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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 14:57:02 GMT -5
After Riley, David, and Daniel had looked at the five-story, abandoned building that Riley was interested in using for the hotel, the three of them left the Temple District and headed to WestEnd, where David had a lesson to teach. One of his most promising students had asked to start learning the bagua dao sword, and he was only too happy to teach it.
When they reached the Gardens, David went in to change, and Daniel turned to Riley. "What would you like do while David and his student flail at each other with sticks?"
"I need to go visit Buddha and Kannon," she said, pointing to the roof. "Wanna come?" Before leaving the studios, she unlocked the door to the office and slipped inside, pausing just long enough to grab some incense sticks and a box of matches.
"Sure." He'd always enjoyed the rooftop garden at Zen. It was a place of peace and safety, and it reminded him of some of the good things about being in Burma, the reason he'd been willing to fight for the people there.
Riley smiled at him and then headed up the stairs. As she climbed, she allowed herself to sink into her Centre, composing her mind into the Emptiness of meditation, determined to kneel in front of her Lord with only Mindfulness.
He walked silently behind her, remembering the days when he and some of the rebels had hidden for almost a week in a monastery. The monks had made no complaint, of course, and he'd had time to speak with several of them about life and belief. That was one of the good times.
As soon as she stepped out onto the rooftop, she slipped her shoes off and curled her toes in the crushed seashell-covered pathway. She took a deep breath and went to the Dragon Fountain across from the door that led to the stairway down. She dipped her hands into the water, washing them and her face with the cool water before turning and going to the shrine in the middle of the gardens. It was a small bamboo structure that was nestled between two bougainvillea trees. A large wisteria vine covered the roof of the shrine, filling the air around it with the heady scent of the gorgeous purple blossoms.
Walking onto the rooftop was like walking into a different world, one where many of the burdens and worries of every day life seemed to lift away. He could feel the serenity of the place, relaxing muscles and calming his mind.
She brushed away a few stray dead leaves from the little platform inside the shrine, cleared away the dead flowers and burned incense sticks, setting them aside to be taken downstairs later and thrown away properly. Then she knelt and bowed her head deeply, reverently, to Lord Buddha and Kannon both, before lighting the incense she'd brought up with her and driving the sticks into the small bowl of fine sand that was there for that purpose.
He knelt beside her, bowing his own head in respect. He didn't exactly think of himself as a Buddhist, but he'd lived among them for so long that he'd developed more than a passing connection with their philosophies for life. It wasn't the first time he'd knelt before a Buddhist shrine.
She whispered the Heart sutra - "Om mani padme hum" - five times before bowing again and rising from her kneeling position. Taking a deep breath, she smiled down at Daniel. "Thank you," she said to him softly. "Wanna go sit and wait for David?"
He looked up at her curiously. "Thank you for what?" Then he nodded and stood, walking with her over to one of the benches up there on the roof. He sat down on it, took a deep breath and let it out, feeling nicely relaxed.
She went and sat next to him, curling up close, and laying her head atop his shoulder. She closed her eyes and let the sounds - the wind in the branches, the birdsong and humming of the bees, the water trickling in the fountain - and the scents - wisteria, bougainvillea, water, dirt, roses, moss, Danny - of the roof wash over her. "Thank you for getting it. For being here."
He slid his arm around her shoulders, enjoying the close contact with another Cat, with someone he trusted more than anyone else in the world--either world. "I feel at home up here," he said softly. "I think I could just live up here."
"It's wonderful, isn't it? It's like a completely separate world up here. All the chaos and discontent that fills the streets is just...gone when you step out here."
"Yes, that's exactly it." He smiled, pleased that she felt the same way about the place as he did. "When I was in Burma," he continued, suddenly needing to tell her something of what life had been like for him there, "I often went with the other rebels to the shrines to pray. Many of them were conflicted about fighting, as you can imagine, and they spent a great deal of time in meditation and prayer, trying to reconcile the need for freedom with the negative karma of killing other human beings."
"How did they deal with it?" she asked. It was something she struggled with, to be certain. After she and David had returned from Japan, she'd fasted and spent all of her free time in meditation, whispering endless mantras to try to atone for all the negative karma she'd shouldered in the killings she'd done.
He sighed softly. "I don't know. Most of them are dead now."
She made a small sympathetic noise and hugged him fiercely, giving him what comfort she could in her embrace. "I'm so sorry, Danny. I'm so sorry."
He leaned into her arms, closing his eyes and remembering. "I told them that if they didn't fight for themselves, no one else would do it for them. Was that wrong?"
She shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Sometimes one has to draw a line in the dirt and take a stand. I think Lord Buddha understands. I know Kannon does; it's why she refused Nirvana."
He nodded slightly, laying his head against hers. "A lot of them were quite willing to fight already, but I think I convinced some of those who were hesitant. And we fought, and we died. But was it worth it? When I left, nothing much had changed."
"Revolutions take a long time. Look at the civil rights movement in America. There's still racial discrimination, despite what Dr King did. And hell, look at what I started. That will last much longer."
He managed a little chuckle at that. "Look at us, the revolutionaries."
She smiled a little. "Viva la resistance," she said in perfectly accented Parisian French.
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 14:57:28 GMT -5
"One time, my group and I had to spend six days hiding in a monastery, avoiding a very large and well-armed military group." Now that he was talking about the time in Burma, it was hard to stop, despite the painful memories.
She fell silent, letting him talk as he wanted - and needed. She held his hand and made appropriate noises when necessary to get him to keep talking, but other than that, she made no demands on him. She was just present.
"That was one of the times that wasn't so bad. The monks were polite and friendly. They didn't seem to resent our intrusion at all. I spoke with some of them, during the time there. About life, belief, that sort of thing. I think I learned a lot from them."
"What did you learn?"
"Not to look at the future so much. Just to live each day as it came. I think that was the most important thing. To try to live each moment like it was brand new."
"Most people have a problem with that," she said softly. "It's hard to live in a modern society and not think about the future, not try to prepare for what's to come. But it seems sort of counter-productive, considering how mutable the future is. How can you prepare for something when you don't even know what you're preparing for?"
He nodded. "It is hard. I talked with Lelah about it. I don't think she bought it."
Riley swallowed down the urge to snort in derision. "What did she say?"
He looked away, taking his hand from hers. "I wish you wouldn't do that," he said softly. It didn't matter that she'd refrained from voicing it, he could smell the derision as plainly as he could the flowers.
She sighed softly. "I'm sorry, Danny. I can't... I don't... F*ck," she swore vehemently and stood up, going to the edge of the roof and peering down into the street. She watched Jon Granger leaving the building, driving away in his big, ridiculously impractical and yet so sexy Bentley.
He rose, moving up beside her, touching her shoulder lightly. "Give her a chance, Riley. Please? I...feel good when I'm with her." It was hard putting into words the feelings he had for Lelah. "She's very alive." Especially since he didn't want her famous jealousy to flare up.
"She f*cks vampires, Danny. And then gets into very public rows with them. She's a f*cking junkie. She's an actress. Even with our nose, how can you be certain she's being honest with you?" She didn't shy away from his touch, but she didn't relax, either.
He dropped his hand and sighed again. "She only slept with him once...and I think he enthralled her. You know what kind of influence they can have on people. She hasn't used drugs in seven years. You know I'd smell it if she was still using them." He didn't even bother responding to the last half of her statement; she knew very well that even the most accomplished actress had no chance of hiding her feelings from an Alpha Lycan. "I care about her, all right? When we're together, I can almost forget the hells I've been through." He turned away, looking out into the street like she was. He felt sadness, anger, and hurt all at once, with a tiny bit of betrayal thrown in. Why was she so set against something that made him feel alive again?
