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 Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:47 pm
"Are the handcuffs really necessary?"
His question was left unanswered as the thief was escorted through the halls by a pair of guards on either side. He half thought they were giving him the death sentence, the way they were acting -stern, silent, and... enormous. Every last one of the guards he had seen were huge, and he couldn't figure out why. Certainly their security had to have a weak link somewhere. They had that younger guard, but he wasn't there at the moment, so what could he do? He'd have to get them to make a mistake. If they wouldn't talk to him, he'd just have to do all of the talking.
"It's not like I'm some incredibly amazing criminal or anything. I mean, I just steal Pokemon! Anyone can do it." He shrugged at his own coments. He hated undermining his own talents, but if it got him what he needed, he'd do it. "Even if I did manage to 'escape', I'd still have to get past both of you. And in case you haven't noticed, two of me combined isn't as big as one of you." Come on, come on, work...
"I think the kid's actually right on this one." The first guard turned to the second. "We could easily overpower him if he did try to run." Bingo. He had them now. So long as he kept this going... "No, you idiot! We have specific orders to NOT let him out of the cuffs until we're sure he can't do anything. Give him these," he pulled out a pair of keys from his pocket, "and let's just see what happens. I dare you." He scolded the other guard for his lack of diligence.
As the guard moved the keys back toward his pocket, Azriel tripped, his foot moving in front of the guard's. They both fell in a heap, with the thief on top, hands cuffed behind his back. "Ow!" Without his hands, the thief couldn't get up by himself, forcing the second guard to pull him back up and off to the side. "You okay?" He leaned toward the man, hand out to help. "He bit me!" The fallen guard looked at his hand, which had red teeth impressions in it. "The little jerk bit me!"
From behind the two, there came a satisfied scoff and the jangle of keys. Both guards turned their attention down the hall, where a receeding Azriel sprinted away, keys clanging as he held them tightly in his bound hands. The pair was soon in pursuit, but once he ducked into a room, they had no way of finding him. They'd have to report this... And Doctor Hakan would definitely be less than pleased about it. Obviously, they could just find him with the security cameras, but the fact that they'd let the boy get away would definitely make them face some punishment.
---
Azriel found himself in the room where they kept the written records. Maybe now he could get some information. At least before they came to take him away again.
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:25 am
"Sam?" A quiet voice called reluctantly, echoing down the corridors. Shawn had assumed he had evaded most of the guards on his search, but their absance did strike him as peculiar. Not that he was one to complain. It only meant he had to use this time to his advantage as he figured whatever was keeping the guards occupied wasn't guaranteed to last long.
He tried again. "Sam? Samantha?" The 15-year-old lurking about the sterile hallway kept away from the walls, unwilling to even go near any of the doorways set in them. He was still suffering from the shock of the last time he had done such a thing, and was almost certain a second event much like the first would be the end of him. Though determined as Shawn wass to seek out Samantha Hakan, he wasn't about to go peeking into the rooms to find her.
Just as he began to wonder if his efforts were futile, the boy flinched, hearing a trio of voices carrying down the hall. Swiftly, he hid behind the corner, keeping a sharp eye and ear out for snatches of the conversation, and perhaps even a glimpse or two of the conversers.
Peering out cautiously from around the corner, he witnessed the whole spectacle unfold like a well-planned escape, though he was certain the escapee couldn't have thought it up more than a few minutes prior to setting it into motion. Shawn watched almost admiringly at the purposeful fall and the events that soon followed. This guy makes the guards look like a pair of bumbling idiots! he realized, surprised, though he knew better than to think it was as easy as it looked.
He bites? Darrow thought, unable to help a grin. A pokemon theif who bites? He's got to be as wild as the monsters he steals...and probably ten times as crazy. I wonder what Cronus is doing with a theif around? I doubt he'd be trying to steal from them...but then again, who knows?
Curiosity and bewilderment overwhelming the youth, he decided to take his chances in pursuing the fugitive, concuding that it was probably safer than sticking around to see if the guards noticed him. Besides - now this guy had their keys. It would be simple to ind an empty room to hide in and lock it from the inside. With so many rooms in the building, it would be a while before they discovered which one they were in. Security cameras hadn't even occured to Shawn as he hurriedly raced after the young man.
As a naturally talented runner, Darrow, even at the age he was, managed to keep up with the white-haired theif with relative ease. After all, it wasn't long before they had reaced their destination. Shawn didn't imagine it had been predetermined, but nevertheless, he found it fastinating.
There had to be hundreds of files stowed away in the cabinets by the far wall. There were already stacks of them piled on the desk and sticking out haphazardly from the desk drawers, as if someone had been looking at them. A dusty computer sat on the desk top, but it didn't appear to be on.
