Futuristic — 𝗱𝗶𝗲 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗼

[natasha.]

die a hero

 

[natasha.]

codename: magdalena

It felt comforting to be back at home.

Well, it wasn't exactly home, but it was the place Kimiko had lived for the longest time, and she considered a lot of the people she worked with to be like family. But returning to the base only reminded her of the fact that she had come back without her brother. Whether he was alive or not, she had no clue. The fact that the hunters had left her alive for the few days she'd been in their clutches was a good sign and a bad one. Tora had either been killed on sight, or he was being tortured like she had been. Neither of those options were ones that sat well with her. She was confident he wouldn't give anything away, but he had to be subject to torture for longer if he was still alive, because she hadn't had the time to search for him during her escape. For all she knew, they shifted him to another base.

Kimiko's body still ached. Her wrists were bruised, her head ached, and her back burned from fresh wounds. Despite it all, she felt a hundred times better once she reached her base, knowing she was safe once again. For the time being, at least.

Escaping the clutches of IHA had been a task, certainly. They knew about her power, because they didn't keep her in any metal restraints. If Kimiko didn't despise them and their work so much, she would have almost been impressed by their tactics and how much intel they gained so far. Then again, Kimiko wasn't exactly subtle when she used her powers to free others captured by the hunters. In any case, because they kept her in a padded room with a tiny hole in the wall to pass off as a window, she felt her options were limited, and for a while, she didn't think there would be a way to escape.

Fortunately, after observing patterns and judging when they'd come to take her to try and 'extract information' from her, Kimiko allowed herself to put together a rough plan. With her hands bound completely and kept in front of her in some kind of restraint that prevented even her fingers from moving, the guards seemed to think that she was unable to use her powers much. What they didn't understand was that she didn't need opposable thumbs to do what she did to them. All she needed was her mind, and a piece of metal, and Kimiko found that in the key the guard used to unlock her binds.

Two jagged slits and a lot of blood later, Kimiko found herself rushing through the base, trying to find her way to an exit. It wasn't hard enough since she was able to find the way she snuck inside in the first place, and once she was out, everything seemed easier. Her hands remained bound, but by the time she made her way back to her base in tattered, blood stained clothes and looking a mess, things sorted themselves out. It felt as if the sounds of the alarm continued to blare in her ears even after she scrubbed herself clean and settled into her old bed, but even that couldn't keep her up. She was exhausted and hadn't slept properly for days. Having reached in the early hours of the morning, before the sun came up, Kimiko slept like a log till late in the evening that very same day.

She probably would have slept for longer if someone hadn't come to wake her, saying that Lothair wanted to meet her. That was the only reason she picked herself out of bed and was currently walking to their designated meeting room. The war was far from over, and she was eager to get back into the swing of things, but after the past few days, she was also not in any hurry to do anything this very day. Regardless, if Lothair wanted her to head out to and do something though, she would.

When she arrived at the meeting room, only he was there. This didn't surprise her — he was often thinking and planning, even when nobody was around to discuss plans with. He was constantly at work. When he saw her, he shifted his gaze from some paper he seemed to be looking at to glance at her instead. "Sorry to wake you," he told her, setting the paper down on the table and crossing his arms over his chest. "I know you've had a tough couple of days but there were a few things I wanted to discuss with you since I may be out all day tomorrow," Lothair explained, occasionally glancing toward the door as if he was waiting for someone. That assumption was quickly confirmed by Lothair's next words.

"There's someone I want you to officially meet," he continued, gesturing for Kimiko to sit down.

She opted to remain standing though. "Okay," she nodded. "Who?" Already she felt restless. She wasn't against meeting new people, but it had been far too long since she handled a tool of any kind, and she longed to be back in her makeshift workshop, which was where she spent most of her time when Lothair didn't give her work. Powers were great, but devising other more physical traps and weapons was an extra layer of defence and it made Kimiko feel more at ease.

"He'll be here any moment."

location

The Spider Lilies Base: Her room > Meeting room.

mood

Exhausted but curious.

outfit

Sweatshirt + Sweatpants.

 

[triples]

ANDRONIKOS

The sun had long since gone, but the street was alive. Neon lights shone onto passers-by, turning them into shimmering, faceless shapes in the darkening grey. The only thing that proved the humanity of those shapes was the buzz of their collective voices that reached even across the large intersection where Akira stood — though that was perhaps an ironic thing to be judged by someone who, by this society's standard, was not human himself.

