do be mindful of low ceilings.” He beckoned you to follow and kept walking. “I’m General King Zinkenite. I choose to specialize in collecting information on the senshi to make your more combat oriented lieutenants better prepared to face anyone of them they meet in battle. Protecting the information is vital, that’s a good part of why I hoped you’d join us.”

“Simplistically, we serve Chaos, that is what gives us the strength and power we need to combat the senshi, God knows what further damage they would do if they were allowed free reign of the world. They recruit children now, six and eight year olds in a war where our people have been tortured for information. Trying to find the civilian identities of our leaders. They say they fight for ‘Love’ and ‘Justice’ but you’ll see soon enough its whomever they feel is worthy of being loved by them, and the justice is whatever they see fit.” His words were almost emotionless.

A pause in his step at the tacked on ‘General-King’, an amused crinkles at the corners of his eyes. “We have a General-Queen as well, and Queen Beryl, whom if you are wise you will never mock in the Dark Kingdom, which I will show you.” He gave a small shrug, almost casual, just to the edge of friendly. “Needless to say, we don’t pick our own titles, but they do convey Rank. Lieutenant, then Captain, and then General.” He didn’t include his own rank for whatever reason, but apparently it was the next step after General.

“With each rank you gain, you’ll be stronger, but you should always be mindful of the fights you start. Senshi magic can hurt a great deal.”

“It’s the only word I can think of to describe someone who can touch you and dissolve your skin, muscle, bones and more, even if it is temporary tell that to the nerve endings that still function where they haven’t been decayed yet. I’m told it’s a ‘treat’.” He said with darkly glittering eyes for just a moment. “Others aren’t quite so directly dangerous, but you should absolutely be careful of them, regardless of how strong they are they poses strange skills rather than amplified ones. The strangest we can do is that beyond Captain we can teleport, anything else I’d say you can safely assign to ‘amplified’ but human abilities.

“If you don’t believe me, you will before long, but think on this, did you ever think you’d have someone pass a hand through your chest before?”

He beckoned you to follow, leading you towards some homeless drunk sprawled out on a bench, half sleeping under cardboard and newspapers. “Your first assignments, and your primary duty will be to gather energy, because you’re a Lieutenant, you must do so by touch.” He stepped aside to let you lay hand on the man.

“When you do, concentrate on pulling it out, it’s easier than you think.” He nodded, remembering the first time they had received instruction on how to do this task. “You too may reach into someone and touch a star seed, you may even remove it if you must. Doing so will kill, or eventually kill the person.” He said matter-of-fact-ly though there was an odd look on his face.