Chapter 8: Addictions

[Tristan Tuzanic]

"Ouch, don't you know that I'm the only one allowed to cut myself." Tristan says to Eun. Once Lucio is inside the void he closes it up and turns to the diminutive woman.

"Everyone wants to hurt me. It just isn't fair. This life is so miserable." Tristan complains. He starts to walk away from Eun, but his back hurts now from being stabbed. He sweeps a long wisp of blue hair out of his eye.

"I'm out of here." He says as he walks away. He will have to get Lucio out of the void later so that he can put him in Manalist prison.

[Malak Al-Dabaran]

Malak has been pretty quiet lately, but he has had a lot on his mind. He looks at some of the soldiers and scientists in awe and makes mental notes of things. It would make a good story for the newspaper. He isn't sure what to say, so he just stands beside Tuesday for a little bit. After a while, he grows curious and decides to leave the group to explore on his own. He isn't sure if this is a mistake or not, but he wants to collect information for a story he has in mind. So...he wanders away from the group hoping that no one notices.

[Tuesday DeCastro]

Tuesday sees Malak leaving, and after silently debating with herself for a moment or too, she discreetly slips away from the group and follows after him. After everything she and him had been through in the past week or so, Tuesday didn't want to loose Malak.

"'Ey!" She calls, without attracting anyone else's attention, she hastens her pace until shes next to him. "Where are you going off to?"

[Sidapa Amparo]

(Other Invisible Hand members can join in)

Sidapa has orders from the Moderator's office to meet with other Invisible Hand members at Genetech's lab. The Invisible Hand has been keeping a close eye on rebel activity lately and a spy in Cuba overheard talk of a group of rebels headed to Ireland. This spy was someone posing as a rebel at a tattoo shop in Havana. This information will be useful in finally capturing what few rebels remain in the world.

So Sidapa stands alone in one of the halls at Genetech's lab in Dublin. He spots who he thinks is a rebel leave the rest of the group. He watches him carefully, following him down the hall as the rebel explores the facility.

Suddenly the man is joined by a woman, so Sidapa sneaks into a corner and watches them carefully.

[Eun/Aoi Kiriyama]

Eun want to go after him but is unable too. She doesn't want to fight with this person because she only switch her genders and heals other people because of her plant lineage.

"And I just started to like him too." Eun mutter to herself before she puts away her bloody box cutter in her pocket. 'The idiot better not tell the Manalist Soldiers that I stabbed him."

She quickly heads back to her home to clean herself and her box cutter before her mother came back from her 'business.'

"Maybe I should had torture both of them if I have a chance."

[Malak Al-Dabaran]

"Oh hey, I just thought this might be a good time to do a little exploring on my own and maybe pick up some info for a new story." Malak says to Tuesday. He smiles and looks down the hall. "You can join me if you want to. I think this will be more interesting than the official tour anyway." Malak says in a whisper. As he walks down the hall he tries different doors. He finally finds one that is unlocked. It leads to a room full of tanks of Smeet.

"Smeet mother of God." He says at all of the Smeet.

[Tristan Tuzanic]

Tristan heads back to the high temple where there is a prison for religious rebels. Once there, he reopens his void and lets Lucio out into a prison cell. Priests or someone else will interogate the man. For now, Tristan is more concerned about his back. He heads to his apartment at the complex and takes a shower. He has a deep wound on his back from the box cutter. Strangely enough it feels good. It makes him want to cut himself, but not tonight. He still has to get ready for that concert and can't waste time.

[Tuesday DeCastro]

Tuesday nods, and smiles. "It certainly will be more interesting than the official tour. We'll have to meet back up with everyone later though..."

She follows him into the room filled with smeet, and crinkles her nose. "Ew." She had never eaten it, because it struck her as disgusting, thin little sheets of meat? No, thank you.

[Malak Al-Dabaran]

Smeet comes from tissue cells which are cultivated in large vats making sheets of artificial meat. The conditions seem sanitary enough and there is nothing unusual about the room but for the large steaming vats of smeet. The room is humid and there are smeet samples on the table.

Malak takes some smeet and throws it at Tuesday. "Smeet fight!" He says before ducking behind a tank in the case of retaliation.

[Sidapa Amparo]

Sidapa enters the room after Tuesday and Malak. He waits patiently behind a vat of smeet and carefully watches the two of them, trying to stay out of view. As soon as he has an opportunity, he will try to capture one of them. As for the other, he wonders if anyone from the Invisible Hand will show up to help him.

[Tuesday DeCastro]

The smeet hits Tuesday in the face, and a sheet of it stays there. "Why you little..." She says, laughing as she peels the sheet of her face.

When he ducks behind the vat she runs after him, and throws the smeet back at him. Then she runs for cover on the other side of the room.

[Malak Al-Dabaran]

Malak runs vat to vat, then comes up behind Tuesday to throw Smeet at her hair. He darts off across the room and hides behind the tallest vat at the very end of the room. It is near a storage room or old looking door of some kind.

"What's the matter, Smeety? Can't find me?!" He calls out. He is quiet then and waits with a handfull of smeet ready to throw at her.

[Sidapa Amparo]

Sidapa unfolds his knife and sneaks up behind Malak quickly. He puts the knife to Malak's neck and whispers in his Filipino accented voice "The Invisible Hand has you..."

He leads Malak backwards to the door in the back of the room and closes it behind them. That room actually is a long hallway which leads to other small side rooms for storage or curing Smeet.

[Malak Al-Dabaran]

Malak is taken completely by surprise when the stranger puts a knife to his neck. He is too terrified to fight back so he simply follows the man along into the dark hallway full of doors. He wasn't aware that the Hand had such knowledge as to his whereabouts. He is afraid now and not sure what will happen.

[Markus Dunstan]

Markus had left as soon as he received the invitation.

He now crept through the lab, silent as a shadow. He eventually found Sidapa, dropping beside him noislessly. He looked at Sidapa, then observed the two they currently stalked, including the one in Sidapa's custody. Both hands dropped to the hilts of his tonfa swords, but he didn't move. His gas mask spectacles shifted towards Sidapa, waiting.