Lara and Madison 2

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

So what sort of thing should we do?

[Lara]

Thanks for making the thread! Alright… well. Do you know what plot you had in mind? The last one we did was sort of historical. Do you want to do something similar, or completely different?

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Hmm I'm good either way, it's really up to you! Pick whatever you think would be interesting!

[Lara]

Want to try something completely new? Might help freshen things up a bit

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Okay. What do you have in mind?

[Lara]

Nothing in particular that I wanted to do, but I'm cool with brainstorming a new idea. We could do something futuristic/dystopian. Or we could do something strictly fantasy ex (angels/dragons/elves etc) or we could do a mix (fantastical beings in the modern world) Or we could do a strictly present day, realistic as well.

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Well I'm not really big on strictly realistic plots unless they are really unique and interesting. Also, creatures really aren't my favorite thing either. Other than that I'm good with anything :)

[Lara]

Want to try something more on the futuristic side then? I haven't done one of those in a while. Feel free to say no, though, lol. I'm just going through options.

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Yeah futuristic sound good :)

[Lara]

awesome. So… do you want to have revolutionaries? Or just regular people living in this world? Or maybe spies/supersoldiers? Or people who could be oppressed by the higher up rankings? Should there be robots? or just gadgets? What sort of world are we looking at? lol

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Lol you pretty much just threw almost every
sci-fi element possible at me XD So, wen"" just combine a bunch of them! I do like the idea of revolutionaries... maybe they are being oppressed by higher government of some kind? Maybe there is some sort of civil war going on? Ooh! And maybe we could have doubles where we have two people working for the government and two rebels? I'm not sure if we would have robots, maybe just cyborgs or something?

[Lara]

lol yeah, sorry about that. I literally just spewed off a bunch of things I thought of, lol.
And yeah, that sounds like a good idea! Two rebels, and maybe two higher up people's whether they be officials, or royals, or guards or something. Cyborgs would be cool too. Makes me think of the Lunar Chronicles, lol.
But yeah, that sounds good

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Okay cool! Ooh I just had an idea! What if we had one of the government people be like, one of the top officials, and the other person serving the government is sort of like a cyborg/super soldier/spy/assassin sort of thing that is on charge of bringing down leaders of the rebellion? If we did that, I would kind of like to play that character because I have a character already planned out for that from an rp that died ages ago... We don't have to do that though

[Lara]

That sounds good! I'd be ok with that. If I was playing the high official person, I think I'd prefer him to be a male, and maybe an heir to his father's title? I don't know how this works in with your character you wanted to bring in, but I just pictured the leader, and who that could be, and some rich princeling came to mind, lol

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

That sounds good because the character I wanted to bring in was a girl :D Now we just need to establish who we want our rebel people to be... Your rebel would be a girl then and mine would be a guy. You can choose who you want your guy to be :)

[Lara]

Alright, that works well. So you would be playing a female assassin like person, as well as a male rebel, and I'm playing a female rebel, as well as the male leader of the society? correct?

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Yep! Did you want your rebel girl to be anyone special? Like a leader or something?

[Lara]

Sure, maybe she's recruiting and runs into your charrie that way? He could be a talented thief or something, and she wants his skills on the team? or the other way around works too.

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

It's whatever you want :) I like the idea of one of them being a thief though.

[Lara]

Ok. I'm conflicted on what to do though, lol. Because if your assassin girl is sent after the leader, she'll be kidnapping your character if he's the leader of the rebellion, and then rping your two charries together will be no fun, so lol, it's probably best if my girl is the leader of the rebellion, and then your guy get recruited. But maybe he's reluctant to join the rebellion/not very loyal to the cause so that could add drama. idk. Just thinking out loud here, lol

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Haha yeah I see you point. Okay, sure that could work. And then maybe my guy decides that he is going to rescue your girl because maybe over time he'd grown more loyal to her as his leader? Like maybe my girl won't kidnap yours right away?

[Lara]

Sure, that sounds like a good idea! Shall we start with that then?

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Sure. Are we making characters or not?

[Lara]

Yeah, might as well. maybe just something simple, like appearance, personality and history, sort of thing?

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Okay! You can go ahead an do yours, but I'm not going to do mine until tomorrow because it's late here and I'm going to bed

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Hi, so right now I'm super busy with summer assignments for AP classes this year and so I probably won't have my characters up until Saterday... Feel free to post yours though :)

[Lara]

Sounds good, thanks for letting me know. I'm still working on mine, and I'll get around to posting them as soon as I can :) Good luck with your assignments! I also have stuff I'm working on, so I know what that's like :)

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Here is my girl, I'll have my guy up soon.

