Racing the Storm

[Nick22]

At Least we have a direction to  head towards' Marita said as she followed after Trieste. 15 minutes of walking had been fruitless, so the only thing she could figure to do was stick close to  the others and not get lost.  hopefully the folks at this castle are friendly..' She muttered to herself.

[Pterano]

Vergil was unable to affect the events that unfolded before him. He'd have ran after Emilena, but it was pointless... they were on a slope leading into a trap, and if he chased them, he'd have fallen in as well. He looked around for a way to stop this or save her but it was too late... they rolled over the side. Flinching, Vergil began edging towards the pit, but stopped as he sensed something off...

Tony suddenly spun around from behind the tree, but found his target had 'deserted' his post. "Shit!" he whispered, panning around for Stryker. Where was he... where was he...? His heart pounded in his chest as the ferret desperately sought his quarry. Darting forward, he hoped he wouldn't get shot... but stopped as he saw Stryker taking aim a bit ahead of him, pressed up against the side of another tree as he lined up what looked like... wait was that Vergil? What was he doing out here? Oh shit! He knew what this was!

Bringing his Glock up, the ferret cringed, and fired, striking Stryker squarely in the right backside and most likely puncturing his lung... except for his bulletproof vest. Throwing the lizard against the tree with his shot, Tony fired again, this time hitting the reptile in his throat, blood spurting out even as he whirled in Tony's direction, firing wildly with his rifle, which of course missed (though it did whiz uncomfortably close to Tony's ear). The look of shock on Stryker's face as he saw his assailant said it all before Tony fired another round right into his face, turning his expression into a mangled mess of gore as he fell back against the tree... then collapsed into a sitting position, clearly dead.

"Vergil?" Tony called, running up to Stryker and kicking him to make sure he was dead.

Vergil's eyes widened upon hearing the voice. "What...? How?" he asked, glancing upward to see Tony.

"I've got a car a short distance away on a side road! We should get out of here... like now! We shouldn't stick around! Stryker rarely works alone!" Tony insisted.

Vergil glanced behind him, and finally managed to jump up onto a ledge overlooking the pit, holding onto a branch for support as he searched for Emilena. "You here that?" he asked. "One of my friends has a car we can use! I'm not sure I can reach you... but..." He worked on breaking off a longer branch, hoping it would be sufficient as he held it down for her to grab onto. "Can you get it?" he asked.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

"You have friends out here?" exclaimed Emilena. Nevertheless she wasn't going to complain; William's body had sunken through the spikes to the extent that the tips were driving into her hands and knees.

Her feet got some free acupuncture as she staggered to a precarious standing position. Knowing she'd only have one shot, she leaped off of William's body and dug her claws into the branch. She almost slipped off as Vergil staggered under her new weight, but once she was flush with the pit wall she could use her feet to aid the climb.

"Jesus..." she gasped, catching her breath at the top of the pit. "I heard the gunshots and figured Stryker had killed you...who the hell are your friends?" Not wanting to keep whoever it was waiting, she stumbled forward, using Vergil's large branch as a walking stick. She also grabbed Stryker's torture knife and laser pistol from where they had fallen on the ground; even among probable allies she'd prefer to be armed.

----------------------------

Lily jumped as she heard gunshots. "Over there!" she gasped.

"Emilena!" Flora dropped down onto all fours and sprinted as fast as she could, leading the team at a breakneck pace towards the sound of the gunfire.

[Nick22]

The sound of gunfire  drew Maritas attention, then she saw Flora run off " flora!  Hold up! you have no idea where you are going!' She called  before running after her' " If you fall into a trap or something " I'm  reaklly going to give yiou a lecture Flora! She said as she broke into a run to try to catch up with the folf.

[bushwacked]

Axel flinched at the sudden cracks in the distance, his eyes widening. "What -" he started to say... but then Flora rushed past him, almost knocking him to the floor in her eagerness to get to the source of the gunfire.

High above them, Rio suddenly dropped into view, holding onto a branch one handed. "I saw a flash! I saw a flash!" he announced, pointing frantically. "Flora, wait for me!" Pulling himself back up, the leaves started to rustle and shake as he quickly followed her in the treetops.

"Flora!" Triste hissed as the folf dashed off, but she didn't stop. "Shit..." Rushing at this pace would almost certainly alert any potential enemies in the woods of their arrival. Flora was way too far ahead for Triste to catch up, but she could at least try to get there in time to deal with the situation if they did wander into a trap. Cloaking herself, she started to give chase to Flora.

