Chapter 23: Heaven Is A Gated Community

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

"I have nothing against machines." Bonifaz replies. Although they are right behind her, Amelia continues watching the cartoons. "Amelia is a creditor that is malfunctioning, but who serves me out of some confusion. I worry that she would one day turn on me. I can not bring her somewhere to get repaired because she is officially property of Global Bank. So, you see my problem. I understand if you can't help, but, I thought it would be worth a shot." Bonifaz explains. He notices the machine seems a little uptight to be there. He wonders if he actually has feelings and can become uptight. He has never been around Will enough to know. What he does know however is that on a few of his missions, it is rumored he met with anarchists. Bonifaz will question him about this later.

[The Flesh Monger]

When the robe priest told Flesh about Lucio need to return to the figthing arena in ten minutes, he unhook Lucio from the meat hook. He also told other guards to clean up Lucio and get him for the fight. As Flesh exit the cell, Flesh head to his room for a few minutes before he heard something from a different room.

"It probadly Jester torturing his victims or making a mess in his area..." Flesh mutter to himself.

[Archer Aylmer]

"No, I like Amelia. I think it's interesting and amusing that she is the way she is. So... Changes to that are not welcome. Besides, I wouldn't want to be fixed. I know she's a machine, but, perhaps Bonifaz should ask what she thinks about being repaired."

I hear voices downstairs, one which is familiar and obviously belongs to Bonifaz and another I can't recognize.

"Ruckus. I am going to investigate."

I make my way downstairs where, sure enough, I find Bonifaz and a strange looking man talking. I don't really like strangers.

"Hello..."

[Calithin Crest]

"You've clearly not seen Jurassic Park..."

I shake my head. I don't really know how I feel about zoo's. On the one hand, they're fun... But on the other hand, I wouldn't want to be in a zoo if I were an animal.

"I think you should make a people zoo instead. With... Captured rebels as your attractions. There would be like a cage for Anarchists, one for Socialists, one for Christians... All that. I would definitely go to that zoo! That would be so interesting!"

[darian]

Jun 23, 2009 22:16:34 GMT -5 ††Venice "Cephrien" Ashgrove†† said:

When there is a loud BANG ringing through the halls, Ceph can only suspect what was going on.. Fortunately, the shot didn't go in his direction and, instead, hit Akira. Since Akira was an android, Ceph didn't waste any time worrying about him. Instead, his eyes focused on the familiar figure of Darian. The manalist assassin that he had fought in Helsinki. His eyes lowered halfway as a sly smirk appeared on his lips. The first lunge met with the metallic material of the shackles that bound his wrists together. Since the sword that Darian was using was infused with Manala Energy, it was strong enough to crack the material. The runes of light on his bounds began to flicker. They weren't broken, but Ceph could feel some of his strength returning as the spell weakened.

When the first lunge was struck, Ceph spun around and booked it down the hall where he could escape the torture area. Though eventually, going in this direction would lead him to the arena. Bullets bounced around him, just barely wizzing past him. If any of the bullets hit him, he could actually die.

He didn't look back, he kept running, turning a corner to go into another hall. Within a matter of minutes, he would be running outside into the arena.

Darian swore under his breathe as he shot off after Ceph, determined not to let him escape this time. Without his ability to shift through objects, he was as good as dead! Darian continued his chase after Ceph, firing another round at Ceph's shoulder as he rounded a corner; missing by a few inches. What was he aiming to accomplish by running into the arena? If he thought Darian was going to actually fight him fairly, he was a fool. The arena was more then big enough for Darian to use his cloaking and his Exitus rifle.

Flipping a switch near the door to the arena, Darian combat rolled under the door before it closed behind him. "And now you will die..." Darian thought as his cloaking took effect. Hiding himself from view, Darian skillfully moved toward one of the walls, making sure not to use to much weight and keep from making foot prints as he jumped up the wall and headed through the stands. Even if Ceph managed to somehow track him to the wall, he would surely lose sight of him in the crowd.

From there, Darian would take him out with a weapon that not even a mecha got up from.

[Lehti Itajumala]

(Umm...How do you know he's a priest? He's in civilian clothing, unadorned by any Manalist symbols. If you had said she recognised him from somewhere it would be one thing, but you just suddenly knew? I'll roll with it this time, but try to read past posts before jumping in.)

Lehti sighed and turned his head to look at the girl. "Your terminology is off. Priests aren't servants, dear. They are practitioners and conduits. The Father's hand, not his toy. And no, I'm not enjoying myself. I come to my home town in my down time to enjoy the night life, finally find some pure orange juice, and sit down to drink it in quiet and peace. Instead, I get caught up in taking photos of what appears to be a rebel stronghold of some sort." He said all this in a low tone, much too quietly for it to carry to the people constantly moving into the house. He snapped pictures of Kasper and Emilie, scowling as he recognised the Countess LaFramboise's daughter. He also snapped one through the window of Sam. He stood, his eyes hard. He was done here, he felt. He turned to the girl and snapped a photo of her before saying. "So, are you one of them? Or do you randomly sneak up on Priests all the time for no reason? If you are, you might want to run and tell your friends they've been found."

[Sy Lecy]

((Sy is a member of the invisable hand and since you knew a previous member and he you simply because he was in that organization I felt that she too might have seen him around and knew what he was))

Sy slowly raised from her crouching position a bit put off that he did not know her. She had seen him in passing over the time it took her to become what she was for the invisable hand. She took no offense though since she did not really have feelings of any kind.

"Wrong terminology or not that is how i was taught in the organization. I can not unlearn it because it is not my own thought in the beginning. They programmed me this way so if you have a problem with it then take it up with the hand. I sneek up as you say, on many people all of the time. It is of the trade. You do not know me then? I thought you knew everyone in the hand. Perhaps I over estimate the abilities of others."