Name: Ellis Hyde
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Face Claim: Rose Leslie
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Occupation: Government Employed Bounty Hunter
Code Name: Shadow Phoenix
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Appearance:





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Other Physical Traits:
Tattoos



^She has one of these on each arm

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Clothing Style:

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Here's my guy! Sorry for the delay, I've even super busy! If they're not detailed enough I'll add more, but I just kinda want to her to the rp :)


Name: Felix Schiller
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Face Claim: Unidentified
------
Occupation: Rebel
Code Name: None
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Appearance:





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[Lara]

They look great! Sorry this took so long… I've been at the cottage without internet these past couple of days… Anyways. Here are mine :)

Name: Alexis Winter
Nickname: Lexi, Lex, Winter
Known as: The Wolf

Age: 19
Gender: Female

Appearance:

Occupation: Rebel leader, part time dog trainer, image of the revolution, former assassin for the government.
Gets her name from the wolf that she tamed, who follows her around everywhere:



Name: Chase Rendall
Title:His honour, Sir Chasend Herrem Rendall, the son of His magnificence Lord Markus Leonad Rendall, rightful ruler of all… (what are we calling this place? XD lol)

Age:25
Gender:Male

Appearance:

Occupation:Heir to his father's land and kingdom, a good portion of the west of the new world, a war stricken country direly in need of the prince's charms and people pleasing abilities.

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

I love them! Hahaha, I especially love his title, though you're right, we do need to think of something to call this place XD We can do that whenever it's convenient though.... So, would you like to start?

[Lara]

sounds good! How much detail do you want? I'm fine with starting but I won't be able to get a reply done right away. I'll try to get one done tonight :) Unless you'd like to start?

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Hmm I think the amount of detail we were typically doing before would be good, like 2 or 3ish paragraphs... We can do more as well if you want. I'm okay with you not posting right away, you an just do it tonight when you have time, that's fine with me :)

[Lara]

Sounds good. I'll get it up as soon as I can then :)

[Lara]

Lexi sat perched on the concrete edge at the top of the old church tower in the centre of the slums. She looked very much like a gargoyle, sitting on the balls of her feet, her forearms braced on her knees, still as stone as her gold eyes surveyed the going ons a mere four hundred feet below her. Seeing clearly wasn't a problem for her. In a day and age were most people had at least a couple mechanical enhancements, and others were mostly metal… superpowers were common day. And not that super at all. Just thanks to a few gadgets here and there that people would go under the knife for. Lexi's eyes were regular eyes, as far as having golden eyes can go, but at the back of each eye was a chip, a chip that allowed her vision to be impeccable, even at night, and allowed her to "zoom in" for a close up on far away things. This was why she was perched atop the clock tower. She liked to have a nice high place to look down from, both so that she could see a wide area without being obscured by buildings, and also so that no one would disturb her while she watched.

There wasn't really anything remarkable about the slums. It consisted of very many run down apartment buildings, small shacks, and shadowed alleyways. Every building was from the Old Age. An age where every human was just human, where they worked together to create democracies, build architectural feats, and had a patriotic spirit. The Old Age was dead. Now electricity was the life source of all things. Mechanics that ran on it, ran more smoothly, more quickly. Anything that had to be fed fuel was considered ghastly, dirty, and old. Yes, though this really wasn't much to look at, it was Lexi's territory. Sometimes she missed the bright lights and impeccable streets of the city. But now this was her home. These were her people. This was her rebellion after all. And right now, as her eyes scanned the streets, she was looking for one person in particular. A new boy that apparently would be useful to have on. She had heard that he hung around the old church, so she was here, waiting. Hoping he would make himself known.

……

Chase sat with his arms folded, leaning back in the large leather padded swivel chair. The edges of the curved metal seat - that looked much like an oval sliced in half diagonally - glowed softly, from the electricity that ran through the floor, powering the long rectangular table, and the magnets that kept the information tablets floating in front of each board member. Chase tapped his own tablet's screen absentmindedly, flicking through the images as he listened to his financial advisor go on and on about how they needed to built a new amusement building in the city, to keep the people happy and appeased. Even though he had spent years under his father learning all about them, Chase was never one to be interested in finance, or funding for new projects. After all, what were advisors for? He wanted to be spending time learning how to advance their borders, and quell the uprisings in the outside districts. 'The people are greedy, and never happy with what they have.' His father had once told them. 'Make the poor believe they are privileged to live under your rule, and not once will they rise against you. If they feel they deserve more, then you will have a civil war on your hands.'

Chase knew very well the dangers, and to be honest, he enjoyed being out there with his people, bowling large black bowling balls down lit alleys, or spending time in the clubs where the drinks and floors glowed. He liked making connections, seeing the way people's eyes lit up when he conversed with them, telling them he was the prince. That was always something for them to gossip about. They would go to their friends later buzzing on about how they met the prince! But most of all, Chase loved the gadgets. He was never allowed to have any implanted, as his father believed that man was the ultimate machine, but he was allowed to carry them on his person. The elegant silver watch weighing down his right wrist had been his latest purchase. Chase didn't believe in trying to appease the poor. They were useless! The rich could buy into their economy, further their trade, make the country and better place, help to grow it. The poor just sucked up resources. And he wanted it to end. These rebellions had to stop. So when the meeting adjourned, he strode immediately to the weapons chambers where he knew he would find the Shadow Phoenix, his most trusted bounty hunter. After the assassin went bad, he was very careful with whom he placed his trust.

He reached the doors and they slid open with a woosh, revealing the weapons and gadgets, and a familiar form. "I have a new target for you." He said simply, striding in with his hands clasped behind his back. "I'm sure you remember Alexis." He started, knowing that everyone knew of the rogue assassin. "She's gone and lead a rebellion, calling herself 'The Wolf'." He knew this was information that she already knew. "I want her brought to me alive."

