Genesis Crisis: Resurgence IC

Gemnity - Downtown
Belobog Volkov, 'Belo'

Belobog smiled, and quickly spring from his chair, "Great. I will get the ingredients in no time." Said Belobog, and he make sure he got enough money to buy the ingredient.

"Of course, I am thinking of having vegetables myself, no worries" He commented on Ehlana's words, and he looked at Alexei's direction and quickly added. "And no worries, meat will be served." and he quickly took off, leaving his two comrades in the safe house.

As Belobog stepped outside, he took a deep breath. He do not understand why, but the air on the surface definitely felt refreshing. Then again, the cold air that greeted him as he came out from the cave... That air was much more refreshing than this one. Was he becoming use to this? Is that why he felt such a way? Or was it because of the darkness? He couldn't answer.

"Well, time to do some exploration." Said Belobog in self whisper and headed to the supposedly busy street market. To his surprise, the market was way quieter than he anticipated. Probably the effect of the Redcape's appearance? Or was it because it's dark outside?

In any case, the atmosphere did not bother Belobog that much, he started to look for potatoes, or probably for Sweet potatoes, coconut oils, and etc for the vegan side dish. He looked through the meat section and he decided to go with beef, Alexei would have steak tonight.

Besides, it was a great success of their mission, they should celebrate. Some cans of alcohol drinks would do great too. Even though, that's what he read in old literature, and as it was cheaper here, he was sure it wouldn't hurt.

Belobog then started to wonder about the old Arusian Empire; did the old Arusian Empire enjoyed the Sun like Kaddath? And how about night, how did the old Arusian Empire enjoyed the night? Did they eat something similar to what Kaddath people eating now? Did all the Arusian went underground or did some went to Kaddath before the old empire made its disappearing act?

Belobog sighed as he smiled, that would be the questions he would find out when the Sun finally became theirs. Yes, after their missions, Belobog would quit his position as a soldier and travel all the land that Sunlight touches...

"Well I think this is all..." Said Belobog, to himself, and went to the counter.

Caltha - Grand Council Chamber

Serena shook her head, obviously not agreeing with Keynes' thoughts on the soldiers' point of view.

"Why should soldiers be conscripted into the Army at all? Without magic, they'll be given the choice to return home to live out their lives as they see fit. I don't think resentment will be their attitude at all. They'll be grateful for new opportunities."

"That may as well be," another Electorate spoke, "But if we had a large scale dischargement of our Army, would it destabilize our law and order?"

"Not if dischargement is stagered over a period of time," Durmail countered. The conversation cut out when Alina raised her hand to pose her question.

Everyone looked to Kokonoe, who was brewing stormclouds in her corner of the room. Even so, it seemed lying about science was something she couldn't bring herself to do.

"Yes, it can be, if it came down to it," she admitted grudgingly. "In fact, bio bands could be updated to include the serum so that an injection can be made within a fraction of time after the strain has activated."

Serena nodded, looking satisfied with this.

"Doesn't mean we should," Kokonoe continued, glaring at her. "Maybe our choices now aren't ideal, but we don't live in an ideal world. Taking any choice away isn't right. It might open up other opportunities in different ways, but it still by dictating people's own genetics!"

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Gemnity - Police Station

Jax looked good - even better than Rise had remembered. She certainly hadn't complained about his revealing combat outfit in their early days, but the black uniform suited him and brought out the grey of his eyes.

She didn't get those same butterflies as she did back then though. It was a relief, truly. A small, nagging doubt had always lingered in the back of her mind, wondering if it had just been time and distance that had put her feelings for him out of mind - that as soon as she saw him again, it would all come rushing back.

But it didn't. She looked back at Jax and smiled.

"Hi, Jax," she said. He grinned, despite the seriousness of the moment.

"Hey, Rise," he replied. "You've been making quite a name for yourself. I'm just sorry this had to happen."

"Thanks. Anyway, I should fill you in on what happened."

She started with the disturbance in the crowd, how the Redcape seemed to appear in the middle of all the people and bring the proceedings to a chaotic halt. Darcy helped to add in a few details from the outside, such as when he went to fetch the police. She recounted how it attacked the stage, and how she managed to hold it off, despite interference from Luke.

At this point, she turned to regard him. She still hadn't totally made up her mind about him, but this is where he could change that.

"It was because of him that it got away," she explained, indicating Luke. "He said... It was his friend."

Jax turned to look at Luke as well, his brow furrowed.

"You mind explaining?" he asked. It was phrased as a request, though it clearly wasn't.

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Gemnity - Downtown

Alexei grinned at Ehlana's words. Clearly, the source of their food didn't bother him the same way. In fact, the new food was probably the only thing he had really taken to in this new world. There was nothing quite like the taut, juicy pull of meat between his teeth.

"Strange food here, yes," he replied. "But good food."

