The Gang of Five
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Into the Black

Serris · 1584 · 100094

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)

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"Tony! Is that your name, then." The voice-alterer was turned off and the wolf's familiar voice shone through. "You wouldn't perchance be Tony Stracci? I ask based on where you're calling from. This isn't the usual line calling me from the Stracci mansion..."

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"I've got an idea for that," Emilena replied, as she drove for the cul-de-sac where the clothing store had been. "I've got two leads. The first involves a clothing store that I saw them visit. We should investigate to see if the employees could let us know anything. Unfortunately, I don't think I can enter the store; I doubt they'll be as accommodating as the hospital was."


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"I am, yes!" Tony confirmed. "I can see you're well connected. Have you done business with my family before?" he asked. He could hear the familiar voice of the lupine agent come through after the voice box was turned off, and knew he had gotten through to the right person.

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aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)

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"Your father is a great man, very reliable," Lupis replied. "I cannot confirm or deny having worked with him. But I'm certainly pleased to have established friendly relations with the future don of the Stracci Syndicate. Tony, you need to be more careful with yourself, you're a very valuable person. If you like (and your father approves), I'd be willing to work with you and teach you how to gain the connections to stay safely off the front lines yourself."


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This was unexpected. Tony hadn't realized his father actually knew Agent Lupis... or at least, most likely knew Agent Lupis. And that suggestion... an idea suddenly formed in his mind. "Really? You wouldn't mind doing that?" he asked. "Wow that would be... something else!" he exclaimed, sounding excited. "I-I would of course have to ask my father, but yes, I'd love to do that! But hey... I called because those freaks I was trying to take out tonight... one of them you seemed to be after. I was wondering..." Tony turned a bit in the hall now, twirling some of his neck fur around his claw. "Is she valuable? And if so... if I could track her down for you and deliver her... would that be let's say... something worth my while?" he asked now, sounding hopeful. "Of course... I don't want to get the family directly involved in any government ops but... I was just... wondering... seeing as how you seemed to be after her and all... and I DO feel like I owe you for sparing me." he outlined.

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There was a pause. "...tell me about her," was the only reply.


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"Well... from what I could see, she looked human but... different. Stony skin... red eyes... hunchback... seemed to be in pain when I last saw her. She mean anything to you? Or the government?" he asked now. "Seems she was your target after all when I... nailed you in the back... or your decoy. Sorry... by the way, about that." he apologized.

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aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)

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"Never mind that," Lupis replied hastily. "Young Stracci, it's time for your first lesson in connections. That woman is incredibly dangerous, and I urge you to stay far away from her; your life is worth too much. At the moment, I have two far-less-valuable allies of my own on the way to collect her; I would be in your debt if you would offer them free room and board for a night. They can take care of her from that point. If your father has any objections, I am available at any time to speak with him. We've trusted each others judgment in the past."


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Tony paused here at the mention of the words "incredibly dangerous." He narrowed his eyes, trying to gauge things for himself. Lupis now mentioned two of his more expendable people required room and board at his father's mansion. He closed his eyes, thinking fast. "Well... as you know, my father has ultimate say over who gets to stay here. I'm sure he'll say yes but... I'm gonna have to call you back regarding that, if that's OK?" he asked.

He dropped his voice now, speaking in very low tones. "Agent Lupis... before I go... when you said dangerous... how incredibly dangerous? Like... city-wide destruction apocalyptic movie dangerous? Or... what I'm trying to say is... does she pose a threat to those not even in her vicinity? I'm worried about my family, after all. And well... practically everyone else in this city." he murmured, rubbing his forehead.

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"If I could answer that question, she'd only be 'very dangerous,'" Lupis replied. "The reason she qualifies for 'incredibly dangerous' is that we truly don't know what she's capable of. But currently, her damage seems to extend to those only in the general vicinity, and mostly involve mental trauma. But my information comes from a time when she looked nothing like the creature you just dsscribed. For the good and yours and your family's mental health, it'd be best for you to be rid of her as soon as possible."


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Tony listened to Lupis's information, finally looking down the hall at Axel and Soren. "All right... well, I'll let my father know about your expendables, and see what he says. I'll call you back as soon as I can. Thanks for the info, and I'll be in touch." he said, pushing the hang up button now.

