Welcome to Gaia! ::

C.C. sat leaning against the wall of one of the closed and locked-up rooms with a mess of comic books stacked around him. One little Rosie lay not far from him with her nose in a book and her feet absently rocking back and forth in the air. A rather large and intimidating chunk of machinery sat in the center of the room, fully lit and functional. A few young red-headed girls stood around it, scrutinizing every inch of the machine.

The cat paid more attention to the books he was flipping through than the nosey little girls on the other side of the room. “The 1987 version of Black Cat during the Gang War issues? The white costume and jacket’s different. The Rose might be fun…keep the Kingpin pre-occupied anyway. Shriek? Scream? Do we have a girl symbiote in here? Slaughter doesn’t really count…seems like it’s more of an ‘it’. What do we have in the Jackal Files? Hrm…the real Kaine? Spidercide?”

The Rosie that had come with C.C. looked over at him curiously. “What are you thinking about? she asked.

“Oh…just people that would be fun to bring in. Not that we need more. I mean…she’s only on every other day or so, and she has plenty to work with as it is. So…I’m just looking.” he replied distractedly.

Rosie looked at the books stacked beside him for a moment, then grinned a little. “What book’s your favorite?”

The cat blinked and looked up from his current book. “My favorite one so far? That would be….” he said as he began flipping through the stack of books. With a large grin, he grabbed one and held it up rather proudly. “This one!” he purred. A comic with a large green man…the Hulk if she recalled correctly, that Doctor Strange guy, and some other man who looked like one of the guys off of Star Treck all fighting some rather gross looking bad guys. “Defenders! Five of Five…” C.C. said with a mock-dramatic voice.

Rosie eyed it curiously. “Is it funny?” she asked.

“It’s hilarious. I dare say it has more banner in it than a Spider-Man issue. Hulk talks like he has an education. Namor’s an a**…in every sense of the word. A special appearance by Smeagle, Banner gets some toe action, the amulet gets run over by a cab, and there’s an appearance by a lady that I’ve never seen in any other issues.” he replied, then paused once again and placed a paw up to his chin in thought. “You know…SHE might be fun to bring in. Not sure how she’d fit in though…and she has said that she has no interest in Earth. Herm…maybe she could be another one of X’s flings. But it’s Hulk she seems to like, and X certainly isn’t a big green love machine. Herm…You know what, never mind. She’s only seen Miss U once.” he said, then shrugged and tossed the book back down on the pile and began going through them again. After a moment or two, he stopped and pulled out a few JSA titled books. “Hmm…I could try to let a few of these fall into Sapphire’s lap. Sure she’d be interested to know more about Vandal Savage. Or maybe I could find her a nice computer with a lot of information about him.” he muttered to himself.

“What for?” Rosie asked.

“Well…These ones have some of the guy’s history and personality. I just think she’d find it interesting to get a better picture of the guy that knocked her up and threatened to hunt her down. It’ll just open up a few doors for her later on down the road. See…she really doesn’t have much of a problem with killing anyone anymore. And since Savage isn’t Blackstone…she could kill him if she really wanted to. He doesn’t have any powers or anything. And she really hasn’t let herself get mad yet. Not even after her house was totaled with her cat and everything she owned in it. She can’t afford to get mad. But when she does….ohhhh boy. You do not want to be on her bad side. Oh, and another reason why I mentioned Scandal earlier. She wouldn’t mind mincing Scandal up if she thought Savage would come after her rather than his daughter.” he said, then pause for a moment in though. A brief grin flashed across his face. “Or…it might giver her all the more reason to run back to Blackstone. He’d certainly be able to protect her from Savage…he could provide for her…and he might be able to make people think the kids are his. And Sapphire’s knight in red spandex isn’t here, so she wouldn’t have too much of a problem going back to him if she was feeling cornered and alone.” he said thoughtfully.

Rosie‘s expression turned a little confused. “I thought you said before that Mister Blackstone probably wouldn’t be doing a whole lot for a while. Something about lying low and his first wife breaking his family jewels if he screwed up or something.”

The cat snickered a little at the thought.. “Well…that is true. He promised that he wouldn’t do anything that would get himself killed because of Sapphire. He does want to be with Edel again. But that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t provide Sapphire with shelter if she needed it. And if Edel gets a chance to meet Savage, I’m sure Blackstone will be more than willing to break his promise. Guarantee you that Edel would enjoy having Savage over for company.” he replied.

Rosie‘s confused expression stayed put. “Haven’t seen this Savage guy out and about. Is he really that big a deal?”