Watching the others dash off, Axel pulled out his pistol and gulped, looking at Lily. "Why... why are we running towards the sound of guns? That's... ah..." A nervous noise escaped his throat as he could see they were being left behind. "Ah crap... be careful, alright?" he muttered, pulling out the pistol Triste had handed him and struggling to click the safety off.

[Pterano]

Tony moved up to them now, shoving his pistol in his waistband. "It's him... one of my erstwhile companions. I'm afraid we don't have much time for chitchat though because he's right... others could be coming. Say... did you encounter any traps on the way in?" Vergil asked the ferret.

"No." He shook his head. "Nothing back the way I came. My car isn't too far off. Come on!" he said, waving them on.

"How are you still alive?" Vergil asked him, taking the sniper rifle as they passed by Stryker's corpse.

"I don't know." Tony confessed, heading through the trees, leaves kicking up under his feet. "I woke up in this priceless classic, saw Stryker driving by, and decided to follow. That's when I saw him basically kidnap Emilena and wondered what he was up to. Was shot at upon arriving at the castle, but uh..."

"Wait... you have no memory after your fall from the cliff?" Vergil asked, pausing, causing Tony to stop as well.

"No..." the ferret replied. "Just pain and... darkness... but I knew I was alive..."

Vergil furrowed his brow. How was this even possible? What if it wasn't really Tony? But then again... why question the ferret who'd just saved their asses? There wasn't time for this. "Let's just get to this car of yours and get back to the others."

Tony nodded, and continued on, and Vergil could indeed see a beautiful black and red vintage automobile just becoming visible through the treeline now. Memory loss... just like his own... were Tony's circumstances similar though? What exactly was going on here? Whatever it was, they could get their answers later... they needed to distance themselves from this place as soon as possible.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

"Tony?" Emilena repeated, puzzled. The stuffed shirt from Lanthae whose father has tried to have her killed twice now? "I'm sorry, but how do I know you're not just here to rescue Vergil and drop me right back into a mafia dungeon?" She kept a tight grip on her weapons, but did not hold them in a threatening position.

"Emiiiiiii!" Flora came bursting into view, waving her arms wildly. Then she sprang a net trap which bound her tightly and left her in a hogtie at the top of a tree.

Lily and the others soon came panting into view. Lily quickly worked on freeing Flora while Emilena backed into Vergil, nonplussed. "You weren't kidding when you said you had friends in this forest..." she muttered, observing the sheer number of people that had just arrived.

[Nick22]

marita caught up to Flora right after she triggered the trap. " always look where you are going flora, and that way you wont fall into a  trap like that. " She sighed , then stopped as she saw Tony. Marita's eyes widened, and her mouth fell open. for a few seconds she was speechless then finally managed to get some words out ' t-TONY? how -- how the heck did you survive that fall? You fell like 5000 feet off a cliff! Look i've heard people have survived falls from ridiculous heights, but thats usually just dumb luck. Ok I want answers.. when we get out of here, i suppose.' She then turned away from Tony and looked at Emilena, and she recognized her.  her eyes narrowed, and the emotion on her face evaporated. " so part of this was rescuing... HER? Great.. just great.  a rather big  detail you left out Flora' she said looked up at the entrapped folf ' But well i guess we can sorta all this out once we get the heck out of here' .
 Suddenly a voice came out of the forest around them." My my ! what wondrous news ! I have guests' a thin reedy voice cackled. ' Just give me a second.." a figure dropped out of trees in front of Tonys parked car.  It was a decent-sized wolf, wearing an odd assortment of clothing. ' Rags mixed with leaves,  with moss for 'boots, his eyes moved  moved back and forth , a grin plastered on his face. "Well well. welcome to my forests! Shame Sryker and william used about half of it to torture or kill people, but hey I managed to grab some stuff from thier bodies " He cackled.  " Forgive me, where are my manners? Kojjurro, at your service' He did a mock and flamboyant bow. "

[bushwacked]

Her eyes passing disinterestedly over the newcomer who'd dropped from the trees, Triste pushed past Lily as she attempted to cut Flora down and stopped in front of Vergil. She started to speak, but then her breath caught in her throat as she saw who was standing beside the gecko. After an almost indiscernible pause, she mentally shook herself, regaining her composure. I can find out how he's alive later...

"Tony? What... how are you..." Axel whispered, his mouth dry, eyes wide as he stared at Tony.

 "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Triste demanded, turning her attention back to Vergil. She saw his bloody leg and frowned. "You've been shot..." We need to treat this now. Triste looked over her shoulder. "Lily! We need you here!"

There was a rustle of leaves, and suddenly Rio dropped through the branches, landing lightly on his feet in front of Emilena. "You're okay! Did you kick their asses?!" Rio hugging Emilena's waist. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of Tony, and the boy froze. "What the fuck?!"