Sighing, he dropped his phone into his pocket, and strode back down the hall to where the rat and human were located. "How much do you really know about Lily? I mean... really know about her?" the ferret asked Axel now. "According to Lupis, she's 'incredibly dangerous.' That's mostly because he doesn't know what she's capable of, according to him, but that she causes mental trauma to those around her. Now... I'm going to bet she doesn't do this willingly but... do we really know if she's safe or not?" he asked, looking between the two of them.

"Oh and also... he's sending two of his 'expendables' here." Tony sighed. "I need to get dad's permission for that one though, and he indicated as such on the phone. Don't worry... I don't think he knows Lily is actually here but... this warrants a plan, all the same. Do we get Lily out of here... do we ambush these two somewhere on the road leading up to the Heights? Do we get my dad to just say no, they can't stay here? How do you guys want to play this?" he asked, placing his paws on his hips and looking back and forth from Soren to Axel.

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Axel gaped at Tony. "Dangerous?! Are you kidding me? Does she look dangerous to you?!" he spluttered. "I mean, no, I... I don't know that much about her, but..." Axel shook his head firmly. "No. It's bullshit. He's lying to you Tony, you can't listen to him!"

He frowned as Tony told them about the two Lupis was sending over. "They're coming to take Lily?" Axel slumped back against the wall as he tried to think. He let his breath out unsteadily. "Alright... at least we know... Gives us time to prepare..." He rubbed his eyes then looked up at the two standing with him. "I don't think we should move Lily. There's nowhere else that's safer than here, or at least not close by. And if we can't get Lupis to talk, there's a good chance the people he's sending know something about her..." Axel grimaced. "I... I think we should do what he says. Let them come here, but then when they arrive we can grab them and... get what we need. If we ambush them on the road here, there's a chance they could get away, then they'd know for sure she's here."

He looked between Tony and Soren. "But... jesus, I don't know. What do you guys think?"



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"Now hold on, calm down, Axel!" Tony said, raising his paws before him now. "They aren't coming to take Lily... he gave no indication he even thinks she's here. He said they needed room and board tonight. That's all. I don't know why the hell he thought my place would make a good stop to do that, but whatever. I guess because my father and him are connected... which also makes me uneasy. But then again... he could be lying about that too. My father has connections... but they're mostly with judges and politicians. People he can lean on... government agents... don't hold much interest to him, and contacts with them can be dangerous." the ferret pointed out now.

"OK so you're saying... let them in, then take them?" Tony asked. "He made them sound like they were... expendable to him, so I doubt they'd know anything about her." he shook his head here. "They're probably just boneheads taking orders." he sighed. "Look... if we take them here... and Lupis finds out they failed... you don't think he'd hold me or my family responsible, do you?" he asked now. "That was kind of... why I was hoping we could move her, and lure them into a trap. Kill them or something to send a message, but keep her and my family out of each others' business. My father WOULD kill me if I got him involved in dirty government ops... and no offense to Lily, but she stinks. She reeks of black ops bullshit. Why ELSE would Lupis have attacked her earlier tonight?" Tony pressed.

He rubbed his forehead again. "OK look... let's start over, right? We have to do this in a way that doesn't spark a war between the government and my family, keeps Lily safe, and gets us information about what's happening to her. How do we do this?" he asked, looking around now. "I'm not too worried about my father's end... if things get bad, he can easily handle himself, but I want to play this safe. Is there a way we can meet and satisfy all three objectives?" he inquired.

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StarfallRaptor

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Kojuuro dropped down from the ceiling, smirking a little as he landed next to the others.
"You could use me."
He said simply...


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Tony was a little startled by this, but then folded his arms across his chest and nodded. "Go ahead... I'm listening." he told Kojuuro.

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Axel flinched as Kojuuro landed amongst them. "Holy crap, you could at least warn us if you're gonna do that, Koj..." He nodded along with Tony, waiting for his pulse to return to normal. "Yeah, I'm up to any ideas, this... this isn't exactly the kind of stuff I'm used to planning."