Shawn stared with large, brown eyes, until they came to rest on the only other sole occupent of the room, to whom he wasn't sure his presance was yet known.
"Um...hey," he greeted with a slight smirk in what he hoped was a casual enough way. "Mind if I crash with you for a while?" He jabbed a thumb meaningfully over his shoulder at the door. "At least until they're gone?"
((Uh oh...just forgot. XD Just how paranoid can Azriel get?))
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:10 am
Azriel occasionally turned around while he was running to check if the guards were following him. They were, but it seemed as though he'd picked up a third chaser, too. Some kid who'd been unsupervised and got close to the guards, probably. ...Or he could be one of them. Better not to let him catch up either way. If he was with them, the thief couldn't let him catch up. Just in case, anyway.
Rooms like this one they should really keep locked and bolted. In all honesty, after this, they probably would. Then no one except those with keys would ever be able to get inside. He'd have to get what he needed now if he ever wanted to have it at all. Once inside, he bolted straight for a cabinet. Luckily, whoever did these actually kept them organized. Files from every division were stored in different areas. The thief wandered past the individual metal, information-containing cabinets slowly.
He kept himself occupied messing with the handcuffs. They weren't made to be undone from the front -probably why it was so hard. "Dammit." He whispered after finally coming to the cabinet he was looking for. It was then that he heard the voice of the other person in the room. Not having noticed Shawn before, he jumped, half thinking that it was one of the guards come to nab him. "For Lugia's sake!" He exclaimed, turning to Shawn. "You scared me, kid!" He hadn't thought that the boy would have been able to keep up, let alone make it into the same room as him.
Biting his lip in thought, Azriel moved back toward the file cabinets. "Fine, you can stay, just be quiet." This is a bad idea... Again, he went back to attempting to release himself from the cuffs. He still didn't trust the brown-eyed kid with him. Having started to work for CRONUS when he was young, it wouldn't be that hard to imagine a kid a few years younger than him working for them, too. Letting out a grown, he gave up on the cuffs. "Hey, kid. Get over here and get these off for me, will ya? We don't have much time, and the sooner I get the information I need, the better."
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 4:48 pm
Shawn jumped as the young man shouted something - possibly a curse, though it wasn't like anything he'd ever heard before. It was ironic in a way too, because living on the streets had caused Darrow to pick up some pretty colorful language.
"Whoa! Jeez, I'm sorry!" he yelped, his hands up in surrender. "Not my fault you're snooping around where you shouldn't be," he added, though it was more of a guess than anything. The guy seemed pretty skittish, anyway. "I just saw you come in here and I didn't want them questioning me about where you went."
He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling at the grudging pernission granted to stay. "You're the one who started yelling," he murmured, figuring that if the guards heard Azriel's shout, there was no point in bothering to stay quiet. Shawn didn't like to be nosy, but he couldn't help noticing the guy keep fidgiting with something arund his wrists. Eventually, he seemed to give up and turn instead to Shawn for assistance.
The boy frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, regarding the shining pair of metal handcuffs with a look of susicioun as he glanced back at the stranger's face. It seemed the suspicioun was mutual, as it was clear the young man was asking for his help with great reluctance.
"Why should I help you?" he asked after a while, not entirely sure that was the right thing to say to this older, probably stronger fugitive he knew next to nothing about. "For all I know, you could be working for these guys. 'Cronus' or whatever it's called. I don't even know who you are, or why you're here. What are you looking for?" he asked, tilting his head to see beyond the tall figure at the file cabinets.
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 11:56 am
Had his hands been free, Azriel would have rubbed his eyes. "It is your fault that you followed me in, though." A small sigh escaped him before he examined the file cabinets again. The one he was in front of seemed to be precisely what he was looking for -then again, it could just be a trap with absolutely no real information in it. Have to at least try. It couldn't get much worse, regardless of what happened here.
Although he heard the murmuring from behind him, Azriel ignored it. "I just need you to be quiet once I get these things open. It doesn't really matter if we grab the guards' attention or not. They've undoubtably got cameras in here, so regardless of whether or not we're quiet, they'll find us." All he needed was enough time to get to the important files. Some of the pokemon he'd brought in might have files in the metallic cases, too, but they weren't the ones he was looking for.
"Ever heard of 'returning a favor,' kid? I don't have to let you stay here. I could just as easily kick you out. And I mean that literally." He glared at the boy. Whoever he was, he asked too many questions for his own good. At least he hadn't asked for the thief's name yet. Things might get tricky if he did. "Anyway, if I was working for them, they probably wouldn't have me in cuffs. Now you gonna help me, or not?" Again, he showed the handcuffs along with the keys to Shawn. "And to answer your question, I'm looking for the answer to why we're here to begin with. I don't know about you, but I wasn't thrown into a cell by choice."