[Pterano]

Vergil ground his teeth as Triste mentioned his wound. "Don't have her waste her energy and cause herself pain... I can heal myself just as easily once the drug they shot me up with wears off. Have her save her strength... and her pain centers. No sense putting her through needless pain." he said, wincing a little as exhaustion and fatigue once again started to overtake him, now that his adrenaline rush had worn off. He began swaying a bit, trying to hold himself upright. "Just... just get me into a car so I can sleep..."

Tony shook his head as he gazed at the others, indescribably pleased at seeing them again. "I can't answer that." he said to both Axel and Marita. "I woke up in that car..." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the Duesenberg. "Isn't one of my father's, no idea how I got there... saw Stryker, so decided to follow him. Had to make the choice... I made it." he said, nodding back in the direction of Stryker's mangled corpse. He was keeping things short... in case the others didn't trust him, and also because they needed to move.

He raised his gun as Rio dropped from the trees, almost panicking, as he expected retaliation from the castle at any moment... but relaxed if only slightly upon seeing it was his "executioner." He smirked at the kid, then shrugged, before violently pistol-whipping him across his face. "THAT'S for throwing me off a cliff! It takes more than a little shit-head like yourself to kill me! You try that again I'll blow your brains out!" he waved the gun in Rio's direction before a throaty alarm began roaring from the direction of the castle, penetrating the trees and heralding further doom for them if they stuck around.

"Shit! We don't have time for this!" Vergil groaned. "We have to get out of here NOW! They must realize Stryker's vital signs have stopped so..."

"Right!" Tony nodded and jogged over to the Duesenberg, clambering in behind the wheel. He turned the key, pushed his foot on the starter switch then depressed his heel on the accelerator, letting the big engine rumble to life, causing Vergil to jump a little at the sound.

"I hope you don't mind but... we should ride with him... I don't know if he's genuine yet or not... but I can't freaking walk more than 20 feet right now." Vergil wheezed to Triste. "I need to just... rest... I can scan him when I'm back to full strength..." he muttered, knowing Tony couldn't hear them over the roar of the straight-eight. "I think he's genuine... he killed Stryker after all... so..."

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

The second Tony pistol-whipped Rio, Emilena pointed her laser pistol at him and fired. It didn't work; Emilena had no idea how to cock a laser pistol. So she drew her knife instead approached. "Nobody treats a member of my crew like that and gets away with it," she growled, but then Flora tackled her in a full-body hug that sent her sprawling.

"Emi oh my god you're safe and we helped rescue you I was so worried!!!" She cried openly. Emilena pushed Flora angrily, but the Folf refused to let go. "I was so worried I don't know what I would have done without--"

"Flora! I've got things to deal with that aren't you and your insipid fourth-grade act!" Emilena smacked Flora in the arm with the blunt of her blade in order to free herself. "Get ahold of your hormones and let the adults talk."

Flora staggered back, nursing the new bruise on her forearm. Her eyes widened in shock and her lips tremored. Lily didn't look too pleased as she stepped forward to defend Tony. "Emilena, let's not stab anybody," she said hastily. "Tony just had a score to settle, and now it is, so let's all be on the same team here and just get in the car..."

Emilena glanced at the vintage Dusenberg and a wicked smile played across her face. "You're right..." she leered. "Let's go to the car."

Lily gratefully climbed into the backseat, and Emilena took her knife and scratched a long silver gash in its elegant chassis from trunk to hood making sure to hit the door as well "That's for holding Rio over the cliff side in the first place! Since apparently schoolyard hazing is the level you consider for settling grievances."

Lily pursed her lips. "Honestly, is everybody on this team twelve?"

Flora was the last to enter the car. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused, and she shivered with the dull pain completely unrelated to the growing bruise.

[Pterano]

It wasn't the scratching that pissed Tony off... it was Emilena. He'd never liked her in the first place, and liked her even less now. He didn't own the car, so he couldn't give a shit what happened to it but this... he elbowed her violently in the face and shoved his pistol there a moment later. "All right you know what? I'll fucking kill you right now you damn bitch! YOU were the reason I held him over the cliff in the first place!" he snapped. "YOU were the one going through our shit and throwing it over the edge WITHOUT explaining yourself. YOU were the one coming after us! So yeah! I'll blow your fucking head off and do the world a favor!" He shouted, preparing to fire if she tried anything... the slightest twitch.

Vergil had limped into the backseat next to Lily by now, but he grimaced at the exchange, then gave her a soft smile. "How you been, Lily?" he asked.

