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 Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 6:34 pm
There was no way he was going to lead Zink straight to Tate’s new apartment, which is why he left the boy waiting on a roof to tell him that he would be getting her. The night was going to hell in a dry-wicker hand basket, and he could see everything just burst into flames little by little. While he told himself that some good was coming over this agreement, the other half wanted to start punching the sides of his head for not coming up with a better way to solve things.
He considered taking her to the location, but showing Zink that he clearly knew Tate outside of his life as Ladon was just too much to reveal. Instead, he knocked on her windowpane and waited for her to come. There was no one here to notice him, and he waited anxiously before she opened the window. “Hello again.” He felt his insides turn like knotted eels. “I have someone who needs to speak to you right now. I can’t say who, but can you come out and meet me somewhere in a few minutes?” He looked over his shoulder, before looking back at her. “I need you to come to this address, and when you do, I need you to pretend you do not know me when you see me? Can you do that?” When she agreed, he asked her to get a pen and paper, and then wrote a address for her so that it looked as if he wrote her a note and didn’t meet her directly. “Remember, you do not know me when we meet, but do not worry. I’ll be protecting you.” He handed her the note, looking her in the eyes for a moment, before releasing. Turning, he headed up the fire escape and soon left the roof.
Moments later he returned to land back on the roof Zinkenite was waiting at, and then walked over, looking down at the small parking lot below. “She’ll meet us there. I left her a note. She’s the type of girl who’ll just accept it out of curiosity.” It was the only way he could explain why a girl would read a note and follow it. “I think she’ll assume it’s a crush.” He tried not to smile, and watched the parking lot for Tate.
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 6:40 pm
"Is she..." He said with just a hint of amusement flickering in his eyes.
He Found something to lean on and pondered the situation, he looked very calm again.
"And here I thought you might have met similarly to myself and Scheelite..." He said and left the rest of the statement hanging and open to be questioned.
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 6:54 pm
Tate tended to stay up until all hours, especially as the weekend approached. So, when someone knocked on her window, she was awake; she shut off the stupid autotuner she'd been fussing with and turned. The only sign of surprise was the minor lift of her eyebrows at Wolframite's anxious face. She opened the window, tilted her head and rested her elbows on the crossbar, over her head.
"Yeah?" She watched him, carefully. Pretend she didn't know him? But why?... Her questioning look was blown off, or ignored, and she offered him the pen and paper without further comment. She folded the note in her fingers, leaned out the window to watch him go. Carefully she gathered up her keys, tucked her ponytail into her beret and pulled on her boots. Quietly, so as not to wake Parker, she shut the door of her room behind her and left out the main door.
The address he'd given her, she recognized--it was out behind No. 1 Noodle Son, a Chinese place she used to frequent with Giselle. She refolded the note with the address in her hands as she rounded the squat brick building, looked around but saw no one.
Wait. Superpowers.
Tate looked to the rooftops, shoving her suddenly clammy hands into her pockets. She wanted to call for Wolfram, but--she didn't know him. She did not know him. There wasn't anyone that she could see, and she looked down towards her feet, hunched in her shoulders. Where was he?
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:07 pm
He was watching the parking lot for signs of Tate or her car when Zink eased back, in no rush and maintaining that easy, carefree stance he had since he met him tonight. Being relaxed must have been a luxury given to those who had dirt on you, else he might be whistling too. Instead, he concentrated on the nearly empty parking lot, watching a car pass that wasn’t Tate’s before pulling his eyes away a moment at what Zink said. “You what?” He hadn’t been sure he had been listening right, and wasn’t all sure what Zink meant. How did he and Scheelite meet, and in what way was it similar to him and Tate?