[Lara]

Wow, that was longer than I expected!

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Felix walked through the crowd of people towards the old abandoned church that he liked to spend his time by. It was one of the best places in the town to find interesting things for him to draw. Yes, he knew that hardly anyone drew with a pencil and paper anymore, since both were extremely hard to find, but he had a small sketchbook that was all his own, and he often managed to find himself a small piece of charcoal, which was must better than nothing.

While he was taught to be clever, and trained to be a good marksman, art was truly his passion, not that he had never been able to tell anyone before. Felix really didn't have anyone to tell. He had few friends and a family that really didn't care about him much, so he had simply decided that no one needed to know.

As he neared the church where there truly were no other people around, he saw a small green steam with a teeny leaf sprouting from it popping up through a crack in the pavement. He studied it for a moment, thinking that it truly was a beautiful sight. Things kept trying to grow, but with all of the buildings and power grids, there simply wasn't room such beauty in the city, which Felix found quite sad.

He sat down on the pavement since there was no one else around and began to copy the image of the little plant growing through the crack in the pavement, taking great attention to detail because he wished to always remember it.

------

Ellis sat cross legged on one of the large metal rafters in the weapons and gadgets room, sharpening the blade on one of her favorite machete like swords. Some people called her old fashioned for having swords as her main weapon of choice, but with one in each hand, Ellis was quite efficient and deadly indeed, which usually shut up her critics. However, being a bounty hunter meant that she was only assigned to kill her victims about half the time, meaning that most of the time she was forced to use mainly guns as a threat, and good old fashioned hand to hand combat to get the jobs done. No swords, no killing. However, she truly was just as good as any assassin, but the title of bounty hunter was a harder one to obtain, for there was much more skill involved.

At the sound of the doors to the from whooshing open, Ellis sighed and put her sword into the holster on her belt and jumped off the edge of the rafter, falling towards the ground and landing hard on her feet. Since the ceiling really wasn't that high, Ellis could easily jump down without being hurt. She had a habit of climbing up into the rafters when she sought solitude, so much so that some of the other military personnel had taking to calling them her nest.

Once she was on the ground again, she came face to face with the prince. He was only a year or two older than her, though Ellis didn't know him very well. She was more often used to dealing with his father. "I don't even get a greeting?" she asked sarcastically with a small smirk when he simply got right to business in giving her her assignment, "Whether you're stressed, unfriendly, or both I just can't tell...." She was walking a slow circle around him now, sizing him up in a way that most people wold find extremely uncomfortable and even frightening.

The mission truly did excite her though. She had known Alexis before she had gone off and went rouge. Ellis considered her a traitor, not just to the government, but on a personal level. Of course she knew all of the details that Chase was telling her, but he wasn't giving her the one that she needed most. "Where was she last seen?" she asked, finally stopping her walk around him. Ellis truly was eager to catch the little traitor and bring her to justice.

((Yes, mine was quite long too...))

[Lara]

((It's great! I'll get my replies up as often as i can, but since the rp is longer to write, it won't be regular :) ))

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

((Well I mean, it doesn't have to be longer if you don't want it to be, but if this one is just meant to be longer then I guess it will just have to be longer.))

[Lara]

((Lol. It's always nice to have descriptions, and I won't drag it on or anything, but I'll just write out however much needs to be written for each post. It'll probably get shorter as we go on, but we'll see *shrug* :) ))

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

((Hahaha okay, so I'll just look forward to your reply when it comes then, I guess :) Sometimes I tend to ramble on and on when I'm posting, and that could contribute to it being super long, so if I'm doing that, just let me know!))

[Lara]

((sounds good. And lol, no problem!))

Apparently Lexi didn't have long to wait. Within a few minutes of sitting under the grey sky, waiting to find the one, she spotted a young man step out into the light and make his way towards the streets. A slow half smile crept over Lexi's features, transforming them into something both feral and delighted. This must be the one. Briefly thinking of the image she had seen caused the chips in her eyes to produce the small screen in front of her vision so she could flip through the pictures using only brief thoughts of what she wanted to control the images. She found the one of the boy, studied it, and then turned the screen off, looking down at the figure in the streets. As she zoomed in, her smile only grew. Yup. The blonde hair, and bright eyes were unmistakable. This was the one.

Lexi braced herself, and then leaped over the edge of the of the clock tower, her fingers bracing on the gritty concrete side as her body swung around, and then slammed into the brick surface of the tower. As lithe and silent as a cat, she started to scale the side of the wall, looking only like a black shadow slowly drifting down the side of the building. If someone had spotted her, they might have glanced at the sky, wondering if an aircraft was flying overhead, and casting its shadow on the tower. But there was no aircraft.

Reaching the bottom ledge, she leaped the rest of the way down, landing lightly on the shingles. Taking two running steps, she then leaped off the upper roof, grabbing the piping overhead to slide the short distance downwards, and then let go as she dropped to the ground, rolled her shoulders, and then stepped out of the shadows. She was quite a sight then, completely clothed in black, her hands clad in fingerless gloves, hair pulled back into a ponytail. She looked like an assassin. But that was the least of her concerns. The man she was looking for was only a few feet away… and drawing a plant.