Alexei shrugged his indifference to Belo's desire to cook for them. Once Belo, had left, Alexei moved over to the windows and pulled the blinds closed a little further. The sunlight always managed to find its way in. There was no need to help it along.

"He's getting a little too comfortable with all this," he mused, turning to Ehlana. Ultimately, their goal was to relocate Alusia's population to Kaddath - but it was a matter of growth and survival, not fun and games. Enjoying their new surroundings before the task was complete was bound to be a liability.

Still, it hadn't become an issue. Not at this point.

"What about you?' he asked. "How are you holding up?'

She seemed a bit tense. Alexei placed his broad hands on her shoulders, his strong hands kneading at the muscles there. Alexei prided himself on a good massage. It was just a shame he could never give one to himself.

"You don't want to be too flighty like him," Alexei said through a puff of his cig, nodding his head toward the door Belo had left through. "But you also don't want to be too rigid. Go with the flow. Take things as they come."

Gemnity - Police Station
Luke Jaron

LuKe took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and out the breath as he stepped forward.  Luke stared into the screen at the police chief who had friendly interaction with Phoenix, and who Phoenix called Jax.

As Phoenix, who Luke had realized real name was Rise, finished her part of explanation, Luke took a deep breathe again, it was really his turn now, to tell everyone here what he really saw...

"Sir, I am not so sure where to start. But, I will try to tell you all the details I know about the monster you just called Redcape." Luke paused for a second, "No, seems like they had been popping up from everywhere, let me rephrase that. I will refer to this one as the Redcape that got away today. The Redcape that got away today, his name is... Mark.. Mark Redwind." Luke swallowed it hard, he felt like that was the name he would not be able to call again... "He was... a fan of Phoenix music, a friend of mine that cannot be replaced... He was a remarkable martial artist... He was a human." Luke tightened his jaws, the transformation that took place right in front of him... Something that he couldn't help his friend... It was returning to him. "I do not know what happened to him, Sir. What I know is this. Something made him transformed. The conversation that I had with him, it didn't sound like he was expecting it. All I know, he was telling me... he slowly started to feel unwell... He turned into that creature before I could do anything for him..." Luke's fists were tightened, the sadness of losing his friend and the anger of his powerlessness... "To prove that he was not expecting such transformation... I have this letter. A fan letter that he had written. Before he finally fainted and started his transformation, he gave it to me."

Luke took out a letter, a sealed letter. A letter that could prove his friend's humanity... A letter that might prove that he was a human before the transformation...

"Would it be too cruel to ask miss Phoenix to read it first? He really wanted you to read it... I understand, if you do not wish to. After all, he did attack you and tried to take your life when he transformed..."

Luke eyes were cast down, holding the letter for the policeman to give it to Rise or to read it straight away.

Fan Letter From Mark

Spoiler:

Gemnity - Downtown
- Ehlana -

"When was the last time you've seen me flighty or frivolous?", she asked Alexei and gave him a wink.

"I'm fine,"  she replied. "How about you?"

His strong hands however knew what they were doing. Ehlana allowed herself to relax. "Mhhhh...that feels nice," she commented softly.

She leaned back into the massage, giving herself over to his skillful hands, only now realizing how being in Kaddath had caused some tension in her muscles. Of course being in a new environment always came with increased tension, but during a misson there was rarely time to relax. "If I'd known you were this good, I would've requested a few more missions with you," she said almost playfully.

They stood like this for a while and Ehlana almost lost track of time. "Don't get any wrong ideas," she suddenly said sharply when his hands began to explore a little too much.

Grand Council Chamber

"Return home to do what?" Keynes responded. "The vast majority of magic using soldiers were drafted before they ever entered the workforce. None of them have been trained to do anything but be soldiers, and even if they were, the economy couldn't handle a massive influx of untrained laborers like that."

"The only way I can see around potential disaster is to at least allow soldiers with strains to finish out their military careers. Anything less than that could destabilize the economy."

Alina nodded at both Kokonoe's and Keynes' words, but her features remained inexpressive. "Your concerns are noted, but if we grandfather in a policy for the already existing military, it presents a poor example of equality for the next generation."

"I also agree with Doctor Velda's assessment of unwarranted genetic modification. If this is something we choose to do, we're setting a very dangerous precedent."

"For now, I ask that this council take this discussion under serious consideration until we reconvene. Doctor, I'd also like you to get with Jax and discuss the security measures put into place at your research facility. If we do move forward with weaponizing the serum, I don't even want to think about what could happen if a shipment of it fell into the wrong hands."

Alina leaned back in her chair, looking far more weary than when she'd been only a few minutes before. "Are there any further concerns before we move on to the next topic?"

Gemnity - Police Station

"Redcapes are humans?" Jax exclaimed. Rise felt the same surprise. It was one thing for Luke to have said it was his friend, but another to hear the whole story laid out. It was much more real, more concrete now.