Before he could even open his mouth and ask, he noticed Tate walking into the parking lot. She glanced up and around, and he held his breath before she looked back down. One could only hope Zink didn’t notice she had made the mistake of looking at him up on the roofs. “She’s here.” He pointed out. “Let’s go at the same time. I’m sure she’ll be afraid, but I’ll keep her from running off. After she’s calm, you can apologize, and then we can just leave her. That’s all.” There wasn’t any need for them to talk to her any longer than that, and he hoped that, in this way, Tate wouldn’t be as afraid. At least she would know he took care of things and would now be able to tell him more in the future.
Stepping on the ledge of the roof, he jumped down to a smaller one, and then jumped over to the roof of No. 1 Noodle. At this time of night, the store was already closed, the faint smell of cooking oil barely noticeable. Positioned behind Tate, he landed down. “I’m glad you came.” He said, trying to maintain a persona that was that of a person who in no way knew Tate. “I think it’s good that you didn’t yell or try to call for help. Don’t worry. No one will hurt you. We just need to talk.” A bit on the dramatic side, but at least it worked. No one could accuse him of not trying, and acting wasn’t under his list of job skills.
Wolframite just hoped Tate was a better actor than he was and really didn’t scream when she saw Zink. Turning, he gestured for Zink to approach her.
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:11 pm
Zinkenite for his part, while he jumped right behind wolfram made sure to land behind him at a respectable "defendable' distance, and, of all things came very precisely forward and bowed to her.
"Miss..." He said with the utmost decorum.
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:25 pm
Maybe she should leave. After all, she didn't know Wolfram too well, not as well as she knew Ladon, and Ladon had made her promise not to go out after dark. But behind her, she heard a light tapping sound; she turned, of course, trying not to whip around. Her hands clenched tighter in the pockets of her black jacket as she recognized Wolfram--all right, she was fine. She. Was. Fine.
Then, behind him--her hands snapped up to her mouth, note fluttering to her ground, and it was only by reminding herself that Wolframite had sworn to protect her that she didn't scream. Okay, a little bit, tiny, but smothered by her hands. And that was it, but she slipped back three paces. No one would hurt her, but she knew the blue-haired midget, and he had hurt her.
Her nails had been digging into the flesh of her fingers as she stared. Wolfram had promised. Promised, but she was still panicking when she said in a strangled tone, "It's you--the one from--" and cut off, shaking as she moved back another step.
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:33 pm
The fact she was terrified upon seeing Zink only made him angrier at the fact that he failed to deliver a good punch or any sort of injury to the other boy for the pain she had clearly went through when she met the Negaverser. She wouldn’t have reacted otherwise, and he wished he had at least caused some sort of pain to match or even exceed that of what she felt. Resigning to the fact that there was more than his desire to mop Zink on the ground for what he did, he breathed deep and tried to make himself as cold as he could to the panic and fear he saw in Tate’s expression. “Don’t run.” He started to move in a semi-circle to stand a few feet by Tate’s side, watching her. “I’ll chase you if you do.” He glanced back at Zink, and then continued. “No one is going to hurt you tonight. In fact, what had happened with you was a mistake that never should have happened.” He couldn’t well explain to Tate at this moment what was going on, but he hoped she would follow it through. The idea of running her down wasn’t something he felt up for right now.
Standing still, he looked back at Zink. For all that Wolframite felt he might play around, he was acting civil and polite. He hoped Tate would pick up on the fact they were all being calm and polite and quietly listen. Just enough to hear Zink out, and then she would never have to deal with any other Negaverser again for as long as he could manage.
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:43 pm
He remained bowed at the waist though he flicked his gaze up to her at the sounds she made.
He stifled a sigh of frustration, it should have been so much more gratifying that someone so tall was afraid of him. But it was a -fantastic- hinderance to getting his favors.
"I'm deeply sorry, I was tracking another person entirely, and you fit what information I had on her, I should have been MUCH more careful than I was.... "
he said in measured calm and apologetic sounding tones.
"I also hope you are fairing well, the burst cast by the senshi who prevented that grievous error no matter how unwitting left me rather unable to make reparations sooner, I hope you'll forgive our mutual friend for bringing you here."
