Welcome to Gaia! ::

She looked at him, and noted that he had almost immediately started another cigarette. That rather reminded her of her long-deceased father, but not in a bad way.

"Fine then," Aubia responded. "Though I did ask first. My name is Aubia Schultz, and I have no family either." She was silent for a few moments, as they passed through the lobby and exited the building, into the night of the city. "I'm an Admin of course. Not the most skilled or even highest ranked, but I earned my reputation through hard work and common sense. Everybody in the Compound trusts me. I'm responsible for all of them now, especially with this stunt."

Her tone had gone from bossy, almost outright aggressive, to muted and even somewhat sombre. She really did feel responsible for all the Admins, especially after what she had gone and said at the press conference. She had not intended to reveal the project for another two weeks, but the opportunity seemed too good to pass up back there.

"I suppose," Aubia murmured, her eyes on the pavement before glancing back up to Alexander. "... A secret weapon?"

She stared at him, dumbstruck by his sheer... sheer... audacity, she wanted to call it, although she had the sinking suspicion that this was just normal for the detective.

It started out as a scoff, but soon, there was a small chuckle from the Admin. Chuckling was, by and large, something Aubia did not do often, if at all.

"Right," she said. "You. I have you." It felt odd to say. "Thank you..."

((This post is kind of a "bonus" post. It contributes to the story without directly interacting with the other characters.))

Maxwell bidded Cwen farewell for the evening upon the conclusion of the press conference. The people in attendance poured out of the room while security and other necessary staff kept everyone and everything in check. Max's night was not over yet.

Upon exiting the room, the godfather took an express elevator to his main office near the top of the Goldway to meet with his siblings. He was immediately greeted by two gangsters upon exiting the elevator. The floor of his main office was heavily guarded twenty four hours a day, and access to it was strictly regulated. A well dressed android stood next to the main office's door, and recognized Maxwell through his sophisticated scanners.

"Welcome, Mr. Hale," greeted the android.

The younger siblings of Maxwell were already in his office and greeted him upon his arrival. Underboss Harrison was younger than Maxwell by two years and Consigliere Charlotte was one year younger than Harrison. It was the first time in the Hale Family's history that the holders of the three most powerful positions in the crime family were all related by blood. They were collectively known as the Hale Siblings in the underworld.

The Hale Siblings' father--the former godfather of the crime family... retired from the business after being crippled during an intense mob war several years ago. Their father's underboss and consigliere were killed in that same mob war. Around that time, Maxwell was being groomed to become the future godfather although he actually had little interest in such an endeavor. In fact, he thought he could gradually legitimize the crime family in the future.

Nineteen year old Maxwell and his younger siblings quickly took control of the crime family upon the hospitalization of their father. They were young, but had a fire inside them to take matters into their own hands. They planned to stop the mob war by eliminating every crime leader of Klox City they were at war with in one day in order to cement the power of the Hale Family in the underworld for many years to come. That chance came when the Hale Family was offered a peace treaty by a rival gang--the same one that started the mob war and crippled Max's father. The Hale Siblings saw through the ruse, and knew it was an excuse to eliminate the three of them on the spot, but they pretended to comply with the offer. On the day of the supposed peace treaty, the Hale Family launched a well coordinated simultaneous attack on the rival gang and its allies, which resulted in the death of every one of the targeted gang leaders and a bloody end to the major mob war. The Hale Family ensured itself at the top of the underworld, but not without having made a few sacrifices along the way. One of those sacrifices was Maxwell losing Cwen...

Several silent minutes passed as the Hale Siblings stared through the large windows of the office out into the city and beyond as if thinking about how they came to be where they were now. Perhaps it was because they too were at the mercy of the city's problems. If the city ceased to exist, then they would cease to exist as well.

Maxwell finally broke the silence and said, "You know, when Cwen and I were ambushed today, someone in the car was yelling something about us having a distant relative as an Admin."

"Admin relative?" questioned Charlotte. "I wish that were true 'cause I'd like to yell at him or her for all these problems we're having as of late."

"Those Black sector drug dealing gangs probably drugged themselves up to the brim thinking that the world was gonna end today," Harrison mumbled.

Maxwell sighed. "Nonetheless, the thought intrigues me, so I'm thinking of paying a visit to our father tomorrow..."

((Ham? Is it country-fried?))

"I'm guessing skyhook is out of the question? Alright, streetcar it is, Mizz Schultz." said the Detective, stepping off to the side of the street and raising his arm to hail a cab.

After a few minutes, a small, checkered cab stopped in front of the two, it's rear scissor doors opening up to allow them access.

"You carriage awaits milady." said Alexander, bowing with his arms in the direction of the cab.

"Good, now I know where to go first if the bombs start dropping, eh?" said Alexander, chuckling as he got into the cab.

As the taxi sped off, Alexander couldn't help but talk, if anything to break the uncomfortable silence.


"So.... tell me about yerself. If we're gonna be working together, I have to know more than 'I have no family', eh?" he said, an uncomfortable grin on his face.

"Ow. Well, let's see.... I've always wanted to be a cop, ever since I was a kid. I realized my dream fresh out of school, going to the academy and scoring pretty well, if I was lazy. I became a beat cop, doing minor things like writing parking tickets, et cetera. When they called for a special Anti-Mob task force to be created, I signed right up. They said I was something of a natural, especially when it came to gunplay and negotiations. Now, I don't know about that, but I did well enough to serve the task force well enough to be considered for a position in leadership." said the detective, lighting another cigarette as he flung the used one out of the window.

"But... that didn't really interest me. So, I became something of a bounty hunter. It wasn't really as exciting as I thought it would be, so I decided to open my own Detective agency. Work your own hours, be your own, boss, solve crimes and shoot s**t, what's not to like? In the meantime, I also do some freelance work for the KCPD, so it's all good. Apart from thaaaat..... what do you want to know? Something tells me we have a while before we get to yer place." said the detective, rolling down the window, feeling the cool night air on his face.

"Anything? Anything at all?" said the detective, a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"Well, for the team, I'll need access to firepower, and lots of it. I'll also need to get everyone situated with firearms, basic hand to hand combat, and maybe a few other skills. You never know what we'll encounter, and if something like this ever happens again, we can't have the Admins needing to rely on the Police or people like me. And.... well..... maybe I can get a date after this is all over?" he said, grinning broadly as he flicked his lit cigarette out of the window.

He quickly checked the inside of his duster, rummaging around to see if his pistol was still secured in place.