Tipping her head to the side in interest, Lexi strode up to him and knelt down, her gold eyes surveying the plant, and then his drawing. It was a perfect representation, really, and she found herself admiring that someone still had the time to pursue the old arts in this day and age, especially someone in the slums. Lexi knew everyone here and in the city knew who and what she was, and what she looked like, so she didn't bother with introductions, she just said casually, "Nice drawing."

…..

Chase didn't looked surprised in the slightest, when the Shadow Pheonix jumped down from the rafters and offered a cocky response. Most people wouldn't dare speak to him with that tone, but then again, most people wouldn't dare do a lot of the things she was payed to do anyways. Regardless, Chase wasn't phased by it, but rather, only slightly amused, that she had the guts to do it. "I apologize…" He said, his green eyes not leaving her face, lips curled into a half smile. "Would you prefer, 'good afternoon'?" his smile quirked a little wider. "Or perhaps, 'Greetings, most esteemed bounty hunter'?" Chase, even though he was meant to keep up appearances at all times, didn't mean that he was stern and serious all the time. Far from it. In fact he enjoyed a little fun every now and then, and teasing this girl definitely counted as fun.

Chase stood still, his expression not changing as the girl circled him like some sort of hawk. His eyes never left her however, and the first thing he noticed, was how easily she moved. Not clunky like the officers, or stiffly like his father. Just… grace. All grace and smooth motion, like she was dancing everywhere. When she assessed him, one of his eyebrows raised in question. "I prefer charming. And handsome. And brooding at times. A prince must always be perfect after all." he said, his smile curving into something of a smirk as he mimicked the very thing his father had told him time and time again. It had been beat into his head, and he meant to take it seriously.

Then he moved over to one of the holo screens, floating over the desk by the wall, and tapped it twice to get it lit up. He brought up a picture, one that was very distinctly an auburn haired girl and her wolf exiting a grocery store. "The north district of the slums. By the border. This was taken half an hour ago." he said, glancing over at the phoenix then. "But I'm sure you can follow a trail that new. Even if she was an assassin, correct?" he said, needing to know the capabilities of this girl, and wether or not he could get his hopes up. "I want her in my hands by the end of the week, at the latest. Can you manage that?"

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Felix was too invested in his work to realize that someone was approaching him, that is, until they complimented his drawing. Even then, he was only half paying attention. "Thanks," he murmured, but it didn't take him long to realize what was happening and he quickly slammed the sketchbook closed. No one knew about his love of art, and no one was supposed to know. He was known around town for his skills in marksmanship, not for his skill at drawing. Felix could only imagine what his father would say if he knew.

He looked up at the person who was now standing over him, and stood as well, instantly recognizing her. It was the girl who had formally been an assassin for the government, but now was working against them in some way or another. That was at least what all of the people in the slums gossiped about her. As far as Felix was concerned, she was bad news, was especially since she had now approached him. It was clear that this wasn't a coincidence though; she had sought him out, and that scared Felix a little bit, though he didn't let it show at all.

"What do you want Lexi?" he asked her, his voice cold and his eyes hard as he looked at her . He was pretty certain that it couldn't be anything good, for from what he'd heard, she was always up to no good. She'd never bothered to seek him out before now, which set him on edge even more.

-----

Ellis could see that the prince wasn't used to being spoken to the way that she spoke to him, and that did amuse her a bit. It wasn't that she didn't respect him, it was simply that she didn't think that he was of any higher rank than she was, and therefore she treated him just like she treated pretty much everyone else. What amused her even more was the fact that he played along with her little games instead of being so uptight like most men around seemed to be. Ellis didn't know the prince very well, but she already knew that she liked that about him.

"Yes, that will do," she said when he finally offered her several greetings, a small smile forming on her lips, which was very rare. As he listed off the qualities that he would prefer to be known for, Ellis rolled her eyes a bit as she said, "Oh, of course, how silly of me," her voice sarcastic as it often was, but often lighthearted for a change. However, once he began to bring the images of Alexis up on to the screen, Ellis' features hardened again and she became serious, as usual.

She looked at the picture of the girl on the screen, walking beside her stupid wolf. Ellis hated that thing, even though she didn't really have a reason to. Maybe because the fact that she had been able to train it was simply a sign of Alexis' strength. Then again, the trademark black feathered tattoos that extended over Ellis' arms had the same affect.

When Chase asked if she would be able to follow the trail, she gave him a look that clearly said, don't underestimate me. Then she said, "I'll have her back in a week, probably less, and I'll kill that wolf of hers while I'm at it. Maybe even skin it for you so that you can have a throw rug made from it's hide." She smirked a bit, liking the thought of that.

Ellis was about to send him away so that she could prepare to leave when she decided that there was one thing that she wanted to know still. "But, I will ask you, why do you want her alive? She's a traitor to the crown, her crimes are punishable by death," she pointed out.