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 8:16 pm
Don't run, don't run, don't run. She let those words settle in, tried to ignore the threat to chase her. It took conscious thought, but she relaxed a little bit--mostly visible in the deep breath she took, the way her shoulders dropped. It grated that the blue-haired boy's calm tone helped with that. He had tried to kill her. What if Wolframite had just been playing her, and now she was really going to die? "I won't," she said, and it was a bit of a wait before she seemed to realize there was no saying whether she wasn't running, wasn't faring well, or wasn't forgiving.
"Run," she clarified, "I won't."
At the comment about a mutual friend, she shook her head a little bit, the area around her mouth tightening. "I d-don't know either of you," she said, "except you--" She indicated the blue-haired boy with a twitch of her fingers "--stuck your hand in my chest?" Up to the wrist. She couldn't ignore that part. It was weird, it was unnatural, it wasn't within the realm of expectation. And Tate expected a lot of things.
She took a deep breath again, forced herself to at least look a little more relaxed. "All right," she said. "I-- I do?" What would get her out of here alive? Playing along, she hoped. Maybe.
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 8:33 pm
It was a level of distrust that made Zink test the waters and see if Wolframite had been true in acting as if he did not know Tate, and the Lieutenant glared at Zink for even going so far as to try and trick Tate into revealing that they both knew him. It was good that, despite her fear, Tate did not slip up, as he didn’t want Zink to know more than he already did. What other information he had, the more he worried it would be used against them. With threatening another Negaverser from your own team over a civilian, he didn’t want to add on the charge of talking to a civilian while in uniform to his offenses, and who knew if Zink would try and squeeze another favor out of him if he knew.
The good thing to do now was to let Tate go while she could and before Zink tried to pull another sneaky maneuver in attempt to pull some more information out of them. Turning, walked back to the other Lieutenant to stand beside him. “That’s all. Just an apology. You never should have been targeted.” Just to clarify.
Leaning in, he whispered to the other boy. “I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not cute. I said what I meant.” He looked at her once more, clearly terrified even with the apology. Still, she had it, and he hoped she could appreciate it later. “You have your deal now. It’s all done.” He whispered, making sure the girl did not hear, before turning and bowing to her. Then, turning, he gestured for Zink to follow and jumped up to the roof, leaving her. When they went back, he stood there and looked back at Zink.
“You followed your end, I’ll follow mine. Just like we agreed.” He adjusted his jacket before he started to walk away. “I’ll see you at the next meeting.” And with that, he jumped off into the dark, one promise kept, and another burden on his shoulders.
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 8:38 pm
Following Wolfram back to the roof he narrowed his eyes to a dangerous blue stare.
"WOLFRAM" he called to make the other lieutenant pause in his flight.
"I think it would be MUCH safer, for you to assume you -never- know what I am up to unless you can read -this-"
He pulled out the small notebook again.
He opened it and tore free three pages from different sections of the book and proffered them.
"I would keep these out of the rain, more importantly...I would burn them lest someone unsavory CAN read them."
He released the papers to drift free and turned on his own, to head for 'home'
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 8:46 pm
The short name caused him to jolt, and he turned to see Zink standing there, the rush of wind from the roof blowing as he held out the notebook out and with the precision of someone who knew every fold, every crease of a notebook he held religiously, pulled out 3 pages from 3 parts, and let them float down to the ground. Then, without anything aside from what he had said, he left.
Standing there with one leg on the ledge, he turned and headed back and picked up the papers before they flew off. Collecting them, he turned and walked to where a street lamp was, and looked at the papers. All in code. All unreadable. Still, Zink mentioned he knew something about Tate. Secrets.
He thumbed the papers, looked back where Zink once stood, and folded the papers into his pocket. For later, when he had time. If he knew something, Wolframite would find out, too. For now, he had to see if Tate was okay.
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