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:01 pm
Shawn shrugged, but the young man didn't seem to notice. He was too busy regarding the file cabinets in the back. A sudden skeptisism formed in the boy's mind. Did the guy actually have an idea of what they contained?
As he spoke again, Darrow found himself being ignored once more. He frowned, furrowing his dark brows. He wasn't liking this at all. Now the pony-tailed guy was giving him orders? Though finally Shawn decided it was probably in both of their best interests for him to obey and be quiet.
"Cameras?" he repeated, somewhat familiar with the word. Flare's father owned a department store and they used to sneak in the backroom all the time to watch the video cameras' feedback. "You mean they're watching us?" Panic sneaked into his voice, disguising itself as surprise. He scanned the corners of the room before realizing the things probably wouldn't be placed out in the open; at least not so much as to be obvious.
Kick him out? Sure, Shawn would would have liked to see the teenager try. It didn't really matter to him if they were going to get in more trouble just for being there. But something about the filing cabinets roused his curiosity to the point where he did not want to leave. He had to find out what was so important to this silver-haired theif.
"Fine, fine," he whispered, glaring right back in reply. "But I'm still not buying it. Maybe you made a wrong move and they decided they wanted to keep you prisoner here on this island too." Oops. Had he just said that aloud? No matter. The more people who knew, the better. Cronus wasn't the plesant, medical facility everyone thought it was. Perhaps if he poked around a bit through the files, there would be evidence he could show to the others. If the older guy was distracted with searching through the cabinets, perhaps Shawn could do some investigating of his own.
Without another word, the boy took the keys and in a moment the cuffs were unlocked. He put both the clinking, metallic objects on the table before addressing the theif once more. It seemed he'd known more than Shawn had given him credit for.
"That makes two of us, then," Shawn muttered distinctly. "But so far as I know, we're the only ones who even know this place isn't what it seems. I mean...there was one girl who didn't look too happy...but I met the niece of the main guy running this place. She doesn't know much either, but she told me she doesn't have a good feeling about it."
He moved to the back, placing a hand on the first cabinet. "Mind if I help?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:39 am
"Yeah, this nifty invention called a camera. Heard of it?" He sighed before managing to pry open another file cabinet. This one was useless, too. Maybe they were as calculated as he'd thought to begin with -in which case, his escape had been all for naught. "Yeah. All the time. You didn't think they'd leave any of us alone for five seconds, did you? There's cameras all over the island. Probably some hiding here and there in our cells, too." He'd managed to spot a couple in the lobby room when he'd first come, though there was no doubt in his mind there had been more than he thought.
Useless. All the files he found were useless. The only things that he'd managed to find out included what he already knew, and nothing more. The most obvious being that this was definitely not a crop organization. He'd found something about Steven's section of the project, but since it had nothing to do with him, he moved on. Surely there had to be something about them there. Though it could have been that because this was accessible by all employees, they hadn't risked putting the important stuff here. He wasn't the best judge of character, but it had seemed as though Steven had known absolutely nothing about the behind-the-scenes stuff.
Azriel flinched for a second at the accusation. For a stupid kid, this guy had almost hit the nail completely on the head. So long has he didn't actually believe his own words, the thief would be fine. Going straight back to his search, he pretended not to hear Shawn. When the boy heeded his request, however, relief passed over him.
He rubbed his wrists. Having ran while still cuffed, there were red rash-like marks on his arms. They'd probably disappear after a while, so it didn't really matter. What was important was the task at hand. And with two free hands, it'd be much easier to find the information. "Thanks." He said without looking back to the boy. Still flipping through files, he replied to Shawn's comment. "Look, kid, that's the point. They don't want anyone to know what's going to happen until it happens. That's how they keep as much control over us as possible." Slamming a file cabinet shut, he moved onto the next.
"Fine." He said with yet another sigh. "I'll trust you enough to actually know what's useful and what's not. Considering the kid didn't seem to know much about what was going on, he probably would yell in surprise the moment something small came up. He preparded himself just in case. "If you can't remember which ones we've gone through, just ask me." Now he turned to Shawn to actually talk to him. While turning, however, he saw a file jutting out of his pocket that he didn't remember putting there. Crap, not again. Might as well keep it there.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 2:55 am
A single sheet of paper slid from the file in Azriel's pocket and fluttered to the floor. It looked older than it should have, seemingly crumpled and flattened out again repeatedly, leaving it worn and brittle. Most of the words had been blacked out with a marker, much like a Top Secret document, though those exact words were nowhere to be seen on this particular page. In fact, it seemed to be only one of many pages of a report of some kind, though there was no sign that any of the other pages had survived intact...at least, not here. Only a few words and phrases remained legible, though they didn't make much sense on their own.
