Chapter 18: A Parable for the Terrible

[Fitzhugh Dubois/Arah]

To Master Scrag

"C'mon, do it!" Arah whispered in Fitzhugh's ear.

"Do what? I have no clue what you're talking about, you lunatic. Blowing up this building is not the answer to my problems, nor yours. So stop asking me to do it!" Fitzhugh whispered back at Arah in a rather rude tone. He'd been trying to get Arah to shut-up and allow Fitzhugh to finish his pilgrimage in Rome to throw off the Manalists for nearly an hour now.

"See! You know exactly what I mean. I mean, getting rid of the HIGH TEMPLE is a wonderful idea. A blow to the Manalists, and you'll even become a hero in the eyes of the rebels. Just think, a whole new world that can be ruled fairly by your favorite organization Red Infinity!" Arah continued on as he stood in front of Fitzhugh.

"No," Fitzhugh replied flately. "This building will remain standing, and that is final," he finished as he pushed Arah out of the way. Turning back to Arah, Fithugh said, "I'm going to go buy something and give it as tribute to Master Scrag, you're welcome to come along if you wish."

Sighing, Arah said, "Yeah, sure, whatever, Imma comin'!"

[Yasmin Seyyedi]

Yasmin slowly heads upstairs and quietly open the door. She quickly notice that there are more people than earlier. She regonized Cephrien, Freak Boy, and Horacio.

"I better tell the others that I found Mr. Horacio in the Invisible Hand. Then again, I haven't recieved any orders about caputring him though." Yasmin thought to herself.

She watch them for a minute before heading back to the basement. She wish that she knew what time right now because she want something to 'drink'.

[Freak Boy]

(unless I'm mistaken I'm in the socialist house with Hilja and a few other people... Heikki's somewhere else with the van. I'm in a kitchen.)

[††Venice "Cephrien" Ashgrove††]

((Yep. Freak Boy's company is in the kitchen of a Socialist Home. Heikki's company is in a van.))

Ceph didn't do so much as flinch as Freak Boy went to the floor and had drawn his fire arm in an impressive display of protective reaction. There was a brief moment of silence as an assymetrical smirk slowly appeared on his lips. He kept his arms to his side, not even placing his hand on the sword hilted on his hip.

Despite the circumstances, Freak Boy was demanding Ceph to do what he came here to do.

So he got straight to the point.

"Do you think a blimp-operated surveillence system would be easy to hack?"

[Freak Boy]

He quirked a brow. "It depends," he started. "Would the blimps be operated by automatons or would there be human pilots? Regardless of how they're controlled, surveillance equipment has to send it's signals somewhere via a network--even if it is a private one, it can be hacked--so yeah. Surveillance of any kind is pretty easy to hack if you know what system it's hooked into... Now, who sent you and how do you know my name," he demanded, pulling the trigger enough so that the hammer stood ready to strike.

[††Venice "Cephrien" Ashgrove††]

Ceph put a hand on his hip and raised his other hand to speak intelligently.
"You can lower your weapon, Cowboy." He spoke with a smooth tone of assurance in his voice.

"I'm sure you're familiar with Red Infinity by now."

[Freak Boy]

"Oh, god damn it," he said frustratedly as he put his pistol back in his boot. "The fuck didn't you say something sooner? I was ready to shoot you, we're on the same side. Sorry about that... I'm a little jumpy--you understand how it is... dude walks through a wall wearing black leather and wielding a katana and he calls out your name--even though you don't recognize him and you're pretty sure you'd recognize someone who looked so... distinct--you'd get a bit paranoid."

[††Venice "Cephrien" Ashgrove††]

His asymmetrical smirk never left his face. He didn't really have a reason for not stating his business sooner.. if he did have one, it would probably be to test the man. For awhile it had only been Violette and Himself and a small goal to take down the Manalists. A silent rebellion that was not yet ready to fire it's cannon.

"My bad." Ceph spoke plainly after Freak Boy explained himself, both of his hands going to his hips.

With this, he decided to get back on track with the subject at hand.

"There's a party I had attended not too long ago. Members in power are submitting ideas for a new Surveillance system. One of the ideas got as rediculous as a blimp system.. Though as you would imagine, something that idiotic would most likely work in our favor."

[Freak Boy]

"Heh, blimps... awesome. A couple well placed RPGs and we'll rain fire and molten steel down on the opressors. Good stuff, I'm a fan," he said, taking his seat again and trying to get his heart to slow down.