"How awful..." Rise murmured. The image of those hosts for Majin strung up from the walls came to mind again, and she shivered. Who would be doing this?

To her surprise, Luke handed her a letter from his friend, Mark - who he'd been, before whatever caused him to become a Redcape. Rise took the letter gingerly and opened it. She felt self-conscious, reading this aloud in front of everyone, but she couldn't refuse Luke's request.

As she read, she felt her heart aching. She could feel Mark's sincerity in his words, and the bond he felt with his friend. She wondered if he must be feeling like Jax did that day he lost Miki. When she finished, she looked up to see Jax with his eyes shut and his face hard.

"We need to get to the bottom of who is doing this," he said, his voice a low growl. "Luke, right? Can you tell us anything about Mark? Anything that might let us know why he would be targeted?"

Rise tucked the letter carefully aside and frowned.

"Are you sure he was targeted? It could have been random."

"It could have," Jax replied. "But I wouldn't bet on it."

[OOC: This is where we'd make the connection to strains.]

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Caltha - Grand Council Chambers

It seemed the discussion was at an end. Everyone nodded their acknowledgement, Kokonoe's with an unnecessary amount of aggression. She didn't seem very keen on militarizing Ergo again.

Raidon wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. Certainly, there were merits and unfortunate consequences to both sides. He knew how drunk one could become on power though, and even as he gave off his report in his usual crisp tone, he couldn't shake the idea that the wrong decision was going to send the country spiraling down the same path to destruction it had just averted.

He finished and sat down, eyeing the High General. Whether she had faith in him or not, he wanted to have faith in her. He just hoped it wouldn't be misplaced.

--------------------

Gemnity - Downtown

Alexei worked his fingers skillfully, losing track of the time. It was nice sometimes to have simple tasks to let the mind wander. It was a rare time that they could simply sit around and relax. Recreational time was something of a foreign concept to Arusia.

Ehlana seemed to be enjoying it as well. Not that he was surprised - he'd gotten more than his fair share of praise for his massages before. Quite suddenly, however, she straightened up a bit and shot out a warning. Alexei gave a hearty grunt of amusement in reply.

"Perhaps it's you getting the wrong idea," he said, letting go. "Either way, I won't overstay my welcome."

If he was perturbed by the sudden change in tone, he didn't show it. Puffing lazily on his cig, Alexei laid down on the window seat and began to snooze, waiting for Belo. The only sign that he was still awake was the occassional pull of his lips around his cig.

Grand Council Chamber

With Raidon's report finished, Keynes stood to leave, as did most of the other council members. So loud were his own thoughts in his mind that he almost didn't hear Alina when she spoke again.

"Raidon." She remained seated, her posture serene, as every head in the room turned back in her direction. "I hate to add to your workload, but I'd like you to open an inquiry into another individual." Alina waited for his nod of acknowledgement before continuing. "Alina Grey, High General."

Her words were directed at Raidon, but her gaze met and held Serena's. "As per usual, you have full access to all government records regarding the accused, and you may meet with the individual or anyone associated with them, remaining mindful of their schedules."

"I expect a recommendation of whether or not to pursue the inquiry further at this council's next meeting." Without further comment, Alina rose from her seat and swept past the rest of the council, exiting the chamber.

Gemnity - Police Station
- James & Lenka -

For now, Lenka contented herself with listening, happy that no one had asked her to leave the room yet. Pretty quickly it was clear that they were discussing information that was not intended for the public. Luke’s story was sweet and sad at the same time and she felt sorry for him. He had lost a friend in the most brutal way possible.  

Subconsciously she was moving closer and closer to absorb every word. The revelation that the Redcaps were originally human shocked her and she sucked in the breath between her teeth.

“You did’t know they were of human origin?” James asked when he saw Jax’s reaction. He was feeling frustrated. Like Rise, his memory flashed back to the horrifying scenes in the sewers from two years ago. Rows of suffering humans just chained up on the wall. He banned them from his mind. Hopefully this was different. “What do you know about them?”

Lenka shivered when she realized how this could have easily been someone she knew and James put an arm around her to comfort her. Quickly Lenka shook his arm off, throwing him an irritated look. He couldn’t help but smile a little. His sister was stubborn as ever.

“Rise, you don’t think he was targeted because he was a student at the University, do you?” she asked Rise and looked at the others, not afraid to draw their attention.

James looked at her surprised. That was a possibility he hadn’t considered.

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Gemnity - Accomodation Downtown
- Ehlana -

Ehlana was slightly disappointed when Alexei stopped the massage, but her face remained calm. Instead she gave a little laugh and stuck her tongue out towards him. “I don’t think so,” she replied, her voice light. “Still, thank you,” she added sincerely.

Being here in Kaddath was throwing her off balance and she couldn’t quite place how or why. Maybe it was simply the less enclosed environment or perhaps it was the opportunity to make decisions freely without constant supervision. Whatever it was, she realized it was distracting her.