He stuffed both gloved hands into the deep pockets of his army green coat, watching his cold breath dissipate into the air like smoke. Akira wasn't often the most sentimental of men, but something about today's air made things appear more oddly poetic than they had the day before. But maybe that was because, back then, he hadn't had to suffer through Naoki's rant about the missing MGA and how he wished all Infected would just disappear like her, only off the face of the Earth.

His brother didn't take to failure very well, clearly. Just like how Akira didn't take too well to the idea of the extermination of his kind, especially coming from who it was. Yeah. It was probably the frustration, the suffocation and all those pesky emotions instilled by that mid-afternoon, one-sided talk that was putting such a melancholic filter in front of his eyes today. He pulled the rim of the black hat further down. If this was the case, he'd just rather see less.

Reaching the other side of the road, Akira turned into a much seedier-looking alley than the bright street he'd previously been gazing at. Here, it was graffiti and not neon lights that brought color to the monochrome world of cement, decorating the walls in all sorts of designs and patterns. The art here was constantly changing; the government would come to erase it all, trying to remove the rebellious messages they implied or outright said, and then people would come to paint again, sometimes just to spite the men who went them gone. An endless cycle of destruction and creation, you could call it, though that description might be slightly too grand for as tiny and insignificant a place as this.

He walked down the path, his pace quickening as the destination neared. The noise of the populated street started to fade away, with only echoes remaining that sounded increasingly ghostly the further he got from them. As Akira reached the dead-end, his glanced around to make sure no eyes were watching. Nothing but stone walls and emptiness.

Reassured, he reached to grab the top of the rather tall wall that blocked the road from an isolated parking lot, one foot kicking off while the other swung easily over. Landing as lightly as he could, Akira headed straight for the adjacent building — a crumbling mess that could barely be described as standing, collateral damage from an IHA raid from several years back. Silently, he disappeared into its hard-to-spot back entrance, like a shadowy figure vanishing into the night.

Inside the building, for the most part, was as abandoned and ominous as it looked from the outside. Akira made his way to the emergency stairway, where only the way upstairs seemed to be intact. The stairs to basement, on the other hand, looked like mostly metal rods and broken remains. Without hesitation, he stepped into the pit left behind by the destroyed path...

... and reached the next step of the stairs. The illusion had been hard for him to get used to for all of two or three months when he first saw it. Now, it was just a matter of course. As he reached the cleverly hidden level, sounds of life began to enter his ears once again, though much softer than that of the streets. This base was the only place, even among other Spider Lilies gatherings and bases, that Akira chose not to wear his mask in. There weren't many people here, only the most trusted of the lot: the core members.

There wasn't anybody in the long hallway, presumably because they were all resting or busy with their own missions, saving Akira the trouble of greeting anyway as he made a beeline for the meeting room where Lothair had asked to see him. He wasn't exactly sure what for, other than that the older man wanted him to be introduced to someone. Now, he had a guess on who that might be. But, he also couldn't say for sure — Lothair wasn't a predictable sort.

He knocked lightly on the door, but didn't wait for the reply as he entered the door. There, he came face to face with two figures. First, Lothair, whose freckled, ever-youthful face nodded at him in greeting. The other, a figure both familiar and a total stranger. I was right, he thought. So it really was the famed MGA, the solo escapee of the IHA Headquarters, and the current bane of his brother's existence.

The light of recognition in Akira's eyes was hidden by his lowered cap, and erased by the time he had taken it off. He ran a hand through his hair as he wordlessly took the seat Lothair pointed him to, meanwhile glancing over the girl once. She was young — they all were — and possibly even younger than him. That didn't change anything about his impression of her. He'd heard she'd slit two throats just this morning in order to be sitting here.

"Nikos," Lothair began to speak, pulling back his attention, "this is Magdalena. She was captured before you two could meet, I believe." He knew about that bit. She had been part of the main force freeing the prisoners, but had lingered, for some reason, longer than the guards could be held off. Akira had been mostly involved in the background part of the process, being the only one with easy access to the building, thanks to his identity. He couldn't participate in the actual action, because then they'd be looking for the missing Kizamari who'd just been there and panicking when they couldn't find him, something that would lead to a personal disaster for Akira.

"And Mags," Lothair continued, gesturing toward Akira, "Adronikos, our newest core member."

Akira's eyes flickered between the two figures in front of him, before finally settling on his new acquaintance. He had the sneaking feeling that they weren't just called here to say hello, that there was something else just waiting to hit. But under Lothair's expectant gaze, Akira stretched out a hand to the girl. "Nice to meet you," he greeted, his tone cold, somewhat deadpan, but still polite.

