Hmm. So John and two others… very dangerous from the sounds of it, those two. And I guess this explains the weird imprint we found. But what kind of friends come with a large number of armed guards? Might what to have somebody look into exactly who this guy is. But more importantly…
Alex fought to keep Gear's smile off his face.
"Well, some follow-up questions come to mind. For example, it'd be nice if you could give us a more detailed description of the three attackers you mentioned. But I'm personally more interested in hearing about this acquaintance of yours. Knowing what they were after makes tracking them down a lot easier, after all."
They left a trail! We can follow right to them! Even if we can't find the guy they were after, just knowing who he is will give a lead.
Ring winced slightly, pulling her hand away.
Why is he so stuck on Mary? She's dangerous, yes, but… oh. What if? And Millant leaked our cards, so if she were…
"I understand," she said, looking him in the eye. "I'll do my best."
edited 12th Dec '11 10:41:56 AM by Gilphon
Adrian watched her pop in and out of the room in disbelief, dropping off masses of supplies that were more likely to imply that she was stocking up for a nuclear holocaust.
When she bolted out the door for the last time, an awkward silence began to settle between him and Redd.
"...Christ almighty, I just wanted to know what Tuner's number was."
Oh. Ohmigod, it was him.
Standing at the end of the hallway, she beamed stupidly behind tented hands when she saw him standing by the door. With those... collared people who started coming in.
But... to be honest, she could care less about the collars, as creepy as it was. Her idol ever since she went on vacation to America was here. She stepped closer, ever so slightly, to make sure it was him and not one of his brothers. His eyes were like dreamy amethysts, eternally piercing through all who stood in his way. A fashionable coat, blazer, shirt, and dark-colored jeans hid his youthfully slender, yet muscled body from view. His characteristic metal cane, a solemn, yet gracefully coalesced reminder of his fallibility spun in his slender fingers, his beloved violin at his side. She bet it was the exact same one he played as Gian Mancuso, the exact same one he used to charm his sweet young half-sister into his warm, loving embrace.
She knew it was him. Eli had a slightly heavier build and hideous red eyes like that awful Francophilic bastard she saw on Chopped, and Rafi was shrill and hyperfeminine. That was too sensitive for her; Matthias Cline had the perfect balance of masculinity and artistry, something that they could never hope to match. He was the real thing.
He suddenly turned towards her, his soulless eyes chiseling into her very being. His cane stopped, and her face flushed red as she suppressed her giggling. She felt her empty body unconsciously move towards him as it endured his unbroken gaze.
"Can... I help you, Miss?"
Trembling, she lowered her hands, lacing them under her chin.
It was just then that it occurred to him why she was ganging up on him. "Er... oh, that's right; you've seen-"
"It's my favorite romance!"
His head turned to 'look' down at her, he blinked. "That's... not a romance." An awkward smirk formed on his face, while her beam remained.
"How could it not be?"
"Be...cause it's not." He kept his free hand on the wall as he felt for the doorjamb where the collared people were. "I'm... sorry I can't stay with you to talk longer, but... I have more pressing concerns at the moment..." He slipped inside once he found the doorknob.
Her hands fell to her side. "Could...-"
"I'm sorry, but I can't do autographs," he said as he slowly closed the door.
Now, all she could see was wood grain. She just kind of waited there in silence for a moment, before she felt a hand on her shoulder and a voice.
"Where've you been?"
"Euh-"
On the other side of the door, Matt heard a doctor scolding her in French, followed by both of their footsteps as they turned down the hall. He just kept on scolding her; something about keeping her mind on track while working, based on his knowledge of Italian. The footsteps and scolding quieted until, at last, he could hear the faint clomping of their shoes on the stairs.
He sighed in relief, wiping his forehead with his hand. Slowly, he turned his head towards the gathered contestants.
"You lot wouldn't happen to have any... rope... would you?"
edited 12th Dec '11 11:09:28 AM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."Millant tilts her head to one side and parts her lips, as if about to ask a question, then bursts into laughter, falling off her chair and nearly crying.