Shaking her head about her own silliness, she returned to the table to study the map once again, scribbling down some notes. She needed to remain focused. As if to prove her wrong, her stomach growled loudly and she sighed. “I wish Belo would hurry up,” she muttered.

Gemnity - Police Station
Luke Jaron

Luke could feel his heart breaking, and not just being cracked, but breaking into million pieces. "That idiot..." Luke muttered to himself. He held in his sadness, trying his best to make sure no tear would fall from his eyes. He could cry later, not this time. Not now.

When Jax finally asked about why would he be targeted... Luke swallowed it hard, he had been thinking.

Lenka made an assumption that university students were targeted, and it might looked that way if one only consider this incident. The incidents had been happening other places well, and many students stayed in dormitory due to the distance. If their target was university student, they should have created one Redcape in University already...

"Sir, do you happened to have missing reports? The people who was reported missing as Redcape made its appearance? Maybe each of them have a connection we do not know about. There are two things that Mark stood out for. One, he was a martial artist. Two, he had a Strain."

The thought that he had lost his friend because someones' doing made him angry. Why? For what reason?...

"I just have the gut feeling, everyone of who got turned into Redcape.... had a strain."

--------------

Gemnity - Accomodation Downtown
Belobog Volkov, "Belo"

"Sorry."

Belobog entered the house in a rush as he knew it took him awhile to get here. The market place was quiet, but that did not mean they had too few people. Most of them were on counter, getting their things paid.

In any case, he was here now. Belobog quickly entered the kitchen straight away with the ingredients in his hand. Quickly putting the alcohol drinks to the fridge and he quickly worked on the cutting the vegetables; and soon the room started to smell something good, something that made his comrades stomach growl even louder for food.

How long it had been past? Belobog was not sure, but he had given his best. The food looked and the taste was definitely guaranteed as he ate one of the cooked vegetable. Well, he did not touch the steak that was cooked medium rare though, he was sure it would taste good.

"Alright, the food is ready." As Belobog was busy with cooking he was not so sure what his comrades were doing together, so he called out.

For Ehlana and himself, he had put small potion of vegetarian fried rice, honey-roasted sweet potatoes, and other vegetarian dishes.  Alexei was served with big chunk of steak that was cooked in medium rare, still sizzling, with some portion of salad and mashed potatoes.

Belobog then brought up canned alcohol drinks to the table as well. "Help yourselves." He sat on his chair, satisfied with his work of art. "And brought this to celebrate the success." He touched the canned alcohol drink, his eyes on Alexei and Ehlana, "Of course, it's really up to you all if we could have some for tonight."

Caltha - Grand Council Chamber

Of all the things he could have expected, that would have been the last. Raidon stared, unabashedly dumbstruck, by Alina's request. Opening an inquiry into herself? He thought he understood, on some level, why she would do this, but it seemed like asking for trouble in a time where they already had more than enough problems on their hands.

"Of course," he said crisply, inclining his head. He watched the High General leave the chamber, everyone else's eyes following her as well. The other Electorate and Praetorate broke out into hushed talk as they filed out, but Serena said nothing, her eyes trained on the High General's disappearing form.

"Let's go," Kokonoe said abruptly, breaking the silence. "I'm starving."

Raidon turned to see her grab Keynes by the shirt and march from the room. It seemed to break the spell over him, and Raidon smiled faintly before marching out after them.

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Gemnity - Police Station

Jax shook his head at James' question.

"No, we don't know much about them at all," he said, sighing. "Up until now, we haven't even seen one. It's mostly been eyewitness accounts and whatever they leave behind."

Up until now, Jax hadn't thought much about the missing person cases that had cropped up around the Redcape attacks. He'd assumed they'd been victims - possibly consumed the way the Majin had done to their meals. This case was shedding much needed light on the situation, and he had to be grateful for that - even if it was at a painful cost.

Luke looked thoughtful, trying to come up with any reasons. When he offered the information that Mark was a strain user, Jax gasped.

"What? He had a strain?"

He immediately began to search through the police database, ignoring the chatter through the line. He brought up all the missing person cases, scanning each of them. Some were soldiers, some civilians - but all had strains.

"Damn it," he muttered, shaking his head. This was the worst possible scenario right now.

"What's wrong?" Rise asked. He looked up and bit his lip.

"Not something I can really discuss at the moment," he said hesitantly. "Sufficed to say, there's been a lot of heat surrounding strains lately, and this could be the match that lights the flames."

He couldn't avoid dispatching the police to handle this, but if possible, he wanted to handle things more delicately than that.

"I hate to ask it of you guys, and I won't blame you if you say no," he said, "But do you think you could do me a favor? I want to track that Redcape down and get it to Kokonoe. If this has something to do with strains, she might be able to figure out how it's happening, and maybe how to reverse it."