[Lara]

Lexi watched, her head tipped, as the boy simply nodded and gave his thanks, and kept drawing. And then, a few seconds later, it was as if he just realized what was going on, and what he had done, because he slammed his small book closed, and tucked it away, standing. Seemed his talent with the old arts wasn't something he wanted to share. Lexi was bemused by that. She knew that if she had ever learned to draw, and could do it well, she'd want to share it with everyone. But he must have his reasons for keeping it secret, and so she didn't push it.

When he stood, Lexi noticed that he was taller than her. That made it a little hard to be intimidating. She certainly couldn't look down at him, if he stood nearly a head over her. But she stood tall none the less, hoping her cool, indifferent expression would mirror his, and prove her superiority. Lesson one, which she learned with the wolves first, and now applied to people, was that if you wanted their trust, you had to first prove yourself worthy of it. And a small girl that looked weak, was not worthy of a rebel's trust. So Lexi made sure she looked every bit the assassin that she was.

She didn't flinch, or move at all, when he stared at her coldly and asked what she wanted. Well. She wanted a lot of things, really. She wanted the poor to be free. She wanted the truth about the outside world told. She wanted the emperor's head on a platter, his son preferably in chains. She wanted to kill him herself. She wanted everyone to be able to earn a living in their own right. "You mean, 'what do I want with you', I assume." She corrected. "For I want a great deal many things in this world, but the greatest, is freedom."

Her golden eyes flicked across the church yard around them. It wasn't safe to stay here too long. It wasn't safe to stay anywhere too long, really. She need to keep moving at all times. There were eyes everywhere. People who would tattle for the right amount of money. She needed to get underground, and out of reach, pronto. "I want you to join the revolution." she stated simply. "We could use your wits and your gun in our ranks." She looked up at him again. "This is the only opportunity that I'll offer this. When you join our ranks, you gain our protection, and in return, you give us your skills in bringing down the empire. You can take my offer, or leave it. Whichever you choose, I need to move in the next minute." She said seriously, knowing that there were always people on her tail. "So you have a minute to decide."

…..

Chase noted, soon, that this woman's expression could change from best mate happy, to devious, to deadly killer in the blink of an eye. She had no transitions, no moments of uncertainty. It seemed she would just change when it suited her, being one person, and then another the next second. And he quite enjoyed the sarcastic, slightly presuming side of her. There were not many women in the palace. In fact, there were hardly any at all, besides the ones that were always hired at night for the men who wished for their company. But those were no fun to talk to.

This woman in front of him, was much more fun to talk to, and Chase found himself delighting in her witty remarks. If all women were like this, then he knew he wished to get out and see women more often, for their company was so very amusing.

He watched as she stalked towards the holoscreen, staring at the picture of Alexis. Something in him let loose in relief when she said she could have Alexis here for him by the end of the week, if not sooner. He needed that girl. He needed to stop the uprisings before they got out of hand. Before his father decided he was unfit to rule. Before a civil war started and the steadily expanding country that they had worked so hard to build, collapsed around their ears.

Something in the way the Phoenix talked about the wolf, made a strange sort of shivery sensation run down his spine. This wasn't just a duty to her anymore… he could feel the eagerness she didn't care to hide towards the fact she wanted to kill that wolf, while she brought in Alexis. He merely smiled, never showing that he was phased by anything. "I have always longed for a wolf carpet in my room." He said, his way of giving her consent to skin the beast and bring the hide to him. He had not been lying about that. He really did think that a nice black fur rug would go well in his room.

As Ellis strode towards the door, Chase couldn't help but feel smug. He was finally getting what he wanted! The rebel on a leash. And then his bounty hunter spun, and asked a vital question. His lips merely tugged up into a half smile. "She's no good to me dead, now is she?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "An assassination in the dark is no where near as effective, as an execution on, say, national television." His smile widened slowly. "But before I kill her, I fully intent to make a good example of her, to quell the uprisings before they even begin."

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Felix watched her, knowing that she was trying too hard to appear tough and intimidating, and it wasn't working, at least not on him. He knew that she was powerful, but there was a difference in being powerful as far as politics went, and being powerful in true strength. Sure, she could rally people to start a rebellion and snap someone's neck from time to time, but in Felix's eyes, that wasn't a reason to fear her. She talked big and fought hard, but was that all there was to her?

Oh good lord, here we go, he thought to himself as she began to talk about her want for freedom, making it sound like she was about to go into a whole speech about patriotism that he really didn't want to hear now, or ever for that matter. Personally, Felix really didn't care about how badly the government treated them. He just accepted that it was the way that things were, and he was relatively happy with his life, so he saw no reason to seek reform, especially if it was brought about by violence. Honestly, Felix was a bit of a pacifist, even though his father had tried with everything that he had to beat that out of him, literally and metaphorically.

When she asked him to join the rebellion, Felix wasn't surprised because by this point he had worked out on his own that that was what she was here for. Why else would she seek him out? He listened as she stared the terms of the agreement, but when she said that he only had a minute to decide, he knew that that wasn't going to happen.