"Oh, f*ck me running," she muttered and turned to him, reaching to put her arms around him and hold him close again. "I'm sorry, Danny. I don't know why it bothers me so much. It's not just the jealousy, though I won't lie - it does make me crazy. There's just...something about her that rubs me the wrong way."
He was stiff in her arms for a moment before giving in and letting her hold him. "You hardly know her," he said softly.
"I know," she whispered softly. Then she straightened up, ran her hands down his arms to take his hands. "I don't know what it is, Daniel. I truly don't. If I could fix it, I would. I know how important this woman is to you and I don't want to hate her."
"You have to try, then. Get to know her. See what I can see in her." He squeezed her hands, imploring her to let go of whatever it was that prejudiced her so against Lelah. "At least try. I can't stand the thought of you hating someone...," he broke off, realizing what was about to come out of his mouth.
"Hating someone you love," she finished softly and studied his face intently. "Is that what you were going to say?"
"Someone I could love," he said. That was as far as he was willing to go right now.
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 14:57:45 GMT -5
Her nostrils flared as she tasted the truth in that statement. She sighed heavily, determined to push aside whatever bizarre animosity she felt towards the new woman in Danny's life...for his sake. "Fine," she said, capitulating. "I'll make nice. Maybe you guys can come to dinner some night soon."
He leaned in and kissed her cheek gently, gave her a hard hug. "Thank you," he whispered next to her ear. "I'd like that."
She hugged him back, just as fiercely as she had before, and clung to him a little longer than was perhaps necessary. "I'll cook," she said after releasing him and stepping back, a tiny smirk on her lips. Normally that would have been a threat, but since she and David had taken over the cooking duties after Dan had left, she'd gotten much better.
He wasn't about to complain about being held by her for extra time. No matter what happened between Lelah and him, Riley would always have a very special place in his heart. He truly hoped that the two women would end up getting along, maybe even become friends. "It won't be right away," he said. "She's filming all day long, six days a week."
She nodded, pressed a firm kiss against his temple before releasing him and returning to the bench where they'd been sitting before she had her little temper tantrum. "That's fine. Just give me a couple days notice when you'd like to bring her. Sunday's probably best for us; you know our schedule."
He smiled, sitting down next to her. "Us, too. It's the only day she doesn't film." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and leaned up against her again.
Reaching for his hand, she twined her fingers with his and asked, "How are you adjusting?" Meaning, how was he handling being back amongst the people - and things - of Rhy'Din.
"It's getting better," he said quietly, giving her hand a little squeeze. "I'm not leaping half out of my skin at every noise anymore. It's kind of nice to be back here. I don't have to be so careful of being myself, you know?"
She nodded. "Do people still talk about the Night of Revelations?"
He nodded. "Oh yes. I don't think the fervor will die down for quite a few more years. People are adjusting, but it's still a brand new world." He frowned softly. "Not all of the adjustments are good, either." He was thinking of the new generation of Hunters, specializing in taking down supernatural creatures.
"Bounty hunters, right?" she asked softly, remembering the story he'd told her about where most of his scars had come from.
"Yes. Now that we're out in the open, it's so much easier for them to learn how to kill us."
The corners of her generous mouth pulled down in a severe frown. "What's being done about it? Anything?"
"In some places. Most of the U.S. has given the same rights to supernaturals as anyone else...as long as they follow the laws like everyone else, too. There've been so many battles over it, though." He touched the scar under his eye. "Some of the religious groups think it's a sign that the Anti-Christ has returned.
She snorted. "Yay Apocalypse." Shaking her head she sighed and pulled her foot up onto the bench in front of her and wrapped her free arm around it so she could rest her chin atop her bent knee. "If people actually knew how dangerously close they actually were to the Apocalypse and how one of their Anti-Christ monsters saved their sorry asses..."
"They wouldn't believe it," he said softly. "Some of the more autocratic countries have outlawed us. The gentler ones just deport any supernaturals found within their borders." His voice took on a harsh growl as he continued. "The not-so-nice ones pay bounties for our skins...or heads."
"And that's..." She swallowed, a sick feeling in her stomach. She had caused this. "That's what happened to you?"
"They said it was because I was a terrorist. When it came out that I was a Lycan, too, well...," he shrugged slightly. "It's so much easier to hate someone different. That's the lesson of history, right?" He pressed his cheek on her shoulder, smelling and sensing some of her guilt. "It's not all bad, sundari. There's a wolf Lycan running for the U.S senate, and people think he has a pretty good chance of winning. A lot of people actually like when he calls the whole country his pack."
She smiled softly. "And Senator Romero?" she asked, referring to the Tiger Shifter senior Senator from Arizona, who had introduced the Preternatural Equality Amendment. He and Riley had worked closely together in the months after the Night of Revelations. "Is he still in office?"
"Oh yes. He's still one of the strongest supporters of equal rights. It's mostly due to him that the majority of states have those laws I mentioned."
"Good. He was amazing." She fell silent again, looking out over the gardens, watching bees flying from flower to flower. "What do they say about me? Do they still talk about me?"
He chuckled softly. "You and Onyx are heroes to most of the supernatural community. A lot of the normals admire your courage, too." He shrugged a little. "As you can imagine, some of the radical groups think you're the aforementioned Anti-Christ."
She cracked up at that, finding the idea of a Buddhist having anything to do with silly Christian superstitions ridiculous. "Oh, man. We have to tell David. He can use it against me when I start acting beastly."
"I'm sure he'll be thrilled to have some ammunition, hmm?"
"Considering how mean I am to him, he'll be delighted."
He laughed softly, shook his head. "You exaggerate. I've never seen a more perfect couple, honestly."
She smiled softly, her face reflecting just how incredibly in love with David she truly was. "He's amazing, Danny." She didn't say anything more for fear of somehow rubbing her happiness in his face.
In the deep recesses of his mind, there was a tiny part of him that felt a tinge of jealousy at the perfect relationship she and David had. It was eclipsed, though, by the happiness he felt for the both of them. "I know," he said softly. "You're both amazing, and you're made for each other."
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 14:58:08 GMT -5
She laughed, suddenly reminded of something. "Get this: when we were in Japan and trying to figure out how to get home, we went to see a little old witch, right? Well, she wasn't so much a witch as a Shinto sorceress. Anyway, she took one look at David and me and said that we were the Earthly Vehicles of these two great kami, Prince Saruta and Ame-no-Uzume."
"Kami?" He thought for a minute, then nodded, remembering what they were. "That's...odd. Did she say why?"
Riley shrugged a little. "She never said. But the weird thing about it is that Sarutahiko and Uzume were married. And he is the patron of martial arts and she of dance."
He blinked, brows rising in surprise. "Well..that certainly does sound like the two of you."
"Yeah, it's...odd. I can't help but wonder if she's right."
He tilted his head, looking at her. "Do you believe in kami?"
"Sorta. I've reconciled them with Bodhisattva - they're basically the same thing. Both are Enlightened beings, just with different names."
"I see. That makes sense. After living here for a while, I find it difficult to disbelieve in just about anything."
"Mesteno said the same thing to me once, when I told him that I didn't believe in angels or demons or the Christian God."
He was still a little disturbed by the turnaround and friendship between her, David, and the man who'd once kidnapped her, but he supposed that even enemies could become friends over time. "He has a bit of a point. We see impossible things here all the time."
"His point exactly." She gave Daniel a little smile. "He's really not awful," she explained, meaning Mesteno. "He's mellowed a lot. He has a new...well... A new love who has done wonders for his disposition."
He smiled and nodded. "We both know the effect that can have, hmm?" He did wonder about her hesitation over the word, though. "Something strange about this love of his?"
She shook her head with a tiny frown. "He's not a man, not a Changing Breed, not a vampire, nor a faerie. He's... Well, he's unlike anything I know. His name is Samiel and he's amazing with horses but not so much with people. He's blunt and sharp-tongued, but he loves Mesteno fiercely. I adore them both."