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Gemnity - Apartment

Alexei raised a hand in greeting as Belo returned, but otherwise stayed silent and largely immobile as his teammate worked to prepare their dinner. It wasn't until the smell of sizzling meat began to waft through the air that he stirred from his place and lumbered up to the table.

"Ah, that's the stuff," he said, prodding the steak with his fork and watching the juice run. He carved out a large piece and downed it, following it up with a hefty scoop of potatoes.

"Hmm, it might be a bit premature to be celebrating," he said, taking one of the cans. "But we are doing pretty well, eh?"

He cracked the seal on the can, then guzzled down his drink.

Gemnity - Police Station
- James & Lenka -

James frowned, deep in thought at the revelations that Jax and Luke presented. Redcapes were humans and everyone who had transformed, possessed a strain. This was troublesome and he felt like he was having a deja-vu.

Jax’s next question took him by surprise. Help capture the Redcape? He looked at Rise, his first concern for her. This would put her even more in danger. However, deep inside him, he could feel that he wanted to help Jax. For old time’s sake. For all the things they had been through together. His rationality told him to say no. It was too dangerous and they were clearly out of their depth. But Jax was a friend and he was asking for help. He couldn’t just ignore that. And if they succeeded and Kokonoe could reverse it, maybe they could avert the danger for many others. His mind was torn between yes and no. Then he looked at Rise again and he knew what would ultimately tip his decision.

“I probably would say no, but if you want to help, I’m not leaving you to do this alone,” he said and looked at Rise. He didn’t want to leave the decision up to her, but being without a strain left him no other choice at the moment. “What are your thoughts?”, he asked her.

Lenka watched quietly, which was unusual for her. This wasn’t her decision to make and she could tell James was worked up about it as he quietly discussed the matter with Rise. Her eyes wandered to Luke, who was so emotional, he would probably agree to anything that could help his former friend.

So what about her? She felt for all the people who had been forced to become mindless monsters. If the process could be reversed, it would give all of them hope, right? It sounded like a great adventure and this time she was right smack in the middle of it. With that, her decision was already made. She wouldn’t let this chance slide past her to come along. It would make for a great story.

Lenka wasted no thoughts on the danger of Jax’s request or that people’s lives could be at stake. Neither did it occur to her, that she probably wouldn’t be of much help. For now she was guided by her curiosity and the willingness to go on an adventure as well as her empathy towards all these innocent people.

"I think you should go. To help them," she finally offered as her opinion.

----------------------------------------------------
Gemnity - Apartment
- Ehlana -

Ehlana lifted her head when Belo entered and nodded. He quickly put his ingredients to work and soon the room smelled, well like cooked food. Ehlana wrinkled her nose. She still hadn’t gotten used to that, especially the smell of meat sizzling in a frying pan. Cooking was a custom she didn’t even want to embrace.

While Belo cooked, she continued to write up the status of their mission, including the recent event. Almost at the same time her report was finished, Belo called them to the table.

“Well it looks better than Arusian food,” Ehlana commented. This was probably the highest compliment she would give. If you grew up in an environment where eating was done out of necessity and not for fun, it was hard to develop any kind of attachment to what your food looked like.

She took a small portion from each of the vegetarian dishes and after basically pulling them apart to look at all the ingredients, she finally tried some. Satisfied she began eating. "Tastes better, too."

“I really don’t feel like we’ve succeeded already,” Ehlana said in her typical level-headed manner when Belo mentioned the alcohol. “You can have mine too,” she added and pushed her can over to Alexei “I don’t like it.” No, the taste and especially the effects of alcohol was something she could do without.

Caltha

"That bad, huh?" Keynes muttered as he followed Kokonoe through the halls of the capitol building. To be honest, he hadn't expected things to go this poorly either, and although he understood Alina's reasoning for rising to Serena's challenge, in his mind, it was an unwarranted risk. Should any falsified information find its way into Raidon's report, the shaky situation that had been developing for the last several weeks could spiral completely out of control.

"C'mon." He grabbed Kokonoe's hand from where it was still wrapped around his shirt, and pulled her down the hallway. "I've got an hour before the next meeting where my attendance is required. Let me fix you something to eat before you have to head back to the lab."

---------------------------------------------------

University Office

"Well, that's certainly not what I was expecting." Lisa said, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her desk, fingers woven together beneath her chin. "To be honest, I'm not sure that I'm the right person to advise you on this."

"Please." The look on Marcus' face pulled at her heart strings. "I wouldn't have asked if it wasn't so important."

"I understand that." Lisa sighed. "But this isn't something I can decide for you." Especially when she had a strain of her own that was a closely guarded secret.

"I'm not asking you to decide for me." Marcus responded apprehensively. "I just need..." He paused, seemingly unsure of what else to say.

"A sounding board?" Lisa offered, and Marcus nodded in respond.

"Yes, someone to listen and help me focus my ideas."

"We'll start with the obvious question then. Do you even want to have magic?" Oh how many times she'd asked herself that question in the past, at least up until she'd truly come to terms with it as a part of herself.