Arzt rolls his eyes at her. "I have the tube from my IV, Matthias, but it's in my room. Does that work? Anyway, thanks a lot, Ring."
edited 12th Dec '11 3:28:09 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!OCMPA
Having just gone through the trouble of surviving an explosion the previous day, Levi awoke with the overwhelming urge to not do anything particularly dangerous, like reading. Reading is such a wonderful way for the idle mind to exercise itself, he mused to himself. He checked his most recent messages then perused his small collection of books he had somehow kept together through his travels. The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli...Nicky Macky...Knick Knack...Ha! He grabbed the book and left his room. Where to go, where to go? Eh, I read this damn thing ten times already, I'll probably get bored of it after a few minutes...Might as well go to the gym. When he got to the training room, he found Natalie and Suki in the CQC training room. Hmm, two not-unattractive ladies getting ready for some possibly strenuous hand-to-hand sparring and/or training...? He took a seat against the wall and began reading the wise words of Machiavelli.
Orchestra
Samuel rubbed his temples with his middle and index fingers. "So now what? We were lead into a trap, John is out for the time being, and whoever this Rippley person is, we're no closer to finding him than before we went on this wild goose chase. I think I'm starting to question our glorious leader's glorious leadership in these current endeavors," he added sarcastically.
But I, being poor, have only my dreams. I have spread my dreams under your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.OCMPA HQ, CQC Training Room
Suki heard Levi as he entered, but simply assumed he was waiting for them to finish so he himself could practice. So, she paid him little mind other than acknowledging where he was so as to not accidentally run into him or something.
"So, you're sure you want to do this, kid?" She asked Natalie, "You have heard about the bear and the building, right?"
"Yeah, I heard. And I don't exactly care, either," She replied, "I'm a bit on edge and I need to wail on something for a bit."
Then, Suki's face went almost stark-white as Natalie proceeded to take her shirt off and put it on the floor against the wall, seeming to not even care that Levi was playing audience. As of now, all she was wearing was a sports bra and a pair of dance shorts.
She noticed Suki's rather shocked expression, "What? I don't want to get my shirt bloody or sweaty. It's not like I stripped down naked."
" . . . At least show some modesty," Suki argued.
"Modesty doesn't really matter in a fight."
OCMPA, Monaco
"Eh. . . ? Oh, good morning. Oh, wait this is Berta's phone. . . Well, okay. What're ya calling about?" It seemed like the girl was up all night.
“DAMMIT WHEN I HEAR 'SPACE CQC' ALL I CAN THINK OF IS BIG BOSS WITH A FISHBOWL ON HIS HEAD, STRANGLING AN ASTRONAUT OUTSIDE THE ISS."[hospital]
"An IV line? Thanks for the offer, but it might snap under my weight." He smiled sheepishly.
[villa]
"Well..." He pulled his cloak tighter. "Adrian just informed me of a new development with the Orchestrator, and I was just going to ask your boss if she wanted me to come tell her in person, or just tell her over the phone, or... yeah."
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."Dominik was getting very bored listening to the questioning. So he decided he needed more sniper training. With Hawk's tattoo around his eye on mind Dom went to the shooting range.
Down at the range again, he wanted to try out new snipers, but there was none.nSo he picked up the familiar Cheytag Intervention that he'd shot numerous times and considered that his sniper of choice.
Dom Loaded the sniper, after putting on his hearplugs and glasses.
Dom layed down into the prone position setting up the rifle. He switched the safety mechanism off, and aimed down the scope. Controlling his breathing he put a round down range, reloaded and sent one more.
I used to be good at Roleplaying.. But then I took an Arrow to the knee...OCMPA
"Uh, descriptions... right... The buff guy, i can't help you with; he honestly didn't stand out much. The other guy, the one without the cane... wore a suit, looked... foreign. Kinda classy posture, i guess. The guy with the cane... tall, sorta thin, wore average looking clothes; jeans, hoodie, white tee ... dark, kinda messy hair, too. Wore shades, which just seemed like a... kinda off choice for a blind guy. That's really all i've got." When he reached the subject of his 'acquaintance', he seemed to retreat slightly, still honest but choosing words carefully.
"As for the acquaintance... well, he's just that; i know him sorta well enough, he likes to run a nightclub back in Tokyo, but other than that, we haven't gotten to know eachother all too much. Most of it's just conversation on one thing or another in passing, nothing concrete."
Orchestra
Elizabeth spun around to face Samuel, her expression equal parts mindless panic, anger, and sympathy. "Look, you need to take that up with him, not me. I may be here now, but i'm not kept in the loop about this sort of thing. I'm sure John will try to explain things soon, so just try to rest, alright? Aiming at me isn't helping you one bit."