"Samiel. Like the desert wind." The 'he' part of that whole description didn't escape him; nor did it have any particular effect on him. "Sounds like an interesting person."
"He is. Very difficult to know, though. I see him more through Mesteno's eyes."
He smiled at her, nudged her gently in the ribs with his elbow. "Then perhaps you can try to see Lelah through mine."
She nodded and gave him the tiniest smile. "I'll try, Danny. I promise. But...can I ask you something and will you at least try not to get upset by it?"
"Yes, of course I'll try."
"Is your opinion of her clouded by the sex? It's got to be amazing. You've reeked of her every time I've seen you since you met her." Her lips curved in a knowing smile. "She's a very sexy, very beautiful woman, Danny. I can understand how attracted to her you must be, but... Don't settle for an amazing physical relationship if there's nothing emotional or...or spiritual between you." So says the voice of experience.
"Oh no," he replied. "It's much more than that. I mean, the sex is amazing...more than that, it's spectacular, I won't deny that." And here it was good that he was a Lycan; how many other men could speak to their ex-lover so candidly about their current one, without embarrassment? "But we share interests, too. We both love to cook, for example. And she's really quite intelligent. We've had some very deep and thoughtful conversations. It doesn't bother her that I'm not human, either. You know how good it feels to be accepted for who you are, like that."
"She does. She accepts it? Really and truly? Have you Shifted for her yet?"
"Not completely. I Shifted my hand for her, though, and she was fascinated by it. And she knows how strong and fast I am. I carried her for a run last night, as fast as I could go. She was thrilled. And then I," he broke into a little chuckle, "I picked up her car and held it over my head."
"You picked up her car." She chuckled. "Did she wig out?"
The chuckles escalated into full-blown laughter as he remembered Lelah's face when she saw him carrying the car. "Oh, yes," he gasped between laughs. "She looked like her eyes might pop right out of her skull."
She joined in with him, pleased at the sound of his laughter. Maybe she could come to accept this other woman's presence in Danny's life if she could make him laugh like this. And it was true, too, that he seemed far more like his old self lately than he had when he first arrived, although how much of that was Lelah's doing was up for debate.
Eventually, his laughter ran down, but the effect on him remained. He was smiling and relaxed again. "I was worried at first that she might not want me to touch her, after seeing how strong I am...what I could do to her if I lost control, but...it didn't turn out like that at all."
She held up a slender hand. "I really don't want to know," she said with a mirthful tone to her voice and a little smirk.
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 14:58:29 GMT -5
He snickered and obligingly stopped there. This was the way he liked to be with Riley, fun and light-hearted. "Anyway...after Burma, I sort of lost touch with the world, in my heart and soul, if you know what I mean. This...she – and the two of you, as well – are helping immensely for me to reconnect with it."
"I'm glad. We - David and I, I mean - owe you so much, you know."
He shook his head immediately. "No, no. There's no debts between friends; between family."
Her eyes suddenly filled with tears and she turned to him earnestly. "No, Danny. I owe you so much. You gave up your happiness so that David and I could be together, so that we could have a chance at true love and a marriage and I will never, ever be able to repay that debt."
He didn't know what to say to that, especially after he'd said something very similar to Lelah the night before, and immediately felt guilty and selfish for it. Instead, he just gathered her into a fierce, long hug. "Things have changed," he whispered after a few minutes, "but I'll never stop loving you."
"Nor I, you, mon coeur," she whispered against his ear.
He kept his arms around her, the soft purr rumbling from his chest, head leaned against hers. He didn't have anything else to say. Their closeness was enough.
After holding him silently for uncounted moments, she gently pulled away and looked at him, her expression soft and sympathetic. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked quietly, meaning his time in Burma.
"Maybe I should," he replied after a brief hesitation. If it had been anyone else asking, maybe even Lelah – at least for now – he probably would have begged off speaking of it. But it was Riley.
"If you want. I'm certainly not going to force you to if you're not ready. But you know me. Despite my absolute reluctance to do so, talking is helpful for exorcising demons of the past."
He gave her a little grin. Her unwillingness to talk about anything bothering her until she was good and ready to do so had always been a point of some contention between them. It was usually him advocating talking things out. Seemed the tables were turned a bit now. "When I first got there, things were pretty bad. Disorganized and damaged. It seemed like all of the atrocities that had happened under the junta had just gotten worse after it was dissolved."
She frowned softly, holding his hand silently and letting him talk at his own pace without interruptions.
"Instead of a one tyrannical government in charge, there were dozens of splintered groups of varying degrees of harshness. The best of them wanted a democratic rule – which is what I ended up joining. The worst wanted another junta, or some kind of monarchy. Anyway, the balance of power was in favor of the military-led group, unsurprisingly. They had the equipment and the manpower.
"But some of the opposition groups weren't far behind them, at least when I got there. I wasn't the only outsider who came in to fight. There were a lot of mercenaries around, and even some, like me, who just felt it was a good cause. Some of them were soldiers, or ex-soldiers."
She nodded. "Like what was happening in Iraq before I came back here," she said quietly. "Men without morals fighting and killing for those with the biggest bank rolls."
"Yes. Quite a bit of that. War is good business, after all," he said with some bitterness. "As long as you're on the side of the rich people."
"Right," she said, her bitter tone matching his perfectly.
"For the rebels I ended up with, there wasn't any bank roll. No paychecks, no benefits. They were fighting to win freedom for their country and their people, and had given up everything to do it. Many of them sold their houses and all of their possessions to buy guns for themselves and their friends.
"We lived off of handouts from sympathizers, and whatever we could scavenge or steal from the groups we fought with. Food was tight, most of the time. I hunted a lot. My battle groups never went hungry, at least." There was a touch of pride in his voice.
"At first, I didn't know much about tactics, or the equipment soldiers used. I'd hardly even fired a gun before. They didn't care, though, they needed everyone who was willing to help. And I had other...advantages. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a gun, but in close combat, well...," he shrugged. She knew as well as he that no regular human could hope to go toe-to-toe with a Lycan, especially an Alpha.
"And I could see in the dark. Now there was something that was a godsend to the rebels. Sure, the military groups, and the ones backed by rich people or companies had night-vision goggles and the like, but those are cumbersome and unnatural. Someone who could function as comfortably at night as in the day was invaluable. That was why I ended up leading a battle group. I taught them how to move silently." He cracked a little smile. "I taught them like they were my kittens, learning how to stalk and ambush prey."
She chuckled softly at that, the vision of him leading a band of rebels through the jungle, correcting them with a swat or a growl was an intensely funny one.
His smile grew for a minute, then faded away as he continued. "They picked it up fast. People do when they're desperate. When we switched to exclusively nighttime raids, our success rate skyrocketed. The would-be junta just wasn't prepared for armed ghosts appearing from nowhere in the middle of the night – especially ones led by an invincible man-monster."
"So that's when they put a price on your head?" she asked softly.
"It took some time before that happened. They had to figure out who I was. Our strike-and-fade tactics made that hard. For a while, it seemed like we might actually have a chance of beating them, or at least hurting them so badly that they'd have to sue for peace. They withdrew to fortified, armed bases, not daring to venture out after dark, afraid of the White Devil and his men."
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 14:59:00 GMT -5
"White Devil? You?"
He snorted softly, a sound very much like one of David's usual commentary noises. "Yes. Some wit came up with the nickname, and it stuck."
She chuckled softly. "White is the colour of death, after all," she said in a quiet voice. It had always been weird to her that people wore black to funerals in Western culture.