Mood
apprehensive

Location
meeting room

Outfit
click me

Interactions
Lothair | Kimiko

Tags
natasha.

codebytriples

 

[natasha.]

codename: magdalena

Lothair had been right when he said that Kimi would be meeting this person soon. Mere moments after he spoke, she heard a light knock at the door, causing her gaze to drift over.

When it opened to reveal the person on the other side, Kimi was mildly surprised, but she also half expected it. His face was one she quickly recognised, mainly because she spent some time studying Akira's family. His brother was a big target, though she'd admittedly had more face time with him than Akira since her capture. Before that, she'd heard of him around the base, though she never had a chance to meet him face to face. All she knew was that had been involved in their latest rescue operation — right before Kimiko screwed it up for herself by getting caught. In any case, she was out of there now, and back at the base to resume work, and if Lothair was suddenly introducing her to the guy related to the other side, she could only assume there had been some developments during her absence.

As Lothair went through the introductions, Kimiko had to remind herself to refer to Akira by his code name. If word got out, it could ruin several operations, and they couldn't afford that. Around their base, Akira had the disadvantage of having his real name known, only because of who he was, and the family he belonged to. But just as she got used to referring to herself as Magdalena, she'd get used to referring to him as Andronikos. Or Nikos, as Lothair had called him.

Kimiko gave him a small nod in greeting for the time being, waiting to hear what else was on Lothair's mind because she knew he didn't wake her up just to get these introductions out of the way. When Nikos reached out a hand, she gladly met him halfway, giving it a firm shake before nodding once more. "Likewise," she answered, the hint of a smile tugging at her lips. Boy would she love to know more about his part in all of this, and she could only imagine what it must feel like to be part of the Infected whilst belonging to the family that he did. Kimiko was intrigued, but she was also more interested in hearing what Lothair currently had in mind.

Once the greeting and the introduction was over with, their leader got right down to business. "Now that we've got that out of the way, there's something new that's come up, and I need both of you on it as soon as possible." He paused, as if to make sure they were paying attention, before continuing. "We've got a couple of reports of an IHA base that's apparently developed some new kind of weapon," he explained, picking up the paper he'd been looking at when Kimiko first entered the meeting room. Lothair slid it across the table so it landed between her and Nikos, and once she took a look at it, she realised that it wasn't just some paper, it was a picture. Judging by the location, Kimi assumed that this was the place they were meant to be investigating for this new weapon.

"What kind of weapon?" She asked, lifting her gaze from the picture to Lothair.

"We're not entirely sure. Some say it's a kind of chemical used for defensive measures, some are saying it's an actual physical weapon that could work on anyone," he shrugged. "We don't have enough to make a proper decision. But that's where you two come in."

Kimi briefly looked toward Nikos before focusing on Lothair once again, waiting for him to continue. "You need to find out everything we can about this and, if necessary, act accordingly to either shut down the base, or stop the distribution of this weapon or whatever it is. Otherwise IHA's just going to be that much stronger than us, and they already have the numbers."

location

The Spider Lilies Base: Meeting room.

mood

Intrigued.

outfit

Sweatshirt + Sweatpants.

 

[triples]

ANDRONIKOS

Akira's eyes lingered on Magdalene even after their initial greetings but his attention couldn't stay on her for long. I need both of you on it as soon as possible, Lothair says, which immediately planted a bad feeling within him that only seemed to grow as the briefing continued. His gaze travelled between their leader and the picture on the table, a frown slowly invading his features. The picture was of a warehouse-like building that he'd never seen before, though it looked like something you could find anywhere near ports or the like. If it belonged to the IHA, though, it couldn't be all that simple.

"You need to find out everything we can about this and, if necessary, act accordingly to either shut down the base or stop the distribution of this weapon or whatever it is. Otherwise, IHA's just going to be that much stronger than us, and they already have the numbers." Lothair concluded and Akira leaned back into his chair, arms folded as he fell into thought. He glanced up at Magdalene, finally understanding why two core members had to be called in for this mission. A new weapon from the association was rare and dangerous news, after all. A silent beat passed between the trio as he and his new acquaintance digested the new information.

"So," Akira finally began speaking after a long second, wasting no time in getting straight to the point, "where's the target location?" The reply he received was a slight nod toward the picture, prompting him to reach across the table and pick up the paper, turning it over. And, sure enough, an unfamiliar address was scribbled in faded ink on the back. Akira's eyes narrowed as he scanned the words before putting the paper, now with the word faced up back down, pushing it toward Magdalene. Another moment of silence, this time cut short by a soft sigh leaving Akira's lips.

