Chapter 19: Faith in The Fantastic Delusion

[Freak Boy]

Freak Boy was trippin' out. Hardcore. This was without a doubt the most interesting meeting he'd ever been to. A strange grizzly bear (Armin) opened up the meeting by devouring the podium, he then did battle with a six legged elven beast with scorpions for earrings (Kith), sending the creature fleeing. Then in walked a Zombie (Bonifaz) and a clay Golem (Heikki) and they began chanting spells until leaving with some hypnotized socialists. No doubt they planned to feast on the brains and entrails of these comrades... It was around this time that Freak Boy's spirit left his body and traveled through space and time to a world where the almighty Ulluhtec was devouring the life force of the cosmos... skipping ahead a bit, a mighty war was waged and the Zleebubs were freed from their bondage... and then the heroin wore off, bringing Freak Boy crashing back to reality. He groaned.

"Bathroom," he said, and he stood up and left. After consuming a handfull of mushrooms, he returned to the meeting and did his best to pay attention. At some point, when the words formed in his head, he'd get up to the podium and talk about the need to distribute arms and topple the system through means of an organized militia... but at the moment, he was content to watch the grizzly bear host the meeting.

[Kith Keitoleinen]

When Kith arrives, Cephrien already has a gun to Sidapa. None of the other socialists seem to notice the goings on in the back of the room. Kith sneaks over to Cephrien, hoping that he isn't noticed himself.

"Let's get this guy out of here, so we don't make a scene.." Kith whispers to Cephrien,

[Armin Lehrer]

"Hey, what's going on back there?!" Armin asks. Everyone was about to take a lunch break to discuss things before the next part of the meeting, but suddenly there is some commotion in the back of the room. Armin sees that Kith has returned and now, his friend has a gun to a stranger's head.

"Kith, didn't I ask you to leave?!" Armin asks. He is frustrated that people keep showing up to disrupt the meeting. But what can be done? It is a meeting open to various sorts of rebels.

[Kith Keitoleinen]

"We were just about to leave." Kith states. He motions to Cephrien to leave with him and take Sidapa with them. Who knows, maybe Sidapa can serve the purpose of fulfilling the goal of murdering someone within three days. It would seal the deal with Keitoleinen while taking care of business for Red Infinity. Kith motions for Cephrien to force Sidapa into a nearby room, which looks like a small janitor's closet. It will be fine enough for questioning Sidapa.

[Tristan Tuzanic]

Tristan finally makes his way downstairs in the old school building. He is about to arrive at the caffeteria, where he thought he heard some voices, when he sees an elf looking man in the hallway heading to another room. He stops and decides he's going to question the elf guy.

"I'm sort of like....looking for a meeting. You don't know anything about that, do you?" Tristan asks. He crosses his arms and waits for an answer.

"By the way, I really like your hair. I wanna grow mine longer, but I totally couldn't pull it off."

[Sidapa Amparo]

Sidapa allows himself to be escorted out of the room at gun point by Cephrien. When they enter the hall behind Kith, he notices Tristan Tuzanic, a Manalist soldier. He smiles to himself. Good, back up is already arriving.

"These people are from that meeting. This one has a gun on me. I think...you should do something." Sidapa says to the Manalist soldier. He smiles since things are about to get better for him.

[Annika 25]

Annika goes to her quarters after Annette's party, but see's that she has a message. It seems that the Invisible Hand is short handed and wants Creditor back up. Since she hasn't done much lately, she decides that she will assist with the mission. The rebel threat is a threat to Global Bank, and thusly, it is perfectly justified to send a Creditor or two.

Annika takes a teleportation booth to London and sets off to find the school/apartment where the meeting is said to be taking place.

[Momo Kurokawa]

Momo enters the plane with Max and Dinari, but she is distracted by other thoughts and ambitions. She will help with the sattelite project, but she has something much larger in mind as well. After boarding, she takes a moment to use the restroom. In the restroom, she uses her cell phone to make a call back to Tokyo. She orders several spideroids, robots, and mechas to Northern Finland. Hopefully, Keitoleinen won't notice.

Momo then returns to the company of Dinari and Max. She takes her seat and waits for take off.

"Good...maybe after the Eyes of God are in the sky, we can work on that new show I was talking about. It will be exciting to get to work." Momo says to her companions.