He nodded. "And I was death, for more of their soldiers than I could count, even if I could bring myself to try." A hint of pain ghosted through his grey eyes, but the serenity and safety of the rooftop garden, as well as his companion made it a tiny echo of what had previously come of talking about the death and the killing.
She kissed his temple and leaned her forehead against his head, not speaking, just letting him know that he was safe and that she loved him and didn't think any less of what he'd done in the name of freedom.
He closed his eyes, pressing lightly against her head with his, grateful for her reassurance. "About six months after we started the night raids, things began to change. The military group, always the best armed and equipped of those vying for power anyway got even more so, almost overnight. Better guns, better gear. Cutting-edge technology. It became almost suicide to try to attack their bases."
"Someone was selling them high tech stuff?" she guessed quietly.
He nodded. "In the space of month, we lost most of what we'd gained with our raids. They started aggressively coming after us. In one fight, I was hit here," He pointed to the upper right side of his chest," by one of their new guns. It wasn't like a regular rifle. I don't even know how to describe it, honestly. The impact knocked me at least five meters back, and it burned when it hit. I looked at the impact spot, and there was a crater in my chest. I could see my own lung." He shuddered softly.
Her eyes grew wide. "Oh my f*ck", she whispered and reached up to cover his chest with the palm of her hand.
He put his hand over hers, looking off into space as he remembered. "It hurt worse than anything I've ever felt except for silver. Thank god it wasn't silver, or I wouldn't be here now. When I regained my wits and stood, I saw that whatever the gun was, it had gone entirely through a concrete wall before striking me, and still hit that hard." He shook his head. "We fought them off, but a lot of good people died in that fight. People I called friends. I'd never seen or heard of any gun that could shoot through walls like that-not something a person could carry, at least. And that wasn't the only thing they had. They had this body armor that could stop a 7.62 round cold."
"Holy crap," she whispered, utterly stunned by that.
"Exactly. It wasn't just cutting-edge tech...it was beyond. I don't think even the U.S. military had stuff like that."
"Not terribly surprising," was her sole comment on that.
"We started hearing rumors about the source of this new technology. People kept mentioned the name Makepeace."
"Makepeace?" she repeated. "Ironic name is ironic. Who is he?"
He shrugged slightly. "I don't know. No one seemed to know anything about him, other than to say he was the source of the gear. No one I ever spoke to had seen him, or even heard his voice. never learned anything more about him. It was shortly after that when the 'specialists' came after me. You know the rest of the story."
She nodded and shifted a bit in her seat, her brow furrowed in a thoughtful frown. "Has he ever been mentioned in the media or anything?"
He thought for a moment, then nodded. "I didn't keep up with current events very diligently after leaving Burma, but I do remember a piece on him -- on 60 Minutes or something like that. Not much real information, just speculation mostly."
"Hmm," she said thoughtfully. Then she snorted and shook her head. "I couldn't get my hands on it anyway. It hasn't happened yet."
His mouth twisted in a little scowl. "It hurts my brain to think about that."
"Tell me about it," she said softly.
He looked up at the sky, then said, "I imagine David is finishing up by now. Shall we go see?"
"Yeah," she said and stood up, reaching down for his hand. "I'm feeling a naan craving, too. Shall we go see if Anisha can accommodate us for dinner tonight? If you're not going to go off gallivanting with your new lady friend, that is."
He gave her hand a little squeeze, then stuck his tongue out at her. "She won't be home until midnight or later. Filming, remember? Going to see Anisha sounds good to me. C'mon."
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 15:00:38 GMT -5
The Earth spun in majestic silence on the backdrop of stars. Familiar shapes of continents and oceans, occasionally obscured by cloud cover, drifted slowly past. Everything was peaceful, normal. For a moment. An actinic pinpoint of light burst into view on the continent of India, swelling and fading to an angry orange, then a sullen red. Concentric rings of shockwave-created clouds spread from the center point. It was as though the entire world stopped for a timeless moment, waiting in breathless anticipation as the blast began to subside. Then came a second flare, even larger than the first, this one on the coast of Pakistan. There was no scale, no sense of time. It could have been minutes, hours, or days in between the eruptions. More followed, popping up around the globe. America. Europe. China. Russia. On and on, the major cities of the world exploding in flames and death. The Apocalypse had begun.
Fast forward. More than a decade after the Final War. The surface of the Earth is a cracked, desolate landscape like that of the Moon. Nothing moved but wind-swept ash. No plants survived on the surface anymore, no animals. Cities lay in ruins, abandoned when the bombs began falling.
The world isn't dead, though. Not quite. Pockets of humanity survive. Underground, mostly, living out their lives in bunkers and bomb shelters. Only the very brave—or the very desperate—dare to walk out in the open anymore, scrabbling and scavenging though the remains of once-great civilizations for that last can of food, that unopened bottle of water. Anything to stay alive for one more night.
There were no governments left. No law but survival of the fittest. Mankind fought tooth and nail against extinction, barely hanging on. And no one had seen the sun in thirteen years, six months, and twenty-one days.
“How can I stop this?”
The God murmured only two words.*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** The ground was covered in a layer of ash at least six inches deep. The trees and bushes had long since been stripped of their leaves, leaving their bare branches thrusting up into the bruised, swollen sky like accusatory fingers, cursing the gods for abandoning their beloved creations. In the odd patch that had been swept free of the ash by the infrequent winds, the ground was cracked and parched, its surface broken by scores of miniature Grand Canyons.
Nothing moved in the desolate landscape. Plants had been the first to suffer. Then wildlife, birds, and insects. Then livestock and pets as the people went hungry and sacrificed family pets so they could eat. Finally, the old, sick, and children began dying. Now, only those few who lived the survivalist lifestyle in the years before the winter came – stockpiling canned food, bottled water, iodine pills – survived, and they hadn't stepped foot on the surface of the planet in more than a decade. Not since the first bomb fell.
It began as a regional war between India and Pakistan, over that tiny bit of mountainous, fertile land called Kashmir. Pakistan struck first...or was it India? No one was certain, but in the end, it didn't matter. Two nuclear bombs were hurled across borders, striking Karachi and Mumbai. The world watched in horror, their collective breath held as they awaited the Apocalypse.
China, who also laid claim to part of the Kashmir valley, launched an ICBM at the west coast of North America, blaming the United States for fomenting the war between India and Pakistan as a world-wide distraction from its planned invasion of China. Though it did not land in a populated area, the US President took swift and vicious action, sending an invasion force – which was suspiciously close to China's eastern shores – straight into the heart of the Asian Dragon. Russia, feeling threatened and still chafing at the disastrous end of Communism and the equally unsuccessful rise of Capitalism, struck out at Europe, which struck out at South America, which struck out at Australia...
Cities burned. People died. And no one had seen the sun in thirteen years, six months, and twenty-one days.
“How can I stop this?”
The Goddess murmured only two words.
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 15:05:23 GMT -5
Riley sat straight up in bed, her heart racing, gasping for breath. The words 'heiwa o okonau' were ringing in her head and she couldn't shake the horrible images of a desolate Earth, where not even insects moved in the deep drifts of ash the covered the ground. She turned to David and found him sitting up as well, looking - and smelling - as if he, too, had had some horrible nightmare.
The whispered words in Japanese drew his attention, and he turned wide eyes on Riley as she sat up, clearly as shaken as he was. Concern for her overrode his own discomfort. "Are you okay?" His breathing began to slow as he became aware that they were still in their own bed, that the world wasn't burned to ash around them.
She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah," she said and then cleared her throat; her mouth was dry and tasted of ashes. "Just a bad dream." She slipped out of bed and went to the closed bedroom door, taking her kimono off the hook and put it on. "I'm gonna get some water. Shall I bring you some, too?"