"I came here to save your ass." he heard Tony saying. "But as usual, it wasn't an ass worth saving... so you can just do me a favor and fucking walk. Good luck with the mob." He said, throwing the car into gear and moving off down the road now.

"Hey wait!" Vergil called. "Aren't we...?"

"They clearly came in a vehicle. They can go back to it." Tony snapped. "I'm not taking any shit anymore. She can walk. Or get shot by the goon squad. I don't fucking care." he said, shrugging here.

"Right..." Vergil murmured, resting his head against the back of the rather comfortable seat and closing his eyes.

"We're getting the hell out of here first and foremost... then we'll talk about what comes next." the ferret snarled, up shifting to second and increasing speed as the speedometer climbed rapidly.

"You want to tell us WHERE your vehicle is?" Vergil asked Flora. "We'll drop you off wherever it is."

"No promises though... I don't know this area well... and no funny business you got it? I hate your boss, not you." Tony added.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

"Hate to break it to you Tony," Emilena smiled and folded her arms. "We're on the same team now. Vergil and I just survived some shit that would have left you on the dungeon floor, and since his last team couldn't handle a 13-year old without a teammate stumbling off a cliff, it's not world-saving material right now."

She sat defiantly in the backseat behind Lily. "You can harbor a grudge, god knows you're not the only one. But if you're spending your second life saving the world, you're spending it with me and my gang."

Lily glanced at Vergil. "You want Emilena on the team? I mean...I know your old team kinda failed you...but Soren won't be happy."

She wrapped her arms around Flora. "But you aren't dropping Flora anywhere, Tony. I need to talk to her."

"I don't wanna talk..." Flora muttered hollowly.

"Yeah, could we get some heals please?" Emilena interrupted Lily. She and Vergil were getting blood all over the upholstery. "We've been stabbed, shot, and manhandled all night."

[Pterano]

"I'm on the fence about that in all honesty." Vergil muttered, looking at her here. "Nothing personal, but just because we survived an ordeal doesn't mean I want you on the team. Hell I don't even know if I want a team anymore. As you so pointed out, Tony fell off a cliff, but you're little better. I can't trust you, and that's just something that doesn't come with escaping together from a castle." he stated bluntly. "The only way NOT to get anyone else killed is if I don't take anyone else along, it's that simple. You didn't exactly explain WHY you were looting our stuff. Or what you were doing there in the first place. For all I know... you're a Kalis plant."

He held up his hand. "No healing. Save your strength and pain. I don't want you to suffer over me. I'm not worth it, so I'm going to have to insist. Heal her... don't heal me." Vergil shook his head. "I'll manage... once I'm back up to full strength."

The car tore through the woods, Tony pushing it up to 75. "Yeah it's like you said. As for me well... I simply hate you. No way I'd work with you anyway. And fine... you wanna cut me loose?" Tony asked acidly, looking in the rear view mirror now. "Go right ahead... hell I'm used to it by now."

Vergil said nothing to this, feeling nothing further needed to be said. He kept his lips pursed, and his eyes forward.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Emilena scoffed. "Yeah, because a Gecko with no powers is going to get really far on his own."

"I have an idea," Lily suggested. "Vergil can read Emilena's mind and find out everything he wants to know. She can't hide her true loyalties from a mind reading."

"Yeah, but he doesn't have his powers right now," Emilena pointed out.

Lily grasped Vergil by the hand. "I can fix that." Closing her eyes, she found the chemical blockade restricting his psi abilities and broke it down into inactive elements. "There. Now there's no hiding the truth."

Emilena shrugged. "Read away. I got nothing to hide."

[bushwacked]

Triste stared at Emilena, then gave a slight shrug and looked across at Vergil. "Do it. If she's really not thinking of going against us, then it might not be a bad idea to keep her around. She's shown that she's at least capable of surviving... and that's something our team desperately needs right now." She tilted her head, her eyes passing dismissively over Axel. "Vergil and I are the only ones on the team at the moment who have the necessary skill set to deal with whatever the mission might throw at us."

"Hey! I'm not that helpless..." Axel spluttered.

"And once you've read her, you need to take a look at him," Triste continued, switching her attention to the driver's seat. "Because, right now, Tony's the one who's worrying me the most. Nobody should have survived what happened to you." Her eyes narrowed. "And yet, here you are. In perfect health. Right next to where Vergil was being held captive. That didn't just happen on its own -someone or something had a hand in that. But who? And why?"

"Guys, just... look, we shouldn't be pointing fingers. Not right now, anyway! We just... We need to focus on getting ourselves out-" Axel attempted.