"Look, you came all this way to seek me out, which means that you need me way more than you're letting on. That means that you're going to give me more time than a minute to think about this," he said, "Because right now, I would love to tell you that you're crazy and send you off, but if you can manage to convince me that a rebellion is the right thing to do, then maybe I'll see things your way." Felix was only offering this to her because he was convinced that there was nothing that she could say to change his mind about joining the pointless rebellion.

It was also a bit of a test for her, to see how much she really did want his help. She could just turn and walk away, sticking to her one minute limit to decide, or she could give into him and try and convince him to join. It was a test of her true strength, and the way Felix saw it, he won either way.

----

Ellis could tell that he was relieved when she said that she would have the job done sooner than he had wanted, and she knew then that he wanted to punish the rouge assassin just as much as she did. Ellis had known Alexis better than she knew most people, though she wouldn't have considered her a friend. Still, being betrayed by someone that she knew well angered Ellis very much. No, this assignment wasn't just a mission for her, it was personal, just like killing the wolf, the one thing that Alexis loved. She was happy that the prince had given her permission to kill it, even though she would have done it anyway.

She looked at Chase as he answered her question, and she sighed, for she had thought that he was clever up until that moment. "You can't be serious. That's your plan for her once I bring her to you?" she asked, her voice indicating that she thought that his logic was quiet laughable. She gave him a look that clearly said that she believed that she could do a better job of stopping this rebellion than him.

"Why don't we stop and think about this for a moment, shall we?" she asked calmly, but also with a hint of darkness, her eyes glinting with something undectable, "You're purposing to take Alexis, the leader of the rebellion, away from her people, many furious people, who would love nothing more than to see your father's head mounted on a spear and burning in the flames of hell. Then you think, 'hmm, once I have her, I'll execute her on live TV for all of her extremist followers to see'." Without even realizing it, Ellis found herself circling around him again as she spoke, as if the motion was natural to her, as if she enjoyed making people uncomfortable.

"Let me tell you something Chase, there is nothing that you could do to anger these people more than you and your father already have than to kill their leader and make them watch," she said seriously, "These people are fueled by hate and anger, and these people become will become more dangerous and deadly as they become more angry. If you execute Alexis on live TV, she will die a martyr in their eyes, and they will do anything to avenge her. You will not have stopped the rebellion, you will have sparked it."

[Lara]

Lexi had expected him to look surprised, or worried, or even politely puzzled. But he didn't have the sense to look any of that. Instead, she saw criticism, and even a little bit of ridicule cross his features. This was something she had not been expecting, and her eyes narrowed. Maybe she underestimated him. She had walked up and he had been drawing, after all, and part of her had thought that was sweet, but had pushed it away as a useless skill for a rebel, already, within a few seconds, she had judged him as soft. Lexi inwardly cursed herself. She knew better than to judge so easily, and yet she had let herself do that in this instance.

And already she knew how drastically she was wrong. This boy had a brain to him, enough so to think he could start judging her motifs, and try to pry into the secrets of the rebellion, before even joining it. Sly kid… She thought, scanning him up and down. She knew she had to evaluate then, how much she needed him. For he was right. She did need him. But not as badly as he assumed. She merely need more men, more guns, a bigger force, more connections. She sure wasn't basing this whole operation on just a few men, or even worse, just on him. He was one more bee in the hive, and if he didn't join, his loss was greater than hers.

She had information about the government that was appalling enough to get anyone to join, and it was that information that she had used on the few people that were really crucial to join, and had everything to lose. But this kid was just a gun in the streets. A cunning gun, none the less, but still just muscle. She didn't need him that badly, so she decided to use a milder form of incentive. In the end, if he didn't follow, it wasn't the end of the world. "I would have thought you cared more about our people." She said, glancing around the streets. Many homeless lived in the slums, scavenging for food, dying everyday. Women were kidnapped and sold here, children forced into begging, or stealing. "After all, you've lived among them."

She turned then, walking only a few steps to an iron grating over a hole in the sidewalk, and with ease, she slipped it aside, looking up at him from her crouched position. "If I had known you had no interest in helping, Schiller, I wouldn't have wasted my time." She leaped down the hole then, landing a few feet down, and saluted up to him in farewell. She had left the grate open. He could follow if he wished. Whether he did or not, she was on a schedule, and needed to move now. She would leave him behind if he took too long.

She started to pace into the darkness of the tunnel, when she was greeted by a whine. A genuine smile lit up her face then, and she crouched, letting her hands sink into the soft fur of the only one she trusted. "Hey boy…" She crooned, scratching behind the large shaggy wolf's ears. He seemed to grin at her, is deep blue eyes understanding as he glanced back to where light pooled through the hole in the tunnel, the hole she had jumped through. Lexi smiled softly, resting her forehead against his soft muzzle. "We'll see Silver, we'll see." She whispered, wondering as always, at how much the large creature understood.

….

For a moment, he thought the Pheonix would buy it, and he'd have to find another bounty hunter, a smarter one. Chase stood stoic, his usual half smile still painted on his face as he waited. He didn't have to wait long. In fact, a moment later, she sighed, as if patronizing a small child, and then started on really, what he thought, was a well thought out speech.