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, nodding. "Yeah, I could use it. I had a hell of a nightmare, too." He rubbed his forehead, then shook his head. "Christ. It was way too real. I can actually taste the ashes in my mouth." He walked into the bathroom and turned on the water, splashing his face, then lifted it and looked into the mirror. "Make peace," he muttered.
She froze with her hand wrapped around the door knob. "What did you just say?" she said in a strangled voice.
He turned from the mirror, seeing the surprise and fear written across her features. She was so pale that he went immediately to her, reaching for her. "My dream," he answered. "I saw the Earth after a nuclear holocaust. Almost everyone was dead...," he broke off, shaking his head again. "It was bad. But it felt like somehow I could stop it. 'Make peace'. Someone – something – told me that."
"Holy sh*t, David," she whispered and gripped his hand tightly. "I dreamt the same thing...and the same words woke me up. Heiwa o okonau. Japanese for 'make peace'."
Those were the words he'd heard her whisper; he just hadn't understood them at the time. "What the...? We had the same dream? How the hell does that happen?" He held her hand in a death grip, even more shaken than he had been when he first woke up.
She closed her eyes, trying to remember who had said those words to her. She could see the figure in her mind, but it was shadowed, clouded. She frowned severely, trying to make out details. "It was a woman," she said, remembering a definite impression of bare breasts, red lips, and long black hair. Nothing else would come to her, though, and she shook her head and opened her eyes. "The rest is lost."
"I never saw anyone. I just heard the words...right in my head. It was a man's voice, though. I'm sure of that. What does this mean, Riley?"
"It means we need to talk to Danny...and probably Jill, too." Her eyes flashed dangerously when she said the woman's name and she turned away, finally opening the door and going into the kitchen for some water. She sniffed the air, wondering if Danny had come home or if he was still at Lelah's.
"Yeah, we should talk to Dan." He didn't say anything about Jill. He didn't want to talk to her, or even be in the same room as her, especially so soon after...everything. He went into the kitchen behind her and leaned against the wall, trying to sort everything out.
She drew them both glasses of water and added a squeeze of lemon from the bowl of pre-cut wedges they kept in their refrigerator. She handed David his glass and returned to the living room, curling up on the couch. Finn jumped up next to her and pushed his way onto her lap, curling up and settling down as well as a 35-pound half-whale, half-dog could. Riley absently stroked his back as she sipped her water, a thoughtful frown on her face.
He dropped onto the couch next to her and patted Finn, face a mirror of her own. "Do you think the dream we both had could be some kind of warning?" It seemed like the most logical explanation, other than them both being insane.
"It has to be, right? I mean...why else would we have it? The same exact dream on the same night with the same words ringing in our heads when we woke?" She shrugged a bit. "It's either literal or metaphorical. Either way, this Makepeace guy that Danny told me about is bad news and we have to stop him."
He nodded slowly. "Yeah. It's gotta be." His mouth twisted into a half-frown. "Even if that's exactly what the f*cking MVA wants us to do."
"F*ck them. We'll do it our own way."
"Damn straight."
She leaned in and kissed his cheek softly and inhaled his scent. "We'll need to talk to them somehow, you know. We need to see what sort of intel they have. If they know anything more than what Danny does, we'll need to know it, too."
He leaned his head against hers and sighed. "Yeah...you're right, of course. You know what that means, though."
"I'm gonna have to be nice to the rotten akumabito, won't I?"
"Yeah...whatever that means. And so am I."
"I called her a demon," she said with a wicked little grin. She kissed his forehead and then sat back once more.
He snorted softly. "Too bad it's not that easy. If she was a demon, I mean."
Riley laughed at that. "So, I guess we can't really do anything until we talk to Danny again, right?"
"No...we should definitely talk to him first. Hell, for all we know, he had the dream too."
"Maybe. If you see him today, ask him to stay for dinner. We'll talk then."
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 15:05:53 GMT -5
After getting together with Dan to talk about the strange shared dream, it quickly became clear that he hadn't had it. Dan had given them both blank looks when they described what they'd seen. That seemed a little odd, since he was the only one who actually had something resembling contact with Makepeace, but whatever was going on, it was only happening to David and Riley.
They'd spent quite a while trying to figure out where the dreams might be coming from after that. Angels and demons were obvious first choices, followed closely by Faeries. The warning nature of the dream didn't really seem to suit demonic style, though. And Faeries seemed unlikely, too, since the dream had clearly involved Earth, not Faerie. Even the Seelie Court was aloof at best, uncaring at worst. Would they really bother sending warnings about a disaster that was going to befall Earth, a world not their own?
That left angels...or some other force, as yet unknown. The problem with an angelic warning was close to the same as that of the Faeries. Was it really their problem? While a prophetic dream would certainly fit into an angelic pattern, the Hosts of Heaven didn't tend to involve themselves with purely mortal affairs. Free will and all that. If mankind wanted to destroy itself, they were free to do so. Only when Hell got involved did Heaven step in, at least as far as the three of them knew. So that left some other player. An unknown power sending them warnings via dream.
At that point, the speculation sort of stalled. It was hard to brainstorm when you didn't know what you were brainstorming about, right? It was then that David remembered a shop in the Marketplace called The Lake and The Stars. Though it looked more like a doctor's office, the place was actually a seer's place of business. The owner was said to have a real gift. He'd wondered, occasionally, with a touch of sadness, if the seer was anything like Calico Rose, but that wonder was never enough for him to actually go inside.
He'd suggested going to see the seer, an idea Riley was not very thrilled with. He was well aware of her dislike of magic, but it didn't seem like they had many other options. So, David volunteered to go alone. Which was why he was currently crossing the Marketplace's open air bazaar, aiming for the very clinical-looking fortune teller's shop.
Once inside, he was greeted by a professionally dressed woman behind a counter, who took his name and asked him to have a seat in a comfortably furnished waiting room. On the wall behind the counter was an array of seer's tools - Tarot cards, bags of runes, crystal balls, dowsing rods and the like. There were also shelves packed tightly with books on nearly every occult subject one could think of - vampires, lycanthropes, faeries, demons, and angels - as well as books on how to use the seer's tools once one was selected.
He raised one brow at the collection behind the counter and sat down in the waiting room. This wasn't anything like he'd expected. Which, really, wasn't all that surprising, since his prior experiences with fortune tellers was limited to the state fair sort.
After he'd waited for some ten or fifteen minutes, a tall, nearly skeletally-thin woman dressed in a long, flowing black skirt, her iron-grey hair pulled back into a severe bun at the nape of her neck pushed through a door next to the counter and consulted the book where David's name had been written. She glanced up at David, looking directly at him and revealing eyes that were covered with a bluish film. "Mr. Lo?" she asked in a strong, strangely deep voice.
"That's me," he answered, standing up and taking a few steps towards the tall woman. A blind seer fit the stereotype, at least. Although, the way she'd looked at the book, and then at him weren't typical actions for a blind woman.
She gave him a smile and then stepped back to the door, holding it open for him. "My name is Sabine, Mr. Lo. My office is the second door on the right. Please go in and make yourself comfortable. I'll be with you shortly."
"Thank you." He walked past her to the second door on the right and opened it, glancing inside before entering. The room was dimly lit, and exceedingly normal looking. A couple of comfy-looking chairs, a cluttered desk, and plants scattered around the room. Bookshelves against two walls. There weren't any crystal balls or any other kind of fortune-telling tools in sight. Again, it was more like a doctor's office than anything else. He sat down in one of the chairs near a coffee table and waited.
After a short time, Sabine entered the room and paused for just a moment, her head tilted to the side like a bird, which she resembled faintly - a crow or perhaps a raven. She slowly swung her head side to side as if trying to find David - lending further credence to the fact that she was blind - but soon those eerie eyes settled on his face once more and she closed the door behind her before going and settling down in the chair across from him.