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Kojuuro smirked and crossed his arms.
"Simple.  Have me safeguard Lily once those thugs of his show up.  IF things go down, then you have an easy scapegoat.  After all, both times he's seen me, then you can simply say that she hired me to protect her.  If I live, then he won't find out, or if he does, again, I'm just Lily's guard.  And if I fail, then, at the least, I will take them out with me."
He said coldly...


Serris

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(The Heights)

Anne emerged from the bathroom and pulled up a chair next to Axel, Soren and Tony.

Soren looked around. He shuddered as he recalled what Agent Lupis said. "I hate to say this but we need to ditch Lily – at least until his two flunkies are gone...or we make them 'gone'."

"Easier said than done," Anne replied as she sipped some wine. She then smiled as she looked at the bottle of wine on the end table. "Because of my high drug tolerance and large size, you can feed them – and myself a dish laced with what would normally be a fatal dose of a narcotic."

"First off, what if they're Augments with enhanced drug resistance? And secondly, that was the most fucking transparent plan ever to get high!"

Anne rubbed her horn and blushed a bit. "Yeah, you caught me."

Soren rubbed his forehead. "Maybe we can let them stay for the night and simply kill them while they sleep?"

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(Elevated Highway)

"You said that this 'Soren Almaya' is a licensed cyberneticist, right? Maybe a few cybernetics suppliers might have some info on him?" Sanjay offered as he watched the vehicles passing them.

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Emilena nodded. "After we check the clothing store, we should check Pelvanida next. They might have some dirt."

She pulled into the parking lot and looked around. "Can you grab me an outfit that isn't a nurse's uniform while you're in there?"

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The tumor on Lily's backside was straightening out. Growing longer and tapering. Simultaneously the bony protrusions on the side of each hand were covering over in scar tissue, stopping the unending bleeding. As Lily stared in horror at her own hands, she flexed her left digits and the new protrusion followed suit. It was a finger.

This was going to be a long night...


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Axel shook his head at Soren's suggestion of killing them. "No... Tony's right, this is still the Government we're talking about. If we're going to... kill them, it can't be here, and it can't be straight away. At least, not until we know a little more about what we're dealing with." He chewed his lip. "Could... could we catch them and maybe force them to contact Lupis and tell him that Lily's not here, that's they're going to go investigate somewhere else?" He glanced between all of them. "I mean, Lanthae isn't exactly a safe place. If we made sure there wasn't any... evidence of them left... maybe we could say they left, and that was the last we saw of them?" Jesus, a couple of days ago the toughest choice I had to make was what I was gonna eat for dinner...

He glanced at Kojuuro. "Maybe that's..." Axel trailed off as what Lily had said to the doctor came back to him. Don't let Kojuuro in here... His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Erm... hey, why don't you help us with, ah, whatever we decide to do with Lupis' men? We can always get some guards to stay down here and protect her..." Axel looked meaningfully at Tony. "Right?"


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Tony listened to everything presented to him, and nodded, taking it all in, his mind whirring away and piecing everything together. "I think I've got it!" he said, snapping his claws. "Why don't we combine some ideas?" he asked. "I think I was over thinking things before." he admitted.

"Look... my dad is exceptional... scary even, at making people disappear. He's so good at it, there's never been a single disappearance successfully linked to him. Now let's do this..." he waved his paws outward a bit from his chest to emphasize. "I can put Lily in a place that only my family knows about. It's got state of the art security, and it's so secret, no one outside our immediate family knows where it is. Trust me when I say, she won't be far though. We hide her there for the night, and invite Lupis's goons in. They of course won't be permitted to poke around here without my father's permission, and good luck to them even if they somehow manage it, because it's quite literally impossible to access the place without certain conditions being met, none of which they'll have. Inviting them in to stay the night will get me into Lupis's good graces, as he mentioned he'd owe me one for doing this."

Tony paused here to clear his throat. "We either kill them as they leave, and my father disposes of the bodies, or simply just let them leave in the morning. Then, using our new hardware, we can track Lupis down, and try and find out what's happening to Lily. Oh and... on the off chance Lupis himself shows up and recognizes all of you, we say we ditched Lily in the district where the factory was, because her mutation was making it so we couldn't possibly safely move her, and we were worried about law enforcement showing up with all the gunfire and explosions that were going off. How's that sound?" the ferret asked, looking around at them. "Anyone want to add or amend anything?"

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