Dragon Sneeze
liz_bliz_inc
Dragon Sneeze
liz_bliz_inc
"I can only assume you are talking about what this city's mayor is trying to accomplish in your backyard," Feral said as the two women entered Chamberlain's restaurant area. "I have seen many of his ilk try to appear the people's champion during my time, for various reasons and using various pretenses. Using people's fear in the unknown and the different is not the most imaginative mechanism but it is undoubtedly a most effective one."
Artist seated herself at the table nearest to the staircase, but Feral remained standing. She inhaled deeply through her nose before stated, "It seems we were not your only recent visitors; you've been very popular the last day or so haven't you?" She looked at one of the tables, the one where Warpath and Omen had been sitting and noticed the hand print that Warpath had pressed into the wood moments before she had left. "I hope your last two visitors did not cause too much trouble. I imagine Omen mentioned his displeasure with your Mayor as well. I'm worried just where all this is going, I haven't seen a situation like this arise where both sides were so poised to destroy the others with each having enough power to do as much damage as this could come to. As someone who has been trying to move the societies of this world towards less corruption and more stability for as long as I have, it's extremely disturbing to know it could take just this one man to stir up a hornets nest that even he doesn't realize."
Feral sighed before she asked, "And what of you Mr. Chamberlain? Where you planning on doing something about this or have you not decided yet?"
A serious look fell down on Chamberlain's face. "As a matter of fact I was hoping to leave here as soon as Tara is able. I have a unshakable feeling that Snyder is making his move even as we speak. I have a safe location sussed out to begin stages of a counter movement." He looked imploringly at the obviously unconcerned faces and frowned. "Please, you have to understand. Snyder seems like some two bit crook that you've seen hundreds of times, but that man is like a puzzle box. He's had the ability and the means to become more than a single city mafia boss for at least a decade and yet was content to sit by and cause relatively little damage. Now something has gotten him moving, whether some outside force or not he's making a power grab and anyone who thinks they are above him or smarter than him is inviting disaster."
"Don't misunderstand me," said Feral with equal seriousness and almost as if she was slightly offended. "I understand Mr. Snyder is more than he lets on and more than capable being the sort of world wide criminal we have been taking on for years. I am say that even he does not understand the powder keg he is poised to light, he may be in control now, and in control months from now but eventually the hostilities will break like a damn and the entire superhuman world will become involved, even us.
"He wants to make being a hero a legal issue, he says accountability when what he means to say is 'controllable'. When only the state decides who can be a hero, only the weak willed and unquestioning gain access. He is the very
Thesis of why I sculpted Hunters the way I have. It is men like
him that require our anonymity to remain impartial and autonomous from world powers. The world is ruled by the morally corrupt Mr. Chamberlain, make no mistake; whether it be for all the world to see or in the shadows, power and greed and corruption are like a plague on humanity that I have been trying to stem for more than a
thousand years. Only in the past two centuries have I felt this phage recede in the least.
"Mr. Snyder threatens to undo so much and unleash chaos among the most powerful individuals in the world and the governments that think they are. Have you ever seen exactly what men like Omen are capable of Mr. Chamberlain? Because I have. I have seen entire cities leveled in minutes more than once, and not one of those individuals had what Omen has. The moment you attempt to leash a tiger is the moment you lose your hand if you are a lucky man and your head if you aren't. This species will step regress by generations of progress if this is to be what Mr. Snyder envisions, and it cannot
afford what it will actually become it left to its own devices."
Chamberlain shook his head. "We obviously don't agree on his motives, though do agree that he must be stopped. Since the law is not on our side we have to do things in secret. And that's what I plan to do. You're welcome to help or not, and I intend to ask Tara the same question. Just keep in mind that Snyder is unpredictable, that is all I ask."
Feral looked at Chamberlain as if she was somewhat curious. "I think we agree more than you give credit for. I will help you, the Hunters in their entirety is a different story, but I think you plan is probably for the best at the moment." Feral paused and looked at the staircase. A few seconds later there was the soft padding of feet down the steps and Tara appeared from the opening to the first floor.
"I see you are discussing business," Tara said, straight to the point. "I assume this is something I missed in the past day or so?"
