Chapter 11: The Shadow in Our Caves

[Alexei Nacharade]

"Who is your friend?" Alexei asked, then waved away Sharon's attempt to tell her to go to the dance floor.

"Nonsense, stay! Free drinks if you do." He dismissed one of the club girls by his side, then offered the space to Kiley.

"Go ahead and join us. It's not so serious."

He poured a shot and offered it to Kiley.

[Kiley Castiglione]

Kiley was just about to protest when one of Sharon's friends offered for her to stay, Kiley stuck her tongue out at her older sister, before grinning at Alexei and taking the seat next to him. She downed the shot.

"Why, thank you. I'm Kiley." She said, flashing a smile.

["Danny" Damascus]

Danny smiled as Alexei introduced him to Sharon. "A real pleasure to meet you, Sharon." He said, waving a bit instead of shaking hands. Obviously dangerous but that had never stopped him before - it just meant he had to be more careful than usual.

When the other beauty announced herself to the group, Danny threw her his best smile and a suggestive wink before looking to Alexei and giving him a look that said he was the greatest of men. Things just kept getting better.

[Sharon Anderson]

Sharon rolled her eyes and flicked her sister off. She knew Kiley would know she was only playing around. Turning back around, she sat and downed the glass without so much as a grimace.

"Pleasure to meet you Danny. Nice to see you again too, Alexei." She stated after the shot, she always loved how drinks could make everything seem better. Her brown eyes still shot daggers at Danny though when he winked suggestively at Kiley.

"Kiley is my... room mate, she likes coming to the various places I travel to. She usually goes off on her own, but I guess she decided to follow me this time. We're very close." Maybe Danny would think they were lovers instead of sisters.

It was still a bad position, but Kiley didn't appear as important to Sharon's heart as just a room mate.

[Alexei Nacharade]

"Just when I thought Sharon was as pretty as they got." Alexei said, giving Kiley his best smile, then winks teasingly at Sharon. He reaches into his pocket and carefully lays out a white line of cocaine on the table. He puts his face down briefly, snorting the line then throws his head back, shaking it slowly.

[Kiley Castiglione]

Kiley's grin widened a little when Danny winked at her, in response she tilted her head a little and winked coyly back at him, not noticing the dirty looks that Sharon was throwing his way.

"Oh yes, Sharon is like my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without her sometimes."

She smiled at Alexei. "Awh, thank you!" She loved being in the center of attention.

[Sharon Anderson]

Despite her worry and anger concerning Kiley, Sharon smiled and laughed. Must be the vodka. "Yeah, pretty isn't a word most people apply to me. More like a brickhouse." Some guy who was trying to pick her up had told Sharon that before. Built like a brick shithouse.

Shaking her head at the memory, she refocused onto Alexei. "So what's this unique problem you got?"

["Danny" Damascus]

The vapid expression on Danny's face was a mask that he fell into when he was thinking. His mouth made chatter with the club girls playfully and he might have made a few comments about how beautiful the two new ladies looked. The important thing was that his mouth was on autopilot and he wasn't saying anything offensive.

They weren't romantically involved, at least, one of them not enough to exclude him from friendly winking. So, best friends like Kiley said? Sisters? Or, worse, they could both be working for the Council's anti-drug wing and he and Alexei were in for it. The last seemed unlikely but Tuesday and Bambi had seemed ridiculous candidates for suspicion as well.

At least the evidence was emprical up to this point. In his mind, Danny began running through different scernarios for getting Alexei and himself out in the most expediant manner at hand. Didn't seem like it'd be much of a problem if they had to book it once he'd put enough thought into it.

He almost didn't notice Sharon's question for Alexei. It was enough to pull Danny from his wondering and look Alexei's way, curious too at what Alexei was planning.

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei poured himself another shot.

"In Helsinki a checkpoint was attacked. This guy looked like a creditor, but he didn't act like it. Oh, sure, same violent nature, but this guy was a psychotic. He killed everyone. We shot him, but the manala shots had no affect. I was hoping you'd have an idea of what could be more useful against someone like that. In other words, I'd like your professional advice. I don't like it when I don't feel safe."

He tossed back the shot, this time he didn't wince.

"When I don't feel safe, people lose money, and the particularly unlucky ones start dying."

[Kiley Castiglione]

When the conversation turns to work, Kiley instantly finds herself losing interest. She twirled a lock of hair around her finger for a moment, gazing off into space.

She stands and stretches. "You know, I think I am gonna go and dance a bit." She said, remembering how keen Bella'd been to usher her off. She looked to Danny, and nodded her head toward the dance floor. "Care to join me?" Kiley offered with a grin.

[Sharon Anderson]

"A rogue creditor? Not something I want to encounter." Sharon leans back in her chair, crossing her legs as she thought. It pissed her off, that checkpoint had no chance against an android. Fucking Manalists...

Detouring herself from her angry thoughts concerning Manalism, she tried to focus from a professional point of view. "Well, I'd assume they build those creditors with the usual weapons in mind. Manala powered ones, knifes, that kind of stuff..."

The fact Manala shots didn't effect him was prove enough he was, at least, not human.

"It's possible there's a type of ammo this thing's skin, armor, whatever would be weak to. Something the engineers didn't think to include protection against. I've got ammo made of the most common metals at my house, but not too many rare ones. Aren't many things that required 'em."

She carefully watched as her sister invited Danny to the dance floor. She supposed it wouldn't hurt, the guy looked homeless. Whatever he did, it wasn't dangerous or illegal enough to get the big bucks.

"Getting a piece of the metal they create creditor's out of would be ideal to test against. If the guy isn't a creditor or human, it should still sure as hell get him if it pierces creditor metal."

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei looked thoughtful.

"If I got someone who helped make creditors, or a creditor itself, perhaps they could offer you up some useful information?"

He took out a pair of shades and adjusted them over his eyes. The flashy lights were starting to get to him.

"Say, if I got my hands on one of these guys and delivered him to you, you think you could work with them to start developing some anti-creditor weaponry? You'd be well paid for your services."

[Sharon Anderson]

That was a brilliant idea! If Sharon had a way to combat Creditors, she could help people even more. It'd be tricky business of course, but when was it not?

"Probably, though a creditor would be useless if it wasn't willing. I don't know how to hack those things. There's also a possibility they wouldn't know." It always annoyed her how they were the only things you couldn't pound information out of.

She'd never had to try, but she imagined it'd be impossible without someone who had computer know-how. The idea of pounding information out of a fellow human was a bit distasteful, but it would probably be a pro-Manalist bastard if the person was unwilling.

Pro-Manalist made the whole difference on Sharon's feelings as far as using persuasion on another human.

[Alexei Nacharade]

"We'll get a scientist, then. Someone not to important. We'll make him or her work with you, and once you're done I'll take care of him."

Alexei had no problems torturing information out of someone, then killing them. Besides, letting someone go with information like that ment they'd probably just start making upgrades to their creditors to keep their hard work from being affective.

["Danny" Damascus]

As interested as Danny was in this new revelation of an seemingly invincible Creditor, he couldn't help but grin and slip away from the table to accompany Kiley. He gave her his undivided attention while still keeping his attention to the surroundings. If this was a ploy to divide and conquer, he'd have to be ready to aid Alexei at the drop of a hat.

As things stood, there didn't seem to be any trouble. "I can't think of anything I'd love more than dancing with such a lovely lady." He said smoothly before quickly shifting out into the dancing crowd, beckoning playfully for Kiley to join him. This meant he'd be leaving Alexei to his business with Sharon which got him hoping for absolutely no trouble to come their way.