*****
------------contained, though damag---------
----------------------------------------------
-----no sign----------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
------------------------repairs may take
more time th----------------------------------
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------#000-D thoug-----------escap---------
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
--------------------fire-----------------------
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
--------Dr. Hak------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
----------------contact CEO, Mi-------------
-------mediately-----------------------------
----------------------------------------------
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Spliced - Cronus Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 10:05 pm
Shawn's sepia eyes narrowed, his dark brows slanting at the young man's mocking. "Of course I've heard of it. I'm not an idiot, you moron. I come from a city. With a department store." However much he tried not to think on it, he realized at once that Azriel must have been correct. They had surely been watching every single one of their captives on the island. He supposed he just hadn't thought about cameras because having lived with the ghost pokemon, the feeling of others watching him failed to upset him. Darrow had just learned to be naturally aware of his surroundings.
He scrutinized the quick, dexterous movements of Azriel's hands. Reluctant as he was to admit it, he found he was quite astonished and impressed by the theif's speed and skill at his profession. Not as though he was about to voice his opinions out loud, however. No doubt it was those very skills that had landed the felon in this situation in the first place.
Grumbling inaudiably under his breath, the younger boy glared at the silver-haired theif. He'd no idea that he might have gotten caught up in the criminal's act as well. What would Sam say if she saw him mixed up with this nut-job? He doubted she'd believe that he was only curious about the files in the room. Somehow they seemed to be important, however. He was eager to find out what they contained.
"Great," Shawn muttered grimly. "So no matter what we do, we're going to get caught anyway. Just perfect." Stepping up to one of the metallic cabinets, he opened one and slowly began to thumb through a few unimportant files when a slight movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.
Azriel had flinched for a moment, and that surprised the boy, who had noted that up until then the older teen had ceaselessly been searching through the files for God knew what. It seemed to have been a reaction to his earlier comment, and Shawn again grew suspicious. Still, he said nothing as the pony-tailed guy continued with his work. He would not be blamed for having disturbed the busy theif. He'd just have to ask him about it later.
"You're welcome," Darrow replied in a tone that portrayed all the sincerity he felt toward the rude, brisk stranger. However, his next words caught Shawn off guard. "They...they don't want anyone to know...?" Now this was starting to sound bizarre. Put like that, it was as if there was a whole conspiricy of the staff against the patients or something of that sort. It was just strange to be true...wasn't it? The young man seemed to know a lot more than he did about it at the moment, but Shawn still wasn't sure to whether to trust him.
But it did sound suspiciously similar to what he had been thinking about in the back of his mind all this time...the shots...the white, sterile rooms...the guards...the training grounds...the strange foreboding that something was going to happen. It was all adding up to Azriel's statements. They don't want anyone to know...until it happens...? he thought distantly. Until what happens? What are they going to do to us? Or...what is it they've done? Shawn's thoughts went to Kira...Demi...Anya...Sam. Hayden. Dr. Hakan.
He hardly heard Azriel's next words to him as the ultimate, cold truth dawned on Shawn. Something was going to happen. As much as he had begun to doubt them in the past few weeks, his supiciouns had been right. Still, now that he couldn't deny it with someone else to confirm them, it was just a horrible, ugly truth. Suddenly he felt the need to talk to someone. Someone familiar. Samantha Hakan's face sprung up in his mind. He had to find her - and as soon as possible.
When Azriel's face in reality replaced the mental image of Sam, however, Shawn snapped back out of his reverie. He nodded slightly, hardly aware of what he was agreeing to, when he saw it. The file in Azriel's pocket. "Uh...did you find something you were looking for?" he asked curiously, resisting the urge to reach for it.
He didn't have to, though. A paper slipped out of the file and Shawn's eyes followed it as it drifted to the floor. Automatically, he bent to snatch it up, already skimming the badly-marked words on the page. Someone certainly didn't want the wrong people reading the document, whatever it was. A few words were unmistakable, however. He frowned at it, then thrust it in Azriel's face.
"What do you know about this?!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:48 pm
The silver-haired boy shrugged nonchalantly at Shawn's comment. "I'm not some kind of psychic, kid. I don't know where you lived before you got here." Whatever had happened before the short-tempered kid came to the island wasn't any of his business. He didn't particularly care, either. All that mattered was the now. And right now, they were in a room full of information, and Azriel had to find one of the few (if any) pieces that were left.