"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank HillMonaco, Rosa's Hospital Room
And once again it seemed that her room was the social hub of her fellow contestants. It certainly was getting crowded in there. It was slightly annoying, but a necessary evil, it seemed.
". . . Any particular reason you're wanting to hang yourself?" She asked Matt without much interest.
OCMPA HQ, Belgium, CQC Training Area
"I just find it a bit inappropriate for a girl to running around in just her bra. Go ahead and call me a prude in that respect, I honestly don't care," Suki replied to Levi's comment. She turned her attention back to their little spar, "Alright, I'm ready when you are. Go ahead and give it a shot."
It didn't take long for it to become clear that Natalie was a primarily offensive attacker, and a particularly quick one at that. Certainly, her speed would be an advantage in combat. It didn't take long for her to get up close to Suki, right in range. She wasted no time in letting that momentum flow into a quick punch aimed for the chest. Suki , while caught slightly off-guard by Natalie's speed, was quite quick to react. She adjusted her position slightly last minute, and, wasting no time, managed to grab hold of Natalie's arm and use her momentum against her in a flip. This caught Natalie entirely off-guard, and likely surprised anyone familiar with Suki's usual fighting style of using her brute strength until the target submits- this defensive maneuver was new.
However, that wasn't the end of things. Though it was inevitable she was going to hit the ground, Natalie could make sure it was more of a landing than a collision. She adjusted herself a bit before contact, and managed to get her feet on the ground. She then aimed low with a sweeping kick, attempting and succeeding to throw Suki off-balance. Suki let go of Natalie, and regained her balance, only to find the younger girl aiming to take a hit at her side. She dodged it, narrowly, and followed up with a swift elbow to the back, briefly knocking the wind out of the younger girl.
"Well, you're certainly quick, I'll give you that. Pretty strong for your size, too," Suki commented, "I can see how you fight. You hit hard and fast to make your opening, then make your true strike when their guard's down."
Monaco, OCMPA
"Ah. . . Either should be fine, really. I dunno. Whatever you'd rather do."
edited 15th Dec '11 3:09:33 PM by Motree
“DAMMIT WHEN I HEAR 'SPACE CQC' ALL I CAN THINK OF IS BIG BOSS WITH A FISHBOWL ON HIS HEAD, STRANGLING AN ASTRONAUT OUTSIDE THE ISS.""Oh! You wanna hang yourself." Arzt laughs nervously. "I thought you were going to garotte that girl that was bugging you."
"Arzt!"
"What's wrong with that?"
Millant sighs. "Let's go back to your room. I need to talk to you."
"Uhm... okay." Arzt takes her hand. "Why can't we talk in front of Rosa?"
She bites her lip. "Rosa, can you speak German?"
The last battle's curtains will open on stage![hospital]
Matt straightened his stance, turning around at the same time to face Rosa and the contestants. He kept smiling sheepishly as he listened to them chatter away in German.
...Where was Kunstler when you needed him? Of course, it was probably German German, and not Austrian German, so...
[villa]
"Well, thank you. Wasn't sure if there would be issues with security." Keeping the call open, Vince went to his inbox and forwarded the Orchestrator's message to the phone as he spoke. "It sounds like you pulled an all-nighter."
edited 15th Dec '11 11:18:42 AM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth.""I see," said Gear. "I assume you can at least tell me his name, or the address of this night club? At the very least, I want to hear what you told them."
So this guy was involved in something shady before John's group showed up. Well, it's not like that's my problem. I'll let somebody else pursue it, and let him think I don't know he's hiding something.
Ring blinked at the sudden language shift. She supposed it meant that they didn't want her listening in. Well, if her suspicion was correct, it was more likely to be Matt or Jay that they were excluding.
But it was fine. She had said what she wanted to, and she believed she had been understood. Apparently feeling her business here was finished, she walked out of the room, seemingly expecting Jay to follow her.
edited 15th Dec '11 12:58:40 PM by Gilphon
OCMPA
"I told them what they wanted to know, which was where he worked . His name is... something American, i think... could've sworn he looked American, anyway... Oh what was it, Raymond... no... Ricky... no... Royce? I think it was Royce. I don't think i ever found out his last name, though. Like i said, acquaintances."
"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank HillJay, figuring that there wasn't anything left to say, went with Ring.
Whatcha gonna do, little buckaroo? | i be pimpin' madoka fics"Ahh, I see," said Gear, writing down the address and making a mental note of the name. "Unless there's anything else you think I should know, I believe we're done here."