In turn, his smile only stretched into something more genuine, and more clever at the same time. Good, so there's a brain behind the brawn. He thought to himself, glad that she had passed his test. Like his father had always told him, one is never worthy of trust, until they have proven where they stand, and what they are capable of. Now Chase knew that beyond being a skilled killer, the girl at least had some sense in her, and once she finished her little theatrics, his half smile turned into a full fletched grin, and he gave her two slow claps.

"Bravo." He said, his eyes twinkling with merriment. "That really was quite the speech. You could have gone into politics, you know." He said, lifting his wrist then as he flicked back his sleeve to check the time on his watch. He had spent far too much time here just amusing himself with this girl. He needed to get back to his work, and fast. The issue of Alexis, he knew he could leave with the phoenix.

He strode towards the doors and they opened with a woosh. Turning then, from the doorway, his smile more schooled now, he said. "I'm glad to see that you know your history. I'm more confident in your abilities now that I've seen you can think better than some of the other guns we have around here." he said simply, seeing no reason to butter up to her, or hide what he had been doing. Surely by now she realized that it had been a test, and there was no reason for him to hide that. "Since you're so incredibly intuitive, I'm sure you can guess as to what my father and I have planned for our sweet little wolf pup once she's been caged." He winked at her, backing away from the door. "Mind you don't damage my goods. I'll see you again soon." The doors wooshed shut in front of him, and Chase smiled softly to himself. He had the assassin in a bag now, and he wasn't worried. He strolled away from the weapons room, plans forming in his mind.

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

((I'll have this post up really soon, it's just taking me a while to finish it :/ ))

[Lara]

((No problem! Can't wait :) ))

[ϻαđίѕσи ~ I'm gonna be free, and I'm gonna be fine, but maybe not tonight]

Felix watched her, knowing that he had mostly convinced her that he was right and that she should go about this the way that he had said to. Give him more information, they they would talk about white he or not he would be joining her little rebellion. She must be crazy if she thought that he would join a cause that he was indifferent to simply because she had asked him to. However, when she still refused to provide him with any real information, Felix was surprised that he hadn't been able to convince her to. Maybe she didn't need him as much as he had thought that she did, but if that were true, why had she come all the way here to seek him out personally?

"I don't live among them, I am one of them," he said when she tried to gain his pity by brining up the misfortune of the people that the government had allowed to happen. He knew that she was right, the government didn't care at all for the people, but things had always been that way.

That's when something occurred to Felix that he hadn't really thought about before. This wasn't about him anymore when so many people were suffering. Honestly, he had every obligation to fight if he cared at all about his people. He had to fight for the orphaned children, the woman sold into prostitution, the men who were too weary to provide for their families, the sick and the starving. Just because he was satisfied with the way that his life was and had come to accept it, didn't mean that everyone else was as well off as him. Felix realized that he had her mistaking his selfishness as indifference for too long. He just had to fight or those who could not.

Sighing a bit, he approached the hole in the pavement that Alexis had just disappeared down and he slide his small sketchbook into his jacket as he jumped down after her, not wanting her to leave before he could accept his offer. Luckily, he found her still there, petting her infamous wolf as if it were just a regular dog. He sighed again, deciding not to comment on it, but instead saying, "What do you want me to do?"

-----

Ellis watched the prince, confused by his reaction at first, but only for a moment because she caught on very quickly. This had been a trick to test her wits. Apparently she had passed, though something told Ellis that originally it hadn't been a trick at all. To her, it seemed as though Chase had been serious about his plans for Alexis, and had realized that Ellis was right once she explained what a terrible idea it was to him. Too ashamed that she had bested him to admit that he had been wrong, the prince had tried to cover it up by insisting that it was a test. At least, that's what it seemed like.

"Why must you continue to test me? Have I ever let you down? Have I ever given you a reason to question my abilities?" she asked him, her voice firm but silky smooth at the same time, "Now leave me, and quit wasting my time. I have to prepare myself to leave as soon as possibly before the trail on your precious rouge assassin becomes too cold."

With that, Ellis walked away from him, ignoring him now as she went off to find the jacket that she wore when she went on a mission. It was made of black leather, with bullet proof material coating the inside around her torso. The sleeves were long, which covered the black winged tattoos on her arms. Ellis found that it was better not to be recognize in public while on a mission. Many people lived in fear of her, and everyone knew who she was. The jacket even had a hood on it that concealed her red hair and face in darkness.

Once she found it and put it on, she found her belt with the gun holsters attached to it with enough room to carry two pistols, a dagger, a taser, and extra ammunition. Ellis knew that she would have to leave her machete swords behind on this mission, since she was sadly not allowed to simply kill Alexis. She planned to use her favorite dagger to slit the throat of that walked of hers though. Ellis quickly gathered the weapons and placed them into their proper places, then grabbed her final materials, money, a flashlight, and an ear piece to communicate with someone here at the castle if she needed to. With rhat, Ellis switched off the lights in the weapons from and started to leave.

[Lara]

Lexi had only to wait a few more seconds before a light thud behind her signalled that the boy had decided to come. Splendid. Lexi smiled once at Silver, running her hand over his forehead before she stood, her golden eyes turning to look at Felix. His question was a simple one, and an honest one as well. "I want you on your side. Beyond that, I want you to choose where you think you'll be strongest." she explained. For that was how her underground worked. People did the jobs they were best at. Not necessarily their favourites… however. But the system worked to bring out everyone's strengths, and make sure they were stronger as a whole. But she could explain that to Felix once they actually reached the underground.