The cat shrugged. “She’s been on a bit of a Vandal Savage hunt after catching glimpses of the less than recent Action Comics issues with Lex Luthor. Finally looks like the extremely apathetic and heartless Savage DOES care about something. And you know how she is with complex characters. ‘I am a total savage who doesn’t care about anyone or anything…oh, darling daughter, I’d do anything for you’.” he said, then made a bit of a face as he flipped the page. “Oh, and watching Pirates in 3D the other day didn’t help much. Blackbeard was kick-a**. Or at least his sword was…that was an epic ship. Not that Vandal would have something like that when he was Blackbeard, but still. It was epic. And now she wants the issue where it shows him as Blackbeard. Pirates version will still probably be better. Anyway, she really wants to see more Vandal Savage action now. And Joker. She wants that plot to get rolling again as well. She knows part of what was planned, but what he actually had planned out is guess work…very curious guess work. Actually, I‘D like to see that continue. More for Gossamer though. How‘s it go…for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction? She‘s been thinking a lot about it, has about five different ways the whole thing could go, and about ten different consequences it could have on Gossamer. Do we go the vengeful route, the pitiful route, the sad ending route, uber twist ending rout, or maybe we‘d like to see how well everyone does with two or three new personalities.”

Rosie frowned a bit and turned her attention back to the comic book. ”Isn’t there a ‘happy ending’ in there anywhere?” she asked.

The cat shrugged. “”Depends on how everything goes really. She does have the bat helping her, so a happy ending’s possible. Miss Fate never really planned anything out for that scenario though.”

”It would be nice.” Rosie said quietly. ”I mean…Mom is looking for me, right? So she does care about me. It would be nice if we did actually get to be together and…I don’t know. Try to be some form of a family.”

C.C. gave a sympathetic little smile. ”Yeah…unfortunately conflict is almost always more entertaining than everything going right. But…I‘ll try to put a good word in for ya.” He said quietly, then put his nose back into his book. ”Until then…previous post let everyone know who’s in and out…this one’s half bibble-babble, half important information and hints. Oh, and as the responsible adult, I should tell you kids to get away from that equipment. But…since I’m not an adult, have-at-it.”

A small chorus of giggles answered him.

The girl beside him gave a small smile. ”Shouldn’t you be more serious about this? I mean…I am being naughty.”

”Meh.” the cat replied. ”You’re clearly your mother’s daughter…can’t fault you for an inherited mischievous and self-centered personality that pops up every now and then. I don’t see anything bad coming out of it.” he said, nose in his book. Then he stopped and bolt upright. ”Except it’ll make me half a liar since I said he should watch out for kids that couldn’t….” he mumbled. He whipped his head around to look at the machine. ”Ok, maybe you should get away from that thing. Or at least the majority of you.”

More giggles.

Allure sat in one of the lounge areas of the large underground complex, her blue eyes scowling at the clock on the wall. Her blonde hair was ragged and hanging out of her hair as though she had just spent the last hour in a cat fight. As did her red top and skirt as they hung off of her wrinkled and dirty. Her legs were elevated nearly level with her head as she had her feet resting on the table in front of her. One bright red heel still strapped to her foot, the other missing.

Across from her, sat a man with dark hair with bright green tips. His dark green outfit covering him from his toes to his nose, and a patch of leather covering his right eye. His other eye, unmistakably bored and green, was staring back at Allure.

The room around them was....destroyed. Tables turned, chairs torn appart. Holes in the wall. Broken...everything really. The table, clock, and two chairs that were being occupied were the only things that had survived.

”.....I do hope you're not expecting me to clean up this mess as well.” the man asked...boredly.

”Oh, shut it.” the woman growled, her voice dual toned as her Blood snapped at him as well. ”What I WANT is that B****'S head mounted on my wall!” she snarled.

”That won't happen. You know very well she's under the witch's protection now. And I doubt you want her to come back and make your other form permanent.” the man said. Matter-o-factly.

Allure glared at him, her blue eyes turning red in an instant.

”Well? Is it not true?”

…....she snarled and kicked the entire table over. The man sighed, but just sat there, staring back at her.

”Ahem...You'll be a little happier to know that Deadpool is now out looking around for that Rosie that escaped.” Charlot said as she entered the room. Clipboard tucked under her arm as she carefully stepped over broken wood and rubble.

”Wonderful...” Allure growled. ”It's the one that needed to be medicated, right? It's been hours. You told him to take her out, right?”

”No. There's no need to. We can still get her back onto the medication.” Charlot replied as she flipped through her papers. ”Joker...Green Goblin....Typhoid Mary....Creeper....those strands of DNA mixed together are reason enough to try and keep her for study.”