"Arzt is probably supposed to kill Mary," Ring commented to Jay once Matt was out of earshot. "We should try to find her, and decide whether we can control her, or if it's better to use her a bargaining chip to gain their trust."
Millant gives Arzt a glare of death before tapping out a reply.
Hi Tear. We're having a chat with Rosa right now. And apparently I can sort of play violin ^^
He tilts her head at her. Mean scary look mean wuh?
Oh hai you're Tear, right? Sorry about yelling at you... two days ago. Yeah, I think it was two days ago. Anyway Millant doesn't want to be on her team anymore so we're planning on how to kill them all, but I don't think she wants to kill anyone else right now. So say hi to Porno-boy and that old guy for me :D
"Arzt."
HOLY SHIT HOW DID SHE SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT
"What did you send her?"
He tries to answer, but she snatches the phone and checks for herself. Oh, mother of—
Tear, Arzt was kidding.
edited 18th Dec '11 9:49:16 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!Monaco, Rosa's hospital room
Ignoring Arzt and Millant for the moment, Rosa turned her attention to Matt, ". . . Matthias, was it? Dreadfully sorry, but I think that they are seeking to speak with me privately. I hate to be rude, but would you mind leaving us a bit of privacy for our conversation? I think it would be better than you simply sitting there and not understanding a word we're saying."
OCMPA HQ, Belgium, unspecific
For anyone else in the base without much else to do and not feeling the need for training, others were about and working or resting. Bryon was out of the medical ward and now bound to a wheelchair and was looking over some files in a break room, where Caleb was playing with his fox, Nico. Skye was helping Kota organize and clean out his office.
OCMPA HQ, Interrogation area
The door opened a crack and Cole poked his head in.
"Are you two done here?" He asked brightly, and addressed the man they found, "If you guys are, you can feel free to leave! Ms. Amarante told me to tell you to go down the stairs to the right and into the fourth room on the left and they'd have someone to port you home!"
How this guy managed to be so chipper all the time was anyone's guess. His demeanor was almost always like that of a hyperactive squirrel.
OCMPA HQ, CQC combat area
Natalie caught her breath, having been surprised by the sudden defensive moves.
"Yeah, pretty much, at least in hand-to-hand. I usually have a weapon, though," She said, "I'm admittedly a bit out of practice. Don't usually have to fight with my fists."
OCMPA, Monaco
"Yeah, pretty much," Vive yawned, "research 'n all that. You're a researcher too, right? So you probably know what I mean when I say that sometimes, something's so fascinating you just can't pull yourself away from it."
edited 22nd Dec '11 10:52:17 AM by Motree
“DAMMIT WHEN I HEAR 'SPACE CQC' ALL I CAN THINK OF IS BIG BOSS WITH A FISHBOWL ON HIS HEAD, STRANGLING AN ASTRONAUT OUTSIDE THE ISS.""She was not," said Ring. "I was unfortunately telling the truth when I said I had no idea where she is. My only suggestion on that front is to try to contact her phone."
Alex smiled. "I suppose we are done here." He stood up and walked towards the exit.
"This guy probably has mob connections," Gear muttered to Cole as he passed by. "We should have someone follow up on that."

OCMPA
"It answers one. Hopefully, however, we can answer all the questions present here.", the man replied, leaning forward in his chair.
He sighed, letting his head drop a bit, tired. "I should start, i guess. I was back at that complex with a couple friends of mine, when three guys walk in. I give them more than enough of a chance to pass through, but they refuse. At the start, they looked inconspicuous enough: A guy with a cane, a man in a suit, and a buff guy in the back. Then all hell breaks loose; flashes of light, floating water and earthquakes being the only real things i remember. Then a geyser came up, and i was the last one left."
"They grab me, and we... drop into a room, the one you found me in. And uncannily similar to this one... They just wanted to know about a guy i knew. After all i had seen, i wasn't going to play dumb; i told them what they wanted to know. They obviously didn't kill me, otherwise i wouldn't be here. They left, and i walk to the door. It's locked from the other side. I do what i can to try to bust it open, but that didn't work. Then, not too long later, i hear a boom, the room shakes, the ceiling caves in, and i'm being ushered through a... through a portal to here, i suppose."
His recounting of the events done, the man leaned back in his chair, looking back at Alex. "That's my story. Anything else you need to know?"
"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank Hill