She turned from him in a swift fluid motion her velvet sack swaying behind her. It carried her claws for easy access. all who saw her would think it a backpack.

[Dinari Dollar]

"That sounds like something that the Manalists would do." Dinari replies in response to the comment about a rebel zoo. He can imagine a large zoo in Rome featuring rebels of different kinds. However, they wouldn't keep a zoo of rebels. They would just execute them instead.

"But, I guess they do have the Temple of Terror and that's close enough."

The last fight is about to begin. There are four fighters and Dinari sizes them up. "Who do you think will win?"

[Kasper Schultz]

Kasper watches Armin go up to his room. He pauses and feels a little concerned for his friend. He looks at Em. "I better check on Armin to make sure he is okay, but....it was good spending time with you. You are always welcome here." He says with a smile. He gives her a quick hug then saunters up to Armin's room to make sure that his friend is alright. It is probably just a cold or flu. Kasper sits by Armin's bed and watches him sleep a little bit. While waiting, he pulls a book of the shelf and starts reading.

"The End of Nature..." He says the title aloud.

[Rust aka "Chaos"]

Rust lowers his head knowing that he is merely property so he says not a word when the new voice speaks. He does however pull a small toolkit from his thigh compartment. He uses it on himself when needed and has it ready depending on the outcome of their conversation

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

"Archer, this is Rust...he is an android who works for the company. He smuggles drugs to secret hospitals and individuals. He has been working for us for a few decades. Anyway, I invited him here with the hope that maybe he could repair Amelia." Bonifaz explains to Archer. "Rust...this is Archer, a friend of mine."

"Amelia, come over here. This nice fellow wants to talk to you." Bonifaz says to the malfunctioning machine.

[Lehti Itajumala]

(Check C-box.)

Lehti sighed. Of course, an Invisible Hand member. How did this happen to him? Things lined up much faster than he meant them to. He shook his head. As she turned, his eyes, ever observant, caught the sharp bulge of the claws in her bag. He nearly shivered. An assasin then. He sighed again. In other words, what actually showed on the outside was "Sigh. Head shake. Sigh." He caught himself before sighing again over the image of him in his head. He would have people doubting his sanity soon.

"No, I'm afraid I don't know you by sight, Ms. Assasin. I'm not supposed to know Hand members until they try to bite the Hand that feeds them." The pun in his statement was dark and horrid. "Which means I'll be erasing that I met you here from my mind as soon as we part ways. You are persona non grata, if you understand my meaning, by shear necessity of our respective positions. It isn't personal." Lehti's Com beeped, and he fixed it into his ear. He scowled deeper as he listened to the voice. "I may not be a servant of Manala," He said as he switched off the comlink. "but I do serve many people. I fear one of them just decided he needed me to arrest someone in Ireland." A large sigh rattled his frame. "Do me a favor and keep an eye on that house. Something is going on, and I want this to go down easily. Well, as they say around here, Hyva Ehtoo. Good night." He slid the imager into his pocket and began to walk away, then he increased his speed. He would need to get back to the High Temple and change into his robes before he could run to Dublin. There was no way he was going to foul up in anyway a mission given by that man.

[Koivo Koivisto]

"Anthony West?" Koivo's eyebrows dipped further as he tried to fit name to face. His obsession with order meant he needed to understand everything at all times. "Wasn't he Hoito's assistant? The one who kept begging to be allowed to do human experimentation? Hmm... He's not exactly 'stable', but he doesn't seem the type to out right flaunt Manala's authority." He thought seriously for a second. "Two occasions? Oh, the mantis! Hmm...it seemed rather threatening to me. The one who fought it was insane though. You can't judge an enemy by the strength of the fighter, but the fighter by the strength of the enemy. It's entirely possible that the mantis was quite formidable, but the rebel was just so insane that the limitations of basic physical ability were negated. Is that possible? I'm not sure. I must pursue this topic at another time. I simply must know!" He had gone off on a tangent by this point, entirely talking to himself, growing more and more excited about the possibility of finding something new about the world. He stopped himself quickly and coughed slightly, trying to retain a little dignity. "Er, yes. I actually have someone in mind that might be perfect for this job. Hmm.." He keyed a small comlink resting invisibly in his pointed ear. "This is High Inquisitor Koivo Koivisto. Priest, I have a mission for you. I want you to go to Dublin,Ireland, to Genetech labs. I want you to place Mr. Anthony West under arrest and bring him back to me, unharmed. If you succeed, there may be brighter pastures in your future, so don't fail me. Go now, Lehti Itajumala." He clicked off the link and a malicious smile split the deathly beautiful visage. "I think it will not stop at this one man, Master Skrag. I think it is time we purged the impurities from our entire world. I think it is time we started another Inquisition."

[Amelia 20]

Amelia turns around and sees Archer, Bonifaz, and an unknown man. She tries to check his credit, but she cannot detect it. It puzzles her and even upsets her a little. She crosses her arms and fixes her eyes on him.
"He has no credit history." She says in a mechanical voice. Her eyes start to glow red as though she is ready to fire an eye blast at him.

[Master Scrag]

"Hmmm....perhaps the Mantis was not a mistake. In any event, an Inquisition sounds like an order. I think you can begin with Genetech with the investigation into the creature line up. I think it would be wise to make certain that our corporate allies and even fellow Manalists are in line with the teachings..." The Master replies before Koivo becomes busy organizing things for the Inquisition.

Scrag therefore turns his attention to the fight. There are three fighters out and the last is on the way. This is the final match, though, what should happen to the victor is something undecided at this time. The victor will not be given freedom of course, but should be rewarded in some way. Perhaps the audience can decide the fate of the victor.