"Sounds complicated," he finally remarked, his voice landing somewhere ambiguous on the scale from nonchalant to irked. To that, Lothair smiled, his eyes meeting Akira's as he put a stack of paper, assumably more information about the investigation, besides the overturned picture. With a gentle but firm tone — one that, in Akira's experience, was rather typical of the Spider Lilies' leader — the older man replied, "I'm sure you'll do it well."

With those threat-like words, Lothair excused himself, leaving the now-partners alone in the meeting room. Akira sat quietly, watching the scene without words until the man left it, hands now resting on the table, fingers drumming rhythmically. In his head were musings about what this weapon could be. Whether there were any Infected with stronger abilities that they'd lost a few months or so back, someone they could have harvested for a gain as significant as this. He couldn't know for sure; he hadn't been a core member then, after all. Ah, but wasn't there someone right here who did know?

Akira looked up at Magdalene once again, meeting her eyes. Slowly and softly, he began to speak: "So, what do you make of it? This weapon."

Mood
even more apprehensive

Location
meeting room

Outfit
click me

Interactions
Lothair | Kimiko

Tags
natasha.

codebytriples

 

[natasha.]

codename: magdalena

Kimi took a moment to process what Lothair was telling them. Several thoughts ran through her mind in the moment, mainly revolving around what this weapon could be and what it was capable of. There was no way to know till they got there to see of course, so when Nikos piped up to get more information about their mission from Lothair, Kimi looked to their leader and listened intently — only, he had nothing to say. He simply slid a piece of paper across the table with the address scribbled down.

Once it was pushed in her direction, she leaned over to get a good look. She vaguely recognised the address since she knew where it was, though it came as a surprise that it was being used as an IHA testing base. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise anymore though. The IHA had gained several important allies over the years. Lothair wasn't wrong when he said that they had the numbers. That was where they overpowered them. Having a special weapon on their end would be more of an advantage for them, and this whole operation could be ended in weeks.

Kimi only lifted her gaze from the piece of paper when Nikos spoke again and she looked between him and Lothair as a few words were exchanged before their leader excused himself and left the room. She chewed on the corner of her lip upon being asked a question directly — a question she wasn't sure she had a proper answer to since she was still thinking it all over in her head and considering all possibilities.

"I have no idea what the weapon could be, or what it does," Kimi admitted. She had her suspicions — given that she worked a lot with machines as well, there were a lot of potential ideas that came to mind, but of course there was no way to narrow it down without getting a glimpse of the operation. "But there's no way they could create a weapon against us without testing it first so my guess is they've got some of us trapped there." Us referring to the infected, and not necessarily anyone in the organisation. There were still some out there that hadn't had yet to discover that there was a safe place for them, and unfortunately for many of them, the IHA just happened to get to them first. The same could be possible for this.

The typical guns and daggers were ineffective against many of the infected, given the advantage they had with some of their powers. But a weapon that could take down any of the infected, regardless of what they were capable of? That was going to be hard to fight. It was why Lothair wanted it shut down before they had a chance to send it out to other bases. Hopefully it wouldn't have to come to that.

"There's a reason Lothair wanted the two of us to work together for this." That reason still wasn't very clear. If it was a stealth operation, he usually sent her alone in the past. Or maybe he'd just realised that Nikos was an incredibly valuable asset to the team, given his background. Kimi certainly thought so. She didn't doubt his allegiance like many others had. At the end of the day, he was an Infected, like any one of them, and unfortunately there was an expiry date for that. Perhaps Lothair believed they could get the work done faster together. Kimi wasn't going to complain — she was curious to see him at work in person since the only other time they worked together had sort of been behind the scenes.

"I guess there isn't much else to do but speculate till we get there," Kimi continued, pushing back her chair and rising to her feet. She glanced once more to the paper on the table with the address scribbled on it before meeting Nikos' gaze once again. "We should probably leave early tomorrow?" The sooner they got this done, the better. She'd have been ready to go now, had she not already been pretty exhausted from having just returned and she figured Nikos needed some rest too before they headed out. They had no idea what was waiting for them there, after all. It was better to be well rested and prepared.

location

The Spider Lilies Base: Meeting room.

mood

Curious but also tired.

outfit

Sweatshirt + Sweatpants.