Gemnity - Police Station
Luke Jaron

"I am in." Said Luke, firmly. "If I could save him, and if I could find the perpetrator, I am going to give my all." Luke's eyes did not weaver, he was determined to do this, not just for his friend, but also to stop whoever trying to create chaos in Kaddath.

------

Gemnity - Apartment
Belobog Volkov, "Belo"

Belobog opened his too as Alexei opened his, "I agree that we are still far away from done." said Belobog gently, "But as we are in enemies territory, thought we should celebrate even small success. You never know, we might not get a chance to eat and drink like this as we go further." Belobog hold his canned alcoholic drink high, "For our success and for Arusian Empire."  and he gulped some, and took some portion of his own cooked food, gladly.

Gemnity - Police Station

Rise was quiet for a long time. The others seemed to make up their minds quickly enough, but she wasn't so certain.

The truth - the ugly truth - was that she wanted to say no. She wanted to hide away and ignore it all. She'd already struggled for so long, endured so much. She was tired of it all. Couldn't someone else deal with it? Why did it have to be them?

She glanced over at Luke, feeling the smooth paper of the letter in her hand. She'd wanted to touch people, and she had. But could she really go on believing in that if she turned her back on people who needed her most?

"Yes," she said quietly, looking first to James, then Jax. "I'll do it."

--------------------

Jax felt relieved at Rise's answer. He knew she would be the first domino to get things going. He wished he could take on the responsibility himself, but he knew that wasn't possible.

He looked to Luke, frowning. He hadn't really intended to get the young man involved, only the former members of Aegis. But he understood exactly what Luke was feeling right now, and he couldn't talk him out of it.

"Thank you, all of you," he said, nodding. "Keep me updated on my personal com. I'll do whatever I can on my end."

--------------------

The communication ended. Rise sat down with a sigh, running her hands through her hair. She was going to need to get changed into something more sensible than this stage outfit.

"I already took the liberty of getting your things together," Darcy said, smiling. "Figured you were going to want to change eventually."

"Thanks," Rise said. She probably would have hugged him if she had the energy right now. "What are you going to do?"

Darcy sighed and scratched at his chin.

"Damage control, mostly. This is going to get all the wrong publicity, not the least of which because of your little fireworks display. It's going to take some hardcore PR work to get things smoothed over. But don't sweat it. Charming people is what I do."

"Only too well," Rise said, managing a smile. "Keep in touch too, okay?"

Darcy ruffled her hair affectionately and headed for the door.

"Will do. Good luck, guys."

He waved as the door shut behind him. Rise pulled herself together and looked at the others.

"What's our next step?" she asked.

Gemnity - Police Station
- James & Lenka -

James nodded, having seen the struggle Rise went through. Probably similar to his own. However, the decision was made and there was no turning back now. He took a deep breath to settle his mind.

James watched as Darcy left and then spoke. “I think we should consider asking Lisa and Alex for help. They’re still at the University,” he mused quietly and looked at Rise. “We could use their help. And I’m sure if we tell them what’s going on, they wouldn’t refuse.”

Secretly he was hoping that if they went to the University, he could convince Lenka to stay. He looked at her and sighed. It wouldn’t be easy, he knew that look on her face. Her sense of adventure had awoken, but he was still hoping for a miracle.

He also threw a long look at Luke, not sure what to make of him. He obviously possessed a strain, but according to Lenka he was still enrolled in the University. So he was in that awkward transition period between silencing and the military.

“Rise, why don’t you get changed?” he asked her and rubbed her shoulders comfortingly. “I’ll go with Luke to check what the police here know about the escaped Redcape and its whereabouts.” He wanted to give her some privacy, but Luke also seemed to know the most about his former friend.

He turned to Luke and extended his hand. “James,” he introduced himself.

Lenka sat down next to Rise, feeling the tense atmosphere in the room. She waited until everything had quieted down and then spoke. “You’ll be fine,” she offered as encouragement. “You were so badass on the stage.” She smiled at Rise with genuine sincerity. “Plus, from what James told me you were all quite a good team.”

Gemnity - Police Station
Luke Jaron

Luke sighed as everything cleared up. The only thing he had not been honest about was his own strain. He had forgotten about telling them that he had a strain, but he was not registered.

Luke bite his lips, it won't do any good if he said that though... He could only thank Rise and others for not bringing up about his strain.

As someone approached him, Luke turned his head to see who was approaching him. The male who had been comforting Phoenix, he had extended his hand and introduced himself, "James" Luke too extended his hand, and gave James a warm handshake. "My name is Luke..." Luke's eyes headed to Rise's direction, then made contact with James'  "Is she alright?" He asked in apologetic tone, "I am so sorry for putting you and your friends in danger like this. I do not know why Chief had entrusted you all for dangerous mission without any second thought." Luke, however, did not looked confused. He looked determined, believing that they were capable to help his friend. "In any case, I will do my best to help you. So, what are we going to do now? I think we could track my friend using the bio band.. I'm sure it's still intact."