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*Hundreds of miles away in a secure Hunter's safe-house*
Liz quietly closed the door behind her. In the room she was exiting laid a recently sedated Rei. The automated system AI had handled her minor surgery well enough and it looked like a full recovery would be made. With her exceptionally fast working body chemistry, she'd heal at an accelerated rate but still be out of the fight for days to weeks. Still, Liz had noted how cut up and battered Rei had been when they had met up with the newly rescued Zack and the rest of the omegas that had driven off the drop off group. He blades had been shattered, which was no small feat from what Liz knew about the Anasazi's famous alloys. When she got a better look at her from the viewing level overlooking the OR there was massive bruising visible once her speed suit was peeled off.
She had felt a small pang of guilt watching the robots setting her ribs and sewing up her leg. She had at one time been what many would have considered Zack's significant other. Though she wasn't sure if that had been the case for awhile prior to this incident he was still one of her closest friends and she felt like it was somehow her fault Rei was on the table like this. She had gotten distracted but raw emotion of aggression turned passion at the worst possible moment. She knew what she had seen in Rei's eyes the night before, it was the same look she had seen on brother's face when they declared Nimbus M.I.A. and on her mother's when she thought about their father. She must have been blind not to have noticed before then but Rei loved Zack, and she was frightened that he was about to be lost forever. In her mind, at the same time she was embracing Victor, Rei had been risking her life to free Zack.
Now Zack sat alone in the room next to the bed of the unconscious Rei. It seemed that he too had missed the complete width and breadth of her feelings for him as well; he had seem exceptionally protective of her well being on the trek back from the wilderness. She felt like perhaps the best thing she could do now was to leave them with each other. The room she exited into was filled with the others that had helped to bring Zack back alive. Mealstorm, Carbon and Pulsar all stood upon Liz's entrance.
"How-" they all began at once before stopping. "How is she doing?" Pulsar finished softly. A calm yet concerned look hung on her face as he glazed, crystal blue eyes gazed in a direction that seemed to have no bearing on any of those in the conversation.
"She should be fine," Liz said. "But she's completely wiped out, she'll need time to recover."
"Good, that gives us time to plan," Maelstrom said.
"To plan what exactly?" Liz asked.
"What do you think?" Maelstrom said with an edge to her voice. "We're bringing this to them. This is the last time Eden tries to make us live our lives constantly looking over our shoulder, waiting for someone to drag us back, The last time we have to be afraid of losing the only family we have left."
"You can't be serious," Liz said.
"Completely," Carbon said. "We've discussed it thoroughly while on this mission. We're tired of this. I know you think this is just Jessica being, well, Jessica. You know us, you know Kelly hates violence as much as Zack and you know I've never been much of a fighter; but we are tired of being forced to sneak under the radar, creep through the back alleys just to avoid being captured. We are living at the cost of freedom. Do you know what I've wanted to do for 8 years now Liz? I want to dance, I've always wanted to be a dancer. I can't have that life if we keep on this way. This has to stop, they won't stop, so we have to make them."
Liz looked rather shaken at this sudden revelation. She directed herself at Pulsar, "Kelly, are you really on board with this?"
"I just want to go home Liz," she said with a waver in her voice. "This isn't living. Maybe this is always how it was going to be, but we...I need this to end."
Liz slowly made her way to one of the seats and let herself sink into it with a dazed look. "What about the others?"
"I know Phantom has been looking to put the final nail in Eden for years," Maelstrom said, "and Quasar shouldn't be much of a stretch. I doubt will be able to find Guardian though, he was always coming and going. Damn, this is probably the only time I say it but we could use Blake, that crazy piece of s**t would want Eden gone as much as any of us."
"He'd turn on us the moment the last building beam fell," Carbon said with an unnatural venom in her voice. "We'd be trading one diablo for another"
"Have you discussed this with Zack yet?" Liz asked.
"That won't be an issue," Pulsar said with pursed lips. "You can't feel it but I can. I can hear his heartbeat, see the increased infrared waves coming off him. He's angry, very angry." He blind eyes directed themselves at the floor then as she said, "Mad enough that I can sense the seismic wave activity. If he wasn't controlling himself I doubt the ground would be so stable."
Liz let out a long, exhausted breath as she peered at men on the opposing couch. They had been silent until this point. "Any thoughts?" She said. It seemed like she was somewhere between fishing for suggestions and begging for and intervention for this situation.