He leaned forward a bit, waiting for the woman to speak, studying her face. Aside from the odd eyes, she looked...normal. Just like the room. There was nothing to suggest any sort of magical powers on her part.
Sabine gave him a reassuring smile and picked up a pad of paper and a pencil from a side table. "How can I help you, Mr. Lo?"
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 15:06:15 GMT -5
He hesitated for an instant, then just jumped right in. "My wife and I recently shared a dream, a dream that was a clearly a warning. I'm hoping you can help figure out who sent us this dream, and why."
She nodded, and as he spoke, she scribbled notes on the paper, not taking her eyes from his face. "Tell me about these shared dreams, please. In as much detail as you can remember."
He gave her a little grin, whether she could see it or not. "Believe me, I doubt I'll ever forget it." Then he went on to describe the dream he'd had, not leaving out any of it, including the message at the end. He also told her about Riley's dream, and how it ended the same way his had. It wasn't any less strange after being retold several times now.
She was silent as he spoke, making notes while still not looking at the paper in front of her. When he was done telling his tale, she closed her eyes and was quiet for a long time. The only sound in the room was the ticking of a clock and their breathing. Finally, just when David was no doubt starting to get antsy, her eyes opened again and she drew a deep breath. "Have you ever been to see a diviner?" she asked.
He nodded. "A few, I guess. I don't really know if they were diviners. One of them could definitely see the future, though," he said with a touch of sadness, thinking of Calico again.
Sabine's brows drew down in a soft frown as well. "A little blonde card reader, yes? She's... She was killed by a man who wore your face but did not have your heart."
"Yeah." A flash of anger went through him at the description of Luo, fists clenching involuntarily. Then he sighed softly, forcing himself to relax. "She was hardly more than a kid. She didn't deserve to die like that." It still ate at him, clearly.
"Her death was not your fault, Mr Lo." She paused for a moment and then gave him a slightly sardonic smile. "Though I suspect you already know that. It doesn't help it to hurt less, does it?"
"No," he said shortly.
Her sardonic smile turned sympathetic and she was silent again for a moment, tipping her head to the side as if listening to something again. After a moment, she looked back at David and said, "This diviner you saw in Japan, tell me of her, please. Specifically what she told you upon entering her shop for the first time."
"When we...," he trailed off, trying to remember what had happened when they'd first gone into the Onmyodo shop. So much had happened afterward.
She leaned forward a bit, the frown resurfacing, though this time it appeared to be one of intense concentration. "She called you and your wife by different names. What were those names?"
"That's right, she did." He thought back, a small frown of his own forming as he tried to remember. "She called me Saru...something. And Riley Uzume, I'm pretty sure. Riley said they were kami."
Sabine nodded and sat back, appearing a little more pale than she had previously. "Yes," she murmured, mostly to herself. "That's right. Powerful gods of Shinto belief. Married kami. Lord of Martial Arts and Lady of Dance." She nodded once more and was silent again, her head tilted to the side in that eerie way, listening to something only she could hear. The silence in the room rolled on, broken only by someone's footsteps in the hall beyond the closed door and the steady ticking of the clock.
"That's them," he confirmed. "Kind of weird, since I am a martial artist, and she is a dancer. And we're married." He fell silent after she did, waiting for her to say something else. She looked like she was listening to something, but he heard nothing other than the clock and footsteps. It was a little creepy.
Without warning, Sabine rose from the chair after laying the pad of paper and pencil aside. She went to her desk and pulled open a drawer. From within, she pulled out a small silver bell and returned to her seat with it. Holding it out David, she said, "Ring this once but do not damp it. I need it to vibrate until it silences naturally."
"Okay." He reached out and took the bell without hesitation. Sure, it was weird, but on a scale of the strangest things that had happened to him, it would hardly even register at the lowest level. He rang the bell once, firmly, then held it carefully out, making sure not to touch it to anything.
She tilted her head to the side again, closing her eyes and straining forward, her face the very picture of concentration. The bell's tone was silver-pure, and it rang for a long time, gradually winding down and fading away. When the ticking clock could be heard again, Sabine sat back and nodded once. "It is as I thought. The dreams were sent from these gods."
"These gods? From the kami? Why?"
She shook her head. "I can't answer that, Mr Lo. They keep their motivations hidden from me. You and Mrs Lo aren't human, though, are you?" She paused for a moment and then shook her head again. "No, that's not quite right. You're human, but...more than human, too."
"That's a fair assessment," he agreed. More than human was a good way to put it. "Does that make a difference?"
"It will," she said enigmatically. Then she sagged back in her seat, paler even than before, a fine sheen of sweat on her face. "That is all I can tell you for today, Mr Lo. If you seek further answers, you may come back, of course."
It will. Somehow, that sounded ominous. He paused for another moment, then stood, offering her his hand automatically. "Thank you for your help, Sabine." Even if she couldn't tell him why they were doing it, at least she'd shed some light on where the dreams had come from.
She raised her hand in the general direction of David's, not quite meeting it. "You're welcome, Mr Lo. I hope I've helped you somewhat."
He shifted his hand to catch hers, giving it a careful shake. "You definitely have. I might take you up on coming back another time, as well."
She smiled and nodded to the door. "Forgive me if I don't see you out. I find myself a little weak. Good day, Mr Lo."
He had enough experience with magic to know it took plenty of energy out of a person to use it, so he assumed that held true for whatever talent Sabine had, as well. "No problem. Thanks again." He turned and walked out quickly, eager to tell Riley what he'd learned.
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 15:06:36 GMT -5
Jill McKerras was waiting across the street from Zen Gardens one night after David's classes were over. After their disastrous meeting a few months back, she'd come clean to her supervisors and they had eventually come to see her point of view, namely that having contact with David could only mean good things in the long run, especially if she could somehow manage to convince him to help out the Agency from time to time.
She'd been very hesitant to spend any time alone in the dark in WestEnd, but the immediate area surrounding the Zen Building was surprisingly clear of Makos and other unsavory elements and soon she relaxed enough that she seated herself on the hood of a rusted-out truck to wait for David to appear.
As was his usual routine, David cleaned up the practice room, then jumped into the studio shower after the students were gone. It had been another good session. They were really coming along. It was too bad there weren't any organized tournaments around RhyDin; he was pretty sure a couple of his students could place in one, maybe even take the gold medal.
After his shower, he dried off and dressed, then turned off the lights and locked up the studio before leaving. He'd only taken two steps out of the door when he spotted the familiar and not-especially welcome figure of Jill sitting on the hood of an abandoned truck. Part of him wanted to just ignore her and head home. There was no way in hell she'd keep up with him if he started to run. The less emotional side of him said he should see what it was she wanted.
She slid off the truck's hood, landed with a little poof of dust at her feet, and wiped off the rear of her jeans. "David!" she called out - as if he hadn't seen her already, and as if they were the best of friends - and jogged across the street to him, making it nearly impossible for him to avoid her without being downright rude and aggressive about it.
Well, there was nothing for it now but to let her have her say. He stayed where he was, right between Harry and Sally, waiting for her. This was completely intentional. He didn't really think she presented any danger to him, but why be stupid about it? The Foo Dogs were great early warning systems. He didn't say anything as she approached.
She stopped about three feet away from him and glanced up at the giant bronze statues. "They're beautiful," she said and reached out to deliberately stroke the forepaw of whichever one was on her right. "Do I pass the test?" she asked him, boldly meeting his eyes. A small part of her flared up in anger that he would play games with her like this, but the vast majority of her knew that he was entitled to whatever little ploys he wanted.
He felt momentarily ashamed of doing that to her, no matter how he felt about her actions towards him. She'd never done anything that even hinted of a threat. Could he really fault her for having feelings, and acting on them? He nodded slowly, then simply said, "Sorry." Ashamed or not, he wasn't going to make this too easy for her. Even if he overlooked the whole throwing herself at him thing, there was still the matter of the constant surveillance.