”Why? To see what kind of super-powered lunatic we can create?” Allure growled.

”No...if we can find a way to keep such mental problems in check. Keep her stable and sane...think about how much we can make. We are running low on funds, are we not?”

”Why don't you go visit Blackstone. You worked for him after all. I”m sure if you run back to his lap he'll be happy to-” Allure growled, before a growl of Charlots stopped her from finishing her sentence.

”........did you take YOUR medication yet?” Charlot growled, her voice dual toned now.

”.....no.” Allure sighed, standing and moving past Charlot and out the door.

The two watched her for a moment, then sighed in unison. ”Worse than Rapture...” Charlot hissed.

”At least the Octopuses have stopped fighting about who's fault it was that Spider-Man escaped.” Xion replied. His tone...surprisingly amused.

The Count shot arrows to destroy any cameras he saw in the building wether they were working or not he wanted to be safe. They would likely think it a technical malfunction if the cameras shut down. Edmond them followed Allure and Rosie through the doors but not to close behind. He found himself in a lab as he had been expecting but it was much emptier than he had hoped for. It looked rather trashed but he could use that to hide. He realized he was in a much more dangerous spot now. Few hiding spots and compilcated to get through doors but what bugged him the most was how the metal doors had opened for Roise and Allure. They had some cameras working, destroying the few he had would not be enough.

After a very fast a quiet move to get through doors behind Rosie and Allure the Count began searching for an empty room to hide in. The first two were locked and the third was open. He went in and began waiting. Things had complicated slightly so he had to adjust his plan. Once they had Rosie securely in one spot he would go to her. Getting through the doors would not be a problem for him. The main hall had proven a great relief when it came to hiding spots. He poked his head out one time to see where Allure and Rosie went. Then he took a deep breath and continued. He hit any camera he saw with an arrow but made sure that the two he was tailing had passed it. It was not longer really about sneaking around for him. Not being detected would help but at this point he was exactly where he told Rosie they could get answers and if not for his own curiosity he would have freed her already.

Edmond made the choice that now was the time to strike. If he waited till more arrived he would have a problem and if he beat Allure here Rosie and him would have plenty of time to find whatever she needed. That, and he did not like that they were in a room with a door labeled incinerator. He followed them to the door but before he went in. He made sure the camera had seen him, being so brazen as to stop and wave at it.

He got through the door a few seconds before it shut and notched an arrow. The count was debating wether he should say a funny line or just shoot and in the end he chose just to shoot. But first he had to step aside a bit for an angle that would not also hit Rosie. Once he was satisfied he shot the arrow. This tip had a liquid nitrogen capsule and the plan was to freeze Allure so he and Rosie could lock her in the room. He had slightly forgotten that he had no clue how to open the door again to get out.

The count waved at Allure as well when she turned to look at him. Her appearance was not nearly as scary as it should have been to him but to be fair he had fought a giant werewolf before so he had seen a lot of things he thought were not possible. "Rosie, when we are done remind me to put more liquid nitrogen in the arrows... it's freezing a bit slow." He notched another of the same arrow and shot it at Allure again this time aimed towards her shoulder. It would help the speed at which she was freezing but that was not really his problem at the moment. "Sorry it took so long, they have a lot of doors around here." Edmond walked over to the chair and started to undo the straps that Allure had already done.

"Hey, shut up." The Count looked over at Allure noticing that the tendrils had got rather close to him before they froze as well. He returned his focus to Rosie and began to think. Edmond did not know how to get the symbiote off Rosie and at this point he was not sure it was safe, but he did have an alternative. "Actually you seem to like talking so here is what will happen, you will talk me through how to fix whatever you did or I will drop you in an incinerator. If you lie, I drop you in an incinerator, if you mock me, I drop you in an incinerator." Edmond was not joking, he would do it. That didn't mean he would like how it left him with limited options, but he would do it. Then he would just try to google symbiotes hoping it helped.

"Hey! No loop holes, just because I did not say anything about threatening does not mean you get to. Besides, I am not calling your symbiote a wimp or anything but it did seem to run away a bit at the thought of being burnt alive." The Count stated as he turned to look at Allure again. He could try to call her bluff but that would be to great a risk. "Now though your symbiote may feed off whatever is left of Rosie ask yourself this. If I kill you what do I loose? Currently I have no way to get the symbiote off, if you don't help I have no way to get it off, and if I kill you I have no way to get it off. So, what can you change that would make me consider letting you live?"