[Archer Aylmer]

"I think... Forget Dinari and Momo. Focus on Max. We should attack a symbol of mass media. I've always thought it was a little blase' to attack business leaders anyway. They are by no means the most powerful. In terms of power it is those who control the government, the media, the banks, and the church who count. People aren't emotionally attached to business leaders. They aren't a solid part of their every day lives. If one drops, another will take his place. A political leader, a priest, or the head of a telecommunications empire is different. Max controls what people see inside their homes. NO ONE should control that."

I pause for a minute and go through the idea of a car bomb in my head, an unpleasant look crosses my fact and I shake my head.

"I do not, however, think a car bomb is the way to go. I think... We should kidnap him. He seems the least well protected out of the three anyway. We should kidnap him and force him to watch... I don't know. Something normal people don't like watching. We should kidnap him and impose our control on what he sees inside his own home. That would be fitting."

[††Venice "Cephrien" Ashgrove††]

Ceph clicks his tounge as another familiar face arrives. Tristan, a Manalist Soldier. They had only met once, but it was after Ceph had defected from The Invisible Hand. He lets out a quiet sigh, prodding the back of Sidapa's head with his gun, signalling for him to keep walking.

"I think the both of you should follow us outside." He spoke in a calm, yet icey tone.

Sidapa wouldn't be too hard to stuff into a closet, but Ceph wasn't so sure about Tristan. He looked over to Kith and lowered his eyelids, bobbing his head.

There was going to be trouble if more showed up.

[Calithin Crest]

((To Linnea))

"My life is ridiculous!!!"

I feel like Kith is crazy and he can't do anything. That's exactly how I feel. I just watch him go in much the same stupor as I watched him show up.

"I should call Linnea and find out what's going on from her... This is too much... Kith makes no sense..."

I decide to leave the party at this point. It seems to be winding down and I have business that needs handling anyway. I think these little inconveniences just spring up in my life for NO REASON to make me upset.

Once I'm out of the Globobank building I get out my cellphone and dial Linnea's number. I wait with some apprehension for her to answer as it rings.

[Linnea Korpela]

Linnea was already on edge and when her phone rang she nearly jumped out of her pants. It didn't ring often but it scared her every time. Reaching into her pocket she looked at the caller id.
"It's Calithin..." Linnea was puzzled, why would he be calling let alone at this time of night. She glanced at Ophelia as she answered her phone.
"Hello?"

[Calithin Crest]

"Hey! Um... So... I hear you're in trouble with Keito and Kith has to kill someone to fix it? Is that right?"

I find it best to just put everything out there from the get go. I'm not about subtlety.

"He asked for my advice on the matter, so that's how I know. I don't even understand how you get yourself into these things! What are you doing right now?"

[~Ophelia Vespera~]

Ophelia strided along side Linnea as they head towards the prison in silence. She had a pretty bad feeling about what was to come. The temptation to open the note Keito had given her was boiling. She wasn't prone to suspicion, but Keito was an undeniably diabolical man..
The cellphone rang in Linnea's pocket, breaking the silence noisily and causing them to jump skittishly. Linnea took the cellphone out from her pocket and answered it, glancing momentarily at Ophelia.
Ophelia's mind had already drifted back to her previous tempting thoughts and her eyes were fixed contemplatively on the note in her hands. She had nervously folded it over and over again to resist opening it, but now her fingers were in the reverse process and she was watching them as if she were a neutral bystander in her own body.
Her hands fulfilled in unfolding the note without the obedient part of her concious interfering, and began to read. Something told her she should. She couldn't tell if it was her 'rebellious' side, a side that apparently everyone in her family had, or if it was her better intuition. She hoped it was the latter.
Her eyes widened at what she read and she finally looked up to Linnea, a disturbed expression on her face.

[Tristan Tuzanic]

"Yeah, and I think neither of you are in position to boss me around." Tristan replies to Cephrien. He holds out his hand, and it starts swirling with blue and black energy. It forms into a blue and black orb, that increases in size. As it increases, papers and loose items on the floor start pulling off the walls and towards Tristan. It is a vacuumous swirl of energy.
"Dark Vortex!" Tristan calls out, and the orb suddenly grows larger and more powerful.