She nodded once, curtly, and then let the subject drop. "I know you're on your way home to Riley and Finn, so I'll make this brief." She dug her hands into her jeans' back pockets and looked at him. "We need your and Riley's help."
"You need our help," he repeated flatly. "First you and your MVA watches us. Riley and I, for practically every moment since I got here. Then you tell me that your superiors are going to try to use me. Now you need our help."
"It's a completely f*cked up situation, David, I fully acknowledge that. But you want to know what's even more f*cked up?" She was giving him the hard sell, knowing that the soft sell would never work on him.
"What's that?" He was curious, despite himself. After the way they'd parted before, he hadn't really expected Jill to come around ever again. Whatever it was, this was important. To her, at least.
"Someone destroying your wife's Earth simply because he can. Not because he's driven by something like greed or power or hell, even some religious cause. Nope. Just because he can."
"Destroying Riley's... What the hell are you talking about?"
"Remember we discussed an arm's dealer who goes by the name of Makepeace? Riley and Daniel talked about him, too."
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 15:07:05 GMT -5
"Yeah, I remember." He still couldn't get used to her mentioning things like that, knowing what Riley and Dan had talked about.
"Recently he's gone from funding rebellions to instigating them. Does Riley keep up with news from the Hydra Universe?"
He hesitated for a moment before remembering that was the name the MVA gave Riley's earth. "Yes, she does."
"Then you both know about all of the uprising in the Middle East, right? Tunisia, Egypt, Syria. Those were all started by him."
"Why? Why is he starting wars?"
She shrugged. "Who knows? He's like a bully in a sandbox. The Hydra Universe isn't even his, so what does he care if it all goes to sh*t. He's making a killing off the weapons deals, but more than that, I think he's just...amused by the destruction."
"That's sick." He shook his head, pushing the emotional response away. "All right. So he's a psycho. What do Riley and I have to do with all of this?"
"You two are the only ones who can stop him. We can't do anything; our hands are tied because he's not using our tech to jump. But we can track him and tell you where he jumps to. You go get him, bring him back here, and we'll take care of the rest."
He stared at her. "You're serious."
"As a heart-attack, David."
"You want me...us...to go to Earth, find a madman who's starting wars, and capture him? Just like that."
She nodded and waved her hand airily, dismissing his concerns. "You're a smart guy. Daniel's fought in wars, led troops. Riley's a battle tank. Between the three of you, I trust you can come up with a winning plan and make this happen."
Despite the situation, her description of Riley made his lips twitch into a smile. It vanished quickly, though. "You're asking us to risk our lives for you."
"We're at war, David. This man is slowly dismantling your wife's home. How long before he starts selling nukes to India and Pakistan? Or worse, the Taliban and Al Qaeda? Imagine what they'd do with a coordinated attack using dirty bombs in London, New York City and Tokyo."
"Christ," he muttered softly. She knew the right buttons to push. And no wonder, he reminded himself – she knows you better than anyone but Riley.
"However you ultimately plan to do it, just get it done. Quickly and quietly. We'll give you whatever resources you need - intel, money, equipment - but it'll be off the books and there will be no one to rescue you if you get in too deep."
He held up a hand. "I haven't agreed to anything, yet. I'll need to talk to Riley about this first."
"Don't take too long. Things are heating up in Syria and soon, he'll move on. We've gotten word that he's spoken to some militants in Burma." She felt awful using that particular carrot, but she needed him to agree and quickly.
Damn the woman. She knew very well about Dan's time in Burma, and knew that he would realize it, too. He shook his head in rueful admiration. "You're good," he said.
"It's my job," she said, allowing some of the shame show through in her expression. She wasn't proud of this conversation or most of the things she'd done and said to David in the past year, but this wasn't the time for handling things with kid gloves. If she needed to beat him about the head and neck to get him to do this thing, then that was exactly what she'd do.
"Yeah." He could understand that. "I'll talk to Riley. I'm not making any promises, though."
"We'll stop surveillance, too." It was a last ditch measure; she was throwing it all in.
"You'd better," he replied. "If..and I stress if...we do this for you, I don't ever want to deal with the MVA again."
She nodded and extended her hand to him. "My word. Whatever you think it's worth."
He nodded, taking her hand for a quick shake. That, at least, he wouldn't feel guilty about.
She gave him a quick smile and tried to ignore how the touch of his hand against her sent a thrill down her spine and set her blood aflame. "I can give you three days. I'll be in touch then."
He nodded again, and turned away without another word, heading off down the street towards home. Towards Riley.
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 15:21:52 GMT -5
David hardly noticed the walk from WestEnd to Seaside, busy as he was mulling over the conversation he'd just had with Jill. Destroying the Earth? It was hard to imagine one man being able to do such a thing—or wanting to. And on top of that, the organization that claimed to watch over and police this sort of thing had just admitted it was helpless because of a goddamn technicality "I guess bureaucratic bullsh*t is the same no matter what universe—or multiverse—you're in," he muttered as he increased his pace, needing to get home to Riley, both to tell her about it and for the comfort of her presence. A few minutes later, he was walking up the path to their front door. "Riley?" he called out as he opened the door. David was greeted at the door by a horse. No, wait, that was just Finn. Sitting down to wait to be greeted as he'd been taught, the big dog's mouth was open in a goofy grin, his tongue lolling to the side giving him a happy-go-lucky look that perfectly matched his personality. "I'm in the kitchen, baby," Riley called out. He reached down—not very far down, it should be noted—and patted Finn distractedly, then walked into the kitchen. Riley was at the sink, washing up after making dinner, and he went right over to her, slipping his arms around her slender waist and leaning his forehead against her shoulder.
She smelled something on him, something not happy. Half-turning in his arms, she covered his hands with her one of hers and gave them a gentle squeeze. "What's wrong?" she asked softly.
"Jill was waiting for me when I left Zen," he replied.
Riley made a disgusted face and shook her head with a sigh. "What'd she want?" she asked in a voice that was fairly dripping venom.
"Our help," he said, knowing how ridiculous that sounded. Hell, even after hearing why she'd been asking there was still disbelief in his voice.
"Feh," the Cat said succinctly. "She...they...can have our help when it's a cold-ass day in Hell." She let go of David's hands and completely turned in his arms, facing him now. "What's the story? What sort of bullsh*t did she feed you?"
He shook his head slightly. "She said that Makepeace is going to destroy the Earth, your Earth, and that we're the only ones who can stop him."
She blinked and stared at him for a long moment. Then she burst out in raucous laughter, holding her sides against the force of it. Soon she was in tears and leaning against David to prevent herself from falling over. Finn, who had followed David into the Great Food Room, sat on the other side of the counter, c*cking his head back and forth quizzically, occasionally giving David a look that said, "Is Mom broken?"
"Riley," he said, raising his voice a little over the laughter. "Are you forgetting the dream we both had?"
She took a moment to collect herself. "Jesus Christ, David," she said between gasps for breath. "Please tell me you're not buying her c*ck and bull story! They've obviously still got the house bugged and they're desperate for you to work with them. They're gonna feed you any line they think will work."
"She says he's responsible for the rebellions in Tunisia, Syria and Egypt," he said, frowning. "You've been seeing those in the news there, you know how bad they are." He hesitated a moment, then added, "She also says he's talking to militants in Burma."
"That slick b*tch." She shook her head and threw the towel she had been using to dry dishes down on the counter before slipping out of his arms and heading to the table beneath the room's large corner windows. "You're buying it." The way she said it made it clear that it wasn't a question but it was very incredulous nonetheless. "Why?"
"I think she's serious, yeah. I don't have your nose, but I'm pretty good at telling when people are feeding me a line of crap."