Rio interrupted, his voice nasally from the hand he had clasped over his bloody, swollen nose. "Yeah! What the fuck is up with that, huh? You fell off a fucking cliff!" The boy glared daggers at the adult ferret who'd pistol whipped him. "If someone's a... a kasis plant, it's probably you!"

[Pterano]

"That's not necessary." Vergil murmured, almost recoiling from Lily, but allowing her to do her thing. He nodded, feeling a flood of abilities streaming back to him. He closed his eyes, pretending to rest, but scanning Emilena while doing so. A sudden revelation caused him to pause, and open his eyes. Her son? That's what this was about? But... Why not tell everyone?

Narrowing his eyes, he watched the trees whiz by, Tony not slowing. He saw a vehicle coming up through the trees, and started to finally slow. Downshifting, he pulled the Duesenberg to a halt, frowning. "All right, everybody out. This it... Since I'm clearly being whatever it is."

Vergil pursed his lips, and thought a moment. "I'll ride along." He stated.

"To where?" Tony asked with disdain. "I'm dumping this car and disappearing."

"There isn't going to be room." Vergil said simply, waiting for the others to exit.

[Serris]

The squeaky tones of a badly out-of-tune erhu played by a poor musician drifted through the greasy air like the incense smoke from the shrine in the corner.

Soren's stomach rumbled. The menu he was reading was in English but it was obvious the translator just shit out a copy as fast as possible. How else could "Explosively Fried Black Cod With Dried Pineapple Sweet and Sour Sauce" be turned into "Exploding Black Fish With Fucked Pinapple"?

"Who translated this menu? Some drunks?" the Human muttered.

Anne was reading the Cantonese menu. "Soren!" she hissed. "You don't want to go saying shit about this place!" She indicated with her horn to a group of serious looking Chinese men who were busy enjoying glasses of baijiu (a potent Chinese liquor made from sorghum) and playing majjhong.

Soren looked around the grimy eatery. Seeing as most of the customers and staff were rough-looking individuals, he wisely decided to shut up.

A Dhole came over to take their orders and replenish their mugs of tea.

Not waiting for Soren to order, Anne spoke up: "Goi haw, bak jaam yui. Ei nea Yep Bun bat gok." ("I want white-cut fish with Japanese star anise.")

The waiter nodded and gestured for the two to follow him. They were then led into the back of the eatery, past the kitchen and pantries until they had arrived at a bland but clean banquet room. Brushed stone Chinese dragon and pheonix sculptures provided the only decor.

Soren took a seat at the table as did Anne. A few minutes later, six men walked (or in one case, slithered) into the room. One of them, a large Chinese man with gleaming metallic hands, took a seat. This was Ruozheng "Rory" Zhao, one of the Bak Long's enforcers. His fellow Triad members seated themselves after he did.

"I assume you both are here for business?" Rory Zhao said. His voice was calm and cool. He had a noticable accent but his words were still understandable.

Soren opened his mouth but Anne roughly elbowed him. "Let me do the talking!" she whispered.

Anne nodded. "Yes. But I am not here for my drugs or anything. What I am looking for is information."

Rory templed his metallic hands. "I see. That doesn't come cheap but I'm a reasonable man. I'm willing to negotiate."

He turned to three of his associates. "Jin, Geeming, Leishing, get the chefs to prepare some dim sum and haing pen cha."

The three mentioned associates left the room.

[bushwacked]

In the pause that followed after Vergil finished speaking, Axel glanced at the others then started to reach for the door handle.

"No." As Triste spoke up, Axel paused, his hand falling from the handle. Triste gave a slight shake of her head. "You seem very eager to leave us all of a sudden, Mr Stracci. Almost as soon as we mentioned using Vergil to check you aren't... different." Her jaw tightened. "I don't like not knowing how you got here without a mark on you. After falling over the edge of a cliff. You could have been tampered with, or if not that, then cloning isn't especially hard to accomplish." She leaned forward, her hand settling in her lap. Her silenced gun glinted in the fading light.

"If you have become an informant for whoever's responsible for your... timely reappearance, then I can't risk you running back to them." She nodded her head in Vergil's direction. "And I'm not leaving Vergil alone with you. So until we find out if you're genuine, I'm not going anywhere."

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

"Yeah, seriously." Emilena folded her arms and followed Triste's lead at not leaving the car. She spared an appreciative glance at the gecko. It was nice to see other competent females who didn't screw around, especially ones who gave Tony a hard time. "We all saw Tony die, Triste is right to think something fishy's going on. But the part about Tony wanting to run off is just him being him. Did he ever tell you about his short-lived Purifier career?"

"Did you read Tony's mind?" Lily asked Vergil quickly, cutting off Emilena before she'd continue her story. "What did you find?"