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 Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:36 pm
"We're going back to LA?" Joe groaned. "Man. OK. This mission accomplished nothing. We gained nothing from this. We didn't even defeat Helmsborough!" Joe stood and began to pace angrily.
"Either way, we need to decide quick. We have to get going before more Shadows show up."
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:22 pm
Siber looked at Joe oddly as he started offering to help Helmsborough. Exactly how far did one person have to go to make everyone feel supported? "Anyway... So I'm totally in favor of leaving now, but as for going back to L.A.... I'm gonna have to back out. My obligations have been filled, as much as they absolutely need to be. It's been a great run with all you people, but my family and friends probably still think I'm dead, so I need to go repair my life. I won't be catching the plane back with you. I mean, I'll help Paul and the others to the plane if you want, but nothing past that."
He started preparing Centauri. They needed to fly at least to the nearest house with an internet connection so he could find a way back home. Oh, the life of the directionally challenged.
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:50 pm
Joe froze in midstep, one arm hanging limply at his side and the other frozen as it stroked his chin. He didn't move or look up from the ground.
"What," he said in a deadly voice.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:07 am
Siber heard something unfortunate in Joe's tone. Oh, well. "Yeah, that's about the sum of things."
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:46 am
"I'm still expecting you guys to carry me," Paul interjected. Fyrin was busily gathering together the remains of his soldiers, obviously with the intention of repairing them. He'd already put what of his arm had reassembled back into the socket, and the missing hand was generating itself from his wrist.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:24 am
He turned slowly to Siber, his eyes showing complete disbelief of an angry kind. "You're joking, right? You're not ******** serious."
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 12:06 pm
"I'm actually surprised more of us haven't left this life already, really," Takeshi replied. "It seems to me like everything was balanced before we came into it. You never heard about L.A. getting tossed between Tiers or about a broadcasting station's staff turned into zombies and getting the broadcasting station blown up in a fight between three absurdly powerful beings. You never heard about law firms or highways getting blown up by melees. We're a destabilizing force, it seems to me."
"Only in America," Gennady replied. The hole in his torso was very slowly closing and the stump of his arm was regrowing. The one he'd been impaled by lay discarded on the ground. "The Gaza Strip has been torn apart by Sage-Djinni combat. British Vampires and Werebeasts skirmish with Irish Druid-terrorists occasionally and Yang's vampires out east fight Tyrg. The Inaz-Holos demon army fights Ardtantia and Sumra for Middle Eastern oil. The Necroguild, the Clockwork Knights, and the Hive typically have a lot of fighting going on in South America and Gaikoros and Harron have been fighting with Demon Hunters all over Africa. The Ghosters, cyNet3, the Dreamshell, They Who Walk Between, and the Maskers all do their own thing and nobody's really sure what they want.
Basically, don't give yourself so much credit. America's the only place that was really quiet, and that's because the Cabal and Warlock Hunters haven't been active until now and the government keeps whatever does break out quiet."
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:05 pm
"Oh, definitely, Paul, I'll help out with that, if I'm needed. But yeah, Joe, I'm headed out. I was in the middle of a college degree; these episodes have almost irreparably damaged what was my life. I mean, I've enjoyed learning about all this new kind of fancy stuff, but if I stay 'dead,' for much longer, things like my credit card getting cancelled will start. It'll take me a pretty healthy amount of time and mind tricks to get back where I was. And I owe my dæmons some peace; I've made them all promises that for the most part, I have either failed or been unable to keep."
It was interesting to Siber that anything like Druid or Sage action would go unnoticed by the countless satellites scattered around Earth's gravitational field, but he guessed there were probably some complex magic employed in keeping them blinded to certain activity.
Centauri confirmed. We have people whose specific jobs are to produce highly specific spells for things like that. It's just like signal jamming or computer programming, at that level of complexity.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:27 pm
Joe shook slightly, starting in his head and working its way quickly down to his feet. He stood as still as a statue for a moment before deflating.
"Yeah...I know what you're talking about." He was uncharacteristically withdrawn at this point. "And I have no right to ask you to stay. What exactly do you plan from here? We just split up and the rest of us go to the airport without you, right?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:40 pm
Siber pointedly and purposely did not notice Joe's reticence. "Yeah, pretty much. Unless, you know, carrying and stuff. Yeah." His eyes were as truthful as they had ever been. He checked his pockets for food. There wasn't really much left. He'd need to stop by a gas station or some such. "I wonder what kind of cash I have..." he mumbled to himself, pulling out his wallet. It was enough for a meal or two. Plenty to get back.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:02 pm
Without looking at him, Joe held out a crumpled 20 and a slightly more crisp 5. "Take em," he said softly. "If you're going back to the real world, you'll need em more than me." Neither his hand nor his voice shook.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:56 pm
"Actually, Siber, you can't go back," Paul informed him. "You see, there's this little thing, and he's called Legion. Siber, you're a Warlock. You can pretend you're not. You can pretend you're a guy with voices in your head, but that's not what you are, and Legion will always know. He will come back for you, Siber. He lost you once. He won't let it happen again. You'll be employed in his ranks or you'll be killed, and I'm not going to stand for either." Paul rolled over, bringing the rifle to bear on Siber's back. "Lying down I may be, and not serious I may be, but you're not going anywhere."
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:11 pm
A flick of Joe's finger sent the money fluttering in the air in front of Siber and a cloud of dirt in the general vicinity of Paul's face.
"No," Joe said. "Legion is, for now, gone. Siber can escape, and I imagine he now has the capability to hide himself. Besides, if he needs us, he knows how to contact us." Joe turned his back on the two and walked to the edge of the street, looking down at the pavement.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:55 pm
Gennady pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and wrote a series of musical notes on it.
"If you ever see Legion, use this and I'll back you up if I can," Gennady offered, handing the paper to Siber.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:57 pm
((edited))
Siber stared hard at Joe as he held out the cash. He then flicked his gaze to the gun and raised his eyebrow, letting the money fall to the ground. Mostly for the symbolic effect. "Thanks for you concern, Paul, but maybe you misheard me. I have my family and friends from what you might call my 'old life' convinced that I have been kidnapped and, more than likely, killed. I mean, perhaps I don't, if any of the media has managed to get my face or name out there, but that's doubtful, considering that guy's words." He gestured at Gennady. "If I'm good enough to do that, I think I'm good enough to keep out of Legion's sights. Oh, damn!" he expostulated suddenly, patting himself down. "This is all that reporter guy's stuff. I ought to ship it back to him. Huh." After checking for materials in his pockets, he looked at Joe's back with well-concealed anger.
I'm not going to play any kind of emotional game with you, Joe. This is farewell, and this is farewell, and that is all. You move through rooms, and the doors close behind you.
He took the paper from Gennady gratefully and looked at him. "Thank you. Hopefully, I won't need to make use of it, but thank you.
"So do you all need help with transporting bodies, or should I go ahead and make myself scarce?"
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