She sat down with a heavy sigh and pressed the heel of her palm against the centre of her forehead. "So what do they want us to do? Aren't they capable of cleaning up their own messes?"
His mouth twisted. "They want us to find him and bring him here. She says they can't go after him because he's not using their tech, whatever the hell difference that makes."
A sculpted sable brow rose in a skeptical arch for half a second while she thought about what he'd said. After a moment she nodded begrudgingly. "That actually makes the whole story a bit more believable. We both know how red tape ties law enforcement's hands." She sighed and played idly with her wedding ring, turning it and twisting it around her finger. "You want to help, don't you?"
"I'm not sure want is the right word, but... What if, Riley? If there's even a small chance she's right..." He sighed, walking over to her and putting his hand on her shoulder. "I can't sit back and let him play with people's lives."
Her eyes narrowed a bit in thought and after a moment's silence, she nodded. "What did you tell her?"
"I told her I wasn't going to make any promises without talking to you about it. And that if we did this, the MVA leaves us alone for good."
"Good." She stood suddenly, glancing at the clock and doing a quick calculation. "Are we supposed to contact her when we've made our decision or something? I need to talk to some people in Tucson before I decide anything."
"She said she'd give us three days, and then contact us," he said, glad she was taking this seriously now.
She nodded again, and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "I'm gonna go make a call. Keep an eye on the food. It should be done in about 20 minutes." She left the kitchen and headed up the stairs to the guest room that did double duty as a home office. Finn followed her and laid down across the bottom step, effectively guarding Riley against anyone who might break in and steal her, and incidentally putting himself directly in the way so she'd have to give him a pat or two in order to move past him.
Finn's protectiveness brought a little grin to David's face. The dog seemed to love Riley almost as much as he did. He turned his attention to the food, going over to see what it was she was cooking. Cheese and onion enchiladas were in the oven, bubbling and baking away and there was a pitcher of margaritas in the refrigerator. After living in Tucson for as long as she had, Riley had gotten quite good at fixing Mexican—real Mexican it should be noted, not that Tex-Mex crap—and enchiladas were one of her specialties.
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 15:23:09 GMT -5
Thirty minutes later, Riley came down the stairs with a thoughtful look. She stepped over Finn and gave him a scritch behind his ears, before plopping herself down on the sofa next to David. "Smells good," she said.
"It's done," he replied, smiling at her. "I just left it in there to keep it warm." He didn't ask if she was hungry; that was a silly question where Riley was concerned. He stood and went to get the food out and serve it up.
She followed him into the kitchen, fetching down plates, glasses, silverware, and then setting the table. As she worked she explained that she'd phoned an old contact of hers, a man named Baron who owned the Shifter bar in Tucson where Riley had been a regular customer. He'd helped her countless times before she relocated to Rhy'Din, most recently in trying to find Rhys. "He recognised the name," she explained to David as she poured margaritas for them. "But that's all. Said he'd heard he was a gun runner who could get his hands on some pretty futuristic stuff. He said he'd ask some merc contacts to get something more concrete for us."
Once the plates were on the table, he pulled out the enchiladas and scooped out a large portion for each of them. "Good," he replied. "I do think Jill's on the level this time, but some independent confirmation would go a long way."
"Exactly what I thought, too. He said he'd get back to me in a couple of days." She started in on the food, making appreciative noises as she plowed through the first helping in under five minutes. She slowed down for the second, taking her time and appreciating the taste. "What do you want to do if Baron confirms what Jill told you?"
Watching her eat, he wondered how many women would cheerfully throttle her for being able to shovel down food like that and remain in perfect shape. The thought made him smirk. He wasn't far behind her, either—the food was really good. "If he's really trying to wreck your world just because he can... We should do it. Stop him."
"How?" she asked, wondering at the smirk. "We pop in, arrest him, drag him back here and then what happens to him?"
He lifted one shoulder in a little shrug. "I don't know what happens. Does it matter? If he's here, he's not causing trouble on Earth."
"You know what I don't get? If they can't actively pursue him and arrest him or whatever because he's not using their tech, how can they possibly prosecute him or even hold him after we pick him up?"
He shrugged again. "I don't know. We'll have to ask Jill when she contacts us. There's got to be something, or they wouldn't ask us to bring him here."
"Or they're no better than the supposed dictators and criminals they're pursuing," she said sourly. She gave David a slightly sheepish look. "The Ex-Minister Cat is cynical."
He chuckled. "The Ex-Minister Cat is dead-on. We don't know anything about the MVA beyond what Jill's told us."
"Someone, somewhere, has to have heard of them. How many different universes did they say there were? 125 or something like that? Maybe you could reach out to your old CIs and ask if any of them know anything."
He nodded. "I'll ask around, if I can find any of them anymore."
"Also, I find it very hard to believe that Fenner's never heard of them. Maybe I'll go bother him, too. He's not busy now that his paper's gone. We could do lunch." She smirked at the thought of tracking down the journalist and bombarding him with questions.
He snickered. "He'll be thrilled, I'm sure."
"He loves me. He's just too chicken to admit it. You clear the table. I'm taking Finn for a jog."
He nodded, standing up to collect the plates. "I'll be out back when you get back."
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Post by Riley Lo on Jun 20, 2012 15:24:57 GMT -5
Sitting behind her desk in the basement manager's office of the Imperial Grand Rhy'Din, Riley found herself thinking more and more about the proposition Jill had given to David and less about the pile of work that was slowly building up in front of her. She and David had agreed to get independent confirmation of whether the MVA was what it said it was and not some scary tyrannical corporation, like something out of Orwell's 1984. David had decided that he'd track down some of his old confidential informants and ask them what they knew and Riley had decided that she'd pick the brain of the most connected person she'd ever met. Rifling through her mobile's stored numbers, she arrived in no time at all at an entry that simply said 'Gonzo'. With a little smirk, she pressed the 'send' button and waited for the dulcet tones of an Australian accent.
The only dulcet greeting she received was a mechanical, "Darien Fenner." Somehow, even when he was in the best of moods, the Aussie managed to sound like he had better things to do.
The grin grew and she sighed softly, perhaps a little sensuously, and purred into the phone, "Hello, darling." She had to bite down on her lower lip to stifle the giggles. "It's Riley."
"Riley?" There was a beat on the other end, as if he was struggling to remember the name. "Wait... O'Rourke? 'Ow the hell did'ya get this number?"
"You gave it to me, silly," she said in a coquettish voice. She couldn't, however, keep up the act for long, and snorted out a belly laugh. "Sorry, sorry. I can't keep that up for very long. Are you busy tonight?"
"That depends. I may be conveniently occupied," he replied, amused. "S'a matt'a, Kit? Lo not pushin' your buttons anymore?"
"Oh, honey. You're so sad. But hope springs eternal, doesn't it?" She paused for a moment and grinned, even though Fenner was not present to enjoy the wickedness of that particular expression. "I have a favour I need to ask you and if you can pull it off, I'll owe you. Big time."
There was an indiscernible sound made on the journo's end, soon followed by a grunt of acquiescence. "Yeh, ar'roight. Whe'ah and when?" He wasn't ignorant enough to conduct sensitive business over the phone, and he was willing to bet Riley wasn't either.
"Have you been out to the new casino yet?" She reached for her appointment calendar and thumbed through it to today. "I have about two hours this evening, in between classes and rehearsal. We could meet in the lounge upstairs and I'll treat you to the best dirty martini in the city."
"How very Bond of ya. I'll swing by once my flight gets in. Should be 'round eight or nine."
She allowed her voice to drop back into the sensual purr and said, "I can't wait. Until then, darling." She burst out into another fit of giggles as she pressed the 'end' button, hanging up before he could...just because she could.
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