Was it though? Luke was not so sure, but that was the only thing in his mind that might help them to find his friend.

Gemnity - Police Station

Rise nodded. James made a good point. Lisa's strain was useful for a variety of scenarios, and Alex would never say no to helping someone out. She just hoped he wouldn't start hating himself the moment things didn't turn out well. He seemed to finally be getting over the self-loathing when he'd returned to the university after everything.

"Yeah, I'll be happy to see them again, even if it isn't under the best circumstances," she said.

James and Luke left the room, and Rise rifled through the bag Darcy had brought to change into more suitable clothes. Once that was done, she got out a mirror and began to remove her stage make-up. She'd almost forgotten Lenka was in the room till she spoke again.

"Thanks," she said, blushing. "I only hope my fans agree. I don't want to face the backlash Darcy is predicting."

Even if she did, she would get past it somehow. Aegis had always weathered its problems, and they would again.

"Yes, we were," Rise replied, smiling. "A great team."

Gemnity - Police Station
- Lenka -

Lenka beamed back at Rise, happy to have made her smile. It seemed her own mood improved as well and she bounced up from her seat.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. They know you afterall. And Darcy is capable enough to smooth things over." It seemed she and James shared the same optimism and faith in people, only that Lenka voiced hers considerably more and with much more confidence. "And if that fails, remember that you have a lot of powerful friends."

"Here, let me help you with your hair," she offered when Rise finished changing and took up the brush.

---------------------------------------
- James -

James shook Luke's hand and they left the room.

"Yes, she'll be fine," he answered him. "It's just that we had to go through something similar before," he explained. "You remember about two years ago, there was the fall of the Legion and the installment of the new government? We were involved in... well in all of that." He shrugged. Still humble by nature, he didn't feel the need to over-tell the story. Everybody in Kaddath had heard about it anyways.

Luke's next suggestion surprised him, but in a good way. "Of course," he said and ruffled through his bloned hair. "We can check the database to see if the Bio band is still intact."

With the consent of one of the policemen, they accessed a computer and James pulled up the Bio band database. "Okay, now I just need his full name and date of birth," he said and looked at Luke expectantly.

Gemnity - Police Station
Luke Jaron

"How-" Luke looked at James in surprise as James had revealed that they were involved in such big matter, and Luke who he himself had been involved in that matter from the shadow, was able to make such quick connection. "wow... I can't believe I am with the members of Aegis..."

Then James took in Luke's suggestion and his answer gave Luke some hope. The possibility of finding his friend... That started to lift up his spirit, Luke tried his best to hide. And as the possibility of bio-band being destroy still lingered in his mind, he knew deep inside that he shouldn't get his hopes too high.

Luke nodded as James asked Mark's information, "Mark Redwind, birthday is 7th July..." and as James had keyed in, Mark's location had appeared.

Luke's eyes stared at the blinking dart, the bio-band was still intact and it was giving the signal of where his friend was.

"Mark..." Luke said softly, relieved to find that they were able to locate his friend "So, what now?" Luke asked James. Sure, Luke wanted to get there as soon as possible and catch Mark, but after the first encounter, Luke realized that he needed better equipment and plan to catch the Redcape.

At the moment, what he could do was to rely on the group that dethroned the tyrant and stopped Legion from destroying Kaddath.

Gemnity - Police Station
- James -

James stared at the screen intently, unsure if the Bio band was still active. He exhaled slowly when the map finally loaded and Mark’s location was showing up crystal clear.

So not everything was lost. Maybe it would be possible to track some other Redcapes the same way, if they were still wearing their Bio bands. He needed to inform Jax about this new development.

He could see the mix of relief and concern on Luke’s face. “Now,” he replied calmly, “We’re going to track it… him.” Zooming out, he studied the map. “Lucky for us, he seems to have left the city and is heading west. That’s roughly the same direction as the University.”

“We wanted to head to the University anyways to ask two friends of ours for help,” James explained after a moment. “He has a head start, so one more short stop won’t throw us much further behind than we already are, especially if…” James trailed off to take a closer look at the path the Redcape had taken and then he nodded satisfied. “…yes, that’s what I thought. It doesn’t look like he has a particular goal, but the path chosen seems random.”

"You guys found it?"

Rise and Lenka entered the room. Rise had changed back into her old clothes, her hair brushed back into her familiar pigtails with Lenka's help.

"So, it's heading west then," Rise mused, peering over James' shoulder. "That's convenient. So how are we going to get there? Train?"

"Excuse me."

The police officer from earlier entered, holding a pair of keys.

"The Chief asked me to give these to you. They're for one of our high-performance cruisers. You've been given an exception license to drive it."