Instinctually, the thief's eyes scanned files and papers for potential. Nothing, nothing, and surprisingly, more nothing. Yet he continued, replacing everything once he was done with it. The less they knew about what he'd gone through, the better. They wouldn't know that he knew what they didn't want him to know, and that was the way he wanted it. In the end, the one who won was the person who got what they wanted. And he was determined to beat the relatively unknown enemy.
The clock was ticking on their time there, and they had yet to find anything really worthwhile. Where were the files? A big company like this had to have some sort of proof of the people they were keeping here. Some sort of records or some such. It was only a matter of time before the guards he'd escaped from raised the alarm. After that, it wouldn't take long to find him. His hair made him stick out in the cameras like a Snorlax among Igglybuff.
"At least try to look on the bright side," he said, glancing into another folder before moving on, "when they get here, it'll likely be more exciting than this filing." He smirked before his eyes zipped along the files. "If you can't stop something, might as well live with it and do what you have to when the time comes." He shrugged again.
Suicune, this kid really didn't like him at all. The spite just dripped off of every word he spoke. Even if it was sometimes less noticable, it was always there. Glancing back toward the door to make sure they didn't have company, the thief momentarily stopped his search for the answers he wanted. "Of course not. Why do you think they don't tell anyone anything about what's going on? Why do they keep us in our cells all day except for the occasional outing? And why do they limit our contact with everyone else? They've kept me secluded for a while -maybe because I'm a little closer to what's really going on than the rest of us." It was just a theory, but hey, it's not like they knew anything that would disprove it.
"No, it's just something that happens sometimes. Forgot I put it there." It wasn't a lie, just not telling the whole truth. No need for him to suspect anything more, so he kept his demeanor normal and relaxed. Lying wasn't that hard when you'd had enough practice with it. "Oops." He commented after the paper hit the ground.
Azriel made a move to pick up the paper, but he'd noticed the evidence too late. By the time he bent down, Shawn had already begun to read it. He waited impatiently for the younger teen to finish. His patience wore even thinner when the frown on Shawn's face shone obviously toward what he was reading. He didn't have to wait long, however, since the paper in question was pushed at him. The kid apparently wanted answers -and fast. The thief was able to quickly scan over the crumbled paper that he'd now snatched (there wasn't much to read, anyway. Almost all the words were illegible one way or another.). "A fire? Never heard about it before." Most of what he could read was obvious and could be connected. There'd been a large fire -though he didn't know what caused it- that they'd managed to contain, and something -scratch that, someone- had disappeared. Doctor Hakan. #000-D. A CEO? CEO of what, all of CRONUS? Whoever it was, it seemed as though their name started with 'Mi'. There were so many important pieces on just that one almost-discarded piece of paper It was just that not all of them fit yet. So we'll just have to find more. He memorized the information for future use. "I can tell you one thing, though." He paused to put the paper back into the folder, which he then put back in his pocket. "They don't want us to know about this. Which means we found something we were looking for." He grinned in triumph. This was the first discovery of what he hoped would lead him to the true answers.
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Spliced - Cronus Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:55 am
Without warning, the door burst open and slammed against the wall. Rather than unlocking the door and giving up the element of surprise, it seemed security had deemed it an 'allowable expense' and simply decided to break down the door, leaving the lock swinging uselessly from the frame as guards poured into the already crowded room.
Slipping between the feet of the clumsy two-leggers, a pair of Houndours crouched defensively and snarled in warning at Azriel and Shawn, fur standing up on their backs as they kept close eyes on the two escapees.
"Both of you! Hands where I can see 'em!"
The order was barked out sharply from what seemed to be the squad leader, though he might have fit in better with the Houndours than the humans, considering his bristly, unkempt beard and wild eyes.
"Don't try anything smart either, or you'll regret it! You'll learn not to be poking around in places you don't belong."
The guy may have sounded like a walking cliche, but he carried an impressive air about him nonetheless. One wouldn't have wanted to mess with him physically, at least, while he might have floundered in a battle of wits...
"Morpheus! Front and center!"
The crowd of guards hovering around the doorway armed with nightsticks and Pokeballs at the ready seemed to part, their gazes passing downwards towards the Vileplume that calmly strutted forwards, seeming pleased to be the center of attention.
Only now it seemed obvious that each guard was equipped with a small gas mask, two guards ready to recall their Houndours in a moment's notice as soon as they were no longer needed.
"Give our friends a little something to help them calm down, will ya', Morph?" The security squad leader chuckled softly, a demented grin on his face as the Vileplume cooed and sent up a cloud of Sleep Powder that drifted and diffused throughout the room.
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