'Whoah,' he thought to himself. 'I'm still REALLY high right now... I don't think anybody's noticed yet... or maybe that's a bad thing, if they think I'm high then at least they're just like "oh, he's high." If they don't know I'm high... maybe they think I'm crazy... I'm not crazy...'

[Annette Rosenthal]

Annette finished up her days work and put on her jacket. She grabbed her suitcase and umbrella and headed out of her office door. On the other side was Aubrey. Annette wasn't sure what Aubrey wanted, but at least she was dressed more professionally.

"Hello Aubrey. Is there something that you need?" Annette asks the android. She was still unaware of the party downstairs.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

I finish my pancake and start doing dishes and cleaning up. I sort of listen in to Cephrien and Freakboy. I hear about the blimps and some other things about red infinity. I listen in, but don't say much. I look over at Ophelia and shrug.

"Normally things aren't so eventful in the house here." I explain to her. "Though...I wonder if maybe you should tell Linnea about the flowers. She might be upset if she was expecting some and they didn't make it." I suggest.

[Heikki Toivonen]

Heikki gets out of the van when he notices Archer. "Oh hey, didn't expect to see you here. We were trying to meet up with someone from the Enlightened Brotherhood." Heikki sort of explains to Archer. He steps away from the van and thinks he notices the person they might be looking for. It appears he is distracted and headed over to...Hilja's place? Heikki didn't realize they were so near.

"I think that's him...over there...actually..." Heikki says with some confusion.

[Apolline Auben]

((To Max Alexander and everyone at the B-day party))

The young M TV intern, Apolline Auben, power walked in a hurry to where she could hear the party being held in a conference room. One of the bossy managers at M TV had called her unexpectedly that night, screaming at her to get to the party where Mr.Alexander was in Switzerland.
She stopped and checked herself one last time in her pocket mirror outside the door of the room. The manager had told her to try to make herself look older and she gave a fair attempt at his request. She did her make up nice and put on a little red dress with a short black jacket and pumps. The outfit made her appear a bit older, maybe 18. The manager told her to stuff her bra too, but she took the tissue out on the way there for comfort's sake.
When she entered the conference room where the party was being held, she was stunned. Max Alexander was not the only famous person in the room. Nearly everyone was!
After a brief moment of heart stopping panick, as if she'd sent a telepathic SOS out, her phone started vibrating with a message from the manager who sent her.

"The party is 4 Annette Rosenthal's b-day. There are going 2 be lots of important ppl. Be sure to tell Max ur there! Just listen 2 ppl n don't talk! K? Don't leave til Max leaves!"

Apolline snapped her cellphone shut and looked to where she'd seen Max.
"Oh my gawd. Is he speaking with.. Dr.Lonrott!? And.. Calithin Crest!? EEEEE!!!" Apolline squealed in her head.

She took a deep breath and hid her girly giddiness behind a calm, mature composure, before walking deeper into the room full of people that made even a popular school socialite like herself feel like a nobody. She'd wait until Mr.Alexander was done talking with Dr.Lonrott to introduce herself.
Mr.Alexander had only met the other 18-year-old intern Fredrick, but she didn't think he knew a lot about her, he may have not even known she existed. The manager often kept her hidden in the office making coffee and copying reports, while the tongue-twisted blundering Fredrick was put on the frontline doing reports on headline news and working with Mr.Alexander. Fredrick was actually supposed to be at this very party, but had fallen ill and was forced to stay home. Apolline almost felt bad for him, yet the feeling of glee menacingly prevailed after such unfair treatment.

[Ariel Tal Shachar]

"These plans look great." The Moderator said to Max before heading off to mingle with the guests. Some time later, Ariel recieved a message from upstairs that Annette would be arriving soon. With that new information, Ariel stepped on stage to the microphone. "Everyone...Annette will be coming soon. I am turning down the lights now. Everyone take a position and hide until she opens the door. Once she enters we will jump out and shout Happy Birthday." Ariel explains. After this explanation, the lights are turned down. Things get very dark and everyone takes a place to hide. Now it was just a matter of waitng for her arrival...

[Master Scrag]

Scrag was outside, admiring the nearly completed construction of the mysterious building that would be known as the Temple of Terror. This new building had not yet been unveiled to the world. Near him was a stand where people could buy trinkets, suveniers, and gifts in honor of the Master. It was near this stand that he noticed Fitzhugh. He wandered over to the man, killing off vegetation with each of his deadly foot steps. As he passed, people plugged their noses discreetly, as not to disrespect him.

"Is this your first pilgrimage to Rome?" He asked the man. There was no way for him to know if the man was a pilgrim or not, it was only a guess...or perhaps a conversation starter.