Lexi nodded to the darkness swilling around into the depths of the tunnel, where they would find one of the doors into the underground. "For now, let's go. Like I said, I'm running it close here." She started off at a quick walk into the darkness, her enhanced eyes seeing just fine through the murk and gloom, and she easily stepped around sewage puddles, and piles of unidentifiable garbage, as Silver trotted obediently at her heels. When she reached a split in the tunnel, she stopped at the sharp point in the centre of the diversion, the very centre of the two tunnels that wormed away into the unknown. Glaring fixedly at the wall, she waited for the recognition mechanism to kick in and read her iris. Being a former assassin had its perks, mainly in the ways of technologies she had access to on the black market. Then there was a familiar click, and the point in the wall folded in on itself, doubling over and bending back, to reveal a dry set of steps going down into the ground. A faint flickering light lit this tunnel in orange, starkly different from the green murky light in the sewage tunnels. "Down this way," she said simply, descending down the steps.

Once they both were a good ways away from the door, it slid shut again, with a resounding clang. Lexi and Silver both walked on without looking back, not phased. When they reached the end of the steps, there was an ancient looking torch sitting in its holder on the wall. The flames cast eerie shadows. Fire was not common in anywhere but the slums. Fluorescent lights had taken over the more primitive form of light. But down here, it was not about appearance. Whatever worked, was used. And in some cases, that meant fancy high tech lightbulbs, in others, it meant the ancient teardrop shaped things that heat up quickly and spark when they die, and in some cases, it also means the use of torches, which are cumbersome and annoying to relight, but do the job for a few hours.

They reached an archway in the concrete passage, at which another set of steel doors barred the way. Lexi stuck her finger in a small hole that looked almost like a key slot, and indeed, that was exactly what it's purpose was. But in this case, the key was not a lump of metal, but a DNA confirmation. Lexi tensed as the prick came, and then she removed her finger, sucking on the bead of blood that had formed, as the doors processed the sample, and then beeped, sliding open. Lexi beamed when she saw her city lain out before her. They were at the East entrance, and there were four such doors, and four such entrances from the sewer system. In a huge cavern hewn from the dirt and gravel below the city above them, sat another city, much like the one above, but this one in a better state of repair, and with certain modifications, like the training barracks, and the action simulators, the large soup kitchens, and the huge metal box that jut out over the city on the north side: the control centre. "Welcome to your new home." she said simply. "You will be assigned to a room, and have clothes provided. There are markets where some of the women make other clothing, which you are free to shop at, if you get tired of the uniform. The soup kitchens are free, but you're limited to two meals a day, one helping each. My chief advisor will be over to see you this afternoon, and assign you to where you will be working. We try to find everyone's strengths and put them where they will be most effective." she smiled lightly. "Any questions?"

……

Chase continued his stroll down the hallway and away from the weapons centre towards the more open, and less harsh areas of the palace. Here, there were unique metal statues with water spurting from their tops into shallow basins at their base. The polished floor had lighting in it, to mark the paths to different areas of the castle, and all manners of people walked along these paths, ignoring everyone else, just doing their duties. Some stopped to respectfully bow to Chase, and he nodded in return.

Almost everything in the palace was made of metal. Even the windows were sheets of metal, that when a current was run through them, starting the chemical reaction, they would become invisible, and one could see through into the glittering, well, more like glowing, city that sprawled all around them. Chase had seen it before. It was even more of a wonder at night, when the lights were even brighter than the stars, and ten times more beautiful, in his opinion. Or that was what people told him anyways, as Chase had never seen the stars. Some say you couldn't see them at all anymore, no matter how dark the place you went to. They said that the stars had all drifted away from the world, leaving us in darkness, to make our own light.

Chase knocked on a silver door in the upper reaches of the palace and waited until it wooshed open. A tall man in a trim suit, with a pin on his lapel, and hair that could have only been sculpted to perfection, stood behind the door, smiling lightly. His eyes were creased at the edges, and his hair was greying, but his smile was wise, and he looked as if he had seen the weight of the world, but was strong enough to still smile, and keep moving. "Son, is the assassin taken care of?"

Chase smiled lightly, nodding his confirmation. "I questioned the bounty hunter, father, like you suggested. She seems sound of mind, and up to the task." he promised.

"Did you tell her our plans for the girl?"

Chase shifted a little, but didn't change his expression. "I'm afraid I had to come up with a story to satisfy her curiosity. But she saw through the folly of it, and I used it as a test to see if she would be equal to the task."

His father nodded in approval. "Very good." he turned, clasping his hands behind him. "Well is she?"

"Is she what?"

"Equal to the task."

Chase nodded, smiling a little wider then. "Yes, she is. I believe she is smarter than the last one you used to try and bring the girl back. She's a little pushy, but I have faith that she will get the job done."

"Thankfully this will all be behind us then, and we can start on our new plans."

Chase nodded in agreement. "Exactly father."