He handed them over to James. That would make getting through any police checkpoints or Army outposts much easier without having to explain their mission. Jax thought of everything.

"Thanks," Rise said. The officer pursed his lips and nodded curtly, evidently not entirely pleased by this but knowing better than to object. He left the room, and Rise smiled.

"All right, let's head out then," she said.

Gemnity - Police Station
- James & Lenka -

James accepted the keys. “Thanks, let’s go,” he agreed and gave Rise a quick kiss on her temple. She looked better and more composed.

As they were outside moving to the car, Lenka suddenly slowed. Darkness was clouding her vision and her equilibrium seemed off. She moved towards James. "James... I..." but she couldn't finish the sentence. Her legs gave out under her and she fainted.

James, knowing that tone in her voice only too well, reacted quickly and caught her before she hit the ground. She was so light, so he could simply pick her up. He carried her unconscious form to the car and placed her gently in the back seat.
"It's alright. She'll be fine," he calmly reassured Rise and Luke. "It happens. Her body just needs a minute.”

With practiced moves he checked her pulse and true to his word a minute or so later, Lenka's eyes fluttered open.

She pushed herself up. "Thanks. That was bad timing." James nodded. "When is it ever good timing?"

Lenka gave a short laugh, apart from being a little pale, she seemed back to her old self. "I hope that didn't startle you too much. Usually I can anticipate it better," she said a little apologetic to Rise and Luke.

They'd been over this countless times. Of course he always worried about her when it happened, but he had learned that it was useless to express his worries. It was hard for him to accept, but Lenka was too lively and had very early refused the over-cautious way their parents treated her. And why shouldn't she? He couldn't blame her if she wanted to live her life just like everyone else.

"Let's go to the University to get Lisa and Alex,” he said, seemingly untouched by the fact that his little sister just blacked out for a minute, and took the driver's seat.

Gemnity - Police Station
Luke Jaron

Luke was surprised by Lenka's sudden faint, but he was even more surprised by her brother's calm reaction.

"Oh...uh... okay...?"

He looked at James and Lenka, who was being carried by James, little unsure...Then again, like James said, if it had been happening several times, Luke guessed it was natural routine for them. What surprised him even more was that Lenka came back to them pretty soon.

"That was quick..." Luke muttered it in surprise. Then Lenka said to him and Rise in apologetic tone about startling them.

Luke shrugged, "It's okay. You still look lov- I mean, lively." Luke took the seat beside the driver. Hoping James would overlook what he was about to say if he had not corrected himself, and he definitely hoped Lenka did not catch what he was about to say.

'Idiot!' Luke called himself in his head.

Rise wasn't a complete stranger to Lenka's fainting spells, but they always managed to upset her a bit. She wished there were some way to treat them, but James and Lenka handled them rather nonchalantly. All she could do was try to act the same.

"She'll be fine," she said reassuringly to Luke as James carried her to the back seat. Rise got in the back with Lenka and helped her with sitting up. Luke still seemed a bit uncertain about the whole thing, but he tried to reassure Lenka in a clumsily awkward way to make Alex proud.

"Some guys," she thought, shaking her head as she tried to make herself more comfortable for the long drive ahead. As the cruiser took off, Rise let her mind wander back to the long drive in the Army jeep acoss the eastern wastelands. It had been a rough time in more ways than one, but she wouldn't go back and change it.

"So, Luke, how's your love life?" she asked, winking to James in the front. All she got back from him was the groan of someone who hadn't forgotten that drive either.

--------------------

NEXT DAY

University of Academia

Some things never changed.

Rise looked around the university campus, smiling sadly. This is where things all began for her. The memories of her, Alex, and Will here were still vivid as ever. It was hard to reconcile them with what Will really turned out to be and what he'd done.

"I never really know how to feel about it," she admitted quietly to James, "My days with Alex and Will, you know. They're precious memories, but they're tainted too."

She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to be getting getting introspective.

"Well, I guess we should head for the Psych Department," she said. "Lisa said she transferred there."

University of Academia
- James & Lenka -

James put an arm around her in response to her nostalgic thoughts as they walked across campus.

“Yes, she’s been making great progress in her studies,” James replied. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you." Their paths still crossed regularly, whether it was in the gym or just for a coffee.

“Alex is in the Engineering Department,” James looked at his watch. “Though right now he probably is still in his bed.”

They walked into the building for the Psychology Department. It was still early morning and the regular university bustle hadn't started.

He looked back to make sure Lenka and Luke were still with them. Lenka looked tired, probably not having slept much in the car. James, driving most of the way, didn’t feel tired…yet. He was used to being up randomly at night when he worked, often much to the disapproval of Rise.

“We’re here,” he said and stopped in front of a door. Giving it a sharp knock, he opened it without waiting for her invitation.

“Lisa?” he asked and entered, slightly surprised to find her here so early. When he realized there was someone with her, he stopped in his tracks. “It’s important,” he simply said.